HiHoRosie's Place

Hey guys ~ Happy Friday! Let’s get this party started by introducing you to my first giveaway of 2011! It’s a goodie for sure, read on. Some of you may have noticed hints leading up to this in a few posts. See here , here , and here . You know when you see those, something good is coming up. CSN Stores is great. They have over 200 online stores to shop from and you can buy just about anything. Seriously. Need a couch ? They’ve got those. How about a treadmill ? They've got that too. Maybe you’re looking for a new cutting board (remember I burned mine ). Well, CSN has a selection. Here’s a recent review I did of some things I bought from CSN Stores. I’ve bought some other things from CSN which I haven’t posted about but I’m tellin’ ya, they’re a great shopping source. For this giveaway, CSN Stores has very generously offered TWO online gift codes for TWO people in the amount of $120 EACH. Yeah, you read that right.        (2) $120 online gift certificates to CSN Stores

And so it begins... The artwork (I realize this is nothing compared to what's possibly in store for me): What's not shown are the carrot slices so carefully placed in between the dishwasher door and counter. The artist (I told him to smile for the camera/mama, this is what I got - that's peanut butter in his hair): But with a sweet face like this how can I not giggle while cleaning it up (and take pics with pride first)? Days like this I hope to cherish as they seem to only fly by in an instant.

It was a good weekend. How about yours? On Saturday, I was looking at modern rugs when I got an email from Melissa of Contagious Health  that I won her giveaway . I am sooo excited! The new Kris Carr book, which by the sounds of it is just so great and a book on vegan food substitutions. Now, that will be very helpful for me. Thanks Melissa! I know I’m going to love them both. While hubs was out doing boy stuff, YS2 and I took a walk around the ‘hood. We had to take advantage of the no-rain weather (there was actually sunshine!) so off we went. By the time I remembered I had my camera with me the sun was setting so I don’t have many shots of our walk. I like mossy walkways. Recently, I received a sample energy bar from Caleb  (gotta love that name! *wink*) of Adventure Naturals . He and co-founder, Chris are working to startup their company by raising funds via Kickstarter, which you can donate to help them on their way (they just met their initial goal but donations are always

isn't that just the sweetest face?! So I just have to brag a bit about my cutie-patootie, YS2. He’s 20 months old now and is talking lots. He knows how to say GUITAR! It’s so cute! It comes out like gih-gih-gihtarh!Oh and he says “um” – guess who says that? :/ I need to stop with the conversation fillers (I say so a lot too). He also loves to point to certain letters and sound them out like O, A, B, C, and T. He is going to be an early reader, I think. Okay, this isn’t the bragging part (tee hee!). I believe I’ve mentioned before his love of ‘nooch’ (term for nutritional yeast for those not familiar) but he seriously *loves* it! He loves food that’s made with it or is sprinkled on top. He’s even dipped his apple wedge in it. But his favorite way to eat it is for me to put a small pile on his tray so he can dip his fingers in to lick clean or better yet, putting his face in it and licking it up. This is hard core, people. Even I don’t do that! ;)  source

I’m here! I’m alive! Life has taken precedence so to say I’m behind on blogging is an understatement. So many ideas swirling in my head, too. What I didn’t mention in my past post was that I was in the middle of a “vacation.” I took two and half weeks off work so family time was at an all-time high plus, as you regular readers know, I was still recovering from my illness then there were the holidays , which were beyond happy. Crazy and mad fun. Then vacation was over and it took some time to get back into a groove and into routine. Obviously, some areas will take awhile to recover. :) *** Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see. Martin Luther King, Jr. We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. Martin Luther King, Jr. *** Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day . Maybe some of you are fortunate to have the day off (not me). I was thinking that even though I don’t have the day off I’d still think about Dr. King and the many p

Happy New Year, Everyone! Let’s make it a good one! source Looking back at 2010, it started out very rough for me. Many times I’ve been tempted to lash out here on my blog about it but have refrained out of respect for others but also because my blog isn’t the place for such negativity. Plus, even though I’m justified in my feelings and thoughts, I’d only sound desperate and vindictive. Not what I want in my life. Actually, that is one of the things I carry over into the new year: positivity . I want to learn from the past but not live in it . I don’t typically but it’s easy to get discouraged when feeling overwhelmed. So I take a deep breath and move forward. It is fun looking back at other great things that happened over the year; things I’ve learned; things I’ve experienced. I learned to be more open and try new things, both in life and with food. With food, I learned that fresh blueberries are okay and mushrooms may not be all bad. :) In life, I learned that I’m stronger than I