(winner posted/contest closed- winner is #44)

You all remember good, old classic Elmer’s glue, right? The childhood staple in every kid’s craft corner, mascot of the hallowed halls of Kindergarten Education? They have branched out into the papercrafting world, and have a great line of adhesives, painters (great craft markers!), and craft knives, all designed with scrapbooking in mind!

(This adhesive dotter works really well on photos and paper alike).

To help launch these great new products, Elmer’s asked if they could give away everything you see here to one of my lucky readers!

It is a huge prize package and the lucky winner will have one heck of a box land on her doorstep- so good luck! Let your friends know and give them a shot at it as well! (Winner will be chosen at random, and announced in a few days).

ETA: EVERYONE may enter. From ANYWHERE.

I got crafty.

I told my boss before this kit arrived that I would not be creating anything this month because I was a big ball of burnout. She said that was fine. And then I started taking pictures of the kit for the website. . .and then I saw that label sheet. . .and then thought about glitter pens and chipboard. . . and then I lost my mind. Completely.

It may not be the best layout I have ever made, but I had fun making it!

And that’s what matters.

Now about this kit.

This one is super fun- and a super value! That is $38 worth of inspiration, and only $28, as usual. I know. That’s like giving it away! I’m sure they’ll sell out quickly, so if you are interested I’d scoot over to My Scrapbook Nook soon.

I keep offering to punch him in the mouth to get the other one out, but he never takes me up on the offer.

I get a lot of e-mails asking where I get Maggie’s bows, so when my bow-making friend, Elda asked if she could show off her etsy shop here and give away a few bows to my readers- I couldn’t turn her down!

Here are some details on her bows:

They are hand-folded, and hand sewn - each and every single bow and/or layer. (Sturdy- they have been known to make it through washing machines, though we don’t recommend that).

Clips are fully lined. (No snagging in your hair).

All ends are heat sealed. (No fraying).

NO WIRE. (No poking you in the noggin).

She’s been doing these for the past 5+ years (since her oldest girl was a baby).

Basically, her bows are among the best I’ve ever bought. If you have a specific outfit you want to match, just let her know and she can whip some right up.

Today we are giving away THREE bow sets- to three different winners! One set of layered boutique bows, one set of solid bows in classic style, and one set of printed ribbon bows in boutique style.

If you want to get your hands on these pretties for a little girl in your life, just to check out Elda’s etsy store, Niña Bella Boutique, leave me a comment on which item you like best, and then we will use random.org to pick three winners!

See, they help make even cranky princesses look cute! Hee!

Good Luck! I will keep this open until August 3rd!

Hooray for Frigidaire and my new washer and dryer! I am in LOVE. They are a deep red, which is a color I love, they are smaller than my old set, and yet have a greater wash capacity, and they come with pedestals that are perfect for storing clothing that needs storing for the season. They also spin out so fast that if you look at it too long you will get sucked through the vortex and into another dimension. . .a dimension of sight. . .a dimension of sound. . .a dimension of clean clothes!

Careful, Maggie!

Ok, seriously though, I was unaware that a washing machine could spin that fast. Welcome to the year 2009, Leah! Did you know we put a man on the moon too?

My absolute favorite thing to wash in these are cloth diapers. The set has a sanitize setting, so I know they are getting clean, and I can see the water as it drains in and out and know that they really did rinse clear and there is no remaining muck or soap. The first time I washed towels, I added no soap. . .my old washer was doing such a bad job of rinsing I actually had to wash these towels twice before the suds were completely washed out! Grody, but no more!

In addition to my favorite features it can also do all of this:

Features

WashSense™ Technology
WashSense™ technology ensures clothes get clean with care.

Advanced Rinse Technology
Final rinse uses fresh water to ensure whiter whites and reduce allergens.

Balance Control System
Vibration control technology keeps even oversized loads balanced for smooth, quiet operation. Ideal for use on second floors.

Express-Select™ Controls
Easily select options and cycles with the touch of a button.

Quick Cycle
A fast, 25-minute wash cycle.¹

Add-a-Garment
With just the touch of a button, easily add an extra piece to the washer once a cycle has started.

TimeWise™ Technology
With TimeWise™ technology, wash time equals dry time - so you don’t wait for clothes to dry.

Save Your Settings
Automatically save your last wash setting so you can save time when doing laundry.

Energy Saver Option
Reduces water temperature which saves energy when washing clothes.

Multiple options
Over 15 wash options including Energy Saver and Stain Clean

Multiple Cycles
Seven wash cycles including Whitest Whites and Deep Clean Sanitize.

NSF Cerification
Washer includes cycles up to 153 degrees to ensure your laundry will be 99.9% bacteria free.

Delay Start
Set your washer to begin washing on your schedule. It can be programmed from 1 to 14 hours.

Um, the only way to make this better would be if it folded the clothes and put them away.

Now about these poor delivery guys. We had such a time getting them on base to drop these babies off! Every so often the security people on base get a little confused. No one seems to have the same story and so they send you from entry to entry and there is just no getting them on! I finally told the lady at the front gate that they were my dear friends, and I wished to invite them to my house for lunch. It was the only way I could get them on! (Now the lady knew they were my delivery guys, even though after the hour and a half it took to get them a pass I think we were friends, but she humored me. You don’t stand between a woman and her new appliances).

Once they were on, they only had to set up a washer and dryer in 100 degree weather. Not hard work at all.

They were amazingly polite and good natured about the whole mess.

Ahh. I am so excited!

I know I’ve gotten to post about the Making Life Better website before, but when they offered me another chance to review it on my blog, I had to jump when I saw this great article on how to turn your kids into summer bookworms, especially in light of my last post! This really is a great little site, full of tips, tricks and yummy recipes- it reads like a women’s interest magazine, and it is a great place to head if you’re feeling bored or find yourself asking, yet again, “what should I cook for dinner?”

(You never, ever ask yourself that, right? You’re all perfect and have lovely children and homes that belong on the cover of a Pottery Barn catalog, right? Just like me!)

Ha.

To bring some variety to meal-planning this summer, Unilever teamed up with the author of the “Kitchen Coach” cookbook series, Jennifer Bushman, to create the ultimate Family Fun Book, filled with delicious recipes and affordable meal ideas perfect for the whole family to enjoy – together. The Family Fun Book can be downloaded free here.

Anyway, check it out if you haven’t already. There’s usually some coupons there as well.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Unilever/Making Life Better. Mom Central sent me a gift card and a copy of the Family Fun Book to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Ours is a house of books.

There are books on the piano, books open and marked on the couch. Books are stacked at my bedside table, and cover the five bookshelves we have in our home. There are also two jumbo rubbermaid containers filled with books in the garage. . .and some baskets overflowing. . .and at a minimum, we need two more bookshelves. You see, we don’t just like to read books. We like to own books.

There is something sacred in book ownership, particularly when you are a child and those books that are read over and over again meld to your psyche and seem to fill in all the cracks of a developing personality. They create adventure, escape and teach us lessons that become a part of us in a way that very few other things do throughout the rest of your life.

I lived between the pages of a book as a child; every moment of free time was given wholly to the written word. Mother sent me outside to play where I climbed a tree and read. My father told me to take a bath and I did, with a stack of books and a towel. They took me to the library where I checked out the 44 book limit each week during the summer, and returned them, completely read, in time for our trip back. My favorites I had at home, on my own shelf, and I read them over and over, as if visiting an old friend. Many books I pick up and open at random, only to fall directly back into the story, as if our conversation had never paused since the last telling. Scout Finch, Felicity, Old Dan and Little Ann, Laura Ingalls, Harriet the Spy- all such dear, dear friends.

When I found out that I was expecting Jonas, I didn’t buy baby clothes and diaper bags. The top of my priority list for bringing a child into this world was purchasing perfect children’s literature. Where the Wild Things Are was the first book, oddly appropriate since my own little Max incarnate showed up nine months later.

Yes. We are a house of readers.

But we’re not stuffy intellectuals by any means.

Yes.

That’s a toilet seat on her head.

Sadly for you, and strangely for me, these slacker-guilt feelings are producing absolutely nothing from me. I have an ounce of scrapbooking mojo and just a tish of inspiration that could blossom into more- but I have decided that given the last year or two. . .I’m going to wait until that tish turns into the full blown URGE. Bear with me. I am focusing on my family. And the grime that lurks in my closets.

Now, when I say I am taking it easy- it should be clarified that I am still working my job. I am still raising three children. I still have several projects going. I’m just not doing the extras. My mother told me on the phone that my slacker is more people’s normal. I’m insane like that, and need to learn to take a step back. I’m working on the balance thing.

Let’s talk baby! Gabe just turned five months and it is just awful how fast that happened! He is unequivocally the cutest baby I know. He can roll both ways, he says “dada”, he bounces like a maniac in his jumper and he started solids yesterday. I was going to hold off longer on the solids, but the boy was HUNGRY. So I fed him. Rice cereal is gross, beans are blah, squash is a step up and bananas are goooooooood. He also has his daddy’s hair, not in color but in texture, thickness and anti-gravity qualities. Poor thing. This is going to be a problem as he grows up, but on a baby? Cuuuuute!

Jonas finished summer school, much to his dismay, and we are now doing school at home per his request. He is inhaling workbooks at a slightly slower rate than the first few weeks of summer, but only because he finished all the first grade books and is now doing 2nd and 3rd grade level books, and he has to think for 1.2 seconds before writing in the correct answer, unlike the 1st grade books where the knowledge leaped straight out of his ear and onto the page before he could even pick up his pencil. This is good. His reading is taking off, and the only problem he really has at this point is confidence. He keeps telling me how he just can’t read something, but he is actually 100% able. I think this all exploded so quickly he hasn’t really registered that he can.

Speaking of reading. . .Maggie is starting to do that. She has picked up a few things and I now find myself reading bedtime stories and having her say, “STOP! Did you just read “yes”? Where was it?” And then she scours the page until she finds the word. She seems to get a new word almost every night, and I don’t know where she’s finding them. I have been gearing up to homeschool Kindergarten with her next year (we were going to do pre-school, but based on her skills. . .we already did that unschool style. We also did two-thirds of Kindergarten, for that matter, but I’m going back to fill in the blanks). She has a learning style that is totally unlike her brother’s, and so I am learning as much as she is. These kids are like deciphering code. They have similar system functions- but every process and application runs differently (and crashes differently, for that matter). It is at once beautiful and terrifying as you learn all this at the same time while worrying that you are completely messing up this innocent little human being.

Ok, that’s all for now, so slacker-Leah has a little something to offer you - call it a peace offering for having a stinky blog this month: Two give-a-ways before the end of the month. And they are good ones, if I do say so myself!