Spring WILL Come!

Winter seems like it's taking forever this year! I may just feel that way because winter started a lot earlier here and is colder this year for us. But, I am convinced Spring WILL still come.

I am so convinced, I couldn't hold it in any more. I went in at the garden entrance at Walmart this weekend and picked up some plants. I got a white baby Hyacinth and a yellow/orange baby Daffodil. I plan on repotting them in bigger pots soon. They are only the start of my plants this year.

Now that I no longer have a cat, I can get some indoor plants too. I can't wait!!! I love plants. I only have a problem with putting plants in the ground here. You would think they would thrive in the ground with all the rice fields around us growing rice, but no they just shrivel up and die. I even tried plants I got off of QVC that are 100% guaranteed to grow anywhere! They shriveled up and died too. Now, I plant everything in pots. Even my tomato garden is in pots every year.

So to continue with my pot theme, I got a herb garden kit for Will and me to do together. Yesterday we started it. We pulled out all the cute little pots and put the dirt and seeds in them. Now they are by the window for sunlight. (He keeps asking, about every thirty minutes, if they had enough sun and started growing! He is such a silly boy!!)

This is going to be a great learning experience for him. I hope they do grow to be some awesome plants. Here are pictures of our new plants.

Sweet Basil, Sage, and Thyme

Super Bowl Fun!!!

Yesterday was the BIG SUPER BOWL GAME!!!! We waited all our life for this game. Seriously!!!! Hubby has been one of those few people who followed and routed for the Saints even when no one else did. He was born a Saints fan!

We had a big party at Hubby's Mom's house. We had soooooooo much food it was unreal. We started at noon. (Had to go to church first!) Then partied until 10:00 pm last night. (I think Hubby is still parting on the inside!!)

This game was so great. Both teams played good, but the Saints won in the end. No one could have been happier (other than the players who did all the work) than my Hubby! He cried when they won the Championship and he cried when they won the Super Bowl. Today he is still a little emotional over it all.

It was so cute to see Will whooping and hollering along with us. He would yell "Go Drew Brees!" and "Touchdown!" It was so stinking cute!

I took tuns of pictures of us all partying, eating, and watching the game in our Saints stuff! Here are a few that don't show faces to well for y'all. Will was trying to through a little play football to Hubby!

Great Giveaways Going On!!

Here are some more great giveaways I found that are still going on!

Tip of the Day! If you don't have a blog you can still enter lots of these giveaways. All you have to do in go to post a comment, and post it as anonymous. Just be sure to put your name and email address in the comment section with your required entry! That's it.

My Giveaway:

Enter HERE to win a Skip Hop Zoo Pack of your choice! Ends 2/13

Other Great Giveaways!

Enter for a Deni Ice Cream Maker-"Pull up a stool to the ice cream counter in your own home. Check out the great giveaway at The Creative Side of Me" Ends 2/12

Enter to win an Apron from Law School Fashionista! (I am an apron person:)) Ends 2/13

Enter to win a Sterling Silver Heart Necklace from Simply Stacie. Ends 2/13

She also has these other great giveaways going on that you will LOVE! Sippy Stuff Giveaway Ends 2/12. Robeez Giveaway Ends 2/9 Hurry!! $50 Visa Gift Card Giveaway (Must be a follower) Ends 2/8 Hurry!! And many many more!

Enter to win Dinosaur Shaped Crayons at Lemon Tree Kids! Ends 2/8 Hurry!! And while your there enter to win the 22 Mickey Diecuts for Scrapbooking! Ends 2/16 And many more!!

Enter to win a Minnie's Bow-tique DVD at Energizer Bunny's Mommy Reports. Ends 2/20. She also is giving away a Crane Humidifier Ends 2/14. (I want this sooooo bad!) And a $25 Macy's Gift Card Ends 2/20
She has lots more giveaways too!!

Good Luck Everyone!!!!

Thankful Thursdays-TaxACT

How many of you do your own taxes?

Well, I have been doing my own taxes for about 9 years now. I found that I do as well or better than most tax places. I have even done my own taxes, then went to a tax place and let them do it. That was when I noticed that I had done a great job myself because I did it exactly the way they did. So, I told them to keep their work and I would just file it myself without their help. They wanted to charge me a ton of money to do exactly the same thing I could do myself. Since that day I have done all my taxes as well as my Dad's.

I have been using TaxACT to help me e-file my taxes for the last few years. It is free and they have really helped to find the extra things I may have missed. Just this year they found me an extra $76.00. Hey an extra $1.00 is good in my book, much less $76.00. I never thought to add in Hubby's 401K. (We haven't had a 401K investment in years. )

I then file my state taxes for free online at my sate revenue site.

This is why I am so thankful for TaxACT and any other free e-file tax company out their. I save a lot of cash doing it myself and get the bonus of having them help find credits I may have missed!

What are you thankful for? Let me know! I can't really be the only one thankful for something today!!! Could I?

Win My Skip Hop Zoo Pack Giveaway!!

I am giving away something great!! I was lucky enough to get the chance to give one of my readers a Skip Hop Zoo Pack from one of the great CSN stores. Just imagine yourself opening your mailbox to find one of these. I don't know about you, but that would just make my day!







Skip Hop Zoo Pack Dog,........................ Skip Hop Zoo Pack Penquin,..................... Skip Hop Zoo Pack Mouse



From the site:

The Zoo Pack is the little kid backpack where "fun meets function!" Whimsical details and durable materials make this the perfect on - the - go pack for kids on - the - go! Features:

• Insulated pouch with extra pocket



• Adjustable mesh bottle pocket



• Write - on nametag inside



• BPA - free, phthalate - free, pvc free



• Roomy main compartment



• Padded, adjustable comfy straps



• Easy to clean lining



• Recommended for ages 3 and up



• Overall dimensions: 11.5" H x 10" W x 4" D
  

The winner will be able to choose one of the above Skip Hop Zoo Packs of his or her choice. So, as you can guess the rules are that your MANDITORY entry (the one that must be done before any other or you will be disqualified) is to tell me which one you would choose and leave your email address so I can contact you if you win. Pick wisely because this is the one you will get if you win!



Extra entries:



1. Visit All Modern and tell me something else you would love to have. (This is the store the Skip Hop Zoo Packs comes from!) (1 extra entry)



2. Follow my blog. (2 extra entries, but you must leave 2 comments. One for each entry.)


3. Leave a comment on any of my other post and then leave a comment on this one letting me know you did and which one. (1 extra entry)


4. Blog about this giveaway. (3 extra entries. You must leave 3 comments. One for each entry.)

That's a total of 8 entries you can have! This giveaway is open to all US and Canadian readers. The giveaway will end on February 13 at 11:59 pm. The winner will be anounced on February 14. The winner will have 48 hours after I email them to respond or another winner will be chosen.

Good Luck!

Good, Bad, or Neutral! What should I do?

I am an eBay fanatic. I love eBay! I have made some money selling on eBay as well as found some great bargains. I hear a few people have bad experiences, but I have always had nothing but good things to say about it. Until now!

Around Christmas I ordered a Wall-E dvd for Will. Well the women took my money and never sent the dvd. I sent her messages and nothing. So, finally I contacted eBay and opened a case against her. She never answered any of eBay's messages either. Because I used Pay Pal I was able to get my money back.

Since then I have bought a few other things with no problem. I have always wanted one of those oh so cute Kathy Van Zeeland purses. I finally found one that was cute and I could afford it. I won it and only had to pay $17.50 with s/h. It was used and had a few stains on the inside. No big deal. I don't care about pen marks on the inside and the outside looked great.

I got it in yesterday......It was very dirty. It had melted candy, gum, gum wrappers, grit, and TWO PILLS in it. The pills where way over the top!!!!

So, I sent her this message. (I copied and pasted it here.)

Dear tammy177

I got the purse today and like it, but it was VERY dirty. It not only had some stains on the inside, but also had melted candy that could be scraped off, gum, pieces of gum wrappers, and TWO PILLS!

I can clean most of the candy off, but the pills where a little over the top. They look like diet pills, but I'm not sure. I do have a 3 year old and found them before my child did.

I don't like to leave bad feed back unless I have to. This is why I am sending you a message first.

I don't know what to do now, but I do want to keep the purse now that I cleaned it.

~Joshlin

This was her answering message...

Dear Joshlin

Hello,, I thought I cleaned the purse out, I'm sorry I missed the diet pills, I hope you enjoy it, and again I'm very very sorry.

- tammy177

Now what do I do. I can leave her bad feedback, but she can leave me bad feedback as a result. I didn't do anything wrong. Should I leave neutral feedback? Or should I just let it go and not leave any feedback at all? What should I do? What would you do? Help!!!

Picture of the pills and some of the other stuff I found in the purse.

Spice!

We all like a little spice in our life sometimes. Well, I found the best way to add that little bit of that needed spice. Its just enough, but not to much. Be careful though, too much will cause lots of regret later down the road. What is this bit of spice you ask.

Its Spice Cake! (What did you thinking it was:)

Will and I made a great spice cake. It was so good, and just what we needed! Thank goodness that Hubby likes spice cake too. If not I could have gained another 5 lb in the next day or so. Will is an icing kid more than a cake kid. So, he eats the icing off and leaves the cake.

This is a few pictures of Will helping me. He helped mix the cake, spread the icing, and according to him, we NEEDED sprinkles. He helped add those too!

I started babysitting a few days a week and this was Will's Day. He wanted to make a cake. So, when we had a day with just me and him we made this wonderful cake. It is soooo good, you don't even know! We had a lot of fun making it too!