Made in the U.S.A!

I may or may not be having a *soap box*  moment here, so bear with me. LOL!

Is it me or does it seem that EVERYTHING is made in China these days? What’s wrong with this Country? It’s like we’ve sold our souls to the devil. Sometimes it seems inevitable though doesn’t it? I mean I’m guilty of giving them some of our money this year for Christmas but I’ve tried really hard to keep my money right here in the good ol’ U.S of A.

You want to know a good place to start? Well if you haven’t already heard of Etsy, it’s a website dedicated to handmade things. There are hundreds of good ol’ Americans trying their best to make a dollar by creating some really great stuff.

First off let me tell you that with the exception of one person, I don’t know these people personally nor did they give me anything for linking to their store. I just happen to fall upon them in my search for Christmas gifts and thought I’d pass them along. The end.

You  might recognize this first store from a giveaway I recently had.

Lip Love specializes in Lip Balms. She has delicious flavors and I just recently ordered 3 kinds myself. To me, the price is great, especially for organic ingredients. These would make great stocking stuffers.

How about these fabric wallets from Quilted by Anne? I recently went to a local craft fair and bought one that is the exact same style and I LOVE it. I’m not a purse carrier so this fits nicely in my pocket. It holds my cash, drivers license and whatever other cards I might have.

Okay, I REALLY think I need to get this next thing. LOL!

Crispy Bacon Tarts made by Scents of Humor Candles.  Who doesn’t love the smell of bacon? YUM!

Now how about that man in your life? I don’t know about you but men are just hard to buy for. But I thought this Manly Soap Set looked really good. Not to mention they are made in my home state of Maine by Rocky Top Soap Shop !

And the kids? No problem. I found lots of fun things on there for kids. Here is a Mini-Hauling Truck Kit made by Times Past Toys. I thought it looked really fun. Especially for my boys!

And I couldn’t mention all of these without mentioning my daughter’s Etsy Shop. She is branching out and making new things all the time. She’s recently made crocheted slippers that are just adorable. You can find them in her shop, A Ray of Sunshine.

Well if nothing else I hope I inspired you  to “try” to keep your money right where it belongs, with the good people of America.  (Unless of course you don’t live in the U.S.A. and in that case just insert your own country in place of America. LOL!) And maybe you walked away with some good ideas for Christmas gifts too.

But let me leave you with this wise word!

“Just because it was handmade, doesn’t mean it was cheap!” Trust me, I’m speaking from experience. LOL!

HAVE A LOVELY DAY MY FRIENDS!!

This Weeks Round Up! 11-26-2011

As with most people, this week was a pretty busy week.

We had a VERY Happy Thanksgiving. I brined a turkey for the first time and we all LOVED it. I will continue to do that from now on. I was in the kitchen most of the day and when it was time to eat, it was devoured in less then 20 minutes. *sigh* But it was worth it to fill those happy tummies! We also realized that it was our 1st Thanksgiving in our new home. In just a few days we will have officially been here 1 full year.

Thursday night my BFF Kathy and I braved the crazy people of  Wal-mart and set off for our Black “Friday” deals. We got there about 9:45 pm and I was home in my comfy bed by midnight. I never actually made it to Friday. LOL! Oh the irony. People were crazy but I never go with the intention of getting everything on my list. I go for the pure excitement of it all. All and all we had a blast and I came home with some seriously great deals on things my family needed.

This year, I’ve done my Christmas shopping a little differently. I think I’ve done 70% of it online and I love it. Just about everyone is offering free shipping right now so why leave your home to fight the crowded streets and stores? I’d much rather sit in my pajamas, sipping coffee and shop.

My hubby got the Christmas decorations down from the attic yesterday. So it’s go time. Let the games begin!

This year we will be decorating our gingerbread houses Thursday the 8th of December. (Yes, I actually plan the day in advance. This is serious business here. LOL!)  I hope you will be around for the ever exciting voting process.

Well I guess that’s it for now! 

I’ll leave you with some pictures from Thanksgiving Day!

“Busy” cooking!

My hubbalicious busy carving the turkey!

 

Here I am “helping” him. Ha! Ha!

The table!

  

The clean up crew!

Playing a little Cornhole! My BFF’s husband made it and my BFF painted it. So fun!

 

This boy LOVES the turkey leg!

 

Have a lovely day my friends!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m going to be pretty busy tomorrow so I wanted to post this today!

  I hope you all have a GLORIOUS Thanksgiving and if you have a spare minute and need a laugh at my family’s expense then I suggest you click HERE quickly and enjoy!  Then come back and tell me how thankful you were for it! HA! HA!   And if you’re interested I posted my Thanksgiving Menu for this year on my cooking blog and it has lots of yummy links. Enjoy!   Love you all! Have a FABULOUS DAY!   P.S. No Friday Funnies this week. I’m going to be Black Friday Shopping. Woot! Woot!

Thanksgiving Menu 2011

This is what I will be serving this Thanksgiving. There aren’t as many people this year so I won’t be making as many pies. BUMMER! LOL!

We also have to take my hubby and son’s gluten sensitivities into consideration too.

DINNER:

Roasted Turkey that was brined first. (I’ve never brined before so I hope it goes well!)

Herbed Stuffing in the Slow Cooker

Creamed Corn

Roasted Brussels Sprouts ( I heard that even people that don’t like brussel sprouts liked this recipe and I’m counting on it. LOL!)

Kicked Up Mashed Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes

Dessert:

Pumpkin Pie (Made by my BFF)

Chocolate Cream Pie (I might have to make two.)

Apple Crisp

 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Black Friday!

To go or not to go? That is the question. 

MOST of the time I shop on Black Friday. Call me weird but I LOVE being around those crazy people. If you enjoy watching people, Black Friday is the day to go. People shine in all their shopping glory.

When we lived over at the beach my hubby and I would brave our local Wal-Mart. We always have a good time and would come out alive and with some actual needed items.

But this Black Friday we live somewhere else and my hubby has to work, so I’m all thrown off. My Bestest Best Friend Kathy has stepped up to the plate though and offered to go with me. So now we need a plan.

I’m trying to gather as many Black Friday flyers online as I can to see what brick and mortar building we should be standing in front of insanely early in the morning. It matters you know, it does.

So here’s my question. Are you going to brave the crowds of people and the insanely early hours to shop on Black Friday and if so where will you be standing? OR, are you going to be sound asleep in the comfort of your bed?

Enquiring minds want to know. I want to know.

And for your convenience, here is the link to the stores that have already posted their  Black Friday Ads!

And for your visual enjoyment, I just found this video of Black Friday at Target last year. Do you see why it’s just fun to watch these people? LOL!

I must say this, I know that people have actually gotten hurt during these rampages but every time I’ve gone people have actually been quite friendly and it’s been very orderly. But be careful because it can get crazy!!

HAVE A LOVELY DAY MY FRIENDS!

Friday Funnies the Thanksgiving Edition!

Happy Friday Everyone!

The weeks are flying by and I just realized that this is the last Friday Funnies before Thanksgiving. If you’d like to join in our little Friday Funnies Fest please feel free to link up below. It can be a family friendly video, story, picture etc.

Let’s spread some funny.

Today I’m actually going to bring back a couple of past Thanksgiving funnies that just crack me up. Even if you’ve seen these before I’m sure you’ll enjoy them again.

How to Cook a Turkey
Step 1: Go buy a turkey
Step 2: Take a drink of whiskey, scotch, or vodka
Step 3: Put turkey in the oven
Step 4: Take another 2 drinks of whiskey
Step 5: Set the degree at 375 ovens
Step 6: Take 3 more whiskeys of drink
Step 7: Turn oven the on
Step 8: Take 4 whisks of drinky
Step 9: Turk the bastey
Step 10: Whiskey another bottle of get
Step 11: Stick a turkey in the thermometer
Step 12: Glass yourself a pour of whiskey
Step 13: bake the whiskey for 4 hours
Step 14: Take the oven out of the turkey
Step 15: Take the oven out of the turkey
Step 16: Floor the turkey up off the pick
Step 17: Turk the carvey
Step 18: Get yourself another scottle of botch
Step 19: Tet the sable and pour yourself a glass of turkey
Step 20: Bless the saying, pass and eat out

 

 

HAVE A JOY FILLED DAY MY FRIENDS!

The GARLIC Peeler!

Oh I bet you couldn’t wait to see what this post was about could you? Go on, admit it! I had you at the title. You know it takes quite a while to think up a title that good.  Now since you’re here and I’ve got your attention I want to show you a recent discovery I made.

First let me make a note of saying that I am not a Pampered Chef representative. The Pampered Chef company has no idea who I am. They did not give me anything for free.  I’m just an overly excited woman who found something she thinks is completely monumental and feels the need to share with those of you who may benefit from this discovery. The end. Now let’s move on.

Not to long ago I went to a Pampered Chef Party. I really didn’t go to buy anything, but fate had other plans. There was this one gadget that the representative demonstrated and if I could have swiped it out of her hand for my very own at that second, I would have. Really I would have. But to not embarrass myself I played it cool and waited. Waited till she handed me that order form and booklet with all the Pampered Chef stuff in it. I whizzed by all the neat stoneware and choppers until my eye spotted it’s prey.

THIS!

 

Let me demonstrate this for you.

First you take one to two cloves of garlic and place it inside the peeler.

Then apply an adequate amount of pressure and roll it back and forth until you hear the sweet crunching of loose garlic peel.

And then “Voila!” You got yourself some peeled garlic and non-sticky fingers. I don’t know about you but every time I used to peel garlic the paper would get all stuck to my fingers and everything. This completely solves that problem.

But wait, there’s more! I also learned something I did not know, at this party.

I learned that my handy dandy Pampered Chef Garlic Press could do something they say no other garlic press can do.

They said that you don’t have to peel the garlic in order to put it in the press. (Sorry, no demonstration of this. You’ll have to trust me on this one.)

Skeptical, I went home and immediately tried it. And you know what? IT WORKED!!

Can you see how I couldn’t not let you know this kind of important stuff?

The biggest thing? I left a Pampered Chef Party without spending over $7.00. How many people can say that, huh?

Do you have these two items already and if so did you know that about the garlic press?

HAVE A LOVELY DAY MY DEAR FRIENDS!

Backyard Camping!

The other night was the perfect weather to sleep in a tent, under the stars. No no no, not me silly, them. This was my husbands rodeo, not mine. I couldn’t sleep that close to my bed and not be in it. Can I get an Amen?

They threw caution to the wind and braved the wild, known as our backyard and had a great time.

I snuck out there periodically to snap some pictures. (The word “snuck” cracks me up. If you say it enough times you’ll start laughing to yourself.)

Here they are getting ready.

Hellooooo out there!!

 

 

They ate good too. Burger, hot dogs and beans. YUM!

Happy Campers!

 

Camping isn’t camping without a campfire.

The next morning the kids helped cook some bacon and eggs. I snagged myself a piece of bacon after I took this shot. Oh, you know you would have done the same thing. It smelled soooo good! But seriously, Honey, you look so CUTE in your camouflage outfit. Hee! Hee! 

I bet you’re wondering what my daughter and I did all night while they were camping? Well what do girls do when they have the opportunity to be alone? We watched a chic flick and ate popcorn. LOL!

Well there you have our tales of adventure!

Have a lovely day my friends!

Giveaway Winners.

The winner of the Pumpkin Pie Lip Balm from Lip Love is…

Debbie from Heart Choices!

 

The winner of the Tightwad Gazette Books is…

Sheri Graham from Graham Family Ministries!

 

The winner of the pair of earrings from A Ray of Sunshine (the shop) is….

Kristy from The Jensen Family Circus! Let me know what color you would like.

 

The winner of the Starbuck’s Gift Card is….

Melody from Kid’s Stuff!

 

and the winner of the adorable hanging pillow is…

Heather from Wife, Servant, Mother.

I love that almost everybody got their first pick of prizes.

Congratulations to all the winners. I’ll be contacting you soon but if you read this before I do please email me your mailing addresses and we’ll get these prizes off to you ASAP.

Most of all thank you all for being such faithful readers and friends.

Have a fabulous day!

Windows!

I have a problem and I don’t think I’m alone.

You see, I can’t drive or walk past a window to a home without trying my hardest to see inside. No I don’t go up to the window or anything like that (I mean, I’m not crazy), but if the blinds are pulled back and the lights are on, I want to see what’s going on inside. (This usually works best at night.) I even do that to my own house and I KNOW what’s going on inside.

People fascinate me. Everyone’s lives are so different and sometimes peering peeking through a window will give you a glimpse of their life. If someone is watching TV I will try to see what they’re watching (even though I have no clue what’s on TV these days), this is most easily done while walking. I love seeing families sit down to dinner together. At Christmas time I love seeing the lit trees in the window (even though they are blocking my view of the inside). 

But watch out! I also love looking OUT my window, so if you’re like me and you walk past my window I might be looking right back at you, which in turn gets awkward and you start wondering if you should wave, or act like you don’t “see” the person, or run behind the curtain.

Come on you know you do it too. Don’t you?

Friday Funnies! CDO!

Happy Friday Everyone!

I hope you had a pleasant week. Mine was busy but productive and THAT’S  a good thing.

Are you ready to link up your funnies? It can be a family funny video, picture, story etc. Let’s spread some funny around today.

My funny cracked me up yesterday when I saw it. It goes hand in hand with this post, this post and probably this post.

Source: redbubble.com via Kim on Pinterest

 

You all do realize that the big Gingerbread House Decorating Contest is coming up don’t you? You do know what this means, don’t you? Oh yeah, the OCD will be in overdrive. We are already in planning mode. The competition is going to be intense. I lost my title last year to my husband. Prior to that I was undefeated and now I’m ready to get it back. Let the games begin! Bwah ha ha ha!

Have a HAPPY FRIDAY my sweet friends.

Attitude of Gratitude-11/09/2011

I thought I’d join my friend Sylvia this week for her Attitude of Gratitude series. As Thanksgiving approaches I can’t think of a better time to practice gratitude.

She talked about being grateful for the little things. I think we can take those little things for granted sometimes. So I’m going to try to focus on those today.

I’m grateful for….

• ….my family. I think we have a tendency to take them for granted. Like they are always going to be there. But I challenge you to treat each day like it were your last with them.  My 9 year old displays this best. He will always hug me and tell me good bye and that he loves me no matter where I’m going. I could just be going down the street to a neighbors house but he still does the same thing every time. 
• ….the ability to plant our own veggies. We experienced first hand not being able to grow a thing based on location. When we lived at the beach we couldn’t get anything to grow but since we moved we’ve had 2 plentiful gardens. Though we didn’t plant zucchini this time around. I’m sure our neighbors are thanking us right now.
• ….holding hands. I joked the other day at how goofy we probably looked to people, because aside from my daughter who just laughed at my observation (this is about the time I grabbed her and put my arm around her so she could look goofy too) we were all joined together hand in hand walking across a parking lot, talking and laughing. It speaks volumes but yet it’s such a small gesture. Now a days if you see a Mom or Dad holding a kids hand they are usually jerking them around in a store or something.
• This last one is will probably seem kind of weird but I’m thankful for Crayons. I’ve had (and still have) such precious moments with my kids based around coloring with crayons. Some of you remember this laugh I got out of coloring with my then 3 year old.

Well that’s it for today. Nobody likes a long post. LOL!

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway if you have time.

WHAT IS YOUR ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE TODAY?

Feel free to join in.

HAVE A LOVELY DAY MY FRIENDS!

This Is It! My 1000th Post! You know what that means???

This giveaway is now closed.
 
GIVEAWAY!!!

Yes my friends, the time has finally come. I can’t believe it.

1000 posts!

Some of you have been with me since close to the beginning. Like Donna, Patti, Lisa, Kristi, Erica, Lisa J., Kathy C., and probably some of you who read through your email that I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting. But I want to thank you ALL for stopping by even if only for one post. If you ever left a comment you left an imprint on my heart and I thank you!

Okay enough sappiness! We have a giveaway to get to here.

Let’s look at what I will be giving away and then we’ll get to the technical stuff.

First off we have this lovely doorknob pillow (Though you don’t have to actually hang it on a doorknob. Hang it where ever you want.), that my BFF Kathy made. It would look so cute hanging up in your home.

Next up we have a beautiful pair of earrings that my lovely daughter is donating to my giveaway. She has recently opened her own Etsy shop and is selling them there. She has several colors to choose from and you get to pick the color you would like to receive if you win. Check them out.

Another generous Etsy store owner Rachel, is donating one of her fun items. It’s a Pumpkin Pie Lip Balm. She has so many other yummy lip balms to choose from and at a great price. If you get a chance you can check out her shop at Lip Love. They’d make great stocking stuffers.

(Note: this is for one lip balm not three)

But wait, there’s more.

I am giving away extra copies of these books that I have and love. (They aren’t brand new but still in great shape.) If you want some more ideas about being frugal then these are the books for you.

And last but certainly not least, I am giving away a $5.00 Starbuck’s Gift Card to one lucky winner.

Okay, now for the “technical” stuff. I want to give you plenty of opportunities to win so read carefully.

Entry Rules:

1. Just leave a comment telling me how you stumbled across my blog and what keeps you coming back? If you can remember. LOL!

2. In another comment tell me the top 3 prizes you would like to win.

3. If you leave a comment on any upcoming post between now and the end of the giveaway, those will be counted as entries as well.

4. If you following me through email, just reply to this post and you’ll be entered.

5. For my Homesteader’s Heart FB friends, I will have a separate “Giveaway Status” for you to comment on to enter as well. I don’t want to leave anyone out.

You’re name will go in a hat for each entry you participate in and a name will be drawn for each individual prize. So the more entries you have the better your chance to win multiple prizes.

Now for the fine print.

Unfortunately I have to limit this to the U.S. and Cananda. Giveaway will end a week from today on November 14th @6:00am EST.

I hope you’re as excited about this as I am. And thank you to all who donated items to be given away.

HAVE A BLESSED DAY MY FRIENDS!