Mom's Meal Planner {Giveaway}

Remember when I told you about the "Mom's Meal Planner" magnet I bought at Mall of America with Lazy Dad?

Well I actually bought three of them. 

One I gave to Traci because we went to dinner at her house that very night.

And the other one?  Well the other one I bought for one of yooooou! 

That's right!  I want one of you to win this cute little magnet that just SCREAMS "I'm a Lazy Mom."

And guess what?  Since it's so small I'm willing to ship it anywhere.  Meaning this cute little giveaway is open Internationally people!

So fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter to win!  Each thing you do (or already do) is an entry, so do as many as your little heart desires, mkay?



(subscribers, you may need to click here to view the entry form)

--
Don't forget to enter my other two giveaways this week (it's a week of giveaways on I'm a Lazy Mom!)
Natural House!
Prefense Combo Pack!

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Because Painted Wood is Pretty!

Howdy, Lazy Decorators!

It's Me again--

here to give you another great decorating tip.

I have to be honest:

I've been a little worried about posting this

particular tip.

I almost talked myself out of sharing this tip.

Not because I want it all to myself...

but because there might be a few dozen of you

who get mad at me and won't like me anymore.

Are you ready?

Let's all take a deep breath...shall we?

Many of you have very old furniture.

Maybe your mother passed it down to you when

you got married.

Or, maybe you're like me, and you

buy most of your furniture at garage sales.

At any rate, you have furniture from the

70's and 80's.

This, in and of itself, is NOT a bad thing!!!

This is a wonderful thing!

You've saved your family money!

Good for you!

But.

Here's the problem.

Many of you lazy, lazy people just.stop.there.

No, no, no.

If you have furniture from the 70's or 80's,

Honey Child, it's time to paint it!

Life is too short

to have to look at

ugly things!

Let me show you an example:

This is my table and chairs, circa 1974.

I don't have a picture of the table before I painted

it black, about 7 years ago, but imagine

it being just as ugly as the chairs.

Yeah, there ya go!

You've got a picture now, don't you?

So, I painted the table and the china cabinet

right after I bought them at

a garage sale.

But I left the chairs the way they were

because

1) I hated the fabric and

didn't know how

 to reupholster them

2) I hated the dated design of the chairs.

So, I used chair covers to

 hide their ugliness!

{sorry, I don't have a picture of them with the chair covers}

A friend of mine encouraged me

to take the slip covers off and

KEEP

them off!

I'm so glad I did!

That gave me the inspiration I needed

to turn those horribly dull chairs

into

WOWZA!

Here's the after:

All you need is a little bravery

and some spray paint

to get the beautiful furniture you dream of!

{if you don't know how to reupholster your

seat, here's a great tutorial}

So, go forth, Lazy Decorators!

Go forth and be brave!

Until next time,

Happy Decorating!

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Prefense Combo Pack {Giveaway}

How do you people expect me to mention Prefense in my giveaway post yesterday and then NOT give some Prefense away?!

It's ludicrous I tell you!  Ludicrous!

So today I thought I'd give away their HOT NEW Combo Pack!  Because it's hot and new. And well, a combo pack.

See how well I describe things?

You want this Combo Pack because in it is a container of their totally awesome hand wipes and a 1.5oz bottle of their hand sanitizer.  AND ALL FOR ONLY $7.99 in their web store!

If you're new 'round these parts and don't realize how special Prefense is, just let me tell you some little tidbits to whet your whistle.

The main thing I love about Prefense: it lasts for 24 hours or through 10 hand washings before needing to be reapplied. *insert hearts and flowers and happiness in my mom heart here*  I slap this stuff on my kid's (and Lazy Dad's) hands before they leave the house in the morning and they're covered. ALL DAY. From nastiness.

The next main thing I love about Prefense: It kills germs other hand sanitizers can't, like MRSA, Strep, E. Coli and other nasty things... (and here's the best part)... and does it all WITHOUT alcohol!  Wooo-hoooo!

The next, next main thing (isn't my use of the English language riveting?) I love about Prefense: It doesn't dry out and sting my hands, it smooths and softens them. And THAT my friends you can feel when you use it.

So. When I say you want to have Prefense in your life, this is why.  Capeesh?

U.S. residents can enter to win a Prefense Combo Pack by filling out the Rafflecopter form below! Just do the ones you want to for an entry into the giveaway.


(subscribers may need to click here to view the entry form)

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Natural House {Giveaway}

Doo, doo, Doooooo!

Today my kids went back to school!

This is me being sad over it.

And in honor of my children heading back to school, as promised, I'm having a week of giveaways!  Some of the giveaways will just be small little things, and others will be big.  (Psst! The one on Friday you will NOT want to miss.)

I'm kicking off the week of giveaways with a totally brand spankin' new product line from a totally brand spankin' new company!

Natural House is a sister company to Prefense.  You know, the Prefense I'm a JUNKIE over?

Natural House is a line of all-natural probiotic household cleaners. What does that mean exactly? Well this 2 minute video explains it MUCH better than I ever could.



Basically Natural House products kill germs and then leave behind plant based enzymes that keep on killing germs long after you've stopped!  And all without harsh chemicals. Score!

I LOVE the names of their first three products they've launched their company with.  (More products being added soon!)



The names tell you exactly where to use 'em! And let me tell you, I'm impressed!

I sprayed "Trashy" into our big outdoor garbage can after our trash pick up a few weeks ago. It used to be SO stinky in there! "Peeee-yew!"

But now there isn't an odor at all! Dare I say it actually smells PLEASANT when I open my trash can?! Cause it does!

All three of these products have really impressed me!  I mean, anything that keeps on cleaning long after I've stopped AND is so easy to use, even a lazy mom can use it, gets two hearty thumbs up from me!

PLUS, (and here's the kicker) each of these cleaners are a FULL MONTH SUPPLY worth of cleaning that you only do once a week!  AND (get this, you'll die) they are only $4.99 each!!!

Check it out.  I'm not lying!

For now you can buy Natural House products on Natural House's website store or through Amazon (which is great if you use Amazon Prime or Super Saver Shipping!)

Go buy you some Natural House products and then enter to win all three of them here! (open to U.S. residents only)



(you may need to click here to view the entry form)

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Lazy Chocolate Caramel Cookies

My lazy people.

When I saw an email sitting in my inbox entitled Chocolate Caramel Cookies, I knew it could quite possibly be love at first sight for me.

And when I saw the picture attached to the email, it was.

I think my exact words were, "OH. MY. HEAVENLY. DAY."

And then I tried to grab a cookie off my computer screen.

And then I cried when I couldn't.

So I just couldn't let the weekend go by without posting this recipe that Emily sent in to me and declared "delicious and SO easy!"  It just wouldn't be fair to all you precious lazy moms out there.

Plus it goes perfectly with the topic of my radio show yesterday, Back to School Tips.

How? You ask?

Because this recipe is so easy even a lazy mom can do it, therefore she can make a batch of these up this weekend to put in her little whippersnapper's lunches next week.

If she doesn't eat the whole batch herself first.

Consider that last statement a disclosure to this recipe.

Lazy Chocolate Caramel Cookies

1 pkg. (18 1/4oz.) devil's food cake mix*

1/4 cup water

1 egg

3 Tbsp. canola or vegetable oil

18-24 Rolo candies

Combine cake mix, water, egg, and oil in a large bowl.  Shape rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and press a rolo candy in the middle and reshape into a ball.  Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet.  Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until tops are cracked.  Cool for 2 minutes before removing from sheet.

A big thanks to Emily for sending in this lazy recipe!  What makes a recipe lazy?  Find out here and send your recipes in!

*I'm not a big Devil Food's Cake fan, so I make this recipe with regular chocolate cake mix!

--
Don't miss the laziness! Subscribe to I'm a Lazy Mom via reader or email today!

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Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy!

Next week is gonna be a FUN week around here!  My kids go back to school!

What?  That was two separate statements.  You probably just read them as one statement because of how they are back to back.  I could see how you might mistakenly do that.

*ahem*

Anywhoooo.  To celebrate my kids going back to school. (Did I just say that out loud) I'm having a week of fun on the ol' blog here.  I'm declaring it....

A week of giveaways!

That's right, my lazy folks.  Every day next week I'll be giving away something.  Even on Wednesday afternoon after what's sure to be Traci's FABULOUS Decorating the Lazy Mom Way post.

Some items will be small and some items will be HUGE (some of you will jump up and down over what's being given away next Friday).

Either way, be here.  Next week.  Every day.  Giveaways galore!

To celebrate In honor of my children going back to school.

And to celebrate in honor of my children going back to school, watch what is probably my favorite commerical of all time.

And to celebrate in honor of my children going back to school, we'll be talking Lazy Mom Back to School Tips today on the Lazy Mom Radio Show!

Some of you have given me your best back to school tips that I'll be sharing AND I have a very special guest on the show today!  Tracey Eyster from Mom Life Today will be calling in and sharing her best back to school tips.  Don't miss it!  2pm Eastern -- 1pm Central!

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He's Done This Before

You know how I posted that video of Lazy Dad being called up to participate in the Tommy Bartlett Show earlier this week?

Just so you know, that is NOT a rare occurrence.

Oh no.

Lazy Dad gets called up to participate in pretty much EVERY show we've ever been to where they call people out of the audience.

The first time it happened was on our honeymoon.  We had scarcely said "I do" when we found ourselves at the Dixie Stampede in Pigeon Forge Tennessee.  They start calling people out of the audience and much to my surprise Lazy Dad (who was not a Lazy Dad at that point in time) was jumping up and down beside me flailing his arms over his big 6'4" frame.

I have to admit, I was a little embarrassed over my brand spankin' new husbands enthusiasm over being picked to be in the show.  I think I even said to him, "Stop that!" And, "sit down already!"  And, "Why didn't you tell me you do this kind of stuff BEFORE we got married?"

Just kidding on that last one.

I think.

So anyway, Lazy Dad of course got picked out of the crowd.  And pretty much every crowd since then.

I chalk it up to his tallness.  He chalks it up to his handsomeness.

I chalk it up to his red headedness.  He chalks it up to his muscles.

I chalk it up to his hootin' and hollerin'.  He chalks it up to his manliness.

Either way.  He gets noticed.  A LOT.

Case in point.  This summer.  Disney World.  Indiana Jones Show.

The girls and guys had split up for some different rides and we suddenly get a text message saying Lazy Dad had gotten chosen to be in the show and to get there ASAP!

Our seats weren't that great, but you can still see how he is chosen out of the "extras" line up to be a "featured extra."

His role?  A death scene.

It was classic.




I WISH I had videos of every single show he's been called up to.

It would make great 50th wedding anniversary footage.

Or 40th birthday footage.

Or America's Most Wanted footage.

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Parenting the Lazy Mom Way: Teach Them About Money

Today we are talking about teaching our kids about money.  Because how many of YOU wish that you had been taught how to handle money a little better, hm? 
I personally feel that the starting place for teaching your kids about money is to teach them the value of a dollar.  More and more kids these days don't have a clue what the value of a dollar is.  But I don't blame them when parents are overpaying them for even the smallest of tasks (more on that later).

So. How do you teach them the value of a dollar?

First of all, start them young.  When your kids are starting to learn about money and how to count and add it and such, that's when you should start teaching them about the value of a dollar.

I heard of one couple that gave their children a great visual of this one day.  The father had just gotten paid so he took his paycheck to the bank and had the teller cash it out in dollar bills.  When he got home he laid the bills out on the table for his two girls to see and told them he had gotten paid today and this is how much money he made.

"What should we do with it?" The dad asked.

The girls, with their eyes big over the amount in front of them, said, "Go to Disney World!!!"

"Well, that might be a good idea," said the dad, "but first we have to pay our bills."

Then the dad started taking stacks away saying, "This whole stack here we have to use to pay for our house so we have somewhere nice to live in."

"This stack here we have to use to pay for our electricity so we can have lights and cold food in our refrigerator and TV to watch."

"Then this stack we have to use to pay for our water so we can take baths and wash our hands and cook our food."

One by one the dad took stacks of money away explaining where it had to go and why.  And as each stack disappeared from their sight, the girls' dream of taking the money and going to Disney World was diminished a little more.

At the end there was one small stack of money left over for their family to spend as they wished and it was a far cry from going to Disney!

I love this story because this father gave his girls a great visual lesson of the value of a dollar and also showed them where the hard earned money he makes goes!

I know for us, we are always trying to teach our kids the value of a dollar.  Something that's important to us is that our children know how hard you have to work to earn them as well.  That's why we don't pay them $10 for pulling weeds from our garden for 10 minutes.  That's like paying them $60 an hour!!  Instead we pay them amounts that make sense and are more like what they should expect to make in the real world.

We also try to use money terms that they will need to understand when they are adults.  For instance, if we are walking in a store and one of our little darlings sees something they want to buy, we ask them if they have enough money for it.  If they don't we tell them that we can buy the item for them and they can go in debt for it, later they can work off the debt to pay us back.

Never once have any of my children chosen to go into debt!  And this has opened up lots of discussion over what debt is.

As my children get older, lessons will inevitably change and even more practical ways of handling money will need to be taught.  But teaching our children the value of a dollar is a great place to start!

This post is just the tip of the iceberg about teaching kids about money, obviously.  There's so much more I could share, but why don't you share below some ways you've taught your kids about money.   I'd love to hear them!

Read the next post in this series.
Or
Start at the beginning of this series.

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Clean Out My Basement {Week 4}

It's time for another 'Clean Out My Basement' giveaway!

This week I'm giving away four springy expressions from my Uppercase Living stash in my basement.  Check 'em out....

Click to view larger

Fun stuff to decorate with when Winter is winding down and Spring is springing!

If you are a U.S. or Canadian Resident you can enter to win!  Four winners will be chosen and each person will receive one of the expressions at random.

(subscribers you may need to click over to my blog to see the form)

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Funny Things

This last week while we were gallivanting around the upper Midwest... (I just made that up by the way. I have no clue if the Midwest has an "upper" to it)... I came across some things I found funny.

And seeing that I like to tee-hee, I thought you might like to tee-hee along with me, as I show you the things that made me tee-hee.

What?

I never said I was an eloquent blogger.

While Lazy Dad and I were at Mall of America, we went to the magnet store.  I found SEVERAL things that made me tee-hee in there.

Ahahahaha!

Hehehehehehe!

Hahahahaha!

Blahahahahaha!

But the BEST magnet we saw there was this here one. It's my new love in life.

Mom's Menu Planner!!  *LOVE*
Notice how small the "Mom cooks" sliver is! *LOVE*
I plan on spinning this every day for the rest of my life. *LOVE*

Okay, beyond magnets, here's some other funny stuff from this last week....

You all know I'm a self-proclaimed hotel junkie, and that I am one for MANY reasons.  One of them being that we get the "fancy" channels like HGTV, TLC and Discovery while we're there.  We don't get those at this here house of mine.  Nope.  We just get the basic, run-of-the-mill channels 'round these parts.  So we love us some cable TV in hotels.

There is a downside though.  Commercials.  AND LOTS OF 'EM.  If I could pack up my TIVO and take it with me when we stay in hotels and fast forward through the commercials I totally would.

(Come on TIVO, get on board with that already! Or get into some hotel chains already! Or pay for me to have "fancy channels" at home already!  Geesh.)

But while watching TV in one of the great hotel rooms we stayed at I did see this commercial that made me tee-hee.



I'm shocked they didn't ask me to star in it.

But at the TIP TOP of funnyness this last week was when Lazy Dad was called up on stage to be a part of the Tommy Bartlett Show!

TEE-HEE!

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Weekly Commenter Winner {Week 8}

Woopsies!

Didn't have time to select a random comment from my blog this week and award them a $10 gift card to Amazon! So how about right now?

The winner is this comment right here....

Congratulations Amanda! You have 48 hours to email me and claim your gift card.

And just to let everyone know, I'm going to take a break from the random commenter of the week gift card giveaway for a little while.  Although I MAY give one away if it strikes my fancy... you just never know!

Aren't I all mysterious and stuff?

And non-committal?

And gorgeous?

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Just This Side of Heaven

My Dearest Lazy Moms,

I'm still out of town traipsing around Wisconsin/Minnesota/Illinois with The Lazy Dad while our children hang out with Grandma and Grandpa.

It's just this side of heaven, y'all.

I'm having so much fun I don't want to come home. But that tends to be how I feel every time we leave town.  Part of this is due to the fact that we are getting to stay in hotels. AND YOU ALL KNOW HOW I LOVE ME SOME HOTELS.

And part of it may be due to the fact that Lazy Dad just walked into our hotel room with a killer breakfast THAT I DIDN'T MAKE.

Nevertheless, all good things must end (or so they tell me... whoever THEY are) so on Friday we are meeting the Grandparents in Illinois to pick the kids back up and head home.

But not before I sit in the BNNS Radio Studio in Belvidere Illinois for my Lazy Mom Radio Show at 1pm Central (2pm Eastern).

That's right people. I'll be in the actual BNNS station this Friday.  And guess what?  It's an audience participation show!  Which means you all need to drop what you're doing and fly/drive to Belvidere Illinois and be on my show with me!  And seeing that like none of you are probably going to do that (come on, it'd be fun!) at least make sure you call in to the show tomorrow.... because.... BECAUSE.... you will FINALLY hear from someone other than me.

You will hear from THE LAZY DAD himself!!

Yup.  I've been begging him to be on my show since day one.  In fact, I told him he could do my show every week for me if he wanted to, but he's a stinker and won't.  So tomorrow he breaks his silence and is taking your calls and questions.  IT'S GONNA BE AWESOME!

Here's everything you need to know about how to call in and/or chat in the chat window during the show (or even how to listen to the show after the fact if you can't listen live).

So yeah. Don't go easy on him. Do the best you can to rattle him.

I do so daily.

But not on purpose.

At all.

See you tomorrow!

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Cheap Personalized Wall Decor

Hello, my

 Lazy Friends!

This week I have a great idea for your

kids' rooms.

Sometimes it's hard to fill all of that empty space

on their walls without it looking

cluttered.

I'm not going to lie--

the older they get, the harder it is to have

any say whatsoever

about what goes on their walls!

{am I right, or am I right?}

My 8 year-old's room is

filled with

odd miss-matched things.

But, my 2 year old

couldn't care less 

about what goes on his walls!

So, while you have a say about

it, why not put something

cute,

personalized

and

CHEAP

on their walls?

Supplies you'll need:

scrapbook paper to fit the decor of your child's room

printer

scissors

glue or Mod Podge

frames

variety of fonts- you can do a google search for "free fonts"

printer paper

I love the look of changing up the

FONTS,

can you tell?

I downloaded lots of crazy cool fonts

(for free!)

and just played

around with them until

 I found what I wanted for each letter.

You certainly don't have to do that,

but I think it adds a little bit of

whimsey

to your child's room.

Then I blew the font up to 300- 400 per letter,

printed them out on regular printer paper,

  cut them out and glued them

to the scrapbook paper.

{I've never tried to just print it right on to the

scrapbook paper. That might work, but I was afraid

that the pattern of the paper would be visible

through the letters}

I'm not a perfectionist!

Rather than wasting 45 minutes to cut out

the letters absolutely perfectly

with no white showing-

I took the Lazy way!

If you have some white showing, just

take a black magic marker

and color in the mistakes.

And nobody will be the wiser.

Until you post it on

the internet for all the world to see.

Then they'll know.

I got the frames at IKEA for $5 each

(score!)

To make sure that all of your frames

are equal distances from one another, and to make sure

that you have the nail in the correct spot,

use a tape measurer and a level.

Then you can tape printer paper

on the wall to

mark the spot you want each frame to be.

Next,

measure how far down your nail hole is on your frame.

Measure that same amount off on your paper and place a dot

where each nail should go.

Place the nails where the dots are.

Rip the paper off of the wall,

hang the pics--

and you're done!

Easy and cheap wall decor

that will create a lot of

character

your child's room!

This project took a few hours to
do from start to finish.
The most time consuming part is finding
the perfect font that you want.
I broke the project up into two days,
but you could easily do this in one afternoon.

I'll be back in two weeks for more

fun ideas for your home.

Until then,

happy decorating!

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Laundry Tips for a Lazy Mom

Let's face it.

Laundry is not at the top of MOST lazy moms list of things they love to do.

I guess I kind of go through spurts with it.  I'll be on top of things for a while, say, when my sister comes and does all my laundry for me.  Then, one busy weekend and BAM!  I'm back to scaling Mt. Washmore.

Yesterday I received the bestest email from lazy mom Jen.  It was all about how to overcome your laundry pile.  And I would just be absolutely positively remiss if'n I didn't share her fabulouso ideas with all of you'ns.

Here's what Jen had to say....

Laundry is the bane of my existence. Kicking laundry's butt has become a favourite hobby of mine.

Laundry the lazy way- I have eliminated all unnecessary folding, sorting, etc. Everyone at my house loves clean sheets and towels but that is a huge time sucker. Sheets get stripped, washed and tossed in their very own laundry basket - no folding, and stowed on the top shelf of the bedroom they belong in.

If I'm extra lazy I pile them one on top of the other in the corner til sheets are changed again. Basket of towels in, basket of towels out, the basket of towels fits perfectly on the linen closet shelf. If you need one, you grab it out of the basket. Its not folded but its clean. So now I don't whine about people dropping their towels and not hanging them, or refusing to reuse - if I don't have to fold them, it bothers me much less.

I do not fold dish towels, face cloths, rags, underwear, socks....the only thing that I fold is hubbies t-shirts cuz I haven't found a hanger that works for that.

Hanging everything else on hangers is much faster than folding. If anyone wants their laundry it is hanging on the rod in the laundry room. Some family members want their stuff in their rooms so they truck it back up the stairs. Other lazier family members just dress in the laundry room. There is a basket for each person with their underwear, socks, bras in it.

So, eliminating most of the folding in favour of the faster hanging and eliminating me putting away people's laundry has made me a much happier individual. If you are a cheerful lazy mother most people don't mind at all.

Jen

Isn't that fabulousness? And isn't her last statement so true? "If you are a cheerful lazy mother most people don't mind at all."

That should be a sign hanging in my house somewhere.

Thanks for sharing your great laundry tips with us Jen! I always love hearing how you lazy moms out there get things done. Or not.

Cause let's face it, the first one makes great tips and the second one makes great confessions. So either way I'm good.

What ways do you make laundry more bearable in your home? I'd love to know!

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Weekly Commenter Winner {Week 7}

Another week has come and gone! So while I'm enjoying all things cheesey here in Wisconsin, one of you can enjoy a $10 gift card to Amazon for being the randomly drawn commenter of the week!
The winning comment was this one...

"Wow, how do you have ONLY one cricket in your house??? We always have a bunch." - Jennifer on VICTORY IS MINE! (or uh, his)

Congratulations Jennifer! You have 48 hours to email me and claim your gift card!

A new random winner will be drawn next week, so get to commenting on any blog post, old or new!

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Clean Out My Basement {Week 3}

Here we go! Week three of Clean Out My Basement Giveaways!

This week I'm giving away two of my *romantic* expressions. Perfect for a Master Bedroom or under a wedding picture.

Click to view larger.

If you are a U.S. or Canadian resident you can enter to win by filling out the Rafflecopter form below! (subscribers you may need to click over to my blog to see the form).

This week there will be TWO winners and, again, it will be random which one they receive!

Happy entering!

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VICTORY IS MINE! (or uh, his)

It's inevitable.

Every summer a pesky little noise maker finds it's way into our basement. Namely, a cricket, of monstrous proportions, that rubs it's legs together all night long and chirps and chirps and chirps.

Did I mention this is ALL. NIGHT. LONG?

And that the horrendous sound carries it's way all through the air vents of our house?

And that this prevents me from my much needed beauty sleep?

I mean, I'm not just gorgeous for nothing, people! I attribute most of it to my beauty sleep.

And an incredible amount of moisturizer and begging and pleading with my face to not form crevices and fall down on me.

Anywho.  Back to the cricket. 

I noticed we had our basement cricket for this year about a week or so ago.  Every night as I was getting ready for bed I'd hear the *chirp* *chirp* *chirping* through the air vent. 

UGH.

And you know the funny thing about basement crickets?  YOU CAN'T FIND THEM FOR NOTHIN'.

It's like looking for a needle in a haystack, folks. It ain't. gonna. happen.

So.

Every night.

Chirping.

Through the vents.


But alas!  Just this morning!  The skies part, the sun shines, the air is crisp and cool, and what do my wondering eyes see??

My son victoriously holding his bug box WITH THE BASEMENT CRICKET INSIDE!!

VICTORY IS MINE!!!

Well, okay, it's his. (isn't he cute?)

**Breaking News Bulletin**  The basement cricket of 2011 has been caught. By a super cool 8 year old on a mission to rid the world of basement crickets everywhere. A world hounded by basement crickets that chirp all night long and keep sleeping people from being, well, sleeping people.  We thank you dear 8 year old. You're helping make the world a better place (for sleeping). And this concludes our **Breaking News Bulletin**


--
Did you know that every Saturday I draw a random commenter from the week and give them a $10 gift card to Amazon? Leave a comment on any blog posts (new or old) to get in the running!

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Have I Told You?

Have I told you that I bought a new bike this summer?

And that the seat hurt my hiney so bad I had to go out and buy this gel packed, big-butt, grandma seat?

Have I told you that my kids' back to school shopping is breaking my bank?

And that I may have to "accidentally" lose a child somewhere in order to balance the budget?

Have I told you that I apparently have never spelled the word 'accidentally' correctly until just now this minute?

And that I'm mortified that spell check has taken this many years to make me realize it?

Have I told you that I'm trying to lose weight (AGAIN)?

And that any and all candy bars, chocolate, cupcakes, and sweets in general, are in danger of being scarfed down immediately upon sight?

Have I told you that Lazy Dad preached the house down during our community outdoor church service on Sunday?

And that there wasn't really a "house" to "preach down?"

Have I told you that I got as far as BUYING the wreath form thingy for Traci's SUPER cute wreath tutorial and DIGGING through my basement to find my glue gun so I could see if it was a mini one or a full-sized one?

And that I hope to actually make it before 2013?

Have I told you that this little ol' lazy family is headed to Wisconsin on Thursday?

And therefore might be reliving the terror that is NO 3G?!?!?!

Well if I haven't told you, you know now. Or now know. Or you know you now know.

You're welcome.

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Lazy Enchilada Casserole

What's for dinner tonight?  Hmm?

Cause if what you're having sounds better than what I'm having, I may come over. And bring my whole family.

Or if you're like me and have NO CLUE what you're making for dinner tonight, you might want to give this new lazy recipe a try! 

Lazy mom Sara sent it in to me and said, "I'm so lazy I make enough to have leftovers on a night I don't feel like cooking!"

We hear you Sara, we hear you.

And we understand. 

Completely. 

 
Lazy Enchilada Casserole
Makes 12 servings
 
2 lbs hamburger meat
1 14 oz. can enchilada sauce
2 cans chopped black olives (or whatever you like instead)
1 lb. shredded cheddar or mexican cheese
24 corn tortillas

Brown hamburger meat and drain. Mix in 1/4 cup enchilada sauce.

Place 6 corn tortillas side by side in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish (they will overlap). Spread 1/4 of remaining enchilada sauce over tortillas and spoon 1/3 of hamburger meat over sauce.

Next, spread 1/4 lb. cheese and 1/4 can of olives on top of meat. Repeat layers of tortillas, sauce, meat, cheese and olives 2x.

Place 6 remaining tortillas on top of the 3rd layer, covering them with the rest of the sauce, cheese and olives.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until heated through and cheese is melted.

Sour cream, guacamole, lettuce and tomatoes make great toppings!

Thanks for the yummy recipe Sara!  Do you have a recipe to share? Find out what makes a recipe lazy and send it in to me!

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Weekly Commenter Winner {Week 6}

It's that time again! Time to draw a random comment from the week and give them a $10 gift card to Amazon! Woot!

This week's winner is the person who left this comment....

Congratulations Christina! You have 48 hours to email me and claim your gift card!

New winner next week, so get to commenting on any post, old or new!

--
Hey! Two new winners were drawn for the first 'Clean Out My Basement' giveaway! Check to see if it was you!

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Funny Story About My Dad

All week I've been asking you to remind me to tell you the funny story about my dad.  And try as I might to type it up it just needs to be TOLD, not read. Ya know?

So.  I have decided that seeing that it is too close to my newest vlog (video+blog=vlog) to actually vlog again (I mean, I do like to give y'all recovery time from those), I will instead tell you the funny story about my dad on my Lazy Mom Radio Show today at 2pm Eastern (that's 1pm Central and 12pm Mountain and so on and so forthness).

So be there if you want to hear the story, mkay?

Oh! And you may also want to be in the chat window while the show is going on because I will be drawing one random chatter to win a $10 gift card to Amazon at the end of the show! Woot!

To learn how to chat in the chat window during the show and other fun stuff, click here.

But don't let the chat window keep you from calling in to actually chat with me!  I need callers.  I want callers.  And besides, I don't hang out in the chat window during the show anyway, so if you want me to know your random comments, off-the-wall questions, lazy mom confessions or whatever it is you people chat about in the chat window, you'll need to call in!  Capeesh?

In other news, I have some great Lazy Mom Recipes sitting in my inbox just waiting to be shared with all of you.  I might actually do so next week.  If I'm not busy being lazy.

And speaking of Lazy Mom Recipes, I haven't gotten very many Lazy Mom Confessions lately.  And I think it's high time for a big fat juicy one!  So if you have one, even if it's not big fat and juicy, email it to me. I need to know I'm not the only mother in the world that has lazy, lazy moments in life. Or all of yesterday.

Alrighty, see you at 2pm (Eastern) for the show! Listen, chat and call in! Those are your three goals today, mkay?

Mkay.

 

--
Pssst!!! I was finally able to draw the winner for the 2 night hotel stay with Wyndham Hotels! Were you the winner?

Have you seen these Lazy Mom Approved sites? I love them, and you should too.

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Clean Out My Basement {Week 2}

It's time for another clean out my basement giveaway! Where you can win Uppercase Living items for your home and at the same time help me clean out my basement of them. (See the video where I explain it all so eloquently and not at all scarily to learn more)

This week's stash is family room-ish. It's great for hanging near the pictures that are gracing your walls (or should be gracing your walls if your like me). And here they are!

Click to view larger

Well, the Just Be Yourself ones would be great for a bathroom or teenagers room too I guess.

But anyway. This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian residents only. Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below and you're entered to win for each thing you do!

Please note: like last time, there will be FIVE winners... each person will randomly get one of the expressions shown above.

Also note: I'm gorgeous.  Don't want you to forget that.




(subscribers, you may need to click over to my blog to view the Rafflecopter)

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Coffee Filter Wreath

Hello, my fellow

Lazy Moms!

I'm so excited to be with y'all!

Every other Wednesday I'll be sharing

cheap

and

easy

ways that you can decorate your house.

This is me

(and two of my three cuties)

My husband and I have moved a lot

in our twelve years of marriage.

We've had to sell pretty much everything we had

and start from scratch

on three different occasions.

In that situation (and on a tight budget)

you either learn how to make things yourself,

or you do without.

I certainly didn't want to do without, so

I decided to

put my big girl panties on

and teach myself

how to decorate on a dime!

So...

today I'm going to show you how to make a

super fun wreath that's so easy

anyone

can do it!

You'll need:

a package of unbleached coffee filters ($1.75)

Wreath from Dollar Tree

(ummm...$1.00...obviously)

I actually prefer the contour edged wreaths
(like donut shaped),
rather than ones with edges, like the one I got.
But my Dollar Tree was out of them.

It's all about working with
what you've got!

You'll also need

some sort of ribbon or cloth.
Ribbon would be the easiest choice, but
it can run anywhere from $2.00 per roll to $6 +
I chose burlap because

1. I love burlap
2. It's super cheap
3. I have tons of it!
4. I love burlap.

If you go the burlap route like I did,
let me show you
a fun trick!

Burlap is very fibrous and can leave
a mess all over your work area.
So, to limit the amount of tiny fibers,
and to prevent fraying,
decide how wide you would like your
burlap strip to be
(mine was about 2 inches).

Then grab the tip of the thread at the point
you want to cut.

Gently pull the thread

until the fabric starts sinching up:

Keep pulling and sinching

until that little thread comes all the way out.

Then you've got a straight line

to show you where to cut.

(not at all necessary to do, but it's so much fun,

I do it as often as I can! ha!)

And cut a long strip of

your material:

Then you'll have a strip

like this:

(see what I mean? A ribbon would totally

be easier than all of that, but I'm just
an overachiever like that.)

Put a dab of hot glue onto the wreath:

and wrap:

until the entire thing is covered.

Take a coffee filter and scrunch it up--

no rhyme or reason to it

and hot glue it onto the

burlap wreath.

Again...no rhyme or reason.

You decide how full or how sparse

you want it to be.

During this project, there *may* come a point

where you feel the urge to scream or yell

at your coffee filters.

Never fear. This is normal.

I had such an experience while making my wreath.

There were a few coffee filters that
 just wouldn't behave.

I was losing my patience with a few of them.

Especially

this

one.

Fret not, my friends!

Because they are but coffee filters...

and you hold the glue gun!

I just put a dab of glue on the part that insisted

on sticking out,

pushed it close to the next coffee filter,

and voila!

Put two dabs of hot glue

on the back and connect with a pretty ribbon.

It's ready to be hung anywhere!

I placed mine on an old window that

I fixed up for my entry way.

But you can do so many fun things with this.

If you have a large mirror,

it would be adorable in front of it.

And obviously, it can be used to decorate

any door.

Thanks for hangin' out with me!

I'll be back soon with another great

decorating tip!

Until next time,
happy decorating!

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