Five on Friday - November 16, 2018

Happy Friday!  Glad you popped in to see my five for today!  So with no further ado, here it is ~

1.  Thawing Out Your Thanksgiving Turkey
Are you hosting Thanksgiving at your house?  I had for years, but this year I'll be enjoying the day at our son and daughter-in-laws.  It's their first holiday in their new home and they are exciting to be entertaining family.  Every year I wondered how big of turkey I should get?  How long will it take to thaw?  Just how long will it need to cook?  If you're in the same boat, here's a handy chart that answers all your turkey questions.  By the way, if your turkey is 20-24 pounds, get that bird in the fridge!

2.  Instant Family

Have you seen the previews for this movie?  I think it looks hiralious!  It is definitely on my list of movies to see.  Here's the synopsis from Fandango ~

When Pete and Ellie decide to start a family, they stumble into the world of foster care adoption. They hope to take in one small child, but when they meet three siblings, including a rebellious 15-year-old girl, they find themselves speeding from zero to three kids overnight. Now, Pete and Ellie must try to learn the ropes of instant parenthood in the hope of becoming a family.                              

3.  Ebates
With the holidays just around the corner, many of you may be starting to think about shopping.  Please tell me you are an Ebates member!  If not, what are you waiting on?  It's literally free money!  If you join now by clicking HERE, you'll get $10 after your first $25 purchase.  It's so simply to start earning money.  When you are shopping online (even Amazon!), visit the Ebates website first and look for the the store you will be shopping.  Click through to that store and shop as you normally would.  Make a purchase and get a percentage back from Ebates.  It's that simple!  Every quarter you'll get your big fat check.  If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a message and I'll try to answer it.

4.  Puddles by Naturalizer

We got snow yesterday.  It was beautiful to look at, but a real pain to walk in.  I'm putting these boots on my wish list to wear then the weather is wet outside.  Aren't they adorable!?!  If I had these, I might even wish for a snow (or rain) day every now and then just so I could wear them!  Click on the link and search for Puddles to check them.  Use code NATGO15 to get 15% off.  What a deal!!

Save 15% Off Sitewide with the Code NATGO15 at Checkout.

5.  Getting ready for Thanksgiving...

Have a great weekend!  My friend Linda is coming into town to help me celebrate my birthday.  We are checking out a new restaurant in St. Louis and visiting another one that is a favorite of mine.  On Sunday we are also going to a cooking class.  Fun times ahead!  Pop back in on Monday to hear all about it.

Linking up with:

The Peaceful Posse

Amanda at Meet At The Barre
Erika at Little Bit of Everything

Simply Sweet Home
High Five for Friday

The Blended Blog

This post contained affiliate links.  I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase.  Thanks

Friday Favorites Linky Party - November 16, 2018

Hello friends!  Welcome to Friday Favorites Linky Party where you are guaranteed to find a recipe, project or activity that you'll be glad you read about.  Feel free to link up your post and share.  Enjoy! 

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin

Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Lauren at All About That Mommy Life - Pin | Inst

Jennifer at Busy Being Jennifer - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst

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If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

<a href="http://www.simplysweethome.com/category/friday%20favorites/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="http://www.simplysweethome.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Friday-Favorites-Button.jpg" border="0" /></a>

You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

And if you love all of this week's favorites, please pin, share, and invite your friends to this week's linky party!

Thinking Out Loud Thursday - November 15 2018

Hey guys - happy Thursday!  Welcome to Thinking Out Loud Thursday.  I'm going to share what I'm thinking out loud about today and hopefully you will link up and share what's on your mind today as well.

As I type this on Wednesday night, St. Louis is sitting on pins and needles waiting for the predicted snow and sleet to begin.  They are calling for 3-5 inches overnight and another couple inches in the morning.  This makes the thought of driving during rush hour more than I even wanted to deal with.  Hence, Thursday will be a vacation day for me!!  I'm looking forward to viewing the beauty of the snow from inside my house while checking a few chores off my list.

With all the chatter about snow and ice, I'm thinking out loud about a few items we might want to add to our winter kit to make days fulled with snow and ice a bit more bearable!

The first item I'm thinking very serious about adding to my car this winter is this windshield cover.  When at work, my car sits outside.  My windshield is exposed to any precipitation that falls during the day and I hate spending time trying to get the ice off when I get off work.  This baby would eliminate that!

All your outside hoses should be disconnected to prevent freezing of the outside faucets.  Another precaution to take in keeping your outside faucets from freezing are these outdoor faucet covers.  They are easy to install and protect your outside water faucets, pipe, spigot, and hose bibs from freezing.  If these things freeze, you run the risk of the pipes bursting and nobody wants that to happen!

Do you feel cold air coming in around your outlets?  A few years ago I added these socket sealers to the outlets on our outside walls and we could quickly tell a difference.  These little things are so reasonably priced that it doesn't take long to recover the cost with the savings on the utility bill!

Make sure your ceiling fan is rotating clockwise when looking up at it.  Heat rises, so if your ceiling fan is turning the correct direction it will push down the warm air and force it to recirculate.

Since it seems winter is here to stay for a while.  What are some of your winter weather tricks?  

Now it's your turn.  What are you thinking out loud about?  Link up and share!

An InLinkz Link-up

Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop - November 14, 2018

Welcome to our party! Well, Veteran's Day is behind us and, of all things, Thanksgiving is just days away. Time to get out those amazing recipes and wonderful decorating ideas to get ready for family holiday celebrations! GREAT NEWS! Last week our party was HIGHLY viewed. Our views just skyrocketed! No doubt, blog hops are traffic generators. So, let's all pitch in and do 2 special things to keep the momentum going... 1] Visit several posts this week before you leave. Comment, pin, share! 2] Tweet our party. Get the news out for us all. We hosts tweet it every week! Last week's most visited posts are this week's features ...

Most Viewed

Home Tour Featuring Le Cultivateur - Poofing The Pillows

Very Popular

15 Unique Piggy Bank Ideas - Piggy Bank Principles

7 Mistakes I Made While Trying To Pay Off Debt - Parenting With A Dash of Authenticity

Hot Chocolate On A Stick - Candy's Farmhouse Pantry

 

Editor's Pick

How To Make A Pumpkin Roll Of Your Holiday Dreams - Oh! Mrs. Tucker

  Now, let's get this party started!

First, if you have not already, please follow our hosts this week on Instagram:

Ducks ‘n a Row – Instagram

Mom Resource – Instagram

My Life Abundant – Instagram

Engineer Mommy – Instagram

Penny’s Passion– Instagram

Eclectic Red Barn – Instagram

LeCultivateur - Instagram

Simple Steps For Living Life – Instagram

Please TWEET our party ♥ Use the hashtag #WWBlogHop

Add as many of your family-friendly posts as you would like to. No Etsy shops, adult sites or blog parties, please.

Visit others. Let them know you stopped!

If you are NEW to Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop, let us know in the comments so that we can follow you back. ♥ Help us find your posts – tell us what number they are!

NOTE: party entries appear in REVERSE. i.e. the most recent entry goes to the top! That way all of our guests will have a chance to be seen no matter when they arrive.

Thanks! ♥

An InLinkz Link-up

Cookie Swap Blog Hop

With the holidays quickly approaching, many of our minds turn to what we're going to be cooking and baking.  Today I'm joining a group of blogger friends to bring you a Cookie Swap Blog Link Up party.  If you're looking for a cookie recipe, look no further!

I'm sharing a recipe that belongs to Giada De Laurentiis - Spiced Pumpkin-Raisin Cookies.  She walked through this recipe on her Haunted House episode and it screams fall!  If you haven't had your fill of pumpkin (or even if you thought you had), you are going to want to whip up a batch of these!

Here's What You Need

1 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup old-fashioned oats

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

3/4 cup raw sugar, plus additional for sprinkling

1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup raisins

Here's What You Do

Position a rack in the center of the over and preheat to 350 degrees.  Line 2 heavy large baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, oats, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and allspice.  Stir to blend well. 

In a large bowl, combine the sugar, pumpkin puree, oil, syrup and vanilla; whisk to bend.  

Using a flexible rubber spatula, gradually stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture.  Stir in the raisins.

For each cookie, drop 1 generous tablespoon of batter onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing the mounds about 1 inch apart (or use a mini ice cream scoop).  Using moistened fingertips, flatten each to a 2-inch-diameter round. 

Sprinkle each cookie with a bit more raw sugar.

Bake the cookies until brown and a bit firm to the touch, 17 to 20 minutes.  Using a metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a rack and cool completely.

This recipe yields about 24 cookies.  They are so moist and flavorful, you might want to make more than one batch!  

These cookies pair nicely with a hot cup of tea or cider.  As a matter of fact, I'm enjoying one right now with a nice cup of tea!

Feel free to link up your favorite cookie recipe and enjoy those others have linked.  Please pop in on the other Cookie Swap hosts and see what they are sharing.  Happy baking!

Shelly | Penny | Stephanie

Heather | Keri | Whitney | Leslie 

An InLinkz Link-up

Five on Friday - November 9, 2018

Happy Friday!  Are you all adjusted from the time change last weekend?  I'll never get used to leaving work in the dark, but I just keep thinking that every day we are one day closer to spring and the light will return to my life!

Ready for my five for today?  Here you go ~

1.  Chalk Table Cloth
With Thanksgiving less than two weeks away, I decided to share some things you might "need" for your holidays this year.  My friend Tracy gifted me a chalk table cloth a few years ago and I love it!  I always throw it on a table at Thanksgiving with sticks of chalk and the kiddos stay busy for hours.  I've also used it at parties to write messages and identify treats being served.  My nephew, Kayden, also enjoys it when there's math problems written all over it and he can answer in chalk.  Need one at your house?  Click HERE to get your own.

2.  Thanksgiving Pillow Covers

Remember the Halloween pillow covers I got?  Well, check out the Thanksgiving ones!  I absolutely love adding these to my decor for this season!  I'm going to use the same pillows inserts I had for the Halloween pillows and just change the covers to these Thanksgiving ones.  For only $26.99 for six covers, they are pretty economical too.

3.  The Grinch

Are you tired of watching Hallmark Christmas movies but don't have your fill of Christmas movies just yet?  Step on out to the theaters because The Grinch opens today!  Here's the synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes ~

Each year at Christmas they disrupt his tranquil solitude with their increasingly bigger, brighter and louder celebrations. When the Whos declare they are going to make Christmas three times bigger this year, the Grinch realizes there is only one way for him to gain some peace and quiet: he must steal Christmas. To do so, he decides he will pose as Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, even going so far as to trap a lackadaisical misfit reindeer to pull his sleigh. Meanwhile, down in Who-ville, Cindy-Lou Who-a young girl overflowing with holiday cheer-plots with her gang of friends to trap Santa Claus as he makes his Christmas Eve rounds so that she can thank him for help for her overworked single mother. As Christmas approaches, however, her good-natured scheme threatens to collide with the Grinch's more nefarious one. Will Cindy-Lou achieve her goal of finally meeting Santa Claus? Will the Grinch succeed in silencing the Whos' holiday cheer once and for all?

4.  Hot Cocoa Hershey's Kisses

Looks like the new IT flavor this winter is going to be hot cocoa - which is fine by me!!  Look what Hershey's did.  They have created milk chocolate kisses filled with marshmallow creme.  Oh.My.Gosh!  Doesn't that sound like a little bit of heaven all wrapped up in a cute brown and white polka dot wrapper.  It's the first time in 10 years that Hershey's is launching a new seasonal flavor and I'm betting they were worth the wait.

5.  Selective Hearing....

Have a great weekend!  I have a bunch of chores to plow through and hoping to get the Halloween decoration switched out for our Thanksgiving ones.  Am I the last one to get their Halloween decorations taken down?  I'll also be spending time in my craft room working on some pirate decorations for a little boy's birthday party.  Hope you pop back in on Monday to see how it all went down.

Linking up with:

The Peaceful Posse

Amanda at Meet At The Barre
Erika at Little Bit of Everything

Simply Sweet Home
High Five for Friday

The Blended Blog

This post contained affiliate links.  I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase.  Thanks

Friday Favorites Linky Party - November 9, 2018

It's Friday and time for the Friday Favorites Linky Party!  Enjoy all the goodness today. 

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin

Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Lauren at All About That Mommy Life - Pin | Inst

Jennifer at Busy Being Jennifer - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst

|

If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

<a href="http://www.simplysweethome.com/category/friday%20favorites/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="http://www.simplysweethome.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Friday-Favorites-Button.jpg" border="0" /></a>

You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

And if you love all of this week's favorites, please pin, share, and invite your friends to this week's linky party!