We're in This Together (Mindful Parenting Collaboration}

Mindful Parenting Collaboration - Topic 4: Partners in Parenting

If you’re reading this, you might have the feeling that you want to change some of your parenting practices or, perhaps, you're curious about “mindful parenting” and what it could be. Well, congratulations for taking a moment from your day to click on the link. Erin of it’s OK and I are going to be working together over the next 40 weeks (!) on a journey toward more mindful parenting and would love to have you join us. To learn how we envision The Mindful Parenting Collaboration working, please read the introductory post HERE.

I know I keep saying this, but this topic is a really tough one for me to write about.Way back in June, I wrote THIS POST about some of the problems I was encountering at the time. The fifth one is about some problems between my husband and myself. They've gotten better and then worse, back and forth, since then. Our relationship is a mess right now and it's not going to be an easy fix. Most people, if I were to give them the entire story, would have told me to get the hell out a long time ago. But, in my opinion, this is one of the problems with society today: If it's broke, throw it away and get a new one. Well, I won't throw out a broken vacuum cleaner without trying every possible way I can think of to fix it and I'm not going to do that with my marriage.

However, this "broken" relationship makes parenting as partners really tough. Over the past year or so, I've slowly taken over all aspects of the role of "parent". My husband has become the teenage roommate who happens to share our space. He is a fun companion for the kids... when he feels like spending some time with them. He doesn't regularly enforce rules, he allows Little Guy to manipulate him into giving him whatever he wants. This will go on for 10 minutes to an hour until my hubby just boils over and starts yelling and threatening to spank. Not cool with me at all. Especially after he's gotten the kid all wired up and made him think that he rules all. It literally goes from "Super Crazy Fun Time" to "I've Had it!!!" in seconds. There are lots more things I could while about on the subject, but I think you might get the idea.

I don't yell at my husband. I wait until they're asleep before I attempt to confront any situations from earlier that day that I think need discussing. The spanking issue is a hot button around here. He never spanked his older kids. It's one of the things that attracted me to the guy. But now, rather than actually working at figuring out why the behavior from Little Guy is defiant, he would rather just jump to threatening to hit him. His reason for thinking spanking this child is because, "... he's just like I was as a kid and I know how to handle a kid like that." Um... yeah. So spanking kept you from starting your "career" as a drug addict at 11 years old? Spanking kept you from burning down a neighbor's house 'just because' at 13? Spanking kept you from running away from home at 15? I can go on, but you get the picture here, too, right? Anyway, that's the biggest issue we have in the parenting arena.

There are others. I really would like him to be more consistent with the time he spends with the kids. One day, he'll hang out with the family all day long. Then, there might be an entire week where he's so wrapped up in himself that he won't even bother to look at the kids. I know some of this has to do with pain. I can be understanding when he hurts so badly that he just can't concentrate on the kids. But, I really think that most of it has to do with him not feeling like it.

So, I talk to him when the kids aren't awake. I explain my reasons for how I would like the kids raised. I listen to what he has to say. Our conversations don't (usually) get out of hand and to the bitching, nagging, or yelling stage. By the time we're done, he will usually agree that he needs to work more on being consistent, not giving in to puppy dog eyes and tantrums, being around on a regular basis, etc. We'll make a plan of action so he can ease into this more easily and so the kids can get used to the changes, too. It'll work for a week or so, then it becomes too much work and he goes back to the old way of "parenting".

This past week, I followed Erin's advice of what to work on in my relationship. I'm going to have to do this more often because I'm just not sure how it's going to work out over a long period of time. The first thing she asked that we do for the topic "Partners in Parenting" was figure out what your relationship needs most and work on that one thing. The next step was to take a day and put my partner first for the entire day. They both kind of backfired on me. I think that the change in me might have confused hubby some, so I'll keep this up and see if it doesn't get better.

I think that our relationship, as a married couple and not parents, is honesty. I don't lie to my husband, but I will withhold information if it makes me "right" and him "wrong". That's a deception, too. So, I flat out told him what I was up to. I explained that I think we both need to be 100% honest about our feelings, actions, thoughts... everything. Yes, it might sting a little to hear certain things from one another, but it's important to share them rather than bottle them up. And, we're in this together: this marriage, this parenting thing, this LIFE. We have to be able to trust one another above anyone else in the world! I told him that, rather than trying to find the lie in everything he says (I swear, he lies and doesn't even have a reason except to "see if I can get away with it"), I'm going to trust that he's being honest. I do it with my kids, why not him? Well, he's been lying like crazy about all kinds of stupid things since. I think he, just like a child, is testing to see if I'll fall back into second-guessing everything he says. To see if I'll still love him even if he lies. So, it's not been all that great. I hate being lied to - it makes me feel as if I am not valuable as a person to the one who's lying. I really hope his little testing phase will be over soon...

As for the putting your partner first for the entire day... Ha! He's suspicious. Asking if he'd like me to make him a snack rather than just leaving him to do it kind of freaked him out a little. Seeing that he was having computer problems, I offered to help. I usually let him deal on his own - that man can download 1,00 viruses in five minutes flat - because it always, always, always takes hours to fix his mistakes... and he always claims he wasn't doing anything but reading his Facebook news feed. I offered to help, then didn't get frustrated with him for screwing it up so badly, as I usually do. I asked him if he wanted a back rub when he complained about it hurting. Once he got used to the idea that I was trying to be nice and think of his needs, he started to take advantage... just like a child would. He was asking me to hand him the phone that was ringing and sitting 1 foot away from him. He asked me to do all kinds of silly little things that he didn't need help with just to see if I'd do them. It was really annoying and, when I was busy with Little Guy, I had to tell him to do it himself. But I did try to put him before myself. I can't do this everyday, but I will revisit this again, whenever I can. My theory is that he'll eventually stop taking advantage. Then, maybe he'll even reciprocate. That's how a marriage should be, right?

So, while there really is not conclusion to this topic for me right now, I will continue working at it. I think that, once we can get our relationship with each other going in the right direction, we can work on the parenting aspect. For now, I can accept being the parent. Oh, and my kids will never hear me bad-mouthing my husband. They will, however, hear and see me trying my best to treat him with respect. It's important, not only to them, but to our entire family.

Making Really Cool Paper Snowflakes {Craft}

Our "Christmas Tree" is slowly getting decorated!

While at the library the other day, I passed one of the book display tables and saw Snowflakes for All Seasons by Cindy Higham. Now, one of our upcoming activities was making paper snowflakes, so I grabbed it. Boy, am I glad! This book has 72 different patterns to make snowflakes with stars, bells, trees - just about everything you can think of - included. You can check out how to fold the paper properly (if you don't understand my weirs instructions, below!) HERE. There are also a few snowflake patterns at the bottom of the page. Check out some of the ones we made:

There are a few things that are important to know before you start making your snowflakes:

• Consider the thickness of your paper. I used construction and my hands have been angry with me ever since. If we do this again, I'll use newsprint or magazine pages!
• Have some very sharp scissors. I had to trim rough edges from my snowflakes. This took forever and made a huge mess.
• Cut the small bits first, then the bigger sections. This way, you have more paper to hold on to.
• If your kids want to help, but aren't really great at using scissors yet, do the cutting part on your own. Have the kids decorate the paper with crayons, paints, pr markers before you fold and cut and/or have them decorate the finished snowflakes with glitter.
• Try to line up the edges as you're folding as closely as possible to avoid lop-sided snowflakes. My Nutcracker one is completely missing a guy because of mis-folding. And make creases in the paper after each fold to keep it all together better.

Here's how to fold the paper (in pictures!):

1) Start with a square of paper. If you only have rectangles, HERE is how to make squares.

2)  Fold the square in half, corner-to-corner.

3) Fold in half again.

4) The tricky part! You need to fold the side that has two creases so that it looks like this:

5) Then, fold the other side of the triangle over. The more lined up all of the edges are, the more perfect the snowflake will turn out.

6) When I (finally) got the paper folded just right - construction paper is TOUGH! - I drew lines where the creases were and used that one as a template for folding the rest. It made life MUCH easier.

Time to Cut!

After I did a few of the book's patterns, I learned how the patterns were created. There were just a few rules to follow:

1) Make sure that there are plenty of places on both sides of the pattern that will keep the edges of the pattern intact.
2) Try as hard as you can NOT to make a pattern that has a space in the center that you must cut out. You'll see in the pattern that I created below that I made this mistake.
3) Try to keep the size of the shapes you're cutting large. Not only does it make cutting easier; it also makes sure that the cut will show if you happened to fold the paper a little off.
4) Use an iron set to the lowest heat to flatten out your snowflakes. I put a piece of construction paper over the snowflakes before ironing so I wouldn't accidentally catch an edge on the iron and tear the paper.

I made my own pattern!
My oldest is a collector of Nutcrackers, so I was thrilled to find a pattern in the book. But there wasn't anything for Little Guy, so I decided to try making my own. I think it turned out pretty well:

I had to use an Xacto knife to repeatedly cut, cut, cut through the paper (including the curve of the wheels!) because my scissors just couldn't get in there without tearing the paper up.

In addition to making snowflakes, we also talked about snowflakes. I checked out another book that was filled with close-ups of snowflakes. We learned that there are different shapes for different types of weather (the colder it is when it snows, the more perfect the flakes are.) We counted the points, talked about hexagons, and talked about how snow if just frozen rain.

Have you made snowflakes yet? Did you manage to come up with your own unique pattern? Any tips and tricks you'd like to share. I imagine that we'll be making more snowflakes. It's a quick and easy project we can do with very little prep!

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Looking For a Fun & Educational Book for the Kids? {@CowsCantJump}

I've always been interested in how children learn. With my oldest, I was amazed to find he could suddenly do things that he didn't know how to do the day before. He taught himself to read seemingly overnight just after he turned four. Well, really he didn't - I just wasn't paying close enough attention to notice all of the little signs of reading that he had been showing. With Little Guy, I've been much more keen on every little thing he learns. Witnessing his speech go from babbles and coos to actual words was amazing! And I loved finding out that, although he didn't have the physical ability to say certain words, he knew what they meant when I said them to him. One particular thing I noticed in his speech and vocabulary development was that nouns came first. I "tested" my theory that this is the same for most toddlers while watching and listening to them talking to each other at the library. Their speech was mostly made up of nouns, with a few verbs and adverbs thrown in (usually due to a phrase that they often used, such as "Go bye-bye.")

Now that he's speaking very well, using full sentences and a wide array of words to express himself, I wanted to introduce him to new words. Since I believe heavily in unschooling, I didn't want to sit down and "teach" him these words. I wanted him to learn them in a way that was natural and fun. Boy, did I jump for joy when I received an offer to review two children's books that contain a ton of new words. Cows Can't Jump and Cows Can't Quack, written by Dave Reisman and illustrated by Jason A. Maas, are the perfect fit!


Cows Can't Jump starts with, "Cows can't jump... but they can swim." It goes through many different animals, starting with what the animal can't do, then showing what it can. The book moves from familiar verbs, such as swing, to those that children don't often hear very often, such as wallow. Cows Can't Quack is similar, except it uses animal sounds. I loved showing little guy what each of these new words meant. We wallowed in the blankets on the bed. We grunted loudly. We laughed quite a bit!

After asking me to read the two books about a zillion times withing a couple of hours of receiving them, Little Guy decided to read them to me. Then to his stuffed animals. And, when my oldest came home, he just had to read the books to him! Later that evening, as he was playing with his cars, I listened in on Little Guy's narration (he is always talking!) His BMW was "pouncing" on the Cadillac. The tow truck was talking to the bus with a series of clicks, just like dolphins. I was watching my little one practice his new words!

Another thing I observed him doing was building up his cars' self-esteem. (Yeah, I know it sounds weird!) But, at one point, he was using a piece of cardboard with a block under it as a ramp. One car would speed down, but the other one kept crashing half-way down. After a few times, my empathetic kid picked up the crashing car and said, "You can't race fast, but you can so stunts!" I'll be willing to bet that he made that car feel much better! He's also used this way of dealing with shortcomings on the cat and even me. And, just last night, after he tried to keep up with my oldest while playing a football video game that he kept losing, he was feeling pretty low. My oldest, being the big brother, kept saying things like, "Ha, ha! I win!" to him. (Yeah, I thought that sibling rivalries would be non-existent with 10 1/2 years between the two.) Little Guy was getting frustrated and feeling sad and I was just waiting for him to lose his composure. He came close, then he thought of something. "I can't win, but I can make pizza!" My oldest lost his interest in cooking early, an Little Guy knows he doesn't know how to cook much more than Ramen or a bowl of cereal. He made himself feel better AND stood up for himself in one sentence - and my oldest was dumbfounded! LOL

I highly recommend these two books to anyone with infants through preschoolers - even up to kids in elementary school who are learning to read. The illustrations are hilarious. You can check out some preview pages of Cows Can't Jump and Cows Can't Quack by clicking on the links. The books are are easy to read and interesting - something you often don't find in easy-readers. And, as I started off saying, they're educational without being "teachy", if you know what I mean. I am especially impressed with how, just by reading these books, Little Guy has managed to figure out how to deal with blows to his self-esteem (and his cars', too!)

Cows Can't Jump comes in paperback or board book, and Cows Can't Quack is available in paperback.You can order these books at Jumping Cow Press HERE. Shipping is only $1.99 for ANY quantity order in the U.S.! You can also find these books online at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. You can also find Jumping Cow Press on Twitter and Facebook.

I'd like to thank Dave Reisman for sending me a copy of each book to review. My little guy absolutely loves them both and so do I! I can't help but wonder if there is anything else cows can't do...

Disclaimer: I received paperback copies of Cows Can't Jump and Cows Can't Quack, and a board book copy of Cows Can't Jump (all signed! YAY!) from Jumping Cow Press for the purpose of this review. I did not receive any other form of compensation. All opinions are my own.

WINNER of the Algebrator Software!

If you missed out on this giveaway, I urge you to go check out Algebrator. I can't believe how much it has helped my son in Algebra. And I know it will be there for him all the way through college-level math classes. He's going to need it, too - he wants to go into creating the graphics for computer and video games!

And, here's the winner!

Congratulations to Shirley!

Outings Can Be Scary When Potty Training! {Giveaway! (12/17) US}

Sponsored by Tomoson.com Little Guy has been learning how to use the potty since the beginning of summer. He's only had a handful of accidents at home since we just let him run around without pants on all day. When he began learning to use the potty, I bought one small package of Pull-Ups (I know... guilty) to use. Those Pull-Ups ran out about a month ago and, even though it's tempting, I will not buy any more. That means that I need to be prepared for accidents while we're away from home. I have a plastic bag with a clean pair of pants, underwear, socks, and shoes in it that I lug around wherever we go. I didn't need to use it until last week's trip to the grocery store.

It seems that my husband shared raisins with Little Guy the night before. Lots of raisins. (How many of you just thought, "Oh no!"?) So, yeah... Now, I should have known something was up when he complained that his tummy hurt as we were walking to the bus stop. He only complains about "owies" when he really has them. We were almost there, so I told him that I'd rub his tummy while we waited for the bus. He seemed fine by the time the bus arrived and I forgot all about his tummy ache.

Well, the inevitable happened -  halfway through shopping, I start to smell something. Little Guy was walking funny. And he was unusually quiet - not running around trying to toss everything he could get his hands on into the cart. I just knew... Our Kroger does not have public restrooms, so I had to find an employee to show us the way to the "secret" bathroom in the back. I went through THREE people who refused to let us use the restroom! I had to make my way to the customer service desk, stand in line, and ask the manager. He started to shake his head, too. I threatened to clean a poopy little boy right there at the desk if he didn't show us to the restroom. That got him moving!

We got to the bathroom just as Little Guy's plastic pants began to leak - JUST in time! I looked around for paper towels that I could wet to clean him up and there weren't any (aren't employees - especially those working around food, supposed to wash their hands?!) There was only half a roll of that one-ply, see-through toilet paper. I started to dig through my bag. Band-aids, no. Camera, no. Crayons, no. Extra hat.... um, no. Then I saw it - I swear it had a heavenly glow surrounding it!

A few days earlier, I received two sample packs of QwikShower disposable washcloths. I tossed one of them into the bag and gave the other to my oldest to try out. I had planned on checking them out when I had a little extra time. I forgot and I am so glad! After undressing my poor little one, I opened up the package. I was expecting that fake lemony smell that wet wipes tend to have, but was surprised that it smelled really good! The wipe was about 10" X 12" and was thick enough that I knew it wasn't going to bleed through as I cleaned him up. I didn't think that just one was going to do the job very well, but it did. By the time we left the bathroom, Little Guy was clean and smelling fresh! (I let hubby deal with the laundry part after we got home!)

I plan on ordering a few more (you can get 10 for only $7) to carry around with us. After that experience, I don't want that feeling of dread at not having anything to clean him up with again! Plus, the scent is one that I know will appeal to my oldest. They'll be nice for him to toss into his bag for track or to use on those rare mornings when he wakes up just in time to get dressed and catch the bus. No one wants a nickname like "Stinky Kid" in high school!

You can buy your own QwikShower wipes at their online store - they will even send you a single-wipe sample for just $1 so you can try it out to see if you like it before buying more. QwikShower also has fundraising and affiliate programs, where they partner with PTA's, athletic booster clubs, and even bloggers. The organization (or blogger) will receive 10% of all proceeds from sales. You can learn more HERE, or contact Harvey via email.

Would you like a chance to win a 6-pack of QwikShower wipes to try out for yourself? Enter in the Rafflecopter form below!

Spiced Dough for Ornaments {Craft}

On Sunday, I had planned to make salt dough ornaments with the kids as our Advent calendar activity. Well, on Saturday night, I checked out all of the different recipes, looking to see if there was anyone with an unusual twist or different kind of ingredients. I'm always looking for stuff like that. Anyway, I saw an old recipe that I tried a few times with my oldest and didn't much care for: Cinnamon Applesauce Dough. I mean, it was OK for playing with, but it didn't set up well for ornaments and the scent seemed to go away as it dried. So, I switched my search to a cinnamon dough that had those two qualities I've been missing.

I decorated these two rather quickly so I could take pictures and write this post. The kids and I will decorate the rest on Thursday - it's another one of our activities!

I came upon the best recipe yet! It was posted on a blog called Heartland MOPS. And, if you know me, you know I changed it a little bit. (One thing I want to tell you before I get started on the recipe: Do not buy your spices at the grocery store for this one. Head to the dollar store, Aldi, anywhere else. They don't need to be fresh, you're not eating them - just using their smell!)

Spiced Ornament Dough

• 1 c. ground cinnamon
• 1 Tb. ground cloves
• 1 Tb. ground ginger
• 1 Tb. ground nutmeg
• 1 c. applesauce
• 2 Tb. white glue (I used Elmer's Glue All)
• 2 Tb. flour + more for rolling dough 

1.  Measure out the dry ingredients and stir them together. Make sure you pour the cinnamon and stir slowly! There will be cinnamon dust floating around and you probably don't want to be breathing it in. I had Little Guy get down off the chair he was standing on and wait at the kitchen table until I had the wet ingredients added.
2. So, yeah... the next part is to add  the applesauce and glue. Now, the glue probably isn't a necessity, but it does hold everything together nicely once the ornaments are dry.
3. Once everything is mixed pretty well, have you kid put his or her hands into that bowl and knead the dough for a while. It's not as if it has to be perfectly kneaded, so just let them feel it, squish it, and smell it for 5-10 minutes. What they're doing is helping the gluten in the flour come out, making the dough a little elastic. If the dough seems too wet or sticky, add a little more flour. It really shouldn't be sticky. You should be able to shake your hands and have the majority of it fall off.
4. Now it's time for fun! Roll the dough on a lightly-floured surface to 1/4" thick. I had some that was slightly thinner, but you need to be careful - the thinner the ornaments are, the more likely they will break! Also, watch that you don't use too much flour. You can see faint white areas on my ornaments from using too much.
5. Cut the ornaments and set on parchment- or foil-lined baking sheets. You don't really have to worry about them being far apart because they're not going to rise, but make sure that they aren't touching.
6. Bake at 200 degrees for an hour - your house is going to smell AMAZING. If they're still wet, carefully flip them over and bake for 30 minutes to an hour more - check every 10-15 minutes to make sure they don't burn! (Burnt cinnamon is nasty-smelling and will hang around the house for days. Yuck!) If you don't want to bake them, you can let them dry on their own for 3 to 4 days, turning once a day to dry evenly.
7. Once dry, you can decorate your ornaments in any number of ways. I chose to use obviously inedible decorations so no one would think they were cookies. While the ornaments are made of food and non-toxic glue, they taste nasty - just ask Little Guy who decided that I was wrong when I told him it was yucky. He took a HUGE bite of dough when my back was turned. He really wanted to prove me wrong and tell me it was yummy (yep, he's three!) When I turned back around, I knew, by the look on his face, what he'd done. I waited to see what he'd do. After holding it in his mouth for 30 seconds, it got spit right out.

If you don't celebrate any ornament-related holidays, you can also make beads from this dough. That's what I did with the scraps that were leftover. You could make a nice car freshener by threading a few large beads onto a ribbon and hanging it from the rear view mirror. I tossed a couple of flattened disks of dried dough into the exhaust of our vacuum cleaner, so every time I run it, the room gets deodorized, too!

Christmas Activity {Word-FULL Wednesday}

 Last weekend, we visited our county's historical museum. Each year, there are Christmas Trees displayed that have been decorated by the various organizations, businesses, and clubs in the area. Many of the trees were covered with items that would be donated to local charities, such as the ones we saw covered in baby items and socks.

We had to walk rather quickly through the explorer, pioneer, and Native American displays in the museum. Little Guy liked looking, but he longed to touch! He did like checking out the sections with musical instruments from marching bands of eras long gone and the history of the firefighters in the area. We finally made it to the second floor, what our family dubbed "The Custer Show". You see, Gen. George Custer is from our town. I found it kind of weird that a town would celebrate the leader of Custer's Last Stand, but I've since learned that the man had quite an outstanding military record. Um... until that final little faux pas, that is.

So, once we got through the Custer section, we came upon what Little Guy so badly needed - a hands-on section! They had a Civil War Era campsite set up with replica uniforms of various sizes. (They also has a section with women's and girls' clothing from the same time period.)

Darn hat!

He made me some "coffee" on the campfire.

See Custer in the background?

We had a lot of rain last week, causing the river to jump way above it's normal depth. There was quite a bit of flooding and many road closings for a couple of days. Just so you can see the difference, I've included a photo of what it usually looks like below.

See the bridge in the background? I was standing on that bridge, facing toward the one in the foreground, to take the photos above. Big difference, huh?

Stopped at the park on the way home. It's been a few weeks since we've been there. Turns out Little Guy figured out how to propel himself on the swing like this! No more pushing him every 2 seconds (I think!)

Mindful Parenting Collaboration - Topic 4: Partners in Parenting

If you’re reading this, you might have the feeling that you want to change some of your parenting practices or, perhaps, you're curious about “mindful parenting” and what it could be. Well, congratulations for taking a moment from your day to click on the link. Erin of it’s OK and I are going to be working together over the next 40 weeks (!) on a journey toward more mindful parenting and would love to have you join us. To learn how we envision The Mindful Parenting Collaboration working, please read the introductory post HERE.

The relationship between a child's parents can have a huge effect on that child's emotional stability. Whether you are married, living together, separated, or divorced - it is important that your children see a good, healthy unity between parents. When I was 7, my parents divorced. It wasn't pretty, to say the least. In fact, I have blocked many of the memories of that time in my life. My parents couldn't stand each other. They made sure that I, and my siblings, knew it.  I remember becoming physically ill when I was going from my mom's to my dad's and back again. We were put into positions where we felt we had to be loyal to both parents at the same time. In fact, when I was 12, I had my first full-on migraine. I had to choose between living with my mom and living with my dad. It was horrible: I couldn't move - heck, breathing was torture - for a full two days. Growing up with feuding parents has had a negative effect on my adult relationships. it took me a very long time to figure out how to conduct myself!

So, this week's topic is "Partners in Parenting" and I really believe that this is an important one to consider. Head over to it's OK to see what Erin has written about this topic. She gives some great examples of things that you can focus on to help make your relationship more mindful. Then, check back here on Friday (I promise I'll try to get this done on time!) and see how I managed to work on my relationship!

Tuesday's Giveaway Linky 12/6

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Welcome to Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up with your hosts Aimee @ Classified: Mom & Karen @ Tots and Me & Alicia @ McCrenshaw's Newest Thoughts!

This link up will be posted Monday at 7 PM est. and run all week long! Make sure you stop in as often as you can to list your latest giveaways.

Here is how to use the Giveaway Link Up 1. Post your reviews and/or giveaways, as many as you have, be sure to add the end date (family friendly please) 2. Help spread the word about the giveaway link up by grabbing our button, Tweeting or posting on Facebook. (Not mandatory- but it helps get more exposure to your giveaways as well!) 3. Take a moment to enter any giveaway that strikes an interest to you! If you would  like to follow the three hostesses, we will gladly follow you back! Simply leave us a message to do so. Thank you for linking up with  Aimee @ Classified: Mom & Karen @ Tots and Me & Alicia @  McCrenshaw's Newest Thoughts! 

Two More Winners! {Mayesa & Natural House}

Sorry that I keep getting backed up on choosing winners. It's just been one of those weeks... just like last week... and the week before. Ugh! I sure hope things calm down around here soon!

Anyway, I have two new winners to announce! Carole is the winner of the 6-pack of Mayesa Healthy Chocolate Beverages and Amanda H. won the 30-Day Supply of Cleaning Products from Natural House.
They will both be emailed and have 48 hours to get in touch with me before I have to choose new winners.

Congratulations to both

Carole and Amanda!!!

Oh, and don't forget that today is the last chance you will have to enter to WIN your choice of a hardcover children's book: Howard B. Wigglebottom from the We Do Listen Foundation. Please show some support for this great non-profit and enter to win!

And, tomorrow, the giveaway for Algebrator Software will end. I'm telling you - if you have a child who will be learning any kind of higher mathematics in the next few years (or if you're planning on going back to school!), you're going to want to enter. This is not a subscription service - you get to keep the software forever!