Weekend Blog Walk

Weekend Blog Walk

Spread the love- give a shout out with #WeekendBlogWalk, or just hit the Tweet button below:

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What is a Blog Hop Anyway?  There's Etiquette?

Get your questions answered here.

Interested in being a Guest-Host?  There is a $10 fee to Guest Host, but reserve your spot now to receive a 30% discount.  Send an email (athometake2 at gmail dot com) to reserve your spot.  Be sure to put Guest Host in the subject line.

Rules for the Weekend Blog Walk are simple:

1) Follow your Co-Hosts and Guest Hosts (1-6 on the Linky) via GFC, Feedburner, Facebook, Twitter and/or Pinterest. Please leave a comment if you are a new follower.

Jessica from At Home Take 2
Jillian from Hi! It's Jilly.
Jenna from Call Her Happy
Hayley from Hayley's World 
Anissa from Chasing Hailey(Guest Host) 
Kerrie from Family, Food and Travel (Guest Host)

2) Post our button on your sidebar, or add a link on your Party List. 
3) Hop around and visit at least a few new blogs and meet some new blogging friends.

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Have Giveaways or want to enter? Do that here.

Southern Mamas Blog Hop

 

Welcome Y’All

 

We are thrilled to have you!

The purpose of this blog hop is to connect with other Mamas

(Pet Mamas are welcome too!)
who are, have, or have ever secretly desired to live on Southern soil.

Not from the South, you say? No problem! We’d still love for you
to join us.

We’ll gladly adopt you and make you an honorary Southern Belle!

So go grab yourself a glass of sweet tea and let’s party!!

 

The Rules:

1. Kindly follow each of the hostesses via GFC as a way of saying Thank You for the opportunity to connect with other like-minded bloggers. Please leave a comment to let them know that you are following along so that we can return the favor.

Megan

Host
 

Sonja

Co-Host
 

Kimberly

Co-Host
 

Allie

Co-Host
 

Anissa

Co-Host of the Week
 

2. Grab a button and spread the word.
3. Mix and mingle with other bloggers.
4. Leave a comment and show them some love!

*Tip* Be sure that your email address is connected to your blogger profile or leave a comment with you info... this makes it much easier for those who wish to reply to your comments

5. First and foremost....have fun!

 

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Hello Fall Cash Giveaway

Welcome to Hello Fall $1000 Cash Giveaway

Happy Home and Family and Jenn’s Blah Blah Blog together with the most amazing group of bloggers are bringing you once again another FABULOUS event where one very lucky reader will win $1000 cold hard cash!

 

Special thanks to: Diva Fabulosa & Beauty and Fashion Diva  

So what would you do with a thousand dollars if you win, tell us your plan :)?

Hey guys,
This is an awesome opportunity for everyone. I don't know about you, but I'd be ALL over this. Who can't use an extra $1000 (especially right before the holidays)? I have so many things I could use it for...I don't even know where to begin.
Good luck to everyone!
Anissa 

 

• Giveaway will run September 22 at 12:01 am EST – October 22 at 11:59 PM EST
• OPEN WORLDWIDE
• You must be 18 years or older to enter.
• Must have a paypal account
• Entries will be verified so please don’t cheat, it’s a waste of time.

 

Goodluck everyone!   Disclaimer: This blog is not responsible for shipment of prize, nor did I accept any form of payment to promote this event. All entries will be verified.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wordless Wednesday

Hailey at her pre-Elmo breakfast.

We took the girls to go see Sesame Street Live, Elmo Sings this weekend.

Needless to say....Hailey LOVED it!!!

Mug Swap

 

Two weeks ago I signed up with Dalayna @ Pointing Up and Britt @ Yellow Umbrella for an awesome mug swap. In the swap we were each assigned a fellow victim… a hum….blogger to “legally” cyber-stalk via all avenues of social media they had available. All this was to be done in order to obtain as much info about them without their actually finding out (I woulda done this anyway…I HATE giving bad presents).

The much anticipated box arrives!

The goal was to get to know our intended target in order to get them the best mug that fit their life and personality. I don’t know about everyone else, but I take this bidnis (that’s business in southern speak) seriously!

My unsuspecting fellow blogger was Jessica from Sewing Our Life Together, little did she know that neither of us actually drinks coffee…sorry ya’ll! I kinda figured with her currently expecting that, that might be the case. Hope she enjoys it as much as I did finding the stuff to send to her!

My personal cyber-stalker was Myranda from Pretty Living PDX. She did a great job, because I was clueless as to who was watchin’ my every move…LOL! Myranda sent me an awesome travel mug that I could change the design and/or add pics of the kids to it! Trust me…if I change that the way I change the design of my blog…it’ll be frequently! Her thought process was that I’m a total non-stop mom and constantly on the go…I’d say that was a pretty spot on assessment. Thanks Myranda…love it!

I am so glad I did this…it was a lot of fun and I got to meet some great new people!

Ta da...my handy dandy customizable mug!

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

I LOVED this when I found it on Facebook....all I gotta say is the girl is a mini mommy! :-)

(and NO we don't have a problem admitting how awesome we are or anything)

Progresso Recipe Starters

A couple weeks ago I finally finished up my Buzz Agent info and received an offer to try out Progresso’s new Recipe Starters. I’m like HEY…free stuff, bring it on! Not to mention I’m ALWAYS looking for new ideas of things to make for dinner. I don’t know about you, but I sometimes find myself getting into a rut of what I’m making for us to eat. It gets kind of boring. If I’m gonna eat…I want to like what I’m eating!

I chose the creamy parmesan basil version (there are four other yummy looking versions as well… you can find more info on those here). The container comes with a recipe on the inside of the wrapper, but they also have a slew of additional recipe options that you can get. Not to mention they have a code you can scan to get a months’ worth of recipe options. I’m all about EASY and ideas or prompts on what to make!

I picked the recipe on the can for Creamy Chicken Alfredo. It was quick and easy to follow (even if you aren’t a person that cooks all the time, which unfortunately IS NOT me).

Easy Weeknight Creamy Chicken Alfredo

• Ingredients
• 8 oz uncooked fettuccine
• 1 package (1 1/4 lb) boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 can (18 oz) Progresso™ Recipe Starters™ creamy Parmesan basil cooking sauce
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup whipping cream or half-and-half
• Directions

1. Cook and drain fettuccine as directed on package.
2. While pasta is cooking; in 12-inch skillet, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook 5 to 6 minutes, stirring frequently, until chicken is no longer pink in center. Add butter and garlic; cook until garlic is softened. Stir in cooking sauce, Parmesan cheese and cream. Simmer 5 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until well blended.
3. Serve over fettuccine.

I did tweak the recipe a bit by adding more cheese, garlic and pasta (there’s enough sauce to use a whole box of pasta instead of half a box) then what was called for and I would suggest cutting the chicken into smaller pieces. Around here we like LOTS of cheese, garlic and pasta! With increasing the pasta and chicken you could definitely feed more than the four servings it states on the container (we had leftovers). I would say we would definitely try another of the sauces and recipes in the future.

 

Pin it Monday- From Bananas to Cleaners

Pinterest

Ok, so this week I did several small things from pins on Pinterest.  The first being this pin I found on making your bananas last longer banana pin (the link then takes you to here). They don’t really last that long around here because Hailey can eat her some bananas (like at EVERY meal…not that I’m complaining). I don't know about, but I prefer my bananas to be JUST ripe so they haven’t gotten to the point of brown and mushy…yuck! Anyways, the gist of the pin is that you wrap saran wrap around the stem of the banana bunch and it will make them last several days longer…I’m kinda meah about the whole thing. I guess it did make them last longer, but it was kind of a pain in the booty to keep the saran wrap on them. Needless to say, I’ve stopped doing it!

Pinterest

The second pin that has been repined like a million times (for good reason) is the miracle stain remover! This is the one from my Pinboard here .With kids of all ages (including the hubby) you have stains out the wazoo (well… we do). Take equal parts hydrogen peroxide and dawn dish detergent and combine in a spray or squeeze bottle (they say use the blue Dawn, but I have used several different ones and they ALL worked). This mix has been touted as being able to take out old stains as well, but I personally have not been able to get it to do that. I also saw someone saying to use it to clean your carpet…not so good on that either (I use Windex for that one). But all in all…I’ve been using this stuff on ALL our stains for months! With Hailey's stuff I wet the item, apply the stain remover and then rub it in...I can then let her clothes sit till I'm ready to wash them (which at times can be days). It works awesome and is SUPER cheap. Whoever thought this up originally out to be knighted or something.

Sunday Social

  Hey guys...I'm not usually one to post during the weekend...but here goes it..   This weeks questions: 1. What is the name of your blog and how did you come up with it??

Chasing Hailey…well, it was pretty easy because that’s what I do on a daily basis….chase Hailey J I love it when we do chase her…cause she just giggles and then turns around and stops for you to tickle her.

2. What do you love the most about blogging??

It’s all about" me" time and writing. I get to write however often I want  and about ONLY what I want to write about…how much better could it get? I can tell ya…all the great people I’ve met doing this is just the icing on the cake (I had no idea going into it how much fun and work it would be).

 

3. What are your 2 favorite posts you've written?

 Hailey’s Picks- Board books for toddlers

 Hailey’s Picks- Songs

 I know they’re both Hailey’s Picks…but I put a lot of time and effort into them and I only pick stuff I or Hailey REALLY like!

 

 4. What is something you'd want to tell someone just starting out in blog world?

You have good days and bad days…just get through the bad ones and know that it will be worth it.

 

5. Biggest blogging learning experience you've had?

I can do it…I have designed and built all my layouts and designs. It has been an awesome experience. I’ve always been artistically inclined, but this is a great way to get the creative juices going and put it to use.

 

6. Give us 3 blogs we NEED to be following that you love.

It’s so hard to just pick three…

Amanda @ The Pretty Pinhead

Kimberly @ A Night Owl Blog

Rhiannon @ Happy Little Feet

Matching pig tails and all...

 

Say goodbye to the old…and hello new!

Last night I uploaded the new blog layout and design. I’ve wanted to do it for a while, but trying to decide on the concept took me a little bit. Of course, I knew it had to be pink and green…but from there I had like 50 million ideas.

Anyone on Twitter last night got a sneak peek and heads up…I just couldn’t wait till today to put it out there. Trust me…the hubby is totally over it (that’s what happens when yer hubby does computer programming). Heck, its part his fault for me redoing it anyway…he kept calling my old setup my picnic blanket design.

I can’t even tell ya’ll how much I taught myself in the process of doing this and the whole blog. I’m a little too do-it-myself to actually PAY someone else to do it! Hope you guys like it…

How to Watermark an Image

A watermark is a great way to discourage people from copying the pictures you have on your blog or website. It still allows the picture to be seen, but most people will probably not want it with the watermark on it. If they want it badly enough to go the trouble of removing the watermark…then there really isn’t much that any of us are going to be able to do to protect it!

I initially spazed when I read a fellow bloggers post about their child's picture being stolen and put on t-shirts across the world. I've now simmered down and have decided to continue to put just the single Chasing Hailey across the top or bottom corner of each image. I still see a lot of ya'll not puting anything on your picrures and it makes me cringe a little. I don't know if it's a personal choice or if it's not knowing how to do it... If it's the latter...hope fully this helps.

I used Photoshop CS5 for this tutorial, but you can also use Photoshop Elements with the same steps.

 

Instructions

Making the watermark

1)        Open a new blank document with a transparent background. I used a 5 x5 “. (it all depends on how large you want your watermark)

2)       Select the type tool from the menu and type in what you want as your watermark text.

3)       The norm is to put it on a diagonal.  To do that, you will need to transform the type by rotating it. Do this by selecting edit, transform, and then rotate from the drop-down menu. Grab a corner of the text box and rotate it to the angle you like. Once you get it where you want it…click the check mark at the top of the screen.  

 

4)       Trim around the text. Since it’s already on a transparent background this is easy.  Select trim form the image menu, select transparent pixels and click ok.

 

 

 

5)       Now we need to set this up as a pattern in our library. We do this by, selecting define pattern from the edit menu, type in what we want to call it and press enter (or click ok).

Our watermark has now been created.

 

 

 

 

Using the watermark

1)        Open a picture you want to use in Photoshop.

2)       Create a new layer.

3)      With that layer selected, choose edit, fill. You will now have a dialogue box up. In that box select pattern (in the pattern box pick your saved watermark) and overlay. You will need to decide how strong you want your watermark to show up.  I personally chose 10%.

 

If anyone has any questions or needs help….please feel free to ask!


 

Wordless Wednesday

Better a late wordless Wednesday...than NO wordless wednesday! My lil angel turned a year and a half this week...sniff, sniff...mommas gonna cry. Can we possibly make her growing older slow down?? This time last year I had already started planning her birthday party...I'm behind schedule!

Follow Me Wednesday Hop

Welcome to Follow Me Wednesday Blog Hop!

3 Four and Under is proud to bring you {Follow Me Wednesday} Thank you for linking up each week, we really appreciate it!   This is a wonderful way to meet new people and follow some awesome blogs!

Please remember to tell your friends!  The more the merrier! I would like to welcome our co-hosts for this week All My Love for All My Days    and

Chasing Hailey  A big thank you to last weeks co-hosts!  We had over 100 blogs linked up again last week! 

Here is what you do!

1. Please add your blog address to the blog hop list.

2. Please follow the host and co-host blogs! 3. We would love you to tweet about the blog hop. Tweet

4.  Please place the Follow Me Wednesday button somewhere on your blog

5.  If you are new to this hop, Welcome, and please leave us a comment and we will be sure to follow you back!  And make sure to visit this weeks co-hosts and show them some love.

 6. Then, visit the other blogs on the list. 

Follow them and I'm sure they will follow you back!

Please leave them a comment telling them you are visiting them from {Follow Me Wednesday}!

We all love comments!

Please link up family appropriate blogs only, any blogs that are not family appropriate will be deleted

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Secret Garden Playhouse Event

Secret Garden Playhouse Event is hosted by Mom to Bed by 8.

Prize: Little Tikes Secret Garden Playhouse

The event dates: 10/1 - 10/22

Free Event ~ Sign-Up Here – Bloggers Wanted Secret Garden Playhouse Event

Pin it Monday: Good Smellin’ and CLEAN

Can we say YUM….and another YUM? Every time I get on Pinterest it first makes me want to eat and then it makes me want to craft/decorate/organize…and then eat some more! Trying to decide what you’re going to make or do first is the hardest decision.

So in my infinite wisdom, I’ve decided to put my Pinterest obsession to good use. I’m going to start making and documenting what I make on here every week. Some weeks it’ll be food…some crafts…some who knows!

I use this stuff all the time…it’s just getting it down on paper and in pics that seems to be the kicker!

Soooo…anywho!

This week I made an all-purpose lavender spray.

Lavender Spray

Varying forms of lavender sprays are ALL over Pinterest. I saw anything from linen spray to disinfectant. In all actuality it can be used for a wide range of things and is SUPER beneficial….and technically they’re all the same thing.

The uses of lavender are endless…It’s a must-have for all homes because of its calming, antibiotic, antiseptic, disinfectant and antiviral properties. Not to mention, it can be used to treat or aid in the treatment of a number of health problems.

The all naturalness of it is a HUGE bonus with little kids around. It is one of the safest and most popular of all essential oils.

If all these weren’t enough…It’s EASY to mix up and CHEAP! When you mix up lavender with water, it can then be sprayed on surfaces to be used as a household disinfectant, linen spray. Etc.

I made up two spray bottles in my house and use them on everything. Thank god the smell isn’t overpowering or my hubby would be heading for the hills!

Supplies:

-40 drops Lavender oil

- 2 C Water

- Spray bottle

Combine ingredients in bottle and shake.

*I just make sure to shake it up every time I go to use it.

I was able to find pure essential lavender oil at GNC for $8.99 (this may seem like a lot, but it goes a looonnnggg way). I tried the grocery stores as well as Target and Wal-Mart, but none of them carried the correct form. The spray bottles can be found pretty much anywhere, mine are from the dollar store.

This stuff makes cleaning about as fun as it’s gonna get!

Safety note: The oil must always be diluted with water or carrier oil such as olive, jojoba, avocado, or grape seed oil. Never place lavender oil directly on the skin without diluting it.

 

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