Easy Sweet Potato Casserole

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If you’re short on time &/or energy, this sounds like a great recipe. My mother used to use canned sweet potatoes, and she would make delicious mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top. I guess you could put marshmallows on top of this instead of the brown sugar mixture if you preferred. Here’s the easy recipe from Southern Living, November 2006 by Jean Ellard, Birmingham, Alabama.

  1. 3 (40-oz.) cans cut sweet potatoes, drain the syrup
  2. 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
  3. 1/2 cup butter, softened
  4. 1/2 cup milk
  5. 2 large eggs
  6. 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
  7. 1/2 teaspoon salt
  8. 1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
  9. 1 1/4 cups finely chopped pecans
  10. 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  11. 1/3 cup butter, melted

Combine first 7 ingredients and beat at medium speed until smooth. Spoon into lightly greased 9 x 13 dish. Mix last 4 ingredients and sprinkle evenly on top of sweet potato mixture. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

Shopping During the Holidays

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With Christmas just around the corner, a lot of people are already in the middle of their Christmas shopping. Some started their shopping during the summer and are almost finished. However, with so many people to buy gifts for, some shoppers are in need of a payday loan in order to take advantage of all the great sales going on this time of year.  It pays to look at the ads, make your shopping list, and buy things on sale.  You get more for your money that way.  Just make sure not to overspend and stick to your list!

“Black Friday” Ads Released Before Thanksgiving

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I am still seriously considering going shopping with our daughter and her friend in the wee hours of the morning on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The last couple of years I’ve thought about going, and then decided on Thanksgiving Day I didn’t want to get up that early and fight the crowds.   It will be interesting to see if I actually go this year. 🙂

These are some of the stores that have already released their ads which you can check out at:

http://www.black-friday.net/

  • AAFES (for active military)
  • Babies R Us
  • Best Buy
  • Circuit City
  • CompUSA
  • hhGregg
  • Home Depot
  • JC Penney
  • KB Toys
  • Kmart
  • Kohl’s
  • Office Depot
  • Old Navy
  • Sears
  • Target
  • Toys R Us

WaMu Checking Accounts

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We like where we do banking. We’ve been banking there ever since our daughter was in elementary school. In fact, the reason that we opened a checking account there was because she won a $50 savings account from that bank for reading the most books in our library’s Summer Reading Program years ago. We’ve banked there ever since.

I know some people are not satisfied with their banks, though, because of high fees. If you are one of those people, you might want to look into opening a checking account from WaMu, especially if you want great free services with no monthly fee, free ATM cash withdrawals (foreign and domestic), free checks for life, and free identity theft services.

House Cleaning Tips for the Holidays

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Here are some great ideas about house cleaning during the holidays:

  • Don’t stress about it! Put on some of your favorite music. Music speeds up cleaning and makes it more fun.
  • Don’t let clutter get out of control! Spend 10 minutes a day putting things back where they go.
  • Prioritize your rooms! Clean the room that is most used by guests first. (probably the living room) Then move on from there.
  • Handle mail one time! As you look through your daily mail, either recycle it, put bills in their place, or put it in a basket for things that need your attention. Don’t waste time going through your mail two or three times.
  • Kill germs! The last thing you want is to catch a cold or get sick during the holidays. Sanitize telephones, doorknobs, remote controls, light switches, water faucets, refrigerator and microwave door handles, flush handles on toilets, anything that more than one person touches.

Personalized Gifts for Children from Identity Direct

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Personalized Gifts for Children make wonderful gifts for Christmas, birthdays, and anytime during the year. A personalized gift is something extra-special, something unique, and something that will be kept and treasured for many years. Identity Direct has a huge selection of gift items with over 500 personalized gifts. Their most popular gift is “My Special Christmas Adventure,” a personalized storybook where the child named goes on a magical journey with Santa Claus. They also have Disney, Winnie the Pooh, and Sesame Street selections as well.

Recipes for Pumpkin Cake & Bars

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I’ve bought several cans of pumpkin at a super sale price, so I’m looking for recipes that use pumpkin besides my traditional pumpkin pie recipe (which is a favorite of mine). I came across some recipes that sound delicious. The second recipe calls for a can of pumpkin pie mix with all the spices and sugar, so I’ll have to add my own since I have cans of plain pumpkin. Here are the recipes:

Pumpkin Spice Cake (with frosting) from Wanda at Apples-Zeros

and

Pumpkin Pie Cake from Lori at My Wooden Spoon

and

Pumpkin Spice Frosted Snack Bars from Elizabeth at Mom Cooks

Thanksgiving Decorations for the Whole Family to Make Together

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 alans-turkey-resized.jpg

It’s fun to work together as a family on a project. When our son was in kindergarten, he had a homework assignment: the whole family had to decorate this white cardboard, cut-out turkey shape that was about ten inches tall. So all of us, even teenage sister and dad helped to decorate the turkey, coloring it with markers, gluing on ribbon, odds and ends of stuff out of my sewing box, colored cereal, and small pieces of old jewelry. We had so much fun! Years and years later, we still have that turkey and he’s always a part of our Thanksgiving decorations. And the funny thing is that the cereal is still on there. LOL

My friend, Wanda, over at apples-zeros.com used to be an art teacher, and you can tell because she is so creative. Here’s a neat idea she has for making a homemade centerpiece that everyone in the family can help make. This would be something that you could save and use from year to year by storing it in a box in the attic. Just click here .

When I used to teach first grade, we would make a great big turkey mural out in the hallway every year. It made the bland wall come alive. I would have the kids trace around their hands on different colors of construction paper (red, orange, purple, yellow, brown, and some green). I had a turkey head that I used every year and would just make a new body for it every year with all of the hand cut-outs. This idea could make a neat door decoration at home, too.

VirMedice is Up With the Latest Technology

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My doctor is a wonderful doctor. She used to be five minutes away from my house, but she moved to a new office and is now twenty-five minutes away. She’s such a great doctor, though, that it’s worth the longer drive. When she moved to the new medical office, all three doctors updated their medical records to computer software. When I go for an appointment, she has a computer in the examining room and pulls up my records on the computer. It’s all so organized! I’m not sure exactly what software she uses, but she uses some type of practice management software. VirMedice is a leading EMR software consultant for electronic medical health records management. They help physicians convert from a paper records management system to the latest in EMR electronic health records keeping, just like my doctor did. All medical records and reports are at the doctor’s fingertips, organized and easy to access. And what I really like is that it increases security of patient information.

Nike Recalls Football Helmet Chin Straps

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Nike has recalled around 235,000 football helmet chin straps with any one of these four style numbers printed on the inside of the strap: FA0016 046, FA0016 130, FA0021 046, or FA0021 130. The chin strap’s plastic cup has broken in several instances as a result of contact during play which exposes the player to facial and head injuries. So far, Nike has received 18 reports of the chin strap breaking: two reports of concussions, two reports of facial injuries requiring stitches, and a report of a broken nose. These helmets were sold April 2006 – October 2007 for about $20, came in black/gray and white/gray color combinations, and were made in China. You can contact Nike directly at their toll-free number (888) 583-6453 between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. PT during the week, or you can go to their website at

http://www.nikebiz.com.


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Nice Garage Flooring from Car Guy Garage

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Our garage floor is bare concrete stained with oil and I’m not sure what other kinds of stains. It really doesn’t look very good. I’ve been in some garages that have such nice floors. If the cars were backed out, the garage could be used for a ping pong table, craft area, or workshop. Now that would be a nice way to get more use out of the garage. I checked out garage flooring, and they have some great looking flooring for the garage.  I like the way the interlock tiles look and the fact they have a watertight interlocking system and are easy to install.

Foster’s Home for Children in Stephenville, TX

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If you’re looking to make a charitable donation, Foster’s Home received “Best in America,” certified by Independent Charities of America. Of the 1,000,000 charities operating in the United States, fewer than 2,000 have received this award. It shows that the charity meets the highest standards of public accountability, program effectiveness, and cost effectiveness. You can check out Foster’s Home for Children and see what I’m talking about.

Foster’s Home for Children is a wonderful place for troubled children to go for healing, nurturing, and learning appropriate skills for interactive living. The home was started over forty-one years ago and has helped countless children and their families. We have given to this home through the years, and it’s a wonderful place if you’re looking to make a charitable donation. They are in the process of expanding, and what a wonderful place to put your donation where it will aid troubled children.