Solstice Sunglasses Giveaway!

Welcome to the Solstice Giveaway, presented by CouponTrade.com, Solsticesunglasses.com and Moms with Voices Media! 3 lucky winners will receive a $100 eGift Certificate for Solstice Sunglasses


CouponTrade.com is the newest location to save, because they offer both coupons AND discounted gift cards. Whats more? You can SELL your gift cards there too!


Solstice offers so many great styles and brands of sunglasses, you will have a hard time choosing how to spend your prize! Best of all, free shipping and returns!


Entry is simple, just fill out the Rafflecopter form below!

Get Fired Up To Win A Kindle Fire!!! GIVEAWAY!!!

Here we go everybody! Are you ready for this? Freebie Shark, American Family, Coupon Pro, and Mark Your Savings with E have teamed up with Acadiana's Thrifty Mom and a group of AWESOME bloggers to bring you 1, no 2, no 3, NO 4 CHANCES to win a Kindle Fire! You read it right, there are 4, yes 4, Kindle Fires up for grabs in this colossal giveaway! We have taken all the work out of the rafflecopter and made this as easy peasy as possible ♥ So what are you waiting for? GO!!!! Good luck!

*This giveaway is not affiliated with Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest in any way. You must be 18 years of age to enter to win. This giveaway will be open worldwide. Freebie Shark, American Family, Coupon Pro, and Mark Your Savings with E are responsible for the distribution of the prizes. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery of your prize.

Autism Awareness Auction! April is Autism Awareness Month!

I want to start this post by explaining why I chose to take part in this auction which is donating it's proceeds to The Autism Society of America.  I have been a long time facebook friend of Kat's Kreations.  Recently the boy of her 17 month old boy/girl twins was diagnosed with severe autism.  Her girl twin will be formally assessed on April 18th.   Kat made the decision to put together an auction in which 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Autism Society of America.   As soon as I saw this, I wanted to help. I quickly began planning what I could donate to the auction.

Now as many of you know, I am a Canadian business, so you may be wondering "What does the Autism Society of America do to benefit Canadians who are affected by autism?"  I was wondering the same thing, so I decided to contact the Autism Society of America. While the Autism Society of America's main goal is to be advocates and help provide services for individuals living within the autism spectrum in the United States, people from other countries also choose to become members of the Autism Society.  The Autism Society of America is a great source of the latest information on research about autism and current issues that affect people living within the autism spectrum.   They send out a quarterly publication to members called the Autism Advocate.  The quarterly magazine offers a diverse collection of the latest issues in autism (e.g., education, environmental health, therapies/interventions, adult issues, caregiving, etc.), Autism Society news, personal perspectives of families and individuals living with autism, and tips from parents and professionals.  A gift of $40 to the Autism Society of America gets you a membership which gives you benefits including access to a community that provides comfort and essential information to families living with autism, and their quarterly publication, Autism Advocate.

This auction will open April 1st and end April 22nd.  This is just in time to kick off Autism Awareness month.  Please, if you can't bid or donate, share this auction for autism awareness!  Do what you can to help.  You will be helping a great cause!

I Believe I Can Fly!

Before I had kids I used to clean my house like a crazy person every Thursday.  I would vacuum under every piece of furniture, including the fridge and stove, steam mop, and thoroughly scrub everything in the bathroom.  Now that I have 2 kids I've been... well.... busy.  Too busy to spend a whole day cleaning, or move furniture when I vacuum.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and along with that comes the all or nothing attitude.  Why vacuum if I can't even do it properly?  I started slacking big time and got into a horrible cycle with my dishes.  I would let them pile up because I just didn't feel like doing them.  Then I'd have to do them once we made every plate we owned dirty and no pots or pans left to cook with.  I would spend an hour just doing dishes.  By the time I was done, I didn't want to wash another dish anytime soon, so the same thing would happen again.  It really was vicious.  And of course I felt that if the dishes weren't done I shouldn't clean anything else because you have to do the dishes first.  It made me feel disgusted with my house, and in turn, myself.  It was embarrassing if someone would stop by unannounced.  I didn't want anyone to know my dirty little secret.

I was doing some random googling one day, and I ran across something called flylady.net.  Someone had commented on an article (I don't even know which article or what it was about) that the only way to clean in her books was the flylady way.  Now these weren't the exact words, I didn't take note of them at the time because I didn't realize that their comment would be the start of a major life change for me.

It all starts with something as simple as shining your sink.  Yup.  That's it.  The first baby step is to shine your sink.  It makes you feel pretty good about yourself to have a shiny sink.  It inspires you to push farther.  So I did.  Now, after a week of keeping my sink shiny, I also get dressed every morning and even put shoes on.  It's funny how wearing shoes can keep you focused.

Shiny sink

 I decided that keeping my sink shiny and clean for a whole week deserves a special treat.  My sink was looking so great that it made my soap dispenser pump look terrible.  So I turned to Pinterest.  I found this great tutorial to make your own mason jar soap dispenser.

New soap dispenser!

Much more "me" than the plastic pump bottle that the soap came in.

I know this is just the beginning.  My house is looking better and better every day thanks to Flylady's simple baby steps and daily routines.   If you are feeling overwhelmed with house cleaning and you are living in CHAOS(can't have anyone over syndrome,) you should definitely check it out.

Sweet and Spicy Thai Pasta with Shrimp!

The very first time I ate at Tony Roma's, I ordered the Sweet and Spicy Thai Pasta with Shrimp.  It was amazing.  I fell in love.  Every time I go to Tony's I order it.  I've always kept an eye out for a recipe that might help me recreate it at home, and finally, thanks to Pinterest, I've found it!

Here's what you need.  I'd say this would feed 4-6 adults, it makes a lot!

1 375g box of spaghettini, or angel hair pasta.
1 lb raw peeled and deveined shrimp
200g snow peas
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 cup chopped broccoli (I forgot to buy broccoli, but want to use it next time!)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sesame oil
1 1/2 tbsp crushed red pepper (Use 1 tbsp if you don't like spicy, 2 tbsp if you like it really hot)
6 tbsp honey
6 tbsp soy sauce
toasted sesame seeds for sprinkling
toasted sliced almonds for sprinkling

Boil noodles.  Drain.

Heat 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and 1/2 cup of sesame oil with desired amount of crushed red pepper.  Use a low heat so you don't burn your oil!

Heat a skillet to medium-high heat, add oil when pan is hot.  Stir fry vegetables.

Heat another skillet to medium-high heat, add oil when pan is hot.  Cook shrimp until pink.  Please so nnot leave them unattended!  They are very easy to overcook and will turn to rubber!

Strain the crushed red pepper out of your heated oil.  Whisk in honey and soy sauce.

Toss mixture with noodles, veggies and shrimp.

Serve sprinkled with toasted almonds and sesame seeds.

It was totally worth all the dishes I made dirty. Find the original recipe at A Small Snippet.


It was also my daughters very first experience with chop sticks.  She had a lot of fun!  Excuse the bed head, we're all still in our jammies.  It's Sunday, give us a break! lol

Turn That Frown Upside Down!

I've been super busy lately with one of my newest "finished projects." 
 

The sad part is, this picture is old already.  They really do grow up too fast.  I took this picture when Coen was only 1 week old.  He's now 6 weeks old, and has lost all that new, squishy baby look. 

I've also recently started using pinterest.  There are way too many great ideas out there.  Totally addicting!  And of course now I have a list as long as my arm of new things that I'd love to try.  I actually have been trying some of the ideas though.  Yay me!  I used some wrapping ideas before Christmas, like these adorable popsicle stick gift tags from A Little Hut, and and this awesome toddler scribble bow from Lines Across.  And if you love peanut butter, these breakfast smoothies from This Chick Cooks are to die for!  And I even used this tutorial for reverse applique from That Darn Kat to make Coen his very first blanket to call his own.

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot!  I wanted to show off my favorite family picture that we took.  If your toddler wont smile for a picture, just turn that frown upside down!

Have a great new year everyone!!!

Off the Hook!

My friend recently saw my daughter's owl hat and asked me to make her an earflap hat, and a matching pair of mittens.  Using the knowledge that I gained making my daughter's hat, I adapted an adult earflap pattern!  Then we scoured Etsy for a great mitten pattern.  I love how they came out!

But I think they look much better in action!

We went to the park to test them out.  They were warm and comfy.  Yay!

The pattern I used for the mittens is Ladies Wool Mittens from knot sew cute design shop.  She has lots of great patterns, including these adorable little Felted Baby Button Boots!  She was also so quick to help me out when I had a question.  Thank you Kim for helping me make my first pair of mittens!