The First Day

I gave you a wink and a smile
As you entered my room today.
For I know how hard it is to leave
And know your child must stay.
You’ve been with him for five years now
And have been a loving guide,
But now, alas, the time has come
To leave him at my side.
Just know that as you drive away
And tears down your cheeks may flow
I’ll love him as I would my own
And help him learn and grow.
For as a parent, I too know
How quickly the years do pass
And that one day soon it will be my turn
To take my child to class.
So please put your mind at ease
And cry those tears no more
For I will love him and take him in
When you leave him at my door.

Kelly posted : I love crayola…. I’m kind of anti any crayons that aren’t crayola. lol. I’m a fan on facebook now too!!

It’s here – it’s finally here……

I just can’t believe it (well, I can – I couldn’t wait for this day the last month)

I am happy, sad, excited, nervous, and so many more emotions ~ My oldest is starting Kindergarten. Plus, my baby is starting preschool.

Which means kid-free time (Yahoo!!!) It’s all so sad!

Wasn’t it just yesterday that this picture was taken when he started Preschool?

That year I only had to label 8 crayons and 8 markers. THIS year I had to label 32 markers, colored pencils, and 78 crayons. Thank god for my label maker!

You might have noticed while you were doing your back-to-school shopping that packages of Crayola crayons, markers and colored pencils have special icons calling out the way each product is lessening its impact on the environment. These affordable and “green” back-to-school essentials include:

• Crayola Markers – Thanks to new, innovative ways to manufacture Crayola markers from recycled bottle caps, “black” is the new “green!” Crayola markers will now have black barrels instead of white, which allows for more recycled plastic to be used and gives a second life to more than 1 million pounds of plastic bottle caps. Plus, switching to black barrels keeps hundreds of tons of plastic out of landfills each year.

Available in 10-ct. Broadline Classic Colors, 10-ct. Broadline Assorted Colors, 10-ct. Fineline Classic Colors, 8-ct. Washable Broadline and 8-ct. Washable Fineline.

• Crayola Green 24-ct. Crayons – The quintessential school supply found in virtually every elementary classroom will be made with the power of the sun. More than 26,200 solar panels will convert sunlight into electricity, generating the energy required to make 1 billion of the 3 billion crayons Crayola makes each year, which equals 60 million 24-ct. boxes. Mother Earth will be smiling down on every forest green, pine green and jungle green crayon that rolls off the assembly line!

• Crayola Green Colored Pencils – Committed to protecting the rain forests since 1987, all Crayola colored pencils have been made from reforested wood instead of wood sourced from tropical rainforest or endangered species. For every tree used, a new tree of the same species is planted. The 12-, 24-, 36-, and 50-ct. boxes of Crayola Colored Pencils will be among the first to carry the “Eco-Evolution” callout on their packaging

As part of Crayola’s ever-evolving green initiative, this back-to-school season, Crayola is making crayons with solar power, markers from recycled bottle caps and colored pencils from reforested wood.

Crayola crayons, markers and colored pencils getting greener is extra good news for parents. You can feel even better about Crayola products because you are supporting a brand that cares very much about kids and the environment and you’ll still get the same great quality and colors at the same price! So while sometimes environmentally-friendly products cost families more green, not so with Crayola!

So, lets get to the good part already!

In honor of the start of the school year Crayola and My Blog Spark are teaming up to give away a Crayola Green Prize Pack to one of my lucky readers!

I’m part of a great network of bloggers – the Double Duty Divas.  This group not only spends time blogging, but also talking with companies, networking, and reviewing products.

Enter to win a $20 Amazon gift card by “Meeting the Divas on Twitter.” You must follow all the Divas on twitter to enter to win. It’s easy – you don’t have to visit each site, just click here to follow all the participating Divas with one click of your mouse!

Feel free to let them know you’re new and I’m sure they’ll stop by to say hi to you too! One winner will be chosen from all the entries gathered on each site!

Once you’re following all the Divas, come back here do the following:

Leave a comment saying you followed all the Divas with your Twitter ID and the Twitter ID of at least one of the new Diva you are now following.

You must leave a comment no later than 8:00PM Central on 8/31 to be eligible to win!

Remember: Don’t forget to come back and let me know you’re following all the Double Duty Divas on Twitter to be eligible to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card (winner will be chosen from all participating blogs/entries by Double Duty Divas)!

Ingredients:
● 7 frozen sandwich steaks ; (like Steak-Umms)
● 1 small onion ; chopped
● 4 oz. can mushrooms stems and pieces ; drained
● 2 tubes refrigerated pizza crust
● 1 tbsp. Italian salad dressing
● 1/4 lb. provolone cheese slices

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a skillet over medium-high heat. Break the steaks into strips and add to the skillet. Cook, chopping with a spatula. As the steak is browning, add the chopped onions, continuing to chop and stir with the spatula until the onions are tender. Add the drained mushrooms and stir. Drain off the excess fat.

On a greased rimmed cookie sheet, unroll one of the pizza crusts and roll it to a 12″ x 10″ rectangle. Brush with the Italian dressing. Spread the cooked steak mixture evenly over the dough, leaving a 1/2″ border of bare dough around the edges. Place the provolone cheese slices evenly over the filling.

On a sheet of wax paper, foil, or a pastry cloth, unroll the second pizza crust and roll into a 12″ x 10″ rectangle. Flip over onto the filling and remove the wax paper. Press the edges all around to seal.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the dough is cooked and golden. Allow to rest for 5 minutes, then use 2 spatulas to remove it from the cookie sheet and place on a rack to cool. When cool, cover and refrigerate until firm. Cut into 10 bars. Wrap each individually and refrigerate or freeze until ready to serve.

These may be eaten warm, cold or room temperature.

Check out more great lunch ideas at Ultimate Recipe Swap and Tasty Traditions

Don’t you feel like when you brown ground beef it is so tedious to break it up with the wooden spoon. We used ground beef in so many things, so I feel like I am always browning it. In some dishes i like it to be finely chopped – like especiallly in Taco Meat. My trick is to use a pastry cutter or potato masher to chop up the beef as its cooking. This is so much easier and faster than using a spatula

Can’t wait to read all the other tips in your Works for me Wednesday posts!

January 1st I feel huge from all the Christmas treats, poor from all the money I spent in the last month, and just plain down since I live in Wisconsin and it is usually pretty cold that time of year.

So, as I get ready this week for the start of school next week I have started thinking about my goals and aspirations for the next year. Then in January I will review them.

Plus, I really want to make a vision board. I bought the canvas for this about two years ago and have never sat down and did it – but this week I am! So, be sure to come back next Tuesday and see what goals I have set!

Linked with Tackle it Tuesday

Ingredients:

1 (18.25-ounce) Box Vanilla Cake Mix
1 ¼ cups Water
⅓ cup Canola Oil
1 (1.25-ounce) Bottle Colored Snowflake Sprinkles
1 (1.85-ounce) Bottle Rainbow Sprinkles
Decorating gels, assorted colors
1 (12-ounce) container whipped fluffy white frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-muffin) tins with cupcake papers; set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, water, and oil. Use a hand held electric mixer and mix on medium speed for about 1 minute. Scrape sides of bowl and add both bottles of sprinkles. Mix for another 30 seconds.

Use a ladle to fill each lined muffin cup 2/3 of the way full. Using oven mitts, place cupcakes in preheated oven and bake for 21 to 26 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean with no wet batter. Use oven mitts to remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting, about 15 minutes.

Once cool, spread 2 tablespoons frosting on each cupcake. Using various gel colors, start in the middle of the cupcake, make circles outwards to the edge of the cupcake Begin at the edge of the cupcake and drag the tip of a toothpick to the center of the cupcake to make a spider web effect. Repeat this step, turning cupcake as you go.

Linked up with Cupcake Tuesday and What’s Cooking Wednesday

Okay, I know it is Tuesday and meme is called Mamavation Monday. OOPS! No excuses right…..completely forgot!

To tell you the truth, I didn’t do so well on my goal. I went gangbusters for a day or two and then dropped off completely. So, until we get this goal under control I am not going to add to it. I refuse to overwhelm myself so I fail.

So, here we go again……My goal for this week is to

Drink 8 glasses of water every day.

So, this time I am going to try to check in on twitter or the message boards so I keep inspired and motivated ~ that’s truly my issue- I need someone constantly giving me a swift kick in the butt!

I am also going to take on something else this week. On my Facebook page, I declared that this week was going to be about setting goals and resolutions. I always think of a new school year as the start of a “new year” and on New Years I do a review of all the goals I set since September. I’m going to set some weight loss goals too. So, what for that next week (hopefully on Monday)!

What goals are you setting for this week?

Linked up with 5 minutes of Mom, Wordless Wednesday and Seven Clown Circus.