Blogher and Best Buy Rock

Ok, so recently I entered a contest through Blogher for a $200 Best Buy gift card.....and I WON! I still can't believe it. I went to check my email and there it was, an email from the assistant manager at Blogher telling me that I had won! Can you believe it?!?! I am SO excited! I am going to put it towards a new digital camera for our family. As many of you already know, we need one bad. Ours "died" over a year ago and we have been taking pictures with our video camera. It is a WONDERFUL video camera, but it is not intended for still shots. So, you can guess how excited I am that I am that much closer to a new camera! Yay!! I want to say a BIG thank you to Blogher and Best Buy for this wonderful gift! I am so very grateful. If you are not familiar with Blogher, you should definitely go to their site and check them out. It's a great community for all of us women bloggers! (Not to exclude men, but it IS BlogHER!) And I'm sure that you are all familiar with Best Buy, but if not, I will put their link on here too so you can visit them as well. Thank you again!!!

http://www.blogher.com/

http://www.bestbuy.com/

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This past week I did not keep my oldest home on the last day of school before Christmas break because he would have gone to school and sat there to do nothing for only 3 hours because it was a half day. This had nothing to do with the fact that I have to get up at 5:30am with him so that he can get on his bus that stops in front of our house at 6:30am. Nope, not me. ;)

This past weekend was certainly not when I STARTED my Christmas shopping. I always have everything taken care well before Christmas and just sit back and relax the week of Christmas. I mean, don't you?!?! I also did not leave on Sat. to go Christmas shopping with my mom and sister telling my husband that I shouldn't be gone too long, only to not get home until 9pm. Nope, I did not leave my husband at home with the kids all day on Sat. Nope, I would never do that.

I did not take some milk out of my youngest son's bowl of cereal to put in my coffee because I had just given the last of the milk to him. I do not have to have milk in my coffee and would never be so silly as to spoon milk out of my son's cereal bowl just so I could drink a cup of coffee. I mean, who would do that?!

I am not now trying to figure out how I am going to finish Christmas shopping now that my hubby is out of town. I am not contemplating taking my children shopping with me and telling them to walk around in the store while I shop. That would be silly and I'm certainly never silly. ;)

I am not at all worried that everything won't get done in time for Christmas. I am not the worrying type and am not wondering at all how I'm going to finish Christmas shopping, (including stocking stuffers) pick up all the groceries for Christmas dinner, cook all day on Thursday, and be prepared for my in-laws who will be here Christmas morning. I mean, who would worry about all of that?! Certainly not me.

My 2 yr. old did not just walk into the room with toothpaste on his face. Now, what did NOT happen in your house this past week? Since we are all perfect and all, do share what didn't happen. ;)

Another MckGiveaway!

MckMama is doing yet another fabulous giveaway!! And to get an entry you can blog about it, so that is exactly what I'm doing! She is giving away.....get this.....Lightroom 2 photo editing software! AND....Grammie Mommy is giving away Photoshop editing software too! You can find out about Grammie Mommy's giveaway by going to her blog, which you can link to from MckMama. You just have to head over to MckMama on her blog and find out all the details so that YOU too can get all of your entries too!! HURRY! The contest runs from right now, Dec. 18th to Sunday Dec. 21st! Go!


UPDATED: To get an entry for what Grammie Mommy is giving away, I'm linking to her blog here! So, head over to her blog and get your entries in for Photoshop!!
http://grammiemommy.blogspot.com/

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This past week I did not procrastinate on taking our family Christmas picture for our Christmas cards. I never send out cards a week before Christmas not giving plenty of time to get to all of our friends and family. And I for sure have still not taken the photo and have NOT decided to snap a photo of my children in their PJ's tonight in front of our Christmas tree last minute.....nope, not me.

This past week I was not super cranky and difficult to deal with. I did not want to just go somewhere by myself and not come home for a few days. Nope, not me. I'm always chipper, easy going, and full to the brim with giving for all! I am always wonderful to be around and everyone wonders how I can manage to just be so pleasant. Ahem.

This past week I did not tell one of my children that they could just wear the pants that they wore from the day before because they didn't have anything clean to wear. I'm always on top of all of the laundry and it's always nicely put away. This has nothing to do with the fact that he has grown out of all of his pants except for 2 pairs. We always make sure that the kids have plenty of options with their clothing.

I did not go to the Dr. and have to have pellets injected into me because I have hormone levels equivalent to your great-grandmother. I am only 32 and there would be no reason for such madness. I was then not so sore that I could not lay on my left side when I slept nor sit without cringing. And I am not at all frustrated that I feel no different even thought it's only been 3 days. Nope, I'm always patient and know that this will take time and I'm just so thrilled that I will feel better. Some day.

And what have you not been doing this past week? What thing happened that you promised would never be revealed? Come on, reveal it here!!

What Women Want

Today I posted on my business blog about, as a woman, taking time for yourself. I encourage all of my female friends and family to go over and read it and take it to heart. We all need time to ourselves in order to keep on being who we are and to become better wives, moms, friends, and co-workers. Go check it out and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

www.be-simply-beautiful.blogspot.com

MckGiveaway!!

Holy Cow!! I can't believe this giveaway....it ROCKS!! I wanted to let all of you know about it so that you can enter too and it's also an entry for me because I'm blogging about it! Win win, right?!?! BlogHer and HP have teamed up to allow MckMama to give away a HP TouchSmart 600!!! Can you believe it?!?! What a great Christmas present for someone. I know whoever wins it will be ecstatic! This giveaway is open to US Residents, aged 18 and older. The contest runs from today, December 9, 2009 until Christmas Eve. You can head over to MckMama on her blog to link to her giveaway page to read all the official rules and how to get all of your entries in. Hurry! You don't want to miss out on a chance to win this!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This past week I did not spend all week looking up recipes for a dessert to take to a Christmas party this past Saturday and then end up bringing a Cheesecake sampler from the Wal-Mart bakery. I certainly didn't plan on making a fabulous Paula Dean recipe (Thanks Beth!!) and opt for Wal-Mart instead. Ahem.

I did not contemplate taking my son to the Dr. in his pajamas...as well as me staying in mine. He was not so sick that it just seemed easier than getting dressed. I did not take him to the Dr. with no shoes on because he was too tired to walk anyway. And while at said Dr. I did not stand OUTSIDE the sick child waiting room for fear that he would get even more sick. And for not wanting to get other kids sick (for real, I didn't want healthy kids getting sick), I did not just then pace back and forth in front of the reception desk holding my 2 yr. old shoe-less child.

I was not so tired one day last week that when I got up that morning to make the kids lunches for school, I did not proceed to take money out of our Christmas fund (in my wallet) and give it to the boys to BUY their lunch. I would never be that tired. I'm always up and ready to make fabulous lunches for them so that we can save our money.

I did not this past week stress completely out about Christmas....we always have it all together and I always buy presents way in advance. I never have doubts about how will even HAVE Christmas, we are always well prepared and stress this time of year never even shows it's face around here.

This past week I did not think to myself that it would be totally awesome if there REALLY WAS a Santa to take all of my worries away....that would be silly and childish and I'm a grown woman who is always realistic. Ahem. Ok, so how honest can you be today? I would love to hear about it!

Saturday Snow

They said (they, meaning the weather man) that we might get snow this past Saturday. Hmmmm, I wondered if we actually would. I love snow, I think it is beautiful. My hubby...not so much. He says that every time it snows or ices he hurts himself. So we keep him inside when it does! Ha Ha. So we awoke Saturday morning to this...







I totally LOVED it! And so did the kids....not my hubby though. So, he stayed inside and everyone else was out in it! But by that afternoon, most of it had melted. We did enjoy it though and then we went to a fabulous Christmas party that night! It was with some great people and some great food. The Jon, the kids and I had a wonderful time. It was good that they snow had melted....otherwise, Jon may not have gone to the party! Ha Ha!! Just kidding. Well, maybe. ;)

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas Tree 2009

Ahhhh, the smell of a fresh cut Christmas tree!! I LOVE IT. I love everything about Christmas. The decorations, the family time, the music, the food! But what I love the most is celebrating Jesus. Celebrating his birth and what that means for all of us. I always make sure that is the main focus in my house this time of year. We always have so much fun going to get our tree after Thanksgiving. We enjoy picking out just the "right one" and bringing it home and putting it up. We string the lights and start putting on the ornaments. I make homemade sugar cookies with red and green sprinkles and hot chocolate. We enjoy each others company and then sit and enjoy our beautiful tree. It's being together doing something that we all enjoy that makes it so special. We had a great time this past weekend picking out our tree and decorating it. I hold these memories very close to my heart.

I hope that you are all enjoying the start of December!! Can you believe it?! Christmas is in 24 days!! I need to be planning! We are going to a Christmas party this Saturday and I'm taking a homemade dessert. I just have to decided what to take. Any suggestions? And hopefully we will go out looking at Christmas lights this weekend too. That is another favorite of ours. Here are a few photos from our Christmas Tree 2009 search and the final result! Ethan was so helpful picking out trees that he liked. Jon and Caleb love being silly (all the time!) and Corey was worn out by the whole experience! Austin was super serious when helping to put the tree on top of our van. Actually, he didn't know I was taking his picture and the sun was in his eyes. What is your favorite part of Christmas time? Do tell! I love hearing from all of you. Have a wonderful day!!