Momma Going to Party

Image by roeyahram via Flickr

Girls Night Out
Tonight.....

Has been forever
and I mean

forever since I have done this.

Yeah, more than 10 years ago.

Think I am way overdue or way out of practice?

Who Is In Control?

Had one of those days? You know where your left shoe felt like it was on your right foot all day. The radio in the car has been bleating out all the bad news for you to ingest. Your prayer list goes on and on and on for those who are fighting for their lives in so many ways. That day your just shaking your head and wondering why, why does all these things happen. Why does God not stop it all. Is it all our faults?

Yeah, I have those days too. And we question what to do and how to handle all that seems to be on our over flowing plates. Well, Jim Pace wrote a book asking "Should We Fire God?" that is right there with us. He has put those questions into print. And given a voice to our thoughts and doubts. But that is not all. Jim also helps us look back to our faith and answer this question with a resounding NO.

In everyday language I read and remembered that we are imperfect. That the answers lie in having faith in God to answer our prayers and provide for us. And more so (at least for me) to stop trying to take over. Last week was especially hard for me to accept decisions made by powers that be. I had to question what were people thinking. I also was crying for God to please step in and fix it all. But as we all know there was no big bang and poof all was right in the world. Instead, time to heal is happening. I may not understand why some things happen but I am remembering that there are reasons that we may not see now. For example my Dear Hubby went through a horrid time of bad health and even was in a coma too. That time period was a major turning point in his life and led him to me. I know his family prayed for him and wanted to know why was he is such a place. But now they see it was a new path starting. One that makes him a better person and much happier.

So I wish to thank Hachette Book Club and Karen Ukraine for sharing Jim Pace's book "Should We Fire God?" with me. Again I am reminded to pray, have faith and know that God is in control. And that all will be right in good time.

Thank You Card Winner

We have a winner for the Digital Room Thank You Cards Giveaway.


MJ said... 7

I teach kindergarten. I use thank you notes for parent volunteers.

mj.coward[at]gmail.com

MJ you win:

Giveaway Prize:

(50 ct.) 7 x 5" (folded to 3.5 x 5") Custom Thank You Cards with 4 Baronial Blank Envelopes

14 pt Cardstock Gloss coating

Full Color Outside and Blank Inside

Shipping: FREE UPS Ground Shipping

Eligibility: Limited to US Residents only. Must be 18 years old and up.

I will email you this morning and I have 24 hours to get your address in to Digital Room.....Congrats!

Fantasy becomes Reality

Dear Hubby and I have foregone our date night bowling for a movie instead. And boy did I ever enjoy it. Tonight we watched James Cameron's Avatar. I was so thrilled to receive it from Click Communications. Now you can get this on a regular DVD but most people are buying the Blu-Ray edition. Director James Cameron shows audiences a spectacular world beyond imagination. Here a reluctant hero goes on a journey of redemption and discovery. And in doing so he leads a heroic battle to save civilization.

It was a wonderful evening of J & D's Bacon Popcorn and Diet Lime Coke (yeah, what a combination) while holding Dear Hubby's hand. I loved escaping with him into a whole new land and journey. What beautiful scenes that drew me into this world. I felt like I had walked into one of my favorite Sci-Fi dreams.

Now for the words that come first. Amazing, Beautiful, Epic, Fantasy becomes Reality. I have to say where The Wizard of Oz brought technicolor to the eye, Avatar brought stereoscopy to the soul. I was jumping up and down during scenes cheering on the "people". My dear hubby had tears in his eyes experiencing the depth of love shown. And my friend said he was just blown away.

AVATAR became available on Blu-ray Disc and DVD everywhere in the United States and Canada on Earth Day, April 22, 2010. Thank you again Click Communications and Scott Neumyer.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 'Avatar' Sells 6.7 MILLION DVDs In 4 Days (huffingtonpost.com)
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Pain Free Once Again

I have been struggling to work out and get back in to top form. But have had so much pain in my right knee. It seems that I managed to some how put more strain on my knee than I thought while cleaning the house last month. But having to deal with the rheumatoid arthritis also is not any fun.

I have had luck working with Noxicare natural pain relief cream on my knee. This is a specially formulated for joint, nerve and musculoskeletal pain. I do like that is is fragrance fee and does not stain either. And I am going to let my friends, Emma's Mom and Jayde know about Noxicare too! Both of them deal with the pain from fibromyalgia. And I want to tell Emma's Grandmother too since she is dealing with the side effects of chemotherapy too. I am now back working out at Curves and able to jog in place again. Thanks for the help Noxicare.

I also have the luck to share this with you too. How? Of course with a giveaway. So if you want to have your own tube of pain relief cream then do the usual....comment, comment, comment! We will draw a winner on May 16th, 2010.


Entries are as usual.
1 for visiting www.noxicare.com and telling me one of the natural plants that are in it.?
1 for commenting on when you use thank you cards.
1 for following this blog.
2 for putting this giveaway up on face book (leave two comments).
5 for blogging about this giveaway (leave five comments).
1 for twittering and you can do that daily (leave comment and link for each).

That Cycle is Finally Giving Back

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of CryoCell International. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am working with the American Cancer Society on this years walk-a-thon. In doing so I have found out a lot of information for ways to help. But in doing so I also have learned many things that cross over to different illnesses and health risk. Some of it has been about heart patients. Since my mom is a heart patient it has really struck my interest.

One of the things is the information about Stem Cell research. How stem cells are being used to help in the treatment and management of stroke victims. So far bone marrow and umbilical cord blood have been the sources for stem cells. But they are finding that there is another source that is rich and renewable. It may be a lil off setting but it makes perfect sense to me. And that is from us lovely women and our menstrual cycle.

In an April 2010 'Stem Cells and Development' article shows that stem cells are found in menstrual blood. And this may one day be a potential source for stem cell therapies for stroke and other central nervous system disorders. I am not that worldly but found the article interesting to read. I found that Cryo-Cell is working with researchers world-wide on pre-clinical studies of Célle for potential future therapies. These may possibly treat disorders such as diabetes, breast cancer and wound-healing. C'elle in 'Medical News Today' has demonstrated potential to transform stem cells from our menstrual cycle into many other cell types for future regenerative therapies.

There is a kit that has been approved for collecting these stem cells. And then they are flash frozen for later use. We can have them stored to help us when they are needed. Célle is being offered at a $100 discount on the $499 retail price with a special limited time offer for collection, processing, testing and 1st year storage at $399. Use coupon code CLSTR if you decided to do this.

Thank You!

I am working on my Thank You cards for this year. Yes I have thank you cards printed up every year. I find that having them all ready makes it that much easier to remember those who have gone that extra step for me. I have a great cousin (by marriage) that sends me the cutest lil "no day" gifts. Glad I will have a thank you card all ready to go when those type of things arrive. Many times another of our blogger friends will pop something off to us and I love being able to send them a Thank you card too. I was out this last month and actually was sadden that I could not send one off right when I wanted too.

Who do you send Thank you cards to? Only for birthday gifts? Or did you remember to send any at all? I am sure that many of us want to do this lil courtesy but often just not having them on hand makes it just that much harder. Well we are going to fix that for one of you. How? Well of course with a give away of Custom Printed Thank You Cards from the Digital Room.com.


Giveaway Prize:

(50 ct.) 7 x 5" (folded to 3.5 x 5") Custom Thank You Cards with 4 Baronial Blank Envelopes

14 pt Cardstock Gloss coating

Full Color Outside and Blank Inside


Shipping: FREE UPS Ground Shipping

Eligibility: Limited to US Residents only. Must be 18 years old and up.

Now how do you win? Well the same as always... Comment, Comment, Comment!

Entries are as usual.
1 for visiting Digital Room.com and telling me what their logo is?
1 for commenting on when you use thank you cards.
1 for following this blog.
2 for putting this giveaway up on face book (leave two comments).
5 for blogging about this giveaway (leave five comments).
1 for twittering and you can do that daily (leave comment and link for each).

Please be sure we have a way to contact you with email or blogger page to let you know you won! Ok folks here we go! I will pick a winner by random number on April 26th, 2010.

Advice for College Girl

Y'all know about my College Girl and that she is in her 3rd year as a Theater major. Well it is time for us to work on next years course load and financial aid packages. Oh how I hate this!

But more so is the struggle that we are having on her choice of careers, or what she thinks is her choice. I know that I see things from a different perspective than my College Girl does. As I am looking back at life as she is looking forward. So thus we have such different goals for her. And yes as her mom I do have goals for her no matter her age. I am sure all moms have felt this way for centuries.

I wish for her to go into teaching as I see it as something she will have a natural talent for. Also I see it as a steady base for a career. Of course College Girl has different plans. She wishes to work in the theater and is still looking for that right niche for herself. Thus the back and forth struggle begins. What is worst is the strain it puts on a really really good relationship we do have. I have been given so much advice and of course the #1 is to leave her be and let her make her own choices and maybe her own errors.

Well I am thrilled to be able to share with College Girl J. R. Parrish's book "You Don't Have to Learn the Hard Way-Making it in the Real World: A guide for Graduates". This is just the book I wanted for her. Here she can get great road worthy advice and it is not coming from her Parental Units (as she calls us). J.R. has sound and heartfelt advice on how to develop invaluable people skills and setting priorities for life and career. Here he shares how to understand the long-term benefits of self-discipline and recognizing the consequences of your choices. Also sharing how to avoid romantic involvement that can derail your goals and how to reap the rewarding payback for kindness and generosity. It really is a great book for study on how to make it that next step.

There is also the You Don't Have to Learn the Hard Way Mentor Appreciation Scholarship competition to celebrate the adult heroes who have nurture the potential in others. Entrants answered the question "How was your life changed by a mentor or by mentoring someone else?" And this year Meril Smith was awarded a $10,000 college scholarship to give to a high school senior or college undergraduate of his choice. What a wonderful legacy that J. R. Parrish has created. Also I wish to thank BenBella Books for sending me this book to review. It is going to come in so handy for me and College Girl.

Mary Kay Blogger Party

Image by hugovk via Flickr

This last weekend I attended a play that College Girl was in. Of course I was wanting to look good. You know that is when I was broke out. Yeah, in my 40's and still have acne. I needed some great full coverage make up. Well I use Mary Kay so I was not worried. Well not until I realized I did not have any foundation left. Nope. None at all! Well my neighbor had given me some foundation of another brand for Christmas. And it looked like it would be a great coverage. And it was. Until my eyes started watering and would not stop. Dang it! Another makeup that either makes my eyes water or breaks me out. That is why I started wearing Mary Kay in the first place. It is the only make up that consistently gives me good coverage (not caked on look either) and I do not have an adverse reaction to it.

Well I am glad to say that I am friends with Jana from Life with the Leonards. And she is now a consultant for Mary Kay! Yipee. And she is going to hook me up with some more foundation. Thanks so much Jana. But she is also your hook up too. Yeppers! We have conspired on how to help out all you ladies just as well. So thanks first to Jana and her great ideas.

So here is what we are doing and how it works. First of we are having a Mary Kay Giveaway. Yippeee! We all love giveaways. And she is offering the Fragrance Free Satin Hands Pampering Set. If you have never used Satin Hands then oh my goodness....are you in for a surprise. I loved it from the first time I ever tried it. This kit has become my go to gift for all my girls gifts from Sweet 16 to Graduations. What a wonderful thing to share with the Bride to be too! You can enter for the Mary Kay Giveaway by leaving a comment and telling us either your favorite Mary Kay product or what your make up woes are that you would like fixed. Extra entries will be by:
following Jana at Life with the Leonards,
Tweeting about this Giveaway...daily entries available. Just leave a comment with the URL in it.
And an additional 5 entries for those who purchase from Jana.

Now about the purchasing...you can also get an extra 10% discount if you email Jana at JanaLeonard@Marykay.com with your order. By doing that and leaving her a way to contact you by phone or email then she can give you the 10% off of your order. Do not order through the Mary Kay site as she can not give the 10% off there. (Mention Crazed Mind in your email.)

Now we will be offering the 10% off and the giveaway for the next two weeks. I will be picking a winner on May 2nd. That way you can use your gift or order as a Mothers Day present if you wish. We are so excited to be able to offer this to you and hope it makes your day too! Now enter the giveaway, tweet about it and get your extra 5 entries by making an order.

Where oh Where am I Suppose to Be?

How many times have you felt like you have restarted your life? That you came to a point of having to make a decision that changes the course you are on. And then we all take time (or so I hope) to think, pray and ponder til we come to a decision on what path to take. Yeah, we have all been there.

Next? How often when you do that do you find that you come to a screeching halt right afterwards? Yeah! It comes to that too. And I am at that point again. Dang it. And it makes me mad! Really mad!

Why? Well cause I have changed so much of my life again. I gave up income that I really really needed to pay my bills. Because I felt that I was needed in a more important role. And also for all the physical hard work I put into the change. Weeks of heavy labor for me. Then I informed so many of this change because it was going to be so drastic for my lifestyle. And now....well now I have to go back and recant. Then I also look around and see now how am I going to recoup the financial lose? And I worry so for the person I was making the change for. Their life did not go as expected either.

What to do? What to do?

I will say it is making me delve deeper into a book I have been reading. "Answering Your Call" by John P. Schuster has been one of my latest books. It is to help you focus and learn how to live for your deepest purpose. And I thought I was on that path too. I was following what I was learning. How to find the courage to respond to this new change. To stay on track for it even when I was worried on how it would all work out. And not letting others sabotage what I was called to do. No I do not think this book has anything to do with the changes that have happened. I saw it as another aid to help me in the changes. I like that John Schuster who is a coach, trainer and speaker was able to put into words the feelings I was dealing with. And I also loved that it continued to guide me toward prayer to know what our purpose is. But now I am having to read and seek out ways to accept that the change is not going to happen. And continue to find my purpose. But I will say, currently I am exhausted.

How do you deal with major changes? How do you deal with the stones that get in your path? And how do you know when your purpose is being fulfilled? I do wish thank Berrett-Koehler Publishers for sending me "Answering Your Call". And I would like to tell you it is a good book for guidance. You might be interested in it yourself. I am hoping it will continue to guide me as I keep on with my new journey, what ever it may be.

Addicted

Are you a Junkie?
Well?
Are you?

I am a Junkie!
Yes this is my confession.
It has finally caught up with me.
I can not go through a day with out a fix.
Sometimes I even call my College Girl and have her help me.

You see, every day I am online. Yeah you too! I noticed. But I have to go and check out my Cafe and my Zoo and my Town and my Farm and my Hotel and my City and my Aquarium and up my score on my Game. Yes, I am addicted to Face Book!

Oh the shame of it all. I don't know how it got this bad? One day I was happy 'cause I had a friend. The next I am tied to this computer praying my food has not gone bad and that someone sent me a pane of glass. I scour discussion looking for a Lemming. I talk to strangers! I have friends I have never met! I have my College Girl feed my babies. How did it get this bad?

Oh, and the worst of the worst.....I have stopped visiting other blogs like I use to do.......Please someone......I need intervention. Make me stop! And bring me back to you. I miss you. Really I do. And I.....

Yes I.......
Wanna..............
DELIVER MY FOOD IN MY CAFE NOW......

AAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and if you want you can be my friend too! http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/lynette355

Instant TV

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Charter. All opinions are 100% mine.

I live out in the country, small town land. And we do not get a choice of cable or satellite TV here. Thus we get to only choose between Direct or Dish. And we have to also purchase Netflixs to have movies and shows at our fingertips. So that is two bills we have to pay. But for those of you who do have the choice of Charter then you also have an extra benefit.

Charter on Demand is automatic for anyone who has Charter cable. With this service you can choose from over 6.000 movies to watch at your leisure. Like instant watch of Netfix, Charter on Demand is where you can pick your movie at the time you want to watch it. And the better news......IT IS FREE! Yes, no extra charge at all.

So if you have small kiddos who want to watch 24 hour Dora (like the lil kiddos I know of) then you can schedule special showings that fit your schedule. I end up waiting for several days for a new disc of NCIS to show up in my mail for us to continue the series. But alas that is due to not having this choice of Charter On Demand. And if you are tired of running down to the video store or waiting for long downloads to see shows online, then this may just be the answer for you. You can learn more at charter.net/ondemand. And do not forget to get updates and fun extras on Charter’s Facebook page.

High-Jacked by College Girl

This blog is being high-jacked once again. Yeah, College Girl here and I have taken off with another of my mom's finds. Since she is lucky enough to have friends at Phenix & Phenix, I feel blessed to take advantage of the booty that made it's way into my hands. So here goes another high-jacked blog post!

When you're feeling icky, there's nothing better than a bowl of
chicken soup. Unfortunately, as every college student knows, that
stuff doesn't microwave easily, so we have to make do with cheaper or
simpler alternatives - things that won't get slimy or too greasy after
being heated in a microwave. A simple alternative and great gift is
the Chicken Soup books, particularly Chicken Soup for the Soul: Campus
Chronicles. The book, like all of the Chicken Soup series, is filled
with personal stories about life.

This book, specifically, is about the many aspects of campus life.
From choosing majors to finding love to studying abroad, it's all
here. Reading such stories is so refreshing for me, knowing that
someone else has been through what I'm going through. College is a
very confusing time and a lot of students these days don't or aren't
encouraged to share their stories. They don't tell what they went
through to change majors or what they want to do with their degrees or
how hard they worked to get this scholarship and that loan, how they
felt upon getting accepted to college. Here, I can finally hear some
of those stories told by the people who lived them.

College can be a scary, confusing place, even as an upperclassman or
grad student. The same questions seem to keep sprouting up. The one
I've heard the most is "what are you going to do after college?"
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Campus Chronicles provides several examples
of people answering that question themselves and prove that that
answer can be found anywhere. It also answers other questions like
"where can I go to make friends on campus?" "how would/did study
abroad change my life?" "what did I learn from living in a dorm room?"
"how can I juggle a full class-load and a job and/or a relationship?"
and "how did I get over heartbreak/disaster striking in the middle of
the semester?" The various authors tell their stories well and the
organization of the book make it easy to navigate if you want to read
about a certain subject. All in all, Campus Chronicles gets a 100%.

Circle of Friends-Heather

I was excited to have a new book reach the house recently. It is "Heather" Book V of The Circle of Friends series by L. Diane Wolfe. Even more so was Ashley from across the street, as my book was snatched up and carried away before I was able to even open the front cover. Now Ashley is young but she has a high reading level. Since the book is listed as a YA (or young adult) I felt that this was no problem. I saw her walking around with her nose in the book for several days afterwards. Great! Now I could ask her what she thought and then dive in myself once I could get the book back.

Well, that finally happened and I have had time to sit and read "Heather" for myself. I wish I had done this beforehand. Even though I enjoyed reading this story I feel it was not at all right for Ashley to have read it. I looked up what age ranges was a YA book meant to be for. According to Wikipedia " Young-adult fiction (often abbreviated as YA) is fiction written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, roughly ages 14 to 21." Well the 21 part OK, but the 14 or so...not to my liking. With talk about drinking, sex, suicide and including cuss words, this is not something I would want my young adult reading. I had to go over and apologize to Nessa for letting Ashley have the book in the first place. Thank goodness Ashley may be able to read on a higher level but she is still pretty innocent so somethings just went over her head. Whew!

Now on to the story itself. "Heather" is about a young 20's woman who is making on her own. She has a new job as a Couch and also is enjoying her relationship with her boyfriend. But there are many conflicts that she has to deal with (as all of us do in life). With her father dealing with Cancer and then seeing that thoughts of suicide are entering into the life of a young woman, Heather has a lot on her hands. Top that with the up and down of her serious romantic relationship, there is plenty to keep a young woman in a topsy-turvy state of mind. But Heather must also learn to concentrate on her job while maintaining her friendships too. Thus the lessons of life are set into place. I really did enjoy reading "Heather" and hope to go back and get the first 4 books in The Circle of Friends series. If you are interested you can check them all out at Wolfe's website.

I do wish to thank Direct Contact for sending me this title. I do recommend it for age appropriate of 18 and up. I would not think of it as a YA recommendation though.

Princess Time

Oh I am back in the saddle with the kids DVD's today. And I am celebrating Princess Emma (one of my kiddos) by watching "GiGi-God's Little Princess"

First off, I am a lover of all things pink so you can see GiGi is after my heart right there. And my motto is There is Always Time to DANCE, so once again GiGi is hitting two for two. But as for how did I like the show itself?

Well I am very happy to see a show that is telling lil ladies that they are Princesses to God. They are his precious angels as they are intended to be. I feel we all should feel like we are a treasure. It is an amazing feeling when you finally get it! As for the two shows on this DVD they are the Royal Tea Party and the Pink Ballerina. Why dang it, where is Princess Emma when I need her. This would have been twice the fun for me to see her face light up to see GiGi telling her she is royalty. Then to watch Princess Emma dance while they were also twirling around on screen. It is great to see the message that dance is an expression of joy not a mark of perfectness. Of course Princess Emma has that down pact. See here she is on one of her great dance moves.

I want to thank Book Sneeze for sharing this DVD with me. It is on my must see list with Princess Emma. Wonder if I can dash across the street to Nessa's to watch it again today?

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Frivolous Friday

Yeah today is full of fun filled frivolous facts. Let me have one of yours in the comments today.

Fact 1. Be careful of what you say. Yeah, we all know this. But today a friend told me she was going to be buying some pickling salt. So naturally I asked her what she was going to pickle? Her answer (yes the be careful part) was "Nothing! It is all going up my husband's nose." WHAT! Ok, that is a hard core salt habit. After we laughed she told me that she was making a saline solution for his sinuses. His doctor said those OTC kinds were not too good but to mix pickling salt and bottled water and spray it up his nose. What ever works!

Fact 2. Addicted to coffee? Chocolate the only way to go? Got Milk? And need to have that picture perfect complexion? Well you can have your goodies and look good. How? How about a face mask made from 1/4 cup ground espresso roast coffee, 1/4 cup of cocoa powder and 1/2 a cup of whole milk. Mix and slather on. Don't worry if you lick your lips some, YUM! Leave on 15 minutes then rinse. They say you are what you eat!

Fact 3. What can help us clear the air, bring in song birds, conserve energy, fight global warming and not only beautify your home but increase the value of it up to 15%? You see the answer? TREES! Well with the beautiful spring weather and the amazing song birds around my home I wanted to share that you can get 10 trees FREE when you join the Arbor Day Foundation at arborday.org. There is a $10 membership fee but they will send you 10 trees that are right for your area of the country. And they are guaranteed to grow or they will replace them for free!

Ready for Date Night?

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of 20th Century Fox. All opinions are 100% mine.

I love it when I ever get to have Date Night with Dear Hubby. Don't you? Well we have been doing Tuesday Bowling night here lately with his folks. And I know that sounds sorta old but it is really nice to get away from the house and I like the exercise too. Being with his mom and dad is nice too as we do not get to visit much, while my mom lives with us. But it has been ages since we have been to a movie night out.
There is now the Date Night Movie that was put out by 20th Century Fox. Tomorrow (4-9-10) is the movie release date. Yeah, Friday night the eternal date night! I hope you get to have your own date night to see it too! I have asked Dear Hubby to set the evening aside for me, but alas I waited to late and he is scheduled to work. But hopefully we can get time away for our own screening.
In the mean time I wanted to tell you what the movie was about. "In “Date Night,” a bored suburban couple played by Steve Carell and Tina Fey go on their weekly dinner date and find themselves thrown into a night of intrigue: there’s breaking and entering, a car chase, a shootout and a showdown with an underworld boss at a strip club. Husband and wife come out of the adventure with some scratches and also with their ardor renewed." Wow--sounds action packed! I know that going through those tough times always seems to bring Dear Hubby and I much closer. But I think this is really pushing the envelope of a active night out. Sounds fun doesn't it?

Thursday Trivia

Yeah, I thought I would share a lil trivia but not trivial things with you. And why don't you leave me a lil trivia in the comments today too! So here we go!

1. College Girl had her belly button and eye brow pierced for her birthday gift from us. Not a big deal for many but....CG is allergic to many many metals, even surgical steel. So we have re- purposed an interesting product for her. It is Pregnancy Piercings. (Yeah, I have never thought about the two together before either.) But it seems you need some sort of extender to keep your piercing (already done) while you lil tummy grows. This place makes a surgical tubing (very very very thin) that does just that. And you can insert a stud on each end. Well we had it trimmed down at the tattoo parlor with their sterilized gear so it would fit in CG's lil flat tummy and eyebrow. They then did her piercing and slipped the tube in. Next we fitted her with plastic studs in the tubing. WHA-LAH! Now she is all pierced yet not infected.

2. I am continuing on with my kids DVD kick. Now it is on to The Madeline Movie, Lost in Paris. I love seeing the books I read to College Girl now coming out as shows. And to hear the voices of Jason Alexander, Christopher Plummer and (whoot!) Lauren Bacall was a great extra for me. This was a delightful to hear Christopher and remember how well he did in The Sound of Music. Such a rich melodious voice that he has. And Lauren has such a sultry one as well. This was like an animated musical for me. You can pop over to the site and download coloring sheets for your kiddos too (hint hint for Aunt Rene and all those at home mommies). And watch the stores for you can get you copy on April 13th (real soon!)

3. And for my last lil thing, I have one of my grandbabes birthday gifts now. You see both grandbabes have their birthdays one day apart...no not twins just dates fell that way. So it is a month or more of planning for me to get gifts figured out for the two. Well this year TK is going to learn about investment banking at 6 years old. What? You think that is too young? Naw! Not when I can share the Ekomini with her. This is "the world’s first and only interactive, web-enabled piggy bank - features an online educational game that helps children learn what they should know about money". You can see a video demo for yourself. I love that I can help her learn to save money but also how to budget money. We did this in a different way when College Girl was young. But this is the newest tech way and oh my, TK is all about the tech toys.

So what is your latest and greatest finds? Share with me and maybe I will be able to have some new things to occupy my time with. You know being without the kiddos means I am spending more and more time at Nessa's so I can play with them. Oh what changes are coming up for me. And a special thank you to Pregancy Piercings for the help with College Girl, to Shout Out Factory for the great Madeline DVD and to Ekomini for "saving" me with a great gift.

Get Your Munk On

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Alvin and the Chipmunks. All opinions are 100% mine.

Ok I have to ask you something? If I do not have the lil kiddos here do I have to stop watching the kiddy shows? It seems that I have an addiction to the animated movies. And I just found out that Alvin and the Chipmunks have a double DVD pack coming out. This time I can see the lil guys and their girl counterparts in "The Squeak Along". You can buy it now here.

I remember playing records on a fast play to make them have the "chipmunk" sound. Yeah, I said records. I know that dates me...but! How else would you do it today? Well I found out I can be "munked" on the website. Yeah have fun and let the chipmunk out of you by picking your hip new clothes and your sound. I munked my motto "There is always time to Dance!" I thought this was something Alvin and the gang would so agree too.

So what is your vote? Do I still get to enjoy the fun kiddy shows or is it time for me to grow up? Let me know what your vote is. If you want to do the same then visit http://www.foxfamilyflicks.com for More Munk Mayhem! See you there!