Friday the 13th Party at MomDot

What are you doing this Friday? If you haven’t looked at your calendar, you might not realize it, but this Friday is one of those great and exciting Fridays – Friday the 13th!

I have started spending my Friday nights with the MomDot girls at Friday Night Live. Besides having a great time chatting, Trisha always gives us some great blogging advice – a Blogging 101 session each week if you will.

But this week, it will be different.  Much different.  This week there will be no lessons.  Instead it is PARTY TIME!!

It will be a night of online games including R rated scattergories, a scavenger hunt, and a Keg!  yep, you read right – Trisha is promising us a MAJOR PARTY with some super awesome prizes from the following sponsors:

• Macy’s
• Blinc
• Things Remembered
• Casio Watch (courtesy of MommyGoggles)
• Flip Ultra (courtesy of The Posh Parent)
• PediPed
• Kuster
• Trembini
• Fruit Rollups
• Dyson Divas

Can you imagine the fun? We’ll be winning everything but a discount kitchen sinks. Come and join the fun Friday. You won’t be disappointed.

I Received a Blog Popz

Cat at 3 Kids N Us was so great. She gave me a Favorite Blog Popz.  I’m so excited over this!  To be on anyone’s list of favorites, I’m so excited.  Thanks Cat!  So much!!

So what is a Blog Popz?  According to Cool Baby Kid, 

A virtual version of the lollipops you gave in school to friends and admirers, each color represents a different theme. 

How do you give and get them?

Get popz from authorized candy stores, receive them from fellow bloggers, and register your pop entering to win fantastic prizes for distributing and receiving the most popz!

Isn’t this a neat thing?  So I’m off to figure out just how I can give out a couple of these nifty little treats. 

A Totally Different Direction

Well unless you visited at just the right moment, you probably missed the patriotic theme…LOL.  But then Kim at What’s That Smell? told me about this great site called Scrapblog and everything changed.  I found so many nifty things and just kept playing and playing until low and behold….I created this header!  I don’t know, but I think I might just like it more than I’ve liked most of the others.  

Thanks Kim and Scrapblog!!

Blogging Design

I have a friend that has been reading my blog and is now interested in starting her own.  I’m trying to get her started so she’s working on a domain/blog title, and I’m working on her design.  I have in mind in general what I want to really fit her, but I’m having a hard time finding the just right blog pictures to use in her header and background for her theme.  I’ve spent a few days searching for just the right thing (and wishing I was able to actually draw digital graphics).  Today I discovered a new site for graphics that I had never looked at – Acobox.  

She’s a teacher and planning to focus on education so I’m thinking of using this one that I found on Acobox:
I think that it has great potentiol.  I really like that it’s simple and not animated.  Most of the graphics I was finding the last couple days were either very detailed or cartoonish, and she didn’t like those.  I’m anxious now to see if I can incorporate this one after she gets her domain and such purchased so we can really begin the fun part.

If you’re just looking to add a picture to your site (say in a post), Acobox will be great for that.  They have made sure that all images are properly licensed.  Also you don’t have to upload the image to your site.  You can choose the information (size & alignment) and then just copy the correct code over so that the image is always hosted on their site.  How convenient is that?

MomDot Party: Day 4

Can you believe it? We’re already in the fourth day of the MomDot Christmas Party and the fun is just getting started.  So far we’ve learned about each other’s families, our traditions, and our shopping habits. So what’s left to talk about? One of my favorite subjects – FOOD!!!!  Today’s topic is:

What is your favorite Holiday recipe, describe your Holiday table, biggest holiday cooking disaster.

Hmm….Well I am still lucky (at least I think it’s lucky) enough to not really be in charge of the cooking when it comes to the holidays.  I’m still able to just show up to most family occasions.  I do have one food responsibility though for all family holidays – the banana pudding.  I’m not sure where all of you readers are from, but if any of you are southern girls, then you know that no holiday meal is complete without the ‘nana pudding.  I don’t think I make the best in the world, but it is pretty tasty and there’s usually none left by the end of the holidays.

No Bake Banana Pudding

Ingredients

• 1 package instant vanilla pudding mix (5 ounce) 
• 2 cups cold 2% milk
• 1 can low-fat sweetened condensed milk (14 ounce) 
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 container frozen light whipped topping, thawed (16 ounce) 
• 8 ounces of whipped cream
• 1 package low-fat/light vanilla wafers (12 ounce) 
• 4-8 bananas, sliced

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat pudding mix and milk for 2 minutes.
2. Blend in condensed milk until smooth.
3. Stir in vanilla and fold in half of frozen whipped topping and the whipped cream.
4. Layer wafers, bananas and pudding mixture in a glass serving bowl. (I make 2 – 3 layers)
5. Top with remaining whipped topping and crumbled wafers.
6. Chill until serving.

Hmm….after typing this, I’m glad Thanksgiving is almost here….I’m ready for some holiday pudding.  Now head over to some other MomDot blogs and see what type of holiday food stories everyone has to share.