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Warming up Winter

Cold
photo by RachelEllen on flickr

Winter is my least favorite season.  I know I am a total buzzkill, but I hate snow.  Sure, it looks nice, but what it does is keep me and the kids cooped up in the house and make it dangerous to drive anywhere! I hate cold even more.  I really, really, really, hate being cold.

So, every winter, every dang nervewrackingly-cold day, I try to warm things up for myself.   From the practical to the comfortable, I am always trying to keep things above freezing in my life!  Here are a few ways I try to get my warm on:

  • Pre-heat the car.  I cannot stand to put kids or myself in a freezing cold car.  In the winter, I make a mad dash out in the cold ten to fifteen minutes before we have to leave so the van will be nice and toasty and frost-free before we leave!
  • Cloak myself in fleece.  I likes to wear the warm snugglies in winter, and I like my kids to have them on too! I wear fleece-lined clogs in the house, fleece PJ pants, a nice fleece pullover, you get my drift!  The baby lives in fleece PJs all day long, he can get away with it!
  • Cook up some WARM comfort food.  In my house, winter is the season of slow cooked soups and stews.  I have several beloved recipes that I never get sick of and make again and again.  But, they are all really simple.

When I want a warm comfort food that’s more than simple, I turn to the frozen foods department at my grocery store.  I don’t cook lasagna, meatloaf, or pot pies, so I gotta go to the experts!  When I want a creamy, flaky, delicious pot pie, I go with Marie Callender’s.

Now I’ve had Marie Callender’s pot pies dozens of times, but I reviewed one for this post, just to *ahem* remind myself how awesome they are.  It was just as good as ever!  Filled with yummy meat, veggies, and with lots of choices of flavors, they are a great time-saving solution for that busy time of year when it just happens to also be f-f-f-freeezing cold outside.  I especially love the Creamy Parmesan and Cheesy Chicken pot pies.  Mmmmm…they are delish!  Food like that keeps me very warm on the coldest of days.

So, those are some ways that I warm up winter.  I will definitely be employing them again as the cold and snow rush in.  How do YOU warm things up for your friends and family?

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I was compensated for my review of this product by Marie Callender’s and the Motherhood.  All opinions about the product are my own.

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My Favorite Gifts from Lands’ End

Clearly, it’s no secret around here that we LOVE Lands’ End!  And I love giving Lands’ End for Christmas.  One of my very, very, very favorite things to give is a personalized Lands’ End tote.  That’s what I got for Sophie’s teachers and therapists last year.

If you are at a loss for what to give those on your list, you still have TIME and Lands’ End has some great suggestions in their Our Favorite Gifts section.  Lands’ End let me choose a gift from that section to review, and I am giving it to someone special this Christmas who I hope is not reading this post!  It is this amazing Diamond Quilting Wool Down Vest!

This is just so nice, it’s hard to even put into words. Let’s just say I am a SUPER-UNSELFISH person for giving it as a gift!  It’s quilted wool plus the lightweight down fill makes is super-warm as well as super-cute.  And the faux fur hood is adooorrrable.  It’s temperature rated for 5 to 25 degrees so it’s ever-so-functional as well!  I love it!

Here are some other great “favorite gifts” I’d suggest:

Needlepoint iPad case:  you can get this for ME! Because I want it!! Isn’t it cuuute?? And I haven’t gotten a case for mine yet!

Sea Salt Caramels: please put these in my stocking!

Houndstooth CashTouch Scarf: nothing makes me happier than a good scarf, and the softness of CashTouch is to DIE for!  This is a definite sure-to-please!

Lands’ End is pretty much having constant sales these days, and you can have your gifts shipped fast to get here by Christmas!  Hop on over to Lands’ End’s website today and get gifting!

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Lands’ End sent me the Wool QuiltedDiamond Down vest for review. All opinons about it and all the products mentioned are my own.

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My, uh, I mean my kids’ fave new toy (giveaway!)

Awhile back I became a wee bit obsessed with Learning Resources Pretend & Play line of toys.  I got their Pretend & Play School set for my mom to give Sophie for Christmas because I know she will L-O-V-E it.  I just love all these realistic toys that let kids act-out some fun scenarios.  So, after talking Learning Resources’ website and Facebook page for awhile, I contacted them to ask if I could review and give away a toy from their Pretend & Play line.  They agreed, and I chose the Pretend & Play Supermarket Checkout set.

We received the set just as Joshua was having his first of many sick days from the stomach flu.  It was so nice to have a new toy to keep the kids busy when the kids were stuck in the house.  They had SO much fun with it!  Here’s a cute little short video of them playing together.

Here’s what I love about the Supermarket Checkout:

  • The moving conveyor belt. Just one of the many realistic features of this set! The “cashier” can press a button and move their customers food on down the belt.
  • The scanner that beeps, just like in a real life, when you pass the items over it.
  • Pretend scale so you can weigh produce
  • Cash register drawer that opens and closes
  • Credit card that beeps and says “paid” when you pass it through the scanner

Joshua and Sophie are seriously having such a great time pretending with this set and making up different shopping scenarios.  I know your kiddos will love this, set too!  Here’s how you can win one for them!  You can enter three different ways:

1) Leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite pretend toy was when you were a child

2) “Like” Learning Resources on Facebook and then come back here and leave a comment letting me know you did so

3) “Like” Mommin’ It Up on Facebook and come back here and leave a comment letting me know you did or already do.

This contest will be open until Tuesday, December 20th at 6 pm EST.  One winner will be chosen at random.  U.S Residents only, please. Good luck!  For more information on Learning Resources, check out their You Tube videos or follow them on Twitter.

I’ve linked this up to Things I love Thursday at the Diaper Diaries.  Head on over to check out what others love, too!

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Learning Resources provided me with the Pretend & Play Supermarket Checkout to review. All opinions about this product are my own.

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