Friday, April 30, 2010

We Have A WINNER!!!

This morning Morgan picked out the name of the winner from a bucket for our first review and giveaway...
Here is Morgan picking out the name....


And the winner of one signed copy of Journal Buddies for Boys is................................
.......................................................................................



Wondering who yet???


How about now?




NOW?




Nope still a little further down.....








Almost there....













Nope not just yet...














And the winner is.................


PHILLIP!!

Congrats on winning! I will be e-mailing the winner with the details.
Thank you to eveyone that entered my first giveaway and helping make it such a great sucess and so much fun.
Thank you to Jill for passing along the signed copy of her book to giveaway! I am sure that Phillip is going to LOVE reading and writing in it!

Keep and eye out for another giveaway in the month of May!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

My First Review and Giveaway!

Okay y'all I know that I said I would post this sooner, but with my hubby's knee surgery coming up, Melessa and Morgan's extra activities, and trying to keep the house in order- along with a visit from the In-laws thrown in there I have been unable to get this posted and started... but at last the time has come- I can do it! * Yea!*

So here it is my first review and giveaway...

I was sent this book:



 Journal Buddies for Boys by Jill Schoenberg for review.
Quite honestly, I was a little surprised when I received the book in the mail and started going through it. This book is way better then what I thought it was going to be! I thought it would be fun to go through and read but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw how much of a confidence builder this book is.
The book starts out by explaining what the book is all about in the  "What's this all about?" section, which I think it great. Jill talks about how the "Journal Buddies is all about discovering how excellence feels and about learning what it means to be excellent."  I feel that to many times we remember to boost up our daughters but forget about boosting up our sons. This is the perfect book for a young boy to learn a little about him self, and to learn to think about others in the process as well. Each journaling page is set up so that after you write "today's Buddy" and date you write down 3 different things that "your buddy loves, likes, or enjoys about you" I think this is a great way to get boys thinking about others and about what things with themselves others enjoy, Who in life doesn't want to improve on and 'grow' those things? Not a single person that I know wouldn't want to!
Then each page goes on to " list three qualities, traits, or talents that you love, like, or enjoy about your buddy."  After you are done listing those three things there is a open blank section for your personal journaling endeavors. There are several pages of ideas for entires and things to write about. The boy in your life can't help but become more mindful, thoughtful, and 'excellent' by the time they are done with this book!
 I give this book * two thumbs up*! When my son is old enough to write on his own this will be a book that I will be buying for him. I plan on getting the Journal Buddies for girls for my daughter next time I am at the book store ( about once a week! LOL)

The Giveaway:
Jill has sooooo gracfully agreed to giveaway a signed copy of this book to come lucky follower!
Here is how you can enter the giveaway:
  1.  You must be a follower of my blog to enter, leave me a comment letting me know below that you are a follower! Leave your e-mail address in the comment please, if you are the winner I will need to contact you!( only comments left on the blog posting itself will be counted as an entry, not any left on the Facebook fan page, personal facebook page, myspace page, twitter etc...)
  2. You can gain 1 extra entry by becoming a 'fan' on my Facebook blog page HERE (you must come back here and leave me a comment letting me know!)
  3. You gain 1 extra entry by becoming a 'Fan' on Jill's facebook page by clicking HERE ( you must leave a comment letting me know!)
  4. You can earn 5 extra entries by posting this giveaway (and link) on your personal blog, facebook page, twitter account, etc.. ( you must leave me a comment with the link to the posting in it, in order for you to gain your 5 extra entries!)
  5. If you post this on more then one 'network' example- your personal blog, facebook account, and your twitter you will gain 2 extra entries for every 'network' link you leave me a comment for after you 'first network posting' 5 extra entries.
I will be randomly choosing a winner some time the morning of April 30, 2010 between the hours of 6:00 am and 10:00 am. Winner will be posted here on this blog and on my facebook fan page. I will also be
e-mailing the winner personally for shipping information.
Good Luck!

*This review is my own personal opinion of the book and the giveaway is being offered by Jill Sochoenberg, I have not received any money or any other type of compensation for this review or giveaway*

This giveaway is also list at

This giveaway is listed at All Things Bloggy.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Ruidoso, rain, and T-ball... What a week!

What a busy week it has been in the Visser household!!! Some good news- I have found all of those pictures that I lost the other day when I loaded them from the camera to the computer!  YEA! * Happy Dance* I was soooo very excited!
We have had some much needed rain here the last couple of days- I love love love the rain but we were all bummed out when Morgan's first T-Ball game of the season was caned because of it. Here to hoping that this is no rain for the game this coming Saturday! We are excited to watch him play and see how the team plays together. Sooo since I was able to find the 'lost' picture I thought I would share some of them with you.. here is some from our family pictures from our trip to Ruidoso New Mexico..




And here are a couple of picture from Morgan's first T-ball pratice...



I will post pictures of his first game ( when it happens! ) and of his next pratice which is Wen. night...
Well I am signing off for the night! Hope everyone is doing well!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

A VERY sad day for me and my pictures...

As some of you know I am a picture taking loon, I carry my camera with me every where that I go so that I can pull it out at a snap shots notice and start clicking away. This is the normal for me, at every party, sports game, play date, new tablescape, random moments, and this past week with Mike's family visiting Texas to for the first time. Well as I checked my camera this mid-morning I noticed that I had 638 pictures on my camera, knowing this evening is going to be my son's first T-Ball pratice, I wanted to make sure like any good picture taking loon of a mother that I has plenty of room on my camera's memory card for all those pictures I just knew I was going to be taking as he and his new team mates praticed away for the first game on Saturday... so like the normal thing to do, I down loaded the pictures from my camera to my trusty computer. The way things are set up after everything has down loaded with out problems, 'it' auto deletes the pictures from my camera... this is what happened ( or at least seemed to happen) just like every other time I have ever put pictures from my camera on to my computer.... until today I don't know how, why, when, or anything else all I know is that I can NOT find all 638 pictures I down loaded today, the pictures from the ENTIRE family vacay, the birthday party for the little boy across the street, Morgan's family birthday party we had on Monday for him with the grandparents.. NOTHING! I think I feel tears coming on....
 For a mother that scrapbooks as much as I do and is as nuts about photography as much as I am- this is heart breaking to me. It's like the little glimpse of memories that I have taken with my camera have flown away to who knows where and I am sad...
I think I am going to go to bed now and shed a great number of tears for all those lost pictures.....
I know it may sound silly to you, but to me it's a very sad day for me and my pictures....

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Another great award!

I have had the wonderful honor of receiving another blog award this one came from Tracyo over at
the daily mom diaries. She has a great blog if you haven't already headed over there to check her out you should! Thank you Tracyo for thinking of me and passing this award on to me!


The rules for this award are pretty cool ( and fun!). I need to tell 10 honest things about myself and pass the award on to 10 more of my favorite bloggers! Again just picking 10 is going to be hard but I promise to get it done... even if I have to ignore house work in order to do so... I promise.. he he
Here is my list of 10:

  1. I want to be June Cleaver... dresses and all with a lot of Martha Stewart thrown in. - The clean perfect house, the clothes, even down to the shoes.

  2. I would love to take photography classes and become a pro but I am scared that I couldn't 'hack it'.

  3. I hate house work so much that I let it build up to the point that it takes me days to get it back in order- it's pretty much the ONLY thing hubbs and I have ever been in a 'fight' about.

  4. I leave everything until the last minute, not on purpose it just seems to always work out that way and then I stress wbout getting it all done.

  5. I want to have a tummy tuck and my boobs done and yes, bigger would be okay with me.. After having kids I have inflated and deflated in all the wrong places...

  6. I regret not taking the time to get to know my mother better when I was in my late teens....because now she is gone. All the wonderful memories in the world are still not as great as a hug from her.

  7. I would love to have a home with French antique decor...after the kids are 'gone'

  8. I fall very short of being a supermom but I want to be one so badly that I am secertly jealous of those that are.

  9. I want to live with the Amish for a summer and learn all about 'them'.
  10. I wish I could sing... I mean really belt it out like Reba does.
Here is the list of blogger that I am passing this great award on to:
  1. deb shere
  2. diapers and dandelions
  3. grinning hippie
  4. la mamma blog
  5. maxwell designs blog
  6. newly woodwards
  7. romantic home
  8. poka dot mel
  9. punk scrapper
  10. confessions of a plate addict
I hope that those whom I have passed this award on too enjoy it as much as I do!
Thank you again to Tracyo for the award!!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

My first Blog award!

First off I want to start out by sending a big HUGE thank you to Cheryl  over at bootsinthedoorway for my very first blog award!
Thank you for thinking of me...

My first blog award! * sing with me now* ....I'm so excited, I just can't hide it.....
PhotobucketThe rules state that I need to pass this award on to 12 blogs that I follow... trimming it down to just 12 is going to be really hard... BUT I promise to do it! =)
 Here are the 12 that I have choose:
  1. aroundmycrazyworld
  2. the-winfields-7
  3. thetablescaper
  4. thepreciouswillow
  5. themommiesnetwork
  6. thedailymomdiaries
  7. suziqhomemaker
  8. donna-sugarspicesouthernlife
  9. stmpnshellsworld
  10. jessicawarrick
  11. phillipsstory
  12. lou-lala
Those are the 12 that I have choose.....
Again Thank you Cheryl for the award!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Happy Easter...

I just wanted to take a moment before heading off to bed for the night to tell every one HAPPY EASTER! i know that it is a little late in the day, but better now then never right? We didn't do anything today just hung around the house after the kids hunted for eggs in the back yard this morning. It was a nice relaxing day- I even snuck in a nap this afternoon! Here are a couple of pictures (as promised in the last post!).

Dyeing Easter eggs...

And of course my tablescape....







I hope that everyone had a very blessed Easter Remember the reason for Easter in the first place....

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Tabescapes and discounts...

The other day I posted a entry about tablescapes which you can find  here and a website I found called linen lovers. That same day I had wrote the company e-mail address that I had found on their site to tell them how much I love the site and about my blog entry on their company. Who doesn't want to know when someone is saying something nice about them right? Well, to my happy surprise I got a replay e-mail back from the president Sue Nevens. She is kind enough to offer a discount to the readers of my blog and my friends- this means you! here is a copy of the e-mail that she sent me:

Dear Erica,

It was so nice to hear from you and to learn how much you like our website, Linen Lovers. We launched our website in December of 2004, hoping to offer all kinds of ideas and helpful advice for those wanting to make an attractive tablescape. I'm SO glad it appeals to you!


I especially want to thank you for taking the time to write such nice things as well on your Blog. I sure hope your readers enjoy browsing thru the website. Soon we will be adding 12 new colors of the Nova line which is one of my favorite fabrics. It's really so gorgeous; we're very proud of it. I hope you will sign up to be on the membership list so we can send you notices from time to time.


As a special thank you for your time and interest, I'd like to offer you and your friends a special introductory offer of 5% off any order which will expire April 1, 2011.


We always offer 10% discounts whenever you order 3 or more items at one time. The only exclusions are yardage and swatches.That means a total of a 15% discount when ordering more than 3 items.


We'll call the code LLVSR (for Linen Lovers Visser!).....hope you like having a code named after you!


Again, many, many thanks for your interest in Linen Lovers. I hope to hear from you again!

Sue Nevens
President
Linen Lovers

Thank you Sue, for the wonderful e-mail. Yes, I am very honored to have a code named after me! And did you notice? the code is good for a WHOLE year!! I can't wait to order off of the site with 'my' code!

Dinner time or bed time?... Naps at the table

So tonight I made cream of potato soup at my hubby's request (recipe at bottom of post). I mean who am I to deny that face right? =) Well, lately we have had to 'fight' to get Morgan to take his naps at nap time, he wants to stay up and play and then falls asleep about 2:00- 2:30 and sleeps for several hours then doesn't want to go to bed at night at the correct time. Well, Mike and I decided that if he doesn't want to nap it's understandable, he is almost 4 and we know there comes a time in ones life when nap time is just no longer. Well, today was the same as it has been for a while now- we asked him to go take a nap, he went in his room and played for a while until we 'let' him come back out. Then he and Melessa (who had no school today) ran around like a couple of crazies for hours until dinner time. We all sat down at the table, said a prayer and started eating- or so I thought anyways. Morgan is a huge chatter box- always something about Transformers, Spiderman, or some other 'boy' thing he is loving at the moment. Tonight wasn't the same as other nights, there was no chatter coming from the other side of the table. No, Why? questions being pelted at Mike and myself. There was no, " Would you PLEASE just be quite and EAT?" coming from Mike nor myself as we sat and ate our soup... and the reason for all the change tonight at the dinner table...? Well, I have been told many times that a picture will say a thousand words....


Aren't kids sooo cute when they sleep? The poor little guy stired the soup and maybe got in a bite or two before he fell asleep in the chair.
We let him sleep there until we were done eating and then placed him in bed which is were he has stayed- asleep I might add-the whole time, he didn't even wake up when I picked him up and carried him in to bed.

Here is the recipe as promised for the Cream of Potato soup I made tonight- Very easy and fast prep! This soup has fast become a family favorite around here.

Slow Cooker Cream of Potatos Soup

Cook Time: 4 Hours Ready In: 4 Hours 20 Minutes


Servings: 8
Ingredients:


8 potatoes, chopped


3 leeks, white and light green parts only,


cut into 1/4-inch rounds


1 onion, diced


3 tablespoons margarine 2 chicken bouillon cubes


1 tablespoon salt


1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper


1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
Directions:


1. Place the potatoes, leeks, onion, margarine, chicken bouillon, salt, and pepper in a slow cooker. Pour enough water over mixture to cover. Cook on High 4 hours.


2. Stir in the evaporated milk. Ladle soup into a blender and blend until smooth. Serve hot

*I some times use Heavy whipping cream if I don't have any evaporated milk*

Friday, April 2, 2010

Easter goodies...

Easter goodies for Daddy... those are the words I kept telling Morgan today as I shopped for Easter 'things' Well, mainly candy and not even for the kids but for Mike and I after the kids go to bed at night LOL... Mean yes, I know...
I am running so behind this year it's shamful to even let anyone know! I normaly have everything bought and just about ready to 'go' by now but for some reason this year I am just now getting things done. ... I think it's just a combo of things from not always being able to find what I am looking for in the stores that I shop at all the time- Walmart, Target, and now Hobby Lobby. To honestly not even knowing until today what I even wanted to get! I choose a light pink table linen, with light blues, purples, and soft yellows and a little bit of light green thrown in for for my center piece.- I will explain it a little better later- I will set everything up Sat. night and I will post pictures then. We will spend Sat. afternoon coloring Easter eggs and I will also spend that time telling the story of Easter to my kids. We are having a simple light Easter dinner here, nothing fancy. Money is tight for now and Easter isn't about the food any ways. We plan on having a fun simple day.....
What do you and your family have planed for Easter this year? I would love to hear about it.


I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Easter =)

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Getting things together...

I LOVE spending time decorating my kid's bedrooms. I am not always very good at it but the more time I spend setting up their rooms the way that both Melessa and even Morgan 'see' them has helped me out a lot. Well, has helped them turn out not so dorky.
 Melessa is getting older now and is going away from more of the 'little girl look' and more into a pre-teen look of things. I know that this look may be a little early for her but it's simple colors and she and I both love, and love the way they all look together- the colors are pink, black ( who would have thought that I like THOSE colors right?? LOL) white and grey. The reason for those colors besides that they just simply work well together is that for Christmas Melessa got a Jonas Brother's bed spread and that is the colors of it.
Well, this week I put together a side table for her and I am very proud of my self if I do say do myself. It came out looking MUCH better then I thought it would! And it cost me less then $20.00 for the whole thing- lamp and all!
So I thought I would share some pictures with you.
*to see the pictures in a larger view just click on the picture it's self*
Here is a picture of the lamp base now. I forgot to take 'before' pictures but it was just a plain light brown wood with nothing to it. It was a 'left over' base I had from Morgan's room.

Here is a closer look at the detail. I just put self stick black rindstones all around the lamp I already had them in my scrapbooking things.
Here is a close up of the new lamp shade. I bought this at Target. It normaly has a base but the base had broken so they sold it to me at 50% off! lamp Shade $10.00
The roses that I used to pin up the sheer topper. I already had them from another craft project I did.
The finished Table and lamp! Tha table I picked up at a yard sale for $3.00    The Black table cloth was $5.00 at walmart and I already had the white sheer.
The bed spread that gave us our color picks

Her new curtains and bed together.

This is a wall sticker I found at target $6.00 it came with the rindstones and all.
I think it all goes well together ....

What do you think?....

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