Scrambled Letters

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.



One day while going on an adventure across the internet I saw this. I found it a bit interesting. Now that the holidays are over I decided to post it. I also decided to research it more before posting it.

Well, it turns out to not have anything to do with Cambridge and not be fully true but it is still pretty interesting. A man that actually works for Cambridge did some research when he found this same thing online. He has a very lengthy explanation of why this works and what really does not work. If you are interested you can find all the information on the site.

Playing Rock Band

I have taken a short break from posting since New Years Eve. I was so busy posting Holiday things on this blog and Make Memories since Halloween. I needed to stop and just be Mom for the rest of the Winter break. What have I been doing? Playing video games of course!

I have been too busy to play video games with the girls for awhile and that needed to change. I decided to move the Nintendo Wii from in the rec room to the livingroom. This was a great decision. I am now able to easily take breaks from what I am doing and have fun with them.

You may remember that we got Rock Band recently. We got the two track packs for Christmas so we have plenty of songs to play. We have also been playing a lot of Mario Kart and American Idol. The girls are pretty shocked at all the songs I know. They seem to not realize that at one time Mom was pretty cool.

I do not really play the instruments very well because I have not had much practice on them. James rarely will sing and neither will Noelle or Nicole. That leaves just Neona and me to do the singing. It is pretty good for my ego when the girls tell me how good I am at singing. I have not sang for people in years and I kind of miss it.

Happy New Year

Time Capsule

So Christmas is over but the holiday break is not. Most families are looking for something to keep their kids busy and out of trouble. Here is a neat project that goes along with celebrating the New Year.

Get your kids together and talk about the past year. Have them discuss what they will remember the most. Then they can decide what to add to the time capsule. I like the idea of having the kids write a kind of diary entry about the year. Then they can write their name on an envelope and seal it shut.

When everything is in the time capsule you can decorate it and label it with the date. Put it away in a safe place until you are ready to open it. Your family can then decide how long to wait to open them. I think 5 years sounds good.

This would be a great New Years tradition for any family. If you make a new one each year you will also have one to open every year after the chosen amount of years has past.

Last Minute Gifts

Just when you think you are done buying gifts there is always another one. There is always someone like a coworker or neighbor that you did not even think about getting a gift for. Someone that gets you a gift and you never thought they would. What do you do?

Do you tell a white lie? You could say that you forgot it at home or that you did not think you would run in to them so you did not bring it. What is the proper way to handle it? You do not want to offend them or hurt their feelings.

I tend to be a very last minute person. There are times that I just do not buy a gift until after Christmas since I know I will not see the person until later anyway.

We also do some after Christmas shopping for gifts for the kids. Many family members give the girls cash so then they get to pick out their own gifts.

There are so many reasons to buy gifts after Christmas. Whatever your reason there are some great deals to be had. Stores stock up on items for Christmas so when Christmas ends they drop the prices. This is a great time to get some last minute gifts from Kmart. Even if the gifts are just for yourself.

My Head Hurts

I am so glad that this waited until after Christmas!

Somewhere around 2 pm I started to feel congested. It must be the weather changes. It keeps going from -10 for a few days, then tons of snow falls, and then 40 degrees and very wet as all of the snow melts. Right now we are on the second round of all the snow melting.

I had decided to make meatball calzones with mushrooms and bell peppers for dinner. So I made the dough and left it to rise as we caught up on some shows we had recorded on the DVR. As time went on I started to get a headache. At first I figured it was just because I was tired and I wished that I had the time to talk a nap. An hour later the headache was worse and I had pressure in my sinuses and behind my ears.

I took a few asprins and that helped enough to finish dinner. At least everyone loved the calzones so it was worth it. Now I am going to drink a glass of wine and try to relax.

Heroes During The Holidays

This time of year I really think about military families. My father was in the Navy. I had two brothers in the Army. James was in the Marines. I have many more Aunts, Uncles, and cousins that have also been in the military. It has a way of making you see how much family really matters. It also gives you a look into how many lives are touched by them.

A friend of mine just recently had her husband come home after a very long year overseas. Solders may be strong but I feel Military wives are often stronger. My friend is definitely one of those stronger ones. Her husband might have been overseas and in a very dangerous place but my friend was the one that had to sit at home worrying about him.

My friend had children that still needed to be taken care of plus she was pregnant. She was faced with a harder situation than I could ever imagine. Her husband was not even able to be there at the birth of the new baby.

Sears has a wonderful program called Sears Heroes at Home. Sears collects the donations and then distributes them as gift cards for military families. The website shows some of the things that the families have on their wish lists. It really makes you think when you see such simple items being wished for. These are families that are struggling in many ways and would just like some new winter clothes or new shoes. The donations are not tax deductible but it really is a worthy cause.

Merry Christmas

I hope you all have a great holiday and share some wonderful memories with your families. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

I have loved doing all of the holiday posts! I will now have more time to get caught back up on redoing the main website. I still will miss all of the excitement of the holidays. I guess I will have to just come up with some fun new things in the coming year.

I have been touched by all of the holiday greetings from the community. I really do love having this contact with readers and fellow bloggers as well. I can not wait to see what the coming year has to offer.

Once again, Merry Christmas to you all. Eat lots of good food and sweets. You can always go back to being healthy tomorrow. Everyone has to cheat once in awhile. You deserve it so indulge.

Gift For Expecting Moms

We all know how wonderful babies are. I miss my girls being babies. Babies are so beautiful and sweet. There is nothing more sweet than a sleeping baby. Nothing shows the miracle of life like a baby.

There is nothing like seeing your miracle baby for the first time. You count all of the fingers and toes. You look at how big they are and wonder how they fit inside of you. How incredible it is to think about all the growth and development they went through for 9 months.

We live in such a great time period. There are so many advances made everyday. Now the miracle of life that is a baby being born can be even more of a miracle. Now we have found that blood from the umbilical cord has life saving stem cells.

Cord blood can be saved and banked for years. There are over 70 diseases that can be treated with cord blood. There have been over 8000 transplants worldwide that have used cord blood. Saving your child's cord blood could end up being a life saver for that child or a sibling.

The cord blood service that Cryo-Cell offers can be a great gift also. Many times families are struggling financially when children are born. Receiving it as a gift would make any mom happy. They also offer gift certificates so you can get family members to all chip in.

Biscuits and Gravy

I never ate biscuits and gravy until about 8 years ago. It never interested me and I really am not much for gravy. James loved biscuits and gravy. He would get it anytime we went out for breakfast. I decided that it should be another thing that I learn how to make for him. It is not very healthy so I do not make it often. I make it maybe 3 times a year. I only make it on holidays.

I always assumed it would be hard to make but it is not. I do not even use a recipe when I make it. I am sure you can find thousands of recipes online but I do not see the point.

Ingredients

1 tube of original breakfast sausage
1 tube of hot or spicy breakfast sausage
flour
milk
salt & pepper

Directions

Fully brown both tubes of sausage. Mix in flour a tablespoon at a time until all of the grease is soaked up and it makes a thick paste. Keep cooking and stirring to cook out the flour taste. Add milk until it gets to the amount of gravy to sausage that you like. It takes a lot more milk than you would think. Make sure that you have a full gallon of milk before you start just in case.

Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer as it thickens. Salt and pepper to taste.

Dragon Naturally Speaking

There are days that I sit down at the computer and just stare at it. I get lazy from time to time and think about how nice it would be to just sit and do nothing. I never have a problem talking though. Everyone that knows me also knows that I talk nonstop. I saw ads for Dragon Naturally Speaking awhile ago and really thought about it.



$50 Coupon Code- DNSMSBG -Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred

It would be the answer to the days when I just feel lazy. I could find so many uses for it. They are having some great discounts from now until New Years Eve too. It would really be worth checking out. It would be great for students that do not have the time to type reports. Think about how much it would help in meetings. You could just record them instead of trying to take fast notes and miss them. You could then make text files and save the whole meeting without worry of missing a thing. It is a tax write off too if you use it for work!

Check out the Discount Codes...

• $50 Coupon Code- DNSMSBG -Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred


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• $25 Coupon Code- DNSMSBG -MacSpeech Dictate

Candy and Garland

Find more great holiday crafts and recipes on our
Make Memories Blog

Garland can really dress up your home during the holidays. I hate putting away the decorations after the holidays. I feel like the house is so plain afterward. Here is a cute idea to dress up and decorate your garland.

How about trying some gold foil candies to dress up your garland. It could be a new tradition.

How about if when Santa comes with all of the presents he also decorates the garland with candy? They can wake up to presents, stockings, and candy filled garland. All you need is some cheap garland, foil wrapped candies, and a stapler. Simply staple one side of the wrapper to the garland. The kids will love having the house decorated in candy.

Most Memorable Gifts

What is the greatest gift you have ever received? Is there a gift you got as a kid that was so great that you think of it every year? Is there a gift you received from your kids that meant a lot to you? Maybe there is a great gift that your spouse or someone you were dating gave you that really touched you?

I can not think of just one great gift. There have been many great gifts. When I was young my father and brothers made me a doll house for Christmas. Not just any doll house but a huge doll house. It was on wheels so I could pull it away from the wall when I wanted to play. It was 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide. It had three levels, a front porch and balcony. I had that doll house until about 3 years ago.

I got a great gift from James this last birthday. Usually he is not that big on birthday gifts but this last year my coffee maker had just broken. He does not really drink coffee but I guzzle it. He really surprised me when he got me a two in one coffee maker and cappuccino maker. I love it!

C'Elle offers a service that could be a great gift for a family member or yourself. It could be the gift of life. New stem cell research is finding that menstrual blood has some of the same qualities as more controversial stem cells. C'elle gives women a way to collect and store these cells so they can be used in the future by themselves or family members. Do you know someone that would love a C'elle kit as a gift?