Turkey Tips - Aloha Friday!

From An Island Life

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!

So I'm hosting Thanksgiving for the very first time this year, and as a result I'm roasting my very first turkey. Anyone have any great turkey tips for me?

Aloha Friday! - FB Apps

From An Island Life

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!

My question for today is If you're on Facebook, what is your favorite App? Or do you hate all apps of any kind?

I would have to say that over time my favorites change. I really like the Visual Bookshelf app, and these days I'm a little hooked on Bejeweled Blitz and Cafe World.

So how about you?

Aloha Friday!

From An Island Life

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!

Today's question is: Wear a tie much??



Or you could just answer one or more of these questions: Did you watch The Office wedding last night? What did you think??? Your favorite part?

I'd have to say my favorite part was Michael talking to Pam's mom at the church. It's like we got a glimps past the "I'm trying too hard" Michael and got a piece of the real deal, which always makes me feel sorry for him. lol

Aloha Friday!

From An Island Life

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!

Today my Aloha Friday Question is: What do you miss the most when it's in the wash?

I have this big water bottle that is practically glued to me, and when it goes in the dishwasher I always feel like I'm missing something!

So what is it for you? A favorite sweater? Your favorite jeans? Your compost bucket (another thing that I miss! LOL)?

Aloha Friday!

Be sure to enter my giveaway up top for a beautiful hand painted children's step stool!



From An Island Life

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!

Today my Aloha Friday Question is: If you had a weekend in Seattle what would you do?

I think Hubs and I are gonna head that direction in a few weeks. It'll be our very first kid-free weekend since the girls were born! We're nervous, yet excited!

So far I'm thinking about hitting the Sci-Fi Museum and the Museum of Glass, maybe the underground tour, and then in the evenings dinner and maybe a concert or something. The last time I went to Seattle was during my high school concert choir tour, so it's been a while!

Aloha Friday! Blogging Peeves

From An Island Life:

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!

Today's question is, What are some of your blogging pet peeves??

I've only been blogging for about 7 months, but already I have some blogging pet peeves. So I thought I'd share my Top Three Things That Annoy Me About Blogging.

#3: Awards. I'm really not a fan of "Hey, I just gave you an award! Stop by my website to pick it up!" And then they ask you to share your 10 most intimate secrets, or 7 things you hate about the show Baywatch (only 7??), or what were the last 5 things you ate for breakfast this week.... come on? Really? I appreciate that you like my blog well enough to nominate me for such a prestigious award, but since I don't like reading about them on other people's blogs I'm sure most of you won't enjoy reading such things here. Now if you nominate me for a Bloggie Award THEN feel free to tell me about it. Otherwise, your awards (although often well intentioned) are pretty much wasted on me. Sorry! (Double sorry to those who have given me awards in the past, no worries, I love you anyway, promise!)

#2: Word Verification. Could you seriously do me a favor and delve into your settings and turn that off? There are a few blogs I go to where the secret word thingy doesn't load properly, and then I can't leave you a comment. Sometimes I really want to leave one, but after trying to get it to work for me for 5 minutes I usually decide it's not worth the hassle. And really, unless your blog is getting 5,000 hits a day I really don't think you have to worry about spammers on your site (plus you could always leave comment moderation on just in case).

#1: The thing I absolutely HATE the most about some people's blogs... MUSIC!!! If you have music that automatically plays when people visit your blog do us all a favor and change it so it only plays if someone clicks on it, or remove it altogether. Believe me, I LOVE music, but when it's on your blog and auto-plays as my computer loads? Well, it sounds like a horrible cacophony of noise that makes me plug my hears and curse. And least you think that I have some old antiquated computer that just can't handle it, my computer is BRAND NEW and is the best gaming computer that $1200 can buy. So if my computer can't handle it? Then people who bought their computers 3 years ago are certainly having the same problem.

WHEW! I feel so much better now after getting that out there! So what are your blogging peeves???

Aloha Friday! Hot Enough For Ya?!

From An Island Life:

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!

Yesterday we had a record high here of 96 degrees. NINETY SIX!!! WHEW! I'm roasting just thinking about it! Thankfully we get a reprieve today... only 94. Practically an Arctic breeze!

I know that probably sounds really lame if any of you Arizona or California people are reading this, but for here in the Pacific Northwest that's HOT!

I'm personally more comfortable around 75-80, anything more than that and you'll find me inside with the AC on.

Ok, I lied. Yesterday I went to my mom's house and went outside in the blazing heat to dig up plants. I'm sure the plants appreciated it, and so did I. lol

So how hot is it where you live today? And is it too hot, too cold, or just right?

Aloha Friday! Me & Amelia

From An Island Life:

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!


I've seen lots of blogs/forums/what-have-you who ask the question, "If someone were to play you in a movie, who would it be?" I never really know how to answer that question. The closest I can usually come up with is Sandra Bullock because she's a brunette and she does klutzy very well.

Who I really think I tend to emulate most of time is Amelia. Not Amelia Earhart. She's way to brave and heroic. Oh no. I think of THIS Amelia!



That's right folks, Amelia Bedelia. For those of you who didn't grow up on her books, she's the not-so-clever maid who takes everything too literally and ends up getting herself into a lot of trouble. Her boss asks her to make a sponge cake? She uses actual sponges. Her boss asks her to dust the living room? She finds the makeup "dusting powder" and spreads it all over the place. Apparently my mom read me too many of her books as a child because obviously I've taken it to heart.

Case in point? Last night I was cleaning my broiler pan. I took it outside because I decided to use Easy-Off to get off the charred bits. And since I was out there I thought, "Oh yeah, Hubs said the grill needed to be cleaned! Wouldn't it be nice of me if I just went ahead and did it for him?" That sentence alone is probably enough to make my 2 male readers groan. Because apparently touching a man's grill is TABOO! I had just crossed over into Male Territory without even thinking about it. So I started taking the various grill pieces out of the grill and arranging them on our concrete patio thinking that I would spray on the Easy-Off, let it sit for a while, and then come back to scrub them up and rinse them off with the hose.

While the pieces were sitting out soaking in chemicals, Hubs wakes up. I'm all proud and excited, waiting for him to discover the nice thing that I'm doing for him.

He notices, does a double take, and says, "You did, what?!"

"I'm cleaning the grill for you, honey!"

"You're going to stain the patio! Not to mention the fact that you know nothing about my grill!"

"Oops... I'm sorry, I thought I was being helpful."

"Well, it's not helpful. The grill and the garage are mine. I'd appreciate it if you left them alone."

"Alright... ... I'm sorry."

"Hey, when does Sims 3 come out again? I'm thinking you need a new game or something (so that you will stop trying to be helpful and leave my stuff alone!)."

So yes, our patio is stained. And one of our dogs ate all the charred bits and threw up black stuff upstairs this morning.

No, Amy is not short for Amelia, but sometimes I'm thinking it should be. lol

My Aloha Friday question today (HA! You thought I forgot didn't you?!) is, Have you ever had an Amelia Bedelia moment? And if so, what was it??

Aloha Friday! Sick Days

From An Island Life:

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!


We're all sick at the moment with colds so I thought a good 2 part question for today would be What is your most HATED cold symptom? And what is your most trusted cold remedy?

Me? I hate it that when I have sinus pressure my brain turns into mashed potatoes and I can barely form a coherent thought. Remembering that the milk goes into the refrigerator and not the freezer becomes very challenging. My go-to cold remedy is Robitussin. I hate it, I think it tastes nasty, but it seems to do the job for me so I take it anyway.

Aloha Friday! #5

Ok, I'm gonna make this quick and to the point! I promise! I just spent most of the day at a plant sale with my parents and the girls. It was long, fun, exciting, and now I'm exhausted. I know this post is super late, but I figure better late than never, it is still Friday after all... just barely! lol

I have 3 blogging questions to ask. I thought about asking each one for the next 3 weeks, but I'm already getting tired of the subject and I just wanna get down and dirty and learn the answers. Don't you? I thought so.

So here's my questions, feel free to answer one or all, whichever you prefer:

1) How do you turn off comments? I've seen on some uber popular blogs when people turn off comments, which makes sense to me because who wants to read 500 comments about something that doesn't need comment. I'm not uber popular, so I haven't had a need to do this, but just in case... I'd like to know how.

2) How do you end up with sample products to review for your blog? Do you just buy them? If you are, I'm assuming you actually make money from you blog... which obviously puts you in a different category than me since I think I've only made $1.32... and google won't send me a check till I've made $100. So really I'm more interested in FREE sample products. I like writing reviews, and even more, I like sharing products that I love with others.

Which leads to my next question...

3) How do you end up with items to giveaway on your blog? As most of you know, I did a cookie contest a while back. I had a LOT of fun doing it! Seriously, I'm gonna do it again really soon. But I guess I just wonder if cookies are enough? Especially since I share the recipes here most of the time so people can make them at home. But maybe there are people who don't cook/bake who really enjoy getting free ones in the mail. Anyhoo... all that to say, I'd love to up the anti and give away more exciting stuff. But how does one finance such ventures? We do ok financially, but I'm thinkin' Hubs would object if I suddenly started making large purchases in the name of my blog. If anyone would care to point me in the right direction for this, or suggest ideas that they would enjoy winning, please let me know!


So I guess that's it! Three Aloha Friday questions. Can ya handle it???

To play along with Aloha Friday visit An Island Life!

Aloha Friday! #4

Check it out! I made a decision! I decided to make Chocolate Chip Super Cookies for the SITS auction! All proceeds go to support a very good cause: Mom It Forward. If you are interested on bidding on the cookies please visit Here!



From An Island Life:

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

Thanks so much to ALL of you who helped me out last week with my question about blog comment management! I have recently started responding to most comments via email and I'm finding it SO much easier to keep up with! THANK YOU!!!

I now have a list of 4 more questions related to blogging! Don't worry, I only have one question today. Don't wanna clog your brain up too much. My question this week is: How many blogs do you follow? And more importantly, How do you keep up with them all?? Doh, I guess that's actually 2 questions. Oh well, never was good at that whole math thing.

And to answer my own question, I follow about 100 blogs. I know... it's a problem. I've recently gone through and took out some of the ones I'm not particularly crazy about, but that's still left a LOT of blogs! I'm using Google Reader in conjunction with Blogger to follow those blogs. So far I'm pretty happy with Google Reader... but seriously... I don't have that much time on my hands. Maybe you haven't noticed, but I have twin toddlers! As a result, at this very moment I have 676 unread new material in my blog reader. Part of that is due to the fact that I didn't get ANY reading done while we were all sick 2 weeks ago so I have a bit of a backlog.

One of my little "rules" that I made for myself is that if someone follows my blog, I follow theirs. So inevitably my list of reading material will continue to grow. Plus of course I follow some blogs that I just HAVE to read, such as Cake Wrecks and Pioneer Woman.

Any suggestions? Is there something I should be doing that I'm not doing? Is there a blog reader that's better than Google? I realize I'm following too many blogs... I'm trying to work on that.

One of these days I'd actually like to pick up a book rather than read everyone's blog. lol

Aloha Friday! #3

From An Island Life:

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

Last week I asked a gardening question, namely how many of you planned to have a garden this year. Honestly, I wasn't super excited about my question... because although some of you are into gardening, this really isn't a gardening blog and I know not everyone has a green thumb. I'm really trying to have one, but I'm the chick who decided that her orchids really needed to live over at her mom's house. By the way, they are super healthy now that my mom has had her way with them.

So I thought I'd switch gears and ask a totally different question this week. One which I really need an answer to. One about my new favorite hobby... blogging! In fact, I've already thought of about 4 questions on the topic, so I'm guessing it will be my Aloha Friday topic for a while.

The question is:

For those of you committed to respond to all your comments, how do you do it?

This is how I do it, although it seems super inefficient so don't copy me! After I accept and publish my comments (since I moderate all comments), I click on view blog, and then I click on the name of the person who's left a comment, which takes me to their profile, and then I evaluate which is their "main" blog for those who have more than one, and then I click on the blog title, which takes me to that person's blog, and then I read their most recent post, and then I comment on said post. WHEW!!!

It takes me a minimum of 5 minutes to do all that, and sometimes (ok, OFTEN) I get sucked into their blog and end up reading multiple posts and sometimes I end up subscribing to their blog too if I deem them worthy.

I have a feeling that there's a better way to go about this. That there is some way to respond to all your comments without taking so many steps and spending so much time/effort/energy. Because seriously, I visit some blogs where they're getting 100+ comments a day... and they usually respond to my comment so I'm guessing they also respond to everyone else. How do they do that??? If you get over 100 comments a day I'd LOVE to hear from you!!

So that's my question! I'm eagerly looking forward to your answers!!!

Aloha Friday! #2

Thank you so much to those of you who answered my question last time: What are some fun activities to do with a Toddler? I got some great answers that I was able to work into my routine with them, and we've had a much happier week this week! So THANK YOU!!! You have no idea how much you helped me!

From An Island Life:

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

I thought I'd take it easy this week and write a more "fun" question. For those of you who garden out there, do you plan to have a vegetable garden this year? And if so, what do you plan to plant?

My Answer: I have loads and loads of seeds just waiting for April! Cucumbers, radishes, onions, chives, basil, green beens, corn, lettus, and carrots. Plus I have some marigolds and bell pepper plants on my kitchen counter that I've started from seeds! This year will be my VERY FIRST garden and I'm so excited!!!

If you'd like to participate in Aloha Friday, just head on over to An Island Life!

Aloha Friday!

Last week I participated in Aloha Friday over at An Island Life. It was a lot of fun, I met a lot of new bloggers, and I had my largest group of visitors to my blog ever! So I've decided to do it again this week. :)

From An Island Life:

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you'd like to participate in Aloha Friday just head on over to her blog. :)

My question this week is:

If you have/had toddlers living in your house, what are some fun age-appropriate activities that you did with them? I did some google searches last night to find some new things to do with the girls, but I didn't find anything particularly exciting. My girls are 21 months old, and so far they're non-verbal (we're starting Early Intervention soon). Any ideas??? I could totally use the help here.

Aloha Friday!

This is the first time I've participated in Aloha Friday, but it seems like a fun thing to do so I thought I'd give it a whirl. :) The idea is that Friday is a day for taking it easy in preparation for the weekend, and that blogging life should be no different.

So instead of going on and on about my own opinions, I thought I'd join in and throw out a question for anyone to answer. It's a great way for me to get to know my readers better (although I know some of you pretty well already!).

If you'd like to play along, head on over to Island Life, where the spirit of Aloha is alive and well! Dang that reminds me... I NEED A VACATION!!!! lol

Today's question is:

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Can't wait to hear your answers!