Contest announcement tomorrow!

Super cool contest announcement tomorrow!  There is a fantastic prize, provided by a fantastic lady, find out more tomorrow morning.

Join us in the 25 days of Christmas!

I'm not doing very well at posting daily, am I?  Thats alright, I suppose.  I'm about to fix that!  Anyway, today's post is just a quick one.

I just wanted to let you know that tomorrow is the first day of "The 25 days of Christmas" for our family.  If you would like to join in feel free.  I'm sure we'll be opening our envelopes each morning, before school since some of the activities are intended to be all day activities.  I'll be posting each day to let you know what we're doing.  Sometimes it will be a craft, and I will let you know all the materials you'll need, and usually it will be things that most people with kids have on hand, but if you would like to check out my last post, you'll see each activity I have planned, and email me if you would like instructions, or want to know what supplies you'll need, or ask for a recipe.  Some days it will be baking or cooking something Christmas-y.  Ill include the recipe and ingredients, of course.  Other days I have activities planned, like building a snow man, delivering cookies to an older neighbour who lives alone, learning about another countries Christmas traditions, and things like that.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading about our newfound family (hopefully) tradition.  :)

Would you like to do reviews for Harlequin Romance Novels?

Just a quick post to let you know about something cool I just found in one of my many google journeys. 

If you enjoy reading romance novels, you can actually do reviews for Harlequin romance novels.  They send out free books, ask you to read them, and then you answer questions for them.  You get to keep the book, free of charge! This has been confirmed by quite a few people, and some have even won prizes for participating.  Heres the link if you would like to take part, I know I am!

https://www.tellharlequin.com/Portal/default.aspx

The 25 days of Christmas!

This year we are doing the 25 days of Christmas, as a family.  We will begin December 1st, and count down until December 25th.  Each day we will do some sort of Christmas activity, such as a Christmas craft, watch a christmas movie, decorate the Christmas tree, read a Christmas story...things like that.  

So for the past week I've been working on the plan.  I've got a list made, and I know how I'm going to construct the calendar itself, so today is the day I put it all together.  I've got some red sparkly burlap-ish material, on that I'm going to add the actual calendar grid.  It will be made out of sparkly white organza, which will be made in to small compartments, for each day, complete with a little flap and a clip to keep it closed until the day of.  I've got some fabric that I will cut out to spell "The 25 days of Christmas" at the top, and a bunch of small decorations to fancy it up a little bit. 

So the three girls will each take turns opening the days compartment, and reading it out loud...well, Annie won't of course.  

I really wish I had a working camera to take pictures of all of this, while I make it so you all could see, but somehow it got broken.  So, when it's all done, I will take one picture with my webcam, and post it here.  :)

If anyone else would like to do this with their family, here are a few links to inspire you\

http://www.quietfish.com/notebook/?p=9802 

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT2JRt_Sr8DtlC982dIJrh62QDjdgvxFFRDnwNXJeksKRc7ROxmDw

 http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3253/3090383136_0dffc785d9.jpg?v=0

Or you could just google like crazy (which is what I did) and combine all the ideas you find in to one project.

Also, here is my list of 25 activities (not in order yet)  for my calendar:

1)    Good Elf Day (We do as many good deeds as we can fit in to one day)

2)    String popcorn for tree

3)    Penguin or snowman recycled lightbulb tree decoration

4)    Decorate the Christmas Tree

5)    Bake sugar cookies & decorate them

6)    Write letter to santa & mail it

7)    Listen to Christmas music and colour a Christmas picture

8)    Read a Christmas story

9)    Write Christmas cards

10)                       Make paper snowflakes

11)                       Go and see Santa

12)                       Salt dough Christmas tree decorations

13)                       Make chocolates

14)                       Make Teacher gifts & wrap them up

15)                       Bake Christmas Pies

16)                       Snowman window cling craft

17)                       Watch a Christmas special/movie on TV

18)                       Go for a drive and look at Christmas lights, with popcorn & blankets.

19)                       Pajama movie night with popcorn

20)                       Learn about another countries Christmas traditions

21)                       Play in the snow & have hot chocolate (first day of winter – 22)

22)                       Toilet paper roll snowmen craft

23)                       Take the cookies we have made to our neighbour

24)                       Hang up stockings, leave out milk & cookies, and put out carrots for the reindeer

Aand I've been struggling for a new tradition for our family to start for Christmas day.  traditions keep a family close, and we need our own, so, I've come up with one idea, and it may change, but I think Im going to stick with it.  On christmas morning, after all the presents are opened, and everyone has had a chance to check out their new stuff, we'll all get dressed up, and Ill serve everyone a fancy brunch.  COmplete with orange juice in wine glasses, candles, a nice tablecloth on the table, and some music playing.  I know the kids will FLIP out for that, and I love to see them smile, so, we'll go with this idea.  

If you decide to do this with your family, let me know, I would love to hear about it! 

2)

These are a few of my favourite things,,,,

Well, really, these are things I pretty much can't live without. Ten material objects, in no particular order.  (This means my children, boyfriend, parents and other family members are not on here, because they mean more to me than any material object ever could)

1. Coffee.  I prefer Tim Hortons, dislike Starbucks, and usually drink Maxwell House.  
2. Tea.  I'm beginning to take more than a liking to this stuff.  I used to drink it once in awhile, now it's a daily thing, and the more I drink, the more I want to try new flavours. 
3. Urban Decay Primer Potion.  I don't wear make-up every day, but when I do, I use this, and I don't think I'll go back to not using it.  
4. My laptop.  Yes, I realize how that sounds.  I cannot live without my laptop.  It's just that it's so darn handy.  I use it to plan the monthly budget, meal plans, and it is currently holding over 200 recipes.  When I cook, it goes in the kitchen with me so I can follow recipes, and listen to music.  When I'm tired, I can lay in bed and watch a movie.
5. My minivan.  Yes, I realize some of you think mini vans suck; but guess what?  YOU'RE WRONG.  I put my kids in the back seat, turn up the music, and I don't head a damn thing!  You car drivers can't do that now, can you?  I'm only slightly joking. 
6. Bounty Paper Towels.  Yes, paper towel.  I prefer select-a-size, but really, as long as it's Bounty, I'm good.  
7. Books. I love to read.  I have always loved to read, ever since I was a kid.  I like all types of books, and I'm always in the middle of reading at least 3 different books. 
8. Ebay.  I guess this is sort of a material object.  You get the idea, eh?  I ♥ Ebay!  I buy so many things, and for such a cheap price.  I see something I like on TV, and I go right to Ebay to see what kind of deal I can get.  I once bought a $27 book on there for $4 because the pages were dog eared. 
9. My bread maker.  My mom gave it to me about two weeks ago, and I've made a loaf (or 2) of bread every single day, since then.  This thing is great.  I don't buy bread or buns any more.  Thank you mom!
10. My "lambie jammies."  I've had these since I don't know when.  Years and years and years, and it shows.  I've worn them through all three pregnancies, literally. (No, really) They're threadbare, torn to crap, and probably have a stain or two - but I love them, and whats even better?  My boyfriend loves it when I wear them!  They're his favourite.  Sometimes when he notices them in the laundry, he'll wash them, just so I can wear them that night.  He always snuggles up to me because he loves how soft they are.  I'm either going to have to sew them up, or say RIP "Lambie jammies" pretty soon.  I wonder how he'll take it?

So, this list was originally supposed to be 25 items, but I struggled coming up with ten.  Do you have a list of 10, 25....50?  Tell me!  I love hearing these types of things.  :) 

Decorating for Christmas in November; yay or nay?

Today feels like the perfect day to pull the Christmas decorations out of the basement storage, but alas, it is only November 19th.  For some reason it seems wrong to me.  I've got my wreath up on my front door, and a snowman window clingy thing, but thats the extent of my decor.

On Sunday we're taking the kids to the city to see the Santa Claus parade which should prove interesting.  The forcast is saying -11°C, which isn't too bad...but thats the estimated high, the estimated low is looking to be about -22°C. Not fun.  I know after seeing all the Christmas-y stuff, and the big guy himself, I will REALLY want to decorate...and the kids will too.

This year we're doing "The 25 days of Christmas."  I'm (slowly) creating a 3'x3' advent calendar, each day will hold a note with a Christmas activity on it, and each of my girls will take turns each day reading the note.  December 1st is going to be to Decorate the Christmas tree.  So... 11 more days!  We'll see who has more patience, the kids...or mom.

Green Works products...actually WORK!

I've tried some environmentally friendly products in the past with not so great results, but in my first order from www.save.ca I received a bunch of coupons for Clorox's GREEN WORKS products.  One was a "buy 3 & save $5" deal.  Woohoo!  I needed some cleaning products at the time, so I decided to try those ones.  Am I ever glad I did!  I chose the dishsoap, the multi-purpose spray cleaner and the wipes, since I go through those like crazy. 

I got home, and lo and behold, I had dishes to do!  (Family of five with no dishwasher...wait, I AM the dishwasher)  So I filled the sink up with hot water and some of the Green Works soap, and I was amazed.  It smelled amazing, the bubbles lasted longer than any soap I have ever used, and my hands never feel like they've been soaked in bleach after doing dishes 3 times per day.  

The all-purpose spray cleaner is just as awesome as the dish soap.  It smells amazing, it cleans just as well as any other product containing all the harsh chemicals, and it's main ingredients are derived from coconut, corn, lemons, and water, which I think is probably safer in the kitchen.  It just makes me wonder; how much bacteria is it killing?

Last on the list is the wipes.  I haven't really had a chance to use them yet, I just opened them this morning.  Again, they're just made with natural lemon & wood fibres, with no chemicals, so I'm not sure how well they will disinfect.  They smell good, and the coolest thing about them, is they're compostable...which would be great...if I composted. 

I've been conversing with one of the Green Works reps on the company's Facebook fan page, and I've been told there is a money back guarantee with all of the Green Works products, so I think the next bottle of laundy soap I buy is going to be Green Works.  I'm still a bit sceptical, as we have horrible water in this town, and I usually don't use anything but Tide.  Tide rocks our mismatched holy socks.  :)

All in all, the best thing about the Green Works products I have tried is the scents they offer.  The dish soap is the best product over all with it's water lily scent.  We'll have to wait and see how that laundry soap turns out.

Heres a link to the website, if you're interested.  http://www.greenworkscleaners.com/