Ok, so I'd hoped to have time to share some cool stuff with y'all today, but the day has gotten away from me. I've had a screaming 18 month old who has framed my last nerve, so hopefully tomorrow will be a better day and involve blogging. Blogging world, how I've missed you so. :)

Later Gator

Hope to be posting later this afternoon. Hope you have a great day in your neck of the woods.

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day. I'm out hugging a tree and running through the dew in my bare feet and singing "The hill are alive with the sound of music". Um, I wish. More like I'm dealing with a toddler who has decided to throw tantrums after 10 minutes to show me he is independent. We had to have a come to Jesus meeting in the Walgreen's this morning where he learned that if we don't hold mama's hand we get put in the basket. And thanks so much to the older lady who was in line behind me and asked, "Does he act like this at home?" I was so tempted to say, "only when I beat him" but I just shook my head and explained he is 18 months old and that is when kids get an independent attitude.

The sun has finally come out which helps. I think it should always be sunny on earth day. And to celebrate earth day I bought some reusable bags at Walgreen's. They are a great deal this week at three for a dollar. I love using those bags when I shop. They hold so much more and make it much easier.

I've also decided we are grilling out tonight and I've got some veggies marinating in olive oil and Mrs. Dash. This is a great way to grill vegetables. We aren't huge fans of squash and zucchini, but love it with the olive oil and Mrs. Dash. We will also have some grilled chicken.

So that is how I'm spending my earth day. I'll be sure to recycle the glass wine bottle I'm sure I'll need to pop open after dealing with these toddler tantrums. LOL

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Going Green

It's Earth Day this week and I love hearing about all the efforts companies and individuals are taking to go green. I'm not a tree hugging earth mama, but there are little things I try to do around the house to help out the environment.

Two of my biggest debates with dh are things that actually help to go green. The first is running the dishwasher. I am constantly telling him it is better to run the dishwasher. It saves water. Plus, I told him once we had two kids my dish washing days were over.

The second thing I do around the house is making sure unnecessary lights and appliances are off. I grew up in a house where my dad was always teaching us this. It is one of those things you learn as the daughter of an electrician. :)

So those are things we do around here to go green. I'll be sharing some more this week.

We've had a tough week so far. We are working trying to get Sawyer back to sleeping at night and he has had a small stomach bug the last two days. I thought once the weather got better the illnesses would stop. I'm so ready for that. :)

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

How is your day?

Well, we are having a "fun" day here. I have a leak in my kitchen ceiling and my insomniac 3 yr. old started throwing up. So, it is a Manic Monday to say the least. I hope to be back to blogging tomorrow. Probably a post about wine. Drinking lots of it. Just kidding. LOL

We are so sleep deprived here we have the silly giggles. All we can do is laugh.

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Child Rearing, Gardening

Things have been busy this week at my house and I've missed blogging. The weather is yoyoing from wearing shorts yesterday to jeans today.

Yesterday Logan and I went on a plant buying mission and got some flowers. We got a number of red petunias. Did you know that hummingbirds love red petunias? I discovered this a few years ago and I have one little guy who comes to visit us on our back deck. So, I buy him some every year so he will be sure to come and visit.

I hope to have pix soon of our plants and other goodies. I've got errands today and Bunco tonight. It is a full week. Oh yeah, and Sawyer has decided that getting up in the middle of the night is the cool thing to do. Ah, no. So, this is one tired momma.

But, I hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

As Willie Nelson sings...

On the road again... I'm on the road today on a top secret mission. With the family. All of them. All three of the men. That is a lot of testerone. Wish me luck. LOL

I can't wait to share my adventures with you next week. Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Check out my guest blog post over at the ELF Makeup Blog. I'm talking about Funky Chunky necklaces. Am I in, or am I out? You'll have to go over there and see. LOL

http://www.eyeslipsface.com/blog.asp?blog_id=1000643&pagenum=1

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Smart Samples

I love getting free samples from companies like Tide, Kraft Foods, and other food and health and beauty companies. I've been signing up to get lots of free samples lately. I love going to the mailbox and having either a sample product waiting or a coupon for a free product. It is so much nicer than just finding the bills. LOL

I wanted to share a tip that I used last year to smartly use the samples I've been sent. As I mentioned, Tide is just one company that is great about sending out samples of their detergent. Anytime I see a free offer for a sample, I sign up for it. What I do is save up these samples so that when it is time for us to go on our beach vacation, I have a number of these.

Last year this worked out great because I had the detergent samples to take with us to use for a few loads of laundry. I didn't have to lug a big bottle of detergent with me and I could easily dispose of the small packets.

Also, I like to get samples of shampoo and conditioner. I then pack those in my suitcase for our beach trip. I can easily dispose of the small bottles and they don't take up a lot of space.

Another thing I did last year is I had received a number of different coupons for things like free cereal and snacks. I saved those coupons and took them with us on our beach trip. It was a great way to try some new things and also save on our grocery bill for the trip.

One of my favorite sources for free samples is Vocalpoint. They've just recently had a free sample for Pantene shampoo. If you haven't joined them, be sure to check them out. They got a really cool program and I've been able to try some cool products for free. There is no charge to join.

So that is one way I'm already planning for summer vacation. How about you? Do you have any good tips for preparing for a summer beach trip?

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Cool Dessert for Hot Days - Angel Lush Cupcakes

Do you subscribe to Kraft Foods & Family magazine? It started out as a free magazine, but they just started charging for it. I don't subscribe to many magazines, but this is one I opted to continue because I've found so many helpful recipes in it. I also gave it as a gift to my grandmother because she has also loved it and made many things.

In the last issue they sent out, they had a recipe for Angel Lush Cupcakes that can be found on page 31 of the Celebrate Spring issue. I like this recipe because I've made something very similar, but I've made it as a whole angel food cake. I liked how this made cup cakes.

As you can see from this picture, I made them for a party I had just before Easter. Aren't the little bunny picks adorable? They are from a Wilton cupcake kit I picked up at Wal Mart. They kit had the cupcake liners and these sweet picks. I'm such a fan of Wilton's items and I love how they jazzed up this recipe. I got lots of compliments on them. Below I'm sharing the recipe. If you want to make this as a whole angel food cake instead, just make your cake and then take a serrated knife to cut the cake in half. Then when you go to frost the cake with the cool whip just frost the center of the cake with some cool whip frosting and then add the two layers of cake together. Then finish frosting the rest of the whole cake with the cool whip.

We are suddenly getting really hot temperatures here in Virginia and this is a great recipe for when the heat and humidity get up. It is perfect for when you need a sweet dessert that isn't heavy.

Angel Lush Cupcakes

1 pkg (16 oz) angel food cake
1 pkg (3.4 oz) Jell-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
2 cans (8 oz each) Dole Crushed Pineapple in juice undrained. (I used 1 can)
1 cup thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping (you can use fat free it doesn't change the taste in my opinion)
15 fresh strawberries, cut in half

Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Prepare cake batter as directed on package; pour into 30 paper-lined muffing cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown and cracks feel dry. (Note: If baking in batches, refrigerate remaining batter in bowl until ready to pour into lined muffin cups and bake.) Cool cupcakes in pans 10 minutes; remove to wire racks. Cool completely.

Mix dry pudding mix and pineapple in medium bowl. Gently stir in Cool Whip; spread onto cupcakes. Top with strawberries.

I'd love to hear if you try this recipe. Stay cool and I hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

This afternoon

I'll be putting up a post later this afternoon. Got a great recipe to share. Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

Playing Hooky

The sun is shining and there are sand buckets and shovels that need to be used, so I'm playing hooky from blogging today. Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

Good Friday

Happy Friday everyone. And it is Good Friday. I'm looking forward to a weekend of nice weather and celebrating Easter with our family. I've gotten some goodies for the Easter baskets and since dh gave up chocolate for Lent, I've got a brownie trifle to make for Easter Sunday.

I thought I'd pass on a quick tip for those of you who might have little ones doing Easter egg hunts. I've got my 14 month old niece coming to do an Easter egg hunt with the boys. I discovered back when my oldest son was old enough to do an Easter egg hunt it was a challenge to fill the eggs. Then I came up with the idea of putting Goldfish in the eggs. They easily fit in the eggs and they were a snack I didn't mind him having. So if you've been trying to find something to put in your little ones eggs, then consider Goldfish crackers.

Hope you have a blessed Easter.

Easter S'Mores with Peeps

Do you love s'mores and do you love Peeps? If so, you will love this Easter s'mores kit. One thing I'm loving is how candy companies make such cool stuff for each holiday. I love seeing all of the pastel colors and neat candies you can get for Easter. So I was excited to find out about this cool recipe for making an Easter s'mores kit using Peeps and M&Ms Easter Candy. It is very simple. I plan on using this as a prize for my MOPS meeting tomorrow. Wouldn't you love to win/receive one of these?

If you haven't discovered 24/7 MOMS you've got to check these gals out. They send out a daily email and on Tuesdays they've got a live chat show. Their email newsletters contain such great information in them. That is where I found the recipe for the s'mores container. http://247moms.blogspot.com/2010/03/easter-smores-in-jar.html

So this is just another thing I've done to get ready for Easter. What are you doing to get ready? Got a big meal planned? Are you filling Easter baskets? Planning an Easter egg hunt?

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.