Flaming Stump

Now that things have started to dry up we decided it was time to start working on burning up the old stump from our Apple tree. It was last year when we brought the old tree down and now the stump has dried up enough to work on burning it up. We have a pit and will be working over the weeked to destroy the last of the tree. We will have to get some marshmellows and hot dogs to enjoy around the bonfire.

Online shopping supplies

Not everything in life can be easy, everyday brings you new challenges. We are more time starved now then ever with the never ending demands on our time anything we can do to make life easier is a blessing. With the improvements in online shopping avenues we can save ourselves time, money and many miles in comparing and researching our purchases from the comfort of our own home. Jazz medical offers a wide range of products to make your life easier and because they deal with bulk orders through hospitals, nursing home and other facilities they can also offer great savings over retail establishments to all consumers. You can shop for any number of items online with great assortment and details you will have a comfort level of what your ordering. Saving money on regular items you need on a regular basis like kendall briefs can save you money and time with the convienence of getting what you want delivered directly to your home.

Summer or Winter?

I guess Summer isn't quite here yet, it had been so nice here lately that one could think the summer was coming early and going to be great. I got to sleep in a little bit after a long night at work. When I woke up I was greated with a rude awakening with a dusting of snow all over the ground. It didn't last long but a good reminder for us not to get overly optimistic on the early summer.

Exciting Career Options

With the economy so tight in our new reality it is becoming increasingly difficult to decide what career path to follow. Increasingly people are turning to the service industry type careers that tend to be in some degree recession proof. If you have an interest in the beauty industry there is a growing group of campuses from the Regency Beauty School. The Regency Beauty school was founded more than 50 years ago and has rapidly expanded from 2 locations in 2002 to over 30 locations in 9 states in the last 8 years. Regency also offers its students valuable assistance with job placement through it's network of connections. If you are searching for your career path I would suggest you check out the Cosmetology school in Louisiana for more information on the school, locations and much more.

Spring time means renovation time

It's one of my favorite times of the year when things start to heat up outside we start to get down to business with our home renovations. This year we are laying down new laminate flooring in a bunch of rooms on the main level of our home. We have one room done now and it looks fantastic. I can't wait until we get back from our trip to finish the remaining rooms.

Chipmunk Mania

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

As a family we really enjoy going to the theatre with the kids, we normally end up there at least a couple of times of month to check out the latest films. It givees us the opportunity to decide what movies we buy for home for our collection. One of our favorites of last fall was the Chipmunks:Squeakquel the kids have been waiting for this movie since the first one came out. They loved it so much we actually went back a second time to see it again. The movie just came out on DVD and we had to make sure the Easter bunny got a copy for the kids, when we went to pick it up for him we noticed that not only could we get the dvd but there was a bonus pack available with a disc full of music and singalongs so it was a no brainer. If you have little ones in your home I would suggest you get out and buy it now. Alvin and the chipmunks was a favorite of mine as a kid and I loved listening to their music and watching the old show. If you and your gang are looking for More Munk Mayhem check out the link for all kinds of Chipmunk activity including the "munk" yourself feature. The kids will have a blast with this one. Get ready for a movie fun night with the kids, you'll be giggling the whole night away.

Dance Competion

Our first Dance competition of the year is officially over, the kids had a good day overall, Kohl recieved a silver for his tap solo and Trinity was a bit more busy, she had 6 performances with 2 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze overall. They were both tuckered out at the end of last night and were not long falling asleep while we were hanging out on the couch. It was a good run through for their next competion in a couple of weeks.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

No it's not Christmas but it is approching the year end for the kids dance classes. Competitions and year end shows are coming up fast. They had a warm up show last weekend for a fund raiser to get a chance to strut their stuff out on stage in front of an audiance, the kids did great even in the cramped space. We are looking forward to a great year end.

Party Fun

We had a sleep over party for Trin's 10th Birthday party and what better thing for a batch of girls to do than to have a spa night. We picked out some facial packages, Chocolate and Strawberry of course and let the girls loose. They turned into a bunch of animals literaly (Monkeys) and had a blast, I think it will take us a week to catch up on the sleep we lost but it was a lot of fun.

Easter bunny time

It's only a couple of days away, a sure sign of spring when the Easter Bunny arrives with his hippity hop. I hope he is carefull this year dropping eggs for the kids as now with the dogs they love to gooble up anything ever remotely edible that is lying on the floor. It is great because it is a couple of days for us that we get to spend together with no running around to dance, basketball, work or school. Here's hoping for some great weather so we can get outside.:

March Break fun

As a family we found a new hobby that we all agree on, the love of skiing. We finally all went this year a couple of times and we are now to the point of buying our own gear. The kids enjoyed it so much they actually decided they wanted to stay home for March Break instead of travelling to visit family...a first for us int he 10 years we have been away from home. It is so much fun and the great thing is the kids don't argue on the hills they just travel along together and have a great time.

TAKING OVER THE COMPUTER

My son is getting rather upset with me today because I'm spending to much time on the computer. I am trying to get some posts done before we go away. It's not to often, as a matter of fact this is the first time that I've had a good size list of blogging opportunities waiting to get done. If I keep getting these opportunities than I will have to look into getting myself a laptop, I can't hog the family computer and with my husband getting into blogging we might have to get the internet hooked up on my sons computer. I'm sure things will all work out and he will be talking to me really soon.

Destination Wedding Vacations

Ah, dreaming of being waited on hand and foot while I enjoy beautiful white sandy beaches. Fantastic candlelit dinners, along with many other fantastic dining options. The beautiful ocean lapping up against the shore, with beautiful calm waters. Cabana's directly on the beach, swim up suites the imagination is endless when I begin to think of a destination weddings I would like to take, with hubby of course. I began looking into vacations that we could take and found a fantastic group of hotels in Karisma Hotel line located on the beautiful waters on the Mexican Riviera Maya. The Karisma Hotels offer a number of unique vacation opportunities to match with what you long for in a vacation and specialize in beautiful settings and gorgeous views.

Sponsor a child

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of SEO 5 Consulting. All opinions are 100% mine.

It is so easy to get into the mode of why me, we can get so down on ourselves about how hard we have things. When you sit and listen to the news or watch documenteries on how life can be in other areas of the World it is amazing how good we really have things. When I watch the poor children in countries like Africa and you see them suffering through every day not knowing where or when they might get something to eat. Plan works is an organization that helps in many ways make life better for those that are really in need. They find ways to help with education by setting up education opportunities for the youth and communities they are helping. They also work to provide immunizations for children. Another one of the vital services they support is finding ways to provide access to safe drinking water and educate people on the vital importance of sanitation. 160 The only way they can provide these service to the areas they are so vitally needed is through donations from people like you. Setting up sponsorship is so easy either by going to the website or by calling the hotline. It is so important for people to take the time to sponsor a child, it is very affordable and you can set up your donations so they are either made monthly or yearly whatever best suits your budget needs.

vacation planner

We travelled down to the travel store today to start finding information and books for our upcoming vacation. The travel agent was super and gave us a lot of information to sort through to plan. She showed us the best times (budget wise) to travel down to disney. Now we have books to show the kids, they love the movie hotel and hopefully we will be staying there for our trip.

Planning a family vacation

We have finally made our decision on a family vacation, we are heading to disney land. It is a big job to plan a trip for 6 especially with little ones but we really want to get there soon. We are planning on next Spring or Summer at this time. We need to get a few debts cleaned up and save some spending money. The kids are pretty excited and we are showing them videos and pictures to build the excitement, not that kids really need any help building excitement.

Tax Time is coming

It is soon coming up to tax time, it will be different for us this year as it is the first year I have been back to work full time. It makes a difference for deductions and such, at least I can claim some childcare expenses this year and the home renovation tax credit should help us some as we put in new windows, doors and some flooring last year that we can claim. We are just waiting for our tax slips to come so we can get into our tax person to finish up our forms.

Planning for a family vacation

It's time to get away just the two of us so we've sat down and and started looking into many different resorts to see which option is best for us. My cousin has just recently planned her wedding and their honeymoon get a way so she was able to help us with some ideas. She had recommended that we look into all inclusive packages. This would make our get a way vacation that much more enjoyable! Once you are there you don't have to worry about all the extra costs. We have looked into an Caribbean all inclusive family vacation.

Karisma Hotels and resorts has got our interests. We can enjoy a world of sensuality and seclusion on the white sands of Riviera Maya. Karisma Hotels is a collection of unique beach resorts in stunning vacations destinations. Karisma offers the luxury all inclusive with beach beds with curtains for ocean view intimacy moments, beach side bar swings, swim up rooms with great ocean views, sunset margaritas served by a beach butler on their private stretch of sand and much much more. It's all part of Karisma's way of pampering all for one price.

Running on Empty

We are quickly running out of gas around here and the scary thing is that Christmas is next week and we are probably going to be too tired to enjoy it. Last night was the worst, the dog was whining for some reason and wouldn't settle down until almost 4am. Shortly after she finally settled down Kohl arrived down, sick with the flu. He stayed home all day so there was no sleep to be had in the house over the last 24 hours. Hopefully things will be more settled tonight and some sleep can be caught up on.

Dreamin' of Turkey

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

It's that time of year again the house if filling with Christmas Baking and everyone is preparing for the Turkey Supper and our traditional Boxing day Hot Turkey Sandwiches. I always make sure to cook a big turkey to make sure we can have left overs for a few meals. I have no problem cooking the turkey but the gravy is always a challange for me, too thick, too thin or not enough flavor. A few years ago I finally gave up and looked for an alternative a favorite in our house is the Clubhouse brand of instant sauces they are easy to make and the gravy is even better than Grandma used to make. Another favorite is the cheese sauce that we use for vegetables. You can check out the
gravy tips video to find all kinds of ideas you can use Gravy for. Club house is a trusted brand well known for making quality products to make our lives easier. You can check out their website and complete the newsletter sign-up and contest entry. The website is a great resource that you can use to get recipe ideas for all occasions. The site also offers a School House Section designed to help us learn more about flavors, spices and other baking tips to make the most of your kitchen. Take a few minutes and check out all the information to help you make your Christmas entertaining even better.

Chrismas Countdown

The Great Christmas Countdown is on, now the hard part while the days are winding down we are extra busy at work so to find the time to go into town and finish our shopping is very hard. To make matters worse the kids are finished school for Christmas Break and that makes it even harder. We don't have a lot of things left to pick up but still we are not finished. I'm sure we will find a way to get everything finished, I hear Walmart is open 24 hours so perhaps late at night after work and the kids are in bed. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Unique online bidding site

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

For me it's all about saving as much money as I can, with a big family it is a challange everyday to make ends meet. If I can find a deal I'm taking full advantage of it everytime. This is the season that makes stretching the budget even harder trying to find great deals on the things my family wants for Christmas. There are all kinds of online auction sites that allows me to try and save money but one that I recently discovered is the
Bidazzled Auction website. You can get all sorts of online opportunities with this unique bidding website. This website will allow you to save up to 90% on the name brands you want. All proceeds fund charities and provide you significant savings. It is very simple you buy your bids in advance as you find something you want to bid on you use your bids to increase the value of the bid. With each bid placed the bid will increase by a few cents, when the bids stop coming in the final bidder becomes the winner. In it's short existance Bidazzled has seen items like Laptops and Wii's go for as low as $1. If you are interested in checking out this opportunity you can get bonus free bids just by signing up and using the following promo codes * Blog: BBP1202A
* Twitter: BTP1202A, you can also get more free bid passes just by referring friends to eht Bidazzled experience. Good luck and happy bidding.

Winter Arrives

Winter arrived here on Sunday, we had company up and were worried about them when they headed out on the road for home when the snow was starting. Everyone made it home safe and the kids had a great time playing out in the snow as it fell. After the "Snow Party" we moved onto the kids Christmas party from Matt's work. It was a bowling party with a visit from Santa himself.

Caution Great Coffee Ahead

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

I am guilty of enjoying my coffee from time to time and it really is determined by what time of year we are. In the summer I like nothing better than to sit back by the pool and enjoy a iced coffee treat while the kids swim in the pool. If it is colder I have to have a piping hot coffee to warm up with. I spend so much (time and money) travelling back and forth to the local coffee shops I really had to reconsider my spending priorities. We decided if we could get a good coffee machine that would look after everything I wanted we would get one for the house to save some money. It took a little research but we discovered the NESCAFE Dolce Gusto machine. It would be a great gift and is on my Christmas "Hint" list to see if I get one. The Gusto machine will deliver quality beverages that are comparable to the best coffeehouses around. The kids will definetly love the Hot Chocolate feature they are always looking for a cup with marshmellows during the winter months. There is a contest right now that you can actually win a NESCAFE Dolce Gusto Machine by entering at Sweetspot.ca, the contest runs until December 20, 2009 so check it out now to get your entry in.

Winter Wonderland

It finally happened today, the first snowfall of the season, usually it happens a lot sooner than December but we all enjoyed the mild fall. The kids were very excited to see the white fluff falling. The dogs especially Riley didn't know what to do with himself when he went out to do business this morning as this is his first winter. This will surely put everyone into the Christmas spirit around here with only a few weeks left to go until the big day.