Uncategorized
Don’t Miss the Easter Surprise this Sunday!
I have it on good authority that the Easter Bunny will be leaving an extra special surprise right here on Sunday morning.
Mark your calendars to come back – you won’t want to miss it.
A Giggle (but just for the girls)
This was in my inbox this morning from my friend Ali of Slightly Lively fame.
Let’s just say I had a few good giggles with this ad. They sure hit the nail on the head with how dumb feminine hygiene commercials can be. Hope you enjoy the giggle, and Daddy, if you’re reading this, just don’t watch.
Moms Just Keep Going: a story from Becky
No matter what life throws at us, Moms just have to keep going. We go through pain, sickness, poo, tears, moutains of chores that never seem to end, and yes, puke too.
This is a real story from a Mom named Becky.
So in case you ever do an embarrassing “what do I do now” moment post or something, I thought of your site when I was laughing about my day tonight…..
Here’s how it went down:
Mid-afternoon, phone call from child care saying daughter #3 is puking. My child care puts up with a lot of ick, but multiple barfs is just not a keeper, so I knew it was bad….Pick her up, she seems fine, so I decide to take advantage of the extra time I just found in the day before picking up child #1 and do some grocery shopping. Made it through the whole store, on my way to check out (read: full grocery cart). Poor thing barfs a little. Not willing to sacrifice the trip, I try to mop it up a little, hoping no one noticed. Continue on the way to the check out line where baby projectiles all over me, her, and the basket of groceries. And like a 5 foot path behind me. Grab baby, middle daughter, and my barfed on purse and head for the door, on the way telling a cashier that walked by what happened. I felt horrible, but what do you do? (That said, I have cleaned up my share of puke while working retail.) I think it will be a long time before I go there again!!! Oh yeah, then had to go pick up my oldest daughter while covered in puke.
Lovely.
Can you believe that she got through that and was laughing at the end? Thanks for sharing with me!
Another Approach to my Stuffing Casserole
I love hearing back from people who try my recipes. It tickles my heart just as much as the food tickles my taste buds!
This past week I got an email from my sister-in-law who is a self proclaimed “tentative, fledgling cook.” With a goal to make a new recipe each month, and a diet consisting of little chicken or beef, she took my recipe for Stuffing Casserole and tweaked it enough to make it her own. What even more encouraging was that it was delicious!
Here’s her message, idea for the recipe and picture:
Hey Kim, I finally got up the courage to make one of your recipes, so I thought I’d give you a detailed report. Given that we’re not big meat eaters in our family–especially not chicken for some reason–and because we are trying to eat more veggies, I adjusted the recipe a little and I’m happy to report that it turned out edible! Even “great” according to ["Perfect" Bro]. But I think I may have tweaked it a little too much because it was a little spicy.
Despite having a bit of a kick to it, I think the overall result was a success. Here’s what I did: 
- Instead of 4 chicken breasts, I used 2 free-range turkey breasts.
- I used a small onion, b/c B doesn’t like too much onion.
- I made up for the lack of meat by adding 2 cups of organic frozen peas and carrots, instead of 1 cup.
- I also used Stove Top’s turkey stuffing (also left over from the holidays), but was concerned that since I was using turkey instead of chicken that the cream of chicken soup would clash with the turkey on our taste buds. And since WholeFoods–where I did my shopping for this meal instead of the sub-par NYC grocery store in our neighborhood–didn’t have the soup you suggested, I decided to take a risk with organic cream of mushroom soup instead. I thought it would add more veggies, too, and make the dish even more tasty. I think that’s where I went wrong and where the “spice factor” came from.
- I also added a little extra ground pepper and ground sea salt, which may have been too much considering the 1/4 teaspoon of pepper i already added and given that the stuffing is probably already salty. Not to mention the soup.
Considering this was my first casserole and that we both had 2 servings at dinner, I consider it a success.
Thanks for your contribution Dub-Dawg! Good luck on next month’s endeavor!
And the Winner IS…
Thank you everyone who participated in this week’s giveaway! I had a blast reading all of your comments, visiting your blogs, and feeling so supported. I’m sure Kendra agrees with me in that sentiment.
I was naive going into this drawing, never imagining that we’d get such a HUGE response. I spent much of the night sorting through the entries, making sure everyone got the chances that they deserved and now I’m ready to announce that the winner is…
#5 Kelly Warren!
Congratulations! I’ll be sending your info on to Kendra who will contact you about claiming your prize.
DISCOUNT REMINDER! Kendra is offering 15% off any of her jewelry pieces just for mentioning Just a Mom, HA! Here’s the link to her etsy store one more time.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/bellezamia
MOMS – I LOVE TO SUPPORT YOU! If any of you have a craft, store, or whatever that you’d like to promote or giveaway, just let me know and we’ll make it happen. : )
My Grandma and the Rock Star
This tale comes from my Dad – he’s not a Mama, but since he isn’t me I thought I could stash it down here as I find this story quite noteworthy.
My Grandma is awesome. A lady that radiates love and is even more welcoming than a warm afghan and a candy dish (though her house was well known for both). You may remember her from this gem last year:
This past year my grandma decided that she’d had enough of housework, yard work, and many other mundane day-to-day tasks (I can relate), so she packed up and moved to an assisted living center in the same middle-of -nowhere town that my parents moved to a year ago. She gets treated like the Queen that she is and doesn’t have a care in the world (besides having fun and doing her hair up cute).
You know the problem with middle of nowhere towns? They are a pain in the tooshey to get to. Going to visit isn’t easy or cheap and therefore doesn’t happen all that often.
Not even at Christmas time. 
Now in this middle-of-nowhere town there is a growing college. Because of the college there are many do gooders in town – young people who want to do a little something to make the world a better place, and therefore the Assisted Living Center gets many, many visitors (especially during the holidays).
Many of the kids come to sing, play the piano, share stories and talents, or just visit. Some are immensely talented, others are goofy, and then, one day, one kid was a Rock Star:
That’s my Grandma, and that’s David Archuleta. Maybe you’ve heard of him? He was a runner up on a little show called American Idol. He was in town for a concert at the college and wanted to do something nice in the community. He came to my grandma’s home with just his pianist and sang requests from his audience.
There was no press, no manager, no agent. Just a good kid wanting to do something good in his free time.
I’m sure there are lots of people out there who, like me, wish with all their hearts to visit their loved ones – sing carols and share an evening, but who can’t. I want to personally thank each and every person who went out of their way to help someone they didn’t know during this past holiday season. Your small act stood in the place of many prayers and hopes of families far away.
The Belleza Mia Winner IS….
This morning I tallied up all of the possible entries for each contestant, went to random.org, and got this as my result:
The winner is #2 ANGELA S!
Angela, I will send your contact info through to Kendra and she will get in touch with you about claiming your prize.
Thank you to all participants, this has been a wonderful week! Don’t forget that you can purchase this beautiful jewelry with a 15% discount by mentioning this website.
Reader Contribution: Jenny’s Oreo Pops
The amazing and talented SAHM Jenny, of Jenny Lou Creates, emailed me with her Mommy Goal results from last month and was nice enough to let me post them up for all of you. Last month’s goal was to take something ordinary and make a treasure and here’s what Jenny’s family did:
I’m drooling just thinking about it!
Taking a plain old Oreo, she skewered them onto sticks and transformed them into TERROR-iffic lollipops!
If you want to do these yourself you’ll need:
- Oreos
- Melting chocolate (there are many options: chocolate flavored Almond Bark from the baking section of the grocery store, magic shell, or the chocolate dips sold in the produce section)
- Lollipop sticks
- Candy decorations (Jenny did Halloween, but I’m imagining doing these for Christmas parties with red and green sprinkles – maybe even with white chocolate, YUM!)
Skewer cookies with sticks into the cream layer. Melt chocolate according to package directions, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Dip cookies into chocolate allowing excess to drain off, then place on wax paper to set. While the chocolate dries, place candies or sprinkles where desired.
It was Jenny’s tradition as a girl, and it has become a tradition for her family now. Thanks for sharing!
Half off Shoes – Today Only!
Oprah is giving half off shoes at Payless! I heard this and got all twitterpaited – you know how I feel about shoes.
The sale is today only, so follow the link to get your coupon!
http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20091016-tows-payless
Disney is Taking Back Baby Einstein DVDs
This just came to my attention this morning. If you have purchased a Baby Einstein DVD between June 2004 and September 2009, that DVD can be returned to Disney for a refund or be exchanged for a book, CD, or Little Einstein coupon!
Story details are here: http://www.680news.com/news/headlines/more.jsp?content=20091026_122634_2060
Necessary forms are here: http://www.babyeinstein.com/%28S%283qnoffi1whnnnt55h2ljk355%29%29/parentsguide/satisfaction/upgrade_us.html
