Spring Baking

Spring cleaning? Bleh. Spring baking? Yay! I love baking. My quiet, Christie place is in the kitchen baking up some sweet treat. (Now I need to figure out how to bake without eating the product. That's a tough one.) In the past couple of weeks I've made Lemon Cream cupcakes (my favorite!), tried out this awesome carrot cake recipe (very rich - yummy!), and intend to bake up some Key Lime Pie cupcakes for Easter (if you like Key Lime Pie even a teensy little bit, you must try this recipe).

I love finding new recipes. I have a variety of websites and blogs that I look at for inspiration and direction. Baking from scratch is something I enjoy, but I am also so glad there are quicker options out there. There is a new website called Bake Sweet Memories that has some great spring recipe ideas for fun desserts using Betty Crocker cake, cookie and brownie mixes. There is a cute Easter Bunny cake that I think the kids would love.

For sewing night last night I decided to try out the Spring Fruit Pizza. Very good and very easy!

The best part is that Safeway (and family of stores) is having a fantastic sale on Betty Crocker products. Now through April 6th, Betty Crocker cake mixes and traditional brownie mixes are on sale for $0.69 each when you buy 4. You can also download coupons directly to your Safeway card from the Bake Sweet Memories website. I love that option because I can never remember my coupons.

Safeway and Betty Crocker, through MyBlogSpark generously sent me this cute little Spring Sweet Treats pack, which included a silicon baking pan, stainless steel mixing bowl, mixing spoon, oven mitt, free Betty Crocker brownie mix coupon and a $25 gift certificate to Safeway. (The silicon baking pan is a dream to bake with. I made the fruit pizza with it and I couldn't believe how easy it was to get the big cookie out. I'm thinking I need to invest in more of these babies.) They have provided me one to give away to one of you!

If you would like to win your own Spring Sweet Treats prize pack (including a silicon baking pan, stainless steel mixing bowl, mixing spoon, oven mitt, and a $25 gift certificate to Safeway), check out the Bake Sweet Memories website and come back and tell me which recipe you'd like to try out. Want a second chance? Leave another comment telling me your favorite spring treat ever - and maybe you could leave the recipe or a link to it?? I'm always on the hunt for new recipes. Want a third chance? Blog, tweet, Facebook or (whatever you do) about this giveaway and come back leaving a comment that you did.

Just to recap, you have three chances to win:
1. Leave a comment telling me what you'd like to try out from Bake Sweet Memories.
2. Leave another comment telling me your favorite spring treat.
3. Blog, tweet, Facebook about the giveaway and come back and leave a comment telling me you did.

Giveaway ends soon on Wednesday, March 31st at 11:59pm. I will randomly choose a winner at that time. Good luck!

McMillan Spring Training

The weather is amazing right now, and we are taking advantage of it while it lasts!

I'm one of those moms

I love to make the kids all matchy-matchy. Sometimes it's a sickness. Sometimes I have to stop myself from trying to convince Kevin to coordinate with what the kids are wearing. Like I said, it's a sickness. And no, I don't feel the need for Kevin and I to get all matchy-matchy. That's just weird. :)

Anyway, for Myla's Easter dress I did something new: I sewed dress that required a zipper. If you saw the zipper you would not be impressed. It looks pretty crappy from the back. So I won't show you the back. But it's in, and that's what matters, right? I'm trying to improve my sewing skills. I think I've got elastic and velcro down; it's time to move to the next level. I bought a fun tie pattern from here and made coordinating ties so that the boys could match their sister. I know my time is limited--soon they will be disgusted if I try to make them match. I'm taking it while I can get it. :)

Winner

I apologize for being a little late to announce the winner of the giveaway.

I did things a little differently this time and threw all the names in a bowl.

My trusty sidekick closed her eyes...

and drew a name. And the winner is...

Cheryl F! She truly is a Lucky Ladybug. Congrats Cheryl!

And thanks to everyone to entered.

Stayin' Alive

PhotoFunia

Just what I need, another fun website to suck all my "free" time away. Like how I blame it on the website? :) Check it out here.

Bonus Box Tops For Education & Kroger $25 Giftcard Giveaway

If you have school age kids you probably clip box tops or have at least heard of the idea. My oldest just barely started school, so I didn't really know much about it. General Mills, through MyBlogSpark recently provided information about a great new way to help out your neighborhood schools! It’s hard to believe that the simple act of clipping Box Top coupons has raised over $300 million for our kids’ schools. Now you can earn even more money for the school of your choice because from now through March 18, the Kroger Family of Stores is giving you the chance to get even more Bonus Box Tops.

Here's how it works: All you have to do is register at www.RewardYourSchool.com and select the personalized offers that you would like to receive.

Once you register, you will automatically receive 5 Bonus Box Tops for your school of choice just for signing up! You will also receive custom offers for bonus box tops for purchasing participating General Mills products. The offers you select will then load onto your Kroger Shopper Card to be redeemed once you purchase the items. The great part is there’s no clipping! The Bonus Box Tops will automatically go straight to your chosen school. Just remember to scan your card when purchasing the participating items.

Recently, General Mills, through MyBlogSpark, provided me with a gift card to any Kroger store (which is Fry's, in my neck of the woods) to check out how it works. It's so easy. It takes less than 5 minutes to register on www.rewardyourschool.com, and even easier to just buy the items.You get to choose which school the box top credit will go to. And then pick up those items during you next shopping trip. The website even provides a "shopping list" of products to choose from. Nice!

General Mills, through MyBlogSpark, has also provided me with a $25 Kroger gift card to give away! So, wanna win? You have three chances:
1. Leave a comment in response to this post.
2. Go register at www.rewardyourschool.com (seriously, less than 5 minutes) Come back and leave a comment telling me you did it.
3. Blog (or tweet or facebook or whatever you do) about this giveaway. Come back and leave a comment.

And yes, you can do all three to increase you chances for winning! This giveaway closes
Tuesday, March 9th at 11:59pm.

I'm NOT an organizing junkie...but aspire to be

I know, this is probably not news to most of you...especially those that have lived with me at one time or another. Do you ever have that feeling that you are flying by the seat of your pants? You are rushing around trying to put out fires? You react, instead of act? Sometimes I do. Lately it seems like my day begins and ends that way...always in a rush. Always moving on to the next thing. Never ahead of the game. Playing catch-up. And that is when life feels so overwhelming me. I can never get ahead. I watch other moms and how they just seem to have it together. I think I've figured out the difference between them and me: they are organized! I need to get more organized. But where to start? Well, in my search for advice I found an article called Managing Your Household that I found on the Executive Homemaker site. It described me perfectly! I'm taking a lot of what she says to heart. I've thought about my priorities and goals and discussed them with Kevin. I have created a schedule for myself. Because I have fun doing it, I designed this daily job chart for me so I know what I'll be working on everyday. Then it won't be so overwhelming and I won't feel like a failure if I don't get the entire house cleaned everyday. And I'm working on a chore chart for the kids. They are at that age where they can take on some responsibilities around the house.

I feel so much better having a plan!