Saturday, June 19, 2010

Kumon Book Winner!

 
The winner of the Kumon Publishing Workbook giveaway is Heather Ransom with comment #77 ("I follow Between the Lines using Google Friend Connect").  Congrats Heather!   Heather has 48 hours to claim her prize before I randomly draw a new winner.  Thanks to all of you who entered and keep reading Between the Lines!

Summer Pantry Crackdown

Now that summer is upon us and that dreadful bathing suit must make an appearance, it is time clean out that pantry. I have gotten away with not wearing a bathing suit in quite some time, but with the pool open and my husband at work, I guess I’m going to have to get in. So with that in mind, let’s start the cleaning. My weakness is baked goods. Breads, cookies, pastries…I love them all. So an easy fix for this weakness, is to just stop baking. So, the first thing I’m going to toss is my sugar. Luckily, I really didn’t have much left so I don’t feel too wasteful. The only thing I ever use sugar in is baked goods. And without it, I can’t bake. The next thing that must go is the crackers! Boxes of crackers are not good to have in the pantry. I can’t just eat a handful of Cheez-its or Wheat Thins and be satisfied. I just munch on them occasionally throughout the day without even realizing it. So out with crackers and in with the Goldfish. This way my kids can still have a cracker treat that won’t tempt me. Thankfully, I never have chips or sugary snacks in the house because I don’t want my kids eating them. Since we’ve never had them, we won’t miss them. Make sure you swing by on Monday for a review on Nana’s Cookie Company. They make cookies without refined sugars or gluten. All the cookies are sweetened with natural fruit and vegetable juices. What items are in your pantry that shouldn’t be? What is your weakness? How long could you give it up? Grab a latte, put up your feet, and join the discussion!


Tricky Trivia

Where are most turkeys raised in the United States?

Take a guess in the comments below.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Time for Vacation!!!

It has only been six months since our last family vacation, but I am overly ready for vacation to start tomorrow. This vacation will be a little different than our last one for two main reasons. Emma and Hailey. Our two darling girls will not be going on vacation with us this time. Woohoo, I mean awww. Thanks to my wonderful parents, my hubby and I will be going on our first vacation with just the two of us since our Honeymoon. We were lucky enough to go on vacation three years ago without kids, but we were with a large group of people. Just the two of us sounds so weird, but so wonderful! The funny part about all this is we can’t really tell the kids what we are doing ahead of time or they’d want to come with us. We will be in the mountains of Pennsylvania and we will be bike riding, golfing, ice skating, playing tennis, paddle boating, water skiing, swimming, and many other fun activities. Just because we don’t have kids with us, doesn’t mean we can’t have fun like kids. So next week, all my posts are prescheduled. Keep entering my awesome giveaways and don’t forget about me. :)  I will be checking my email once a day, but I apologize ahead of time if I don’t get back to you until next week. What solo vacation have you been on or would you like to take? Grab a latte, put up your feet, and join the discussion!


Fabulous Food Friday with Stepping into the Story

Welcome to Fabulous Food Friday! While exploring the blogosphere, I realized that there were many great recipes to share. So every Friday, I am going to try to feature an awesome blogger with their great recipe! Today’s feature blogger is Sarah from Stepping into the Story. When you get a chance, swing by Sarah’s wonderful blog. You’ll love her fun, educational, and inspirational posts. Today I will be featuring her Homemade Granola Bars.

Here’s a little blurb from Sarah herself:

I am a writer and teacher who is also an Army Wife. I love cooking (and especially eating what I cook!) so thankfully I also love running. Some of my favorite days are Saturday mornings that include stopping to get some coffee, then shopping garage sales and discovering the treasures I can find. I love decorating on a thrifty budget. My blog has turned into a catch-all of sorts, where I talk about my marriage, life as a writer, cooking, and decorating. It's been so fun to get to know so many people through it though and get glimpses into the lives of others!

:::Homemade Granola Bars:::

Ingredients
3/4 Cup brown sugar
1/4 c sugar
8 oz plain yogurt
2 egg whites
2 T vegetable oil
2 T milk
2 t vanilla
1/2 c flour (can substitute whole wheat flour)
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
3 cups oats
1 c dried fruit
optional: chocolate chips



Directions
1. Combine sugars, yogurt, egg whites, oil, milk and vanilla in a large bowl. Mix well.
2. In another bowl mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add to yogurt mix.
3. Stir in oats and fruit; add chocolate chips if needed
4. Spread dough on bottom of ungreased 13x9 pan
note: the recipe calls for a 13x9, but I feel like they come out too cake-y that way, so I spread them out on a baking sheet as much as I can; I like the thickness more
5. Bake at 350 for 28-32 minutes

I love these because they are a such an easy healthy snack to have around the house! It makes the house smell sooo yummy!

Tricky Trivia

Who was the first woman to enter space?

Take a guess in the comments below.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

We Have Winners!


Congrats to our 5 winners of the Bubble Chocolate giveaway!  Our first winner is Glogirl with comment #181 (Tweet: http://twitter.com/glogirl3/status15285049845).  Our second winner is giveawaydarling with comment #162 (I'm a follower 2).  Our third winner is Kim with comment #30 (button3). Our fourth winner is Glory with comment #250 (I subscribe by email3.) An our fifth winner is Carrielarry with comment #119 (I follow Between the Lines.).  All the winners have 48 hours to contact me or I will draw a new winner.  Enjoy the chocolate ladies! Thanks for entering and keep reading Between the Lines!

Scavenger Hunt

Have you heard of Blogmania? Did you participate last April and win tons of prizes? Well this September, Blogmania will be back bigger and better than ever! Blogmania will feature 175 blogs participating in giveaways over $100! Thanks to our fabulous sponsors, September’s Blogmania total is over $19,000 in prizes!! Just email me if you have any specific questions. I don’t want anyone to miss out on this great opportunity. To kick off the Blogmania event, we are going to have a Scavenger Hunt.! The Scavenger Hunt will run from July 1-30. Everyone will have a chance to find hidden things in our participating Etsy Sponsored Shops. Everyone who finds all the hidden things will be entered to win $100 to the Etsy shop of their choice, courtesy of the Blogmania participating blogs. There is a lot of fantastic things you can buy with $100! Don’t forget to come and join us in July. This is a scavenger hunt you don’t want to miss!

Look What I Won!

Last week, must have been my luck week. I not only won the Beautiful Blogger Award from The Drama Mama at The Scoop on Poop, but I also won The Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger Award from Robin at Your Daily Dose! Thank you ladies for thinking of me! I’m so thankful that you enjoy grabbing a latte at Between the Lines! Swing by these fabulous blogs and visit Robin and The Drama Mama. You’ll have a great time.

The Rules:

1. Thank the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 10 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 10 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic!
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

Ten Things about Me:

1. I’m married with two daughters.
2. I’m short. Only 5 feet tall…
3. I love Disney World.
4. I was born in Hawaii.
5. I hate doing dishes.
6. I’ve read every Karen Kingsbury book.
7. I love playing Rock Band with the family.
8. I get car sick.
9. I’m trying to raise money for Relay for Life. See sidebar if you want to help.
10. I’m a homebody. I’d rather be home with my family than anything else.

Wonderful Blogs that Deserve These Awesome Awards:

1. Survey Junkie
2. A Nut in a Nutshell
3. La Dolce Vita
4. Couponing to Disney
5. Reading Teen
6. Tiff Talks
7. Crazy Daisy
8. Faith’s Firm Foundation
9. Little Bishop’s
10. The Clever Mommy Chronicles

Tricky Trivia

What is the name of the closest star to the Earth?

Take a guess in the comments below.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Wild Texas Wear Review and Giveaway


Although Wild Texas Wear is designed and created in the heart of Texas, it is made with a comfort that everyone would love. Their soft Texas inspired clothing is available for men, women, and children alike. Wild Texas Wear has a fabulous selection of unique and tasteful T-Shirts, Tank Tops, Tee Dresses, Loungewear, Jewelry, and Accessories. Don’t be fooled into thinking this clothing is for Texans alone. No one should miss the chance to wear their 100% premium cotton tees.



There are so many high quality products from Wild Texas Wear that I would love to tell you about, but today I’m going to give you a little info on my new favorite shirt. Brian, from Wild Texas Wear, was kind enough to pick me out the Ladies Rodeo Bucking Horse Tee. He assured me that this was the black tee that every lady had to own. Ladies, he was absolutely right. This super soft jersey knit tee, made of 100% combed ring spun cotton, has a very flattering fit. As comfortable as this tee is, I can’t even imagine how comfortable their Tee Dresses or Hoodies would be. Even after washing the shirt (inside out), it was as soft as ever. And since it is preshrunk, you don’t have to worry about it shrinking. If you want to dress it up a bit, don’t miss their wonderful accessories.



Now I know you want to own your own Rodeo Bucking Horse Tee. Besides the flattering black tee, they also have light blue and pink. Check it out and pick your favorite for only $22.99. The shirts come in sizes S – 2XL. Want to win one?? Of course you do! The generous people from Wild Texas Wear have offered one luck reader from Between the Lines their very own Rodeo Bucking Horse Tee!



Mandatory Entry: Visit Wild Texas Wear and sign up for their Newsletter. Come back and leave a comment saying you did so.


Extras: (Remember each entry must have a separate comment and an email address is needed to contact winner.)

~Follow Between the Lines (3)
~ Subscribe to my email (5)
~ Grab my button and leave a link of where it’s displayed (5)
~Add me to your Blogroll and leave a link (5)
~ Subscribe to Texas Clothing Blog in a Reader (2)
~Follow me on Twitter (2)
~ Follow Wild Texas Wear on Twitter (2)
~ Explore Wild Texas Wear’s site and tell me which item you’d love to own (2)
~Tweet this giveaway leaving me your link. (3x a day not back to back) (1 entry each)
~Blog about this giveaway and leave me a link (10)
~Make a purchase from Wild Texas Wear (10)




This giveaway will end on July 9th @10p.m Eastern

*This giveaway is open to US only. Winner will be chosen randomly. An email notification will be sent to the email address provided by the winner. The winner must respond within 48 hours. Failure to do so will result in being disqualified and a new winner will be chosen.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary tee-shirt in exchange for my honest review. The opinions & thoughts expressed are my own. I received no other compensation for my review nor was I under any obligation to give a positive review.

Recipe Corner: Cantaloupe Soup

I had posted this recipe from allrecipes.com a while back, but I thought I'd repost it since it is perfect for a hot summer day.  If you are looking for a healthy dessert or snack, this is the recipe for you! And don’t forget to contact me if you are interested in having your blog and your yummy recipe featured in a Fabulous Food Friday Post. Whether you bake it, sauté it, or just microwave it, send it in! Share your yummy food and you may find yourself with new visitors. Please email me directly if you are interested. (betweenthelines-kam@hotmail.com)

Ingredients

• 1 cantaloupe - peeled, seeded and cubed
• 2 cups orange juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Peel, seed, and cube the cantaloupe.
2. Place cantaloupe and 1/2 cup orange juice in a blender or food processor; cover, and process until smooth. Transfer to large bowl. Stir in lime juice, cinnamon, and remaining orange juice. Cover, and refrigerate for at least one hour. Garnish with mint if desired.

Tricky Trivia

The head of a jellyfish is called a ___________.

Take a guess in the comments below.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Don't Forget....


Today you have a chance to save 15% at some great Etsy shops.  Hop over to Blogmania Central to find participating sponsors.


 

Also, don't forget today is the last day to enter the Bubble Chocolate Giveaway.  Enter HERE for a chance to be one of five winner!

Summer Learning Series: Learning With Easter Eggs

Every child loves summer. Summer is a time for playing outside, swimming in the pool, and hanging out with your friends. Unfortunately, summer is also a time when kids lose a lot of what they learned during the previous year of school. As an elementary school teacher, it was frustrating to watch my students struggle at the beginning of each year with objectives that they had mastered the previous year. As a parent, I want to make sure that this doesn’t happen to my children. This summer, I will be setting aside a little time each day for some fun learning activities for my kids. Starting in June, check in each Tuesday if you are looking for some activities for your kids. I will be posting a few things we did the previous week to share. Also if you are interested in doing the same thing, I would love to link up with all you creative moms out there! Just shoot me an email and let me know you are interested. (betweenthelines-kam@hotmail.com ) Let’s work together to help our children have a fun, but educational summer!



Last week, the girls and I played a new game with Easter eggs. This game helped them slow down for a bit and work on their concentration and memory. The first thing we did was divide the Easter eggs into two baskets. When you do this, make sure the color of the eggs are identical for each basket. I made it a little harder for my girls by using different colors and sizes. After the eggs are divided, put each basket on opposite sides of the room. Dump the baskets on the floor and you are ready to play.

While your child hides their eyes, hide 2-4 eggs under a basket. When they are ready, lift the basket and let them study the colors for 5 seconds (longer if you have younger kids). After the 5 seconds is done, recover the eggs with the basket. Next, let your kids run, hop, or skip to the other side of the room and grab the identical eggs. Once they’ve discovered the matching ones, have them race back to the basket and place them on top. Now you are ready for the big reveal! Uncover the hidden eggs and see if they match. If they get them all make it harder. If it was too tough, make it easier. Adjust the game to suit your child’s ability. If you are working on counting, have your child count the hidden eggs and retrieve the same amount. This is great for one to one association. You would be surprised at how difficult it is for a young child to count actual objects. Even if they can count to 20 for you, they may not be able to point and count to 10 objects. Happy Learning!

Recipe Corner: Key Lime Pie Martini (from allrecipes.com)

If you read Friday’s post on P.F. Changs, I forgot to mention the greatest drink I’ve ever had. The Key Lime Pie Martini they served tasted exactly like a pie. It was creamy, smooth, and I absolutely loved it. This recipe is not as good, but I have no idea how they made it. Give it a shot, alter it a bit, or just go find me the real recipe! Enjoy! And don’t forget to contact me if you are interested in having your blog and your yummy recipe featured in a Fabulous Food Friday Post. Whether you bake it, sauté it, or just microwave it, send it in! Share your yummy food and you may find yourself with new visitors. Please email me directly if you are interested. (betweenthelines-kam@hotmail.com )

Ingredients

• 1 graham cracker, crushed into fine crumbs
• 2 lime wedges
• 1 1/2 fluid ounces vanilla flavored vodka
• 1/2 fluid ounce melon liqueur (such as Midori®)
• 2 1/2 fluid ounces pineapple juice
• 1 dash almond flavored syrup
• 1 cup whipped cream
• 1 cup ice cubes

Directions

1. Spread the graham cracker crumbs onto a small, shallow plate. Moisten the rims of 2 martini glasses with the lime wedges; reserve the lime wedges. Dip the moistened glasses into the graham cracker crumbs and set aside. Reserve the lime wedges and remaining graham cracker crumbs to use as a garnish.
2. Pour the vodka, melon liqueur, pineapple juice, almond syrup, and whipped cream into a cocktail shaker over ice. Cover and shake until the outside of the shaker has frosted. Strain into the rimmed glasses. Place a lime wedge on the edge of each glass and sprinkle the cocktails with some of the reserved graham cracker crumbs to garnish.

Tricky Trivia

Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are _____________________,

Take a guess in the comments below.

Monday, June 14, 2010

We Have Winners!

Congrats to Megan who won the Easy Lunch Boxes giveaway with comment #120 (I learned that up to 3 containers will fit into one bag). Megan has 48 hours to email me before I randomly select a new winner. Thanks to everyone who entered and thanks to Kelly from Easy Lunch Boxes for sponsoring such a great giveaway! Keep reading Between the Lines!



Congrats to carrielarry who won the Giggle Junction giveaway with comment #125 (I have your button on my sidebar.). Carrielarry has 48 hours to email me before I randomly select a new winner. Thanks to everyone who entered and thanks to Giggle Junction for sponsoring such a great giveaway! Keep reading Between the Lines!

Huephoria Review and Giveaway

Although Huephoria began as a hobby for two creative ladies, it has now blown up into a major business. “HuePhoria LLC was formed with a goal to design, manufacture and distribute unique glassware to upscale gift boutiques, party throwers and cocktail queens across the country.” With their new partner and friend, Kathy, Jen and Lisa worked together to make their products even greater. Huephoria’s wine glasses, martini glasses, salt and pepper shakers, and ornaments are all hand blown and hand painted. Their unique designs would be a perfect fit for anyone’s home. Huephoria sells their glasses individually so that you can mix and match to create your own set. With everyone at your party drinking from a glass with a unique ball design, you will never have to wonder if you are drinking from the wrong glass. They do offer a few party packs. The party packs stick to a certain theme and are a little cheaper.

The creative ladies from Huephoria sent me a cute salt and pepper shaker set to review. Out of their 18 wonderful designs, I chose the Chilly set. Not only were the snowmen adorable, but they were a perfect match to my winter dining table. The tops on the shakers fit tightly around the top, but twist off easily to add more seasoning. With such a great variety of shaker sets for only $12.95, you can collect a few to match your changing table throughout the year.
Aren’t they adorable?? Would you like your own set? Lucky for you, the generous ladies from Huephoria are offering one lucky reader their choice of a salt and pepper shaker set! Do you want to own your own Huephoria glasses? Go here and check out all their amazing designs. And don't forget to use the code word "Hue" for a 25% discount.



Mandatory Entry: Visit Huephoria and leave a comment on which design is your favorite. You can choose from any of the glasses or salt and pepper shaker sets.


Extras: (Remember each entry must have a separate comment and an email address is needed to contact winner.)

~Follow Between the Lines (3)
~ Subscribe to my email (5)
~ Grab my button and leave a link of where it’s displayed (5)
~Add me to your Blogroll and leave a link (5)
~ Follow 2 Teach is 2 Touch Lives 4 Ever (2)
~Follow me on Twitter (2)
~ Follow Huephoria on Twitter (2)
~ Like Huephoria on Facebook (2)
~ Sign up for Huephoria’s Newsletter (2)
~Tweet this giveaway leaving me your link. (3x a day not back to back) (1 entry each)
~Blog about this giveaway and leave me a link (10)
~Make a purchase from Huephoria (10)


This giveaway will end on June 30th @10p.m Eastern
*This giveaway is open to US only. Winner will be chosen randomly. An email notification will be sent to the email address provided by the winner. The winner must respond within 48 hours. Failure to do so will result in being disqualified and a new winner will be chosen.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary salt and pepper shaker set in exchange for my honest review. The opinions & thoughts expressed are my own. I received no other compensation for my review nor was I under any obligation to give a positive review.

Feature Blogger: 2 Teach is 2 Touch Lives 4 Ever

Hello Everyone, let me introduce myself. My name is Camila Sousa and I am pleased to meet you! I am an ESL teacher in VA and I am thrilled to share a little bit of my expertise with you all. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Kelly for believing in what I do! :-)

I am crazy about technology, especially using web 2.0 tools to teach and I try my best to engage my students in using it and making the most of it!  I first became interested in technology when I enrolled in an online group (Yahoo groups) called Learning With Computers (LWC) on the recommendation of a co-worker and friend named Ana Maria Menezes. After that we started to create projects with students using web 2.0 tools and we depended on each other to share what we learned and we usually got together to test some of the things we’d learned then shared with the world!

Recently I was invited to join my dearest friend, Ana Maria Menezes, in her online course called EdTech which is designed for those who enjoy technology and want to learn a little bit more about web 2.0 tools and their use. Take a look at what I have learned so far:
Access my posterous page:

The course is designed to have 13 weeks and each week we are asked to perform tasks using technology and trying out the web tools presented. So far I am on week # 2 and already thrilled about the choices of tools we have used so far and how sharing knowledge among teachers from all around the world is fun. Even though I know a lot about technology, blogging, and social networking I am learning a lot and this course is totally worth it because we have the opportunity not only to learn but to share what we know as well. What makes it even better is that you build your PLN - Personal Learning Network.
Ana Maria presents a lot of surprises along the course. I had no idea that the one who finished the week first was going to win a “prize” and it is fun like that! I won the participants “picture of the week” on the wall because I was the first one to finish the task. It was awesome! I felt good for sharing information with the participants and winning a prize at the same time that I was not even aware existed! Check it out:

If you have the time and want to learn a little bit more about web 2.0 tools and their uses just give yourself a chance and enroll in the EdTech course.

Tricky Trivia

How much did the US pay for each acre of Alaska when they bought it from Russia?

Take a guess in the comments below.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

HELP!

Alright all you smart bloggers out there, I need some help. For the last two days, I have not been able to use Google Friends Connect. I can’t follow any new blogs and I can’t leave comments as myself. It asks me to sign in using Google, AOL, Yahoo, etc… Then when I sign in, it goes back to the same screen again, and asks me to sign in. Have any of you run into this problem before? Is it something that will fix itself or is there some way to report it? Any help that you could offer would be greatly appreciated. And those of you who feel like you are being ignored, I’m sorry. I’m really trying to figure this out.

Silent Sunday

She Lost Her First Tooth!





 

Simple Sunday Twitter Hop

Simple Sunday Twitter Hop 
Hosted by Survey Junkie & Between the Lines 

Grab a cup of coffee & join us every Sunday !!

Photobucket
Grab the button code off my sidebar to share the fun!

How it Works

  1. Add your Twitter url  ( not blog )
  2. Follow the 2 Hosts ( we will follow back )
  3. Then follow as many others as you would like 
  4. & follow everyone back that follows you  :)

Link up every Sunday at 12:00 am est !!