Some cute little fall finds...

One good thing about the retail push for the next big holiday shopping season is that you can find steals that are already on clearance during the season.  Take this cute little plate for instance.  Better Homes & Gardens  at Walmart on clearance for $2.

And this sweet fall tree on a plastic placemat for $1 - good for background but I know the kids will be stealing it for their playdough sessions in no time.

A Nice Steaming Mug of Mulled Wine, Anyone?

Whether you wish to celebrate or kill the pain tonight, here is a recipe for a wonderful mulled wine that will leave you warm and satisfied!  I don't remember where I first saw this recipe but I have been making it for years from back when we started hosting a holiday open house and it was an instant smash hit.  Even my friends and family who don't normally drink love to come over and sit by the fireplace sipping on a fragrant mug full.  The guys who are normally more prone to beer or liquor all eventually cave and once they try this and feel its potency (and believe me it is potent) they are hooked too.  It makes the house smell wonderful and is a great accompaniment to all those sweet cookies and goodies when you are having a baking day too - a sample of this, sip of wine, little music...  Makes for a "relaxing" day of baking, hahaha!  Plus - its really easy and inexpensive too!

Vote! Its Your American Responsibility

I was excited to get up this morning and go do my duty to my country by voting.  I had discussed voting with my kids (see my previous post).  I had researched the candidates and issues and knew what I was going to do.  The sun was shining bright on the hard frost covering the ground.  The kids got up eagerly with my 3 year old son asking endless questions about voting and eager to get his "I Voted" sticker.

We drove to our little township hall which is our only polling location.  We got there about 7:20 a.m. and I stopped to take a couple of pictures outside to savor the feeling of the morning (I feel this eager every time I get the privilege of voting).  As we came to the door to enter, a woman came out the exit door frowning and shaking her head.  "20 minute wait time!" she grumbled.  "That's not bad at all." was my reply.  She frowned at me and grumbled again "Huh, its 20 minutes!" as she hurried away.  I was stunned at her anger over 20 minutes but didn't really think too much - until later.

Football Party & Homemade Egg Rolls

Are you ready for some football?  One Sundays from October through February you will usually find a crowd at my house around the TV yelling and cheering (mostly for the Dallas Cowboys).  We all wear jerseys and there is usually a Nerf football getting passed around.  During commercials the big guys get down on the floor with the little guys and run some plays.  I float back and forth between the kitchen and the game and doing all my normal things to get ready for the upcoming week.  I love this time.  Often there are little conversations about the greater things in life but there is just this feeling of togetherness.  The guys also love this time because I love to spend Sundays baking and using up whatever leftovers are in the fridge to create new things.  Its usually the only day of the week I am actually home all day so I can make those recipes that I avoid the rest of the week because they take extra time to bake or put together.  Always good smells wafting out of the kitchen and lots of yells from the living room asking what I am making now.  :)

I usually start by putting out an easy spread of munchies that everyone can help themselves to throughout the day.  Here I've got Chex Mix, some little meringue cookies, chips and dip, pickles and some warmed french bread with an olive oil dipping mix from my local farm market.

I also had some green tomato salsa from the farm market with nacho chips.  These football dishes, plates and napkins I find at the dollar store or on clearance throughout the year and friends and family who know of our Sunday routine have started gifting them to me when they find neat ones too.  They add a lot to the fun.

One of the "most requested" recipes I make for Sunday football is my homemade egg rolls.  They seem intimidating but actually are very easy - they just take time.  They are also pretty inexpensive to make for a crowd.  I sometimes make big batches and freeze the extras to send with my hubby to deer camp.  They reheat well on a baking sheet in the oven.

Venison Stir Fry

One of my favorite uses of venison steaks is to make a quick weeknight stir fry.  Because I know my family eats a ton of this healthy dinner, I use two 2 lb. packages of frozen venison steaks.  I only partially defrost the steak (this makes it easier to slice thinly) in the microwave (usually 3 minutes per package).  Then I remove it from the package and rinse.  On my cutting board, I slice the steaks thinly across the grain.  While I am slicing, I put a large skillet on medium-high heat with a good splash of extra-virgin olive oil (venison has no fat of its own so you have to use a little fat or it will be too dry).

Happy Halloween! Costume Ideas from your (my) Closet

I often say I'm not going to dress up as anything for Halloween and then I pull something out of my closet at the last minute - what does that say about my wardrobe I wonder?  

Over the years I have pulled together a Victoria riding habit, two scarecrows, Raggedy Ann, Tweety bird (that was actually a costume), a punk rocker, a biker chick, a witch, a gypsy, 

Maxine (that's the white part of a Bic pen in my mouth, not a cigarette), 

a hunter, Amelia Earhardt, a mechanic (more specifically, I was my husband for the day back when he was a mechanic), a princess, 

Fisher-Price Toy Review

I've talked about HouseParty.com here before and mentioned several of the cool party packages I've won and hosted.  Well the latest package was the best I have ever seen - from Fisher-Price no less!  I was SOOOO excited to win this package and get my friends together for a play date to try out these awesome goodies because I know Fisher-Price has always put out quality, durable kids toys.  Unfortunately, I was not able to get a group together to host the party - just too many things happening at the time for me to get anyone to show up the day of the party.  But I want to share these products with all of you who might be looking for toys for your little boys or that perfect impressive gift for Christmas.

Soooo - what did they send me?  

Not one, but TWO complete play sets aimed at preschool-aged boys (but I will tell you my 9 year old daughter has played with them almost as much as her brother)!  The box Fisher-Price shipped the toys in was so large and impressive looking that my UPS guy took the care to put it away in my barn for me and left a note on my door so no one else would see this giant box from Fisher-Price sitting on the porch while I was at work.  There was no way I could hide this monstrosity from the kids until the party so I let them help me open it...the shrieks and screams of "oooohhhh AWESOME!" "that's SO COOOL!" and other cries of joy were better than most Christmas mornings.  Little Man was so excited he was literally jumping up and down clapping his hands at each item we pulled out of the box.

Christmas Mug Swap

Who doesn't love to get a sweet little gift in the mail?

Well, I do for sure and what more fun way to meet new friends than through a mug swap!

Heather at Heatherly Loves is sponsoring a neat Christmas mug swap and its really simple.

Just sign up HERE before November 20th (super simple signup!).  

Heather will send you the info for another blogger who has signed up.

Check out their blog, pick out a Christmas mug you think is a great fit for them (fill it with some fun little goodies like a baked treat or tea bags if you wish), and ship it by December 8th.

Blog about the mug you received on December 17th and meet back at Heatherly Loves to share in the fun.

Easy, right?!

So join in the fun and kick off the holiday spirit with some new friends!

Edible Halloween Sensory Experience

As part of the costume party we planned at our daycare, I volunteered to create a sensory table experience for the kids.  At our center, the sensory tables in each classroom are always the highlight of play.  From the babies to the oldest of the school-age children, they get a lot of fun and great learning from the sensory table activities.

I had a few ideas of my own on what could go into the sensory table but I took to Pinterest to find some more and let me just say that there are a lot of creative moms and teachers out there.  Because of the diverse age of the children, I decided to stick with all edible items.  Now I don't mean that you would want to eat them or that the children should eat them, but that if a baby stuck their hands in and then put their hands in their mouth, they wouldn't get sick.

Chef Boyardee Meets Top Chef - Party Idea

Since Chef Boyardee is launching their latest fun project - The Little Chefs Project - I thought it might be a good time to re-share this idea for a great party with your kids and friends.  Last winter I won a package from HouseParty.com and Chef Boyardee to host a party.  Now I love all the cooking shows on TV these days, including "Top Chef" (you could do this sort of theme around any of your favorite cooking competition shows) and a lot of my family and friends love to cook as well.  So I decided to make this party a competition - which also meant that I didn't have to supply all the food which made it a cheap party for me to host.

I started with the great party package that was sent by Chef Boyardee and HouseParty which included an insulated lunch bag, a cute chef's hat, notepads for all the guests, recipe cards for all the guests, coupons for all the guests, and coupons for several free cans of Chef Boyardee products.

I like to do favors for every party I host and I want them to look nice but I am cheap (ahem, frugal) and look for items at places like the checkout aisle, dollar stores, clearance aisles, etc. that are either less than $1 each or come in packs that can be split among goody bags.  I also save extras from one party to the next because I have often found other uses for them - so I had little cutting board mats left from another party that fit the chef theme and were perfect to include with the goody bags.

I found these great little kitchen towels for $1 each at Dollar Tree where I also found 3-packs of black plastic serving spoons/spatulas, 8-packs of pecan tart scented votive candles, and 12-pack cellophane favor bags for $1 each.