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Wordless Wednesday: Our New (to me) @Chevy Traverse

So, my parents drove me to town to get my new license plate for my 2001 Chrysler Town & Country minivan on Saturday. They were then going to go out to breakfast with me. Didn’t make sense to me since it was dang early and I could’ve easily gone by myself.

Well, it was just a ruse. They were taking me there to get a new car! They had already gotten the financing and the insurance. I just needed to pick which one I wanted. At first I refused to get out of the car and started crying. lol I kept arguing with my mom that I just wasn’t getting out.

They knew I needed a new vehicle and the minivan just was becoming unsafe. I love that minivan and it’s going to be hard to let go of!

So, I test drove this one and a maroon one. I think I should’ve gone with the maroon one. It just all happened so fast, I just wasn’t able to think much or take time to step back. BTW I’ve already gotten a recall on it! bahahaha




Be sure to visit Full Time Mama and enjoy her wonderful site as well!

Getting Ready for Memorial Day Staycation with Martin’s

I have to say, it’s been so fun since the beginning of the year to spend holidays with my family! We haven’t done this for a couple of decades so my kids and I have a lot to make up for. This year, for Memorial Day weekend, we’re going to be doing some grilling like we did for Mother’s Day a couple weekends ago! After Doodle’s baseball game last night he and I headed over to Martin’s.
We had such a fun time grilling I convinced dad he needed to do it again! Mom and I talked and agreed we should have a variety this time: burgers, brats, and steaks! Yes, I’m a meat and potato kind of gal!

Last year I started doing a lot of grilling and really enjoyed it. I tried everything except chicken! I was a little nervous I might not cook it through enough! We had steaks, burgers, brats and pork chops! I think getting my digital thermometer last year helped me to feel like I was more safe grilling. Oh, and I love charcoal grilling. Gas grills scare the nonsense out of me. Needless to say, the boys were pretty impressed with my skills and Buddy pretty much asked for burgers the entire summer!

So, grilling on another weekend meant stocking up on salads, dips, veggies. Instead of just t-bone steak that we had for Mother’s Day, Martin’s had Grass-Fed beef rib eye so I grabbed a couple of them and a porterhouse! I also picked up some beef patties and brats! Listen, my dad served in Vietnam and my brother is Army Guard. And while Memorial Day is to remember those we’ve lost, I want to also honor the men who served and continue to serve. I want them to sit back, relax and enjoy the day!

In the past we either went up to Aitkin to spend the weekend with Gram or stayed home and gone to the Memorial Day parade. We always had bocce ball and other lawn games and since we aren’t going anywhere as a family this year, grilling outside and chillin’ in the backyard is exactly how we want to spend our Monday. Gram always had angel food cake and strawberries to pour over it. We miss spending that time with her and like to remember her in these little ways! So yes, I picked up the angel food cake (and forgot the frozen strawberries).

Have I mentioned my parents have a fantastically, big backyard? The boys and I have a bocce ball set back at home and it would be so much fun to pick up a badminton, horseshoes and croquet. Doodle is a huge fan of picnics and truly loves setting everything up. Last year he wanted to do it over and over again. He’s so sweet! We could bring our potato salad down and our broccoli salad! Put everything out, if we had a huge enough blanket, so the whole family could sit together! Sigh…staycations really can be so nice!

The last thing I did pick up, was a bottle of bug spray! I think I’m going to seriously need to invest in a truck load of that stuff because there are more bugs here than in MN and I didn’t think that was possible! I hadn’t even thought of it during the planning and shopping so when I ran across the display I did a happy dance!

Are you prepared for Memorial Day? What’s your number one “must have” for holidays like this?

If you have the chance, check out my Google+ album to see my entire shopping experience at Martin’s.

Getting Organized With Scott From Walmart #ScottValues #cbias

On our way home from Maryland this past weekend, the boys and I stopped at Walmart to grab some groceries for the week and some Scott Bath Tissue and Scott Paper Towels to stock up our “extra” closet that mom has in her basement. The boys are forever going down there rummaging through all of her supplies to find what it is she needs.

I had asked mom this past week if she’d be ok with getting some shelving for the closet because she’ll send the boys to go down and grab napkins, toilet paper, paper towels, disposable table cloths, you name it and pretty much ever single time they come upstairs saying they couldn’t find whatever they were looking for. I was tired of them not finding anything and decided we’d get that thing organized!

I wasn’t actually sure if or what Walmart carried in regards to shelving and I wasn’t sure what my parents would be ok with. We finally found it and the boys and I stood there for about 10 minutes trying to figure out what would work best there. In the end, we decided we’d get one tall shelf and split it since the closet is under the stairs and slopes.

We headed off from their to get our paper products and groceries. I’d heard that Scott had $4 coupons for Vudu on them and I hadn’t used that service before, but I like the idea of being able to get video on demand. I’ve never done that before and I figured this would be a great way to try it out.

We got to the paper products before the groceries and it turned out to be a great teaching moment. Doodle was trying to show me that I should get one package over the other simply because there were more rolls in the package. We looked at the toilet paper and I showed him how many rolls we got in one package didn’t mean we were getting the best value. I’m not math whiz, but thankfully have learned to figure out what’s the best bang for my buck!

After we had discussed it for about 5 minutes comparing packages and prices, Doodle and I came up with the package we thought was the best buy. In the meantime, Buddy had found the Scott Paper Towels, which thankfully had the Vudu coupon on it (the toilet paper didn’t), and he was building towers out of the packaging. Oy vey!

We got the rest of our weekly groceries and headed home to relax for the evening! It had been a long weekend!

On Monday, after Buddy got home from school and had time to play on the computer, I asked him to help me rearrange grandma’s closet. Not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ve hired him to help me with my blog. He’s taking pictures and helping me with different things, like putting shelving together. In exchange, I pay for his cell phone bill, which is $15/mo. lol I can afford that! =)

We cleaned out the closet, except for the wrapping paper and gift boxes and started assembling the shelves. He hasn’t don’t that before, and they were plastic so it was easy, but it was good to have him to it. He also started talking about how we should have it set up. Another teaching moment because he wasn’t seeing what I was, which was the slope of the stairs above him. We discussed how the higher part should be toward the front of the closet where there was more room to put stuff on a top shelf.

It was so nice getting everything put on the shelves and organized. Now my boys can go down to get whatever it is that’s needed and find it right away! I was pretty excited to show my parents because they’d be happy with how it looked now compared to how it looked…the last SIX years. Um, you’re welcome guys!

And yes, the next task will be working on all of the gift wrap and other random stuff my mom had tucked away in there…including empty boxes. lol I did show my dad and he was actually impressed with how it turned out! I’m afraid he might be getting some “bright” ideas for his storage ROOM! Uh oh

Of course, we weren’t finished yet. I grabbed Doodle and we went around stocking all FIVE bathrooms! Have I mentioned how much I love my mom’s house? Aside from my brother’s room and the basement, all of the other bathrooms have cute little baskets to put extra toilet paper in.





Yes, towards the end, he was mugging for the camera and being his usual cornball self while I was trying to take photos. He had wanted to help with the shelves, so stocking bathrooms with toilet paper didn’t rate high with him. Hey, I did the paper towels! =)

After the boys went to bed, I finally took a breather and checked out VUDU to see what movies they offer. I’ve been a Scott Shared Values user for probably several months and they regularly send me emails letting me know their deals and coupons. The example below is one I got yesterday!

This weekend, Fred is coming down to spend the day with me and I know he’s been wanting to see Jack Reacher so when I browsed through VUDU, it was one of the first selections! So excited to surprise him with this. The nice thing is, it can be watched on Xbox Live so that means we can go downstairs, have some quiet time and watch a movie without having to go anywhere! I’ve never done that before so I’m excited to try it out!

Have you ever used VUDU? Have you seen Jack Reacher?

Be sure to check out my entire shopping experience and having my son help with fixing up the closet on my Google +! We really had a fun time together.

Wordless Wednesday: Robin Eggs

We started off with 4 eggs, and then there were only 3. I think these babies were close to hatching, but we were gone this past weekend and the mama bird hasn’t been back. We think she was probably someone’s prey. Doodle wanted to nurture the eggs, but I explained to him how it just wasn’t that simple and although he didn’t like it, he understood there was nothing we could do for the unhatched eggs. Maybe next year.

Be sure to visit Full Time Mama!

Join The emBARK Pet Health #SergeantsPet Twitter Party!

I wasn’t sure when the next time would be that the boys and I would have another dog. Well, moving in with my folks, they have 3 dogs and our need to have a dog in our lives was fulfilled times 3! =) That’s why this is an important twitter party for me, personally!

Learn best ways to take care of your pet, keep them in good health, & find out how easy it is to donate to AHA pet shelters across the U.S.!

Whether you're a new or seasoned pet owner, join this party and share tips on fleas, ticks, dental problems, obesity and much more!

Leading pet care product company Sergeant's teamed up with actress and animal advocate Tiffani Thiessen (@TAThiessen) to share easy ways that everyone can emBARK on Pet Health!

Since February, Sergeant's has asked pet lovers to take an online pledge committing to care for their pets. For every pledge, Sergeant’s sends a pet health kit (retailing up to $50 in value) to participating shelters with the help of the American Humane Association (AHA). These kits go home with newly adopted pets from AHA shelters nationwide to ensure their health care regimen is off to a great start. Sergeant's has yet to reach their total pledge goal - and needs our help to spread the word to family and friends to show everyone how to help shelter animals. 

Each person who takes the pledge will receive a coupon for $3.00 off their next Sergeant's or Sentry purchase to help keep their own pet care plan on track.

When: Tuesday, May 29, at 1pm ET (the party will last one hour)

Where: We’ll be on Twitter – follow the #SergeantsPet hashtag to track the conversation. You can see the details and RSVP via this Twtvite: http://twtvite.com/sergeantspet2

Hashtag: #SergeantsPet

Prizes: We'll award five prizes throughout the party to random participants who have answered a trivia question correctly.

Each prize includes free flea & tick product for the winner’s pet, the pet health kit (as seen on the emBARK website), an emBARK on Pet Health t-shirt, a head shot of campaign spokesperson Tiffani Thiessen, and a DVD copy of White Collar (Tiffani’s hit show on USA Network).

Hosts: @theMotherhood, @CooperMunroe, @EmilyMcKhann

TweetGrid for the party: http://bit.ly/11HUMNH

Your fellow co-hosts:
Connie, Brain Foggles - @ConnieFoggles
Dionne, Cocktails with Mom - @MomCocktails
Ellen, Confessions of an Overworked Mom - @scentednights
Janice, Celebrating Family - @celebratingfam
Jennifer, Eighty MPH Mom - @EightyMPHMom
Katherine, Our Whiskey Lullaby - @KBWhiskey
Katy, Katydid Country - @KatydidCountry
Sara, Mom Endeavors - @momendeavors
Sarah, Minnesota Mama's Must Haves - @mnmamamusthave

Girl Time With Sally Hansen Nail Art #IHeartMyNailArt #cbias

One of the important aspects of dating someone with children is getting to know the kids. I think it’s pretty important that my kids and Fred’s kids both start building a relationship with us. This weekend was packed full of activities and one of them was me hanging out with Kgirl and a couple of her friends. The idea was to do some girl bonding while we did our nails. Once the other two girls got to Fred’s house, we looked at some examples from the Sally Hansen site to get some fun ideas we could do with our nails. We headed into town to see what the local Walgreens had to offer.

We had to shop pretty fast because the girls had plans later that afternoon and had to leave sooner than we had hoped. We found a ton of Sally Hansen products! It was fun listening to the girls bounce ideas back and forth of how they wanted to do their nails! The only problem with ideas is that you have 10 fingernails and at least for this day, only one idea to use. When I saw Kgirl’s friend’s boots, I knew exactly how I wanted to do my nails! Unfortunately, the style of Salon Effects that I thought would go best, kind of a vintage look, was out of stock. After the girls had come up with their ideas, I asked them which flowers they thought would match most with the boots and they all were in unison with the style I chose.

The gal working in the beauty department was amazingly helpful. She told us about the Xtreme, Salon Effects, Diamond and Insta Dri polishes $1 off sale thru 5/25. She said I could use it on all of the products we bought! Hello to massive savings! I also used my Balance Rewards card! We rushed home to get our nails fancified. I wasn’t sure if they were going to go with maybe a Splatter Party look or maybe Pop Art, but I wanted them to have fun and let them go with whatever came to their minds!

We took a detour to Cold Stone to pick Fred up a birthday cake since his birthday will be this Wednesday and he’ll be out of town. I devised a plan on how to pull it off. I would take Fred into a different room and they’d sneak the cake into the freezer. One way to build a relationship, get into cahoots with them. =) We got back to the house, I asked to talk to him and the girls did their job, although I heard Doodle saying, “Hey cake!” and Kgirl “shush”ing him. I tried talking louder! UGH! She pulled it off though!

I happen to be one of those moms/people who take pictures of everything, not wanting to miss any moment. That’s what happened while the girls were doing their nails. They were painting away when one of the girls got a call seeing how much longer we had left. I wish we could’ve had the whole afternoon, but that wasn’t to be. I realized at that point I hadn’t done anything with my nails yet. lol

One thing I found pretty amusing is that girls (and women) no matter where you go, shake their hands around and blow on their fingers to dry nail polish. And yes, that includes after they’ve used the Sally Hansen Dry Kwik. lol I think they were most excited for the nail polish to dry so they could try out their Nail Art Pens! This was the part I was most excited, too, because I knew this was where their creativity would come in!

Kgirl started off with black nails and added red Nail Art Pen and glitter polish for a firework theme on all of her nails.

Her first friend who showed up recently had a family member deal with breast cancer so she decided she’d do the ribbon on all of her fingers! How stinkin’ cool is that?! She painted them pink and then after they dried, she used the white Nail Art pen to draw the Breast Cancer Ribbon and then used another pen to add blue dots.

The second friend who showed up went with a summer theme. She had orange and white nail polish with fun swirls and dots on all of her nails! I loved how the Nail Art colors showed up so well on the white polish!

Let me just say, they did waaaay better on their nails than I did on mine. I was taking too many pictures of them to concentrate on my own. lol I should’ve hired someone to take photos of us. I had used the Salon Effects before, but on the whole nail, for all 10, and not as “art”. I painted my nails black or sparkly red and then used the Salon Effects on just half of the nail. I realized there are so many fun ways that these could be added. I think if I cut them to a certain shape, I’d be able to stick them onto the individual nails. I definitely want to try out lots of ideas that came after the girls were gone.

It was really cute to see the girls all helping each other out with their right hands. Since they’re all right handed, they have a hard time painting with their left hands. It does take time to learn how to do it without painting the nail and the surrounding skin on each finger. It’s even harder still to draw designs on those same fingers. The girls were really so great with each other!

Then again, the guys were sitting in the living room making paper airplanes. I could’ve hired one of them…or just asked super sweetly. =) It might’ve been a good idea since the airplanes started flying everywhere, including getting caught in the fan and my hair. hahahaha Hello distraction!

The girls and I had to quickly finish our nails because moms started arriving. Time really does go fast when you’re having fun! Kgirls second friend who arrived, her mom was really amazed at how cute their nails were turning out. She hadn’t seen the Sally Hansen line aside from nail polish before and seemed to be pretty impressed!

We all went outside so we could get a group nail photo and move the girls towards the door since they both had to leave. I think they all had a really good time. It was nice for me to spend time with Kgirl and her friends to get to know more of the people who are in their lives. It makes me feel like our families are growing closer together and I love that!

Be sure to see our morning together doing our nails in my Google+ album.

If you could design your nails, do you have a design that comes to mind?