Giveaway Time; Stevia In The Raw

Alright, by now most of you have heard me mention stevia more than once. I've gotten several "what the heck is it?" comments, most of which I've stopped responding to (I'm sorry, I'm awful, I know- still love me?). Well I got in touch with the folks over at Stevia In The Raw (its a root, by the way, so not to leave you hangin'. A miracle plant that grows in the ground. I bet google could load you up on all the info you're needing to know?), and they've so generously sent me a box of their delicious all natural no calorie sweetener, to send to you.

I use stevia in everything. In tofu cheesecakes (hey, don't knock it til you try it), in my morning coffee, in my homemade pumpkin spice lattes, in my oatmeal... everything. So if you've been wanting to taste the stuff (you don't have to be new to stevia to enter to win, btw, this giveaway is for everybody), but haven't braved yourself up to buying some of your own, now is your chance-

To Enter:

-Leave a comment on this entry. Tell me why you want to win, or, something along those lines (what you'll do with it, how long you've been wanting to try it, if you already use it, whatever, you get the idea). Don't be a boring Betsy (no offense Betsy, love ya girl) hehe.

-Make sure that you leave your name and email if you don't have a blogger user id. Otherwise, you're outta there sucka! (its way past my bedtime, I've been pretty good about censoring my lame one liners up until this point)

-This contest is open to both US and Canadian residents only. Sorry Australia, better luck next time.

-Contest ends at midnight on Saturday November 7th.

Additional Entries:

-Follow my blog! If you already do, then you rock and you know it, but if you don't, scroll down over there on the left and click the little button. You'll know it when you see it. Leave me a comment letting me know you've done so.

-Follow me on Twitter *tweet tweet*. Just click here, and it should take you to my Twitter page. Don't be shy, come and talk to me. Just comment here and let me know you chirped.

-Blog about this giveaway (with both pictures and links). That's actually good for 5 extra entries, because nobody ever blogs about someone elses giveaway unless they really want to win it, haha.

Did I leave anything out? No I don't think I did. So alright, thats it, good luck!

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Edit: Thank you everybody for your fantastic comments!! The winner has been chosen, and notified. My Life In Curls- your box of Stevia in the Raw is packaged up, and well on its way to you :)

A Halloween Cookie Decorating Party

I know, I'm kind of ridiculous. But, sometimes, don't you just want to fill up holiday themed cupcake papers with glittery sprinkles and set them on the table next to freshly frosted cookies that are just begging to be decorated?


I didn't tell Eleanore about her cookie decorating party until the day before it happened. I wasn't sure that I'd actually get all of my ducks in a row in time, and I didn't want to be the one to break her heart when the party planning committee failed. Somehow though, I found the time, and everything fell into place. On Friday, since Christopher had taken leave due to Charlie's pneumonia (we'll get to that later) , Eleanore helped me bake sugar cookies. This was her first time rolling out dough and using cookies cutters. It, was, awesome. She was a great big huge help. No temper tantrums, no attitude, just sugar and spice and everything nice. I think the fact that her brother was upstairs sleeping, had a lot to do with it. She was in desperate need of some special one on one time.

Later that afternoon while Eleanore napped (thank goodness), I whipped up some black and orange frosting, organized the dining room table with edible glitter and colored sugar beads, and when she woke up at 4:00, it was party time.


Each of the girls had their own little work stations, with 2 cat cookies, 2 ghost cookies, and 2 pumpkin cookies. I had pre frosted them with my homemade black and orange frostings (vita mix made), getting that out of the way (mostly I just couldn't figure out how to distribute the raw materials between the 3 of them safely), leaving just the best part for the girls- making a mess and then eating it.


They didn't hesitate to get their hands dirty.

They pushed at it and smushed at it. They dumped out all of their sprinkles at once. They licked frosting off of their parchment paper place mats. Their faces and fingers were stained with food coloring, as were their clothes. It was perfect.


After an hour or so of a near constant sugar consumption, we took all of the girls outside to run it off. The energy in the house was getting to be too much. And of course everyone got to take their plate of (gluten free of course)cookies home with them.

I don't think I've ever seen Eleanore enjoy herself, or her company, this much. I hope that this memory sticks with her forever. I know it will surely stick with me.