Elizabeth is having another contest at Table 4 Five which ends tomorrow due to it being the last day to mail packages to assure delivery before Christmas. She’s giving away a great game called The Christmas Box of Questions. It’s great for starting conversations and getting to know more about the people you’re playing with. What a great game for everybody to play!
Mom Reviews is having a contest and will be giving away two copies of the extended edition of High School Musical 2. Go check it out ASAP. Contest ends either tomorrow or Monday, depending on how many responses she gets.
Fun, Crafts and Recipes is having a contest and giving away “Dad’s Own Cookbook,” written by a professional chef, as the prize. Check out all the different ways you can be entered into the drawing.
Here are the four questions for this Friday from Fun, Crafts and Recipes:
#1. Tuna fish. Water or oil?
Always water
What do you add when making yours?
Varies. Last time I added light mayo, chopped apple, a little celery seed, salt & pepper
#2. Stuffing. What else have you done with a box of stuffing besides stuff meat (turkey, pork, chicken, etc)?
My daughter has this really good recipe where you mix canned chicken and cream cheese, put in crescent roll & roll up, dip in melted butter and then dry stuffing mix. Then bake. (I’ll have to get the exact recipe.)
#3. Orange juice. Pulp, some pulp, no pulp, fresh squeezed. How do you like yours?
My favorite is fresh squeezed, but I don’t like having to get out the juicer and then clean it afterwards just for a couple of glasses of orange juice. But I do get fresh squeezed at Central Market. Otherwise, it’s Florida’s Natural Orange Juice with some pulp or Simply Orange (whichever is the best price).
#4. Fast food restaurants. Do you have a favorite one and why?
I have three where I can get really good, healthy food.
First is Chick-Fil-A. They have a great grilled chicken sandwich on a wheat bun. They have the fastest & most efficient drive-thru of all the fast food places, and I like it that they’re closed on Sundays so their employees can go to church if they want to &/or have time to spend with family.
My second is Jack-in-the-box. They have great grilled chicken strips and great salads with chicken strips.
My third is Rosa’s Cafe. I can add all the fresh onion, cilantro & lime that I want at the condiments bar to a chicken & guacamole tostada .
One thing that really bothers me is breathing the fumes from cars and other vehicles. Our AC/heat system in the van has a button to push to recirculate the inside air so that outside air is not being pulled inside the van. The only thing is that the button has to be pushed each time the vehicle is used, and sometimes I forget…until I’m in a line of traffic waiting at a red light. Then I start to smell the fumes. Just think of all the toxins we get everyday from fumes, pesticides on our foods, added hormones in our meat and even the toiletries we use. Some people like to help eliminate the toxins in their body by using various methods such as a colon cleanse. Drinking lots of water every day is something we should all do to help eliminate some toxins. Eating fiber every day helps, too. We need to clean the inside of our body just like we clean the filters on our AC/heat units and the filters on our clothes dryers. If we let all that stuff collect and never clean it, then we have problems!
The Mommy Blogger has a great household tip to shine tarnished silver with ketchup. Click here to read more about it.
Last year, I remember hearing of two or three people who died from falls while trying to hang Christmas lights. That’s so sad! According to the Home Safety Council, falls are the #1 cause of home injuries and deaths. Here are some good safety rules:
I started making these 25 years ago, and you probably have the recipe, too. But in case you’ve forgotten about this recipe, or if you’ve never seen this recipe, here it is:
Using miniature muffin pans, place balls of cookie dough (each ball equivalent to one cookie) in the muffin pans. Bake according to directions but do not overbake. While the cookie dough is baking, unwrap the miniature peanut butter cups if you haven’t already done so. Just as soon as you take the pans out of the oven, place a peanut butter cup on top of each cookie and mash down. The cookie dough becomes the shell for the peanut butter cup. If you want to add a festive look, add some colored sprinkles on top.
Here are some good tips I’ve read or heard about:
When we’ve gone on vacations, we have never stayed in a condo but some friends of ours have. When they went skiing, they rented a condo with another family so they could share the expenses. They have done that several times and really enjoyed it. If you are planning on vacationing somewhere and renting a condo, you might want to check out Condo Hotels. They link renters with owners and also buyers with sellers.
If you’re looking for a great Christmas gift for the “scientist” at your house, check out Elizabeth’s Discovery Exclusive Tornado Lab. And for the non-scientific students, it would be so much fun that they wouldn’t know they were learning. When I used to teach first grade, we would do a science experiment with a two liter bottle and make our own twisters. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t work very well. This would have been so cool to have!
Here’s what happened that Holy Night. I invite you to read below first and then listen to the song. Click to listen to Oh, Holy Night ~ It’s very special to me, and I would like to share it with you.
Luke 2:1-14
2:1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. 2 This was the first enrollment, when Quirin’i-us was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. 7 And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn..
8 And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; 11 for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!”
RSV (from Biblesoft PC Study Bible, Version 3)
I like to imagine the above passage as I’m listening to this song.