I have a birthday coming up next week and a few of my family members have asked me what I wanted or needed for a gift. Although there are plenty of things most people would qualify as a need, wine is likely normally not one of them.

Well, I disagree.

Moms NEED wine, in fact, they need someone to enroll them in a wine of the month club (or maybe a wine of the day club???). A mom with a little wine in her is more relaxed, less bothered by the little things and definitely more fun to be around. I’m not talking about being drunk, just a little glass or 7 a night to help you relax.

Seriously, people, you’d like me better.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a giveaway I won for Organic Chin Bibs in this post: I must have some Irish in me!.

Organic Chin Bibs by Bumkins are designed for teething babies and are made from 100% unbleached organic cotton trimmed in satin and cotton fabric. I received my set of two chin bibs last week and we have spent the week using them.

Here is a picture of them in the package:

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Our happy boy shows little to no signs of his seizure from last week. He’s pretty much back to his normal self and barking at poor innocent strangers minding their own business walking down the street. And he terrorized the mailman yesterday. Scared the socks off him!

He still loves Abby but wants nothing to do with Jake unless he has food or a tennis ball, which is standard operating procedure.

He has been carrying around a rawhide bone for three days though like it is his baby. Usually he rips in and devours them right away but he’s been saving and protecting this one, so that is a little weird but he’s been through a lot so I won’t worry too much about it.

If you’ve been visiting What’s That Smell? for any length of time, you probably have read my stories of cooking disasters.

The worst being when I set an electric stove on fire.

Yep…I started a fire WITHOUT A FLAME.

It’s a gift.

Anyhow, I have been attempting, now that I am a SAHM, to make some nice dinners for my family. It pretty much has backfired so far, but I’m always looking for recipes that I may have some success with. Well I found a site called Myrecipes.com that not only has recipes, they have a way for you to save your favorites both from their site and add your own recipes. You can also save menus and shopping lists too. This seems like a great tool for the domestically challenged!

We recently concluded 2 giveaways, one for a set of Blanket Clipz, and one for a Parking Pal Magnet.

Blanket Clipz Giveaway
The Blanket Clipz giveaway had a total of 59 comments which came to 84 entries when all the extra entries were added in.

The winner of the set of Blanket Clipz is:
#61 which is from the extra entry pool, and is Bridgette who earned the extra entry by blogging about this giveaway.

Congrats Bridgette, you will be getting an email from me!

Parking Pal Magnet Giveaway
The Parking Pal Magnet giveaway had a total of 53 comments which came to 73 entries when all the extra entries were added in.

The winner of the Parking Pal Magnet is:
#6, and is Kristinia-Loving Heart Mommy.

Congrats Kristinia, you will be getting an email from me!

Thank you to everyone who entered and for taking the time to do the extra entries. Stay tuned because we have some more great giveaways coming up that you won’t want to miss. From books to personalized baby gifts, to a Lands End backpack, to a Starbucks gift card and more, we are going to keep ‘em coming with no end in sight. So subscribe, would ya???

Congrats ladies!!!!

Show your “Mom Power” and win our contest:
A “Mom Power” challenge and a $50 Smashbox cosmetics giveaway!

Yes, that’s a crop duster flying over our neighborhood. Just your everyday view from the front porch, out in the country!

For those of you participating in the “Mom Power” challenge and $50 Smashbox cosmetics giveaway, you can see the top commentators on the left sidebar under the recent comments. This should help you get an idea of who is in front of you and how close you are.

What is Barefoot Books?
From their site:

This is what we care about: first, we’re convinced that it’s never too early to introduce children to other cultures. We believe too that children can appreciate high-quality art, and enjoy the music as well as the meaning of language from a very early age. They deserve the very best, and they are dependent on their elders to help them make connections — between themselves and others, between nature and culture, between learning and living.

So we create books, CDs and other gifts that offer high educational value and are lots of fun. They’re designed to last, but above all, they are meant to be shared and enjoyed.

I was sent a Barefoot Book to review called Off We Go to Mexico! An Adventure in the Sun by Laurie Krebs and Christopher Corr.
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As we sit here eating lunch today, Jake is at the counter breakfast bar and I am at the table. I shamefully admit that we are watching Tom & Jerry while eating and am sitting sort of sideways to him.

As I watch Tom & Jerry (oh, the memories) I hear:

“Do boxes talk?”

I responded, “only if you are weird.”

So my friends, Tom and Jerry aside, how are my parenting skills today?

We are in the midst of our weekly How-To Series about how to participate in FREE PAID SURVEYS. There have been other detailed articles written so far which you can find on our Free Paid Survey How-To Series page.

When you sign up for a Free Paid Survey Panel, you may get asked to participate in any number of different types of surveys. They all lead to the same thing - cash or points to trade in on cash or prizes but each is unique and will likely affect exactly how much you get paid.
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