Free Kids Songs MP3 Download @ Amazon

I found this on pinchingyourpennies.com and thought it would be a fun little CD to download for my little guy. He loves music especially kids songs. It is totally free you just have to install the Amazon MP3 downloader. Then you can download the whole album and upload them to your mp3 or burn them to a cd. The album features:

1. The Itsy-Bitsy Spider

2. Old MacDonald Had A Farm

3. London Bridge Is Falling Down

4. B-I-N-G-O

5. The Alphabet Song

6. Baa-Baa Black Sheep

7. Do Your Ears Hang Low?

8. The Farmer In The Dell

9. Found A Peanut

10. Hickory, Dickory, Dock

Click  to download Best Of Countdown Kids Sampler

Homemade Pretzels

 

The other day I went to Smiths and in the frozen isle I saw some pretzels, you know the kind you can buy frozen and then just microwave, but they seemed kind of expensive so I passed them up.  Since them I have been totally craving them. I was so excited when I saw this recipe on MarthaStewart.com I am totally going to try it out and see if they are as delicious as the ones I have been craving.

• Warm water
• 2 (1/4-ounce) packages rapid-rise yeast
• 3/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 6 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
• 4 tablespoons coarse salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces, plus more for serving
• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1/2 cup baking soda
• 1/2 cup pale ale-style beer
• Pretzel salt
• Mustard, for serving

1. In a medium bowl, mix together 2 cups warm water, yeast, and 1/2 cup brown sugar; let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix together flour and coarse salt using your hands. Add butter and continue to mix with your hands until mixture is crumbly. Add yeast mixture and, using your hands, mix until a shaggy dough is formed and water is absorbed.
3. Using the dough hook attachment, mix dough on medium speed until dough is tight, elastic, and smooth, 6 to 8 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and transfer to refrigerator; let chill at least 8 hours and up to overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
5. Roll dough out into a 14-by-12-inch rectangle. Cut dough into one dozen 12-inch-long strips, each about 1-inch wide. Transfer to a large baking sheet and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Transfer to refrigerator and let chill for 15 minutes.
6. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll out each piece into a 30- to 33-inch-long rope (about 3/4-inch thick), starting from the center and working toward the ends. Make a "U" shape with the rope and cross the ends over, pinching at the bottom of the "U" to form a pretzel. Return to baking sheet and repeat process with remaining dough.
7. Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. In a large saucepan, combine 8 cups water, baking soda, beer, and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Simmer pretzels, one at a time, until pretzel floats, about 30 seconds; transfer to prepared baking sheet using a perforated spatula. Repeat process with remaining pretzels.
8. Sprinkle pretzels with pretzel salt; transfer to oven and bake for 5 minutes. Rotate baking sheet and continue baking until pretzels turn a chestnut brown color, 4 to 6 minutes more. Remove from baking sheet and transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve warm with butter or mustard. 

For a link to the recipe click here or more from Martha Stewart click here.

Tips for Saying "No"

I don't know about you but when someone asks me to do something that I am perfectly capable of doing I always feel obligated to say, "yes" even if it is not convenient for me. I  always worry that I will offend the person, or they will think I am stuck up if I do say "no."  The other day I heard some fabulous tips for licensed therapist  Julie de Azevedo Hanks, LCSW, founder and director of Wasatch Family Therapy. She said to: 

1. Accept that you have limitations---Everyone has limits to what they want to and can accomplish. It's simply part of being human. Many women feel bad about having limitations of time, energy and prior commitments, just to name a few. 
2. "No" is an honorable response--Saying "no" means telling your truth. If you allow yourself to say "no" when you mean it, others will trust that when you say "yes" you also mean it and will follow through. 
3. You owe no one an explanation--If you give your week's schedule, or the reasons why you are saying "no", you open up the door for others to rearrange your schedule to accommodate their request, or to discount or argue with your reasoning. While I find it difficult to simply say "no" followed by an awkward silence, I really like the phrase "No, that's just not going to work for me" because it softens the "no" without actually giving an explanation.

Visit www.wasatchfamilytherapy.com to learn more about counseling services, workshops, classes. Visit www.juliehanks.com for more inspiration on how to improve your life and your relationships!

From Couch to 5k in 2 months

A few years a go I took up running and totally loved it once I got over the hump of not being able to breath and could run for more than 5 minutes at a time. However, life has happened and I am not as trim as I use to be. So...I found this great schedule that is suppose to get you from couch to 5k in 2 months on Studio 5 the other day. I made my husband promise that we would run a 5k this spring. We are planning on running in the Provo City half marathon, 5k, relay in May. That way we have a little over 2 months to get in shape and get off the couch. to download the schedule that will get you from couch to 5k click here or to read to article on Studio 5 click here

Spicing up your Pillows

When we first moved into out house I made some pillows that were cheap, easy and also just plain to match our new color scheme. Well, I am kind of getting board with them and have been wanting to either make some new ones or do something to spice them up and give them a little more personality. I was so excited when I saw this segment on Studio 5  today. Some of the fabric that they used is very similar to the pillows I already have I am totally going do some of this to my pillows to give them a little more pizzaz. Take a look!

What to get Him for Valentines Day

I don't know about you but my man is kind a hard to buy for because he doesnt really get all that into holidays. So I have been looking for some new ideas that he might actually like. I found these great ideas on celebrations.com.

1. Digital Photo Frame--are perfect for Dads & Guys Who Cover Their Desks with Picture Frames 
2. Weekend Getaway Trip--perfect for the Guy Who Works 60 Hours a Week 
3. Subscriptions to his Favorite Magazines--perfect for: Avid Readers & Couples Doing Valentine's Day on a Budget 
4. Order Premium Cable Sports Channels--perfect for: Sports Fanatics 
5. Omaha Premium Steak Delivery--perfect for: The Meat Lover or BBQ Master

Top 10 Romantic Movies for Valentines

Since things are a little tight for everyone, I think this Valentines Day people will be turning to DVD's rather than going to the movies. I found a great list of some of  the top 10 romantic movies for Valentines on www.associatedcontent.com I thought it might give everyone some ideas for some movies they might already have or can go to the movie store and rent. Here are the 10 they listed, see if you agree:

10. Titanic
9. Pearl Harbor
8. Never Been Kissed
7. The Parent Trap
6. Splash 
5. Sweet Home Alabama
4. A Walk to Remember
3. The Notebook
2. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
1. Step Up        

Heart Felt Bag

 

I thought this would be a cute little bag for either a mother, sister or daughter. You could fill it full of tasty treats or what ever you would like. I also found this one on MarthaStewart.com. Here are their instructions:

1. Cut a piece of 11-by-17-inch felt. Cut a piece of double-sided iron-on adhesive slightly larger.
2. Iron adhesive onto decorative quilting cotton and trim around the paper-backed adhesive. Peel the paper backing away and iron the cotton onto the felt piece, following the adhesive manufacturer's instructions. Trim around the felt piece.
3. Cut four 1/2-inch-wide 6-inch strips of felt. Match two together, pin, and sew down the center lengthwise with a zigzag stitch to create half of the bag handle. Repeat to create the other half.
4. Lay the cotton-backed felt with the cotton side facing up. Fold 1 inch down on both short sides and press.
5. Attach a magnet closure to the flap on each side. Pin a handle piece in place at the center of each short side.
6. Using a zipper foot and less than a 1/8-inch seam allowance, stitch the folded sides down to create a hem at each short end, being sure to catch the strap piece in the seam.
7. Fold the piece in half with felt sides facing. Using a 1/4-inch seam allowance, sew up the sides of the bag. Create a 2-inch gusset at the bottom of each corner.
8. Turn the bag right-side out and sew the bag handle pieces together in the center to form a heart shape.
9. Print template and trace hearts onto different colors of felt. Cut hearts from felt and use fabric glue to attach to bag.

For an online tutorial and more information click here.

Quilled flowers and Cards

 

or

I found these adorable quilled flowers on MarthaStewart.com. They dont look too  horribly hard and you can either make them to and use them for a flower arrangement or put them on a Valentine for that special someone. I am so excited to attempt to make them. Click here for a link to instructions of how to make these fantastic flowers.

Great Gardening Book

I am so excited tonight I am going to a FREE gardening class from Gordon Wells. He is amazing! He has over 60 years of first hand experience and really knows his stuff. I can hardly wait to get his book Successful Home Gardening. He sells it directly on his site or I know that you can get it at Costco in Orem for like $15. I would highly recommend checking it out if you are planning on planting a garden this year! Click here to visit his site and find a free local class near you.

I Knew I Loved You When... Downloadable Slideshow

Have you guys seen the Hallmark card that come with a CD that you can add your own pictures to and create a special photo slide show for your loved one? I thought that was such a cute, cheap, inexpensive way to show your loved one that you love them. So I created a Powerpoint template, using a template from www.templateswise.com, that you can download and create your own. It should be compatible with all PowerPoint.

To Download just click the link above the slide show below and then click download.

Once you download it you are welcome to change anything you would like. You will need to create more of the slide that has the picture on it. To do that, in Power Point 07, you will just need to:

1. In the pane that contains the Outline and Slides tabs, click the Slides tab.
2. Select one or more slides that you want to duplicate.
3. On the Home tab, in the Slides group, click New Slide.
4. In the layout gallery, click Duplicate Selected Slides.
5. Repeat until you have the desired amount of slides.

Then to add your own image you should just be able to right click on the image and then select change picture (at least that is how it is in Microsoft 07).

To add music, just a warning if you do save it onto a dvd you will also need to save a copy of the music to the DVD, 

1. In the pane that contains the Outline and Slides tabs, click the Slides tab.
2. Click the slide to which you want to add a sound.
3. On the Insert tab, in the Media Clips group, click the arrow under Sound.
   
4. Do one of the following:
   
   
   
   
   • Click Sound from File, locate the folder that contains the file, and then double-click the file that you want to add.  

Once you have the show created, I am not totally sure if you save it on a DVD if it will play, I will have to try it and update you tomorrow. I do know that most new TV's can be hooked up to a laptop and you can play it that way.

I Knew I Loved You When

View more presentations from foxyjeeplady.

Lollipop Flowers

I saw this on bhg.com today and thought it was so cute. You could arrange this lollipop flowers with paper petals to make a heart felt centerpiece. To make these tasty flowers, fold colored card stock in half and cut out six hearts. Then punch a small hole near the tip of each. Insert a lollipop stick and arrange six hearts on the stem, fanning out the petals around the stick. So cute and simple! For more Valentines Decor ideas from Better Homes and Gardens click here

Potty Training Tips the Love and Logic Way

As I have mentioned before I am soon going to attempt the feat of trying to potty train my little guy. As I have talked with people about trying to do this at the age of 18 months they have told me that I am crazy. So I have been looking for all of the advice from the experts I can get, so I dont end up training myself :) Here are some tips I found from Love and Logic.

Potty training doesn’t have to be a frustrating experience for either you or your child. The most important things to remember are:

• Little children copy what they see their parents doing. That’s why it’s so important to let your tots see you using the potty…and having a good time doing so. (While this may be a bit embarrassing for some, the results are well worth the discomfort.)
• Offer lots of choices.  For example “Do you want to use the upstairs potty or downstairs potty?” “Do you want to bring your favorite toy or leave it in your room?” The more small choices we give, the less resistant our kids will be.
• Remain calm and empathetic when accidents happen. Punishment never works when it comes to potty training.
• Allow your child to train at their own pace. Some kids are ready before they are two years old, others aren’t ready until they are around four. When we try to force the issue before our children are ready, frustration is all we will achieve.

Clever Valentine Gifts from Kristine McKay

I just love Kristine McKay one of the studio 5 contributors! She always has such clever ideas. Today when she was on she had 4 simple yet adorable ways to show your love to your loved one. Check it out.

For instructions of how she made these clever ideas you can find them on the Studio 5 site or her direct site www.kmckaydesigns.com/

I Spy Bags

I dont know about you guys but its kind of hard sometimes to keep kids entertained at places like church or the doctors office. So I have been looking for some cheap ideas to keep my little guy entertained. One idea I thought of was an I Spy Bag. What an I Spy Bag is, is a little bag or basically anything that will hold little trinkets and some filler that little ones cannot open. I am so going to make some! I found a great tutorial on makeitandloveit.blogspot.com For the full tutorial click here. Another idea that I have made in the past is an I Spy Bottle. I just got a empty Gatorade bottle, some little trinkets, and used un popped pop corn kernels as filler. Then tapped the lid on for safety :)

Biggest Loser--Tips for success from the contestants

 

I love the Biggest Loser!! Every Tuesday night I tune in faithfully to watch the magnificent transformations that the contestants go through. It is incredible! This month in Good Housekeeping they did a spot light on last seasons winner Helen Phillips. She has some great tips for success and also they featured tips from some of this seasons contestants. Here are some I am totally going to try:

Stephanie Anderson (purple team this season) suggests: Talk yourself through it-- During a recent challenge, we had to do 500 sliders, an exercise on a long board. When the three winners were chosen, I was only at 370. So I thought, OK, I'm going to 400. At 400, I thought, I can do a hundred more. My legs felt like Jell-O. But I did it

This totally works! A few years ago I lost like 50-60lbs by taking up running and exercising regularly.While I was running I just had to keep telling myself okay I will run for like 5 minutes and then once it got to 5 minutes I would say that wasnt too bad how about another 2 minutes and so forth. [Unfortunately for me I have gained back 40 of the 50 lbs when I got pregnant.] Reading this article makes me crave to work out!

Michael Ventrella (White team this season) suggests:  Tune in to your body's signals--I was an emotional eater, so there were times I felt extremely hungry — but in my head, not in my stomach. Now I listen to my body and say, "Is my stomach rumbling, or is it my mind that wants to grab something?" I know that when I get upset or nervous, I start picking up food. So I try to catch myself, and walk or listen to music instead.

I am so an emotional eater! I am totally going to try the whole going for a walk or finding something to do when I "think" I am hungry.

Helen Phillips (last season's winner)-- Has a whole huge article on losing and keeping it off. In the article it has awesome ideas for getting started and sticking with it. Click here for this great article.

Also on GoodHousekeeping.com they have great tools for getting healthy and losing weight.

What's for Dinner Menu Planner

While surfing one of my favorite blogs, visitingteaching.net I found this adorable Menu planner. It is super easy to make you just print it out/ laminate it and then make tiles to stick on each day of the week.  They have pre-made ones that you can print out or you could just make blank squares, laminate them, and use a your own menu ideas by just writing them on there with a dry erase marker. To download yours click here.

Apricot Pulled Pork Hoagies for Superbowl Sunday

I remember as a kid always looking forward to Superbowl Sunday, it didnt matter who was playing or if we were all that interested in the game, my mom always made a ton of treats. Well this year my team the Indianapolis Colts are playing and I a super stoked! I have been looking for recipes for some new tasty treats that I can share with my fam this Superbowl Sunday. Here is a tasty crockpot recipe I found on bhg.com

Apricot Pulled Pork Hoagies
* 1 cup chopped sweet onion (1 large)
* 1 Tbsp. cooking oil
* 2 cups Pulled Pork Master Recipe (see recipe below)
* 1/2 cup apricot spreadable fruit
* 1/2 cup bottled hot-style barbecue sauce
* 2 Tbsp. snipped dried apricots
* 4 hoagie rolls, split and toasted

In a large skillet, cook onion in hot oil over medium heat about 4 minutes or until tender. Stir in shredded pork, spreadable fruit, barbecue sauce, and dried apricots. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes or until desired consistency, stirring occasionally. Divide meat mixture evenly among hoagie rolls. Makes 4 servings.

Pulled Pork Master Recipe: Trim fat from a 3 to 3-1/2 pound boneless pork shoulder. If necessary, cut pork to fit a 4- to 5-quart slow cooker. Place pork, 1 cup chopped sweet onion, and 6 cloves garlic, minced in slow cooker. In a medium bowl, combine 1, 12-ounce bottle chili sauce, 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar, 2 tablespoons cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper. Pour over pork in cooker.
Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 10 to 11 hours or on high-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours. Remove pork from cooker, reserving juices. Using two forks, shred pork; discarding any fat. Skim fat from juices. Add enough juices to the pork to moisten. Place 2-cup portions of pork in airtight containers and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Makes 6 cups.

Easy Bath Towel Hanger

When we first moved into our home I bought a bunch of Towel bars and hangers from IKEA for our bathrooms. Well, lets just say they dont hold a whole lot of weight, they have already after 6 months pulled out of the wall even though I put sheet rock anchors in the wall. So I decided to re-purpose an old jewelry hanger I had. I had originally had photos in it and really wanted to add mirror instead of photos but decided to just add the word bath for the time being. I just painted it brown to match my decor, cut out the word bath with my cricket and then pasted the letters onto 3 sections of scrapbook paper.

February Visiting Teaching Message

Each month, a great local store called, Pioneer Party creates great Visiting Teaching treats to go a long with each months Visiting Teaching message. This months Visiting Teaching message is about managing your resources and using them wisely and stay out of debt. To go along with this months message Pioneer Party created this simple brown paper bag filled with heart treats. So cute! You can order them online or you can pick them up at their store on Main st and about 200 North in Lehi, Utah. Check out the blog for more cute ideas and for a link to their site, click here. Or for a link to this months message click here.

Homemade Valentines

I saw these adorable homemade, yet SUPER easy Valentines on Studio 5 today and just had to post it. Laci Davis created these adorable photo valentines, that your kids will absolutely love to help you create!

To download her FREE Valentines Card Templates click here.

Update:
Here is one I made for my little guy for a little inspiration. My little guy is obsessed with choo choo's so we took pics on a red choo choo.

Inexpensive Valentine's Gift Ideas

Well, I dont know about you but I have been looking for some inexpensive great ways to show my husband how much I love him this year. I found some great ideas in Main Street Magazine South County edition.

Quality time--If your spouse believes time equals love you could give them tickets to a local show, sporting event, or movie.

Gifts-- Gifts don't need to be anything extravagant. I know for me the small things thoughtful gifts are the gifts that mean the most. One idea might be a basket full of favorites: Fav candy, music, candle or just favorite anything.

Words of affirmation-- you could write a list of all of the reasons you love your significatn other or detail your top 10 favorite memories with him or her.

Acts of Service--Take a few itesm off the endless to=do list for your partner. While it isn't romantic as a dozen roses, your partner will appreciate it so much more.

Physical touch--Draw your loved one a warm bath, then give them a much needed massage. Who doesnt like a nice massage?