The Lazy Gourmet Book Review and Giveaway

Have you ever wanted to have a fabulous dinner party, invite your boss over to impress, or show your snotty cousin Gweneth that you can make a delicious chocolate mousse, too? But perhaps you think you're not really that great of a cook. Well then, The Lazy Gourmet is your guide to fixing fabulous meals for any occasion. You don't need any previous cooking experience to be able to follow these simple yet sophisticated recipes. The easiest way to cook like a gourmet chef is to have a well stocked pantry. Chapter One is devoted to helping us have on hand everything we need from oils and vinegars to pasta, rice and other staples.

There are chapters on main dishes, soups, sides, salads, desserts and more. Easy explanations on cooking techniques, and great tips and suggestions are all here to give us confidence and increase our skills in the kitchen. Everyday family meals can be elevated to a new standard just by incorporating some of these easy but elegant recipes into your daily life. As much as I liked this book, I have to say that I was disappointed that there are no pictures included. I love seeing the finished dish and what it's supposed to look like. Even without pictures, if you want to learn to make meals that will be delicious and impressive, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of The Lazy Gourmet.

GIVEAWAY:

Win your own copy of The Lazy Gourmet.

 

To Enter This Giveaway:

 What is the one meal you would love to try to make but just don't feel like attempting it?

 *Leave a comment answering the question and be sure to leave your email address*

 

Extra Entries: Can be done after leaving a comment for mandatory entry.
If the extra entry says 1 extra entry leave 1 comment and 2 extra entries leave me 2 comments and so on. 

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*Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts May 20, 2011 and ends on June 3, 2011 at midnight PST.  Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. I was provided for free the book mentioned  for this review. The opinions are 100% mine and may vary from others.

Kidlandia Personalized Products Review

When we select stuff to decorate our sons room with we want it to be fun and have some learning with it (gotta sneak in the learning where I can). When I found the Kidlandia website I thought they were so cute! It has all sorts of maps, growth charts, family trees, placemats and puzzles that can all be personalized. I am huge on personalized stuff. I think its adorable and fun. I had a hard time picking what to review simply because there was is much stuff I liked. There is all the cool characters from Toy Story, Disney Cars, Dora, Winnie the Pooh, Veggie Tales and more. You can see them all here.

Sample picture from the website. Looks cool in this room!

We selected the more traditional looking Maps. They have many to select from that you can add your own names for cities, oceans, towns and you can even add characters they provide. You can select a world map, a USA map and even a map of Manhattan NY. After you decide which map you want you can select between a poster, fine art print, canvas scroll, gallery wrapped canvas, or a vinyl wall cling. We selected a World Map Poster. I loved how it came out. My husband laughed a bit when he saw our names for the oceans instead of the real ones. We also ordered a Placemat Map of the USA. We had a ton of fun looking at it seeing all the states. I had a few oh that's over there moments, I guess I need to look at maps more! For now I hung even the placemat on the wall in my sons room. He got a little wild with it when I tried to feed him his lunch on it. He was so busy looking at it he wouldn't eat his PB&J. And when I tried to take it away so he would eat he got super mad! lol. So I put it in his room on the wall so he could look at it. Its really cute its a patchwork style of all the states.

I would recommend these as a special gift. They are cute and have a bit of learning along with it. I wish I would have gotten our Poster in the USA map too since I thought it was sooo cute! But either way I am still super happy on how it came out. The world map one is cute and even has his birthday on it as a national holiday and says hes the president!

You can find more info and contests for Kidlandia on their facebook page and twitter. Next week on the facebook page they will be having a Kidlandia Kreechur Pirate Contest that looks like it will be fun!

Did you want to order one? I cant get you a 20% off and free shipping. Leave a comment here and I will get it to you!

I love DIY

I love DIY (do-it-yourself) projects! I love to do them, I love to watch them on TV and I love it when I see someone else who is proud of their DIY project . There is something great about turning something ugly (or maybe just not your taste) into something GREAT and for CHEAP. It gives me goose bumps. Lame I know.

I have done many DIY projects but always forget to take the before and after pictures. Not this time... Our dining room chairs have been around for a long time. They were given to us years ago and we never did anything to spice them up. They are not great but they worked. Over time the fabric got stained and cleaned and stained again. They were an eye sore and I was tired of looking at them. I knew that all they needed were a good scrub and a new fabric cover over the top.

Living on one income I cannot just go out and buy a new dining room set because I want one, I needed to do this DIY project in order to get a "new" dining room set. I was on a mission. Instead of thinking about how great it would be to have new chairs I finally just did it! It was so easy and so cheap. I had already bought a table cloth on clearance at Target a while back for $8 and I thought how FRUGAL of me to use that instead of buying new fabric. I got out my trusty staple gun (you need one of those babies if you are a DIY kind of gal) and went to work. I measured the fabric, cut it and stapled away. Easy as pie. It took me about 30 minutes and I had brand new chairs! See if I can do it so can you ;)

Before picture :(

AFTER...LOVE IT!!

P.S. Don't judge me on the before photo, it is the one my 4 year old eats every meal at. YUCK, I know.

It's 9 am and you have maxed out your usage of the word Mom for the day!

Holy Cow! Some days my 4 year old says "Mom" or "Mom look at me" so many times in one day I want to scream! Yesterday he maxed out the word "Mom" by about 9 am. I love that kid and I love talking to him, he really does make me laugh but some days... I was extra tired and not feeling well so that did not help.
Oh dear tomorrow is another day.

I remember as a child every once in a while my Mom would declare that she was no longer going by the name Mom. She had changed her name to Penelope. As a child I never really understood why, until now.

Yoga by the Dozen DVD Review and Giveaway

Yoga is awesome and we were lucky enough to get the chance to review Yoga by the Dozen . I have been a fan of Yoga for years now but don't get to do it as much as I would like to. I love the idea of sharing Yoga with my children and wanted to find someway so that we could all do it together. Exercise is important to learn at a young age so Yoga or any form of exercise is good for everyone. Childhood obesity is a growing trend now a days and anyway to help your child get up and move around should be promoted in everyday life. Living in the great state of Washington it seems like we are indoors a lot and sometimes it is hard to feel like we get enough exercise. One good way to stay indoors and still feel like you are moving enough is with Yoga.

Yoga by the Dozen is a top selling DVD created by JoAnna Ross, an accomplished yoga teacher, dancer and fitness educator from New Jersey. What I like about Yoga by the Dozen is how really focused it was on the kids in the video, it was not just a grown up doing Yoga poses. JoAnna was great at explaining everything so that even the youngest of kids could understand. All of the kids were not always on task and that is real, they get fidgety and she was really good at shaking things up to pull them back in. Each pose was introduced and demonstrated by one of the kids which helped encourage my son to try it with them. They did everything from the Tree Pose to a Dolphin pose and many more, there are 12 poses in all. This video targets children ages 2-6.




The web site Yoga by the Dozen explains the Key Benefits of Yoga:

• Increase Cognitive & Motor skills
• Confidence, Courage and Self-Esteem
• Balance & Coordination
• Memory Retention and Concentration
• Nurture Creativity and Self Expression
• Respect for themselves and each other
• Proven therapy for kids with ADHD and Autism

We had a great time watching and learning from JoAnna and know that everyone can benefit from Yoga by the Dozen. This was a great interactive DVD that I know we will be watching often and soon be mastering all of the poses!

To Enter This Giveaway:

 Tell me if you have ever tried Yoga or plan on it?

 

 *Leave a comment answering the question and be sure to leave your email address*

Extra Entries: Can be done after leaving a comment for mandatory entry.
If the extra entry says 1 extra entry leave 1 comment and 2 extra entries leave me 2 comments and so on. 

 

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-Vote for us for "Were on the Fence" (left hand side of the blog, just click the button) +3

-Enter other current giveaways on our blog +1 for each entered

*Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts May 18, 2011 and ends on June 2, 2011 at midnight PST.  Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. I was provided for free the DVD for this review. The opinions are 100% mine and may vary from others.