Celebrate Summer Vacation Giveaway

It's time for a brand new giveaway to celebrate the start of summer vacation!!

This time around it's for a mystery selection of jewels crystal barley hard candy valued at over $10.

Entry is easy, just visit my Sweet Lollipop Shop Etsy shop via the link below and then come back here and post telling me which flavor or sweet treat you like the best.

To Enter: You must visit Sweet Lollipop Shop and come back here to tell me your favorite item!

*Want more entries?*
-Post this giveaway on Twitter/Facebook.
-Follow me on TWITTER
-Blog about this giveaway and leave a post that you did and where.(2 EXTRA ENTRIES!!)
-Add my button to your blog
-Subscribe to and/or follow my blog (Make sure you activate your subscription!)

Each of these can give you another entry! Please leave a separate comment for each one and what it is for!
Rules: In order to win, you must provide a valid email. I will be notifying the winner by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to me with their name and address. If this information is not received within 48 hours new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is opened to everyone, everywhere.

The winner will recieve a package containing over $10 worth of crystal jewels candies

Want to win more?

Then guess the new flavor being introduced into the store this week and win that flavor of jewel crystal candies also!
Giveaway Ends: Friday 3rd July 2009 @ 12pm EST

TASTY TUESDAY!

Starting this week I'll be featuring a new weekly foodie post, featuring a delicious recipe idea or other great food recommedation. This week I decided to share my quick and easy leftovers recipe for "chicken curry".

Being British I absolutely LOVE curry and rice, unfortunately here in New England you just can't find a good take-out curry so I learned quickly it was much easier to make my own. I have various recipes, this is my fast and easy version using leftover cooked chicken breast and any style rice you have available. It's a favorite of my kids and doesn't last long in our house!

Ingredients:

Leftover cooked chicken breast (diced or roughly chopped)
Third of a jar of Pataks Mild Curry Paste(available in grocery stores & online)
Reg Size Can Tomato Sauce (approx 16oz)
White Rice
Corn Starch (optional)

Directions:

Spray a little pam in a deep non stick saute pan and add chicken breast warming slowly. Add curry paste and stir to coat chicken and continue warming on low/medium heat. Add can tomato sauce and continue to heat, using empty tomato sauce can fill to about half way with cold water and add to pan, continuing to stir and heat. Bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes on a low heat setting stirring occasionally.

You can add more water for a thinner curry sauce. If you need to thicken your sauce, mix a little corn starch in some cold water and then add to hot curry sauce stirring in immediately.

Whilst sauce is cooking, make up your rice according to package instructions and serve sauce over cooked rice.

Serve and enjoy!

Makes about 4-6 portions.

And The Winner Is ...

Thank you to everyone that entered the Ready For Summer giveaway!

The winner is:

Post #51 which is Donna!!!

Congratulations

New Giveaway coming soon, so keep checking back for more chances to win!

Ready For Summer Giveaway

Yes folks! It's that time again, time for a brand new giveaway, and this time it's going to be a sweet treat indeed! Entry is easy, just visit my Sweet Lollipop Shop Etsy shop via the link below and then come back here and post telling me which sweet treat you like the best.

To Enter: You must visit Sweet Lollipop Shop store and come back here to tell me your favorite item!

*Want more entries?*
-Post this giveaway on Twitter/Facebook.
-Follow me on TWITTER
-Blog about this giveaway and leave a post that you did and where.(2 EXTRA ENTRIES!!)
-Add my button to your blog
-Subscribe to and/or follow my blog (Make sure you activate your subscription!)

Each of these can give you another entry! Please leave a separate comment for each one and what it is for!

Rules: In order to win, you must provide a valid email. I will be notifying the winner by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to me with their name and address. If this information is not received within 48 hours new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is opened to everyone, everywhere.

The winner will recieve a fabulous mystery box of crystal barley hard candy lollipops and jewels candy valued at over $15!

Giveaway Ends: Sunday May 31st 2009 @ 12pm EST

Ready For Summer ?

The sun is shining, the leaves are back on the trees, could it be that Springtime has finally arrived? We've had some odd weather here recently, one day there's a frost warning "brrrrr" the next its 90 degrees and I'm stuck inside thankful for the air conditioning.

So much has happened recently, I can barely keep up! Work wise things are especially busy, lots and lots of lobsters this month for weddings. I'm grateful for the extra help from Caity Bear, she's one amazing kid and just created and presented a fabulous project for the Key Program at school named "All About Candy".

On the home front it's spring cleaning time once again, last weekend Ed and Caity tackled the mess of wood and junk cluttering the basement, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the garage will get a similar makeover this weekend. I'm being very careful to pace myself, I have been learning it is easier to break physical tasks up to make them more manageable and I'm hoping to get on top of things that way.

On the family front my oldest Lauren may be coming home to visit in a few weeks(oh gosh I hope so!), we're very much looking forward to seeing her, in the meantime Caity and I are crossing our fingers that our passports arrive so we can begin to plan a visit to see our family in the UK. Adam just had his 18th birthday and is growing up way too fast, hopefully we'll still get to see him in August when he goes on leave from the Air Force.

Now if only the spiders and bugs would go away, life could be perfect!

NEW YORK NEW YORK

After a great visit with my brother, he planted the notion of visiting New York City which wasn't feasible when he was here with such short notice but with last weeks Spring Break I just couldn't resist taking Caity on a whim as she's asked to do this so many times! I've been so busy with work, she totally deserved some special one on one time with her mummy and to get away for a few days with her was simply amazing - no work, no worries, just us enjoying each other and some fun together.

We purchased a New York pass which got us into a lot of attractions for one price, the advantage is you save a little money, the disadvantage is you're rushing around more to make sure you get as many places in before it runs out! As you can see, Caity enjoyed posing with the president and writing down some ideas for him to consider during his administration. (picture taken at Madame Tussauds)

Her favorite stop was the Statue of Liberty, she got the biggest thrill from being able to run across the grass to the base of the statue and touch it, unfortunately we couldn't go up in the statue as you needed to book that a week in advance but that didn't matter at all and the permanent smiles on her face were such a thrill for me.

Family Time

I know I know !! But I do have a very good excuse for not posting in 19 days, honestly!! As many folks know I am originally from the UK, well it's been 12 years since I was home and this month my brother Christian is visiting and I've been doing my best to make his stay as fun as possible. The picture of Christian, Amy and Caity was taken during our chilly trip to Hampton Beach last Friday!

It's hard to believe that this towering 22 year old man is the same 10 year old little kid that I said goodbye to all those years ago, he's absolutely remarkable and a credit to my dad. He's fabulous with Caity Bear, has been helping her with her homework, teaching her funny songs and games to drive me crazy and taking her outside daily to play soccer.

He goes back to the UK on Saturday and I'm going to miss him, having him here has reminded me just how much I do miss my family, especially my dad so I've made the decision to do my best to get passports for myself and Bear so that we can go and visit.

And The Winner Is ...

Thank you to everyone that entered the Easter Ducky soap and candy surprise giveaway!

The winner is:

Lily Bean Designs!!!

Congratulations

New Giveaway coming in a few weeks, so keep checking back for more chances to win!

EASTER GIVEAWAY!

It’s time for a brand new giveaway, and this time it's for everyone with a love of the cuteness of Easter! Entry is easy, just visit my Ducky Soaps Etsy shop via the link below and then come back here and post telling me which item you like the best.


To Enter: You must visit Ducky Soaps store and come back here to tell me your favorite item!

*Want more entries?*
-Post this giveaway on Twitter/Facebook.
-Follow me on TWITTER
-Blog about this giveaway and leave a post that you did and where.(2 EXTRA ENTRIES!!)
-Add my button to your blog
-Subscribe to and/or follow my blog (Make sure you activate your subscription!)

Each of these can give you another entry! Please leave a separate comment for each one and what it is for!

Rules: In order to win, you must provide a valid email. I will be notifying the winner by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to me with their name and address. If this information is not received within 48 hours new winner will be chosen. As always this giveaway is opened to everyone, everywhere.

The winner will recieve a fabulous Easter themed ducky soap plus an extra treat from our other store Sweet Lollipop Shop

Giveaway ends at 12pm EST on Sunday April 5th.

Curly Caity

Caity and I love doing the whole girly thing and whilst birthday shopping for myself a few weeks ago, I came across these fabulous new hair curling spirals called Curlformers. They don't require any heat or products, just simply wash your hair as normal and pull small sections through the spirals with the special hooky thing, let you hair dry (we go with overnight to be sure), remove and voila - beautiful bouncy curls that will last all day!

They have different sizes for different sized curls and hair lengths, as you can see in the pictures my lil bear has very long hair so we need to use the extra long and wide size. I picked up these great fun curlers from Sally Beauty Store, but I believe you can get them online and the company link is above. What I really love about them is their ease of use, it takes me 20 - 30 minutes to put them in her hair, 5-7 minutes to remove in the morning and theres no chemicals or harsh heating involved that will damage the hair.

On the down side, I don't think these would be too easy to put in your own hair, I did try and it is doable but not exactly easy. Your hair also takes quite a long time to dry when in them so wearing them overnight is definately the best idea, however lil bear says they are annoying to sleep in! All in all I think these are great, they do produce some beautiful curls, are easy to use and don't do any damage to your hair.

SWEET TREAT GIVEAWAY WINNER!!

Thank you to everyone that entered into this months Sweet Lollipop Shop Sweet Treat Giveaway, I had a fabulous response from some super folks as always!!

Our winner of a fabulous mystery box of crystal barley hard candy lollipops and jewels candy valued at over $10 is ...

Jingle!!

Congratulations to Jingle and to everyone else, don't be sad, they'll be another giveaway starting very soon with a wonderful Easter theme so keep watching for updates!!

Crazy Dreams & Invisible Mice

Okay, now firstly I already know I'm a little fruit and nutty, but last night/this morning definitely confirms it.


Was up late, yes I had a little wine before bed, okay a few glasses but it WAS my birthday after all. 4am I wake up having the weirdest dream, I don't know if I was the child or the attempting to help the child in the dream, that part is now too blurred, but I do distinctly remember either explaining or being explained to how to act underwater when your drowning so that it's just like falling asleep and you don't feel the panic.

Really freaky ... yet oddly I woke feeling relatively calm

Then as I lay there attempting to fall asleep again I suddenly hear a rustling in the corner of the room that sounded like something crawling around on some paper. Thinking it's my little Sasha (kitty) I call out to her and the noise stops and then silence. Okay so this now totally freaks me out and I grab the funky flashlight from the nightstand and crank that sucker up and aim for the corner.

Nothing!

Scan the room ...

Nothing!

Now I'm totally freaking out ... get up and constantly cranking that recharge handle the search in the corner begins revealing nothing other than some wrapping paper, paper bag of husbands junk and my pink pom poms ... yes I have pom poms!

Now I'm doing a Nancy Drew, the house is thoroughly searched ...

Fat Cat is sleeping on the sofa ... definitely NOT the rustler

Sasha kitty is sleeping on a dining room chair near the woodstove ... NOT the rustler!

So now I'm awake, playing around in the forums and contemplating going back to bed ... over ... and over ... I will go back sometime ... flashlight in hand and ready to pounce the phantom rustler and whomp it on the noggin with it!

SWEET TREAT GIVEAWAY!

It’s time for a brand new giveaway, and this time it's for everyone with a sweet tooth! Entry is easy, just visit my Sweet Lollipop Shop Etsy shop via the link below and then come back here and post telling me which sweet treat you like the best.

To Enter: You must visit Sweet Lollipop Shop store and come back here to tell me your favorite item!

*For Bonus Entries*
-Post this giveaway on Twitter/Facebook. (Be sure to tell me where you posted, your profile or URL name so I can double check! Plus you can earn an extra entry for each of these posts.)
-Follow me on Twitter
-Put a post about this giveaway on your blog.
-Add my button to your blog
-Subscribe to and/or follow my blog (Make sure you activate your subscription!)

Each of these can give you another entry! Please leave a separate comment for each one and what it is for!

Rules: In order to win, you must provide a valid email. I will be notifying the winner by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to me with their name and address. If this information is not received within 48 hours new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is opened to everyone, everywhere.

The winner will recieve a fabulous mystery box of crystal barley hard candy lollipops and jewels candy valued at over $10!

Giveaway Ends: March 8th 2009 @ 12pm EST

Playing Catchup

Yes it's been days since I have updated but I do have an excuse in the form of a 3 day event I was vending for in RI,the Winter FFF.I only knew I as accepted for a few weeks so a lot of prep work took place in the last few weeks, however Thursday night, what craziness! I did attempt to grab a little sleep around 4am, but after laying there tossing and turning with everything I had to still get ready for the weekend filling my head I gave up around 6.30am and got back to work finishing up some buttons and pendants and finally packing a small suitcase!

The drive to Rhode Island was relatively easy, the usual male speedsters on the highway, making up for a lack of manhood with excessive dangerous driving freaked me out a few times but knowing I hadn't slept made me just as excessively cautious in my own driving so it balanced out.

Set up was fun, bumping into old friends, new faces, the volunteers losing half of my minivan full of product and my friend freaking out because he'd been in charge of it all ... I stayed calm, did a little search and found it one floor up within 30 minutes - panic over!

Our space was simply fabulous, CTAN is my hero this year, she not only gave me an awesome spot but because of how I was situated I ended up with about an extra 18 square feet of room for demonstations of Eds Portacross!

The company was great, the atmosphere bloody brilliant and despite coming home exhausted and with no voice, I had an amazing time, the highlight of the weekend running demo's up in the suite, something I never thought I'd be capable of doing due to my belief that I just don't do well in assertive social situations. Not to say I wasn't terrified but I'm darn proud of myself for overcoming my fear in my determination to make the most enjoyable evening for everyone that had given me the privilege of being their host for the night.

And The Winner Is!!

Thank you to everyone that entered Sweet Lollipop Shops first ever giveaway, I had a fabulous response from some absolutely fabulous folk!!

Our winner of the snowman in a snowflake ducky soap and bag of maple jewels is ...

SHELLY K!!

Congratulations to Shelly and to everyone else, stay tuned because there'll be a brand new spanking giveaway starting this week!!