Author: Tammy Litke

It’s no surprise to anyone that we used technology a lot in our home to teach our daughter.   Before there were tablets and smartphones, back in the late 90s when she was a toddler, she was busy pounding away at a computer keyboard playing edutainment software unknowingly learning letters and numbers.  Now parents can take electronic educational learning on the go with them, and Joy Sprouts is a free iOS/iPad app for preschoolers that will have them playing and learning at the same time.

Christmas morning is almost here!  I don’t know about you but by the time that morning rolls around I’m a little tired of all the cooking and baking 🙂  So I put my husband in charge of Christmas morning breakfast.  I mean I help a little by providing him leftover potatoes, but other than that, I sit back, relax and enjoy the Santa Claus parade on TV and let him sweat over the stove top that morning!

My husband doesn’t cook much at all, but making eggs – that he’s really good at.  Every Saturday morning when he was younger, he took the leftover potatoes from dinner earlier in the week and made his own fried hashbrowns and then broke an egg over them which he then covered and steam cooked.

Without question, chocolate chips are at the top of most bakers’ lists of favorite ingredients!

125 Best Chocolate Chip Recipes features incredibly creative recipes for everything from cakes and pies to breads, puddings, bars, squares and muffins to beverages and sauces.  And it goes without saying that no cookbook on chocolate chips would be complete without cookie ideas.

Giving is better than receiving, right?!  Well Taco Cabana thinks so!  And in the spirit of the holiday season they are giving out some Be Our Guest cards for a free meal up to $5.99! 

They sent some my way (thank you, Taco Cabana!!) so my hubby and I can grab some lunch one day, and they’re offering 5 of my readers the chance to win (2) Be Our Guest cards as well, so you and someone you care for can have a meal on them!  How awesome is that?!

As the season grows chillier, I look for softer clothes that can go from day to night, especially when the holidays roll around. 

So I’m bashing the winter blues with this oh so fashionable mixed fabric color block top from Donna Degnan.  Talk about about effortless chic!  Paired with a short black skirt, black tights, a pair of high black boots, and a simple statement necklace, I’m ready for both a day out shopping with the ladies or a night out on the town with my spouse.

Since 1975, the Best of Bridge “Ladies,” as their children have named them, have been developing recipes that are easy to understand, written with a sense of humor and guaranteed to work.  Not surprisingly, given their motto – “simple recipes with gourmet results” – over the course of four decades, they have cooked up countless treats that are perfect for sharing with family and friends when it’s time for a celebration.

Best of Bridge Holiday Classics: 225 Recipes for Special Occasions focuses on recipes that will meet all of your holiday entertaining needs. 

Believe in the spirit of friendship, the strength of family and the power of hope – the perfect Family Movie Night movie in time for the holidays is now on Blu-Ray Combo Pack, DVD and Digital HD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment – Dolphin Tale 2.

The inspiring true story of Winter isn’t over.  Several years after receiving a prosthetic tail, Winter loses her surrogate mother, leaving her alone, grieving and unwillling to engage with anyone, even her best human friend, Sawyer.  Worse, she may have to be moved from her home at the aquarium due to regualtions requiring dolphins to be paired.

If you are looking for some high end home theater equipment, Best Buy just may be your next stop, at least in the Dallas/Ft Worth area.  Just in time for holiday shopping, an upgrade to some Best Buys is their Magnolia Design Center.  We visited the new completed location on Cyber Monday in Frisco, TX and to say we were impressed is an understatement.

Matcha.

This is really different than anything else I’ve used before.  For those of you who don’t know what Matcha is – it’s green tea, but not like the kind in a tea bag, or loose leaf as it were.  It’s powder that’s ground up from the green tea leaves.  Hence it’s very Kermit green hue.  This also means you consume the entire leaf providing your body and mind with a maximum concentration of Polyphenols and EGCG.  The difference between Matcha and brewed green tea?  UP TO 137x THE ANTIOXIDANTS!

One of the reasons we love our family living area is because of the floor to ceiling brick fireplace.  And even though the fireplace itself doesn’t get much use because we live in Texas, it’s a architectual piece that anchors the room.  This is the fourth home we’ve lived in and the only other home that had a fireplace, it was in the basement which we never used.  Last year was the first Christmas in this home and I didn’t take advantage of decorating the hearth like I could have.  This year though, I went all out.