Slowcooker!!!

As I mentioned in my first Shoe post...I found a deal on a crock pot that I was looking for online!  So I placed my order...got my confirmation and waited.

Then the day that I was to get my slow cooker I get an email from Fedex that they BROKE my slow cooker right here in my very own city!  They were less than an hour from my house in bad traffic and they BROKE my slow cooker!  ARGH!

And then I hear nothing!  *chirp chirp!*

So I email the company...they assure me that yes I will be getting a new slow cooker as soon as possible.

And they thanked me for my patience too.  LOL I thought that was quite ironic since I wasn't being very patient about it, however they could have thwarted my impatience by simply emaiing me when they were notified that the slow cooker was broken...AND if they had sent out the new slow cooker as soon as they knew the other one was broken...but alas...I had to make contact.

Finally Fedex tells me my replacement slow cooker is on it's way.  Of course the day it is due to arrive, I have a bazillion things planned, but I didn't want to miss the delivery...so I canceled those plans (no trip to the gym) and waited.

Fedex finally shows up at around noon!  and my slow cooker arrived in one piece...of course it was in a box large enough to ship a PERSON!  It's here and it looks fine...I've yet to clean and use it though...wish me luck!

Internet Safety

Darly is fast approaching the age where most social networks will allow her to have an account legally.  I know I'm a really mean mom for not allowing her to have an account early like so many folks that I know.  But then I see this article and feel justified in sticking to my guns.

So since Darly is almost old enough, I want to make sure she's smart enough. 

She seems to be.  My niece who is too young for an account and has one anyway recently posted this meme...
1. Who knows you best?
The message reads:
Can you do this? My middle name __________, my age ___, my favorite soda _______, my birthday ___/___/___, whose the love of my life ______, my best friend _____, my favorite color ______, my eye color _______, my hair color ______ my favorite food ________ and my mom's name __________. Put this as your status and see who knows you best.

Note:  I copied this from this Yahoo Article on Biggest Facebook Security Threats  I showed Darly the post and she rolled her eyes and was able to tell me why it's a bad idea.  I told my niece that she should pull it down, and niece said it wouldn't hurt anything because no one she knows would know all that info.  I told her that I knew all that info but I'm smart enough to not post it.  When I tried to go now to copy it from her wall I wasn't able to find it...so either she pulled it, or her parents did.  Whew!

A friend of mine set up a class on Internet Safety that we attended today.  The guy heading up the class has many different social network accounts and poses as young children to catch pedophiles.  He catches a lot, but there are a whole lot more that he can't catch.

He started off the class showing the kids just how easy it is for a predator to find kids.  Then he showed the kids how he catches them.

He gave tips on the dos and don'ts of internet safety...one huge tip was to not be online friends with anyone you haven't met.  (I guess that should knock out most of my blog readers!)  But it so totally makes a ton of good sense.

I guess the best part of the class was that Darly took it all very seriously.  She even reconsidered if she really needs to have a Facebook account.  I'll let her have an account, but I'll be keeping a close eye on it...and of course her first friend will be me.  I'll make sure her account is totally closed and I'll be a mean mom at every turn.

:( shoes

I have this one pair of shoes that I like to wear to Church.  They're black and very basic, but they go with everything and they are so comfortable. 

If you know one thing about me, it is that I am NOT a slave to fashion!  I don't care how in something is, if it isn't comfortable, then I ain't buying it...I learned my lesson a long time ago with the 2 hour shoes.  (btw: I tried to pawn the 2 hour shoes off on Darly cuz she's my size now, and even she wouldn't go for them!)

So my very comfortable shoes are of course now showing their age and are in need of replacement.  And of course they stopped making this shoe "eons" ago...so I've been searching for something close.  I figured first I would try with the same brand of shoes.  I have no idea where I bought these shoes, so I look them up by brand online.  They're Mushrooms btw.

I find the Mushroom shoes website.  They don't sell the shoes there.  You have to go to one of three retailers for them...One of the 3 I've never heard of.  The other two are Famous Footwear & Mervyn's.  And of course neither of them really carry the shoes either.

More Googling and I find that Kmart actually carries the brand, but of course not my shoe.  Bummer!  And when looking at what they do carry, the ones I might try...not my size!  Double Bummer!  My size only comes in barf or sandals.

I then started shopping around for other comfy shoes...I'm still looking.

In other news: I got an email that Darly had put something she wanted on my ebay watch list and the auction was almost over.  Instead of bidding on that I bought myself a slow cooker. :p

Wrong Mommy

has this ever happened to you?  You are in a location and some small child who is focused on other things (toys, animals at the zoo, etc...) grabs your leg and finally looks up in total shock because YOU are NOT their parent.

I've had this happened more times than I can remember.  It doesn't seem to matter what you say to the poor child...they are just horrified at the mistake.  The latest time I was shopping at some place with a friend and while looking at some items a mom with her 3 very young ones came near to look in the same section.  I did notice that one child was rather close to me but chose to not say anything...I probably should have though because next she hugged my leg and looked up to ask me a question.  Her real mom was only 2 feet away with the other kids.  But I kinda felt bad having to say to the child "sorry honey, wrong mommy."

Real mom looks over, smiles and holds out her arms for her baby to come running into.  I smile at mom and walk away.

I think the funniest time this happened was at a Girl Scout meeting.  Mom was with older kiddos and the youngest runs over to me, grabs my leg and hollers at me that she's ready to go home.  I look down and tell her she's got the wrong mommy and she recoils in horror.  poor kiddo.  Luckily for her I wasn't a stranger.  But it has happened several times with kids I don't know too.

Usually the only resemblance I have to real mommy is that I'm wearing the "mom uniform" jeans and shirt for the season.  but at knee height I'm the right looking mommy. ;o)  I wonder how long this will last?

Fiddler on the Roof Jr!

Darly's next play!  Come & see if you can! :D

Window crap continues

today after waiting since December to get this window replacement finished I find that we are yet still tied up in this drama!

After installing the windows I called the city building department and had an inspector come out to finish up the project...only we couldn't because one of our windows was ordered wrong and didn't meet fire safety codes.  Turns out when the guy ordered the window he forgot to mark that this window needed a special hinge on it so that it would open up all the way.  And so the window that was installed in December only opened to 19 inches and needed to open to at least 20 to pass.

So we waited for a new window to be made.  I was told this would take only a few weeks, but as you can see it took much longer as I was only called to make the appointment to install it last week.

The guy gets here and first off he never showed me the window before ripping out the "old" window.  I didn't notice the new window didn't have the decorative grids that we ordered until he already had the window half installed.  OYE!  So I called up hubby, who isn't pleased at all...we paid extra for the grids.

I mentioned to the installer that the window should have had grids and he says "did the one I pulled out have grids?"  I'm ready to smack him.  Then he says "well it's always something!"

I've got an email into the sales guy...we'll see how long it takes to get this resolved.

taking Granite for granite

so DH has been shopping for granite counter tops for MIL's house...as only granite will do for a kitchen makeover to sell the house for someone else.  oye this still doesn't make any sense.

He called up and set two appointments to have someone give him an estimate for the counter tops.  One was going to be at 2:30 and the other for 4pm.  He went to work for half the day and then after lunch went over to MIL's house for the appointments.  It took him a bit to get there due to traffic...and once he did get there the driveway was nice and high full of snow thanks to the snow plows.

Meanwhile back at the ranch er house, I get a call at about 1:20 telling me that contractor #1 can't make their appointment and will have to reschedule.  I try really hard to get the message to DH, but he had already left work and had his work cell phone turned off (he doesn't carry his own cell).

DH gets the snow shoveled in time for the Realtor he's been working with to show up and they go in the house to get ready for the first contractor to show up.  They wait and wait and he's a no show.  So the Realtor who recommended this granite place calls them up...the guy is no longer with the company!  But they can send someone else out at 5.  So that's arranged and the Realtor & DH go over some paperwork.  The Realtor also went back to her office for a few things but was back by 4pm...the second contractor was no there.

He didn't show up until about 5pm!  So DH & the Realtor are with contractor #2 when...

Back at the ranch er house again, I get a call from contractor #1 (only I didn't realize that it was #1, I assumed it was #2 since #1 canceled)...only he tells me that he's outside the house and sees that there is another contractor there.  I'm confused but tell him that DH did schedule a few contractors to come out so he could get a few bids.  I tell him to go ahead and knock on the door since I don't have any way of contacting DH.  The contractor doesn't want to do that...so he'll just wait outside.

DH ends up with two bids.  For some odd reason even though DH gave everyone his work number, they insisted on calling here at the house after to send the bids and confirm that we got them.  You can have granite done at the normal thickness or now they have a granite overlay that you can get that costs less.  The one bid came in quite a bit less than the other one for thicker granite.  ???  confused?  so are we!  We decided to go with the thicker/cheaper granite.  However, I keep getting calls from the other guys (DH promises that he'll call them tomorrow and let them know they didn't get the job.)

We're hoping that these folks do a great job and that perhaps we'll use them again for our kitchen (although I still don't know that I want granite...I've never wanted it before!)

What are they thinking? - house selling woes

Hey folks.  Did you miss me?  Sorry for neglecting you so badly.  I was seriously considering giving this blog up entirely...but sigh, alas I cannot.

Darly and I had a great time doing CYT Cinderella, so much so that I've already committed to doing the next play Fiddler on the Roof...I even get to go to the production meeting. :D  Now I just have to be a good girl and just listen.  Pray for me on that one!

can I just say that I'm not a fan of whatever they're using on blogger here for posting.  the formatting while I type is driving me up the wall!

First a PSA here... a reverse mortgage is NOT what you think it is...or at least it isn't what I thought it is.  I thought that the reverse mortgage is the bank buying your house, paying you the equity and then when you die or move the house is theirs.  That's how they advertise it.  So when MIL got a reverse mortgage I was relieved that we wouldn't have to worry about selling her house. 

WRONG!!!!

What a reverse mortgage REALLY is is just another loan.  Yeah they finance the house for the entire amount that it is worth and give you the equity, but you still "own" the house and you still have to sell the thing.  UGH!

So MIL has been in heaven for a year now and the house is still "ours"  ugh.  It seems that no matter what price we set the house at that buyers want the kitchen and basement to be redone and finished.  Even when we had the price set at a ridiculously low price these folks wanted the kitchen redone.  We just don't understand why a buyer would want to have someone else pick out the kitchen when they can do it themselves.  But apparently that's what it is going to take to get this house sold. 

Now Dh is interviewing kitchen counter top installers to get prices for a brand new kitchen counter.  I DON'T EVEN HAVE MY KITCHEN REDONE!!!!!!!!!!!  But we are paying to redo MIL's kitchen...so that we can sell it.  This so totally stinks!  Now my kitchen has to wait until her house sells because all our saved up money is going to fix her house for someone else!

I'm also hating getting comments when people look at the house about how the house doesn't work for them.  They complain about things that the MLS clearly states...things their realtor should either be pointing out to the buyer or just not bothering to take them to if it won't work.  Like the house has a REALLY small yard.  I used to call it a postage stamp sized yard.  The MLS also clearly states that the house has stained glass windows, the pictures for the listing show the windows with the stained glass...yet these people still come through the house and complain that the house has stained glass.  I'm like DUH!  ugh!  I knew that this house was going to be hard to sell and I'm tired of this house.

Reasons I wouldn't buy MIL's house...
small yard - there's maybe 15 feet from the back door to the fence
on a road with heavy traffic - there's a high school down the street.  honestly when my inlaws bought the house they had no way of knowing this as the school wasn't built yet.
tiny master bedroom closet - no idea what the architect was thinking there
crazy neighbors - the one side has two bachelors who collect and park junk cars in front of the house, the other the woman is just crazy - but most folks won't find that out until it's too late.

So wish us luck folks as we really do need to sell this house.  DH is meeting with counter top folks this week and hopefully we can get that done quickly and sell!

 

a note to my body

Dear Body:

You are much too old to still have zits!  Zits are for teenagers, not for someone who is in her ...er... what anniversary of my 29th birthday is it this year?  hummm  well that's beside the point!  The point is I am too old to still have zits!

So clear up!

Don't make me go all Proactive on you!  Cuz I will!  That Katy Perry says it works so it must work!  And I'll get some and scrub til it's raw if I have to!

getting wrinkles and zits sucks!  Big time!

The window installation

I was gonna title that the window finale, but I'm not quite sure that it's all over yet.

Yesterday our long awaited windows came and were installed into my house.  Of course that was not without more drama.  (why can't anything ever go right???) 

We were greeted right off the bat with yet another change to our widows due to our lovely city and their stupid building codes.

As you may remember from last time Window Drama we had to change our order to take out 6 double hung windows and put in 3 2 panel slider windows instead because our local building code requires us to have windows that allow very huge people to escape from our second story windows. 

Well yesterday we learned that that same building code considers my main floor office a bedroom because "it has a closet"* and also requires that I replace the existing 2 double hung windows in the office with another 2 panel slider window...again for very large people to escape through the window, when the front door to the house is only 2 feet away.
*the office shares a closet with the foyer.  the said closet has a door that opens to the foyer and another door that opens to the office.

So I first called up the city's building dept and begged that I be able to keep my double hung windows.  The guy I spoke with was able to look up the permit and know exactly what I was talking about...but unfortunately the only way he was going to let me have my windows was for us to wall in the back side of the foyer/office closet.  So I called up my hubby and he was livid!  There was no way that he was going to close up the back of the closet just to keep the windows.  Luckily the window company had built the window that we needed to keep to code.  So they installed that.  I was very bummed...at least the window isn't that bad looking.

When the building inspector comes I will very much voice my complaint that 1) there are 8 blooming smoke detectors in this house so there is NO CHANCE of anyone getting trapped by flames in any of the rooms.  (okay, maybe if the furnace were to explode...but what are the chances of that happening???)  2) if they were trapped they would never consider jumping out a window from the 2nd story because they would surely die from the fall. I would rather get burned a bit running down the stairs than jump and break most of my bones and possibly my neck.  3) if they were truly that desperate to get out they wouldn't be at all concerned with breaking the window to get out...and these window frames pop out very easily.  4) my office, even though it has a closet would never in anyone's right mind be considered a bedroom...besides if you really needed a home with more bedrooms you would go buy one...not a 4 bedroom house.

I was just chatting with Darly and we mentioned that if she gets any more dolls that she'll need a bigger bedroom...I joked that we could take out the closets between her and the guest bedrooms and then she could have a super sized suite.  She loved that idea, but I'm sure hubby won't go for it.  However, we just gained a bedroom downstairs  LOL!

Today the window guys are working on the outside of our windows...they'll then present us with the bill.  stay tuned for that drama!

Merry Christmas!

Window Drama

who knew that what we thought would be a simple thing back in October would in fact turn out to produce such headaches?  oye!

We ordered the windows at the beginning of October but they weren't able to come measure for them until closer to the end of October.  

But it took another two weeks for them to realize the first issue...my order had been sitting on hold because changes were made when they took the measurements.  We finally got that taken care of and it would take about a month to make the windows.

Then I'm expecting a call any day now to tell me the windows are ready and set up the installation.  but NO instead I get a call telling me that my city won't allow me to put in 7 of the windows that I want.  AND to add to the stress, the guy didn't return my call!  The following is copied from my facebook.

• • STILL WAITING! I've called and left 3 messages for this guy. I called and emailed our sales rep (who did get back to me) and I called the main office. seems no one can find this bozo!
    
  • well it is FINALLY resolved. and I'm grumbling.
    

    
    
  • the problem: in bedroom windows the building code requires that the opening when you fully open a window to be at least 20w by 24h for escape during a fire.
    

    
    
  • the crux: the windows we ordered are only 15 3/4 h.
    the window are all 2 & half stories up...there is NO WAY anyone would use those as a fire escape!
    we have 5 smoke detectors on that floor and 3 more in the house...there is NO WAY that we ...wouldn't have enough warning to get out through the front door with our animals too! 

    
    
  • the solution: I have to put sliding windows in 3 of the bedrooms and a casement in the other bedroom to meet the required code.
    

    
    
  • why I'm grumbling: I hate slider & casement windows...that's why I ordered double hung windows! AND our window order was due at the end of this week...now we have to wait some more! My Christmas decorations are still not up yet.
    

    
    
  • apparently we have to install windows for the next owner's escape.

    Now I'm still waiting for the window folks to send the addendum paperwork for ordering the sliders and casement window.  I should email the guy or my order will get held up again.  I DID ask if instead of holding up my entire order if they would install the windows as they are finished so that we could get our tax rebate.  We'll see, the guy I spoke to seems to think that they can finish the new windows the same time as the rest of my order...which makes me wonder if they haven't even started my order yet.  (can you see my eyes rolling?)

    The biggest pain in the butt about all of this is that for the installation we have to have the areas around our windows clear of everything...no curtains, no blinds, no furniture...you get the idea.  Well it's Christmas time and I can't put up any of my decorations yet because I'm waiting on these bozos.  Grumble!

    Hubby wants to cancel the entire order.  LOL!  He is just saying that cuz he is having buyers remorse and doesn't want to pay for them. 
    
    UPDATE:   I got a call at about 12:30 from our sales guy.  He said he needed to meet with me to go over the changes for our window order.  Luckily he was nearby and offered to meet me at the house...I was at first panicked about trying to drive all the way to his showroom...ack!
    
    So he went over the changes with me and I signed all the necessary paperwork...AND they did reduce the price by the difference of ordering fewer windows.  The sales guy asked me to call my hubby a few times to make sure he knew that the price had been reduced...so I believe that DH must have called him and chewed his ear off.  LOL!  and YES, I see from my email that DH did have a discussion with him about a reduced price.  he he 

      

my extra frig!

I've been wanting an extra refrigerator forever.  There are just so many times when it would be handy to have some extra room for food here.  However, my hubby says NO!  and probably with good reason.  :(

See I have this tiny problem.  I buy things food when they're it's on sale.  I had to scratch out the things part cuz I'm really good at controlling my spending when it comes to just things.  However if it is food and it's on sale...well WE NEED FOOD!  But the reason this is a problem is there is usually some food on sale nearly every week...and I tend to fill up the freezer and keep buying more food...CUZ IT'S ON SALE!  sigh!  Hubby thinks that if he were to allow me to have an extra frig, I would fill it up to the brim and then forget about my stash...and continue buying.

and alas... he is probably right.  sigh

However, when the holiday season approaches...I NEED the extra space that having an extra frig would give me.  I mean you can't find anything in our frig when it is full of a turkey and all the trimmings.

BUT we live in Colorado.  And in Colorado, most years it gets darned right cold around the holidays.  Which means my garage is as cold as a walk in refrigerator!  ding!  ding!  ding!  ding!  ding!  

So in years past and this year too, I've used my garage to store all the extra food we have.  And it is awesome!  This year I used the garage to cool down my turkey brine quickly by setting the pot directly on the concrete.  I don't think that the frig could have done that.  I also am able to put our turkey in the garage while it sits in the brine.  I could never fit it in the frig.

And this year, instead of filling up the frig with still warm food (and possibly spoiling the milk) I put all the left-overs in the garage!  Hubby was so happy about this...as he doesn't like spoiled milk for his cereal.


I suggested that we put some shelves in the garage for me to put the food on...and hubby agreed!  (course, who knows how long it will be before I can actually get my shelves.) but one day I will have shelves in the garage for extra food storage!


and now I've just come up with an idea for what to get hubby for Christmas!  woot!  He is getting shelves for the garage!  he he

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

Today is prep day for Thanksgiving...usually where I pull out all my supplies and realize how much stuff I forgot to buy.

I've already started roasting the pumpkin and butternut squash.  I found a great new trick for getting those seed cavities cleaned out...don't know why it has taken me this long!  I grabbed my melon baller that I never use and it worked wonderfully!  woot!  Have to remember that for Halloween too. :D

Then I went to go make my turkey brine and realized that for all these years I've been making it with not nearly enough vegetable broth.  I usually just grab 4 14oz cans and go with that...and the bird has always come out just fine...but this year I decided that I should attempt to make it right.  Of course I didn't decide that until today so I only have 4 cans of veggie broth.  So I decide that it can't really be that hard to make veggie broth...I've made chicken broth, should be close.  But remember this is a house where 2/3 of the human inhabitants are picky eaters, so it doesn't pay to have many "normal" things on hand.  sigh

Your typical veggie broth calls for things like onions (I had some frozen onions!), carrots (check), potatoes (oops, I forgot to add one of those, brb!) (check), greens (ummm will these brussel sprouts do?) (toss em in!), zucchini (ummm I have a bag of mixed veggies that have zucchini in it) (toss it in too!), and celery... well I don't have any celery.  But I do have celery salt!  so I put some of that in and let 'er rip! note: although the recipe calls for salt, I didn't add any cuz of the celery salt...I figured I can add some later...and there is salt in the brine.

I'm sure it will be just fine as the broth is for the Turkey's brine and I have about half of the broth I need...this is just flavorful filler.  I suppose it is a very good thing that cooking is an art and not a science like baking is.  

after this simmers for an hour, I'll add the rest of the ingredients for the brine and then let it cool.  Hopefully I can get the bird swimming by this evening.  

Here's the rest of my list of chores for today:

make dessert

make dessert for pot luck at Church tonight

make brine for Turkey & get turkey ready to brine

clean cooler to brine turkey in

make sure all dishes I need for tomorrow are clean (not hiding in the frig)

laundry - but okay if I put it off

mail bday gift for mom - but okay if I put it off

feed kittehs

clean kitchen countertops so I have room for all this

I guess that means I should get off the computer and get busy.  I'm also going to ask Darly to see if she would like to help make dinner and learn how to do it.

We're having:

Turkey (of course!)

stuffing substitute -sauteed mushrooms (I'm the only one who will eat stuffing and I don't need it, so I'm subbing with something equally yummy but less fattening!)

Gravy (Darly won't touch this!)

Mashed Potatoes

Green Beans (steamed) (hubs will eat green beans but not gb casserole, Darly won't touch this!)

Corn

Yams (I won't eat the yams, so I'm having see below)

butternut squash (DH & Darly won't eat this!)

Rolls

Pumpkin Dessert - a family recipe that we like better than just pumpkin pie

I hope that you and yours all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with plenty to be thankful for.  I feel so blessed to know you all.

Shameless plug!

We signed up for and Darly prepared her audition. She was really excited and worked really hard... The song she chose to sing for the audition was Impossible!

and she got it! :D

Darly has an ensemble part in CYT’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella! Woo Hoo!

Of course this means that Darly & I are now busier than we ever imagined. The play will be at the end of Jan & early Feb. If you’re in the area, please come see it…these kids put on an awesome show!

Harry Potter #7!

I have to admit that I avoided the Harry Potter series when it first came out.  I just didn't see what all the fuss was about so I didn't pick up any books until the first book came out as a movie and was aired on TV.  So yeah, very late in the game.  But one day we were at my MIL's house and the first movie came on and I got hooked.
I didn't even get to see the entire movie that day because we went home before it was over.  So I quickly hopped onto my local library’s website and reserved a copy of the movie so I could finish watching it.  And then I also checked out the second movie.  It was during the second movie…checking out the deleted scenes that I realized that I was missing parts of the story and it was time to read the books.  And so I started reading the books.  And I loved the stories.
Soon I got to be a book snob and hated what they were doing to the stories when they turned them into movies.  I guess the worst was in Goblet of Fire when they deleted major portions of the story (Dobby the house elf!) and put in stuff that wasn’t in the book (Harry’s flight scene where he is hanging off the roof of the school with the dragon in hot pursuit.)  For the other movies I had to remind myself that the movie was not the same as the book.  I still get upset with the liberties that the movies take.
However, I’ve been watching the trailers for the HP#7 part one movie and I have to say that for at least one scene that I’m happy with a change that has been made.  I just grabbed my copy of the book and checked it to see how different they’ve made it…but yes, I’m still happy.  I won’t spoil the scene for you here…Let’s just say that I’m looking forward to seeing the movie and I sure hope that any other changes make me just as happy.
Oh and one more thing…they sure are showing a lot of sneek previews for this movie…wondering what we’ll see when it’s all together.

I need to be at the gym.

Here I sit, in my workout clothes...yet instead of going to the gym, I'm procrastinating by blogging.  You know it must be bad if I'm blogging because I hardly ever blog anymore.  sigh!

Going to the gym really isn't that bad.  I like it once I get there.  I can even do it solo.  It is just getting me out the door that seems to be the problem.

I think a huge part of the problem is that with a few tiny exceptions I like how I look now.  Sure it would be nicer if I fit into my old jeans better...but the newer jeans are all loose.  kinda weird being between sizes there.  I'm sure its that "value sizing" thing, where my larger sized jeans are really two or three sizes bigger than the old jeans.

Sigh, I don't want to go buy new smaller sized jeans which are really larger than the smaller sized jeans in my closet.  Are you confused?  lol

I've even considered taking in the larger sized jeans.  Crazy huh? 

Okay, okay...I'll go.  Check the widget on my sidebar to see if I really went or not.

TC's Christmas list

TC said...
Oh, this reminds me I should send you my list. :-D

- personalized return-address labels (I really love the square ones on The Stationary Studio)
- stamps, photostamps
- fondue set
- "The best day of someone else's life" - Kerry Reichs
- "Hungry Girl: 1-2-3" cookbook
- "Weight Watchers: Take-out tonight!" cookbook
- "Where Men Win Glory" - Krakauer
- Video-editing software
- "My Boys" Seasons 1, 2 and 3
- Gift cards: gas, barnes & noble, victoria's secret, noodles, sonic, qdoba, wal-mart, target, applebees
- neck pillow for flights
- Hoops 'n YoYo apron
- Long button-up sweater to wear over stuff
- good electric toothbrush
- Socks (not "funny" ones, but more work ones. Including some tall - knee high - ones. Not trouser socks, though.)
- tri-fold black wallet

Darly’s Christmas Wish list

1.  A Basket ball

2. Yankee candle Lip gloss (black cherry)

3. Elizabeth 18inch Doll with accessories (AG)

4. Felicity’s Accessories (AG)

5. Elizabeth’s tea lesson gown (AG)

6.  Felicity’s Tea lesson gown (AG)

7. Felicity’s holiday gown (AG)

8. Felicity’s cardinal cloak (AG)

9. Elizabeth’s holiday gown (AG)

10. Felicity’s Riding outfit/habit (AG)

11. Felicity’s foal, Patriot (AG)

12. Elizabeth’s Riding outfit (AG)

13. Josafina’s books 3-6 (AG) note: I only linked one of the books here.

14. Snowflake ball gown for dolls+ Charm (AG)

15. Ski gear (AG)

16. Ski outfit + charm (AG)

17. Snowflake pajamas for dolls + charm (AG)

Gift cards and money are always gladly accepted  :D 

Please let me know if you're getting Darly any of this, so I know what I don't have to buy her.  Honestly even though she said this was her last list, I know there's more.  ugh!  and NOPE, I'm not buying all of this.  LOL, she can keep on dreaming.

Dannon Cups of Hope

In case you’ve been living under a rock somewhere or something, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  There are some really simple things you can do to help out.  First, check your “girls” on a regular basis.  Ya wanna make sure you know what healthy is so you also know what’s different.

Another thing you can do is if you like Dannon Yogurt you can enter the codes under the lids to help support Cancer research.

Throughout September and October, a variety of Dannon products will help support the cause, not only by raising money, but also by increasing awareness for a disease that affects women and families at a staggering rate - with more than 290,000 women diagnosed every year. Dannon pledges to donate at least $500,000 dollars to the National Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation, but they hope to increase that donation to $1.5 million dollars this year.

Under the lid of specially-marked Dannon products you will find a unique code. With each code entered at www.cupsofhope.com by November 30, 10 cents will be donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. ® (NBCF). The money raised will go to the NBCF, to provide women free mammograms and support breast cancer research nationwide.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Dannon. In addition, I received a gift certificate and products to thank me for taking the time to participate.