I just love this time of year it just seems like we do a whole lot more baking. We make something nearly every night and we all gather in the kitchen and while we are baking we chat and have a great time. I would love to win the Wilton prize pack being hosted in a giveaway by the blog Baby Loving Mama. Just look at all the great goodies someone will get. This giveaway ends December 18, 2010

Eucerin Answer To Dry Skin & giveaway @ Baby Loving Mama

I am a diabetic and have for the longest time suffered with dry skin but it seems as I get older the dry skin haunts me even more. Eucerin helps to relieve this problem by helping to put moisture back into my skin. The blog Baby Loving Mama is hosting a giveaway sponsored by Eucerin where a lucky person will get

a lovely prize pack from Eucerin including gloves, scarf and the Eucerin product as well. This giveaway ends December 20, 2010

Help Pick the Book Cover $15 gc giveaway

Congratulations to a fellow blogger on getting her book published. Good for her. I met Laura through my blog and wantched her grow her blog, become a new mommy and raise her daughter and now have her book published. Laura is hosting a giveaway where she is asking you to help you pick the cover of her book. One lucky individual will win a $15 gc. Head over to the blog Laura DeLuca and help her choose the cover and enter this great contet Giveaway will end December 30 2010

Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened


1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon red food coloring paste

Parchment paper

Peppermint Frosting

Beat butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, beating until blended, scraping bowl as needed. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed until blended.  Divide dough into 2 equal portions. Roll 1 portion of dough into a 12- x 8-inch rectangle on a piece of lightly floured plastic wrap.  Knead food coloring paste into remaining portion of dough while wearing rubber gloves. Roll tinted dough into a rectangle as directed in Step 3. Invert untinted dough onto tinted dough; peel off plastic wrap. Cut dough in half lengthwise, forming 2 (12- x 4-inch) rectangles. Roll up each rectangle, jelly-roll fashion, starting at 1 long side, using bottom piece of plastic wrap as a guide. Wrap in plastic wrap, and freeze 4 hours or up to 1 month. Preheat oven to 350°. Cut ends off each dough log, and discard. Cut dough into 1/4-inch-thick pieces, and place on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.  Bake at 350° for 6 to 7 minutes or until puffed and set; cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Remove to wire racks, and cool completely (about 30 minutes).  Place Peppermint Frosting in a heavy-duty zip-top plastic freezer bag. Snip 1 corner of bag to make a small hole. Pipe about 2 tsp. frosting onto half of cookies; top with remaining cookies, gently pressing to form a sandwich

Recipe Source: Southern Living December 2008

Super Cute Gift In A Jar

This is a make your own smores kit. It is very festive and stylish and super cute. Find out how you can make it on the blog Money Saving Mom

Chicken Feed Snack Mix Recipe and a giveaway where you can win some chex cereal

My mother used to make what she called chicken feed for us out of Chex Mix. This recipe is very much like the traditional chex mix. If you are interested in the recipe here it is:

Chicken Feed

1 lb. Oleo
1/3 Cup Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbls. Onion Salt
1 Tbls. Garlic Salt
1 Tbls. Celery Salt
1/2 Tbls. Savory Salt
1/2 Tbls. Tabasco Sauce
1/2 Box Kix Cereal
1/2 Box Cheerios
1/2 Box Rice Chex
1/2 Box Corn Chex
2 Cans Planters Peanuts
1 Pkg. Pretzels
1-1/2 lbs. Nuts

Melt oleo, add seasonings. Pour over mixed cereals and nuts. Mix well. Spread in long pan and bake for 2 hours at 225° – stirring at least twice. Remove from oven and let cool COMPLETELY! If tightly covered, will keep for weeks. (That is on the assumption that there will be any remaining after that long.)

Want to try this recipe or any of the other recipes made by the help of Chex cereal? Well then I bet you would be interested in the giveaway being hosted by Gobs of Giveaways where the winner will receive 1 box of Rice Chex, a measuring cup set and a Chex® Party Mix tote bag from General Mills!
 Giveaway ends December 18, 2010

You can find another great giveaway chance for this Chex party mix at Kellys Lucky this giveaway will end December 26, 2010

Thought I Would Share A Bit of What Others are Reading

The top 10 post of what others were reading yesterday include:

snack taxi review
Pillow Pets giveaway today is last day to enter this giveaway
ABC Wednesday post
Chocolate Covered Dream Bites gluten free recipe
Irish dessert
Toy Soldier Christmas Tree ornament
Christmas Tree Ornament
Red Velvet Cookies
Pamper Point Codes
What about The Shepherds

PetCakes giveaway

Have you seen the adorable new Pet Cakes? They are so cute and can't help to be sweet they look just like little cupcakes.

The blog Finding Blessings In Every Day is hosting a giveaway where the winner will get winners choice of 2 petcakes. What ones are your favorites? Giveaway ends December 15, 2010

Following Friday

!
 
Hosted by Let's Just Give It Away, Made♥ By♥Jess,


And Then There Were 4, Buzzing The Day Away,

and Whirlwind of Surprises!
 
if you visit and follow please leave a comment I will follow back I am linking up with Following Friday in hopes to find a few new friends.

Buttery Bow Cookies

This is a very moving song and just wanted to share it with you all.

Buttery Bow Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour


1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup cold butter, cubed

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

3 tablespoons butter, melted

Red and green colored sugar

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; cut in butter until crumbly. Combine egg and cream; gradually beat into crumb mixture until a ball forms. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until easy to handle.

Divide dough into three portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into an 8-in. x 6-in. rectangle. Brush with melted butter; sprinkle with colored sugar. Cut into 8-in.-long x 1/4-in.-wide strips. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets; form into bows.

Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove from pans to wire racks. Yield: 6 dozen.

recipe source: Taste of Home

EZ Sox

Have you seen the new EZ Sox? They are the cutest thing going or at least I think so. My little princess is into animals and loves them all with her favorites being frogs, dogs and cats. The EZ Sox would delight her as they look like cute little animals. I also love the straps at the top of the sox. They remind me of the old fashioned boot straps that the boys would use to pull their boots on. EZ Sox are super cute and perfect to teach little ones to put their sox on. Want to win a pair? Head over to the blog jumpin beans and enter before December 16, 2010

Inexpensive Ways to Give Back and Have a Heart of Gold

Sometimes Christmas will find us being all about buying gifts and we may forget that it is a great time that we can give back as well. There are several ways to give back if you think about it there are probably those you know that you can do simple things for to give back not only will they feel grateful for helping them but you will have a heart of gold. Here are a few ideas that I thought of in case you want to plan an activity it is a great time for families to team up to give back as well

Visit those in retirement home, nursing home, or hospitals. I worked in skilled caring nursing for many  years and each year saw individuals go without any visitors at all. Team up with some friends and take along a box of candycanes to hand out to those that you meet and see. I can tell you that it will brighten their day and the smile they share will be contagious.

Volunteer to help your neighbors. From elderly folks who may need help around the house or just a simple visit to single mothers who sometimes would just love someone to watch their children so that they can do some Christmas shopping.

Young families in your neighborhood may find it hard to have a bright Christmas. Share your talent and take over a dish of goodies to eat or perhaps a few Christmas ornaments that you no longer need. Often young families welcome any help that they are offered

I would love to hear what you do to give back.

I shared this post on Life As Mom

Aloha Friday

Aloha Friday sponsored by the blog An Island Life began as a place to celebrate the ease that is enjoyed in Hawaii. In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. This meme allows bloggers to ask fellow bloggers easy questions that require simple easy answers.

December has been packed full of activiities Tonight we will all go to a favorite eating place and then go to a Christmas concert. I just love getting together with great friends and having lots of fun. We have a day where we will be taking cookies to the shut ins as well as caroling. So my question for you is:

Have you been able to enjoy any Christmas events? I would love to know what you have been doing as well

Good Morning

Good Morning I hope this gets you soing and living life to the fullest

Just Like Grandpa

This is a picture of a dear friend of mine and his grandkids. All though it was taken a few months ago I still think this picture is very sweet they all want to be like grandpa

shared on Household 6 Diva

Snack Size Giveaway

In the mood for a bit of a snack? Then Frito Lay may be just what you need to reach for. The prize package shown above is what the winner will get if they win the giveaway located on the blog Marias Space. To enter this giveaway head over to that blog and tell Maria what your favorite Frito Lay chip is. Its as easy as that giveaway ends December 27 2010 

Another Hay Needle giveaway

I love Hayneedle they offer some great products. I will continue to enter giveaways for Hayneedle giftcards until hopefully I win one. If you want to enter some check out the list below.

The blog My Silly Monkeys giveaway for $100 gift card to Hayneedle ends December 19, 2010 By the way if you have not been able to visit this blog you should do so she is a full time momma with a blog where she shares stories, offers lots of great giveaways and has fun

Ozone Sock Winners

The giveaway that was sponsored by Ozone Socks has ended and the two winners are:
0 4:22 AM


SLS(atlmuzikfanzinc) said...

shared on myspace

http://mysp.ac/fltavq

and

Prairiemaid said...


I like Garden Party and Cowboy Boots! But all of them are really *S.W.E.E.T.*





winners have been emailed and have 36 hourse to respond to claim their prize

Its Getting Busy Around Here Top 10 Post

The weekend starts today and it will be busy full of Holiday cheer this weekend. If you happen to have a down time today perhaps you would be interested in reading a few of my top post

Christmas tree ornament
Snack Taxi Review
Chocolate Covered Peeps
Ozone Socks Giveaway
Christmas Cookies 4 Way
Cathedral Windows Cookies
Rice Krispy Wreaths
Vintage Christmas Ornaments
Irish Dessert
What about the Shepherds

You are Invited To Brunch

Lori over at the Life As Mom blog asked us if we were to fix a brunch for the holidays what would we serve. After thinking about it for a bit I came up with the answer. We would have:

We would definitely have to have some sort of Breakfast Casserole One of our favorites is Breakfast Casserole with sausage as a main ingredient

A fruit salad would plate nicely beside the hearty casserole. Search for fruit salad recipes on my blog and you will find a variety of choices including a nice strawberry marmalad salad

 
Next it would be nice to serve a pastry, bread or muffin along side or for those looking for a lighter breakfast. Once again searching for breads, pastries or muffins on Annies Home will gain you many different recipes including these coconut muffins

Serve it all along side some delicious cranberry tea and you will have a delicious brunch for sure What would you make for a holiday brunch? I would love to hear what you have to share