2008 October — We are THAT Family

BYOP Party on Oct 31st!

October 28, 2008 by Kristen

{Click to enlarge card}

I’m hosting a Bring Your Own Pumpkin {BYOP} Party on Oct. 31st!

My love for The Pumpkin has been dully noted on this blog o mine.

And I thought it would be fun to share how you’ve mistreated (in a nice Nester sort-a-way) and repurposed your orange Harvest friend. We want to see your carved, painted, glittered real or artificial pumpkin faces!

My hubby and kids love to carve happy faces in ours, and this year, I painted on a pumpkin too {I’ll tell ya all about it on my next DIYP}.

So, join me and Mr. Linky to share your pumpkin pictures this Friday!

{You can link pumpkin posts you’ve already done this pumpkin season too!}

The Parable of a Good Garage Sale Find

October 28, 2008 by Kristen

{important disclaimer: objects (rear ends, specifically) in blog are not actual size}

A Sweet Day

October 27, 2008 by Kristen

*Comments are now close, because I’m working on drawing a winner!*

{you might just want to stick around for a very sweet giveaway}

They say time flies when you’re having fun.

I can’t believe I’ve been blogging for a year.

Because this is my idea of fun.

One year.

And yet, it seems like I’ve been sharing my life with you for much longer. You’ve held my hand on terrible Mondays and shared in my good/bad news. You didn’t judge me when I did this or showed pictures of this. And when you cared enough to help me with this, it meant so much to me.

I look forward to more. Much more.

In honor of this little anniversary, I’m very excited to announce that one reader will win something very special.

And very dear to my heart.

This is my way of saying thanks for making THAT family feel normal. Sometimes.

Are you ready?

Because I am prepared to giveaway………….. {please, a drum roll would be appreciated}

ONE YEAR OF SWEET TEA!!!

I know.

For those of you who read often, you know I’m a heavy {sweet tea} drinker. It’s a problem I love having!

One very lucky person will win a $100 gift card to Chick Fil A or Cracker Barrel on Friday, Oct. 31 of this week. (And I’m reluctantly withdrawing my name from the pot).

$100 of sweet tea.

Why, that’s 80 cups of sweet tea. Oh, stop my beating heart. Or it’s 25 one-gallon jugs (one for every other week of the year) of the liquid manna.

Or it’s a lotta chicken.

I am not taking a stand against the chicken, per se, I’m just thinking the choice is clear.

ONE YEAR OF SWEET TEA! ($100 value)

(Winner can choose between Chick Fil A and Cracker Barrel based on location. And if you don’t live near one of those, we’ll find some good sweet tea for you).

All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me how long you’ve been blog
ging or been reading blogs (everyone is eligible). AND you can get a double entry if you subscribe to my blog. It’s free and you just have to click below and follow the directions! (Make sure you mention if you’re a new subscriber or already subscribe in the comments).

Subscribe in a reader

If you don’t win, you can drown your sorrows in my sweet tea recipe.

This giveaway was made possible by some very special sponsors, thank you!

Now, since my blogoversary happened to fall during the week of Bloggy Giveaways, click the following link to find more fabulous giveaways!

More giveaways at the Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival!

THAT Family Tree Society-Issue 15

October 26, 2008 by Kristen

Feel free to grab the button and email me the answers to the following questions to join The Society!

Picture of the Week:

The Week in Review: My boy got his first shiner (black eye, not drink) and I am so proud. The funny story that goes with it? That’s what’s funny…there’s not one. He thinks he bumped heads with someone.

And, I’d be crazy if I didn’t mention my FABULOUS blog makeover? Shauna from See My Designs worked her little heart off to have it ready by my first blogoversary tomorrow! Thanks Shauna. Y’all MUST go visit her and treat yourself to one of her affordable sassy blog designs.

She is quick, inexpensive and so creative! She is also one patient girl to put up with my specific, non-specific ideas and I couldn’t blog without her!

And now, I’m happy to introduce you to CanCan of Mom Most Traveled! She submitted this funny story as her THAT family moment!

1. Tell us a little about your blog (name/reason why you blog):

My blog is Mom Most Traveled. I started it because I enjoyed the friendships I formed with other bloggers in my old blog (I need to say blog one more time…blog. Okay; no more blog talk). It was also supposed to be away for extended family to keep up with us as we travel and/or live on the other side of the world. Somehow it turned into a review blog as well.

2. How long have you blogging?

I started what I called an “internet diary” in 2000. I didn’t really know the term “blog”.

3. How would you define THAT family?

class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; ">THAT family is the one that gets all of the stares and the under-the-breath comments. “Here comes that JONES boy again…”

4. When did you discover you were a part of THAT family?

I wish I could blame my children but I realized it first when as a young married couple my husband and I entered a talent show at an ESL teacher’s conference in Thailand. We wrote what we thought was a funny song about using a squat toilet. We of course expected the talent show to be light-hearted, but to my horror the act before us was a mother-daughter team doing sign language to the song Love in Any Language. We did go on to perform our act but those in attendance were obviously disturbed. One girl rewound her video camera to record over our skit. And the next year before the talent show they made a general announcement about not performing distasteful skits (and they actually said this), “like a song about a squatty potty or something.”

Later when my first child was born I sort of got “bad mom vibes” from the other mothers at playgroup because I let my son eat paper. They would say, “Oh! He has PAPER IN HIS MOUTH!” and I would be all, “What!?! OH NO!” even though secretly I didn’t care. I had to put on my “good mom face” in public.

5. Where can we find your blog?
http://www.mommosttraveled.com

DIYP#22-Costumes

October 25, 2008 by Kristen

My kids love dressing up! We normally shop a little resale shop in our town, not only for school clothes, but also for dress up accessories.

But this year, we decided to make our own costumes. My girls are going to be bopping to the 50′s in their matching poodle skirts, on the arm of their brother, also known as Elvis.

I found an easy, no-sew poodle skirt instructions here. (And I mean, easy!)

Basically, buy a couple of yards of felt (I found mine for 75% off!!).

I folded the felt into a square and made two basic cuts, per instructions.

We actually pinned the waist, but you could add a snap or velcro.