My Raggedy Ann Doll

I still have my Raggedy Ann doll that an aunt made. It's nearly 35 years old. My sister had one too, with a bright blue flowered dress but hers became lost along the way.  I need to clean her face - it has pencil on it. Otherwise she's in very good shape. It's not a doll we played with much but I'm glad I still have it.

Rexall Brand Products at Dollar General - BOGO #Coupon

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Dollar General for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have to be honest, I haven't been to Dollar General before. We have three nearby, so I checked it out.  There's actually more than 9,000 stores nationwide so there's bound to be a Dollar General close to your home. They carry all sorts of products such as paper goods, holiday/gift supplies, foods, clothing, pharmacy type items, toys, and many household items.

Among many well known brand name products Dollar General carries the Rexall brand. Founded in 1903, Rexall values have stood the test of time, and after more than one hundred years, their commitment to providing families affordable, high-quality wellness products still serves as the foundation for Rexall's success. Still today, Rexall products from over-the-counter medications, vitamins, sunscreens, and home health care products are all available at affordable prices. Get your BOGO coupon today to use on these Rexall products. Rexall believes this is what being a good neighbor is all about. And this is what will carry Rexall into a healthy future. 

Available at all Dollar General stores and Market locations, the Rexall brand is one that has been trusted by families for over 100 years. With a high quality of assortment of health, wellness, first aid and personal care items a family can keep everyone in good health for less.

Find more information regarding the Rexall brand and where to find a Dollar General nearest to your home:  http://www.dollargeneral.com/home/index.jsp

Sign up for the Rexall Good Health newsletter to get a BOGO coupon for Rexall brand products!

Holiday Wrappings at Dollar General

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Dollar General for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Hopefully everyone's "wrapping up" their holiday shopping and are ready for the fun part, wrapping all those presents and making them festive.  

Dollar General has everything you need for holiday gift wrapping. At a great price too!

Look what you can get for $10.00:

• Snowman Gift Bag: $2.00
• Small snowman Gift Bag: $1.00
• Green glitter polka dot gift bag: $2.00
• Vintage ice skate & holly gift bag: $1.00
• Polka dot printed tissue (5 sheets): $1.00
• Pink wired ribbon 9 ft/roll: $1.00
• Snowflake Roll Wrap (75 sq ft):  $3.00 

Ok, so I spent $11 on this!  The gift bags are nice - glossy with glitter, ribbon or decorative yarn strings and nice gift tags.

I could have bought more for my money, but I know what I like and I was willing to spend $3 on one bag and $2 on the others. If I bought more roll wrap, I certainly could have wrapped lots & lots of gifts! Since our family doesn't celebrate the Christmas holiday and I don't buy Christmas gifts (therefore do not have as much to wrap) I bought more "seasonal" type wrap for my twin sister's birthday presents. We do kind of go all out for birthdays in our family... 

I wrapped all of these (includes a baby gift for a cousin and my son's exchange gift for school).  I have 1/2 of the snowflake roll wrap left over. I could wrap a lot of gifts with $10 at Dollar General!

I was impressed with all that was available at great prices in the Dollar General Gift Center besides boxes, tape, roll wrap and gift bags, like: decorative ribbon for wrapping gifts, decorating or crafts:

These great puffy sticker gift labels:  LOVE puffy stickers!  

Loved the roll wrap! $3.00 for licensed designed wrap with Dora, Thomas and Coke.  I know some special ones who would like that! And 3 roll packs for $5. Good deal.

Visit the Dollar General Gift Center for all your wrapping supplies!

Be a fan of Dollar General on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/dollargeneral

VIPRE Antivirus

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

I recently installed and began using Vipre Antivirus software. I never have a problem with viruses on my computer and I want to keep it that way!  Vipre provides fast scans and powerful protection against today's highly complex malware threats. 

Antivirus software is something I generally leave up to my husband because I don't want to deal with it but Vipre antivirus software was very easy to install. I like that while it was installing it provided tips and information about the antivirus software. I also like that it didn't ask me if I wanted to install a bunch of toolbars and spammy options I'm not interested in. Actually, there were no confusing options or intimidating settings to guess at.  It simply installed in minutes.  Here there's a box to check to join ThreatNet, to allow the sharing of data for improved service and reliability.

In the past I've always used the free AVG. It has always seemed to do the trick. What I didn't care for was the pop up window that always comes up when I get an email that says "scanning email" - mostly just a distraction. I'm not sure if that could be turned off or not? The menus always look like ads (because they are).  I like how Vipre antivirus software works behind the scenes when receiving emails. I ran a scan while working on another project and using the internet and it didn't slow down my computer at all.

Vipre is designed to optimize overall performance by melding antivirus and anti spyware together into one, single, powerful tool. This combination of technologies gives you high performance  software that doesn't slow down your PC, is low on system resources, and makes it easy to protect your PC.

Vipre is easy to install, one of the best antivirus programs available and comes with free U.S. based technical support.

Give Vipre antivirus software a try!

My Five Senses of Christmas Booklet|Printable

Last week we worked on these booklets about our five senses of Christmas.  With a little prep these come together quickly.  I cut out all the shapes for my group, but if yours are old enough, they could cut out there own if they are printed on colored paper. My group of boys were enthusiastic about creating their pages and sharing it with their parents!

My son brought a booklet like this home in kindergarten or 1st grade. I loved it. I created a template for my group to use (download below) but I do not know who the original author of it is.

Click here to download the booklet pages: Scribd|Google

Click here to download the pattern Pages: Scribd|Google

The cover can be colored. 

Page 1: I like seeing the tree. It is pretty as can be!  For the tree, we used colored circle stickers and coloring to decorate the tree.

Page 2: I like hearing bells ring. It makes me want to sing! Bell shape to color or paint & then tape a string with a jingle bell on the back.

Page 3: I like feeling my bear. It is soft like my hair! Bear shape with circle cut out of felt or other soft fabric.

Page 4: I like smelling a spice. I think it is nice! We mixed brown paint, glue and cinnamon to make our scented paint mixture.

Page 5:  I like tasting a sweet. It is so much fun to eat! We stuck pieces of white tape to the candy cane shape.

Click here to download the booklet pages: Scribd|Google

Click here to download the pattern Pages: Scribd|Google

Not Very Merry

12/12/12

Otherwise known as Aaron Rodgers day in Wisconsin! This day isn’t coming again, so my kids made some art to celebrate.  WI culture!

My Life Line: A Lifetime of Memories [Paperback]

My Grandma recently died in October at the age of 96. She had previously started writing down her family history and life memories. She started on a word processor and worked on parts of it through the years so we have clips and bits of history floating around in the form of pictures, notes and such. 



Before her death, my Mom started helping her pull together a real book. As in actually published on Amazon through CreateSpace, which is a great way to inexpensively self publish a professional book!

Mom asked me to do the cover and I really enjoyed it. I wrote the top section and Mom wrote most of the bottom part. I was glad to contribute and have a small part in the making of it. Grandma named the book herself.

Grandma didn’t get to see this beautiful finished copy but we know she would be so pleased. Like Mom said, she wrote much of it and knew the story better than anyone! It was wonderful that she had such a great memory up until her last days. We are so fortunate in more ways than one to have this.

She was such a special Grandma and we have this to always remember her by and share with generations to come. My own son will probably have just a few memories of her since he was so small when he spent the most time with her. She has left us message through her life story. It is amazing book filled with history & personal stories, a real treasure! I had tears when I first saw it and looked through the pages.

The book includes:

• Grandma’s Childhood & Growing Up Years
• A section on Grandpa
• {how} Some things were different then
• About {Grandma’s} Grandparents
• The Huisheere and Hesebeck Names
• Places {Grandma & Grandpa} lived while raising their family
• Grandma’s recollections
• Poems, recipes, newspaper articles and keepsakes
• and a lot more that's special to us

Book Description

Publication Date: December 4, 2012
My Life Line has been a labor of love intended for the family and friends of Rena Hesebeck. It started with her own efforts to record her life from the earliest memories of her childhood until her last days when family has helped to finish the near-century long story of her years. Rena took glowing pride in all her family and the accomplishments of each individual. She enjoyed the many cards, letters and pictures that were sent to her on various occasions over her lifetime and had most of them in her possession until the last year of her life. Her faith in the living God was the anchor to her soul and much comfort in the difficult times of life as well as her guide since she yielded her life to Him as a young girl. It was Rena's hope that her family would treasure their history and understand more fully the struggles and triumphs of the past that have influenced who and where they are in life today. While this story is not expected to be on any best sellers list, it is purely a work of love to be enjoyed and treasured by the ever growing family started by John LuVerne Hesebeck and Rena Anna Huisheere in the early 1900s.

About the Author

Rena Anna Hesebeck loved life and faced many challenges in her days of nearly a 100 years. While she was not a famous name or face in this world, it was not what she aspired to be. She was a dedicated and loving wife, mother and (great great) grandmother who would fight hard to stand up for those she loved and believed in whenever they needed her support. She’d encourage and uplift in times of troubles or disappointment. Next to her God and husband, her children were the center of her life and they all knew without a doubt that she loved and cared for each one of them for who they are. By this book, she wanted each of you to know your family history and have pride in your heritage as you carry on to build your own family histories. (Editorial assistance was provided by other family members to complete this book.)

Cozy Sweater Collages

As part of our “Sights & Sounds of Winter” (we’re actually covering all 5 senses), we made cozy sweaters. We talked about the words “warm” and “soft”.

This activity goes well with the story The Jacket I Wear in the Snow

This idea is originally from The Mailbox. I created this printable to share.

Cozy Sweater Collage Printable Scribd|Google




Cozy Sweater Collage Printable Scribd|Google

Ribbon Ornaments

Today we made these simple ribbon ornaments. They’re very simple but so sparkly!

We used these rolls of ribbon from the dollar store. The clear plastic fillable ornaments are from Michael's craft store.

The kids cut pieces of ribbon and stuck them into the ornament.  Sounds simple right? These are simple ornaments & low mess...but there's more than meets the eye.

Look at all that concentration and work happening. They're using their fine motor skills to snip ribbon and insert them into the ornament. Lots of busy fun work happening here. They were so into their work and using their fine motor skills to make something exciting! 

For the littlest guy, I cut short pieces of ribbon for him to insert into his ornament. He wasn’t so interested in using scissors today and he was more interested in putting the ribbon in.
I tied ribbons to the top and printed their name tags to add to the ornament.

Very festive!