Walmart's Holiday Salute to Military Families

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walmart. All opinions are 100% mine.

Last year, for the first time since having our kids, my husband was deployed during the holidays. He left at the beginning of December for six months overseas. Even though it was my favorite time of the year, the fact that my husband couldn’t be here to enjoy it with us made it bittersweet. I single-handedly had to manage all of the parental tasks that come along with the holiday season. He was able to Skype with us Christmas morning, but between the chaos of opening gifts and weak internet service overseas, it was difficult for him to hear or see what was going on. It ended up being more frustrating than anything.

We are fortunate to have him home this year, but not everyone is so lucky. I have many close friends who are feeling that void as well as thousands more across the country. Many of us are not stationed near family and find it financially straining to organize a trip home. We end up spending the holidays alone, doing what we can to make it special for the kids. For me, one thing that eases this heartache is knowing that America recognizes us and appreciates the sacrifices our families are making.

This year, Walmart is showing their support with their “Holiday Salute to Military Families”. This initiative is offering 2 million dollars in grants for toys, meals and lodging assistance to military families, as well as bringing many active duty service members home for the holidays. They have partnered with Operation Homefront and Fisher House in a salute to military families.  

December 3^rd is #GivingTuesday, a global campaign to join together and give! Helping our military families is a great way to participate. Join in our Holiday Salute to Military Families by visiting fisherhouse.org/Walmart and operationhomefront.net/Walmart for more information.

Let’s take this time to recognize our country’s heroes. Please share this post and tag a military member you are grateful for. For my military community, are you spending the holidays away from your loved one this year? Have you in years past? I want to hear your story. Let’s come together to show our support and remind military families nationwide that they are not forgotten.

Spartan Race on NBC Sports 12/7

I know I've written about the Spartan race before, but this event is just way too cool 

and deserves another post. How awesome does this look?

Could you imagine the straight euphoria of crossing this finish line?

From their website:

Spartan Race is on a mission to get you active, healthy, excited about change, and return to our ancient roots where running through woods, getting dirty, and facing adversity was part of everyday life. Our events are all about challenging today’s perception of normal.

Our events challenge the familiar, today’s perception of normal living and getting you out of your comfort zone! At Spartan Race, we do this everyday and it shapes everything we do.

Having experienced many different racing events, we wanted to make adventure racing more accessible to everyone, but do not be fooled by the word ‘accessible’, as our events have a challenge for everyone’s needs.

Spartan Race now introduces a level for everyone beginning with the entry level Spartan Sprint, intermediate level Super Spartan, the advanced Spartan Beast, and the ‘99.9% need not apply’ extreme level Death Race.

Whatever your level, Spartan Race will test your strength, stamina, and sense of humor.

If you're interest has peaked then check it out on tv.
December 7th, NBC Sports will be broadcasting the World Championship Spartan Race. 

Set your DVR right now!

 The awesome Spartan Race crew has provided me with another
free race code for one lucky reader.
This code is good for any 2013-2014 US Spartan Race registration.
Enter on the widget below.
Or, if you're ready right now, click HERE to get 15% off any Spartan Race.
And don't forget that they have teamed up with GovX to provide a discount to
active duty military and first responders!

Do you want it? Are you up for the challenge?

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Do it! Who says you can't?

AROO! ;)

(Did you set your DVR yet?)

Fall Cleaning

Fall cleaning...it makes total sense.

I first heard of it a few years ago in a mama group I was a part of on Cafe Mom.
These ladies were overachievers though, and would completely redecorate their
homes to accommodate the fall/winter setting. I wish I had the energy and money
to be able to do that but honestly, I just need a good excuse to get the dirty handprints
off my walls.

I spring clean every single inch of my house, but it's been a whole 6+ months since then
and you can't even tell I tried. It's really quite magical how disgusting kids can be.
And how busy you get raising them that certain household things get neglected
(I'm just being honest here).

Here are some things on my fall cleaning list. It may look similar to my spring list because
1) I have the same stuff and 2) I have the same house.

Clean out clothes

Clean out toys

Clean out all cupboards/shelves/drawers
Clean out and restock medicine cabinet
Clean out sink and shower drains

Make a list for maintenance
 Wash curtains
Organize and clean all DVDs
Throw away expired food and wipe down kitchen cupboards
Clean behind and under fridge and stove
 Basically, start at one end of the house and clean EVERYTHING.

It will take a few days. Just prepare yourself for that.
But your house will be ready for holiday guests and you can get
a head start on those winter germs.
Not to mention you will feel so good when its done!

Here's an idea of what I'm up against...

No shame.

You think you know...

I see this going around Facebook and its been fun to read but

I've been too chicken to "like" any of your posts.

I'm going to be a rebel and do my own list.

I'm going to do 10 because that seems to be the going rate.

10 Things You Might Not Know About Me

10. I sleep with a blankie every night. If I don't have it, I can't sleep.

9. In high school, my best friend and I would go to every event the Chargers

held. It was so bad they started to recognize us. I still know the president
of public relations and I go say hi to her whenever I'm at a game.

8. I used to borrow the Baby Think It Over dolls in middle school because

I thought they were fun. Then I saved up my money to buy my own.

7. I have never broken a bone.

6. I went to a few N'Sync concerts when they were big. Before one of the shows,

we were waiting by the fence near their tour buses trying to get a glimpse. A lady performer

who was opening for them walked over to say hi to the fans and talk with us.

(Don't care...where's Lance Bass?)

That lady was Pink. Oops.

5. I do not like strawberries or strawberry flavored anything.

4. I have had asthma my whole life, I was diagnosed when I was 8 after a hospital stay. 

I still take daily medications to keep it under control.

3. I grew up in the dirt bike world. I have fond memories of my dad's desert racing days,

camping in the desert, waking up before the crack of dawn to leave and playing with my toys

in the back of someone's trailer while my dad was racing.

2. I decided I wanted to marry a Marine after attending Military Appreciation Day at a

Padre game one year and I saw them in formation.

1. I used to be afraid of Pit Bulls and believed all the stereotypes. I am now a huge

Pitty advocate and consider them my favorite breed, We even fostered one sweet

Pitty girl before we moved to 29 Palms.

She is still available for adoption in the San Diego area...

Juliet

Let's Bake!

This is my first fall season with a Kitchenaid mixer!!!!

This is definitely something to celebrate.

I'm not a very good baker, and in recent years I have given up completely.

Its just not my area of expertise.

But how can I be the proud mom of a Kitchenaid mixer and NOT use it

during the busiest baking time of the year?

Pinterest to the rescue.

Here are some goodies I am looking forward to making in the near future...

Pumpkin Spice Latte M&M Cookies

This recipe doesn't seem too daunting to me. I can probably do cookies without

screwing them up too much. Plus the whole pumpkin spice thing is huge this time

of year. And you can't go wrong with anything that has M&Ms in it.

Homemade Butterfinger Bark

Oh I love Butterfingers. They've always been one of my favorites. For some reason,

whenever I'm at the movies I have to get those little Butterfinger Bites. I spend like 10

minutes eating them and then another hour picking them out of my teeth. Lovely, right?

I REALLY wanna try this Butterfinger bark. It looks like something I would eat in one sitting.

Salted Caramel Pretzel Blondies

I love blondies. I love salted caramel. I love sweet & salty.

I need to eat this.

 

Carmel Apple Cheesecake Cookie Bars

This looks absolutely amazing and like the perfect fall treat.

I would so make this next to the pies at Thanksgiving.

I can only imagine how amazing this tastes. 

Caramel Cake

This one looks a little too intense for me but I might just hire someone

to make it for me, any takers?

I think there is a lesson to be learned here. I'm not really looking forward to making these.

I'm just looking forward to eating them.

All of these recipes will be pinned to my Pinterest food board.

Feel free to repin!

Super Cool Pumpkins Pt 1

It totally hit me yesterday that Halloween is next week.

I stayed up late placing orders online for the last few things we

need for the kid's costumes this year.

My oldest daughter is going to be a peacock, my son wants to be a zombie ninja turtle, 

and the littlest daughter is going to be Agnes from Despicable Me.

Needless to say, these will all have to be thrown together by yours truly.

I also started thinking about pumpkins. We don't have pumpkins yet.

And what will we do with these pumpkins?

At Easter I posted a bunch of creatively decorated Easter eggs.

So I decided to look around online and see what the crafty people of the world

have decided to do to pumpkins over the years.

Here are a few of my favorites that I found.

 I see what you did there.

You painted lots of bats on lots of pumpkins and added a moon to the one in the back.

I wouldn't have thought of this myself.

Kudos.

Ok this one is just way too cool. These pumpkins are made out of pages from

an old book. It looks all vintage and creepy like these would be sitting outside

of a haunted house. Well, only if the creatures that haunted the house decorated

for Halloween of course.

I am very fond of the idea of going against the grain and breaking out the

bright colors this season. Everything is so....brown...and orange.

Lets paint some hot pink pumpkins and call it a day!

 Glitter is amazing because it just makes everything happier.

My friends and I refer to glitter as herpes, but now that I think about it, its more like

Herpes was the evil twin and Glitter is his sister.

They both spread all over the place, are hard to get rid of, and sneak up on you when you 

least expect it. But one makes you happy and the other just makes you really uncomfortable.

I don't even know if my references to Herpes are accurate but here are some glitter pumpkins...

 

 Ohhhhh aren't these last pumpkins fabulous?! By far my most favorite.

This is totally my kind of style. I just love how eloquent and delicate they look.

I might just have to attempt this...next year.

The Skinny About Skinny

Hopefully this post doesn't turn controversial 

 but something is really bothering me!

A mommy page that I am a fan of on Facebook posted this picture the other day...

I was a little offended at first and then brushed it off. 

Now I've given it a few days and its still bothering me!

I'm not one to be easily offended but here's the thing,

if that cartoon was making fun of bigger girls, would that page have posted it?

Probably not.

But since its making fun of skinny girls its ok.

I have been thin my entire life. I have never had a problem with weight. I've always

stayed between the sizes of 0 and 3, even while I was pregnant.

In fact, I had to work really hard to gain weight during my pregnancies to make

sure that my babies would be born a healthy size. (See, its not all fun and games!)

Now, I'm not trying to turn the tables and make people feel bad for me that

I'm small, but my whole point of this post is that we should be able to respect each

other as women no matter what size we are!!!

 

I think it was totally wrong for a page that is geared towards women and moms to

be posting a picture like this.

I shouldn't have to feel guilty that I am naturally skinny.

 

Women's body image is such a sensitive subject these days.

I wish we could all just support one another and respect each other for what we are.

Can we do that?

Can we all just focus on being healthy and fit and happy?

All of us, no matter what size, could work towards those goals, right?

 

 I hope you see my point here.

And for the record, I do eat!!!!!!!