Marking it on my Calendar ...

It doesn't happen often but my husband was right .... heeheee!  He actually saved my day and I'm very grateful!  As most of you know I work from home and my internet connection is my lifeline!  Wednesday of course after being gone 2 days for the holiday my internet modem/wireless router started to actually shut it's self down.  Then it would restart and repeat!  NOW if I'm on a call with someone that means I loose the client or potential client YUP NOT good!  

So I get on the phone and call Century Link, I get a nice girl but she is from India and I can't understand a word she is saying to me.  Our 2 hour call could have probably taken an hour.  So she tells me "Well let's monitor it and see what happens".  YUP she wanted me to just wait and see if what she did makes it stays on.  I had to say AGAIN I work from home I can't just hope and pray it works!  So of course as soon as I hang up it goes dead!!  I call again get a nice man this time thankfully I can understand and another 1 1/2 hours we try to hard boot my system and down again it goes ... UGH.  He tells me I need a new system.

I head to Walmart thinking I'll just pick one up.  WRONG I find one ask one guy is this what I need yes it is!  It's $79.99 ok not what I was wanting to spend but I can do this!  But then I get a feeling to ask again another guy and of course he says NO you have to have this one that has Modem / Wireless together and they only have one that comes from the company (Century Link).  $99.99 is the price I almost die, it's after Christmas and I have missed 2 days of work (I'm a contractor I don't get paid for holidays) and then had to clock off early and not rolling in the money this week.  I get home and Rick says you spent a $100!  UGH yes ... You need to call the internet company.

So I get on the phone a THIRD time and get a young kid who was so nice but he wanted to be my friend and tell me about his car problems!  I so wasn't in the let's be friends mood!  I try to order the new modem / wireless that I can break up on my bill for 3 months.  Come to find out that since I earlier increased my internet speed this day I can do two orders in one day? Come again?  He tells me this PLUS their policy is they don't put the order in for THREE days!  Since the 1st is a Holiday it won't be on their books until the 2nd and I may not see the new modem until the 4th or may the 7th!!

I wanted to cry!  SO Rick had the idea to look on the internet.  COME to find out they had a STORE in the MALL!!  YOU got to be kidding me!  YUP I go to the store walk in and walk out with my modem. WITH my account charged!  YUP Rick saved my day by finding this store that NO ONE at the company told me about!!  So I can now return the one to Walmart to get my $100 back!

After an hour on the phone AGAIN with a nice girl from India again I got my Modem / Wireless set up! UGH so Century Link is not on my top list for their tech support!!

This is what my old one looked like.

It lasted 5 years not bad!

Me setting up the new one!

An HOUR on the ph w/ Tech Support and it's done!

I'm pooped now!  LOL Have a happy Weekend!

I promise I will always cut them ...

As many of you know I volunteer all the time, I really enjoy helping out and something are easy for me to do.  Baking is one of those items, then the other day ok a while back I volunteered (and now just doing them before the PTF president had to shoot me) to help sort and cut box tops.  When I opened my mouth I thought how hard would it be to cut a few hundred that was until I received the BIG bag that needed to be sorted and cut (I swear close to a million ... ok a few thousand).  That couldn't take long right? hehe I was kidding myself, it took me 3 days of working on them for 6+ hours each day.  I looked like The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.  I swear from now on when I turn in box tops I will make sure they are cut and also NOT expired.  YUP I will never look at a box top or a pair of scissors the same every again .... hehe!

Here is the FREEZER bag of DONE cut box tops!

The Campbell Label's I sorted out.

I cut half then gave up ... lol!

Have a wonderful day, just had to share so I can save the next dummy who volunteers for that job ... lol

It was a Merry Christmas

It was an amazing holiday and celebration for with the family. My blessings started a few days early then the day.  As many of you know my husband's car engine died and we had been trying to figure out what to do.  My amazing bosses told me to tow it to a shop to have it looked out and find out how much we would need to get it up and running.  Sadly the extent that it needed was a lot and really not worth it.  So my bosses went over and beyond and surprised me with a new car!  They blessed me so much I can't even say in words how much they are special and answered my prayers.  I am so excited to show off my new 2009 Jetta Wagon.  It even has leather and heated seats, being the cheap girl I am my car didn't have any bells and whistles (Ricks' did but not mine).  It is so nice to have 2 reliable cars and things are really started to turn around here!  We have one more announcement to make but I want to wait a few more days just to let it happen so I can make sure it is what is to be.

We had a fabulous Christmas, this year has been a rough one financial so I was buying little things here and there to make sure we had gifts come Christmas.  I saved and got some great deals on Black Friday also.  Rick and I just kept it low key for this year and enjoyed the kids opening gifts.  One of Rick's cousins sent a Gift Card for the movies and we took the whole family Christmas Day to a movie, it was great to have the card that paid for the whole experience.  What a Great day!  Hope you all had a blessed day and enjoyed your family!

Christmas Eve we saw my parents who gave the boys gifts.

Rick stayed up ALL night and built the lego's Planes & Trucks.

Santa Cookies & our Christmas Eve PJ's.

The boys enjoyed opening gifts!

Mom & Dad and the Mess to clean up!

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Merry Christmas Eve ... Perfect Pumpkin Pie

Hi Everyone I know you're crazy busy so I thought I'd just throw up a quick recipe!  I made this pie and it turned out so pretty I just had to share right away!  Hope you all are having a very Merry Christmas and enjoying family and friends.

I found this recipe on All Recipes for the Perfect Pumpkin Pie, I added some leaves and a pumpkin to dress it up.  I got a Paula Deen pie kit and had to try them out.

INGREDIENTS:

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin 1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes.
2.	Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

I took a second pie crust and used it to cut out my leaves and the pumpkin to dress the pie up.  I just attached them with a little water and then when I cooked I used my pampered chef pie shield.  If you don't have one they are cheap and a good investment if you make pies and don't want  burnt crust.  Also I usually make my crust but I was in a pinch so the froze did just fine.

Enjoy and have a VERY Merry Christmas!!

Yet another round of Christmas Movies

As you all know now I have a slight obsession with Christmas Movies, I love them they always make me see the good in people and put cheer in my heart.  I'm trying to show case some brand new and some I haven't seen before and haven't posted about in past years.  My favorite channels are Hallmark, Lifetime and GMC.  You can catch one almost any time of the day and thankfully most run a few times :).  So set your DVR's and here we go!

Baby's First Christmas | Hallmark Channel - This was a cute movie about a baby of course to be born on Christmas.  There is a contest, a scrooge type and of course to throw in the sides at times loss of jobs and loosing of a house.  And of course the miracle of people who reach out and help all.  I really liked this one and not one I've seen before.

The Merry In-Laws - Lifetime - Talk about tink me pink, almost like a Cheer's reunion!  Ok for you who don't know do you live under a rock .. lol.  Cheer's was one of my favorite shows you just had to love Norm and well Diane always drove me nuts but hey it was super cute to see them together.  A fun movie about the rational thinkers who don't believe oh yes a fun movie!

Christmas With Holly - Hallmark - Oh this movie will make you a little teary but it will touch your heart.  To have amazing family that would step in and care for your child if God Forbid something happens to you.  A very touching story!

The Real St. Nick - Lifetime - This will make you laugh and you will fall in love with St. Nick who some may think is a nut but you will come to find out there is a deeper story there!

Christmas Town – gmc -What happens when we just need to have a little faith and believe.  What a cute story of a busy single mom who may need just a little bit of Christmas cheer.  Her father moves to a town all about Christmas.  Very cute movie, with a reminder to sometimes slow down.

The Secret Of Giving - watchgmctv.com – gmc  - Now I'm not a big fan of westerns or movies anything like it. BUT I do like Reba and I think her voice is very beautiful so I just had to watch this movie.  It had some shoot them up and bad guys but it always had a love and Christmas spirit that touched the heart.

The Perfect Holiday - Lifetime - This is a twist on the ones we've seen before with a Christmas Angel that is maybe pulling some strings to bring those together.  A fun movie, maybe not one I would want to watch again but it had a good meaning behind it.

Hope you all have a wonderful Weekend and maybe find a movie to watch with the family.

Last Minute Christmas Goodies

I'm putting my Friday Christmas movie post on Saturday this week so I can show some treats I made for the boys class and one of the teachers.   Here a few fun things to make that didn't take me until midnight to make ... hehe.

First I needed cupcakes that I signed up for Cole's class.  I of course can't just go pick up a batch at the store because I'm nutty like that.  I found these Ruldoph Cupcakes  (I found a picture only on Cupcakes take the cake, that I took and ran with) and just had to make them.  Now since there wasn't a recipe I had to kind of figure it out myself which really wasn't hard.  

To make these cute guys I first I needed a cupcake to make vanilla cupcake.  I found a recipe on Heidi's Recipe that was simple it used a vanilla cake box base and added vanilla pudding.  I thought it was perfect!

Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow or vanilla cake mix
1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 dozen cupcake liners

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place 2 dozen paper liners in cupcake pan.
3. Place cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the ingredients are incorporated, 30 seconds.  Stop the machine and scrape down the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes longer, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  
4. Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 full.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until muffins are slightly browned on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of one cupcake comes out clean.
6. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack in pan for 15 minutes.  Remove from pan and sit on wire rack until completely cooled.  Frost.

Then to decorate the cupcake this is where I let my imagine go and just made it.  

Need:

Cupcakes

Chocolate Frosting (homemade or store bought)

Wilton Eyes (or you can use white and black gel)

Red Candy 

Vanilla Wafer

Pretzels

I was in a rush so I used store bought chocolate frosting (plus it stays up better since the cupcakes will sit out for a few hours before lunch). Then I added a little frosting to the back of a vanilla wafer.  Attach the wafer to the cupcake.  Break pretzels to look like antlers add on the opposite side of the wafer.  Add the eyes (you can buy at Walmart) or use white gel and add a dot of black (I rather pay a few dollars and they are cute). Then add a little frosting to the red candy and attach to the middle of the wafer for your nose.  Done, I told you easy!

Then on to the cookies for Caden's class, I saw these Reindeer Cookies on pintrest that of course was just a picture so I can't give credit (please forgive me).  

Need:

Nutter Butters

Bag of Chocolate

Pretzels

Wilton Eyes

Red Candy

Melt a bag of chocolate chips (or Wilton Melts), I put in the microwave for 2 minutes.  Be careful so don't burn like I did last year!  Dip the nutter butter in the melted chocolate, once fully coated add to a pan that has wax paper laid on it.  Add the eyes and then the nose.  I broke the pretzels to make the antlers.  Make sure to do this all while the chocolate is wet so everything sticks to it.

Then for the kids I wanted to make treat bags that were fun but also cheap :).  I found these Reindeer Noses on Read Write Sing Blog.  It was just a picture but easy enough to figure out what I needed.

Need:

Malt Balls (Whoppers)

Red Candy (M&M)

Plastic Bag

Red Ribbon

Card

Hole Punch

Add ONE red candy to the bag.  Then add a handful or two of the whoppers.  I put in about 15 whoppers for each bag.  I went on my computer and made a cute little design and then printed on card stock.  Cut them and then added a hole with a hole punch.  I had some red ribbon that I then attached the card and tied the bag with.  Done!  Oh yes simple and I'm sure it will be a hit!

And last on my list is something for Caden's teacher.  I'm giving caramel corn to Cole's teacher but Caden's teacher is on a Gluten Free Diet and I didn't want to give something she won't eat so I found this idea for Scent-sational Teacher Gift.  Another one that didn't come with a link just a picture on Pinterest.  Sorry to whoever had this idea I can't give you credit.

Need:

Candle

Gift Bag

Ribbon

Card / Printer

Put the candle in the gift bag (I used a snowflake one but you can use a clear one).  I printed out the card on card stock and attached with a ribbon.  You can make it smaller which I wish I did but I already cut and didn't want to waste another piece of card stock :).

There you go some fun things you can make up before Christmas next week if you needed an idea :).  The Christmas Movie post will post early tomorrow morning if you need some movie ideas!  Have a VERY Merry Christmas!