Christmas in the Fall?

I know I have told you that some days it feels like Christmas around here. Well I am sharing my joy and luck with you again.  This last week I was so happy to see packages arrive for reviews and giveaway for you. 
And those are all things to come.  But I had a few other surprises in the batch.  One was that I had won a giveaway over at Is there a Bathroom on this Ship?    I love all the fun giveaways that are hosted there.  Here are her current giveaways if you want to go and get some goodies for yourself.
* Tropical Traditions Glass and Surface Cleaner (1 winner, ends 10/4/10)
* Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter (trade paperback) (3 winners, ends 10/9/10)

* Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (2 winners, ends 10/9/10)
I had won in the Faber Castell- Creativity for Kids giveaway.  So it is now going to be fun around here.  Princess Emma will get to color in the coloring and ARTivity book with triangular color pencils.  And College Girl has already laid claims to the watercolor ecopencils for her design projects in theater.  It is always so nice to have extra art supplies around, don't you agree?  But on top of that I also had such a nice lil personal note from the Public Relations Manager, Lisa Bowdy of Faber-Castell letting me know this was my winning package.  Such nice manners and a personal touch.  She also invited me to check out Creativity for Kids. (Hint...go check it out!)  The have online activities, discounts, craft of the month and featured products each month.

My next snail mail goodie was from the Texas Beef Council.  Remember when I went to the Appetite for Inspiration cooking event this month?  Well they were so kind to send me a thank you note.  Again, manners are so wonderful.  Well that is enough to make me smile.  But she included a H*E*B $25.00 gift card so I could make one of those wonderful meals we were taught.  I think instead I am going to make the Orange Glazed Short Ribs that are on the Texas Beef Councils web site.  It is a crock pot meal and perfect with fall weather hitting.  You may want to pop it on for a Sunday Night Football dinner?
Now for surprise #3!  Yeah, three of them so far.  This last weekend we were at our local fair, the Comanche County Pow Wow.  Well so many companies and organizations have booths set up there.  I bought raffle tickets and picked up freebies of shopping bags and the such.  Well one of the places I entered was with a local Mary Kay lady.  This was something I was happy with.  I wear Mary Kay and did not have a local lady.  As a matter of fact I have been using Jana Leonard online, a fellow blogger at Life with the Leonards.  But, still nice to have local.  Well I now have a delightful lil card from Hitoni Bergmark here.  You see it, another nice note.  I am loving all the manners.  She let me know I won $20.00 of free products.  And a complimentary custom makeover!  I am going to use it one day that I have a hot date with Dear Hubby!  Great gift for me to feel so so so pretty.  I think I am going for the TimeWise® Age-Fighting Moisturizer (normal to oily) for my gift certificate.

This has been an amazing mail call, right?  Well, I am not done!  Nope.  Next still......(see I told you it was Christmas here today!)  I also had a package from Regina from Cottonfield Farm.   She has an adorable etsy shop too!  I had ordered a special necklace for my mom and Regina had gone way out of her way to make it for me.  In the game Hand n' Foot that Granny M is addicted too, a book of 7 sevens is worth 3000 points.  Well I asked for a tile necklace of that winning hand.  Regina did not have enough tiles of 7 cards.  So she went looking til she found more.  She ordered them and made my necklace.  Isn't that really going the extra step?  I also ordered a special necklace for my College Girl.  It is a glass tile necklace of a Morning Glory necklace.  That is our special wake up call.  My mom used it on me and I did the same with my girl.  Now we even have Morning Glories growing in our front flower beds.  It is a tradition for the ladies in our family now. 

The next item in the box was a cute lil purse mirror for me with a retro coffee cup on it.  I loved it!  Just right, coffee and the 50's feel to it too!  Perfect.  Well Regina, being the lady she is, sent me a lil note.  Oh all of this love is too much!  But she was so happy to sent me a second cup of coffee to share with a friend.  Yeah!  She gave me two of these lovely purse mirrors. Wow!  So since she said I could share one....I am going to do just that.  Yeah, I am going to give the second one to one of you!  Just leave me a comment with an email attached.  Tell me something that made you smile today.  Anything that put that warm feeling in your heart.  Or that twinkle in your eye.  And I will pick a winner, SOON!  So hurry....now....yeah, get going and leave me a comment.....I AM LOOKING!

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My Mom's New Blog

Image via Wikipedia

FORGIVE ME....MY FEED BURNER MESSED UP AND IT BLOCKED ALL OF MY BLOGS FROM GOING TO MY FOLLOWERS. SO YOU ARE NOW HAVING ALL OF MY LATEST BLOGS AT ONE TIME.....OOOPPS!

Today is the birth of my mothers blog.

JUST GOOD HORSE SENSE

FROM AN OL' NAG

I hope that you will be willing to pop over and tell her a proper bloggy hello.

I know that y'all all know her. She has her etsy shop on my side bar. And of course her advice has been in my column many times. You know her as Grandma. Well I will have to change her name to Granny M. That is what she has chosen as her new handle. All of this is very new to her. And she is convinced that she can not do this. But Nessa and I know she can. It will just be another learning curve for her.

Well, enough from me. Go see Granny M at Just Good Horse Sense from an Ol' Nag. Make sure you become a follower. She will be one that you will want to read.

OH FOR ALL YOU BARGAIN SHOPPERS
Go to my mom's Etsy shop at Grandma's Homemade Corner
She now has FREE SHIPPING on everything.
And nothing is over $20.00 either.
How is that for a SPECIAL?

Busy as a Bee

thanks to http://d21c.com/tas/mtag3/m75_busy_as_a_b.jpg for the picture

Well I have been going all day. And humming right along. Today is the day that I get to meet Juls from Every Day is a CRAZEE Day.
Juls and her family of Big Daddy, Mae & Hannah are motoring on down as I type. I have fixed up the bedroom for them. We have some home made gifts for the girls and Big Daddy from my mom's etsy store.
There is also a bath time basket there for Juls. We have notes welcoming them along with Werther's Chocolates from Nessa's House Party.

Tonight we plan on enjoying a simple dinner of chips and sandwiches. Also hope to get up a mean game of Hand n' Foot.
I have citronella candles burning to ward off the Texas 'skiters. Music is playing as I keep changing the cd's. And I think I just heard my Dear Hubby pull up in the backyard along with College Girl.

So gotta go! Have a great weekend!

Shake Up the Chakra

Please take the time to visit
my 50 toy give away and
my mothers etsy shop.

First things first. I was happy to be able to talk to Annie and Laura on their blog radio show last night. The love was all around me as I heard them squeal when they found out it was me on the air with them. Thanks ladies for making me feel so welcomed. I do have to laugh when Laura asked me if I had a dog that passed, as she saw a pack of dogs all around me that were happy. (I think I got that all right) Well I had to tell her that maybe that was because I had my 5 dogs all around me then. Well I hope that y'all get to listen in sometime soon. It was lovely to hear and enlightening too!

from Lotus Star Co., Ltd

I took a Chakra test to just see what it would say. Kathy over at 1,112 diet journal did this on her blog. And since I did not know much about Chakra, I thought it would be interesting to find out.

It said that my root chakra and my crown chakra were lacking. So I wondered what that meant.

Base chakra

It says I am under active with the Base chakra. It is about being physically there and feeling at home in situations. If it is open, I would feel grounded, stable and secure. I would also feel present in the here and now and connected to your physical body.
I tend to be fearful or nervous, so my Base chakra is under-active. I easily feel unwelcome.

Crown chakra

It says I am under active with the Crown chakra. It is about wisdom and being one with the world. When this chakra is open, I would be unprejudiced and quite aware of the world and myself.
It is under-active, so I am not very aware of my spirituality. I am quite rigid in my thinking.

Well they have me pegged there, that is true!

I am anxious most of the time. Yes, even bold lil me is nervous. I do my best not to let it show but I normally am quaking in my boots out in public. And I always want to have a plan. To be 100% sure of what I am doing and where it will lead. Even in the unknown realms.

Take this free chakra test and find out how open each of your seven chakras are.

Can U Name It?

Please take the time to visit
my 50 toy give away and
my mothers etsy shop.

Well here is another
Name Game
So we go to each picture and try and figure out what it is?
Of course each picture has been blown up and is a small part of a larger item.

#1
#2

#3
#4
#5
#6


Ok I know #'s 2, 4 & 5 are easy.
But, well I liked the photos anyway.

See how many you can name.
The winner gets a lil something in the mail.

Surprise!!!!!!!!!

Kitchen Cleaning Frenzy REDUX

Please take the time to visit
my 50 toy give away and
my mothers etsy shop.

My dear sweet friend and neighbor posted this blog.

• Kitchen Cleaning Frenzy

I have to say that I did go and help. Actually she does not know how much I enjoy being with her. She is the closest thing I have to a sister, friend, confidant, partner in crime, blog buddy, expert advice giver and many many other roles.

But I died laughing when she said I came over loaded with cleaning supplies.

She answered the door and I told her I brought the cleaning supplies. She was confused as she has plenty. Then I held up the "box o' wine". I told her it was alcohol and it would disinfect anything. But that I thought the cleaning would go better with a little loosing up of the joints. Boy did my joints get loose. I consumed 3 large wine glasses of the "cleaning" agent.

Photo from franzia.com

Well, I hope you have a good friend. Especially one who brings the booze to the cleaning party!

Quiet Times

Please take the time to visit
my 50 toy give away and
my mothers etsy shop.

Well today has been a quiet day. I try and stay busy. But there are times when the "fog" takes over and I just don't function well. Yesterday was one of those days. But today was better and I have gotten back up and on track some more.

I am going to go over and visit with my lovely neighbor. We had a great dinner last night. She made pork roast and tea and I cooked up fresh spinach, turnips, cauliflower and garlic french bread. It was a lovely meal.

Otherwise I think that a good glass of wine and time to chat will make my evening go by. So I will say cheers to you. And enjoy a sip while thinking of y'all.

Grandma's Homemade Corner

New Etsy Shop

My 75 year old mother is trying her hand at a Etsy shop.
Grandma's Homemade Corner
She makes homemade purses and bags.
Currently there are 5 bags listed ranging from 19.95 to 12.95.
Take a look and see what you think.
Thank You!

This bag is white lightweight drapery lining fabric of a cotton/polyester blend. This soft durable purse is lined with a peach material with small white dots. This bag measures 15" wide x 10" deep.
This bag works great as a small tote to carry your wallet, keys and make up or even for a few paper back books. It is a fun cotton black background with hot pink flowers. The bag measures nine inches wide by ten inches deep with covered corded handles.
9 1/2 " wide and 11" deep tote with a black canvas back and a embroidery cotton front. Has purple roosters across a field of flowers and prints. A fun tote for paperback books or to carry your wallet, keys and makeup in.
This bag has a long strap for wearing over your shoulder and bag hanging around your waist to hip. It is handmade with a rich soft velour fabric. There is a beautiful paisley print in warm browns, golds and burgundy colors. It measures 12 1/2" wide x 10" deep and the handle handle is 13" in length. The lining is ivory and has a hook and eye type closure on the flap.

Do You Advertise?

I was curious as to how many SAHM's are using their blogs to help supplement their income? Are you one? How do you do it. Is it in advertising for your Etsy store? Or do you do some of the ways to advertise on blogs? Have you done Ebay or Craigs List? Do you write reviews on your blog? I have seen reviews of products here. And I know of some who do book reviews too.

I understand staying here in front of this computer makes you wonder how can one use it to help. Especially in this economic upheaval. I have looked at several different avenues and keep playing with ideas on an at home business. What business do you run? Do you show that you are being paid for the post? How?
Like this:

Or do you put in badges and buttons? How about your at home stores, are you able to tell your readers about them? When they drive through town unexpected visits show up at your counters.

I know I have looked for specials and coupon codes as ways to save money thus stretching what I already have. And there are some who have told about upcoming seminars and talks they are having at different places too. They seem to be willing to share with others and we all assume it will help them financially if we are able to attend and find products or services we can use. But how hidden are the paying post or the blogs that advertise? Should we have to pretend they are not out there? Or can we be open and say "Hey we think you might like this product. Check it out!"

What is your opinion? How do you like seeing advertising on your favorite blogs. Do you pay attention? And what is the criteria you look for in order to do further research into a product or service you see on someone else's blog?