CHRISTmas is coming! Santa's Not...

As always, I must say I realize that Christmas is not the actual day of Jesus' birthday. That being said, I will still be throwing Him a party just like when we celebrate birthday parties here on different days due to conflicting schedules.
Some people may not like the fact that my kids will always know Santa is not real for fear that they may tell their children, (I promise, I told them not to talk about it to their friends) but honestly, I am okay with my kids knowing the truth from the start. I don't judge anyone on their parenting style unless of course you are letting your kid hang out the window of the car with no seat belt on like I saw someone do last week! I believed in Santa just like most American children and was pretty upset to find out he wasn't real. But once I made the choice to be completely honest with my kids on everything, I knew what I had to tell them. Big's eyes still light up when we see Santa at the mall and when he handed her a piece of candy at Goodwill this weekend she told everyone we saw but at home when I asked her if he was real, she said he's just pretend. I am at peace with her knowing the truth because when she is older and someone tells her something she isn't sure is pretend or not, she will know that I will always tell her the truth because I always have.

Flash 24 Hour Giveaway!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I know we did. My sister, mom and aunt and I got some great deals for gifts and a few sales we couldn't pass up for ourselves! My darling husband bought my anniversary gift early and I got my KitchenAid! I know I will be making lots of fun treats now that I feel like my kitchen is complete! I don't usually have people over except for a meal or games and dessert but when we visit my family in Joplin we are there for the weekend and have lots of meals to eat while we are there so hopefully this giveaway will help you out if you are having family staying with you during the holidays! This is a $10 gift certificate for any Dakota Beef product. It expires on 12/31/11 so you'll want to use it when you get it. Here is the list where you can buy these always organic beef! This giveaway ends 11/29/11 at noon! Just comment on if you have decorated for Christmas! We did last night and had so much fun with Big and Little!

This giveaway is not sponsored by anyone but myself!

Torani's Winner and New Blog Header!

First off, thanks so much for everyone who read and commented on my blog! I was so excited to see some readers in the Netherlands! Also, I wanted to thank Mia Mar Design for here great work and ease to work with on designing my blog header and button! I love them!!! Alright now for our winners!!!

Winners:
ppreacherswife and Heather @ Marine Corps Nomads!!!
Congrats and look forward to hearing from you in the next 48 hours or I will draw new winners!
So what do you think of my new blog look? Please comment and let me know!

Torani Review and Giveaway 2 Winners!

First off, I have to give a special thanks to SheSpeaks! I am working with SheSpeaks Blogger Society and they have given me the opportunity to review Torani's who is a favorite among most coffee shops and cafes with over 80 flavors to choose from. I have had a secret love affair with Italian Cream Soda's for a long time since I cannot enjoy coffee unless it is almost not coffee anymore! When I was a kid, I used to love it when we'd go to CiCi's Pizza since they had their fountain drinks where you could fill your own cup and I would make a Suicide! (Soda Suicide, ya know when you mix all the soda flavors together!) I love mixing drinks together and adding cherry or vanilla or now say, Pumpkin Pie!
My honest opinion of Torani's is that you can't find a much better flavor idea! These are wonderful for hot and cold drinks and I am thinking maybe even in something you eat! Think of your plain old orange Jell-O, you could add Kiwi or Passion Fruit to make that after school snack even more fun.The flavors are very concentrated so you only need a little which means it last quite a while. For my adventurous friends out there, flavors range from fun Cupcake to bizarre Bacon! My person favorite is Carmel and adding it to my hot chocolate in the morning while I am doing the dishes or maybe even blogging!
You can buy it now with this 10% discount code "shespeaks" at Torani.com. Also, TWO of you get the chance to pick out your own bottle of Torani's flavors. I will be picking two winners from the comments below on November 16 (my hubby's birthday) to celebrate the unveiling of my new blog design! I'm mail out the coupons  to the two winners within 48 hours of their reply email.

How to enter: Leave a comment on what flavor you'd like to try and what you'd mix it with!
Optional additional entries: Share on facebook, twitter (with link), like my facebook page, follow me on GFC!

Good luck and I am looking forward to seeing all your great ideas!

*I did not receive any financial compensation for this review, though I did review a sample of the product for evaluation purposes. The opinions are based only on my experiences with the product.*

Make sure and thank the sponsors @SheSpeaks on twitter using #SSTorani for one extra entry if you read my whole blog! :)

Judging a Bad Mom

So here's the deal, I know this bad mom. She loves them, but I just think she could do so much better job. She yells at her kids and loses her cool pretty quickly. But the kids act spoiled and through fits a lot. Usually at least one of her kids are crying when they are in public. It looks like she's trying but I just don't understand why house is a mess. There is always dishes in the sink and I know for a fact that she doesn't stick to her grocery list and goes out to eat a few times a week. Why is it so hard for her to keep her kid in control? Both kids are super picky and it looks like they don't eat very healthy no matter what she makes for dinner. Do other people have these problems, too? Her girl is always crying! She cries about the color of her shoes and cries about going to school. And the boy, I swear he is always running! I have never seen him slow down. I think if I hear her say, "No!" one more time, I'm going to cry for her. I did forget to mention that her kids really love her and are always following her around and they always want to be with her. What do you thing, am I really a bad mom? Today I am feeling like one. My five year old daughter refused to get on the school bus after she begged for a month to ride the bus. I finally signed her up, we stood out in the rain and waited and when the bus pulled up, she freak out! I told her I just couldn't do it and she was not allowed to ride the bus till next year. So, please tell what to do, because honestly,  this bad mom doesn't know what to do.
(I know I am not a bad mom, I just know I need some help here!)

Does God Want Me To Be Happy?

There is article after article about "How To Be Happy!" They all sound so great. Get more sleep, eat better, don't get stressed out. I even found a step by step guide here. But, does God want us to be happy? I believe the answer is yes and no. There are times where God is allowing us to be sad or not happy because He is using that situation to allow Him to work in our life. I have read a lot of quotes lately that say, "Do What Makes YOU Happy!" They sound great, don't they? This morning I paid off our only credit card bill. We have one other small debt and other than our house and we will be debt free! That makes me happy. I have to admit, during the time it took us to pay off the bills we acquired, I wasn't always happy. We we came into extra money, like the amount we got this morning, I would have been really happy to get my yellow Kitchen aid and paid someone to come clean my house and quite a few other things with all that money, that would have made me happy. But I chose to put more important things above my happiness and made the hard decision. I am glad I made that choice. By not allowing "happiness" to rule my life, I made the choice to get out of debt which makes me JOYFUL! Sometimes in life, we don't feel happy with the choices we made. Well, you then have to decide where you want to go from there. If you are in a marriage and you are not happy think about what decision you may potentially make that will irrevocably change the rest of your life. There are joyful days ahead if you just seek the will of God and not allowing the first choice to always be happiness comes first! My dear friend and I are starting a study over The Proper Care &Feeding of Husbands by Dr. Laura Schlessinger. I just stared this book and it is already raking me over the coals on how selfish I have been in my marriage. If you are interested in reading this also, pick up a copy or even choose to have it sent to your e-reader like I love to do now! So what do you think, are you trying to hard to be happy?

Lonely in a Crowded Room

Have you ever been there? Most of the time that is me. I just kinda stand there with a smile on my face and look around, trying to figure out if I should walk up and talk to someone or just wait until someone looks interested in talking to me. I am out of place everywhere I go. Even around people that I love and spend most of my time with, I am never fully at ease. I ask myself, why could that be. Sometimes I wonder if it because I am too busy thinking about something else. I always seem to have a few somethings on my mind, such as I hope Little doesn't throw up while we are eating again or I hope no body walks up and tries to talk to Big and send her into one of her crying fits. Something I always think about if cleaning around the house! I always have grand plans on making the house look great, the plans usually don't make it home! I think the main reason I don't feel at home is because, simply I am not. My true home is waiting for me in Heaven. I know that because Jesus is the Lord of my life and I daily surrender to Him. Being a Christian doesn't mean you don't mess up or even that your life will be perfect, being a Christian simply means you want a relationship with the God of the Universe. There are a great many things waiting in Heaven and when I am there I am grateful there will be no more tears and secretly I am excited for no more sneezing and allergies! I heard it described like this once and haven't heard anything better since so this is how I'll go with it: Heaven is like Disney World when you haven only played on a swing in the park. As far as you know, the swing is the best thing you know but Disney World is out there and way better than a swing in the park. Our Earthly swing may seem great today, but there is a place WAY more amazing than you could even dream of!  "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." John 14:2-4