Heads up to my reading friends and those looking for last minute teacher gifts!

Right now if you spend $30 on specific items at CVS you recieve a $10 gift card.  You can choose from Barnes and Noble, CVS, American Express, Macy's and others!

For instance, yesterday I purchased 12 boxes of General Mills Cereal that were on sale for 2/$5 and had coupons for each box.  The end total was $8 for all 12 boxes and Big Mama has one less gift to buy for the Little Mouth's school staff.


Good deals.

Christmas, Friend or Foe?

You know that Joni Mitchel song they always play around the holidays?  The one that is actually kind of depressing, but since Christmas trees are mentioned in the first line they always play it this time of year...

You know the one..."It's coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees, putting up reindeer and singing of joy and peace...I wish I had a river I could skate away on..."

I have a secret.  That's sometimes how I feel about the Holiday Season in general.  Shhhh....don't tell.

Life is hectic and my iPhone pings several times a day with tasks still undone, parties to plan for, presents to buy, checkbooks to balance and savings accounts to empty. Not to mention the Christmas cards I haven't sent yet, the gifts we still have to assemble and the hours I've still got left to obsess about whether or not everyone will like the their gifts...

Maybe its just because I'm a grown up, but it seems I spend half my time wanting to push off Christmas because I'm not ready yet and the other half hoping it comes quickly so that I can clean it all up and stow away the tree until next year.

The Little Mouths and I do many things to make the holiday special, from attending the Night of Lights downtown complete with fireworks to holiday concerts and checking out the Gingerbread houses on display at the Grand Wayne Center. And we never miss the Fantasy of Lights in Franke Park sometimes even via a horse and carriage. But even with all of the festivities, I admit I feel a rising panic at the thought of all I have left to do.

So I wonder, when did I allow December become something to be dreaded, instead of cherished? When did the days start to fly by in a blur instead of dragging with breathless anticipation? Instead of excitement, is that dread I feel growing each time we open a new day on the advent calendar?

I'm not sure, but I do know I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel. I want to get a bit of that lost Christmas magic back.

Because of the way the kids Christmas break fell this year, they have an entire week off of school before Christmas. We've booked a week of our timeshare at the Christmas Mountain Lodge in Wisconsin, enrolled the Little Mouths in Ski School and scheduled a couple of brush up lessons for Big Mama.

This year, we'll usher in the season swishing through a white pine forest or bouncing down a hill in a big inner tube or snuggling with hot cocoa in front of a roaring fire.

I'm looking forward to it and I'm wondering if this might just be the start of a new tradition.

What about you all? What are you all doing to keep the Christmas Crazies at bay??

Rockin' Recipe -- Garlic Mashed Potatoes

I have tried to find a recipe for wonderful garlic mashed potatoes like the ones at Eddie Merlot's.



I have gone to this wonderful STEAK restaurant and ordered JUST mashed potatoes.  Okay, they had a little lobster stirred in...but to me, their Lobster Garlic Mashed and a Caesar Salad is just one short stop from heaven.

But I have never been able to duplicate them...even sans the lobster because the Little, Little Mouth is highly allergic and I don't want to have to break out the epi-pen.

I have boiled the garlic with the potatoes, oven roasted it in a clay pot, simmered it in cream and butter on the stove for three hours etc. etc. etc. But I've never found a way to prepare them that was even in the same stratosphere as EM's.

But last night, a friend came to dinner.  I boiled the potatoes in salty water and added just one ingredient.


Totally simply.  Total party in your mouth.

There's even a buy one/get one coupon out right now.  So good and thumbs up from Big Mama and Little Mouths alike!

Seven Days of Thankfulness -- Day Seven

Today I am thankful for my son.

My SUN. He warms my heart and lights up my life. He is giving and kind, rambunctious and wild, funny and nearly always has a smile on his face. He is my unanswered prayer and the best cuddler in the world. He's my Angry Birds buddy, and the one who understands mommies sometime need to give hugs more than he needs to get them! He reminds me of my own Dad in a thousand ways and brings a little bit of him back to me everyday.

I am grateful for my son because he taught me that while being a Mom isn't always easy, its what I am. That he and his sister are the one thing I've done with my life that will matter, long after I won't. He changed us from "just the two of us" into a family and I will always be thankful.

Seven Days of Thankfulness -- Day Six

Today I am thankful for my daughter. I love her unconditionally, but I am thankful that I like her, too. She is sassy and sweet, stubborn and smart, athletic and original. She's everything I ever wanted to be, but never was. She keeps me on my toes and from being hopelessly out of the loop on current trends.

She makes me laugh. She changed my life. She is my miracle baby...my wish upon a star. She's the daughter I never dared to dream I'd have. She made me a mom and for that and everything else she is, I will always be grateful.

Seven Days of Thankfulness -- Day Five

Today I am thankful for ALL my family near and far, but for my niece Krista in particular.

She was the first baby born in our family for seventeen years so we dressed her up like a dolly and changed her clothes every twenty minutes. She gave us back Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and a reason to see Disney movies.

She's been my bestest travel companion and dearest girl. She made me see that the most important thing in the world was finding my own daughter. When I wanted to give up, I'd think of her and how she changed our family when she was born. Then I'd pick myself up, fill out one more form, wait one more day...because it would all be worth it if I could have a daughter a tenth as great as she is.

She grew up too fast into a smart, beautiful, vibrant, caring, and amazing woman who I cherrish with all of my heart. (And thank the heavens we didn't spoil too much)

Seven Days of Thankfulness -- Day Four

Biggest, Little Mouth is thankful for having the best Mommy in the world. (I have great kids, don't I?)

Little, Little Mouth is thankful for Angry Birds.

Big Mama is thankful for our home.

Six years ago next month we moved in the middle of a blizzard. I wasn't really ready to move into a subdivision. I hated the cold, white walls, tiny kitchen and dated fixtures. But I loved the space, (we moved from 1000sq. feet to 2800) the basement playroom, the wooded lot and the elementary school where my kids would be safe and happy, practically in the back yard.

Fast forward a few years, or a lifetime if you are the Littlest, Little Mouth. Our home has come to fit us like a favorite pair of jeans we can't wait to ease into after work. Every wall is a different color and while some of the fixtures are new...some are still the 80's throwbacks that remind me of my youth.  My kitchen is still tiny, but it has served me well on my quest to learn to cook. How ironic that I am happiest chopping and dicing and stirring away the afternoon there. Our decor is eclectic and I love it that everywhere I look there is a memory...either from the furniture passed down to me from family or the echoes of dinners full of the laughter of our friends and neighbors.

While it will never be perfect...or even all that clean, this house has served us well. For richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health it has been a sanctuary for labradors and dachshunds, for friends and family...for my children and for me.