Smart Solutions for Busy Moms!
Is it worth the risk? Probably, but I’m still aiming for being on the “Nice” list, so I’ll keep being good. Not perfect mind you, but good. How about you guys – Which list are you on this year? Nice, or Naughty?
I can’t wait to read your stories – I have some funny fans. Happy Holidays!
Do you remember your first love? Not the crush you had in middle school – but your first real love? Mine was Big Bear. He was a big handsome bear, slept and on my bed every night to keep me safe, and even attended a few tea parties with me and my dolls. Total sweetheart. There’s a reason that a great guy is often described as a Teddy Bear – because a teddy bear is one of the most loveable things around.
I was so excited when this little bear arrived in the mail…. Meet Storytime Teddie from Cuddle Barn. This little guy is cute as a stinkin’ button, with super soft fuzzy fur, and an adorable little fleece hoodie. But he’s more than just good looking – this little guy is so much fun. With the push of a little button on his paw, he reads to you and your child from his book – and Abby is just completely entertained and delighted listening to his version of ‘Twas the Night before Christmas.
Abby brings her Teddie all around the house with her. She’ll sit him down, and then sit herself down on the floor right across from him. She’ll say, “Book?” and press his little paw – then she gives him her complete attention while he reads her a story. When he says, “Dash away, Dash away, Dash away all!” she claps and giggles. Totally priceless. He reads the entire story too – check him out in action…
I love that it’s not just the sound of the story being read – he moves him mouth too, like he’s truly reading it. And it’s so cute how he kind of sways back and forth while he reads. All of the details on this bear are well done – very well made, super soft, and has held up perfectly through 3 full weeks so far of “Toddler Love” – which can be a little rough :) He’s 12 inches tall, runs on 3 AA batteries that are super easy to install and change, and retails for $29.99 on CuddleBarn.com.
Now one of you can WIN a Cuddle Barn Storytime Teddie of your own! This will be a short giveaway – meaning you have great odds to win, so be sure to come back each day for your daily bonus entries. Use the easy peasy Rafflecopter form to enter – Good Luck, and Happy Holidays!
Want your own today? Use code BSM2011 to save 15% off your order at the Cuddle Barn Online Store!!
{Disclosure: I received a complimentary Teddie to play with for this review as part of a partnership with Cuddle Barn and MomSelect. All opinions, photos, and declarations of teddie bear love are 100% honest and my own. I know you’ll love him too.}
I love to cook, and I really love to bake. I was so excited when we moved to this new house a year ago, and I had this great big open kitchen – New appliances, beautiful stone tile floors, a great big island in the middle – with big sliding glass doors and windows, so I have a view. Our old house had the smallest kitchen imaginable, with no windows. So this gets me excited about creating! I bought new cookware, a gorgeous new apron, and fun baking gadgets. Problem is, my kitchen skills are pretty limited, lol. But, I’m learning. And I balance that lack of skill with my enthusiasm and sense of humor. So, follow along with me on my latest baking adventure….
For this shopping trip, our goal was to find and purchase Clear American Flavored Beverages from Walmart. I shop at Walmart all the time, but had never heard of these. But, you know I’m always excited to try something new, so we headed to the store to check ’em out. They were super easy to find – If you’d like to try them out too, just look for the big green ‘Flavored Water’ sign in the bottled beverages section. There are some other options – but Clear Americans selection was by far the most impressive display!!
I could not believe how many different flavors there were to choose from!! And, you can get them in different sizes too – 6-packs of bottles to drink by itself, 20-oz bottles that are perfect for recipes, and a 2-liter which would be great for punch or mixes. I really didn’t have a recipe in mind yet, since I was waiting to see what flavors were available. I knew I wanted something chocolate, so when I saw the Wild Cherry flavored Clear American, inspiration struck! Chocolate-Cherry Brownies!! I also got a bottle each of lemon and mandarin orange to use in some Jello desserts, a Berry flavor to jazz up our favorite Triple-Berry Muffins, and Strawberry to mix into my French Vanilla cake when I make Bake Pops later this week!! Stay tuned for the How-To’s on those ideas coming soon.
As you can see, I got really excited about experimenting with this Clear American Flavored Water – I bought a ton of goodies! I promise to share the other super-simple kinda-homemade recipes later this week. For the Brownie Bites, you’ll need the following:
Learn more about these great Clear American Beverages, and find out what other great flavors you can get – www.clearamerican.com. You can also find more fun recipes on their site too!
Have questions, comments, ideas? The amazing folks at Clear American would love to hear from you! Follow them on Facebook and Twitter to stay connected, learn about new promotions, and give your feedback.
See the rest of my shopping trip and baking prep in my Google+ Album!
{Disclosure: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias, which is a vendor for Cott Beverages Inc., the manufacturer of Clear American® brand beverages. I love this stuff – all photos and opinions are totally my own, and the over-use of exclamation points is 100% honest and heartfelt. Happy Holidays!}
This quote is so true for me – and looking at my favorite family photo’s can make those great moments totally fresh in my mind. Photos become especially important to me at the holidays – to remember people who are no longer with us, to reminisce over pictures of Christmas when I was a kid, and to cherish the memories that I’m now making with my own little family. A picture can totally capture those moments worth remembering – so I wanted to put together a whole series of posts over the next week that will focus on holiday photos!
Yesterday we took Abby to the annual Holiday Lighted Parade downtown. Last year she was just a baby, only 5 months old, and I’m not sure that she shared my holiday enthusiasm from her bundled up spot in her car seat. But this year she loved it. She loved having Daddy boost her up high so she could see the lighted trucks and tractors, the horses pulling carriages, and especially the parade of dogs in lighted vests. {She’s a HUGE fan of doggies. A seriously huge fan.} I forgot to bring my camera, so thank goodness for my iPhone. The pictures weren’t great, since I had no flash – but I’m so glad to have captured the evening in photos.
So, over the course of the next week, watch for tons of great photo related posts! The amazingly talented Amber Miller will be sharing some great photo tips. I’m going to search out some great deals and discount codes that you can use to print favorite family photos, create memorable holiday cards, or make other fun photo-themed gifts. I have a few reviews and giveaways I’m pretty excited about too! So watch for more “Holiday Photo Week” posts from now until the 12th.
I love Christmas. For me, as cheesy as it sounds, it truly is “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” While some people complain about the crowds, the expenses, and the commercialism – I instead look towards the brighter side of the holidays. In our home, Christmas means family. It means the excitement of finding the perfect gift for someone special, the suspense of keeping those surprises a secret, and the anticipation of what you’ll find under the tree! We still wrap presents from Santa. We bake – working together we bake, arrange, and wrap enough cookies, bread, fudge, and candy to create over 50 giant cookie plates to deliver to friends and family. And we decorate. Oooohhhh, do we decorate!!
Like Buddy the Elf, we decorate the heck out of everything we can get our hands on!! Just yesterday I told you more about my big, blended, overcrowded house filled with family – {Bloggers Have Messy Homes, and other Thoughts on Housework…} – so you know that my house is filled with not just Me, Mike, and Abby – but also with my brother, my two crazy nephews, and my mother. While we have challenges at times, with so many people and opinions crammed in one house – at the holidays I’m more than happy to let my mom take over! I pride myself on being a little Christmas elf, and I clearly got it from her – she is the total Queen of Christmas. Seriously. She’s good.
In our house – tradition is to put up our Christmas tree as soon as our belly’s have all settled from Thanksgiving dinner. We made the switch years ago to an artificial tree, since we keep it up so long. And we are always one of the very first houses on the block to have our lights up! We moved into this house late last November, so we didn’t have much time to decorate the outdoors. So this year, we had to pull all of our gear and outdoor decor out from the garage, and made a plan on how to make out the lights from our old home fit our new one. We did a quick inventory, made a list, and headed to the Sears Christmas Department to stock up!! When I was a kid, we had a really cool older home, and mom would take charge in directing us on how to decorate it – she did such a great job that we would be on our towns “Festival of Lights” directory. So I totally let her be the boss of this lighting business.
We mistakenly thought that the mall was already on holiday hours – so we had a short {super cold!!} wait outside. Abby was a little fussy at waiting in the frosty weather – but the other shoppers joined us in singing her some Christmas songs! {Love the holiday spirit!} – Once we got inside, all tears were forgotten when she saw the amazing selection of outdoor decor at Sears – especially these big inflatables!! I wish I had a video of her giggles – totally priceless.
Other than the Lighted Christmas Pig – see my Google+ story for details on the rest of my shopping trip – these Reindeer were my favorites. We live on a hill, and it’s incredibly windy. So I’ve got the Mister of the house working on a project to make these guys more stable and secure, so I can place a few of them out in our back field. I think they’ll look amazing out there in the snow at night. And with all of the sales and deals at Sears this season, I can totally afford to go back and get a few of them.
We found everything that we needed – including a super cute reindeer hat for Abby! – and headed to check out. We bought their entire shelf of icicle lights, some super cute snowmen lights to line the walkway, and much more. I can’t wait to show you more pictures after we finish decorating this weekend! {Moms boyfriend was in a terrible hit-and-run accident, and things have been a bit turned upside down around here lately – so we’re late getting our lights up. But by Sunday evening, it’ll be a masterpiece! Stay tuned…} Mom and I are both pretty loyal Sears shoppers, and earned points and an extra discount for using our Sears cards. Total bonus!
This was Abby’s biggest shopping trip ever – and as you can see, all of the excitement totally wore her out! She fell asleep with her new Reindeer {another impulse purchase of the day. She grabbed him, hugged him, called him her bay-bee, and gave him a kiss. Of course I had to buy him!} as soon as she was in the car seat. I can’t wait for her to see the lights outside when we’re done – Last year she was just a baby at the holidays. She’s now 15 months, and old enough to really have a lot of fun. So, I’m off to finish some work, get some sleep – and get up early tomorrow and get my decorate on!
Then stop by my Facebook page and share ’em! Post pictures of you fun holiday decor – so the rest of us can be inspired too!
And don’t forget to stop by and see the rest of my shopping trip on Google+ – and if seeing what I got makes you excited for some shopping too – head over to Sears.com and use code REALJOY for free shipping! {See site for details}
{This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias -I received some promotional items for sharing my experience – All photos, thoughts, and opinions belong 100% to me! Happy Holidays!}
As a Mompact Independent Consultant, I’m excited to be able to partner with them to bring you this great giveaway filled with some of Mompact’s best products! One lucky winner will get to choose between the Boutique Baby Shower Basket or the Kids Collections Basket. Win it to give as a gift, or keep it for yourself – it’ll be a tough choice. Winner will be selected on December 21st in time for Christmas Shipping!! Super exciting, right?
Mompact is all about supporting moms in business, and in daily life. All of the products you’ll find here are mom-invented, and solve some of the challenges we all face in our super busy daily lives. You know how much I love finding new “Busy Mom Solution” products to share with you guys – and some of the very best can be found on Mompact.com!
Boutique Baby Shower Gift Basket: You can purchase this amazing basket on Mompact.com – it would be a perfect gift for any new moms on your shopping list this Christmas! It retails for $99.95, and includes some of my favorite products – The super adorable Storytime PJ’s, packaged with a matching bedtime book, the HIPPMama Tool Belt, a Hot Joe Jacket to drink your morning latte in style, and more! And it’s all packaged beautifully in a gold basket, wrapped in organza, and tied up with a bow.
Kids Collection Gift Basket: Another super fun basket that is also available on Mompact.com this holiday season – This is a super fun family gift basket idea! It includes a ton of great products – The I Like Book, {one of my absolute favorites, hands down!} the super popular Kidzikoo Sippy Insulator, the Twooth Timer, Crayon Bungee, and loads more! Just like the Boutique Baby Basket, it’s packaged up pretty in a gold basket, wrapped in gold organza, and topped off with a festive red bow!
25% off all gift items in the “Featured Collection” – includes the baskets and items on first page of shop site. Use code: HOLIDAYGIFT25
Use the easy peasy Rafflecopter entry form to get your entry in today! And don’t forget to check out the amazing selection of high quality products for moms, kids, and babies – and save an extra 25% off all week. Happy Holidays – and Good Luck!
Shop Amazon’s Toys – Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals Week
Join the “Black Friday to Cyber Monday Shoppapalooza” here on Sunshine and Sippy Cups – where we are happy to do all of our holiday shopping from the comfort of our PJ’s, and love being able to avoid the cold, the crowds, and the crazy!! This sale is my favorite – you KNOW how much I love Amazon!! They have an amazing selection, are easy to search and shop, and super duper low prices!! And the Cyber Monday Toy Sales start NOW!! Start shopping before they start selling out!!
Membership – it’s free to sign up, you don’t even have to be a mom, and you get free 2-day shipping for an entire year! {You just have to make a baby-store purchase once a month}. Another option is Amazon Student Membership. Or, just make sure your items are eligible, and get the Free Super Saver Shipping! {Another option is to upgrade to Amazon Prime, but it’s a fee. Check it out online if you’re interested.}So, get over to Amazon today – and stock up on sweet deals!! And if you have deal-lovin’ friends, make sure to use the easy peasy share buttons to post this to your own Facebook and Twitter – so you’re friends can learn these tips too! Because remember…
Friends Don’t Let Friends Pay Full Price!!
"The phrase "working mother" is redundant." I'm Meagan - a Momma, a Blogger, a Freelance Writer, and a total Social Media Junkie. I love sparkles and … [Read More...]
