And The Winner Is…
And the Winner of the BananaBlueberry and Bean and Banana Baby Hat Giveaway is:
Lucky number 13… Heather !
Heather is expecting a winter baby… so I’m thrilled she won !!!!!
I’ve emailed her and she will be getting her hat in plenty of time for her ‘blessed event’.
Happy Holiday Shopping this weekend!
Thanksgiving Tips and Healthful Hints
It’s Thanksgiving Week! In honor of all our cooking and clean up
BananaBlueberry is talking with Andrea Astrachan, Consumer Advisor for Giant food.
Here are some helpful hints for moms:
Q. What foods are bargains this month… what can moms ‘stock up’ on and save money on right
now?
Now is a great time to stock your pantry with items like canned soup and chowders, macaroni and pastas, baking items, canned fruit, maple syrup and stuffing mixes.
You may feel like you’ve had enough turkey for a while, but they are at their best prices right now. Buy one for Thanksgiving dinner and another to put in the deep-freezer – it will last six to eight months.
This is also the time of year when I stock up on supplies like aluminum foil, plastic bags and plastic wrap.
Q. What are some TIME-saving tips for making dinner?
• Plan meals for the week- make 2-3 meals and store in the refrigerator and freezer.
• Keep meals simple- shop for time savers like pre-cut or frozen veggies, grated cheeses, and bagged salads.
• On your way home, pick-up a cooked rotisserie chicken or turkey, or baked meatloaf; a loaf of whole grain bread; and a colorful salad from the salad bar.
• Try to cook one-dish casseroles or main courses like chicken cacciatore, meatloaf, and lasagna when you have more time; then freeze for later use.
• Dust off your crock-pot. Prior to leaving home, place chicken or beef, potatoes, carrots and onion with seasoning and water in the crock-pot. When you return, your dinner smells great and is ready to serve!
Q. Can you suggest alternatives to unhealthy, as well as boring snacks for kids- like chips and pretzels?
Absolutely. Cutting back on the sugary, high-fat and high-sodium foods frequently offered in school cafeterias and vending machines is a great way to teach kids healthy eating habits early on. Some of our favorite alternatives at Giant include:
• Select small-sized fruits or serve fruit in different ways, like individual-sized fruit cups and applesauce cups
• Help kids get their “3-A-Day” of dairy with low-fat cheese, low-fat yogurt and string cheese
• Give kids a do-it-yourself project by giving them granola, trail mix, cereal or fruit as a “stir-in” for yogurt, applesauce or cottage cheese
• Popcorn – place it in fun bowels, snuggle up on the couch and call your family room a move theater
• Frozen yogurt – many are so creamy, you would think it was ice cream! (Look for the calcium fortified ones!)
• String cheese (Kids love to pull the strings!)
• Carrot and celery sticks in a clear plastic cup with low fat ranch dressing on the bottom as dip.
• Puddings made with fat free milk with a whipped cream smiley face
• Jell-O shapes – made with a cookie cutter
• Fruit salad – but for little ones, bring to the table singing the popular refrain, “fruit salad, yummy, yummy!”
• Frozen grapes
• 100 percent fruit juice pops
• Rice cakes – spread with peanut butter or soy nut butter on a rice cake. Make a face with raisin eyes, shredded carrot hair, dried fruit mouth or banana slice
Note: Popcorn, baby carrots and frozen grapes are choking hazards for children under the age of 4.
Q. Would you like to add any information or more tips for Moms?
For moms looking to get the best value as they shop, I’d offer these tips:
• Store brands are comparable (or better!) than national brands at a better value. Look for all of our Giant brand products: Giant Food, Nature’s Promise, Simply Enjoy!, Care One, and Companion Pet Food.
• Using the unit price on shelf tags helps you find the best value among comparable products.
• Try Big Buys. Meats in large quantities are not only great for large families, they help save money. Freeze portions for later use.
• Individual packages of snacks may cost more than larger packages. Repackage into single servings at home.
• Sometimes the salad bar is actually less expensive if you only need a small portion and the remainder of an entire package of the item will go to waste.
Thanks Andrea and Giant for taking the time to give moms helpful hints this time of year!
REMINDER: FREE BABY HAT GIVEAWAY!
Just a reminder that if you haven’t entered my giveaway for an adorable baby hat-
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN and leave a comment! I’ll be choosing a winner this Friday, November 28th!
You have til 3pm EST on this Friday to leave a comment and thus, be entered for your very own hand-made baby hat from Bean and Banana!
*Giveaway open to U.S. residents only*
Are your Holiday lights up yet?
I’m serious.
Yesterday evening, we drove home from my parent’s across Montgomery County. My Little Guy counted 7 houses that HAVE UP LIGHTS… one had the whole almost annoying display of reindeer, Santa and various 4-foot-tall candy canes lit up in every color light imaginable (I didn’t know they made purple candy cane displays… but who am I?).
Thanksgiving is a little late this year, I know this because like everyone, I can look at a calendar (duh) but also because we were at my parents house to celebrate my mom’s birthday, and last year, her birthday was on Thanksgiving.
I even saw a Christmas Tree up and decorated through the window of 1 home, complemented by outside lights framing their window and house.
It’s not Thanksgiving yet! Give Thanksgiving it’s due. Besides, where the heck do you get a tree before Thanksgiving? It has to be fake or you cut it down yourself on some mountain or foothill (I think it’s pretty cool I just used an incredibly random word like ‘foothill’ in my blog).
On the other hand, maybe I am a little jealous… my son’s birthday is December 18th, so we don’t decorate until AFTER HIS BIRTHDAY, the morning of December 19th. We have a tradition now, which I’ve blogged about.
I still have my Thanksgiving scarecrow in my front yard and suddenly feel very silly still having various pumpkins around my home…
But you can’t overlap holiday decorations so these people who have up their Christmas decorations have had to pack away their Thanksgiving decorations already, and Thanksgiving is THIS Thursday, IT HASN’T HAPPENED YET…
And we know they have Thanksgiving decorations because if you have Christmas decorations, you certainly have Thanksgiving ones because it’s frankly, an easy holiday to decorate for- get some gourds and mums and keep out a couple of fake pumpkins from Halloween and you’re done.
Has anyone else seen Holiday lights up in their neighborhood? Have you decorated for Christmas or Hanukkah already? Is this a singular cosmic phenomenon that occurs when Thanksgiving is ‘late’? Do people then choose to forgo Thanksgiving decorations for the NEXT, BIGGER HOLIDAY?!
Do moms literally sit down with their calendars and decide to take down Thanksgiving decorations BEFORE Thanksgiving?
YESTERDAY, I ‘WORKED’…
YESTERDAY, I got up at 5:45am. I did not shower, is as my routine, primped and headed downtown to help out with a wonderful student conference for Young American Broadcasters- a foundation set up to mentor young people interested in broadcasting. In my ‘former life’ I was Director of this organization.
The conference went on without a hitch. I got home at 5:45pm.
It felt good to put on heels and be in the work-force… for a day…
I had laid out clothes for my son, packed his lunch and wrote a reminder to pick out something for Show-and-Tell. ‘My guys’ got out the door and got to school on time. I called ‘Little Guy’s’ preschool during the morning to confirm that my dad would pick him up. My dad watched my son til my husband got home and pizza delivery was on its way by the time I got home; it didn’t even occur to me to ask my husband to prepare dinner- that would be too much. And frankly, it would be too much on me to come home after a long day and fix dinner myself.
I know you see where I’m going-
‘Working Mom’ is redundant, we all know that. But I just want to do a ‘shout-out’ to moms who work outside the home because they work inside the home too.
Plus, I missed my Little Guy. I missed the conversation, “Mommy, guess what we had for snack?”, etc. Life is great, but it’s just a-little-bit-better-sometimes seeing it through a 4-year-old’s eyes.
GIVEAWAY!! Beautiful hand-knitted baby hats from ‘Bean & Banana’!
Cute Hats for Little Ones!
I love to learn about mom companies and I love to spread the word about them!
Bean and Banana is a great business created by 2 DC area moms! And they are excited to get the word out about their awesome, hand-knitted hats for little ones- SO WE’RE DOING A GIVEAWAY!!!!!
I was invited by a neighbor to a Bean and Banana show last weekend, I looked at the Evite and it was walking distance from my house! I went and met the 2-mom business team that is- Bean and Banana!
So, not only are these young moms cool, but 1 of them is also my neighbor! They both love to knit, but couldn’t find any non-scratchy, warm hats for their babies- so they’ve created their own. They hand-knit each hat using only 100% extrafine merino wool. Their hats come in every color and lots of sweet, cute styles.
Another great feature of their company: if you want something specific on your hat, for example: using your Alma Mater’s colors, just tell them and they’ll knit it for you!
I saw these hats and they are precious. Their sizing is for: preemies, newborns, and little ones up to 2 years old, but they can make ‘extra-large’ hats upon request!
LEAVE A COMMENT about which hats you like and you are entered into the BananaBlueberry FREE GIVEAWAY for a hat of your choice,
compliments of these cool, knitting moms!
Good luck! The winner will be picked on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the first official shopping day of the Christmas Season, so leave a comment for a chance at a hat for your little one or a gift for someone on your list
Visit their website, Bean and Banana for more pictures and information!
*This giveaway is open is U.S. residents only.*
When Do I Bathe?
Do you shower first thing in the morning? I don’t.
Click here to read my blog on DC Metro Moms about finding time to bathe.
It’s a little embarrassing, but I’m already reading in comments that I am not ALONE 
Moms, Bloggers and Giant Food!
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a luncheon sponsored by
Giant Food. I got to enjoy a wonderful lunch, cool fellow DC Metro Mom Bloggers, and great tips on food and shopping from Giant.
Robin Michel, Executive Vice President of Giant, and a MOM, spoke to us, but more importantly, LISTENED to us about likes, and dislikes, and what would make our lives easier.
Giant is continuing to make their stores more ‘mom friendly’. Just look at the gift baskets they will be selling in all of their stores soon!
Aren’t they beautiful? And these will be reasonably priced. This translates to me= great, no-sweat gift to just pick up for a party/ housewarming/ pick-me-up for a friend!
The MOST IMPORTANT aspect of this luncheon was not that the food was delicious, (it was),
not that the company was great, (it was),
not that the information was helpful, (it was),
BUT that Giant food, is speaking 1-on-1 with mothers, their shoppers. Giant food is also recognizing the power of mom bloggers. I read just online yesterday that ‘mommy bloggers’ are taking over the world. And anyone who was at BlogHer DC in October can’t forget Leslie Stahl announcing that ‘blogging and the online community’- is the future.
Yes, we’re taking over the world, life is good, but like all mothers-
I must juggle world-domination with figuring out ‘what’s for dinner’. So, as Thanksgiving creeps closer, here are some helpful hints, courtesy of Giant:
* Purchase ‘anytime’ items now (frozen food, canned food, beverages, decorations).
* Buy your turkey in advance and freeze it (just remember that a frozen turkey can take 2 to 4 days to defrost in your refrigerator)
* Use a meat thermometer to cook your turkey – to take the guess-work out!
AND PS- Giant is offering pre-made Thanksgiving dinners, if you don’t want to cook. AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, I may take advantage of this next one- pre-made/made-to-order SIDE DISHES for Thanksgiving…
I have a little secret– I ordered stuffing from the Giant deli YEARS AGO for Thanksgiving… and my father-in-law still raves about it (I hope he’s not doing a lot of online reading today, he still thinks it was homemade).
The World Premiere of my NEW WORD:
I’m inspired…
I was reading a post on Stimeyland about her everyday use of the word, ‘cromulent’, a ‘made-up’ word from The Simpsons.
This excited me… There are other people who make up words, not just me…
I now have the pluck, nerve, daring, audacity, boldness and grit (I was just familiarizing myself with my own online Dictionary/Thesaurus, since I’m sure my new word will be part of it soon) to share my you my ‘made-up’ word.
So here it is, without further ado, the introduction to the world of my made-up word:
Webster’s, Wikipedia: TAKE NOTICE:
My word is: …Cha.
Some may argue that Cha is just a sound, but it’s a word. I use it every day.
The beauty of Cha is that it means more than one thing. It can mean ‘agreement’ or ‘STRONG disagreement’. It can also mean ‘yes’ or ‘no’, depending on how you are feeling…
Examples:
My husband- “Would you like to join me on a several-mile jog on this cold, chilly morning?”
Me: “Cha.” (followed by silence)
A friend: “Do you want to catch a quick manicure down the street at that cute nail salon?”
Me: “Cha!”
Little Man: “Mommy, can we watch Yo Gabba Gabba?!”
Me: “Um, Cha.”
(By the way, what’s up with that show? It’s crazy.)
So there you have it. Cha.
See how nicely it rolls with the conversation? Cha is perfect.
It’s really more of a ‘place-holder-kind-of-word’,
“Isn’t that a cool painting?”
“Cha!”
“Anyway, so as I was saying…”
Yet also, a very cool ‘affirmation-type-of-word’.
Picture this: It’s a cold evening, our son is peacefully sleeping, I’m in my pajamas and holding a glass of wine, while sitting on the couch with a fire in the fireplace-
My husband: “This is nice.”
Me: ‘Cha-aaaaaaaaaaa.”
It’s a perfectly cromulent word.
The Electric Company… and a Big Shout-Out!
Who DOESN’T remember The Electric Company? It was awesome. Now, you can go on YOUTUBE and watch Electric Company songs. But I warn you, it can be hard to look away. I was given this knowledge by Tech Savvy Mama doing a guest post on A Parent In Silver Spring.
First of all- Morgan Freeman is introducing the band! Morgan Freeman, the Oscar-Winner, but more importantly- the famous ‘Easy Reader’ on The Electric Company He’s introducing ‘The Sweet, Sweet Sway’… I REMEMBER THIS SONG…CRAZY!
Is the main singer also the little girl that ate too many blueberries in the original Willie Wonka?
And why did everyone in the 70’s sing on top of boxes?
My son really loves this song and a lot of other electric company songs now, thanks to Tech Savvy Mama and A Parent In Silver Spring.
My thanks to them eventhough I’m ready to poke my eyes out because I can’t get this song out of my head !!! Both of these mom blogs are fantastic resources for moms and families… and they both are fun moms too!
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I Was In The 2012 Show !
Check Out …
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Nicole’s Book
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