Magazines & A Magazine Survey!

I love magazines! I'm embarrassed to admit that I used to get close to 12 delivered in the mail every month. Some of the ones I received were Family Fun, Woman's Day, Family Circle, Parents, Better Homes and Garden, Simple Scrapbooks, Creating Keepsakes, Home, Scrapbooks Etc., and Country Home. However, I am proud to say that now I only make my mail lady bring me 2 a month! I decided at the beginning of the year last year to stop the madness! I was getting more magazines than I could possible read every month. They started to pile up everywhere...by the bed, in a basket in the living room, a basket in the hallway, on a shelf in the coat closet, etc. etc. etc.! This compiled with Curtis' love of car magazines became too much! So when the renewals started coming in, I just pitched them! That's right! I chucked them in the circular file! I was fine until I saw them at the checkout stand. I wanted that new pretty issue! I was a magazine junkie trying to ignore the urge for the next fix! I needed to see the latest scrapbooking technique or read the instructions on how to plant a container garden or I wanted to see how to drop 10 pounds before Summer! It wasn't pretty! I found myself starting to pick the longest checkout line so I could sneak a peek at what I was missing. So I could feel those untouched pages in my fingers. And occasionally I caved in and bought one...but only one... every so often. I would say in the last year I probably only bought 3 at the store. Not bad, huh? Now I don't even look at them anymore. I think I'm cured!

As I've said before on my blog, I love Family Fun magazine so I will continue to subscribe to that magazine until Allison is probably 18....or longer if I have grandchildren! The Simple Scrapbooks in the picture is the last issue of that subscription. The other three magazines in the picture are ones I picked up at Home Depot last week. I am on vacation this week so I knew I would get some time to look those over. I have also disciplined myself to tear out the articles or pictures that I want to reference for later and put them in binders. I do it as I read it the first time instead of waiting until later. This definately cuts down on the magazine clutter!

To be honest here, I did find that most of the magazines repeat themselves. I've torn something out of a magazine that I've liked to put in my reference binder, only to find the same picture is already in there from a previous year. I also found that with the internet, there really isn't a reason to subscribe to all those magazines. You can research almost anything you want on the magazine's website. They all have them these days. That doesn't mean I'm giving up all magazines! Some are just better in real life than on the web!

Now for the survey! What magazine or magazines do you receive? What is your absolute favorite? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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100 Days of School!

Do you remember celebrating 100 days of school when you were a kid? Me either but the schools do these days. It's actually really cute and they plan so much for them. Allison's 100th day of school was scheduled for Monday....however, we had a horrible ice storm on Friday and school was closed so it was pushed to Tuesday.

The first thing the students were asked to do was to create a 100 of something on a red poster board that was sent home. After MANY suggestions, Miss Allison decided that she wanted to collect 100 signatures. We decided that we would get the signatures on two inch square pieces of cardstock or paper. I emailed everyone I knew and asked for their help. Curtis and I also carried squares with us and solicited signatures from co-workers and customers. At first I was a little nervous that we would even be able to get all those signatures but then they started rolling in. Aunt Alesia helped us by getting some at her work and Pap Pap carried some with him too. Here is Allison with her project. As you can see, we used a United States map and linked the signatures to the states. I wanted to make it a learning experience as well. We also got three signatures from Egypt, France and Ukraine. She thought those were really cool. They are in the upper left hand corner. She was very proud of her project.The second thing she came home with was a paper from her teacher explaining her challenge to the kids. 100 consecutive hours of NO TV! Sorry for the curved lettering in the pic. I took the picture of it while it was hanging on the fridge. The TV outage started at 2 pm on Wednesday and ended at 6 pm on Sunday...just in time for the Superbowl. Of course, that didn't matter to us because we could care less about football in this house. Anyway, one of Allison's classmates refused to take the challenge because he couldn't go without Sponge Bob. LOL!
The 100 hours of no TV wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. When they cancelled school on Friday, I thought it might have been an issue but it wasn't at all. I had received a package the day before and I had the box by the door to go out to the trash. Allison asked if she could have it and turned it into a "TV." She drew my picture first of what she considered my favorite show. Do you recognize it? It's "30 Minute Meals with Raechel Ray." Too funny! It's not my favorite show but I thought it was funny what she picked. It's actually one of HER favorite shows that we watch together. After she completed the 100 hours, I had sign a paper to verify that Allison did indeed complete the challenge.

The teacher planned an afternoon snack of pizza and I volunteered to do "100" cupcakes. I put colored jimmies inside the cupcakes and on top so she could pass them off as having 100 sprinkles. I also made picks for each cupcake but didn't put them in until I got them to school.

Here is a close up of the picks. They said "Happy 100 Days!" I used lollipop sticks to hold the circles I printed on the computer and then used my circle punch. I topped the top off with a little curling ribbon to match the papers.
The kids were also instructed to wear a 100 of something. We decided a t-shirt with one hundred 100's on the shirt would be cute. I used fabric paint in six differnt colors and put them on the front, back and sleeves. If you click on the pic to enlarge, you will see I did a few rhinestone 100's for a little sparkle.
Here is Allison on the 100th day of school in front of her 100th day project.
Allison's teacher in the new school is awesome! She had so many things planned for the kids. They enjoyed a 100 snacks. She asked some of the parents to donate a snack and then the kids would build the a 100 snack mix making it with ten different snacks of ten each of those snacks. I donated mini pretzels. Apparantly those were the big hit because the students didn't have to pick them up with spoons. They were allowed to use their fingers to count out ten. Allison said "Mom, you spread the love in my class today because the kids were happy they could pick them up with their fingers!" Too funny! It's the little things, I guess. They also made a crown (see below) and fingerprinted it 100 times...20 of each color. Her teacher also gave each of them a pencil that said "100 days of school" and a certificate that said "Allison is 100 days smarter" with their picture on it. Mrs. M also read to them for 100 minutes. They were all instructed to bring something to lay on. I was worried about how this would go because 100 minutes is a long time for 1st graders. It apparantly went well as Allison told me all about the story so she must have been paying attention. In the picture below are 3 books that Mrs. M. gave to the kids for completing the 100 hours of no TV. I bet that little boy wished he would have taken the challenge after all!
One last thing before I go. I want to share a couple of "Allisonisms"...cute things she says from her perspective. 1.) There were a couple of extra cupcakes and Mrs. M. said she could take them to the office for the secretary and the principal. She said that she gave Miss E. hers and then Mr. V. wasn't in his office so Miss E. told her to put it on his desk for him. She said "Mom! I was in the principal's office and I wasn't even in trouble!" and she also said "I was a little embarrassed to be there because I didn't want anyone to see me and think I was in trouble." 2.) I asked her if she ate her pizza and she said no. I asked her why not. She said "because I ate your cupcake Mom." I told her she could have had both and she said "No thank you, I just wanted your cupcake because you make the best cupcakes!" So sweet! Not just the cupcake but my daughter too!

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Miss Me?....and December's Recap!

Wow! It's been almost 2 months since I've posted! The only excuse I can offer is LIFE! Thank you to all of you who have checked in on me. It's nice to know people care...especially when things got tough. I love you all!

Now just because I didn't post, didn't mean I didn't take pics! Here's my attempt to recap the events of December 2007...at least the highlights.

While looking at my pics from December, I found this picture of a prize from a contest, my friend, Kim ran on her blog. Kim, I am SO sorry that I didn't thank you earlier. It was my intention to do a blog post and thank you properly. It's a little blurry but she sent some cool things for my scrapbooking and a cute angel craft for Allison.

THANKS Kim!

Curtis bought me a Cuisinart Food Processor for my birthday and to thank him, I made Oatmeal Raisin Cookies for him. I probably should have mixed the raisins in by hand because it kind of chopped them up too small but he said they were the best he ever had. Even though I think he said that so I'll keep making them, they were good that way!

My Goddaughter, Maria, has a birthday just days before Christmas. She likes to watch movies so I bought her a gift card for Giant Eagle movie rentals and wanted to do something cute and fun for her. Have you seen the plastic popcorn containers that Target has in their "Dollar Spot" sometimes? Aren't they cute? I have been just itching to buy them and use them for something creative. Yay! This was my chance! I picked up 3 (because they have 3 in their family) and taped them together at the bottom and the top with white electrical tape. I chose electrical tape because the color blended in, it was strong and it is easy to remove. Next I filled it with shredded basket filler, packages of microwave popcorn and fun candy in boxes that you get when you go to the movie theater.

Here's the finished gift. I just wrapped it in cellophane and tied on some red curling ribbon and it was done!

I had so much fun putting together Maria's gift that my creative juices kept flowing. I adapted the idea for the Christmas gifts for Allison's classmates. I always like to do a little something for them from her but I like to keep it reasonable in price. I went to Sam's Club for the treats. I got a big box of microwave popcorn, Twizzlers which were individually wrapped and little bags of M & M cookies. I avoided chocolate because I didn't want to sugar them up for the teacher. I loosely stuffed a sheet of tissue paper in the bottom of each container to fill in the bottom. I didn't use the shredded filler because I didn't want the teacher to have a mess all over the classroom. Allison's favorite Christmas special is "The Grinch" so I used that for the tag. I slid them into cellophane bags and tah dah! An easy gift for under $2.00! The kids loved them!

Here's a close up of the tag. It was Allison's idea to alternate green and red for the Merry Christmas. She's so creative!

I volunteered to make the cupcakes for Allison's party at school. I've mentioned before that I love Family Fun Magazine. I keep all of my issues and have them organized by months. I went to my shelf and pulled out the ones for the Christmas ideas and saw these ornaments. Too cute! I knew I had to make them!

Here's a better look. Of course it's an upside down miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cup for the top of the ornament. The hardest part was breaking the preztels just right for the hook. By the way, Thanks Curtis for unwrapping all the candy for me!

Allison and I make a homemade Hot Cocoa Mix for her teacher. I got the recipe from Family Fun Magazine. I put it in a quart canning jar, added ribbon and a homemade label. I decided to do a whole theme and put it in a basket with 4 snowman mugs and a bag of miniature marshmallows. I used the shredded red filler and snowman ribbon for the bow.

Here's the whole basket. I probably should have made a floral bow for the top but I wasn't sure how much ribbon was on the spool. By the way, if you have read my blog, you know I love going to Goodwill and Salvation Army. Well guess where I got the basket? Yup, for $1.99! This basket would have been around $10 at Michael's. I always check out the baskets with the idea of gift baskets in mind. You never know when you might need one for organization too. My tip for picking out baskets is to smell them before you buy them. Some of them are adorable but have a musty smell to them. Like they've been stored in a basement or something. Sometimes they are dusty and need to be cleaned or are just loose and worn. If that's the case, don't shy away from buying them. Just fill your laundry or stationary tub up with soapy water and put the whole basket in the tub. Use a soft bristle brush to lightly scrub them. Rinse them good, reshape them and let them dry in the sun or in front of the furnace register. As they dry, they will tighten up an be good as new. Seriously friends, don't spend all your money on the basket for the gift. Spend it on the gift.
Four co-workers and I always do something really small for each other for Christmas. I usually do something put together or homemade. This year I made them each a dozen of chocolate covered oreos. I put them in tins that I found at The Dollar Tree. They also had this adorable plastic tissue paper. It worked perfectly!
Of course, I couldn't stop there! I put the tin in a cellphane bag and tied it off with raffia.
Allison gave the secretary of her school this petite candle from Home Interiors. She is a nice lady that helped us immensley when we transferred schools. I wanted to let her know that we appreciated her. She was so touched.

By the way, most of the Home Interior candles are 20% off this month. Let me know if you need any. They make great little gifts to have on hand. I can ship anywhere. Wow! How about that shameless plug?

A while back on Sophia's blog, she wrote about a book called "Christmas Jars." It sparked my curiosity. I bought three of them. One for me, one for my best friend, Susan, and one to give away for someone who I felt could benefit from it. After reading the book, I've decided that I will give one book with one jar away every year. If you haven't heard of it, you should check it out.

Someone liked my bead garland on my tree a little too much!

This is how I like her... behaving. She was actually "talking" to the birds outside. Isn't her coloring beautiful. UGH! I hate that fluffy tail!

OH NO! Here she is in trouble again! I wonder how many times I said "Princess, get out of the tree!" this year? Oh, if I only had a nickel for each time....!

Here is the ornament Allison made for us this year. Look closely, it's made out of puzzle pieces.

One of my favorite pics of the season.

This is us on Christmas Eve. It's when we celebrate and open gifts. Our neighbor stopped by so I asked her to take a pic of us. All of us in red may have been too much.

Allison and our family tree. I changed this year and used the lace angel that was my Aunt Carole's. It is just beautiful. She's holding lights and there are lights all underneath her gown. It was such a warm reminder of my Aunt Carole to be using her angel. I'm sure she was looking down from heaven with a smile on her face.

Another favorite pic of mine.

I bought Allison and Curtis the dvd sets of "Planet Earth" and "Blue Planet" from the Discovery Channel store. They are amazing. They are on sale right now...go check them out!

Here is what Princess got for Christmas. Had I known it was this big when built, I would have rethought the gift. UGH!!! There's that fluffy tail again!

Santa came!

The three cousins. This is at my parent's on Christmas day. Mya is 4 days younger than Allison and Derek is 2 years younger than the both of the girls. Every time I see a pic of the three of them, it reminds me of us three kids. Mya resembles my sister when she was little, of course Allison is a mini-me and Derek is a spitting image of my brother. I'll have to look for a pic of us when we were little and share it with all of you.

Aww, Ginger, my sister's dog, loved the Snugga Wubba we bought her!

A few days later Allison and I got together with my second family...by best friend, Susan's family. Stephanie had been in England for 3 months as an exchange student for college. She brought Allison home a damsel hat from a real castle. Too cute! She also brought home a sterling silver cross from "The Vatican" for her. It is gorgeous! I had a little moment when I realized that my Aunt Edith and Uncle Tony brought me home a gold cross from Italy when I was in first grade! It brought tears to my eyes. What can I say...my Mom calls me her sentimental Cindi!

Also while in Europe, Stephanie got a tatoo on the top of her foot. She got it the last week when her Mom met up with her for the last leg of her tour. They were in Ireland. She revealed it to me that night. It's pretty (yes Steph, I said pretty) but I agree with Aunt Marsha...it's BIG! HOWEVER, THIS is what my little one did the next day when she got home! THANKS STEPH!!!!!
That's all for now! I'll be back soon! I promise!

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Today's Blog Challenge!

Sophia's blog challenge for today:

6. When do you put up your decorations? Whenever I have time! I would like to say that they go up the weekend after Thanksgiving but the truth be told here that I get them up whenever I have a spare minute. They go up little by little and if all goes well, they will all be up a couple of weeks before Christmas.

*The ornament is one that my sister, Alesia made for Allison. She makes her one every year. Didn't know she was that crafty, did you? She has her moments.

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My Birthday and A Blog Challenge!

Yippee! It's my day today! I know birthdays aren't as exciting as they used to be when you were a kid but I'm enjoying mine so far. Funny thing is that I really don't remember a whole lot about my birthdays as a kid. This I am sure is a shock to my sister, Alesia. I have this uncanny ability to remember many details from our childhood. She thinks they are in my head because she doesn't remember any of them. What I do remember about my birthdays growing up is that my Mom always had a cake for us and I remember her making Halupki (stuffed cabbage rolls) for me which are my absolute favorite food. Other than that, not much. One more thing is that I remember wishing for snow on my birthday and guess what! It's snowing today! That's right! I am enjoying a white birthday! It's so beautiful! I am a happy birthday girl!

Sophia posted on her blog a challenge for a Christmas countdown. She has listed one Christmas question a day until Christmas. I'm five days behind so I'm playing catch up. I'll try to keep up from here until Christmas with the rest.


1. Colored lights or white lights on your house or not at all? Colored. I always preferred white lights but since Allison was born, I switched to colored. I'm not sure why but it'll probably be that way for a long time. I'm big on tradition and it's a tradition Allison will remember. Oh! Pink lights on Allison's tree in her room. After all, what is a princess tree without pink lights?

2. Hot chocolate or Egg Nog? Hot chocolate! I remember as a kid my Mom would have a big saucepan on the stove ready for us when we came in from playing out in the snow. Yum! Curtis also makes a mean homemade hot chocolate!

3. What's your favorite holiday dish? I don't think I have one. My favorite cookie is my best friend's wedding cookies. It's not Christmas without them. My favorite is the lemon ones. Are you getting my hint, Susan? :)

4. Does Santa wrap the presents or just sit them under the tree? He wraps them. We enjoy watching Allison's reaction to each and every one. He doesn't wrap the items in the stocking though. My "Santa" never did so Allison's "Santa" doesn't either.

5. Do you hang mistletoe? Absolutely! What is Christmas without it?

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Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful...

...and Allison has her first 2 hour delay!

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A Simple Task and ...

If you know me, you know I'm basically a simple person. I don't need designer clothes, handbags or shoes, big fancy cars or the latest of anything. Basic cable and my old VCR works just fine for me. However. When we moved into this house, it had and still has a self cleaning oven. OH MY! How did I ever live without one? I cleaned my oven yesterday afternoon. Except for the minor smoke smell from the stuff that was burning off, it pretty much is a painless, simple task. Oh, and it makes the house so toasty warm! So this morning, I started to wipe out any of the residue left from the cleaning. A very easy job. I went to rinse my towel out and when I turned around, I found THIS!!!! Well, I'm sure my Mother would say "ACK, CAT HAIR!" But I did what any true scrapbooker would do. I ran and grabbed my camera...the whole time praying "please don't let her jump down!" Now if you eat my cookies at Christmas, don't worry, I've wiped any and all cat hair from my oven. I'm just hoping she doesn't make this a habit or things could get "cat"astrophic!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I hope you enjoy a wonderful day with family and friends!

Don't eat too much!

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No, I'm NOT having a Blog Strike!

Curtis asked me yesterday if I was having a blog strike? I know it's been a while but life is certainly busy these days. Tis the season! I have not forgotten about my blog. I know I need to continue and complete "An Unplanned Journey" but knowing about it and actually sitting down and getting to it is another thing. I had planned this last Wednesday to do an entry but then I remembered it was Parent Visitation Day at Allison's school. Sorry, but I would much rather be sitting in the classromm with Allison!


I don't have much time now. We have plans later on today and I am trying to get some of my house in some sort of order before we take off. That in of itself seems to be an overwhelming job these days! Before I go, here is our contribution to for The Turkey Protection Program for Allison's school. We had to disguise a turkey to save it from being cooked and eaten on Thanksgiving. I don't know about you but I wouldn't mess with a "Turkeetah", would you???


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My Chicken Pot Pie Recipe!

Wow! I've posted sporadically for the last two months and then BAM...two in one day!

A friend asked for my chicken pot pie recipe so I thought I would share it with all of you too. In fact, it got my brain thinking and I said to myself: "Self, you should post recipes more often and use pictures to help as visual aids." I have to admit, it wasn't my original idea to do it with pictures. I've been addicted to a blog called "Confessions of a Pioneer Woman" written by Ree. She also has another blog called "The Pioneer Woman Cooks!" that I love. In that blog she shares her amazing recipes with pictures. You HAVE to check out her blogs. They both are very addicting. She's also writing the story of how she, a self-proclaimed city girl, met, fell in love and married her cowboy, Marlboro Man. Her story is better than a Danielle Steel novel! I find myself checking all the time to see if she's posted the next part of "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A Love Story." My friend, Kim, and I decided that as soon as she starts holding get-a-ways for overworked Moms on their ranch, we will be the first ones to relax and watch the cowboys! Anyone want to come along???

Onto the recipe already! Enough about country living and hot cowboys! Okay, first let me say that I do not claim to be a chef or any kind of professional cook. I do have some cooking skills which allow me to take a recipe and make it my own. Most of the recipes I make are either my own or from friends and family. If they are from friends and family, I've usually put my own spin on them. Not because I didn't like them, but because I've changed them around for my family's likes and dislikes. Feel free to do the same with any of these recipes. I promise to give credit to whoever has passed on the recipe to me ... that's if I remember or have it in my files. I also have collected a good amount of recipes that are yummy and easy to make. I, like most of you, am too busy to cook elaborate recipes. I love to cook for my family but I hate to decide what's for dinner. One more thing I want to share is that some of the pictures are a little blurry. I'll work on that but I am no Ree. I'm sure her camera is much better than mine anyway. I hope you enjoy my recipes!

Chicken Pot Pie

The basis of this recipe came from Adrian who I "met" on a scrapbooking message board.

The Participants: 1 box of Pillsbury Pie Crusts (I told you I like easy recipes), 1 lb. of Chicken, 1 bag of Frozen Mixed Vegetables (we like the ones with lima beans in the mix), 1 can of Diced Potatoes, 1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup, Salt and Pepper.

Start by preheating your oven to 425 degrees F.

First cut the chicken up in to bite size pieces and put it in a big bowl...like the vintage Pyrex one I bought at Goodwill to resell on eBay but fell in love with it and now I don't want to part with it! I boiled white chicken breasts from Market Day this time. It doesn't look too good in that white bowl, does it? You can use whatever you like. I also like those rotisserie chickens you can buy at Sam's Club or your local grocery store. I like to buy one and pick all the chicken off of it. I cut or tear it up and use my "suck and seal" to portion it out and then I throw it in the freezer. I use it for pot pie, soup or casseroles. It's a huge time saver!

Drain and rinse the diced potatoes and add those to the bowl. Add in about 1 1/2 cups of the frozen mixed veggies. Add pepper and a little salt. Be careful with the salt because you can't take it out if you over do it. I add a little more when I use boiled white chicken breasts but when I use those already done chickens I omit the salt.

Mix it well in that pretty Pyrex bowl!

Take out one of the crusts and press it into the bottom of your pie plate. I use a cranberry Pyrex one...hmm, I see a pattern here. Next dump all of your mixture into the pie crust.

Put the top pie crust on and fold the edges under the bottom crust. Pinch the two together. Using a sharp knife, cut air holes in the top so it doesn't explode and make your oven a mess! Hey be careful with that knife! I don't do first aid!

Next I put it on a pizza pan because I HATE cleaning the oven...and I have a self cleaning one! Now go find your foil and tear thin strips off the roll but be careful of the teeth on that box. Do you have any ideas how many workers' comp incidents I've seen over the years due to foil box teeth? Trust me, it's not pretty! Okay, now go and cover your crust with the foil. It doesn't like to be naked the whole time or it gets too brown. You don't have to squeeze it tightly. Just press it on so it doesn't fall off.

Now place the whole kitten caboodle in the oven that you should have preheated to 425 degrees. Set your timer and bake it for 20 minutes. When you timer goes off, go and get yourself some tongs and pull the foil off the pie. This is why you don't squeeze it on tight. It should just fall off with a little tug. Next close the oven door before you let too much heat out and reset your timer for another 20 minutes.

Watch it closely at the end because if your oven is like mine, it'll be too dark in 20 minutes. My oven is a liar and is hotter than what I set it for. I know, I know. I can fix that but although I can read a recipe, I'm a little not so good at the manual for the stove. So I'll just take mine out when it's nice and golden and bubbly.

YUM! Doesn't it look good? Ya, this piece is huge. It takes up most of the dinner plate. It's for my man and he loves it so it'll be gone in just a few minutes.

I hope you try it. It's so easy and gets great reviews. No one will ever know that you didn't make the crust yourself!

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