One of My Favorite Things: Tastefully Simple's Yummy Spices, Mixes, Dip and Sauces

Have you ever heard of Tastefully Simple? My sister - Gigi - just started her own business, selling these delicious products. Tastefully Simple is best known for it's Bountiful Beer Bread mix. My favorites are the spices, seasonings - especially the dip mixes! Who doesn't love a good dip?! Spicy Pepper Dip, Chipotle Bacon Dip, Parmesan Peppercorn Dip, even Warm Pizza Dip. Y.U.M! The desserts are also mouth-watering worthy. Can you say Key Lime Cheese Ball? Amaretto Cheese Ball? Salted Carmel Crème Brulee? So now that I've made you hungry... my most FAVORITE part of Tastefully Simple products is that they are easy-peezy to use. Trust me - I am no gourmet chef (which my family can test attest to... but they better not!! : ) ) but adding a sprinkle of this and a dash of that, and my cooking has become SO much yummier.

Here is a link to check out my sister's Tastefully Simple page: GRETCHEN BROWN'S TASTEFULLY SIMPLE

Place an order by Saturday, November 16 and be entered to receive a free Tastefully Simple gift as a Thank You!

How Did You Get That Scar? A Poem For Kids

When Deacon went in for his first surgery 2 years ago, Daniel and I lifted the mood by joking about how Deacon would explain his humungous scar one day  - a wavy line running across his head, from ear to ear. A run in with a great white shark? A freak mountain climbing accident?

Our children's scars are a badge of honor - the markings of a survivor. So I created this poem to honor them. Our little heroes. To answer the question they are asked so often: "How did you get that scar?"

How Did You Get That Scar?
A Poem by Erica Billups - Sweet Leigh Mama

 “How’d you get that scar?” you ask with curiosity.

You won’t believe the answer. It’s a crazy story, you see.

I’ve been through a lot of things in life – things that left their mark on me.

A run in with a raging bull. A tussle with a tiger.

A gust of wind while tight-rope walking – good thing I wasn’t any higher!

 

I fell into a deep dark cave when I was out spelunking.

Got tangled in a mess of vines when I was picking pumpkins.

 

Bonked on the head with a coconut.

Surprised by a lion in my jungle hut.

Had a throw down with a T-Rex. A sword fight with a pirate.

Slipped on a banana peel – I never even saw it!

Chased by sea gulls while riding my jet ski.

Tossed in the air by a mean old grizzly.

A motorcycle mishap. A break dancing debacle.

Blinded by a diamond with a little too much sparkle.

 

Stopped to smell the roses and met a swarm of bees.

Was capsized by a monster wave while sailing the seven seas.

Tackled on the 50 yard line by a massive tight end.

Working with police – there was a thief to apprehend!

A flat tire on my unicycle – how unfortunate!

Surfing in a hurricane - who knew it’d be so turbulent?

Dueling with dragons. Wrestling a gator.

I narrowly escaped a runaway elevator!

 

Caught up in a rock slide. Skiing though an avalanche.

Rumbled with a rattlesnake I thought was a branch.

Are any of these stories real? No, they’re make believe.

The truth is that I had a boo boo deep inside of me.

The doctors fixed me up. I was oh so brave!

And now I have this awesome scar to show off every day.

 

 

Why I Finally Gave In To Disney Princesses

Cinderella & Her Mouse

I was never opposed to Disney Princesses... but I did make a conscious effort not to push my daughter towards them. I wanted her to figure out on her own what she liked, with as little influence as possible from culture's preconceived notions on what a little girl should  like. I wanted to see what she was drawn to, whether it was cars, trucks and trains, dinosaurs, pirates, Curious George... or Princesses. And for the first 3 years of my daughter's life, she happened to steer clear of Princesses. She would see them from time to time, but she never clung to the idea like I saw so many girls doing. And that made me happy - not because I thought there was anything wrong with the other little girls dressing up in Princess dresses or wearing little tiaras, but because I liked the idea that Paige was making up her own mind. I patted myself on the back for officially bypassing the Disney marketing machine.

That is until one day this summer... I picked my daughter up from my gym's child care area and she was just beaming - "Mommy! I played princesses and it was so much fun! I love princesses now!" The next morning as we were getting dressed to head to the gym, Paige picked out the most ruffley and pink dress she owned "so my friend will want to play princess with me again - I want to look pretty like a princess!" My heart sank a little - 1. she already thought she had to dress a certain way for kids to play with her : ( and 2. she only thought she was pretty if she dressed like a princess. I held my tongue and smiled and told her what I always do - "You are pretty inside and out. Your kind heart is your prettiest part!" Well - things didn't go as expected at the gym for my little Princess. Ends up her new "friend" was in a bad mood and didn't want to play Princesses or anything or that matter with my daughter. Paige was heartbroken - she had dressed the part... was she not a good enough Princess? That was 4 months ago, and Paige has still never worn that dress again.

And even though that friendship didn't stick, her new fascination with Princesses did. I couldn't fight it anymore. BUT - I could influence her mindset towards Princesses. Yes, they were pretty with long flowing hair, big eyes, skinny waists and always lived "Happily Ever After". However, they had more to offer my little, impressionable 3 year old daughter. Because I'm not going to tell my daughter she can't play with princesses or watch princess movies - just like I wouldn't tell her she couldn't play with trucks or read dinosaur books. So I started talking to her about how Princesses are BRAVE, KIND, STRONG-MINDED & INDEPENDENT. How they love to SING & DANCE. How they MAKE MISTAKES & ASK FOR FORGIVENESS. How they often have HUGE HEARTS & LOVE UNCONDITIONALLY. And - thankfully - it is starting to stick. Yes, she still wants to dress up in fancy Princess costumes (definitely not the shunned pink ruffely dress though!), but she climbs tot he top of the sofa and jumps off while dressed in them - "Just like a Princess does, Mommy!" And that makes my girl-power heart happy.