Happy Thanksgiving friends!  I hope and pray that you all have a fabulous day with family and friends.

Me?  I’ll have a quiet day with my kids while my husband works in the morning.  Then we’ll have a quiet Thanksgiving dinner with just the 4 of us.  No huge meal plans, no fancy table settings, no friends or extended family – just the 4 of us!  I may not even clean my house for dinner and try to enjoy the day playing with my kids.  The weather is so gorgeous still in Florida that I’m sure we’ll be outside most of the day.

Tonight I made the first part of our little Thanksgiving meal, my dads Frozen Cranberry Salad (a yummy dessert).

Ingredients:

• Container of sour cream (Small or large depends on how many you are feeding)
• Whole cranberry sauce – 1 can
• Crushed pineapples, drained – 1 can
• Mini-marshmallows – about 1-2 cups (again depending on how many you are feeding)
• Handful of chopped pecans

Directions:

In a freezer safe dish or pan mix all of the ingredients together.  When they are all mixed together the end result should be a light-medium purple colored bowl of delicious goodness.  Cover and freeze!  You’ll need to make this the night before so it has time to freeze.

To serve:

Take out of the freezer about 20-30 minutes before dessert is to be served.  Cut with a knife and top with a small scoop of whipped cream (although I usually eat mine plain).  It should still be slightly frozen but not melted.  Once I pull it out of the freezer I’ll snap a picture and share it with you.

This dish always reminds me of the holidays – both Thanksgiving and Christmas.  He always made it for both.  I’m not sure that my family appreciates the dessert as much as I do or if they will even eat it.  While I won’t be spending this holiday with my parents or any extended family I look forward to spending it with my family.

I pray that you all have a blessed day and that you find hundreds of reasons to be thankful.

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These are my babies!  OK, only the two on the left are my real kids (worker man and China doll).  The others are my best friends’ children…but I call them my own!  The first time we took this photo there were only 3 of them and they were only 3 yrs old!

In an effort to stay eco-friendly both of my kids got to pick their costume from their large stash of dress up clothes.  This is what he choose.  He collected candy in his box.

My ‘real life’ friends!  We’ve been friends for 5-6 years since I moved to the area.  I love my gals!  (I’m the one in the white shirt – my son called me an eco-witch.)  My ‘costume’ (if you can call it that) was stolen from my kids dress up box.  I’m wearing his Darth Vadar cape, her witch hat, and you can’t see it but I have a green extension in (stolen from the Rockin’ Green gals at the ABC Expo.)

So there you have it, a glimpse into my real life outside of my computer.  This is where I try to keep myself grounded and remind myself about what really matters in life….relationships, friendships, and family!

I hope you had a wonderful Halloween!

Note:  Yes, I know I suck at “Wordless” Wednesday.  I always have to add my commentary.

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It’s hard to believe that it’s actually September but today it finally felt like it!  We had a high of 83 degrees which for Florida feels like HEAVEN!  During the summer months we don’t spend much time outdoors unless we are surrounded by water (pool, beach, anything wet will do).  Here is how we spent our evening tonight after dinner.

How did you spend your evening?  Did you have nice weather?

P.S. What’s missing in these photos?  (Besides daddy – he was hanging out with us too.)

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It’s way too early for iPhone photos but here are my best friend and I on the plane at 6am ET.

View from our room at BlogHer ’11.  Marriott Marquis & Marina – San Diego

The packages that arrived from our #HauteGreen Sponsors

The fish taco restaurant that it took us an hour to reach on public transportation because our stop was closed for construction.

The shrimp and tuna tacos were worth the trip!

Did you know I love baseball?  Enjoying  a Padres (v Dodgers) game with my hubby!

I’m only awake because of the Starbucks I had before we got there but this is us after a day of traveling.

The Gaslamp District – across from the Convention Center & Hotel.

And that is how we spent day 1 (arrival day) in San Diego for BlogHer.  I’m sure I won’t see my hubby much after this afternoon once I find all my blogger friends so it was nice to have a day with him and our friends before the madness begins.  I got a pretty good amount of sleep but I still woke up at 6am PST so I may need a nap this afternoon to keep up tonight.

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Want to know something funny?  I’ve never played the board game LIFE. We were a Monopoly family growing up and my brother and I never got LIFE.  This week while at camp my son played LIFE and pestered me all week that he needed this game.  My frugal mind said that we’d wait until right before Christmas when you can find it for $5 in the stores but he REALLY wanted this game.  So we shelled out ‘almost’ full retail price this weekend for him – dang that hurt!  Anyways to get to the point on my post I played LIFE for the first time last night.

The Game of LIFE as played by an 8 year old

After about 20 minutes reading over the rules (yes, I’m that dork – didn’t want to miss anything) my son and I started playing LIFE.  At 8 years old he’s lived enough LIFE himself that I thought it would be fun to see what choices he made for his own LIFE.  I won the opening spin and chose to take the same path that I took in my own LIFE and went to college.  He didn’t even hesitate and chose the college path too.

Now in real life college took me several years longer to complete because I had gotten married (and yes, later divorced), worked full time, and only had enough time left for a few classes each semester.  It was one of the bigger universities in the area but it was considered at the time a transit school – no dorms, no sororities, etc.  Needless to say my college experience was not the traditional party, get laid, get drunk experience that a lot of colleges offer along with their education.

I found it interesting that he didn’t even hesitate to take out a loan for $50,000 to start his college career.  In the game college didn’t last long at all and neither of us had any set backs and we both received scholarships.  That didn’t really feel like my college experience if real LIFE but I’m curious as to the next step and what my son will choose.

Career: Unlike real LIFE at the end of college in the game we both got to pick between the 2 career choices that were dealt us.  I don’t remember these choices being so easy and I doubt that it would really be this easy to be a Doctor – which is the career path that I chose.  It was either that or a Computer Programmer which had a maximum salary limit.  Of course as an adult I choose the ‘No Maximum’ option.  My son was then faced with his choice and I don’t think he knew what a maximum was because he had a choice between a Lawyer and a Vet and chose the Vet.  The reason he said he chose the Vet was because it HAD a maximum.  It actually upset him when I explained the difference to him – but that’s LIFE right.

So here we are, my son and I, after a very short college experience, both with great jobs – a doctor and a vet.  Now to enter the workforce and see what else LIFE has in store for us.  Next on the list was getting engaged and getting married.  Again, this was a decision that was much easier in the game because there are no real emotions going on here – no last minute ex’s coming into the picture to make you reconsider and turn a 21 year old girl into a complete and total teary mess when your fiance decides he doesn’t want to get married anymore and leave the state for a few days.  No fiance running back a few days later with a change of heart and a wedding that should never have continued going on “as planned” which well as I mentioned later ended in divorce (big shocker I know)! My son quickly got married, accepted his wedding gifts from the other players (ok – just from me since it was just the 2 of us playing tonight), and continuing along the game of LIFE.  Did I mention that neither of us had to pay a penny to get married in the game? I remember quite clearly the amount of money my parents ended up spending for me to get married back then and it was a big deal and there were lots more decisions.

Back in the game the next stage of course was having children and both my son and I ended up with 2 children each in the game.  He was actually really excited about getting as many children as he could.  He really wanted a car full of kids and a few twins. I guess it’s a good thing that at 8 years old he sees himself in the future with kids and looks at that as a reward.  It’s reassuring that when he becomes an adult that maybe he’ll still have that same feeling and not be one of those guys afraid to commit to getting marriage and having a family - but he is only 8 and he’s got a lot of LIFE lessons still to learn.

Again in the game it was funny that having kids was super easy! You just plop out a little pink or blue peg and take them home. Not at all like the 9 months most women spend puking their guts out, getting fat and wondering if they’ll need an epidural!  Oh and did I mention that you get $5,000 for having a baby in the game – did I miss that part in real LIFE?

Next up was getting your first starter home. Now is when it started to get really fun – in the game we’d both already made a butt load of money as a doctor and a vet and we could pick any house we wanted.  Being completely new to this game I chose to go conservative and pick a middle of the road Cape style house for about $140,000.  My son didn’t want the biggest house either and chose to go with a lesser valued house around $80,000.  There was no worry and stress about which house you were going to pick, no stress over if now was the right time to buy, if you should live in an apartment a little longer, none of the real LIFE worries ever came into play in the game.  By the time I bought my first real LIFE house I had already been divorced but I wasn’t finished with that very long college path yet so there was no career yet either.  Just a fantastic man that I knew I was going to later marry and myself in the boonies of Georgia where we knew we could afford our tiny little pad.

Back in the game there were more decisions to be made – my son lost his job and had to pick another career. In his second career he got to be an athlete so that was pretty cool.  Of course I’m sure there aren’t too many vets turned athletes after getting married and having 2 kids – but again this is only a game!  We both had to decide whether we went back to college or continue on the game of LIFE – we both went back to college and we both decided to keep our cool jobs with no maximum salaries.  I loved how every few pay days that you would get a raise without asking!

As we continued to play my son kept talking about his family – not his money or his job. As a mom that makes me proud and I feel confident that even with all our parenting errors that he’s going to turn out ok in real LIFE.  We both kept playing and moving along our given paths and it came to upgrading our homes – this one made me giggle! I of course lived out my dream and upgraded to a slightly larger home.  I was now living in a nice $400,000 middle class dream home – I had the money to get a bigger home, even a mansion, but this was really the house I wanted in real LIFE.  My son on the other hand traded in his cute little starter home for a Double Wide Trailer!  Yes, my son the vet turned athlete decided to buy an $80,000 double wide! He also owned a second house in the cabin and a sailboat – just like an athlete right?  Oh and did I mention that he also survived a tornado?  No devastation here – just pay $120,000 and keep on moving!

The end of the game pretty quickly – I was afraid of that Monopoly 2-3 hour game time so being done in about an hour was great!  In the end we forgot about our long term investments – just like in real LIFE – but we ended up with a ton of money, 2 kids, and no divorces.  We both retired in the mansion and lived happily ever after!

I wonder how much fun my real LIFE would be if it were a board game?  What about you?  Is there a lesson we should be teaching our children about real LIFE?  Are we doing a good job at it?  Or will they make similar mistakes in their own lives and have to learn to live with their decisions.  I can only hope that his real LIFE is much easier and much more like the board game but I know that’s not really going to happen.

Disclosure:  No disclosure is needed it – I’m just writing about LIFE experiences with an 8 year old.  And I should add as a footnote that my family may not be perfect and life might not be easy but it’s a pretty good life.  And it wouldn’t be so perfect without my husband and father to my kids who is at work on Father’s Day.  Baby – I love you and I’m happy to be on the road of LIFE with you! We’re very lucky to have such a great ‘Dad’ in our family.  Thanks for all that you do.

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Every year our family gathers together to take some photos that we’ll use on our Christmas cards.  I’m usually a last minute person and don’t get them done until long after Thanksgiving has past.  This year I was provided an opportunity to use tinyprints to order our Christmas cards as part of a blog partnership.  I’ve seen their ad in magazines and drooled over their stylish cards for years but like I said I usually run out of time.  With a little incentive from tinyprints I dressed my kids up in their Sunday best and after church one Sunday we stayed on the grounds and took some photos. 

I like to pretend that I have some photography skills and I usually end up with a few photos that look really nice.  Out of about 50 pictures I found a few that I loved and decided to play around with PhotoShop.  I’m still learning that too.  Finally I sat down one evening and started looking through the thousands (yes, really – over 2,000 designs) of card styles that tinyprints offers.  I didn’t have any restrictions placed upon me so I simply searched until I found the perfect card for our family.  It was no easy decision either.  You can make your cards using one photo or a collage of photos – the possibilities were practically endless.  It was very easy to navigate and narrow down your selection based on price (starting as low as .69 ea), number of photos, or colors. 

Once I found the card style that I liked it was time to play with the photos.  I’m sure if you are good with your photo editing and have plenty of time to spare you could do just about anything with your photos and cards.  With just about an hour left before my eyes slammed shut I imported pictures, cropped, played with colors, etc.  Once I was happy with my selection I woke up the hubby to get his thoughts on my hard work – thankfully he approved! 

I was even able to have the envelopes pre-printed with our return address.  If I had more time and had been even more prepared I could have had the addresses to all my recipients pre-printed.  After reviewing my proof I pushed ORDER and away they went to the printers!  The processing time was very quick and I had a proof to review within 24 hrs.  Within the first 48 hrs my cards were proofed, printed, and shipped – arriving just a few short days later.  I even think thattinyprints would have worked in years past with my normal procrastination. 

Once the package arrived I was excited to see just how perfect our Christmas cards were going to be for the year.  I’m very pleased with the results and I’m sure this year our family and friends will be keeping our cards in their photo albums instead of the trash. 

Are they eco-friendly?  Unfortunately tinyprints doesn’t have any advertised eco-friendly options for paper or ink.  Even their shipping seemed to be a bit wasteful – the box they arrived in was oversized for the cards – however the cards were an unusual dimension.  Our families Christmas cards never have been printed eco-friendly though.  We treat them as we would our family photos and hope that our friends and family will treasure them for years to come.  After all it’s usually the only time some of our friends and family get to see our growing family and that’s worth the environmental impact to me. 

Tiny Prints provides simple, modern and unique stationery from Christmas cards to personalized greeting cards to thank you cards and even business cards. Offering exclusive designs from the nation’s top designers, easy card personalization, a powerful preview engine and top-notch customer service and paper quality, their designs have been lauded by numerous television networks, publications and celebrities. With Tiny Prints by your side the Holidays will be a cinch! They offer perfect party invitations for every occasion and memorable personalized photo-gifts like notebooks, photo-books and calendars.

Are you a blogger?  Would you like to review the tinyprints holiday collection? They will be giving out 60 cards to selected bloggers who apply!

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I’m really trying this year to not get carried away with all the commercialism of the season.  I’ve realized this year that my son takes a lot of things for granted because he’s never ‘needed’ anything that he hasn’t gotten.  It’s not an easy thing but we’re working on giving from the heart. 

I mentioned a few days ago how I am trying to give my son something from the heart each day for Advent.  Special time with me is something that I’m sure he will remember and value when he is older.  So far we’ve made rice crispy treats together, we’ve decorated our tree together, and a few other things.  Tonight I treated my kids to another special family night.

The weather in FL was fabulous so I decided to pick up McDonald’s and take the kids to the beach after school.  I had forgotten how early the sunsets this time of year so we only had 20 minutes before we were asked to leave the park (we went to our favorite State Park beach) because it was closing.  It was ok though, the weather on the island wasn’t as nice as it was on the mainland.  It was already misty and windy so we couldn’t stay long anyways.  It was just long enough for the kids to put there feet in the sand and listen to the sounds of the ocean. 

Since we were so short on time at the beach we didn’t eat until after we left…so I stopped on the Causeway Beach to finish watching the sun go down.  It’s so strange how you can drive one mile and loose the mist and dreariness.  It was nice to see the sun go down.

Next up on the events of the evening…drive through a local neighborhood and look at Christmas lights!  What an un-eco-friendly way to end our night! LOL!  Sometimes holiday traditions and eco-friendly don’t go hand in hand…but it’s still special!  Here is one of my favorite light displays…

I wonder what other special things I can do with my kids?  What will I do next? 

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I wish it wasn’t almost midnight and that I had actually taken some pictures of our evening.  If you read my recent post about Eco-Advent Calendars you remember that I am taking a cue from a friend of mine and doing something fun with my family each night.  It’s Day 3 and I just started! 

Tonight we went searching for a new Christmas tree.  We were all over the place this year but I knew I wanted something new (real, fake, palm, or pine).  We ended up settling on a new fake tree.  I know there is so much eco-ntroversy over which is better for the environment but at $88 this tree will last us another 10 years!  We are finally retiring our original tree from when we first moved in together.  I think 10 years is good for the environment don’t you?  And it’s not trashed…it will go to a good home where it can get a second life. 

Anyways…we brought our tree home only to realize we bought the wrong one! Boo!  Thankfully hubby ran quickly back to the store to exchange it.  In the brief 20 minutes that he left Big B and I made Rice Krispie Treats together!  He loved watching the marshmallows melt and adding the cereal to the bowl.  He’s really such a big help these days.  Lil’ B watched excitedly from her high chair…wondering what all the fuss was about!

The best part of the night was everyone sitting down together eating our treat!  I wonder what we’ll do tomorrow…maybe we’ll at least find some time to put the ornaments on the tree!

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Hello? 

Hello? 

Is anyone out there? 

Oh wait, you are probably saying…”Where is The Eco Chic?  I haven’t seen anything new from her in a while!!”  Never fear my friends…I am still here!  As usual life has gotten in the way of blogging.  When my friends tell me that the feel neglected and in second place over the Internet I start to take the hint.  (I do listen.)  My family suffers from my addiction at times too.  It’s rare to find a night at the Eco-House where my nose isn’t buried into my computer as soon as the kids are snoozing away!  My dear sweet husband is sitting on one end of the sofa playing Vampires or Mafia Wars on his iPhone and I’m on the other end blogging or tweeting!  Really, it is a sad life we live.  Add in a few visits out of town and I’m actually starting to miss my little escapes to the blogosphere! 

You know exactly what I’m talking about.  There is something much more pressing and important that you need to be doing right now than reading my thoughts…but you are still here…and I love you for it! 

So now that I’ve spent a week conserving energy (hehe!) let’s get right back into the Eco World!  I have so much information and updates to bring you that I don’t know where to start first. 

FTC and blogging!  Why not, everyone else is talking about it.  The FTC is now regulating bloggers who receive compensation (either product or $$) in exchange for writing up a review for companies.  READ the actual regualtions here.  To set the Eco-Record straight…yes I receive compensation for SOME, not ALL, of the reviews that I write.  Most of the compensation I receive is my way of free product.  But rest assured that I have always (and will continue to be) been honest with you in my reviews.  If there is a product that I really don’t like I will tell you what I don’t like about it.  I will also point out the things I do like about it.  And if the product is really that horrible I will send it back to the company that sent it to me.  (Thankfully that hasn’t happened yet!)  What are your thoughts on the FTC regulations?  Do you think it will better the blogosphere?  Do you think that companies will quit offering compensation for reviews?  Have you ever found a product that you really, really, really love because of a product review on a blog?  Tell me about it!  (Leave me a comment below!!)

Breastfeeding!  Yes, I just jumped from the FTC to the Boob!  LOL!  Lady B (she’s growing up so Lil’ B just sounds so young!) is now 9 months old and is still attached to the boob!  Even with 4 teeth and business trips that take me away from her we are still breastfeeding and I couldn’t be happier. 

Cloth Diapers!  Yes, we are still using cloth and loving it!  I have 2 new diapers that I am reviewing right now.  The first is by GroBaby and the second one just arrived yesterday from Bamboo Bums.  Can I tell you that bamboo is soooooooooo soft!  Oh la la….I need a blanket out of this stuff!  Or a sweater?  Hmmm….  Our child care provider is adjusting ok to cloth but we still have a ways to go to get her fully on board.  She’s using cloth but she has some concerns.  For instance…she was sending them home in plastic bags INSIDE the wetbag…kinda defeats the purpose of the wetbag!  And yesterday she told me she put her in a sposieat nap time because she hadn’t gone poo all day.  Sure enough she did go poo at nap time and cleanup was much easier on her…but again…defeating the purpose of cloth!  It’s going to take a little bit of educating and empathizing with her to get her fully on board.  I think I need to practice my new nonviolent communication skills that I’m learning from my new book, Nonviolent Communication, A Language of Life by Marshall Rosenberg.  I’m reading it as part of the training to become a Real Diaper Association (RDA) Circle Leader for the Tampa Bay area.  More on that in another post. 

Family News!  My son is the light of my life and got rave reviews from his teacher yesterday in our first conference of the year.  Besides the fact that we have a mini-genius on our hands I was moved by her words on his kindness and heart!  I guess my little boy is beginning to show compassion for others and that just moved me to tears!  He’s being a mentor to a little boy in his class who doesn’t speak English well…voluntarily!  I couldn’t be more proud of him and the wonderful little man he is becoming!  Lady B is 9 months (like I mentioned earlier) and is weighing in at a whopping 17 3/4 lbs.  I don’t think her brother was that big at a year! LOL! 

Reviews & Giveaways!  Don’t worry I have many things waiting to be written about!  I have more cleaning products to write about, baby food, baby toys, kids toys, diapers, blankets, and so much more coming your way!  Now I should go formulate my game plan on how to get caught up again!  

Thanks for visiting and caring about where I have been!  I really need to find that balance between real life and my blog that seems to get a little off balance more often than not!  Have a great weekend!

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OK ladies and gentlemen!  Help a fellow blogger and friend win $100 from Cozi!  All you have to do is leave me a comment!  The one with the most comments WINS!  So if you are reading this leave a comment below!

1.  I haven’t seen my oldest (6yrs) in over a week and he comes home TOMORROW!!!!

2.  I get to go talk to a friend about commissioning me to do a mural in her new day care center!

3.  I get to spend some quality time with my friends at PHCC tonight for Spaghetti Dinner!

4.  I live in FL…who ever wants to leave FL for Chicago?  Or any other place?

5.  I’ve been traveling with work so much that I enjoy my quiet relaxing days at home.

6.  If I were at BlogHer I would miss my Big B, Lil’ B, Hubby and Kitty too much!  I leave them enough (see #5) the rest of the year!

7.  I need to catch up on some blog contests and giveaways of my own! 

8.  Did I mention I live in Florida and the sun will be shining all weekend?  The pool and beach are calling my name!

9.  I’m into saving the environment and my staying at home will keep my carbon footprint down!

10.  I will have some time to learn all about Cozi!  This cool new online tool that is going to help organize my life!  Lord knows I need a little more organization in my life!  Do you?

PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS HERE!  And go check out Cozi and see if they can help you organize your life!

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