Mom Central Gift Guide & Mom Central Giveaways

Mom Central is my link to many of the reviews I do on this site. They are a great company with amazing ideas and a fantastic staff.

This holiday season, they created a Mom Central Gift Guide which gives you ideas about EVERYONE on your list! They have ideas for all price points for everyone from kids to tweens and even pets!

In addition to all the great ideas they've shared, they are also hosting giveaways each day. All you need to do is register with the site and enter each day's giveaway for your chance at some amazing prizes. If you tweet about the giveaway (and leave a 2nd comment) you can earn another entry for each giveaway.

What are you waiting for? Head on over and check it out! (And let me know if you win any of the giveaways!)

Going Out

Last night, my DH & I went to a party. Without the kids. It was lovely!

I can't tell you the last time we went out without the kids. We're all about the family around here -- but it was so nice to spend time with him and not have to worry about our kids. I am battling a horrible cold, and I almost considered not going -- but I am glad that I went.

The party was thrown by one of DH's co-workers, and I guess the joke around the office is that I didn't really exist. The last couple years DH has gone to a number of work functions solo because of sick kids or lack of sitters or something. I was happy to be there and show that I really do exist!

The best part of all was just spending time alone with my husband. There were tons of people at the party, but the house was huge -- so we ended up in a game room upstairs where a few of us played pool. It was very laid back, and um, I know I'm repeating myself - but it felt SO GOOD to just BE with my husband. I did have some house envy (we *almost* bought a house in the same neighborhood when I was pregnant with L . . . . ) but we were able to talk about it and we weren't interrupted or pulled away.

We need to make it a point next year to go out regularly. We do everything as a family, but we need to spend some couple time. I didn't realize how much I missed it until this morning when I was thinking back on how wonderful the evening was.

This post will sit at the top of my blog for a week, so please look below for new content :)

Are you looking for my Wreaths Direct review? Click here and you'll jump to that post!

Be sure to leave a comment for the giveaways that are part of the wreath blog tour! You can win a Starbucks gift card, or a chance at a gift bag!

Review: Priority Club Rewards

When I was younger I traveled quite a bit, but our traveling has slowed down in recent years with the kids and all. I expect to travel more in the future, but my parents travel quite a bit right now. So, when Mom Central and Priority Club asked if I would take a look at the rewards program Priority Club offers, I thought immediately of my parents.

Priority Club is a loyalty club designed to help you find the best price on hotel reservations, and give you the opportunity to earn points to earn bonuses towards future stays. You earn points staying in hotels, but also by using their partners to buy flowers, renting cars, or flying on certain airlines.

The registration process for the site was easy and didn't take long. The membership is FREE. The membership card is available for download immediately, so you can start using their services without waiting for it to arrive in the mail.

I passed along the information to my mom, who also visited the site and signed up for a membership. She spent some time checking out hotel rates for various cities they visited recently, or plan to visit in the future. She found the site easy to use, and had no questions about how it worked.

Even if you don't travel much, Priority Club seems a great deal! I like that I can earn points by spending money on things other than travel, and that my points never expire. In a few years, I imagine I'll be using my reward points to stay in a great hotel.

start for Advent

I got the Advent wreath out and set up in time for the first Sunday -- which I think was good! I found the box of Advent / Christmas / Winter / Holiday books before Sunday as well. I didn't wrap them this year, but at least I found them and we've been reading a few each day.

It only took me until the 3rd to put together the Playmobil Advent Calendar . . . but we still haven't opened any of the boxes because I haven't figured out a safe place to put the pieces (ie someplace where L won't eat them.) Hopefully tomorrow!

Today we put out our Little People Nativity.

The kids started their Advent lapbooks earlier this week and are having fun. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but will in the next few days.

I'm done with my Christmas shopping. Now I need to wrap everything so I'm not doing it on Christmas Eve (which makes me crabby.)

The kids and I all have a terrible cold. So terrible that it kept L (and me) up ALL night last night. I don't know how she managed to stay awake the entire night, but she did. I'm just glad it wasn't over Thanksgiving, and now we should be healthy for Christmas.

I have some deadlines to meet in the next few days, a party to attend Saturday night, a new class to prepare for, and a Christmas dinner menu to decide. We don't have a tree up yet, but we usually do that about 2 weeks before Christmas -- so probably next weekend.

Amazon Toy Deals

Amazon is starting to deeply discount various toys before Christmas. I've been watching this Colorforms set for almost 2 years now, and I've never seen it below $19.99. Tonight it was $10.99!

I loved Colorforms when I was a kid, and I think N will get a kick out of creating pictures with them. I finished shopping for him for Christmas, so this set may be put away for his birthday.

Thankful Meme

Alexa, of What is in Front of me, tagged me for this thankful meme. How did she know that I really needed to count my blessings today? I have to list 6 things I'm thankful for, and then tag 6 people.

1. I'm thankful that my family and I are healthy. C's asthma is well-controlled with medication and N & L do not have any chronic conditions. DH & I could stand to lose some weight, but are healthy.
2. I'm thankful for my darling husband and his steadfast love. I'm reminded daily how lucky I am to be his wife.
3. I'm thankful for my 3 children. Their ability to make me laugh and fill me with love. Without them, I wouldn't be a mom -- and I love being a mom (most days!)
4. I'm thankful that I have good friends, both in real life and online, who I can count on to brighten my days and lighten my load.
5. I'm thankful that my efforts to create income with minimum child care needed for my children is working out and continuing to grow.
6. I'm thankful for my sister and that she lives close to me and is always willing to help me out. She makes simple things like grocery shopping much easier just by her presence when I have all 3 kids, and she absolutely loves and adores her nephews and niece. Plus, she's funny and can always make me laugh. Oh, and I appreciate all our inside jokes too -- like slushy people. And her level-headedness. (is that a word? probably not.)
   

I'm not sure who to tag, so if you read this and you're feeling thankful -- then please consider yourself tagged. (And leave a comment so I can go read your post!)

Giving Up Soda

We recently stopped (well, almost) drinking soft drinks in our house a couple months ago. I just blogged about it over at Prevention.com -- Giving Up Soda

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Free Songs at Amazon!

Did you know there are 673 Free Songs at Amazon right now?

For the music lover on your gift list, what an awesome way to create an eclectic mix of music to burn to a CD.

Money Saving Monday #7

Today's money saving tip is to make your own! My 6yo loves beef jerky, but I don't buy it for him very often because it's full of chemicals and pricey.

DH bought N some beef jerky while they were out the other day, and N was thrilled. DH remembered that we had a dehydrator in the cupboard (a wedding gift we used maybe twice? And I almost gave it away multiple times.) He asked N if he'd like to make our own, and N jumped at the chance.

So, they went off together to the grocery store and bought a piece of London Broil for $5 and change (they got 1.5 pounds.) Came home and mixed up a marinade of 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup worcestershire sauce, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 T honey and some red pepper flakes. Sliced the meat up in strips, put them in a freezer bag and marinated them for a few hours.

Then, they took the strips out, laid them out in the dehydrator, flipped it on and left it for around 8 hours. DH went out to play poker last night, so when he came home he checked the jerky and declared it done.

When N tried a piece this morning, he was in heaven. He said he never wants to buy jerky from the store again. With all the ingredients, it probably cost us $6.50 to make a big bag that should last a while.

I love that it's all natural, and Nate just loves it. Sometimes making things from scratch doesn't save much, but in this case, it's definitely worth it!