We drove from Atlanta to Hartwell, Georgia for our annual big Thanksgiving celebration.  Then we meandered through the winding mountain roads through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee to spend time with family in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  It was a lot of driving but a lot of fun to see everyone.  Here are a couple of photos - I took over 300 in total!

We made the original recipe Chex mix and enjoyed snacking on it this past week.  Next we will experiment with a version that incorporates red and green peanut butter M&Ms to share with family, friends and neighbors.



WIN IT
One of my US readers will win the prize pack shown above which includes:

2 boxes of Chex cereal to create Chex Party Mix recipes
5 featured Chex Party Mix recipes
10 takeout containers so your guests can take their Chex Party Mix to-go
$20 gift card to purchase recipe ingredients and decorating supplies

BUY IT
You can download your Ace Hardware After Thanksgiving Coupon and check out their store locator for locations.

WIN IT
One of my US readers will win an Ace Measuring Tape and a set of Ace Garden Gloves just in time for prepping your home and yard for winter. Lucky you!

MANDATORY ENTRY
1) Tell me what items you would be shopping for at Ace Hardware.  I know my Handy Hubby could find some thing for the various household projects he has going on!

This giveaway is closed.  The winner was #35 - congratulations!

Please ensure your profile is public or leave me your email address in your comment. Please be honest in your entries as I do check entries and will delete any non-qualified comments! This giveaway will end at midnight on December 8th. I will use Random.org to choose the winner, email the winner and post the winner on my website. Giveaway is open to US addresses. Good luck to all!

This review and giveaway was made possible by Ace Hardware. Thank you for providing the products for review and giveaway! I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I paid for this review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Please refer to my Disclosure.

From fun coloring and drawing products to activity toys -- every product inspires kids to explore, discover, play, pretend and dream. This holiday season, the Crayola Jewelry Boutique, Crayola Glow Book, Telescoping Crayon Tower and Ultimate Art Supply Kit will free your child’s originality, as they colorfully bring their ideas to life.  Here’s a bit of info about each!

With the new Crayola Jewelry Boutique, kids can become their own jewelry designers! Crayola put a unique “spin” on jewelry making with a special “jewelry spinner” that creates multi-colored beads using Crayola Model Magic. As kids spin their beads into shapes, they can string them together to create original bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and pendants that reflect their own personal style. Let the designing begin!

By combining eye-popping colors to create unique beads with the Jewelry Boutique “spinner,” the amount of fun and creativity is endless because no two beads turn out exactly the same!

For a dazzling finish, coat designs with bead glaze. For even more sparkle and pizzazz, add gems, and interchangeable pendant and bracelet charms!Recommended for children ages 6+, each Jewelry Boutique kit includes 8 packs of Crayola Model Magic to mold 160 beads, 5 bracelet charms, 3 pendant charms, 2 shape cutters, a bead dryer rack, 5 toggle sets, 4 earring posts and ear wires, a bead punch, 18 gems, 2 necklace cords, 1 elastic cord, bead glaze, and the Jewelry Boutique Spinner with storage areas and retails for $24.99. 

Let your kids’ imaginations run free this holiday season while creating glowing, moving art with the Crayola Glow Book. Turn the lights out and watch their artwork come alive on each page and appear as if it is actually moving!

Using special glowing-ink markers to draw on each of the four clear pages, kids can choose one of the four tracing guides to create original scenes, signs and messages, and arrange them in their desired order. Then, just hit the lights and allow your kids to wow you with wildly colorful, glowing animated scenes. Variable light settings create colorful, multi-layered effects. The Crayola Glow Book wipes off easily so kids can use their imaginations to create endless glowing artwork! A simple wet cloth will do.

Recommended for children ages 6+, the kit includes one Glow Book with 4 clear pages, 4 animation tracing guides and 6 glow markers and retails for $24.99.

For everyday inspiration and creativity, be sure to keep Crayola’s Telescoping Crayon Tower and all-inclusive Ultimate Art Supplies case handy, so they’re can always be prepared to create! Filled with crayons and all of the classic art tools for drawing and painting, kids can share their creativity through colorful works of art! The Telescoping Crayon Tower and Ultimate Art Supplies case make great gifts every child can use to jumpstart their creativity.

The Telescoping Crayon Tower puts limitless color at kids' fingertips and compacts neatly for storage with 150 Crayola Crayons and a built-in sharpener for extra convenience.

There are no limits to a child's imagination with the all-in-one, portable Ultimate Art Supply Kit.Recommended for children 4+, the Ultimate Art Supply Kit contains 24 crayons, 8 washable broad line markers, 12 colored pencils, 8 washable watercolors, 1 paint brush, school glue, scissors, and colored paper and retails for $16.99. The Crayon Tower retails for $17.99.






WIN IT
One of my US readers will win a set of ALL of the awesome kits featured above (ARV $85).   Lucky you!





MANDATORY ENTRY
1) Which of these products from Crayola would you most like to give as a gift to a special child in your life to inspire creativity?

This giveaway is closed.  The winner was #279 Kerry - congratulations!

Please ensure your profile is public or leave me your email address in your comment. Please be honest in your entries as I do check entries and will delete any non-qualified comments! This giveaway will end at midnight on December 9th. I will use Random.org to choose the winner, email the winner and post the winner on my website. Giveaway is open to US addresses. Good luck to all!

This review and giveaway was made possible by Crayola and MyBlogSpark.com. Thank you for providing the products for review and giveaway! I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I paid for this review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Please refer to my Disclosure.

10 ounces frozen lima beans

10 ounces frozen carrots and peas

10 ounces frozen cut okra
10 ounces frozen corn
1 cup beef broth
salt and pepper
splash of olive oil

Saute onion in a large pot until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add pork, cook one more minute.  Add thawed vegetables  tomato sauce and broth.  Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve with bread.

You can also connect these little cuties on Facebook and on Twitter @squaredycats.

Lily, of course, enjoyed her Not Squared to act silly cat - as evidenced by its place of honor at her snack table!

1 cup granulated sugar (we only used 2/3 cup)
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons water
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups OVALTINE Rich Chocolate Mix
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (6 ounces) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Morsels,divided

Preheat oven to 325° F. Grease 9-inch-square baking pan.  Combine sugar, butter and water in large bowl; stir well. Stir in eggs and vanilla extract. Combine flour, Ovaltine, baking powder and salt in medium bowl; stir into sugar mixture. Fold in 1/4 cup morsels. Spread into prepared baking pan.

Bake for 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky. Sprinkle remaining 3/4 cup morsels over top of brownie; let stand for 5 minutes. Spread morsels over brownie with small spatula. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.

I think a little dusting of Ovaltine on top would add a nice touch.






WIN IT
Are you ready to create your own holiday memories?  One of my US readers will win a $50 Visa gift card, all three flavors of Ovaltine and a glass counter top straw dispenser.  Lucky you!



MANDATORY ENTRY
1) Tell me your favorite holiday memory.

(Note - the giveaway end date has been moved from the 15th to the 21st).

This giveaway is closed.  The winner was #1640 - congratulations, Jennifer!  Enjoy!

Please ensure your profile is public or leave me your email address in your comment. Please be honest in your entries as I do check entries and will delete any non-qualified comments! This giveaway will end at midnight on December 21st. I will use Random.org to choose the winner, email the winner and post the winner on my website. Giveaway is open to US addresses. Good luck to all!

This giveaway was made possible by Ovaltine USA. Thank you to Ovaltine for sponsoring this post and providing the giveaway prize. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Please refer to my full Disclosure if you have further questions.

Are you ready for Thanksgiving?  Personally, it is one of my favorite holidays.  As someone who immigrated to the United States, we brought our own traditions into the Thanksgiving dinner.  A usual staple was sauted beets and stuffing was an after-thought, usually made plain out of the box.  As my cooking expertise and appetite has grown, I was looking forward to trying some of Mrs. Cubbison's recipes from her Best Stuffing Cookbook.  Flipping through it, I was excited to see seafood dishes featured and many other healthy options.

What most caught my eye?  The Barbecued Beef Stuffing recipe below.  Adam agreed that it sounded wonderful and off to the kitchen I went.

Are you ready to try some new Thanksgiving recipes?  Check out Mrs. Cubbison's website for some ideas and great Thanksgiving tips or other holiday meal ideas!

WIN IT
One of my US readers will win a prize pack of products including Mrs. Cubbison's stuffing, onion crumbles and more similar to the one I received pictured below. Lucky you!

MANDATORY ENTRY
1) Tell me what tasty menu item you like from Mrs. Cubbison's Thanksgiving Tips website.  I think the Butternut squash soup with fontina cheese crostini sounds wonderful!

This giveaway is closed.  The winner was #47 Helen - congratulations!

Please ensure your profile is public or leave me your email address in your comment. Please be honest in your entries as I do check entries and will delete any non-qualified comments! This giveaway will end at midnight on December 6th. I will use Random.org to choose the winner, email the winner and post the winner on my website. Giveaway is open to US addresses. Good luck to all!

This review and giveaway was made possible by Mrs. Cubbison's. Thank you for providing the products for review and giveaway! I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I paid for this review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Please refer to my Disclosure.

What are your special family activities?  We enjoy catching up with family and friends and having a few extra days together.  Putting out Christmas decorations is always a hit as Lily has grown and helped participate in the festivities.  I am excited for the holiday season!

Hosting a giveaway? You can link it here to promote it! I try to visit everyone who links up since I LOVE giveaways! Please include blog name - prize - end date and link directly to your giveaway. My current giveaways are listed in the right sidebar. Please keep it family friendly or identify it as adult content. Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!

MY THOUGHTS
I recently ordered my own holiday cards and found MyPublisher to be very user friendly.  I have ordered photo cards for years now with varying experiences.  I truly believe that if you are going to go through the trouble or creating your own card, you should make it classy and quality.


I was pleased to see 21+ pages of options for holiday cards on MyPublisher.  I was even more pleased that I could customize the colors on most of the cards!  You can find a perfect layout or design and then choose a blue or red or brown.  Sometimes I have passed on a particular design when I did not like the colors so the ability to customize is very helpful.  You can also narrow the search down by color or designer while searching.



My other card pet peeve is getting one in the mail with one photo, worse yet if the photo only includes children.  I usually stick the photo cards we receive in an album and it is nice to see the whole family.  MyPublisher offers a wide variety of cards with multiple photos.  Better yet, just as I was about to note how disappointed I was that you couldn't search by the number of photos, I realized that each card design can be completely customized for your perfect layout that fits the photos you have chosen.  I'm SOLD!



















When you are designing your card, you can choose satin, matte or textured matte paper as well.  The flat cards I picked allowed for a longer message on the back so I was able to write a mini-letter to our family.  You can stop your card creation progress and save your work, too, like I had to when I needed to go draft my mini letter.  Below is a screen shot of my design in progress.  I like that you can store cards or books on your bookshelf whether they were in progress or purchased.  You can even customize the font and size in your card and the address on your envelope!





BUY IT
Purchase directly from MyPublisher.com - you get free US shipping!  Cards are very reasonably priced and include an envelope with your address pre-printed on it.

WIN IT
One of my US readers will win a $50 gift code to purchase your own holiday cards.  Lucky you!

MANDATORY ENTRY
1) Tell me what style card you would pick or tell me what else you like at MyPublisher.com. Easy!

This giveaway is closed.  The winner was #202 Deb - congratulations!

Please ensure your profile is public or leave me your email address in your comment. Please be honest in your entries as I do check entries and will delete any non-qualified comments! This giveaway will end at midnight on December 2nd. I will use Random.org to choose the winner, email the winner and post the winner on my website. Giveaway is open to US addresses. Good luck to all!

This review and giveaway was made possible by MyPublisher. Thank you for providing the products for review and giveaway! I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I paid for this review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Please refer to my Disclosure.

Have a Wordless Wednesday post?  Feel free to link up below so that I can come visit!