National Peanut Butter Cookie Day!

To contact us Click HERE
Don't you just love celebrating National Food Holidays? Today is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day! I hope you enjoy this tasty day.

Here is our super easy Peanut Butter Cookie recipe. Do you have one? Feel free to leave your links and I will stop over and check out yours!

Do you prefer creamy or chunky? Jiffy or Peter Pan? Great Value or another store brand?


Here is a recipe for the easiest peanut butter cookie, ever. I usually get about 24 cookies out of a batch. 
Peanut Butter Cookies
1 egg1 cup plus 2-3 Tbsp sugar1 cup of peanut butter, creamy or chunky
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients. Spoon out onto cookie sheet.  Lightly smash down the cookies with fork tines, rotate fork 180 degrees and do it again. Sprinkle lightly with sugar.   Bake 7-10 minutes (until they are not shiny) Let cool for 1 minute and then put on cooling rack. 
*Some times I'll toss in chocolate chips or nuts to my cookies. How about you?

I'm a U by Kotex Tween Brand Ambassador!

To contact us Click HERE
I'm so excited to be selected as a U by Kotex Tween Brand Ambassador. I was selected because I have 3 teen daughters. I believe that qualifies me as a mom who has had many talks with her daughters. I know that I haven't shared much on this topic in the past here on my blog. For the next 6 months I will be covering all sorts of topics on the subject so please check back each month for more information. I really encourage you to share in the comments your thoughts on whatever is discussed.


Do you have any daughters? What are their ages? Have you had any type of talk with them about puberty? Please share! I just watched a video by Aimee Teegarden in her Gets Real Video by Kotex & Nickelodeon. I love how open Aimee is in sharing her experience between her mom and other teens. Aimee said that her mom was always open, honest and straightforward in sharing with her about life, puberty and menstruation. This has made Aimee independent and self-confident.


As a mom of three girls (twins are just about 18 and the baby is 13 1/2), I have also always been open, honest and straightforward in anything that they have asked or that we have discussed. I remember learning in school what the period was all about. I didn't have a mom to tell me what to expect and always felt alone and that the "period" was some dirty little secret. I didn't want my daughters to feel that way so from early age they were taught correct body part names and we kept from using slang for those parts. From there we went into puberty change talks, menstruation and sex talks. It is all a process and as a mom you want to ge the one doing the talking when they are listening.


If you haven't had the actual talk about puberty changes and up and coming period, I do suggest that you check out the Kotex website because it is full of wonderful resources. Before you can have any talk with your daughter, you have to educate yourself. Don't be alarmed if your daughter looks at you like you are speaking a foreign language when you start discussing it. 


My twins- first daughters were young enough that they had not heard about it from their friends. We had our first talk about menstruation in 4th grade because one of the girls had started her period and I didn't want them to learn about it from that girl. So get your self educated before you speak to them. Don't be surprised if they don't ask questions, at first! 


I also suggest that you check out U by Kotex website page for period questions that could be helpful for you to discuss with your tweens and teens and a site for you to send them to for more information for them to read on their own. The site is Hello Period- www.ubykotex.com/helloperiod. As with any website or paper material, I strongly suggest that you check it out first to make sure you know what they will be reading about so you can be ready to discuss as they ask questions. 


My connection with Kotex is that I use their products, I've checked out their sites numerous times for information and that I'm now one of their Brand Ambassadors. I feel very comfortable speaking about what is on their above sites and what I'm blogging about. If you have any questions at all, please leave them in the comments or you can email me. I'd be happy to help you out in any way to make this a wonderful mother daughter experience for you both.  Feel free to check out my PR Contact page because you will find my email address there!




I wrote this review while participating in a Brand Ambassador Campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of U by KotexTween and received products to facilitate my post and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Young Adult Fiction- how to know what to read?

To contact us Click HERE
I'm all for Young Adult Fiction. As a 40 something adult, I do enjoy a lot of YA work. As a parent of 3 teens I find it my responsibility to know and even read what they are reading. They can read any book they want just as long as I know what it is. If I'm not familiar with the book then I will either read it or google search the book. This is our parenting policy and it applies to their music, friends on facebook, texting, hanging out,etc. Am I a controlling freak of a mom? Absolutely, NOT! LOL What I am though, is a concerned parent who wants to protect her children and help guide them through these teen years just as I did when they were in the newborn stage, toddler stage, etc.

http://www.teensreadandwrite.com/

Have you heard about the Teens Read and Write website? So who is behind Teens Read and Write?? It is a site where teens review books, movies, sports, and stuff they love! So go check them out for more teen resources.


What are your teens reading? Do you check up on what your kids are reading? Do you ever tell them, "No." to a book they want to read because everyone is reading it? 

10 Teen Budget Fashion Tips

To contact us Click HERE
I'm a mom with 3 teen girls. YES, 3 teen girls. Here are some of our tips that allow my teens to be fashionable on a budget!
1) Swap- Teens are great at swapping with friends! Need a prom dress? Ask an older classmate to let you wear one of her older dresses! Need prom shoes? Ask another friend! One of my girls did this just this year. They were also given dresses from a few older teens.
2) Consignment shops- These stores are great places to list your nice items for sale.  Once you make money use that money to buy clothes from that store. You often get a better return for your money if you do it this way!
3) Clearance Rack- You must always shop the clearance rack. I look at the sale rack at every store I go to.  My teens look, too! I will almost always buy something that they find on the clearance rack.  Always think ahead on what events are coming up when you shop.
4) Yard Sales- Jeans, jeans and more jeans! Teens=Jeans.  Yard sales are the best places to pick up jeans.  Make sure your friends know what sizes you are looking for and vice versa. When you see something in a friend's size call them! Give them heads up on where to go!5) Payless Shoes- You must sign up for payless shoes phone coupon text. I get 1-2 messages a month for special sale offers like discounts and BOGO.  Teens love shoes and their feet are growing fast! I will always shop BOGO and discounts.
6) Outlet shopping- Name brand clothes to fit your budget! E'nuf said! 
7) Online shopping- Teens know to get online and compare prices! It only takes a few minutes to search around for best prices.  8) Online coupons and codes- Did you know that you can get store sale codes to order online?  Check out a few that I use: Coupon Cabin and RetailMeNot . Don't forget to nab the coupons for beauty supplies, too! Make up and nail polish are a must for fashionable teens!
9) Mailing list- Get on the mailing list at the stores you shop. Do postal mail and email newsletters. Get catalogs, too! I love getting catalogs in the mail. They almost always carry a coupon or monthly special.
10) Accessories- It is all about the accessories! Sunglasses, rings, necklaces, ribbons, lace, earrings, bracelets, etc.  Swap out with friends and add on layers! This changes the look of any outfit!

Top Picks for Homeschool Limerick?

To contact us Click HERE

My pick this week would be the Caught ya! series of books written by Jane Bell Kiester. Click her name to find out more information. Here is our easy lesson on making a Limerick.

Can you Limerick?

In Caught ya! #29 William Waggish whispered another one of his inimitable limericks. We learned that limericks were invented in 12-century China as a marching ditty for the army.

The form is 5 lines. The first 2 lines and the last line are to have 8 syllables & rhyme and the 3 & 4 lines are to rhyme with 5 syllables. (Information and instructions from Caught Ya!).

We also learned through Wikipedia that the limerick was made popular by:

Edward Lear in his first Book of Nonsense (1845) and a later work (1872) on the same theme. Lear wrote 212 limericks, mostlynonsense verse. It was customary at the time for limericks to accompany an absurd illustration of the same subject, and for the final line of the limerick to be a kind of conclusion, usually a variant of the first line ending in the same word.
(Lear's limericks were often typeset in three or four lines, according to the space available under the accompanying picture.)
Here are a few of our limericks!

*******************************
My teacher said to write this trick,
But I never knew what to pick.
So I thought and thought,
Unsure what'd be taught
And now I have this limerick.
******************************
On this white canvas I shall paint,
With colors that will try to taint,
Colors I can say,
Will be used today,
While I use this canvas to paint.
*****************************
Thank you girls! You did great! 

Now it is your turn! Can you do it? Post one for fun! Teach it to your kiddos and come back here and post!

Happy National Flip Flop Day!

To contact us Click HERE
How are you going to celebrate this National Holiday? I'm taking my daughter to the store to buy a new pair. Her 2 week old, cheap pair got stolen from the pool during swim team practice this week. Come on kids- don't you you know your own flip flops. I mean, really! Your feet form to your flip flops and if you put on another pair they don't fit your feet the same. We just hope the person really needed them and it was their only new pair of shoes in years.Thanks for being a friend of Susie QTpies Scraps of Life!

I took the Glad One Bag Challenge #giveaway

To contact us Click HERE
     Do you ever look around at all the waste we produce? I know that every time we have a party it involves a lot of paper products. Some aren't so environmentally friendly, either. One thing we do at parties is write names on everyone's cup. By doing that we seem to cut down on that extra waste. One of my party friends washes her plastic cups and reuses them for the next party. This is fun because the names are already written on the cups. So for the party you might end up being Joe instead of Jill.
     I was asked to participate in the Glad One Bag Challenge for my next party. This meant I was to send less to the landfill and recycle and compost the rest. I was thrilled to take on the Glad One Bag Challenge to see if we could use just one trash bag at a party. We did it! We actually did it for several parties.
     As part of the challenge, I was sent a Glad One Bag Party Kit. It came with a beautiful green insulated collapsible Metro Cooler Market Basket, Glad tote bag, Green Works all purpose cleaner, box of Glad's new trash bags and an environment friendly soy candle. It also included wonderful eco-friendly products to use with our outdoor events. The paper products in the kit were some that I have never used nor heard of. These paper products could all be used in the compost pile. Have you ever heard of such a thing? The plates and bowls were better quality than the ones I normally buy for outdoor parties!  
     Our party was full of fun, friendship, games, drinks and FOOD! Food is always served in abundance. This spring we have celebrated our Church picnic, graduation parties, birthday parties and confirmation parties. What parties are you hosting? Are you thinking about products you can buy that are eco-friendly? 
     Glad's new trash bag product is 65% recycled plastic to help conserve natural resources. Glad is committed to bettering the environment. For more information on how Glad is caring for the environment, head on over to their website gladtowasteless.com. The bags are strong enough to protect from messy trash disasters. We found that you could stuff A LOT into the bag with no rips or messes. We also used a compost bag for all the eco-friendly compost products. I have never done that before. It really felt great and everyone got into it, too!
     We found that it is easy to take simple measure to cut down on landfill trash and use more eco-friendly products. Parties are no longer an exception with all the products that are available to us. How about you? Do you use any eco-friendly products? If so, which ones? 


Would you like to win one of the Glad One Bag Party Kits? Enter below in the easy Rafflecopter form. 
Here is what is in the kit:

• Box of Glad Tall Kitchen Bags
• Glad One Bag Tote
• Collapsible Metro Cooler Market Basket
• Veneerware compostable flatware & supplies
• Earth Friendly Soy Candle
• Green Works All-Purpose Cleaner

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Glad and received a One Bag kit to facilitate my review, a kit to give away, and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.
a Rafflecopter giveaway Thanks for being a friend of Susie QTpies Scraps of Life!