I fill my fridge with more than just food!

I fill the sides of it with photos- Christmas photo cards.  One of my very favorite things about Christmas is the Christmas photo cards.  I used to despise writing cards, picking cards, putting school photos in the envelopes, licking the envelopes and stamps.  Now, I cut that in half by creating a photo card.  I've used a few companies in the past, but Shutterfly continues to be a fan favorite. Not only is the quality awesome, but there are 748 cards to choose from.  Seriously?  Yes, seriously! Did you know that not only can you make Christmas photo cards, but you can also make Thanksgiving cards, birthday invitations, baby announcements and desk calendars!

Okay, so let's see what kind of card to make this year. Let's go through some of the great search options.

1. First you can search by how many photos you want.   The "1 photo" option works well if you have one great picture. 

 

Using two photos is great if you don't have a great family shot, but have great pics of each of your kids.

Even better for me?  The 3+ photo card!

For those people like me who just can't choose!

2. Did you know that your picture doesn't have to be a rectangle?  You can have a square card! This is the 5x5 choice.  You can also choose 5x8 or 4x6.

3. You can search by color- this was a great one from the search for "green" cards.

Here is a blue card:

You can even search for multi-color.

There are more ways to search, including by paper type, price and designer.  What are you waiting for?  Christmas?  Go make some cards and memories now!

Disclosure: I am recieving 50 photo cards in exchange for this blog post. Bloggers! You can receive 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly http://bit.ly/sfly2010

eCookbook Giveaway and coupon code!

Holiday cooking....fun?  Stressful? All of the above?  Yes, I enjoy cooking.  Yes, I enjoy cooking for the holidays.  But, what if I had a few of the dishes ready in advance?  How nice would that be?  I could have the mashed potatoes ready, sweet potatoes oven ready, the stuffing ready to pop in the crock pot, the rolls ready for the oven, the appetizers ready for the table and even a special turkey baste or ham glaze?  Wait a minute...two desserts too? So, all I would really have to cook from scratch on the day of would be the turkey or ham? Technically, there is no way I alone would have to make all of this- other relatives would make certain things.  That said, this holiday freezer cooking day would cover both Thanksgiving AND Christmas...and that is awesome!


How do you learn  how to do this? Tricia from onceamonthmom.com has decided to dive into the world of eCookbooks this holiday season with a Once A Month Mom Holiday eCookbook.

This eCookbook is a step-by-step resource for cooking Thanksgiving and/or Christmas dinner ahead and freezing it. Like all Once A Month Mom menus it contains grocery lists, instructions, recipe cards and labels. Since it is a holiday menu, there are resources for those serving a family of 8 and those serving a family of 16. Here are the recipes that are contained in the ecookbook:

• Veggie Pizza
• Pumpkin Cheeseball
• Scalloped Corn
• Freezer Mashed Potatoes
• Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes**
• Slow Cooker Stuffing**
• Make Ahead Butterhorn Rolls
• Turkey Baste**
• Cranberry Mustard Ham Glaze**
• Pumpkin Pie
• Caramel Apple Pie Trifle

**Indicates newly created recipes.

Here are some additional features:

• A choice of preparing an 8 serving or 16 serving dinner.
• Step-By-Step instructions for cooking your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners ahead and freezing the items.
• Grocery lists for the 8 serving or 16 serving dinner.
• Customized labels for each of your prepared items.
• Recipe cards containing photographs and some step-by-step photos as well.
• Recipe cards for each of the recipes.

The price of the eCookbook is $9.99. Now through November 1st it is 40% off ($5.99) when purchasers use the code OAMM40. But GUESS what? I am giving away a copy of the eCookbook this Sunday on Halloween! All you have to do is tell me which recipe you are MOST excited to try and you are entered. 

**The winner was #14- Mandy from Mandygirl's Foodie Blog! Congratulations!

*Want an additional entry? Tweet the contest and post a comment telling me you did so. 

*Want a third entry? Post the contest on your facebook page and post a comment telling me you did so.


Disclosure: I was given a copy of the eCookbook to review and this is an affiliate link. As always, the views are my own!

Top Ten Tuesday- The Blissdom Edition

I wasn't going to go to Blissdom this year because the price went up and the dates changed, which means I have to miss work (teacher) for two days instead of one. Upon seeing all the chatter, I changed my mind.  So, here is my Blissdom 2011 Edition of Top Ten Tuesday. Other than the obvious bloggy related thoughts, here is the rest of my train of thought regarding Blissdom.


1. I can't wait to hang out with my IRL sisterchicks:
Amanda, Mandi and Staci.

2. I can't wait to hang out with my #sisterchicks: Christine, Tricia, Jen and Jill. We all met last year at Blissdom 2010 and have been skyping ever since!

3. I was hoping to sing Baby Got Back with  Busy Dad again, but alas, he will not be there this year.
4. Can't wait to eat at the Pancake Pantry again...totally getting the divine french toast that Amanda had last year.  Scrumptious!
5. Looking forward to finding out who the speakers are and who the entertainment is.  NOTHING could top Harry Connick Jr.

6. I am totally pimping out my bff Devon Brown to be a speaker- would be very cool!! Hoping the powers that be look into him.
7. Very much looking forward to staying at the lovely Gaylord Opryland Hotel.  Seriously the nicest hotel I've ever been to.

8. Not looking forward to trying to get a sponsor.  I've already sent some inquiries out and haven't heard back yet.  Sigh

9. I love swag and I want lots of it! 

10. Hoping to win some contests- I'm pretty good at that.  I walked out of there with a VADO and many other things.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten things that make me feel good right now.

I am going through some trying times right now and I am in need of feeling good.  Here are the top ten things I am doing.

1. Using lots of Baby Magic lotion.  Huh?  Wha? My babies (now almost 14 and 11) always were slathered with Baby Magic lotion.  I loved the scent, but haven't seen it in stores for years.  The other day, I saw it at Wal-Mart and bought a huge bottle of it. I  have used it every day and felt such comfort in the smell of my babies.

2. Listening to lots of Glee music. Did you know that there are hundreds of songs for purchase on itunes by the Glee Cast?  Songs like I Want to Hold Your Hand, Empire State of Mind, Poker Face, Billionaire and Bohemian Rhapsody!

3. Watching lots and lots of The Big Bang Theory.  Other than the new episodes on Thursday nights at 8pm, I have all three seasons on DVD and I watch them often.  If I'm in a funk, all it takes is a Bazinga, and I'm feeling better!

4. Talking to friends- I have talked to, texted or chatted with some of my best friends this week.  I've even started planning a Christmas get together with my bffs from high school- Amy, Ryan, Rog and Alex.  Amy and Rog have little babies, so hopefully I'll get to snuggle them.  Amy is coming from NJ, Rog from IN and Ryan is coming all the way from Singapore, so it's quite the year for them all to be here- that has never happened! Alex and I live here.

The last time I saw Amy was Thanksgiving 2008.  Here is Alex, Amy and I.  This was a few months before I chopped all my hair off.  Now, I'm trying to grow it back to this!

The last time I saw Rog and Ryan was Christmas 2008. Here is Rog, Stacey (who can't make it this year), Ryan and me.  I was making the transition from mid-length to short and the following month I chopped it all off! Alex was there that day too, just not in this pic. I  need to scan some pics of us from high school...

5. Getting psyched about the OAMM tweet-up and seeing some great friends that I usually only get to skype with.  I'll get to hang with my usual IRL Sisterchicks- Amanda, Mandi and Staci, but I'll also get to hang with some of the #sisterchicks like Jessie, Christine, Jill and the OAMM blog author, Tricia.

6. Keeping busy with the kids- Jake has two band concerts this week, Bailey has her first swim meet this weekend, all three of us have dentist visits next week (me for a root canal....), Halloween parties, Haunted House visits, and more...

7. Laughing a lot- I get to do that a lot this year because of one of my students. I can't blog about school stuff, but I can say that I am having fun this year and I laugh hard EVERY day! I can officially say that it is a blessing to have a child with Down Syndrome. Hard? Yes.  Worth it?  Definitely. It is a travesty that our society is exterminating unborn babies with DS.

8. Getting psyched about the OAMM tweet-up because I have some of my IRL non-bloggy friends coming too- 3 so far! One of my friends is coming who has just started blogging about her 100 lb weight loss. She has had more than 6000 hits in as many weeks- crazy high traffic. Dance Party For One is a blog you must check out.

9. Making plans to go out with my IRL sisterchicks Amanda, Mandy, Mandi, Kristen and Staci this Friday.  We LOVE cupcakes and there is a new cupcake place nearby that is open late (very hard to find them open past 6pm).  It's called Cloud 9 Frozen Yogurt and Cupcakes and it's adorable. We're going to cook dinner and then go grab some cupcakes. We will also finalize plans for our annual Sisterchick Christmas Party!

10.  Hanging out at my parents house.  I just started driving over there the other night.  Spur of the moment, impromptu...called and said I'm coming over, don't go to bed yet.  I had such a nice time hanging out with them.  They fed me yummy collards and blue crab.  How's that for a welcome!  It's nice to be able to run home to your childhood house.  Not much can comfort you like going "home."

Check out all the rest of the Top Ten Tuesdays at OhAmanda.com.

Top Ten Tuesday

Here are my top ten cruise pictures:

1. My baby girl drinking a pina colada. Every time she shows this pic, she has to tell them that it had no alcohol...as if they would think she was guzzling rum.  LOL

 2.  This is a very sweet pic of my girl and her daddy.  You can really see how alike they look here.

 3.  This pic is a favorite because of the transformation to the next pic.  I asked Jake what kind of an expression this was and he said "super excited."  Teenagers.  We were on our way out to Stingray City with the Moby Dick Tour.

 4.  As you can see here, Jake had a blast.  They were so good with him when he was scared.  They knew exactly how to treat a teenager.  They said "Jake, quit being a pansy and hold the stingray."  Worked like a charm.

 5. I am fearless and had a blast from the beginning.  Okay, maybe not so much.  I screamed every time they brushed by my legs for the first five minutes.  Did I mention that these are wild stingrays? Then they calmed down and so did I.

 6. Bailey was too scared to get off the boat and they knew just how to deal with a scared 10 year old. They did the opposite of Jake, they calmly talked her down and brought the rays to the boat so she could touch them and eventually kiss them (7 years good luck)

7. My very favorite thing about my girl is that she's so weird.  Weird in a good way. 

8. Weird in a way that I just can't get enough of!

9. She's also very brave.  This was SUPER high!

10. This is one of my favorite pictures from snorkeling over the reef- a first for us!  I loved the colors of the sea fan.  I loved my underwater camera bag even more!

 

If you think I favored one kid over the other, it's only because I rarely saw Jake-  he hung with the teens on the ship!

For more Top Ten Tuesdays,  head over to ohamanda.com

Eco Store review

A few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to try out a new eco-friendly product by Eco Store.  I was allowed to choose two products, so I chose the Coconut Bar Soap and the Orange and Patchouli Body Wash.  I received the products right before my cruise, so I brought them along.

First the Coconut Bar Sop....ahhhh....delicious....I want to eat it....but I can't because it is soap. Can you tell I love this stuff?  It smells just like fresh coconut.  Not a fake sun tan lotion smell, but real, fresh coconut.  It is milky and creamy and doesn't leave a yucky residue on my skin.  It also has strands of coconut to help exfoliate naturally.  My daughter has VERY sensitive skin (can only use baby body wash) and she had no reaction to either product.  The bar soap is less than three dollars, so it is economical as well.  Here is what their site says about the product:

The gentle coconut strands help exfoliate and replenish the skin. Mild enough to be used daily for hand or all over the body cleaning. (3.5 ounce size)

Ingredients

• Sodium Palmate (palm oil)
• Sodium Cocoate (coconut oil)
• Sodium chloride (salt)
• Vegetable Glycerine
• Tetra Sodium Etidronate and Tetra Sodium EDTA (antioxidants used to preserve the stability of vegetable oils in soap base. Derived from vinegar. Safe for skin)
• Cow's Milk (0.2% = 220gm to 100kgms of soap) Level is chosen to ensure those sensitive to cow's milk are not affected.
• Fragrance

The body wash is also nice, but not as nice as the coconut bar soap.  It is on the pricey side, at $8.00, but it is lovely.  The scent is not too strong, which is nice, but I think I would try a different scent next time.  My only complaint is that it is a little too liquidy.  I always use more than I need because it pours out too fast.  It lathers nicely and also leaves no residue on my skin.  I feel clean and refreshed when I use it.

Here is what their website says about it:

Once a Month Mom Tweet-up 2010

If you are in the Atlanta area on October 23rd, make sure you come to the Once a Month Mom Tweet-Up 2010.

Here is Tricia's post about the event:

There is nothing that I enjoy more than hanging out with my readers! Over the last couple of years I have had several opportunities to mix and mingle with those of you that are loyal readers of this site. It is so great to hear your stories, see your faces and get to know why you hang around this site!
Last year, at the encouraging of Amy, I held the first ever Once A Month Mom Tweet-Up. It was an amazing night of fun, fellowship, food and product testing! And I am excited to announce that this year's event will be happening again. But this time in Atlanta, Georgia!
I decided earlier this year that I had some great blogging friends in Atlanta, some great and loyal readers and plenty of friends and adopted family that would love for me to visit! So I set out to figure out how to make this event happen in that market.
So if you live in the Atlanta, Georgia area (or anywhere within driving distance) please consider joining us on October 23, from 6-9 pm. (No worries to those of you who can't get to the actual location, next weeks post about the event will also include directions for participating online.) Not only will I be in attendance but a majority of the lovely and talented #sisterchicks will also be in attendance. Perhaps you know and want to meet one of them as well. Here is the list of confirmed #sisterchicks traveling in for the party!

• Mandi of It's Come 2 This (Atlanta, Georgia)
• Amanda of Oh Amanda and Impress Your Kids (Atlanta, Georgia)
• Staci of Simply Staci (Atlanta, Georgia)
• Becky of The Violet Fig (Atlanta, Georgia)
• Jessica of Vanderbilt Wife (Chattanooga, Tennessee)
• Christine Satterfield of I Dream of Clean (Nashville, Tennessee)
• Jill of The Diaper Diaries (Grand Rapids, Michigan) - YES! She is flying in for this! Woot!
• (and prayerfully) Jen of 4tunate (Indianapolis, Indiana)

Tickets go on "sale" (it is a FREE event but space is limited) on Thursday, October 6th at 7 pm EST - don't miss out, they may go fast! My last event sold out in 1 hour!
Here are a few of the great sponsors of this years event:

The Bread Beckers is more than a Kitchen Store. It is everything you need to make fresh bread at home grinding your own fresh wheat flour and more! They sell grain mills, mixers, grains, beans, baking supplies and ingredients, bake ware, bulk food co-ops/buying clubs, and cooking classes. What is more perfect for an OAMM function than a store that sells in BULK!!! They also have a BEAUTIFUL kitchen/classroom that we will be using for the event. You are going to be so excited when you see this venue! They are located in Woodstock, Georgia.

CUTCO
Cutlery is the largest manufacturer and marketer of high-quality kitchen cutlery and accessories in the United States and Canada. Vector Marketing is the exclusive marketer of CUTCO products, which are sold throughout the U.S. and Canada by authorized sales representatives. Both CUTCO Cutlery and Vector Marketing are subsidiaries of CUTCO Corporation.