I love toys that my children can interact with, I love toys that make noise.  Am I crazy?

Well thanks to Little First Act Discovery and Twitter Moms my son was given a new toy to try out.

We were sent the Shake N’ Stack Instrument.

At first when I saw the toy I thought just the rings around the base came off and they were the instruments however after I gave the toy to Bubby to play with, he figured out how it all worked.  This toy is awesome.  All of the pieces are bright and colorful!  The rings come off and they are just the right size for my boys hands.  The middle post also comes off and is now a maraca.  Bubby loved that part of the toy, he walked around most of the day just shake shake shakin’ it.

Then the bottom base is a tambourine. All the pieces are just the right size for little hands.  All parts of the toy serve as learning, your little one can stack, shake, grasp and jiggle their way to learning shapes and sounds.  The toy helps develop hand eye coordination and fine motor skills.

The Shake N’ Stack Instrument has given my son hours of fun and will bring the same enjoyment to my daughter when she gets a little older.

Thanks again Twitter Moms and Little First Act Discovery for this opportunity!

Tonight I made some delicious enchiladas.  They are so easy and uber tasty.

Ingredients:  1 1/2 pounds of chicken breast

                     8 oz of cream cheese

                     1 jar of salsa

                     tortillas

                     8 oz of shredded cheese

                     enchilada sauce

All ya do is dice up the chicken and cook it until no longer pink.  In a bowl mix the cream cheese, salsa and chicken.  Then fill the tortilla shells with about 2-3 teaspoons of chicken mixture, roll it up and put it in a  pan.  The mixture should make about 10-12 enchiladas.  Top the enchiladas with the sauce and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 min.  Then top the enchiladas with shredded cheese and bake for another 15-20 min until cheese is melted. 

You can top with more salsa and sour cream and bon appetite!!!

Delicious!!

I think this is awesome.  During this whole month they have had an abundance of people cycling to be able to charge the battery that lights the 2009 ball in Times Square. 

They will need a total of 230 hours of people cycle during the month of December in order to light the ball for the 10-15 min telecast.  Visitors and residents of New York have come together to charge this battery.  That is amazing, I wish I lived there because I would have participated. 

“This is our way of involving consumers in the whole process of
powering the 2009 lighting when the ball drops on New Years Eve,” said
Kurt Iverson, spokesman for the Duracell battery company.

Duracell has set up a ‘power lodge’ in Times Square. Upon arrival to the
lodge, visitors are ushered towards a row of bicycles that are connected to a
set of massive batteries. The power is generated from old fashioned rotary
technology – pedal power and spinning wheels.

Check out the article to see the whole story.  I can only imagine in previous years how much it cost to power the ball.  The New Years Eve ball is a 12 foot geodesic sphere that weighs 11,875 pounds.  It is covered in 2,668 Waterford Crystals and powered by 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDS, the new Ball is capable of creating a palette of more than 16 million vibrant colors and billions of patterns producing a spectacular kaleidoscope effect atop One Times Square.  Even though this years ball is bigger than previous it is more energy  efficient.  Here are some pics of the new and improved Times Square Ball:

It’s the end of the year and I’m so excited.  I started looking at what kind of tax refund we’re going to be getting back, and Tony is going to be able to start getting parts for his car.  He is excited because he loves working on cars, I’m excited because we have had the car for 2 yrs and it hasn’t run yet (no engine).  So every time we move we have to push it on to the tow dolly, that has been a pain in the rump.  He’s been collecting lots of stuff for a long time, but mostly for the engine and such.  It still needs a lot of things like brakes and coilovers.  He wants this car to handle nicely, too, so that when we move someplace with real roads that aren’t all flat and straight, it does what it’s supposed to do.

I have high hopes that great things will happen for me and my family in 2009.  

Tony and I have some goals that we really want to accomplish this year. 

As most of you know I am a SAHM and because Tony works such crazy hours and usually 6 days a week it is really not possible for me to go out and get a job without paying for daycare and that just doesn’t make sense.  We need to bring in extra money so we can accomplish some of our goals. 

I would like to go back to the beginning if I may and give some linky love.  Back in September I contacted my online buddy Kat and inquired what kind of work she was doing from home.  She told me she gets paid to blog and also does reviews for different companies.  She explained blogging to me (I had heard of blogs before but I never knew how big the blogosphere really was)and how she got paid and the company she worked for. 

I almost immediately started a blog and began putting my life out there for all to read.  It was a little frightening but I had been on message boards before and told complete strangers about my life so this wasn’t that much different. 

I have met some great people online from all over the world…..from the Philippines to Washington state.  Some I have met that live in Illinois, where I grew up, and to come to find out we have a lot in common.  I have met some that I have nothing in common with but they are just some really wonderful people. 

I would like to thank those that helped me with questions about setting up my site when I decided to go to self-hosting with WordPress.  Robyn over at robynsonlineworld.blogspot.com and Lara at dotsnscribbles.com have all helped me with different codes and answered other random questions for me. 

I have been having a great time.  I am in the process of starting my online business, more to come on that when I get closer to the end of setting up the site.  I have recently been invited to be a mommy reviewer over at Mom Fuse a great community for moms.  Also had the opportunity to review products offered to me at twittermoms another great community for moms. 

I plan to wait until all my review items come in the mail and then I am going to go through them and write all my reviews.  Even though I didn’t really do anything for the holiday I felt my mind has just been somewhere else.  Now that it has passed I can think a little more clearly. 

Another special thanks to Ruby over at The RUBY Posts.  She lives across the country and has helped me all hours of the night (night by her when it is daytime here) to answer my questions.  She has been such a great help and I thank her from the bottom of my heart. 

Tony and I don’t have much debt.  All we really have is a truck payment and we have to pay off our 4-wheelers.  We want to pay all that off before we move again and that way Tony shouldn’t have to work for the restaurant anymore and can hopefully get a job that doesn’t have him working 75+ hours a week. 

I will also be doing some Giveaways starting either next month or the month after, so keeps checkin’ back to see when I have those. 

Thanks again to all the wonderful people, to all my readers even though there are only a few regulars. I love blogging and meeting new people.

Happy New Year to all my readers and their families.  Hopefully 2009 will bring everyone lots of happiness.

LOL!  We have to keep our house a little dark inside since we have a projector instead of a regular TV.  I absolutely love it though.  About 2 years ago we needed a new tv.  It was when we moved to Vegas.  We used to just have old tv’s and such so before we moved we got rid of them.

When we got to Vegas we went out and got a projector, it was a really good deal.  About $900 for the projector and screen.  We don’t use the screen because it isn’t  big enough.  We have the picture covering 3/4 of our wall, it really is awesome and moving it……you just pop it in a box, really convenient. 

Ok so back on track…..We have to keep the house dark during the day because all the light makes the picture really hard to see.  That is the only downfall.  We live in an apartment so really we just keep the blinds closed and keep the kitchen light on.  It is plenty of light to fill the room but not too much to make it hard to see the picture. 

Well my crafting table is not really lit then.  I will probably need to get some more indoor lighting, maybe a really nice floor lamp to put next to the table.  That way it will only light up the area by my table and not the whole living room.  Unfortunately I will have to wait until after the first of the year since funds are really tight this month.

As a mother when your child comes to you with problems your first reaction is to protect.  When my daughter comes inside crying because kids are being mean to her.  Or my son falls down and hurts himself I will always want to be there to kiss his boo-boo, even if he is in high school.  LOL!  My pretty pretty princess melts my heart when she cries and gives me the look of sadness or pain. 

I do know that I can not shelter my kids and protect them forever, sometimes I have to give some “tough love”.  When Bubby falls down, daddy tells him to brush it off, “you’ll be ok”.  I want to hold him and tell him it will be ok. 

Boo comes in the house a few minutes ago crying.  When I ask what’s wrong she tells me there is a boy outside being mean.  She brought some candy outside to share with her friends.  The boy wanted some but since a couple weeks ago this boy threw sand in her hair, she wasn’t going to share.  So this boy decided he was going to rip the bag of candy out of her hands and run away.  They began to play “tug of war” with the bag and it broke….candy flying everywhere. 

She was clearly upset.  My first reaction was to go outside and yell at the boy but I knew that would only make her look bad.  So I decided the only thing to tell her was boys at that age are going to be like that and she needs to just walk away.  The kids that play outside in our apartment complex, range in age from 6-17 so she is going to run in to all sorts of maturity levels.  I had to sort of play the ‘tough love” card. 

I just want to tell her to stay in the house and not go by any of those kids, that way eliminating all heartaches.  However, going forward in life that isn’t the answer.  She has to learn how to deal with the real world, with people who are not so nice.  How to stick up for herself.  My father sheltered me all my life, until I moved away from home…..bailed me out of any situation, financially or emotionally.  It was all good and dandy when I was younger but now I feel I don’t have the proper knowledge and/or resources to figure things out.  Well I am getting better since Tony and I have been together.  I am thinking more like an adult rather than a kid and doing things because of “wants” I do it for “needs”.  I am not as compulsive. 

I want my children to learn saving, and street smarts and book smarts.  I want them to know how to handle tough situations and also be kind to others.  I am just trying to juggle between and mother’s intuition to “protect” and my better judgement to develop them as the best person they can be. 

Even if it is by telling them to “brush it off, you’ll be ok”.