Back to School at Hogwarts

As I'm sending my kids back to school in a week, I'm hoping I'll have a little more "free" time in my day.  Time to get some laundry done (and have it stay done for more than a minute or two), time to enjoy a quiet cup of Hot Chocolate as I enjoy the sun rise over my mountain (yes, I love Hot Chocolate in the fall!), and time to read a book or two.

And I'm super excited too, because I just discovered Hogwarts is back in session now too!

I don't know how I could have missed a sequel to the wonderful world of Harry Potter, but I did.  I only just discovered that Harry Potter's son James has a series of 4 books (so far) that tell his story at Hogwarts.

I'm about 3 chapters into the book and I was a little worried about how I would feel with someone other than JK Rowlings writing the books, but I admit, I'm enjoying it so far.  It's fun to see some of my favorite characters as grown ups and the next generation getting into lots of trouble as they roam the halls of Hogwarts.

I'll let you know how it goes, but if you want to join me, you can't find the series in the local bookstore.  They are only available as E-books to download.  But you can find them for FREE here or on Good Reads here.

Here's to a Sweet Year Teacher Gift

I'm beginning to think it might be a good idea to butter up my kids' teachers each year.  With some of them, school is NOT their favorite place to be and it can be a tough year.  So I've been thinking about some inexpensive teacher gift ideas to start the year off on a nice note.

I saw these great M&M themed cups at Walmart this summer and I bought a few.  I'm not a hundred percent sure they are still available as my Walmart is not the best place to base any shopping on.  But if you can't find them, I know they have other themes and styles available.

Then I made up a candy topper that says "Here's to a Sweet Year" and printed it out.  I used a border from my Candy Dots collection that looks like M&M circles.

(This is the same style as my other candy toppers with the 4 sizes to fit whatever type of candy bag or container you have.  I printed out the tag size.)

I took off the lid and filled it with M&Ms.

I screwed the lid back on and then tied the tag to the straw with yellow ribbon.

Now I have a sweet gift for each of my kids' teachers.  Hopefully this will butter them up and have them think "happy" thoughts about my kids every time they use their cup.

Yes, I'm not above Bribery.

Here's the tag version of my candy topper if you want to try making one of these for your teachers.

I hope I'll have the rest of the set up soon.

Crock Pot Brownies

If you haven't heard me say it before, I love Pinterest.  

It's so easy to find great ideas and recipes to help in a pinch.

Thanks to a quick search, I found this yummy Crock pot brownie recipe.

It was a busy day with work, family visiting, and being in charge of our women's monthly meeting today.  So I through together these brownies and let them cook all day today.  They sure made the store smell good!

They would also be great for a treat on the first day of school.  Throw them in the pot about lunch time and by the time the kid's get home from school you can sit down with a tall glass of milk and hear all about the thrills and spills of the first day.

Making them is pretty easy too, just as any Crock pot recipe should be.

Start with 8 ounces of semi sweet chocolate and 1/2 cup butter.  Microwave them in 30 second intervals until the chocolate and the butter are melted.  Then mix together.

Add 1 cup of sugar into your chocolate.  Mix well.

Mix 3 eggs into the batter.

In a separate bowl, mix your dry ingredients- the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder.

Add 1 cup of chocolate chips, and if you want, 1 cup of walnuts to the dry mix.  Stir until well coated.

Add your dry ingredients to your chocolate mix.  Mix well so your chocolate chips won't sink to the bottom while cooking.  

Now you need to spray your crock pot and then line it with parchment paper.  Then go ahead and spray the bottom of the parchment paper so the brownies are easy to come out.

Add your brownie mix to the crock pot and cook on LOW for 3 hours.  Remove your lid and cook for another 1/2 hour.  When done, remove from the crock pot and let cool.

Find yourself a tall glass of milk and sit down and enjoy your child's story about the day.

You're the Apple of My Eye

School starts two weeks from today. I admit, I'm a little glad this year...and a little sad.

It's amazing how fast time is flying.  The Drama Queen will be a Junior this year.  I can't believe how soon she'll be gone.  Where did all the time go?

I guess most mom's think that this time of year.  I'm trying to be excited for the new year and all the changes it will bring.  I'll have kids in 3 different schools and will be a working mom.  I'm not sure how that's going to work out, but we'll see.

So we're going to start the year with a grand party.  And what screams Back to school more than apples?  So here's a few items from the small businesses of Etsy to kick off our Back to school party.

'You're the Apple of My Eye' 

Apple themed items for a back to school, birthday, or baby shower party!

REBA CoRN HuSK and Apple WR... thekeepershous... $45.00	Divine Twine Bakers Twine Gr... EnchantedFrogE... $2.50
12 Fall Season - Apple Cake ... TheChocolateSt... $21.00	6 - Pink Candy Apple Popcorn... WEKNOWCANDY $24.00
Apple Thank You cards - set ... AshleyHolwerda... $11.00	Teacher's Gift, Upcycled... whimsysworksho... $15.00
Crayola Crayon Wreath with A... HobbyGoneCrazy $55.00	Candy Apple Red Striped Pape... sweetestelle $16.00
Back to School Banner Sign G... inspirationalb... $24.00	Apple Birthday Invitation wi... vmiddleton5 $6.25
Red Apple Sugar Cookies guiltyconfecti... $21.00	Apple A Day... bowl foxandhunter $4.00
The Little Apple Cutting Boa... MakoCuttingBoa... $19.00	For the Teacher - Apple - Te... embellishbouti... $12.00
Vintage Apple Canister Set bestfavoriteth... $17.00	Set of 4 Yellow Cambridge Ap... ElegantEtches $90.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

Celebrating the Red, White, & Blue Soda

The next Olympic Sport?

I think being a Mom should be an Olympic sport.  

We could have event's like "Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Making" and "Catching Throw Up" (maybe that one could even have special awards for the most original thing you've grabbed to catch your child's throw up!)  Or how about my favorite "Fastest run out of a movie theater when you get 'THAT call."

That's what happened to us this week.  Yikes, was that an adventure.

Dear Hubby and I had been trying to go see the new Batman for a while now.  We'd tried several times, but things just kept coming up or getting in the way.  We finally decided to go on Monday when they had $5.00 movie night.

About half way through the movie...for those that have seen it...they had just thrown Bruce Wayne into the pit, my daughter started calling.  I didn't have my phone on me, and being a good movie patron, it was on silent, so I didn't know.  But hubby's phone was in his pocket, so he got the vibe.

I checked my phone and saw my daughter had called twice and texted a few times.  I figured I'd better call and see what was up.  So I grabbed my phone and snuck out.  As soon as I called home, Pandemonium broke lose.

Apparently the Daredevil had decided to try and do a "Dukes of Hazard" on the top of a friend's car.  He jumped on the hood and slid right down the licence plate.  I know...you're all cringing now.  I still am too.  I did that once too as a child...it hurts like heck!

The Daredevil sliced his leg pretty good and the kids were rushing him to the Emergency Room.  We ran out of the theater at top speed.  We even beat the kids to the ER.

Three hours and five stitches later...we drove home.  And you know what I kept thinking?  I FORGOT THE DARN POPCORN.  After paying $10.00 a bag for popcorn, it was only half empty and I'd left it there.  DANG IT!

But maybe I'll be rewarded by getting a Gold in the mothering event.  Or maybe I'll flunk out for not being home to prevent it.  Or for two trips to the ER for the same child in less than six months.  That should be some type of record.  (SIGH.) 

Swagging for Olympic Gold

I've been watching the Olympics almost non stop the last few days.  I am totally impressed with how well our athletes did in the pool this year!  I'm sad to see Michael Phelps ending his swimming career but am thrilled with the young swimmers we have taking his place.  Go fellow Colorado-an Missy Franklin!  

Watching them  run, jump, swim, dive, and tumble across my tv screen, I've been inspired to start exercising again.  (Am I the only one?)  I can imagine myself swimming like I did back in high school, but in reality, I'm ALOT older, slower, and clunkier now than I was then.

So I'm hoping I will be able to strike gold online instead.  If you're like me and spend much of your day planning fun party or home ideas, you do ALOT of searching.  Why not get a little gold in your pocket while you do?  

I first told you about Swagbucks HERE.  Since then, I've been able to earn a few more Amazon Gift certificates that I used to get Mini-Me's coveted Water gun free for his birthday.  It was so nice not to have to worry about the extra expense of birthday gifts in the middle of opening my new store, having kid's off on vacations, and paying the normal household bills.  I will continue to use Swagbucks search to start preparing for Christmas shopping and while I do, I can at least earn gold in Swag style!

Right now with the Olympics on, Swagbucks has several fun ways for you to earn extra points in your searches.  They have just come out with a set of Limited Edition Swag Buck bills that you can win by using Swagbucks Search.  When these bills are active, sometimes instead of earning a normal Swag Buck win, you’ll win one of the Limited Edition bills.  

Starting at Midnight PDT you have the opportunity to find up to 9 rewarding Collector’s Bills through Swagbucks Search, each bill featuring a different Swag Sport.  6 of these bills will be released at Midnight, each Swag Sport representing a different Swag Buck value.  To collect the last 3 Swag Sports Collector’s Bills, make sure that you are here at Swagbucks on August 7th, August 8th, and August 9th as we will be releasing those final three bills one day at a time.  By August 9th all of the Swag Sports Collector’s Bills will have been released, and you will have until August 12th at 11:59pm PDT to find them all.  If you are lucky enough to collect all nine you’ll be rewarded with a bonus of 15 Swag Bucks!

Plus, starting today,  Swagbucks.com kicks off the week with the Swag Sports Extravaganza. Winning isn't just for the athletes in London, and so we're getting the opportunity to win up to 65 Swag Bucks. Starting Monday at 4 a.m. PT, we will release several clues for Swag Codes throughout the day. Find all the codes and you'll earn all 65 SB. To help with clues and find the Swag Codes, print and fill out the logic puzzle below. 

I hope that you'll check out Swagbucks this week and get your own gold!

Life is short. Eat dessert first!

Life is short. Eat dessert first.  

After all, you never know how your day is going to go.  Look at some of our favorite athletes (sorry Men's Gymnastics)...I'll be they were wishing they had a piece of chocolate after some of the errors that night! I know I had my share while watching them!  I wanted to remind myself to enjoy the little things first because you never know when your Olympic dreams will fall short.  And at least then, you had a little something to make it sweeter.

I found this awesome frame at Goodwill.  It was a large size (24x27 inches) and only $9.99.  Luckily, it was also the color of the day and was 30% off!  I took it home and took it apart.  Then I spray painted the frame black.

I have access to a vinyl machine and even a Silhouette machine, but I wanted to try and make a sign without those things for those of you that didn't have them.  So I took my saying and used a program to make the letters the right size to fit on my frame.  I printed the letters out onto cardstock and cut them out.

I used the Reponsitionable cartridge on my Xyron machine to make the letters into stickers.  If you don't have a Xyron (you really need to get one, it's the Bestest!), you can always print out the letters onto sticker paper.

I found the center of my glass and laid out my saying.  The good thing about using the Repositionable cartridge is that you can pick up and move the letters if you don't like the way they look. 

I placed my letters on the front of the glass.  You can sticker the front of the letters and lay them on the back of the glass so the letters shine through the glass, but I didn't want to fight laying them out, so I put mine on the front of the glass.  You can go either way depending on your style and taste.

When I was all done, I put the glass back into my frame and secured it with the staple pieces in the frame.  Make sure you put them in pretty tight with a screwdriver so the glass doesn't fall out.

I am hanging my frame on some lattice wall behind my display case.  I was worried about how to hang this since the frame and glass is so heavy.  We ended up threading some black ribbon through the frame and glass on both ends of the sign.  Then we threaded it through the lattice and knotted it in the back.  Now it hangs beautifully and great everyone as they come through the door.

And I have to admit, I LOVE IT!

A Yummy Gold Medal for the Athletes

I never meant to be gone so long from the blogosphere, but things have been absolutely crazy lately.  I haven't had a spare moment lately, it's been NUTS.  But a good kind of nuts.  I have had several special orders, including these fun Oreo Medals for a race this weekend.  I just loved how they turned out and I thought I would share how to make them.

I started by making some Chocolate covered oreos and wrapping them in foil so they looked like a ding dong.  Then I took the race's logo and put it on a 2 inch sticker and put that on the oreo.  (I know I took pictures of these steps, but heck if I can find them.)

Then I took some red, blue, and green ribbon and cut it to 1 yard length.

I glued the last inch of ribbon together and then laid about 1 1/2 inches of hot glue on the outside.

I finished it up by placing the oreo onto the glue.  Now it hangs perfectly and is a yummy treat too.

Now the gold, silver, and bronze are ready for the winners!

Viggle-ing for Gold

Are you enjoying the Olympics?  I admit, I've had them on every moment that I've been home.  I enjoyed watching the men's Water polo game yesterday afternoon.  I think I only get to watch that sport every 4 years in the Olympics...as much as I enjoy it, I don't know why I don't check it out more.

I've done a lot of "coaching" of our Team USA swimmers this weekend too.  I hope they are taking my advice as I yell hints and tips at the screen.  (Mostly it consists of "GO FASTER!" which they are obviously listening to as Lochte and others have taken the Gold.

While I'm yelling at the TV and cheering on our athletes, I haven't forgotten to Viggle.  Have you?  I told you about Viggle back HERE in my week of Making Money Online ideas.  I don't know if you listened to me, but if you are an avid Olympics watcher, now is definitely the time to check it out!  After all, why not get a little "gold" for yourself while our athletes are getting some gold?

If you don't know about Viggle, it's an awesome app for the IPhone, and now the Android.  You "check in" to your TV shows when you're watching.  That simple means to let the app listen to your TV.  It will find the show your watching and let you earn points for the TV you are watching.  You can then turn those points in for free gift cards to things like Chilis, Fandango, or even a free Kindle fire.  Pretty cool right?

It's free and it's not hard to do.  Just "check in" at the start of your show and it will keep you signed in to that show until you check into another one or until the show is over.  At the end of the show, you'll get your points.  Then you can check into another show if you want.  Plus, there are lots of extra ways to earn points. You can watch commercials or take quizzes to get more.  Plus, during the Olympics, you can play along live and get extra points for predicting who will win races or answering trivia questions.

Not bad for something you're going to do anyway, right?  You definitely should go check it out HERE and bring home some gold of your own!

Olympic Ring Cookies

I'm so glad the Opening Ceremonies are on a Friday.  I know it's silly, but I miss having Cookie Friday with my kids.  We have a tradition of making cookies when they get home from school on Friday afternoons to celebrate the end of the school week and the start of the weekend.  We end up taking a break during the Summer months because we are usually home and baking all day.

I don't know what we'll do now that I'm at the store until dinner time every night.  I hope I can figure out a way to keep our family tradition.  I want the kids to look back on this time and remember the traditions we started.

When I saw these fun decorated cookies from Meaghan from The Decorated Cookie over on Birds Party Blog, I knew that I needed to have them at our Opening Ceremony viewing party.  They look super easy to make, which is good since I'll be making them late tonight after the kids have gone to bed (hope they don't wake up and make me have to share the frosting.)

Go check them out HERE for the complete directions and enjoy a little bit of celebration that the weekends finally coming!