These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...

Every year about this time, family members ask me what I would like for Christmas. I've actually never been much about GETTING Christmas gifts...so it's usually difficult to come up with an answer to that question. However, I've been thinking about a few things that I wouldn't mind having...just in case someone REALLY wanted to buy me a gift this year. Oh, and if you happen to run into my husband, you may want to direct him to my blog for ideas. Hint, hint...

Here is my "wish list."

Most of you that know me well, know that I have collected almost each and every VeggieTales DVD, and I really do like to get my veggies. There are a few though, that I do not have yet. The very newest addition to the VeggieTales collection, is "It's a Meaningful life, " based on the popular classic Holiday movie, "It's a Wonderful Life," of course. I'd love to see that one. Another recently added story, is "Sweetpea Beauty," the story of the Princess and the Pea, and how our inner beauty is much more important than our outer appearance. I have not seen that one yet either. I DO have the screener of "Abe and the Amazing Promise, however, I don't have the DVD with all the extras. Other Classics missing from my collection, are Larry Boy and the Fib from Outer space, and Larry Boy and the Rumor Weed. I DO have them, in a 3 disc set, but would like to find them separately in their own cases. I know, I'm weird like that.

Here's an item I'd love to have in my kitchen. Since we live in an old farmhouse, with cupboards up to the ceiling, it's nice to have a step stool to reach the high ones. I have fond memories of one of these sitting in the corner of my grandma's kitchen back in the '60's. My mother always had something similar for the younger kids that were too big for a high chair, but too small for an adult chair to sit on at the table, too. Besides, it would totally match my red apple-themed retro kitchen:

Cosco Red Retro Step Stool (around $50), on sale at Pamida this Sat. and Sun. only for $39.

One thing I do NOT like about my country kitchen, is the fact that there is not enough cupboard space. I'd love to have one of these to put my canned food and dry goods in.

It would also match the microwave cart we have now.

This pantry is made by Ameriwood, and usually retails for around $99. However, it happens to also be on sale at Pamida this week, for $74.99

I have recently become a lover of "Crocs." You know, those ugly, ubiquitous, rubber clogs? Yes, those. After walking around the Minnesota State Fair for several hours on Labor Day this year, I had developed a painful blister on one foot. Since I really didn't want to walk around anymore with my shoe rubbing on it, when we stumbled across a Crocs display, I asked my husband if he'd buy me a pair. Because he loves me, (and he didn't want to listen to me complain about my blister the rest of the day), he agreed. I put them on, and instantly understood why everyone from infants to old people (like me), love to wear them. They are VERY comfortable. The only problem is...the style that I have is full of little holes...which is not exactly conducive to Minnesota winters...your feet tend to get a bit chilly and wet when the snow comes through the holes. However...I would LOVE to have a pair of Crocs winter boots! Then my feet would stay toasty- warm and dry...and comfortable. Here they are in "Espresso," which is the color I would prefer:

Crocs Crocband Winter Boot, in size 11 (They run small) Available at Crocs.com for $69.99

That's about all I can think of at the moment. I'll continue to update this post if anything else comes to mind between now and Christmas. In the meantime...have a Blessed and Safe Holiday Season!

Wii Just Dance 2 ~ What a Party!!

Recently, I was chosen to be a House Party host for the new Wii game, "Just Dance 2" by Ubisoft. I was to invite mothers and daughters, to come and dance to 4o+ dance tunes, and see who had the best dance moves. Well...since I don't have a very big living room, and my friend, Lisa, (of Our Seven QTPies fame) does, and was planning a couple of parties, (a Pillsbury Crescent Roll one and one featuring some pre-school toys) as well, we decided to combine them. She also wanted to host a "Thirty-One Gifts" party for our friend, Anna, who is now a consultant for that company, so we invited all of our friends to her house, on a Sunday afternoon and called it a MEGA party! Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate very well. It was snowing, and raining and the roads were very icy around here that day, but we opted to go ahead and have the party anyway.

Fortunately, four of Lisa's 7 children, are teenagers and all of them happened to be home that day. Another friend came with her 2 girls, so along with my 13yr old, Molly, we had plenty of teens to try out "Just Dance 2!" It worked out really well, too. We had Anna do her "Thirty-One" party first, and then sent the little ones in the next room to play with the pre-school toys, and Lisa fed us hors d' oeuvres, made with Pillsbury Crescent Rolls.

As far as the "Just Dance 2" part of the party? It was a HUGE hit! It was a little hard to get into at first, but it didn't take them long to catch on to how it was done.

That's my Molly, in the blue and orange. She was really getting into these dances, and seemed to be having a lot of fun. The other two in the above picture, are siblings, Hope and Cody. They were dancing to songs like, "Walk like an Egyptian" by the Bangles and WHAM's "Wake me up before you go go."

If you could see the above photo on the left, up close...Molly looks pretty funny. While she was dancing, her hair flew in front of her face, and it looks a bit like a mustache! The pic on the right is Cody, Molly and Allison.

After awhile, Cody and Hope's older brother, Devon got in on the action too. I was not surprised that the girls enjoyed this game, I WAS surprised and thrilled to hear the two boys' comments, while they were dancing. I'm not sure how many times I heard things like, "This game is AWESOME!" All the kids were really into it.

So, since we only had 4 Wii-motes, they weren't going to give them up to parental units without a fight. The kids were having so much fun, no one wanted to take them away, anyway. Toward the end of the party, one mother DID get brave though. Pam got up and started dancing with the kids, even though she didn't have a Wii-mote in her hand! Go, Pam!

I honestly think that if there had been more teens at this party, they would have done the same thing. They really did have a blast. In fact, When my daughter and I were ready to leave, we had a hard time getting them all to STOP dancing, so we could take our game home! And before we even left the house, BOTH boys had commented about how awesome "Just Dance 2" is, on their facebook status!

I had received a complimentary copy of "Just Dance 2," as a thank you gift for hosting this Dance Party, and writing an honest review of the product on my blog. To my surprise and delight, they also sent along a bonus copy of "Just Dance Kids!" I told Lisa she could keep the bonus game, for allowing me to have the party at her house, thinking that her younger children would enjoy it. Well, since her older kids didn't want to quit dancing when we were ready to go, they opened that one up, and were pleasantly surprised that "Just Dance Kids" is NOT JUST FOR KIDS, either! It has certain songs for younger children, some for the older ones, and songs that the whole family can dance to together. Lisa has also been using it to work out with lately, and said it was so much fun, she didn't even think about the fact that she was exercising! All in all, I would have to give both of these products two great big "THUMBS UP" and would highly recommend them for the teen or younger child in YOUR life, for a great Christmas gift! Ubisoft's "Just Dance 2" and "Just Dance Kids" are available from GameStop.com and if you live in my area, I've got a few coupons for $5 off an free shipping, if you order them from there by 12/10/10.

Now, just by watching my video below, you can help me get into the running to win a $1000 shopping spree from Game Stop! It's actually pretty funny, my friend's little grandson came into the room and after watching the big kids dancing, decided to join in: