The Time Has Come

It is the day after Thanksgiving and that means one thing. No, not shopping. Okay, maybe a little bit of shopping. But really, it means....Christmas Cards! I love Christmas cards. I love sending them. I love getting them. I love reading the letters that come along with them. Even the cheesy ones.

The hard part about Christmas cards? Well, that's in the deciding part. It's hard to decide...traditional versus photo card, folded versus flat, letter or no letter, real pictures or photo shopped pictures where my abs look like Jillian's from The Biggest Loser. The options really are endless.

This year I'm going with Shutterfly. They have a truly amazing selection of cards. Whatever you're looking for they most likely have it. Except Jillian's abs. You're on your own for those.

I really like this card, although I think it goes without saying that my perfect children are never naughty.
I also love these because I can include lots of pictures of my little family.
And then this card is the best of both worlds. A picture with the letter attached. All done!
They also have photo calendars that would make a great gift for...just about anybody! You can order your Christmas cards and a few gifts all at the same time. Now that's a reason to celebrate.

*I was given 50 free holiday cards by Shutterfly for this post. All opinions and craziness are mine and mine alone. The wished for abs are Jillian's.*

**If you're a blogger and would like to participate in Shutterfly's promotion go here to apply.**

Recipe Swap Wednesday-Pumpkin Pie Cake

It should be said in the beginning that I don't like pumpkin pie. I think it's a texture thing because I love almost all things pumpkin. Except pumpkin pie. This recipe, on the other hand, is amazingly wonderful. So in the Spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm sharing it with you. Because I'm generous like that.

Pumpkin Pie Cake
Ingredients you'll need:
1 package yellow cake mix
3 eggs
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I don't use these because of allergies & haven't noticed a difference)
15 oz. can of pumpkin
2 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup brown sugar
13 oz. can of evaporated milk (which I just realized I forgot to get at the store. crap.)
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Crust
Combine the yellow cake mix (reserve 1 cup & set aside), 1 egg, 1/2 cup melted butter and chopped pecans (optional). Press into bottom of ungreased 9x13 cake pan.

Filling
Combine 1 can of pumpkin, 2 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 can of evaporated milk. Pour over crust mixture in pan.

Topping
Mix together by hand 1 cup reserved cake mix, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon & 1/4 cup softened butter. Sprinkle over the pumpkin mixture in pan.

Bake at 350 degrees (325 degrees for glass pan) for 40-45 minutes. Refrigerate overnight. Serve topped with whipped cream.

Sit back and enjoy all the compliments that you will most definitely get when you serve this.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Giveaway! Hairietta Hairison, The One The Only Me

To celebrate this wonderful week of Thanksgiving, I'm giving away an adorable children's book. The lovely blogger of Living The Scream fame generously offered this book as a giveaway.

Introducing Hairietta Hairison The One The Only Me was written by Jo Zumbrunnen and follows one little girl's journey through the first few years of life and many different hair styles. This book is wonderful for little girls and takes the emphasis off of hair and puts it back on life and the many opportunities that await us....if we're not too busy obsessing with our hair.

Sorry, that picture was taken with my phone. Not the best, but you get the idea. My girls have absolutely LOVED this book. They requested this for bedtime reading almost every night after we got it since we were lucky enough to get a copy to keep. And you'll be happy to hear that I will not be the one responsible for mailing it to the winner so you'll get it before the new year!

Onto the nitty gritty details.....

To enter this giveaway, leave me a comment. It can be anything really, but I'm always open to compliments. Bonus points for creativity. Not bonus entries, but definitely bonus points. Okay, I'll probably give you a bonus entry if the comment is really, really good.

For additional entries:

• Follow my blog. You know you want to, might as well make it public.
• Follow me on Twitter @LadyofPC. It's like my blog but more random and more frequent.
• Blog or tweet about this giveaway and link it back here.
• Teach me how to make a fan page for my Facebook account. And then like me on it.

Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry.

This giveaway will end on Sunday November 28, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. I will draw the winner with the help of Random.org at some point after that time. Hopefully sooner than later. The winner will be announced here on the blog and I'll even email the winner because I'm generous like that.

Ready! Set! Go!

The Harry Potter Party at Clark Planetarium

I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Harry Potter 7 party at the Clark Planetarium last night compliments of UTA. Yes, you heard me right. A HARRY POTTER PARTY AT THE CLARK PLANETARIUM!!!
It was so very fun. I hadn't been to the Clark Planetarium before and I was just totally blown away by how amazing it was. CG and I got to go together. We pretended like it was a date. You know dates like grown ups go on. Of course, the entire time we were talking about how much fun our girls would have if it hadn't started after their bed time. I debated about bringing them, but this morning was the school Turkey Trot and we have to have our priorities.

Speaking of priorities, we got to enjoy a laser show while we were there. The last time I went to a laser show was when I was in high school. It was U2. Ah, the memories. And if you've ever wondered how the laser show would look in pictures, here you go. Sans flash, of course. I'm not that much of a hillbilly.
And "Ms. Trelawny's sister" was there reading tea leaves. It was awesome. At first I thought it was a joke, then maybe not. She said some pretty interesting things that lead me to believe that I am either a HUGE stereotype or she's got some specials talents going on. A lot of the evidence suggests the stereotype theory. So, the jury is still out about the Leaf Lady and how much of a sucker I really am, but either way, we had fun.
We were also sorted into our Hogwarts houses. CG is Ravenclaw and I am Hufflepuff. We had cupcakes with chocolate frogs and spent a few minutes wandering through Diagon Alley, formerly known as the gift shop. A surprisingly affordable gift shop. One thing is for sure...the Clark Planetarium really knows how to throw a party.

And I even had my picture taken with a celebrity.

**The tickets to the Harry Potter Premier party at the Clark Planetarium were provided to us by UTA and the Mom Aboard campaign. All opinions, tea leaf readings and childish Harry Potter obsessions are my own.**

Looking For Positive Reinforcement On The Internets

The lovely Stephanie from The Daily Blarg is having a contest to choose a tag line for her blog. Believe it or not, I'm a finalist. So go vote for me! Yes, I know, mine probably isn't the funniest tag line, but you can still vote for me right HERE. Or at least tell me you voted for me so things won't be awkward between us.

October Highlights...Halfway Through November...

The perfect autumn trip to Wheeler Farm.
The beautiful result of our pumpkin patching.
Our garden. It has kept me busy. I'm still canning stuff from our garden.
Family Halloween Party!
I was wearing these horns the entire time and the party was going on for over 2 hours before anyone said anything. I was beginning to think that they blended in so well with my natural aura that no one noticed.
Getting our costumes ready, including the fanciest witch hats you've ever seen.
And, because I'm just not busy enough, I decided to make Halloween pillowcases for the family.
Visiting CG at his office in our full Halloween attire.
Pumpkin Pizza compliments of Papa Murphy's. Well, we paid for it, but I didn't have to make it.
Making Witch Hat cookies. Because we're all about witch hats this year.
Getting ready for the Big Day!
The Cutest Witches EVER!

Further Proof Of My Domestic Goddessness

This is what my kitchen sink looks like right this minute. All week I've been either canning or PTA-ing.
It's actually a pretty accurate reflection on my life. Enjoy.