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Wordless Wednesday – Kaitlyn Strikes A Pose or Three

September 29, 2010 · by · 17 Comments
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I blame an episode of Spongebob for this. When she thinks she looks especially good, she says “Pose, Pose, Pose” while striking model poses. I HAD to get photographic evidence of this!

*Link up your Wordless Wednesday posts here by choosing a photo from your post. It will link to your post so others can visit you!

*Or, use the traditional linky to leave your URL!

Thanks for stopping by!

edited to add: Crochet Flower Hat courtesy of Petite Fleur Designs. They have adorable hats, headbands, hairclips and more for all ages!

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The Big Reveal – My New Home Office!

September 28, 2010 · by · 13 Comments
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This is the $50 desk I bought at the antique/used furniture store. Chris and Ryan hauled it from the van to the garage and down the basement stairs. And that was after they took six boxes of baby clothes that we had been storing in that corner for a garage sale “some day”. I’ve thanked them both about a million times for doing all that hard work so I could have THIS:

My new home office

When I worked at the Credit Union, I was fanatical about keeping my desk and work area organized. I even organized other people’s work areas and was in charge of ordering supplies so I could keep the supply room neat! Why I’m such a slob about everything else, I’ll never understand.

Close up of the left side:

Desk Left

There are two full size file drawers, which means I can finally get the battered file cabinet out of the kids’ PLAYROOM. The black basket holds the TV remotes, the knick-knack shelf has candles, an air freshener, and an Office Max rubber band ball to play with.

Here’s the other side:

Desk Right

The mirror came from my mother in law’s house, Chris grabbed it when we cleaned it out and it’s been in the basement ever since. I was happy to give it a nice home. The cabinet is from our kitchen, it had to come down when I did the Frigidaire review for Mom Central. Chris stashed it in the basement and had the idea to put it there for me to stash stuff in. The drawers are divided for storage, the top one has a metal organizer for paper clips and stuff.

And finally, I have to tell you the story of this storage shelf. It was flat against the wall, and completely filled with extra kitchen appliances, glass baking dishes, and plastic storage containers. In order to get the right side of the desk to fit, the shelf had to be moved. So, Chris had the genius idea to take all the stuff off of it and turn it sideways to sort of “wall off” that section of the basement. Now I have a place to put all the products waiting to be reviewed and given away! WOO HOOOOO!

Storage Shelf

So, what do you think? Can you believe it only cost me $50.00?? Everyone who commented yesterday saying they needed to do the same thing, I hope this inspires you! Those of you who have a cool home office, take a picture or two, post it on your blog, then come and leave the link in a comment so I can see where you blog!

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Filed Under: For the Home, Photos, Things That Make Me Happy · Tagged: , , ,

A Very Motivated Weekend

September 27, 2010 · by · 13 Comments
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Last Thursday, I was sitting in my living room surrounded by piles of product review boxes, Sterilite containers full of press releases, and a dining room sideboard I can’t even open because of the stuff piled in front of it.  I looked around, and decided enough was enough. I got Chris on IM and told him that was it, I wanted to buy a desk, and I wanted to get my stuff out of our living and dining room.

I told him I wanted to finally have a real desk after five years of blogging.

He suggested Craigslist, but all I could find was a really banged up, cheap pressboard one.  Instead, I got Kaitlyn ready to go and we headed out for a pair of antique/used furniture stores in downtown Lansing. They are right next to each other so I picked one at random and we headed in.

Antique stores are dangerous for me, because I love stuff like old toys and magazines. The man who owns the store buys up inventory sight unseen at estate sales and storage unit sales, and I could easily have spent a week poking through the boxes and boxes of who knows what crammed into every inch of the two floors of the store.

I told him what I was looking for, a big, sturdy desk with room for a laptop or monitor and keyboard, and some storage drawers. He said “well, I just bought out the inventory from an office that shut down, let me show you a desk”. He took Kaitlyn and I up to the second floor, down a long pathway carved out between the piles and piles of chairs and tables and who knows what else, and in a small room, there it was. My desk.

I’m not sure who a desk like this would have been meant for, either one very busy person or two people who don’t mind sitting very close to each other.  I’m saving the photos for tomorrow’s Tackle it Tuesday post, because I still have some more organizing to do tonight, but it’s like this except not so sharp of an angle, and a very light grey:

And what did I pay for my giant steel double desk with the corner piece?  Fifty Dollars.  I know!   So, stop by tomorrow to see the photos and see my new home office in action!

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Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue Giveaway Winners

September 27, 2010 · by · 3 Comments
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I used random.org to choose the Grand Prize winner and Runners-Up in my Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue Giveaway.  Here are the three lucky winners!

GRAND PRIZE WINNER – 1 copy of Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack
2 pairs of Fairy Wings (assorted colors will be selected at random; photo is an example)
1 Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue Picnic Blanket
1 Do-It-Yourself Fairy House (to be assembled, as shown here)
1 Disney Fairies Crayola Neon Color Explosion coloring pack

#22  Jenn   http://fivedollarshake.net/
Twitter: 5_dollarshake

What would your child do if they saw a fairy? “My granddaughter said she would kiss the fairy and love her. LOL”  – awwww!

RUNNERS-UP - 1 copy of Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack
2 pairs of Fairy Wings (assorted colors will be selected at random; photo is an example)
1 Do-It-Yourself Fairy House (to be assembled, as shown here)

#182  Jaime P.    http://copperllamastudio.blogspot.com/

her answer to the question was “catch her and put her in a pickle jar”

#60  Rachel D.
Twitter: tobinsmommy08

“My son would try to catch it!”

Congratulations! Check your email!

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Friendly Friday 09/24/10

September 24, 2010 · by · 15 Comments
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Happy Friendly Friday! This is a weekly blog hop that anyone can participate in. It’s a great way to find new blogs and get new readers! To host the link list on your blog, click “Get the code here…” at the bottom of the list. The code is different every week, so be sure to get the new code when hosting Friendly Friday on your blog. Hosting the list is a great way to get even more traffic to your blog and make Friendly Friday more beneficial for everyone.

There are two “rules”, more like suggestions, for participating in Friendly Friday. First, join Google Friend Connect and post the widget code on your blog so that others can follow you. Two, follow the hostesses of Friendly Friday by looking for the Google Friend Connect widget on their blogs and clicking the Follow button. The hostesses are Xenia at Thanks, Mail Carrier, Christi at Frugal Novice and Charla at Healthy Home Blog. Also, I’d really appreciate if you would follow me on Google Friend Connect too!

Each week, I visit each of the three hostess blogs and add my link to their Friendly Friday posts, then browse through the other blogs that have left their links. And every week I find fantastic new blogs! Here are my Friendly Friday Blogs of the Week for 9/24:


Shining 2 Save is written by Kari, a Mom of two adorable boys and two really cute dogs. She hosts a TON of giveaways, so if you like entering them, you’ll want to pay her a visit! Her Google Friend Connect button is on the right sidebar near the top.  Shining 2 Save also hosts a Tuesday Twitter hop, where you can leave a link to your Twitter page. What a great idea for getting new followers and finding new Tweeps to follow! She also hosts Facebook Follow Friday where you can leave a link to your Facebook page. Kari is really all about helping other bloggers promote themselves, which is a very awesome thing to do!

When I stopped by Harriet and Friends and read her “The Scoop” page, I realized I knew exactly who she is! Her blog used to be called I Am Harriet, which I had in my bookmarks, but when she moved and changed her blog name, I guess I lost track of where she went. It’s so great to see you again, Harriet! She’s also the editor of the wildly popular and fabulous Sited and Blogged. If it wasn’t for Friendly Friday, I might never have found her blog again! Her Google Friend Connect button is on the right side of the page.

Freckles and Fudge(what a cute name for a blog!) is written by Vic, the Mom of two girls. I’m going to have to set aside a big chunk of time to go through her whole blog, because she does something I haven’t seen any other blog do – and I’ve been blogging for five years! She has pages on her blog devoted to categories of blogs, and all you have to do to get your blog listed on one of them is leave her a comment with your URL and ask! I just love people who selflessly help promote other bloggers! It’s good karma :) I love that she posts so many huge photos, and isn’t afraid to poke fun at herself. Vic looks like someone I would enjoy knowing in real life! Her Google Friend Connect button is on the left side of the page near the top.

I hope you’ll stop by my three picks for Friendly Friday Blogs of the Week! Tell them Table for Five sent you :) If you posted the Friendly Friday code this week, leave the link to that post in this linky. If you’re a new follower on Google Friend Connect, let me know in your comment. I’ll come to your blog and follow you back! And as always, comments are greatly appreciated :)

Have a great Friday everybody!

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Curb Your Enthusiasm Week Two – Arguing For the Sake of Arguing

September 24, 2010 · by · 1 Comment
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If you’ve seen “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, you know that Larry David is constantly getting into arguments. He argues with EVERYONE – friends, business associates, even complete strangers! For Larry, he has a steadfast belief in what is right and what is wrong, and he will not back down if he is convinced he is right. Sometimes, it seems like he argues with people just for the sake of arguing.

For example, in an episode that I remember watching when it first aired on HBO,  Larry refuses to tip a waiter at his country club beyond the 18 percent gratuity automatically included on the bill. The waiter tells Larry that “everyone” leaves an additional 2 percent to bring the total tip to the standard 20 percent. Larry begins arguing with the waiter saying that if the tip is supposed to be 20 percent, the automatic gratuity added to the bill should be 20 percent, which is a really good point! Larry then says he doesn’t want to tip extra because it would require him to do math to figure out the 2 percent:

Larry: “Don’t make me do math at the table.”
Waiter: “So you’re protesting math?”
Larry: “Exactly.”

I don’t argue with strangers the way Larry David does, but I have been guilty of arguing just because I couldn’t back down from my belief that I am right. My husband and I get into way more arguments than we should over my steadfast belief that sometimes, my parenting decisions are better than his. I know!  But there are just certain situations where I am convinced I do things better than he does!

The one we used to argue about the most was brushing Kaitlyn’s hair. I know, what a stupid thing to argue about, right? But he’s never known what it feels like to have tangles brushed out of long hair, and I DO. So when he insisted he could handle brushing her hair and she would start crying because it hurt, I would start telling him he was doing it wrong, he would say I KNOW how to brush hair, I would say you don’t know how to get the tangles out with your fingers first before brushing, he would say the tangles are coming out as I brush, and we would just go back and forth and back and forth.

Finally, I got Kaitlyn’s hair cut a lot shorter, and I learned from the stylist what products to use on Kaitlyn’s fine, curly hair so it wouldn’t tangle so much,  and it stopped hurting her when we brushed it. So the arguments over that stopped :)

You can catch up with past episodes of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and hear Larry’s classic arguments by tuning in to the TV Guide Network five days a week!  Now, usually when a commercial-free show gets moved to syndication, the episodes have to be cut down to fit in the commercials. Rather than do that, Larry David did something ingenious – the episodes stay the full 30 minute length, and then the rest of the one hour airtime has a panel of actors from the show discussing the episode.  You learn lots of juicy secrets that way!

Watch “Curb Your Enthusiasm” five nights a week!  Check your local listings here: http://www.curbweeknights.com/

disclosure: I have been hired by Warner Bros WBWord division to raise awareness for ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’

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Klutz Book of Animation Stop #3 and Giveaway

September 22, 2010 · by ·
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This giveaway is closed. Congratulations to the winner chosen by random.org: #77 Dawn @ Coming to a Nursery Near You!

This is stop #3 on the Klutz Book of Animation Blog Tour! The Klutz Book of Animation teaches anyone with a computer, camera, internet  connection and a little bit of creativity how to create their own stop-motion animated films. Step-by-step instructions show you how to create a variety of different classic stop motion special effects, and the book includes everything you’ll need,  from practical instruction to ready-to-shoot scripts. The software you’ll need is available as a free download, ready to use on any computer (PC or Mac). Attached to the book is a piece of low-tech, non-toxic clay, which you can mold into the star of your film!

If you’ve seen the classic movie “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”, you’ve seen a stop motion movie. The basic technique involves taking a picture of something, then moving it (or some part of it) a tiny bit, taking another picture, and so on. Once you stitch all those pictures together, you get a stop-motion film.

I knew the basics of stop-motion animation, but what I learned from The Klutz Book of Animation is the terms for specific types of it. For example, Pixilation is a technique that makes people move “like magic”, and Rotoscoping turns the still images into animation.

Each stop on this blog tour corresponds to a section of the book. Mine is called “No Handed Eating”, which teaches you how to make it look like a someone invisible is eating a sandwich and drinking a glass of juice. Klutz made me my very own sample video so I could show all of you what kind of “No Handed Eating” you could make following the step-by-step instructions in the book. Check it out!

My favorite part is the “Hooray for Table4Five.net at the end :) In addition to the directions, which are very well illustrated, the book also includes several pages of punch-outs including costumes for your clay figure and mouths you can attach to fruit to make it look like it’s talking. Kids will love this!

WIN IT: Thanks to Klutz, I have a prize pack of fun books to give away to one Table for Five reader. Open to U.S. mailing addresses only.

One (1) Winner will receive:

* a copy of The Klutz Book of Animation

* a copy ofThe Klutz Book of Magic

* a copy of Klutz’ Rubber Band Powered Flying Machines

* a copy of Klutz’ Battery Science!

Retail value of prize pack: $79.80

HOW TO ENTER: Leave a comment on this post telling me your idea for a homemade stop-motion video. Would you mold a clay superhero? Make a paper cut-out appear to fly?  Use your imagination! You must do this before any bonus entries will be counted.

EARN BONUS ENTRIES: For additional chances to win, leave a comment telling me which of the following you do or have done-

  • Link to Table for Five on your blog. Add me to your blogroll or grab a button from the sidebar!
  • Subscribe to the Table for Five feed in a reader or by email. Links are in the header.
  • Follow @Table for Five on Twitter
  • Tweet about the giveaway, you can do this ONCE PER DAY and leave a new comment for each tweet: Enter to win The Klutz Book of Animation + 3 other Klutz books from @Table4Five. Enter by 10/06/10 at 11:59 PM EST http://wp.me/p9SRW-1Na
  • Friend me on Facebook. Include a message in the friend request that you’re entering my giveaway so I’ll be sure to accept!
  • Like Table for Five on Facebook. My page needs more fans!

For FIVE Bonus Entries: Blog about this giveaway including a link to this post and the ending date of 10/06. Leave five separate, numbered comments – example: #1 I blogged about this giveaway here (URL), #2 I blogged about this giveaway here (URL), etc.

Tomorrow, please stop by the next blog in the tour, Tree, Root, and Twig.  She’s running the same giveaway so you’ll have even more changes to win! Thanks for entering and good luck everybody!

disclosure: I received The Klutz Book of Animation free for review. No other compensation was received.

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Thanksgiving and Christmas Recipes From MomsWhoThink

September 20, 2010 · by · 5 Comments
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This is a compensated post from MomsWhoThink.com. All statements and opinions are my own.

MomsWhoThink.com is a comprehensive database of parenting, holiday, and health tips, and recipes. LOTS of recipes. Recipes for specific holidays, recipes that are easy, recipes that are fast to make, recipes that are healthy, recipes that kids will like – an unbelievable amount of recipes!

It might still be September, but Thanksgiving and Christmas are going to come up FAST. If you like to do a lot of holiday cooking, MomsWhoThink has two pages you should bookmark now. On their Thanksgiving Recipes page, you’ll find recipes for all aspects of Thanksgiving entertaining:

  • Six pages of Turkey recipes, including ones for whole turkeys and ones for turkey breast
  • Six pages of Appetizers to keep guests nibbling while they wait for the main meal
  • Four pages of Breads and muffins that complement the Thanksgiving meal
  • Seven pages of Side Dishes including stuffing, potatoes, vegetables, and more
  • Eight pages of Desserts to finish off the meal, including pies, puddings, and gelatin salads
  • Pie recipes, organized into Classics, and what the site calls Blue Ribbon Winners, Roadside Diner Delights & Heirloom Pie Recipes
  • And finally, pumpkin recipes, including pie, bread, cheesecake, and more

You’ll be sure to have a Merry Christmas after you visit the MomsWhoThink Christmas page. Take a look at everything they have there!:

  • Christmas recipes, including ham, side dishes, pie, fudge, and cookies for eating or giving as gifts
  • Christmas Activities and Craft ideas
  • Tips for store-bought and homemade gifts for all ages
  • Christmas movies to watch and party games to play
  • The history of Christmas and a Decorating Checklist
  • A Party Planning Checklist and a Catering Checklist

You’ll be more prepared than ever if you visit MomsWhoThink before Thanksgiving and Christmas!

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Tonight on TV – The start of the 2010 Fall TV Season!

September 20, 2010 · by · 4 Comments
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Tonight begins the Fall TV Season, and as usual, the networks are putting more shows on at the same time than is humanly possible to watch. Unless you have a house full of DVRs, which I don’t. We have one, even though I’ve begged Chris to let me rent a second one from Comcast, but he doesn’t want to spend the five bucks. Grumble, Grumble.

8:00 PM EST kicks things off with new episodes of five returning shows that are all insanely popular:

ABC- Dancing With The Stars LIVE

CBS- How I Met Your Mother, followed by Rules of Engagement at 8:30

FOX- House

NBC- Chuck

CW- 90210

I’ll be watching HIMYM and recording DWTS. I gave up on House a couple of seasons ago, and have never seen Chuck or the new 90210.

At 9:00 PM EST, things start to heat up with the premieres of new shows that have been getting good buzz, at least in Entertainment Weekly, which is my primary arbiter of whether something is worth seeing:

ABC- DWTS continues

CBS- Two and a Half Men, followed by the new Mike & Molly, which could either be funny or get tired fast

FOX- Premiere of Lone Star – A con artist plans to steal money from his wife, but which one?

NBC- Premiere of The Event – A video game programmer stumbles upon the biggest cover-up in U.S. history

CW- Gossip Girl

And then at 10:00 PM EST, there are more shows I want to watch than is physically possible:

ABC- New “Castle” (mmm, I’ve been missing Nathan Fillion)

CBS- Premiere of “Hawaii Five-O (Daniel Dae Kim! Grace Park! SCOTT CAAN, people)

NBC- Premiere of “Chase” – A U.S. Marshall tracks down vicious, wanted fugitives.

A&E- New “Hoarders”

Bravo- New “Thintervention with Jackie Warner” (yes, I watched it last week. Yes, I got hooked)

We have one DVR, even though I’ve begged Chris to let me get a second one from Comcast, but he doesn’t want to pay the five extra bucks a month or whatever it would cost. Grumble, grumble.

So, I can record two shows but can’t watch a third. The Bravo and A&E shows should be available on Comcast OnDemand. A lot of the NBC shows end up available to watch at NBC.com, same with ABC.  I think at 10:00, I’ll record Hawaii Five-O and watch Chase, and then watch Castle later on the website.

What about you? What are you looking forward to watching tonight?

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MSU Marching Band does the Numa Numa Song!

September 19, 2010 · by · 6 Comments
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This is SO AWESOME! Not only did MSU (Michigan State University, I’m an alumni) Marching Band do the Numa Numa song, but they got the Numa Numa guy to come and DIRECT IT!

It’s a massively epic WIN.

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