Disclosure: I hosted a Disney Side @Home Celebration via MomSelect.  I received products to use for my party; the opinions shared here are 100% mine.  You can host a #DisneySide party, too, even if you didn’t receive a hostess kit!

One thing I love about Disney — it’s designed for families of all shapes, sizes, and locations.  If you’ve ever visited a Disney park, you know that hospitality and flexibility is part of the overall magic.  You need to change your dates?  No problem.  Need to cancel a reservation?  Simple as a phone call.  In planning my own Disney @Home Celebration, I’m glad that I was able to mirror those Disney ideals.  Unfortunately due to the unpredictable weather here in East Tennessee, my guests enjoyed a Disney party to go in February.  You see, my circle of friends are all busy moms.  Working outside the home is hard enough, but then throw in your kids’ activities and family obligations and it’s next to impossible to find a date that works for everyone.  We thought we had it made when February 15 could be written in stone on every calendar.  Then the snow hit.  Then the ice hit.  Then everyone got sick.  How in the world could we manage the party?  Easy!  I made it a #DisneySide party to go since we had to stay in due to the snow.  [Read more…]

A few days ago in my classroom, I was trying to explain the concept of a medieval guild to my students.  Trying to connect it to something they would understand, I used the example of the writer’s guild in Hollywood — and how they went on strike a few years ago which impacted one of my favorite shows: LOST.  Since this happened about 7 years ago and most of my students are only 11 years old, many of them haven’t even heard of LOST but they could relate to the tragedy of having a shortened season in one’s favorite show.

Then tonight I stumbled upon this article, which explains (sort of) how LOST was supposed to end.  Or how it did end. Or something. [Read more…]

Welcome to the ShamROCK Your World Giveaway hop!  Note that the hosts of this event — So Easy Being Green, Viva Veltoro, the Blogging Mamas Network — and the ShamROCK Your World participating bloggers are not responsible for sponsors who do not fulfill prize obligations.  We’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day by turning our prizes GREEN!    You guessed it.  Each blogger in this green hop has a green giveaway just for you – so be sure to hop around the rainbow linky and enter them all. What will YOUR pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? It might just be the Green Grand Prize!

Our sponsor for this event is Saint Patrick’s Day Shirts.   [Read more…]

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.

Welcome to the Leaping Leprechauns book giveaway!  Many thanks to our hosts (Candace’s Book Blog & Gin’s Book Notes) for organizing this event for us.  It’s always fun to join in these hops because I find so many great new books to read, too.

At first the theme of this giveaway hop was supposed to be Irish.  Well, that puts a serious limit on the prizes.  For one thing, I can’t really think of any Irish books that I was just itching to share with you guys.  The only one I could think of was Angela’s Ashes and that book depressed me so badly that I’m still not over it.  Whenever someone says “Da” it makes me cringe inside.  So then I thought maybe a book about fairies?  But no, nothing really stood out to me on that one either.  So when the hosts said that the giveaway prize could be anything book-related, I breathed a sigh of relief!  Now I can happily offer you a book I recently finished called A Sky Without Stars.
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Disclosure: This post is brought to you by JJsHouse for prom dresses. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.  And yours, since you told me what you liked on Facebook!

Recently I posted a question on Facebook about prom dresses.  The responses indicated that most readers look for a prom dress that accentuates the eyes.  Also, long dresses seemed to win out over short dresses.  This led me to look for some new ideas in terms of spring formalwear, since the original colors I chose were definitely not in the “match your eyes” category. Hot pink, cream, and other colors are pretty but it seems like many people prefer blue or maybe even green.  So the search is still out for the perfect prom dress!   Your responses are interesting to me since most of the gowns that appear on the first page of my search at JJsHouse are long dresses (check) but not in “natural” eye colors.   [Read more…]

Disclosure: I received this book to review. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.

In A Heart’s Rebellion, it’s almost impossible not to hear the whispers of Austen. Jessamine is not yet one-and-twenty yet finds herself in a stuffy drawing room in the London season. Brokenhearted by her own Willoughby, she’s now determined to make the most of her time away from the humble parsonage she calls home. After she snubs Lancelot, who proves to be quite a decent chap, Jessamine decides to make some fun for herself by finding a pseudo-Mr. Wickham. Unfortunately she gets a rude awakening when he turns out to be a real jerk. The entire book is capital. [Read more…]

Disclosure: I received coupons for review purposes; opinions shared are mine.

Gorton’s Seafood offers Real Solutions for busy moms. Working full-time outside of the home takes up most of my day. When I come home, I have my family to care for as well as anything I’ve brought home from work (papers to grade, lessons to plan, or anything else that needs to be done.) Somehow in the midst of all that, I’ve also got to put dinner on the table. [Read more…]

EDITED 4/1/14 – GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED

Disclosure: I received product samples. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.

Welcome to the Lucky Little Ones giveaway hop! This event is hosted by  Irresistibly Green, Just Add Cloth, Our Piece of Earth plus some awesome parenting bloggers. This hop is all about your little infants and toddlers who are sure to be a lucky charm this spring. Each blog is offering a baby or toddler related prize valued at $20 or more for you to win for your lucky little one.  After you enter my giveaway, check out the grand prize. One lucky winner will receive over $240 worth of eco-friendly baby gear!

The reader who wins the Savings in Seconds giveaway will receive a copy of I Will Trust God (DVD) and A Bed for Fred
(hardcover book). [Read more…]

Disclosure: I received this book to review.
The opinions shared here are 100% mine.

The name “Jezebel” always sounded like an insult to my ears; for some reason, it makes me think of a hissing cat.  Sadly though, I never really knew or fully understood her story.  At Christmas, I gave my husband an art book full of Bible stories and art that corresponds with it.  A few days ago he left it open to the page about Naboth’s Vineyard.  Jezebel conspired against Naboth to obtain his beautiful vineyard for her husband.  As I read that page, I thought, “Oh yeah, I remember that.”  That was the extent of my knowledge of Jezebel.  That’s why The Shadow of Jezebel caught me off guard.  Before reading this book, I had no idea how deep Jezebel’s schemes went.  Although the book is a fictional tale, the historical strands of the story are true and it fascinated me to the very last page.

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