So, I watched the big game on Sunday night. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a somewhat football fan. I prefer college (and could have been considered rabid this season since my team won the championship – War Eagle!). I tolerate the NFL. If pushed I’d say I’m a Titans fan since they’re close but I’m pretty ho hum about it. However, I always watch the Super Bowl.

I can honestly say that most of my joy comes from two things that have nothing to do with the actual action on the field – football food and the ads. Yep, I’m one of those. While the guys in the house hush the kids during those big plays, my rule is no talking during the commercials. Most of the rest of the year I channel surf during commercials, but not during the SB.

I have to say, overall, I was pretty disappointed this year. Most years there are several standouts that bring laughter and discussion to the group watching the game. This year, we talked more about how XTina screwed up the national anthem and how the Black Eyed Peas needed better sound equipment…and maybe a different stylist.

There were a few that stood out though – good and bad. Who wouldn’t love that little boy dressed as Darth Vader? And if you watched the Today Show’s segment on him yesterday, learning that he has a heart condition and had a pacemaker put in at 3 months just made him that much more adorable. If the only thing that comes out of the ads this year is that he gets a boom to his career then I say it was worth it. I honestly couldn’t even tell you what car he was advertising…but he was a screen stealer for sure!

The Doritos commercial where the guy licked his co-worker’s finger was funny for the shock value. I could have done without the second part of it where he tore off some guy’s pants though. I enjoyed the beaver spot – think it was a tire or car commercial? I’m a sucker for animated animals. I was a fan of the animated coke commercial too, but probably more because my girls liked it so they stopped running around for those thirty seconds. I even liked the Chrysler commercial with Eminem, although I think for the most part the celebrity spots were lacking.

I hated the Kim Kardashian commercial, the Go Daddy spot, the careerbuilder.com and etrade.com spots. That talking baby was cute…the first twenty times I saw him. Anytime I can see Rosanne Barr get knocked into the mud I’m happy. But there was no way Snickers could top their Betty White commercial from last year.

So, did you watch the game? Did you enjoy the commercials? Any that you liked? Hated?

Kira

My family and I just got back from a fantastic vacation to Disney World. We went so that we could see how Disney does Christmas and to help us all get into the spirit of the season. We weren’t disappointed! In fact, I really want to figure out how to make going back every year at this time part of our family Christmas traditions. Special parades, lots of fireworks, snow on Main Street… You can’t see these things and not smile. However, there was one event that really got me in the spirit of the season – the Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights.

The Osborne Family (not Ozzy) used to put these lights up every year on their home. The display started small but grew every year. For whatever reason, they decided in the mid 90s that they couldn’t do it anymore but wanted to see the tradition continue. They donated all of their decorations to Disney with the understanding that they’d be used in one display every year. And let me tell you, it’s impressive.

Trust me , the pictures don’t do it justice. The night we saw them was unseasonably cold for Disney. In my mind, it was perfect. Not only did it feel like Christmas (in Florida) but it looked like it too. Periodically the lights ‘dance’ to holiday music. I stood in the middle of the street twisting around in awe with this goofy smile on my face. The fact that my kids were fussing because they were cold and just wanted to go back to the room didn’t detract from my joy in the moment.

I’m a sucker for Christmas light displays, and let me tell you, this one is the best I’ve ever seen.

Do you like Christmas lights? Do you have any traditions? They must go up the day after Thanksgiving? Do you drive around the city on Christmas Eve looking at the displays before Santa comes?

Kira

P.S. I’ve got a new release coming out on Jan 1st. If you like a little danger with your romance, you’ll love Caught Off Guard!

I’ve had food on the brain for the last week or so. There’s just something about fall that makes me want to eat. Maybe I’m trying to pack on the pounds before I hibernate for the winter. Or maybe it’s that there are just so many activities that revolve around food. It’s football season and we take that seriously here in Alabama! Saturdays usually involve a spread of chips, dip, cheese, crackers, hummus and chili all laid out before the TV. Of course then there are Thanksgiving and Christmas and all the parties that go with both holidays. The cooler weather just makes me want to pull out my warm recipes like soup and corn bread and fire up my crock pot.

Do you have any favorite fall recipes? Something you simply must have or it isn’t autumn yet? I’d have to say mine is pumpkin pie. Give it to me in the middle of July and I’ll turn my nose up at it, but in Oct, I’ll eat the whole thing myself. Here’s another of my favorite recipes that’s perfect for football games, holiday parties or just because. I’d love to hear about yours!

Beer Cheese Dip

1 large block of Velveeta cheese
1 can of Rotel (green chili’s mixed with diced tomatoes) drained
1 bottle of beer (the darker the beer the more flavor to the dip)

In a crock pot combine the block of Velveeta cut into small chunks.
Add can of Rotel.
Add about 1/4 of the bottle of beer. You can add more after the cheese melts if you need it but too much at the beginning and you’ll end up with soup instead of dip.
Cover and let melt, stirring occasionally to smooth out lumps.

I serve mine with tortilla chips and Fritos but my girls like theirs with carrots and broccoli.

Hope you enjoy!
Kira

I’m not entirely certain what happened to the last two months. Is it just me or does summer seem to get shorter and shorter every year? My girls start school tomorrow and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m not ready. My weekend has been dominated by school supply hell. Our state is having a tax free weekend on all school supplies, clothes, shoes, etc. which means the stores are a zoo. And of course because of conference I waited to the last minute to prepare.

I made the mistake of taking the girls with me to do a little shopping and ended up spending way more than I’d anticipated. However, I am now the Best Mom Ever thanks to Justice. My living room looks like a Staples exploded and I think I have enough 2 pocket folders, notebooks and paper to have killed an entire forest. I searched all over town for Fiskar scissors and made in the USA pencils until I finally gave up and just bought the first package of plain old number 2 pencils I could find. I tried. Really, I did. But the teacher will just have to be okay with what they bring in.

My girls have new backpacks, lunch boxes and tennis shoes. They are now fashionably attired and my oldest even has an adorable purse she can take with her to school. Is anyone else in the middle of school supply hell with me?

Kira

Swimming pools, grandmothers, ice cream and Saturdays. Honestly, those are the only things getting me through the next two months. I have a friend, an elementary school teacher, who’s been posting about her wonderfully relaxing summer plans on Facebook. I wish! Somehow, summer has become more hectic for me than any other season. By the end of it, I’m praying for school to start again.

I honestly wish I could take two months off of work just to spend it with my girls. There are so many things I’d really like to do with them this summer. Top of the list is the new Star Wars exhibit at the Space and Rocket Center. I know, I’m a geek. I wouldn’t turn my nose up at some pool time or just lounging in the sun. I’d take them to the science museum, the zoo and the botanical garden. What do I get instead? Pandamonium. They’ve been out of school for precisely one week and I’m already tired of playing referee. I can’t even fit these things in on the weekends. We have three birthdays (Baby Girl’s, Sweet Pea’s & mine) and one anniversary (12 years…I think. Dangit, I’m terrible.) all within four weeks of each other. I have the RWA conference and a couple workshops I’m doing for our local libraries.

You know, I used to love summer. Now, between the chaos and the unbearable heat, I just try to survive until fall. Is summer your favorite or least favorite season? Are you scheduled to within an inch of your life? Do you have anything special planned?

There is one thing I’m looking forward to, visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Kira

Guinea pigs. No, I’m not kidding. I’m being overrun by an infestation of guinea pigs. Although, I think my girls would probably protest at the use of the word infestation. According to my husband we are now up to 24. Yes, you read that right. 24 Guinea pigs. With more on the way. Turns out, they breed like rabbits. Who knew?

You might ask why do we have that many? In a nutshell, my husband likes pet projects – literally – and the latest one is guinea pigs. We’ve been through chickens – the weird kind with no feathers on their necks and the ones with huge plumes of them coming off their heads. Bunnies…hence I know how they breed too. Ducks & geese (of which we only have 1 left). And let’s not forget the goats and the donkey who just happened to show up in our back pasture one day, DH whistling innocently in the carport as he attempted to keep me from seeing him.

When this started I protested, but I’ll admit not loudly. He said he planned to sell them to the local pet stores. I really didn’t care as long as we didn’t end up overrun with the things. The problem is that my children love each and every one of the cute and cuddly fuzzballs. They have named them all and can tell you immediately which one is which. I can’t even tell them apart. To date, we have sold 1 guinea pig…to the neighbors of a friend. Somehow they seem to continue breeding but none of them are leaving for good homes. Grumble, grumble, sigh.

So, if anyone knows of someone looking for a guinea pig, please feel free to let me know. In the meantime, have you been pulled into an unfortunate pet situation? Do you have pets that you just couldn’t live without?

Kira

I’ve been playing with my new toy this week…Barnes and Noble’s Nook. It’s their answer to Amazon’s Kindle. So far, I LOVE it.

It might be small and lightweight but the screen is still big enough to resemble a paperback page. I’ve had other ereaders before but the problem was that the screen was tiny and the content I wanted to read wasn’t readily available at the time. That has certainly changed! The best thing I’ve found so far? I can buy all the Blaze books for my Nook every month. I’ve been buying and downloading other books too. I’m sure B&N is very happy with the heat being generated on my credit card. At the moment I’m like a kid in a candy store.

One of the things that sets the Nook apart is the 2nd color touch screen. It’s easy to use and allows me to sort and search my downloaded book by cover instead of just by title and author. Along with that nifty feature, I can upload my own pictures to use for backgrounds and screen savers. I love taking photos of my family with me everywhere!

The screen is very easy on the eyes. And while it isn’t back lit – which can be a problem – I bought an attachable reading light which allows me some late night indulgence.

About the only problem I’ve discovered is that I can’t take it into the bathtub. I do like to relax with a drink, a book and lots of hot water. Unfortunately, I’m not willing to risk dropping my expensive new toy into that water. I realize in theory this makes no sense since I have no problems taking my alphie in there to write…but I’m not holding alphie over the water and the Nook is too small to read from the side of the tub.

All in all, I’m very pleased. Ask me again in a few months and lets see if I’m still using it or if I’ve reverted to the stone age and good old-fashioned paperbacks. I have a feeling that I might end up with a combination of the two. While comfortable to hold, there’s just something about the feel of a book in my hands that I don’t get from the Nook.

Do you have an ereader? Have you ever thought about purchasing one? Do you read on your phone or your computer or are you a die hard book in hand kinda person?

Kira

I’ve been trying to get into the Christmas spirit lately. My first step in that process was to pull out all my Christmas CDs. The problem? I couldn’t find them. I’m sure at one point in time I had several. They’ve either disappeared, Zilla’s thrown them out, or I decided I didn’t listen to them often enough and sold them in the Garage Sale of ’09. It doesn’t really matter, the end result is I don’t have any Christmas music.

Over the weekend I went onto my itunes account to try and update my selection. I figured it was the perfect time to discover new music that I’d love. Unfortunately, I was overwhelmed instead. I mean there are so many choices…traditional, jazz, choir, country, rock. It goes on forever. I did buy a few songs – o Holy Night by Michael Crawford and a few Trans-Siberian Orchestra songs. After that I just gave up. I think everyone and their brother has a Christmas album…I quickly learned that just because I like their music doesn’t mean they can sing Rudolph.

Can you help me build my Christmas music playlist? What are you favorite Christmas songs? Who are your must have artists? Are there any I should stay far away from?

I also wanted to share a picture I took over the weekend. We had our first Southern snow…a very rare occurance. A week ago we were in the 50s and 60s, enough for my mom’s roses to bloom. Saturday the girls were throwing snowballs. This just struck me as the perfect illustration of our weird weather pattern.

I have been put on shoe restriction. I went to a movie with a friend this weekend and came home with an amazing pair of black Coach patent leather heels. My husband did not understand that these were on sale (70% off on sale!). He did not understand how these heels were different from the six pair already in my closet. He did not understand why I needed – yet another – pair of shoes that I will likely only wear a handful of times a year. Men!

In my defense I have been hunting for new black heels for 2 years. I kid you not. The ones I currently own (well, the ones I normally wear) are a 15 year old $10 Payless purchase. I love those shoes but they’re ready to be put out to pasture. I think I’ve gotten my money’s worth. But I’m picky when it comes to shoes. I know what I want and I’ll look until I find it…preferably on sale. I might not wear them every day but that’s how they last for 15 years!

Hubby is always asking me to clean out the shoes in our closet (and in the shoe racks at the back door). He just doesn’t understand that I can’t get rid of any of them. Yes, I need all five pair of black boots that I own. Some are high heeled, some are low heeled, some have a rounded toe, some a pointed toe. They are all different. I don’t even think he notices when I wear the darn things. I think he just sees black boots and thinks I’m wearing the same pair over and over again while the other four get dusty.

So, I’m on shoe restriction. Of course, he’s been on animal restriction for years and we all know how well that’s gone (the guinea pig is pregnant. Sigh). I’ve been eyeing a new pair of leopard print Yellow Box shoes on Zappos. Think he’ll notice when the UPS guy drops off the box?

Do you have a shoe addiction? Or do you wear a pair of shoes until they fall apart? Have you ever been banned from something by your significant other?

Kira

Temptation. It’s a good topic for the Blaze Blog right? I mean, who doesn’t love a good discussion about what tempts us to experience things outside our comfort zone? Yeah, as much as I’d love to tell you that I’ve done something wild and crazy lately…uh, no. Instead, I’ve been tempted into insanity by Disney World. The insanity of vacation planning. I’ve gone off the deep end. Everyone who knows me will agree.

I’m not even sure why I’ve lost it. No, that isn’t exactly true. I’ve lost it because I want this to be an absolutely perfect vacation for my girls (8 and 5). They’ve both been to Disney before but Baby Girl doesn’t really remember the experience. This time they’re both old enough to make the kind of memories that last a lifetime. I want those magic moments for them. I want them to look into the sky with an expression of awe and a smile on their faces as they watch the fireworks around Cinderella’s castle. I want them to giggle when they meet Prince Charming and squeal at seeing Mickey Mouse. Hence the insanity.

Seriously, we’re dining at the castle, they’re being made into princesses, we’ve got a private safari at the Animal Kingdom, we’re even going to a special Halloween party where they get to trick-or-treat around the Magic Kingdom. I have an excel spreadsheet with our schedule for every day. The scary part? I am so not a planner. At all. Ever. I do not believe in lists – although I have 3 separate packing lists now for this trip. I’ve started scrapbooking. I’ve made the girls matching t-shirts. I’ve even printed out special autograph cards. I’ve. Gone. Off. The. Deep. End.

Anyone have a cure? Anyone have Disney suggestions? Anyone have temptations of their own they’d like to share?

Kira

P.S. I’ll be at my local RWA meeting most of today but I’ll be checking in later this afternoon…right after I look at the Disney boards.