I Do Have A Son, Too, Ya Know

It seems like the only pictures I ever post over here are of the girls. Usually whenever I pull out the camera, Ryan runs. But yesterday, as he was relaxing on the lawnmower, I sneaked a shot. Of course it came out a little blurry, but he wouldn't let me take another.

Must be a boy thing....or a teenager thing.

It's Almost Moving Time

My mom will be moving soon. Just like last time, she will be renting a truck and we will be doing all the work. I wish we could all chip in and hire a professional moving company like Moving Company Los Angeles.

Their website promises:

• they will beat any competitors price
• reliable - affordable - professional
• #1 in customer service
• free estimates
• professional packing
• experienced, professionally trained movers
• clean trucks with liftgate and ramp
• customer satisfaction is their main goal

Now, because we live in South Carolina it is impossible for us to use their services, but I would love to find a local company promising the same things, because after we move my mom in December, we have to move ourselves in February. If I know my husband, though, we will be moving without the aid of even a truck. We will probably just use our trailer and whatever friends pick up trucks we can convince to help us. The last time we moved, we did it ourselves, and I refuse to do that to Junior again. I will definitely be rounding up some volunteers.

But, if you are planning on moving, and live in the Los Angeles area, check out Melrose Moving. You can call 1-800-431-3920 and get a free quote. Trust me when I say I wish we could hire professionals, too.

**This post is brought to you by Melrose Moving. All opinions are 100% mine.

Transformers Revenge Of The Fallen

I just watched this movie with Brandi and I LOVED IT! When Ryan got the first one last year for Christmas, I was thrilled. Normally, this is not the type of movies that I enjoy, but the special effects are awesome! I think Ryan liked it more because Megan Fox was in it.
Shia LaBeouf always cracks me up, and this movie was no disappointment. Sure, there was all kinds of action, but there were also some pretty funny parts. I can not wait until the third one comes out!

Tofurky And Gravy Soda

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Jones Soda. All opinions are 100% mine.

Okay, so you guys read my last post, right? If not, let me catch you up. The nice people at Izea sent me a Thanksgiving goodie box, and inside was an adorable turkey hat, and a bottle of Tofurky and Gravy Jones Soda . I can not tell you how much I love getting free stuff!

I was fully prepared to wait until Thanksgiving to let the kids try the soda, but they broke me down. Tonight we opened the bottle, and they all took a swallow. Brandi was the first, and it was pretty funny watching her take a big mouthful.

It was even funnier when she ran to the sink to spit it out.

Kasi was up next, and while she didn't spit hers out, she did not like it at all. The face she made was priceless.

Junior was up next, and he seems to agree with the kids; not so good. I think if I had served it with mashed potatoes or veggies we might have had better results.

There was one person who loved it. My 14 year old son, Ryan. Of course, he had to don the hat for the taste test, and he was totally rocking it. I am going to bring it to my sister's house on Thanksgiving for everyone to wear. We are also going to a friends house for a Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday night, and I am going to bring it there, too. Consider this your warning, Missy. I am coming armed with turkey! lol!

I hate to say that this beverage gets three thumbs down, one thumb up in my house. You want to know why I didn't try it?

Because I'm chicken. I couldn't do it. Plus, I have issues when I drink non-diet beverages.

Thank you again, Izea and Jones Soda. It was fun trying out this drink!

Thank You, Izea!

When I stepped outside today to get my mail, I found a green box on my front porch.

I had my front door open, and I was singing some Lady Antebellum at the top of my lungs while washing dishes. Yeah, I am sure the mail lady heard me...slightly embarrassing! But hey, my kitchen is clean, and now I have a new hat. Wait til you see it! But first, let me show you what else was in the box.

Can you read the label??? It is...are you ready...tofurky and gravy soda. To be honest, I am afraid to try it, and am kind of relieved that I can not drink sugared soda. But, the kids and Junior have volunteered to be my guinea pigs on Thanksgiving...I'll let you know what they thought!

You want to see the hat that was keeping that soda company in the box?

That's right...it's a turkey! I love it!
Brandi grabbed it as soon as she walked in the house from school, and tried it on.
Then she stood in front of the mirror for an hour laughing at herself!

Thank you again, Izea, for the fun Thanksgiving treats!

Who Needs A Vacation? That Would Be Me

I need a vacation. Seriously, as stressful as the past few months have been, I need to get away and just relax. The biggest question is where would I go?

I would love to visit Australia, but I will not fly, so that is out of the question. It would have to be somewhere we could drive. Maybe Florida? The kids have been bugging me to take them to Disney. Or maybe we'll head north and go meet my newest little nephew? Where ever we decide to go, we will probably have to rent a car. Why put all those miles on our van when Car Rental Prices are so reasonable these days? The last vacation we took was to Ohio, and that years ago for my brother's wedding. We rented a car for that trip, and it was a much nicer car than we drive. It was really nice. I could handle doing that again.

Now to just convince Junior, because he's the one who will be driving!

I just noticed that I have over 200 followers! How awesome is that! I never in a million years would have thought that so many people would be interested in what I have to say. Now, because this is me we are talking about, now that I have said something about it, people will unfollow me and that number will drop. That's just the way things go for me! lol!

To those who are following me...THANK YOU!!!!!!

Oh, Canada, You Have The Best Contests!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Dr. Oetker. All opinions are 100% mine.

Okay all my Canadian friends, I have something to share with you. Have you heard about the Dr. Oetker Kitchen Makeover Contest? No? Well, let me give you all the details so you can play to win.

The first thing you have to do is go out and buy some pizza. Specifically, some Casa di Mama Pizza. Find the PIN from specially marked packages and enter it on the website for your chance to win a $20,000 kitchen makeover.

Don't think you're lucky enough to win the grand prize? Fear not. There are also eight secondary prizes to be won, including a fridge/freezer, freestanding electric range, dishwasher or microwave, all from Whirpool.

If you still don't think you are lucky enough to win one of those, maybe you'll be one of the 2000 people who will instantly win a Casa di Mama Pizza or a pizza cutter? Sounds to me like the odds are pretty good that you can win something.

I went to the website, and they are giving away bonus pin numbers when you become a Savoury Moments Member. I wish I could join and play, but I do not live in Canada. That's right, us Americans can't participate. But, I will be keeping my fingers crossed for my Canadian friends. I know Carrie is redoing her kitchen right now, and that $20,000 could come in really handy!

Oh, Eli

Okay Top Chef fans...it's down to the final four. I was sad to see Eli go, but wasn't surprised. Now the big question is who will win?

Will it be one of the brothers? If it comes down to the two of them, I see Brian winning.

Or maybe Kevin will bring them both down. He has won a surprising number of Judge's Tables, and to be honest, I love the food he cooks. Sometimes simple is the way to go.

And then there is Jennifer. If she can find the gusto she had at the beginning of the competition, she could be a force to be reckoned with.

Who do I want to win? That's a hard one. I guess I want to see Kevin win it all. Just to prove to everyone that you don't have to be all pretentious...good food is good food.

Period.

Reaching Out For Financial Help

Bills. Never ending suckers of money. No matter how much money we have coming in, more and more seems to be going out. In fact, we are in the horrible position right now where there is more going out than is coming in.

And it stinks.

Our heads are barely, and I mean barely, above water right now, and we are weighing our options carefully. Junior and I are looking into Debt Consolidation, in the hopes that we can have all our loans merged into one affordable monthly payment. It would be wonderful if we could also qualify for debt settlement , which is where the counselors negotiate what is owed, and sometimes they can cut interest rates, get rid of late fees, and even have our creditors settle for less than what we owe. Debt Negotiation can be tricky, so it is best left to the professionals.

I am looking forward to the day when if we want to do something, like go to the movies, I don't have to save up for weeks. My girls want so badly to see New Moon this weekend, but they are going to have to wait because I do not have the money right now. Maybe next week I can squeeze $30 out of Juniors check to take them, but I am not holding my breath.

Three Men On A Hike

I got this in an email from my dad, and think it's pretty funny...

Three men were hiking through the forest when they came upon a large raging, violent river. Needing to get to the other side, the first man prayed,

"God, please give me the strength to cross the river".

Poof...God gave him big arms and strong legs and he was able to swim across in about 2 hours, having almost drowned twice.

After witnessing that, the second man prayed,

"God, please give me strength and the tools to cross the river".

Poof...God gave him a rowboat and strong arms and strong legs, and he was able to row across in about an hour after almost capsizing once.

Seeing what happened to the first two men, the third man prayed,

"God, please give me the strength, the tools, and the intelligence to cross the river".

Poof...He was turned into a woman. She checked the map, hiked one hundred yards upstream, and walked across the bridge.

Ha! I love it!

Do You Have What It Takes?

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Popstation. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you believe that you have what it takes to be a superstar? Do you have the vocals to make it to the top of the charts? Do you know how to get started?

If you think you do, check out PopStation. This is the place to go where you can record an original song, and have it voted on by the fans. There are no judges, just everyday people who love music. Just register with the site (it's free to do so) and visit the practice rooms. It is here that you can practice singing, and then record yourself singing an original song. Original songs are released Monday through Thursday, with a different branch of music each day. Since I am a country music freak, my day to visit would be Tuesday. Of course, I am no where near good enough to record a song, but I am more than happy to listen to other people make these songs their own. The more of yourself you put into the song, the better your chances are of being "discovered" by the PopStation audience.

The best part is that once every three months, one #1 artist will earn the "Big Deal", where they can experience recording an album first hand. If you are lucky enough to be that artist, you and a friend will get a three day, all expense paid stay in a NYC hotel, where you will spend two days recording your own album, complete with the help of industry professionals. Sounds pretty cool. But, you can't win if you don't enter, so go. Get to work.

And one day when you are rich and famous, don't forget that you heard about PopStation right here. It's always nice to acknowledge the "little people".

Okay, So I'm Back

My head feels a little better, so I decided to get some work done. I spent the morning watching Rendition, with Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal, who make a really cute couple in real life. The movie was okay. Witherspoon's husband, and Egyptian, goes missing from a flight from Africa to the US, and she spends the movie trying to find him. There is a parallel storyline of terrorism and torture, and at the end of the movie, I kinda went, "huh". Like I missed the connection somewhere along the way. I blame the migraine.

Anyway, a couple of Excedrin seems to have done the trick (for now), so I am trying to drop my ecards before my head actually explodes.

Wish me luck!

hotelicopter.com makes hotel content portable

This is a sponsored guest post written by Carl Schwartz on behalf of hotelicopter. Post powered by Sponzai.

Site publishers and bloggers now have a new content tool at their disposal. If you have travel content on your site, you now can embed detailed hotel information by location or specific hotel. This makes it much more contextual for your readers.

hotelicopter.com launched its latest innovation this week. Going beyond what is currently available, hotelicopter now gives any web site owner the ability to publish detailed, interactive hotel content on their site for free.

hotelicopter, recently named the emerging hotel meta-search site by Piper Jaffray & Co., helps travelers find amazing hotel deals worldwide, including for Las Vegas hotels, Orlando hotels, Chicago hotels, Los Angeles hotels, and New York hotels.

In three easy steps, site publishers can quickly enhance any travel- or event-related content they offer by adding hotel photos, star and user ratings, addresses, and average rates per night.

Here is an example of a specific hotel:

Create a hotel list of your own!

Powered by hotelicopter

In a recent report, Phocuswright discovered that simple booking engine widgets do not add much value on content sites such as destination marketing organizations (DMOs). The report goes on to state that booking engine widgets are not used very much on DMO sites (Phocuswright Destination Marketing: Understanding the Role and Impact of Destination Marketers; June 2009).

This hotel content is perfect for:

- Web sites that publish articles about specific destinations

- Bloggers focused on specific cities and travel topics

- Event organizers who want to offer local hotel choices to attendees

- Sports organizations

- Family sites (weddings, reunions, parties, funerals, etc)

- School web sites

Pretty cool content to offer your readers. To start building your own hotel card widget, visit h2go.hotelicopter.com and follow the very simple instructions.

Taking The Morning Off

I woke up this morning with a headache. I thought laying back down would help, but now I have a full blown migraine. I just took some medicine, and am going to try and relax for a while. That means no computer. I think looking at the screen makes it worse. (duh, right?) So, I am going to see what happens, and maybe I'll be back later. I still have to drop ecards and do some paid posts, but right now I just want my head to feel better.