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Capturing the Year with The World Almanac for Kids 2013

December 29, 2012 By Autumn Rose Reo Leave a Comment

Sharing Saturdays:

Do you need a reminder that Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift are two of the most interesting people in 2012? Probably not since they may own the title in 2013, but it is amazing so many other people, little-known facts and stats comprised 2012 in a nutshell. The World Almanac® for Kids 2013 provides timely and timeless information on popular subjects such as animals, science, sports, music, U.S. history, and more. Readers will find out what’s hot in 2012 with full-color photographs and facts about favorite sports and entertainment superstars.

What a great staple volume to talk about current events and capture 2012 for your family as you step through 2013 this NYE!

The World Almanac for Kids 2013

Sarah Janssen

World Almanac

Buy It

DISCLAIMER:
I received one or more of the mentioned products for the sole purpose of this review. No other compensating was given and all opinions expressed are 100 percent my own. (Accordance with FTC’s 16 CFR Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”)

Fill Up on Good Luck with Texas Caviar & Cosmo Jello Shots {Recipe}

December 28, 2012 By Autumn Rose Reo Leave a Comment

Food Fridays:

In our home, Christmas cheer has been replaced with coughing, aching and runny noses… However, we aren’t going to let it slow down our NYE festivities (at least not for the meantime.)

Considering I have a household of people who find cabbage (the symbol for money) and black-eyed peas (the symbol for good luck) to be completely distasteful, I have to work hard to mask the foods while still ensuring we get in all the opportunity for money and good luck as we can get (can you tell I’m superstitious?)

So I’m sharing one of the best ways to make black-eyed peas acceptable on New Year’s Eve with this family recipe for Texas Caviar. Best of all, there’s no cooking involved, so you can’t mess it up AND your kids will be sure to like it (as long as you don’t tell them it’s made with black-eye peas.)

TEXAS CAVIAR

1/2 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 bunch green onions, chopped

2 jalapeno peppers, chopped

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered

1 (8 ounce) bottle zesty Italian dressing

1 can black beans, drained

1 can black-eyed peas, drained

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1 bunch chopped fresh cilantro

2 avocadoes, peeled, pitted and diced

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix together onion, green bell pepper, green onions, jalapeno peppers, garlic, cherry tomatoes, zesty Italian dressing, black beans, black-eyed peas and coriander. Cover and chill in the refrigerator approximately 2 hours. Toss with desired amount of fresh cilantro to serve.

One of the other must-haves at NYE are a little adult cocktails! Even if you can’t imagine trying to sip your “so-sophisticated martini” with two kiddos running around the house, consider taking down a few Cosmopolitan jello shots courtesy of Shannon at “Milk and Cuddles.” I can attests she made these a few weeks ago and not only were they delicious and easy to devour…making it possible to have a little adult beverages without keeping them around the house with the kids! The best part was the orange zest on top.

Get the recipe for Cosmo Jello Shots on MilkandCuddles.com.

Clink, Clink! Slurp, Slurp!

To-Do: Round Up Your Herd for NYE 2013

December 27, 2012 By Autumn Rose Reo 2 Comments

To-Do Thursdays:

I’ll be honest and tell you the only thing I feel like doing this Thursday is sitting in my warm bed with a cup of cocoa…however, the to-do list is too long to just waste a perfectly good opportunity to enjoy my kids and the holiday season.

So here’s my picks for a few things you and your kids can do this weekend and of course, the kick-off to the new 2013 year!

Living this close to “The Rodeo Capital of Texas,” take the family out to the Mesquite Pro Rodeo Winter Classic, Dec. 28-29 for bull riding, buck riding and best of all mutton competition and calf scramble!

And while there are several different options for NYE in Big D, the biggest one of course is the Big D NYE. It’s slated to be a [free] good time for the whole family including the biggest, loudest and best fireworks, entertainment, prizes and more.

However, while we are still trying to figure out our New Year’s plans, consider all your options available with Your Holiday Helper: Celebrate New Year’s with Adventure Kids Playcare!

For those of you planning to be homebound on this special day, I’ll be sharing some great recipes for your own NYE party.

Return, Exchange or Regift?

December 26, 2012 By Autumn Rose Reo Leave a Comment

style="background: white; line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Wow-Mom Wednesdays:

Now that most the holiday gifts have now been unwrapped…the biggest question remains:

To regift or not to regift?

That is the question a recent national survey conducted by Bookoo.com, the online yard sale community, asked respondents as they prepare for the holiday shopping season. According to Bookoo’s 2012 Holiday Regifting Survey, the holidays are the most common time of year for people to regive presents that they previously received from someone else. While frowned upon by some, a whopping 92 percent believe it’s completely acceptable to regift items, and more than 87 percent believe they too have been a recipient of a regifted item. And, with shoppers looking to save more and spend less this holiday season, more than 62 percent plan to regift an item to a friend, neighbor or colleague for the holidays.

Would you keep or regift these babies? (Found on Bookoo.com)

Frequent regifters feel they have mastered the art of regifting and take precautions to ensure it stays a secret. Some popular techniques include re-wrapping the item to look new (53 percent), inspecting the item and removing any gift cards or receipts from the previous giver (50 percent) and planning ahead to make sure they do not give the gift to anyone associated with the original gifter (66 percent).

Most commonly, people regift because they feel that someone will appreciate the item more than they do (62 percent) or because they couldn’t use the gift personally (53 percent). Additionally, regifting has its cost-saving benefits with 82 percent of people estimating that they have saved up to $150 by repurposing gifts.

While most respondents suggest sticking to more commonly acceptable regifted items, including home decor pieces, antiques, books, toys and jewelry, others shared rather untraditional, less desirable regifted items that they received in the past, including:

Two year old fruit cake
Box of chocolates with bites taken out of several pieces
Monogrammed items with someone else’s initials
Used toilet seat
Electric toothbrush
False teeth
Fingernail clippers
Outdated old desk calendar
Items the recipient had originally given to the gifter
Toys with broken pieces
Gift cards that were partially used

While regifting is most popular around the holidays, it is a common practice throughout the year. In fact, other popular times of year to regift items include: birthdays, baby showers and as housewarming and thank you gifts. No matter the occasion, women are more likely to regift items than their male counterparts 3:1.

To view more survey highlights, visit the Bookoo Blog.

About Bookoo
Based in Oswego, Ill., Bookoo offers a network of hyper-local online yard sales for hundreds of communities around the world. Each Bookoo site connects neighbors, allowing them to safely buy and sell their treasures locally, and to view a map of upcoming yard sales in their area. Free and easy to use, anyone can search and post items for sale on Bookoo.com or through the free mobile app for iPhone and Android. Inspired by their passion for finding hidden treasures at yard sales, brothers and yard sale fanatics, Adam and Austin Allgaier , founded Bookoo in 2004 and continue to expand into new markets worldwide. Today, more than a million people buy and sell just about anything on Bookoo every month.

Me Mondays:

My “Me Monday” is all about checking off my holiday to-do list and perhaps thinking a little bigger – giving. Christmas is all about giving. So this Christmas consider not just giving a gift, but making a bigger impact with the gifts that you give. Here’s a great list of how you can make a difference by just buying a gift, creating your holiday cards or just searching for gifts online.

GIFTS

World Vision Gift Catalog | http://www.worldvisiongifts.org

The WorldVision Gift Catalog allows you to celebrate the true spirit of Christmas. With the tagline, “Give a gift. Change a Life,” 86% of ever gift goes to programs helping children and families overcome poverty in nearly 100 countries. As easy as thumbing through your Pottery Barn catalog, you can choose to make a specific donation for a specific cause like hunger, clean water, and medical attention for someone in need – like purchasing two goats and a cow to help a family be more self-sufficient to buying toys for children in a village.

Also, for those looking for something to give in honor of your donation, you can make a financial contribution, by selecting one of 36 Maximum Impact items that can be given to a loved one and at the same time help a person in need. And the items are as unique as the donations like an Artisan Beaded Necklace, a homemade, glass-bead necklace from Thailand. However, the work of WorldVision and their need doesn’t end at Christmas, so visit their Facebook to learn more about this prolific Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential.

Impact Foods | http://www.impactfoods.com

Inspired by the growing movement of Conscious Capitalism (think Tom’s Shoes), Ben Hurt and Blaine Iler endeavored to create a business that could change the world. So Dallas-based Impact Foods was born with a simple, but prolific concept: for every bag they sell, a hungry child is fed.

While making it that easy to make an “impact” on someone else’s life is enough to eat another bowl of cereal, Impact Foods, an official partner of the World Food Program, they’ve upped the ante this December by feeding two children for every bag sold. With all-natural ingredients, whole grains, no fructose syrup and flavors like vanilla, maple oat and blueberry honey, when you pour it in a bowl, it’s just like it came out of the oven. So this year, if you’re a little short of time and creativity, consider a little Impact Foods in a pretty jar or bag with a spoon and a nice bowl for a neighbor, fitness friend or the gals at work. They’ll be happy and you’ll done your good deed that might score you a few more points on Santa’s list. Get your bags of Impact Foods at Amazon, Whole Foods as well as many places in DFW.

Fresh Cup of Hope | http://www.freshcupofhope.com

Coffee baskets are one of the most purchased (and enjoyed) holiday gifts. Consider this holiday not only to give your obligatory coffee basket, but also to “make a difference, one cup at a time.” Because The Fresh Cup of Hope Cofee Co. works directly with the farmers and the principles of Fair Trade, they are ensuring that the farm they work with is self-sustaining and the lives of the workers are being improved with housing, better nutrition and overall health, tutors for the children and pastors who work directly with them. It’s amazing that something as simple as your choice in coffee can make a large, measurable difference in the lives of others, so consider pairing a bag of Jamaican Me Crazy, Cinnamon Pecan Brownie or Snickerdoodle with a $1 coffee cup from the Dollar Tree for a small gift that does big things.

HOLIDAY CARDS

Cardraising Greeting Card Fundraising | http://www.cardraising.com

Every year my mantle is full of Christmas cards from family and friends. Consider that each one of those cards sent could have also gone to help other organizations like your local school, church or even your child’s sporting team. That’s exactly what Cardraising does. Last year best friends Derek Sparta and Emil Jorge decided to create a sustainable business that could afford to give back 30% of its revenues to help others, so they developed Cardraising to help other organizations prosper when you create your holiday cards, birth or graduation announcements. While it’s still a growing business and 2012 is out for your organization to apply for the opportunity to participate, you can still pick out a lovely holiday card design that can benefit your preferred organization like Dallas-based Communities Foundation of Texas, one of the nation’s largest community foundations, in terms of total assets, gifts received and grants awarded.

ONLINE SEARCH

Save1 | http://save1.com

Save1 makes it even easier to make a difference, just by searching online for deals and discounts. Each time you use one of our coupons or special deals to save money, they use a portion of their commission to provide a nutritious meal for a hungry child. With 90,713 already purchased, they save you money and then they buy food for others (by doing what you are doing online to buy your gifts, anyways!) So consider using http://www.save1.com for your holiday shopping this year and while you are at it, you can buy a meal for someone else.

See what good you can do by just doing what you are already going to do this holiday.

DISCLAIMER:

I received one or more of the mentioned products for the sole purpose of this review. No other compensating was given and all opinions expressed are 100 percent my own. (Accordance with FTC’s 16 CFR Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”)

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