4^th Annual Shotgun Festival

Celebrating Germantown!

• • • Saturday, June 26, 2010

• Noon – 9 PM

• 1101 East Kentucky Street (Kentucky and Schiller)

Shop for Records, Art, Glass, Crafts, Plants, Green Ideas.
Game and Activities for Children.
Enjoy the summer with German style food and an assortment of beer.

Official 2010 Shotgun Fest Music Lineup!!!

• Noon – Monkey Boy
• 1:00-Tamara Dearing
• 2:00- Squeeze Bot
• 3:00- Heidi Howe
• 4:00-John Gage
• 5:00- C+
• 6:00- Lotus Blake
• 7:00- PRAIRIE WISDOM
• 8:00- Your News Vehicles

AFTERPARTY @ NACHBAR

• Cougar Express
  The Deloreans

Shotgun Festival is sponsored by the Germantown Paristown Neighborhood Association

I did not receive any compensation for this post. Think of it as a public service announcement.

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Instead of using shredded baked chicken pieces I switched out and used Tyson’s Grilled and Ready Frozen Fully Cooked Chicken Breast Strips.

Chicken & Dressing Casserole

Ingredients

• 3/4 package of Tyson’s Grilled and Ready Frozen Fully Cooked Chicken Breast Strips
• 2 14 oz. cans of Swanson’s Chicken Broth
• 2 pkg. Stouffer’s Stuffing
• 1 TBS butter, cut up
• 1 12 oz jar Heinz Classic Chicken Gravy
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix stuffing and broth as directed on stuffing box, allow to moisten.  Spread chicken into 13×9 inch pan, cover with stuffing, add pieces of cut-up butter to top, now spread the gravy on top of the stuffing and sprinkle the cheese on top of that. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until hot.  Serve with hot rolls.

Now this isn’t the most healthy meal, but for a special occasion or to say “Thank You” I think we can overlook health issues. Try it and see if you don’t find something to appreciate!

Thanks to Collective Bias and Tyson I have 10 Free Tyson Product Coupons to give away to you my faithful readers. I know it’s been a while since I posted regularly, I’m back and I want to say thanks for all your support.

Here’s all you have to do to win:

Comment on this post with your family’s favorite chicken dish and which Tyson Product you would use (after checking out Tyson’s site.)

Seriously, it’s that easy. The first 10 people to comment will win the coupon.

I’ll close comments after 10 comments or in 4 days (May 23).

Disclosure: Collective Bias & Tyson provided me with a $50 gift card and 10 free product coupons for this campaign. This compensation in no  ways hinders my ability to provide unbiased facts and reviews. If you have any questions about my disclosure policy please see my disclosure policy.

Related posts:

1. Tyson’s Grilled And Ready Chicken Makes Family Dinner More Enjoyable
2. Menu Plan Monday: Type A Mom Conference
3. Tasty Tuesday: Spicy Macaroni Casserole

Jon and I have always brought our daughters with us to vote, we find it opens up new, previously unexplored (or forgotten) conversations about our country’s democratic system, other country’s political systems, and great conversations about our personal beliefs and motivations behind the vote.  Because it has opened up new avenues of conversation for us and has encouraged an interest in KG, last year she was determined to watch the Presidential Inauguration during school.  I was interested to see how she responded this year to the election commercials, especially since Jon’s man for the Senate Rand Paul was running.  Since we’ve been so involved in after-school activities, there has been little time for television so KG has been spared the majority of the political mud-slinging. Yet she knows why Jon is for Rand, why I support whom I do, and the positives and negatives of their opponents (Jon’s a Republican and I’m a Democrat). She’s got a never-ending string of questions where each candidate is concerned and is very interested in each candidate’s view on education reform…but that’s only because she hears Mommy harping on it all the time.

No surprise when today she looked forward to voting with us and rode down with Daddy early this evening.  As usual she’s full of questions about how the machines work and what happens if you hit the wrong button, so I know she kept Jon talking the entire time.  Between wanting to know if she could do the voting, what happened to the people who didn’t win, and how they counted the ballots KG kept us thinking and kept us talking.  What a great opportunity to pass along a little knowledge and the understanding that voting is a right and a responsibility.

Do you talk to your kids about voting? How do you get them interested in the democratic process?

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I’m lucky enough to be sitting in my warm kitchen with a blanket around my snugglie pajamas watching the snow fall outside.  As peaceful of a scene as it is, it brings to mind worries about the elderly and homeless who may not be as warm as I am privileged to be.  With wind chills in the negatives here recently, over-exposure and hypothermia are not only worries for those of us just running around with our kids outside today, but could mean death to those who are living on the streets.

With donations at an all-time low, many charities are in desperate need of winter clothes. Up to 40 percent of homeless adults are veterans, with more joining their ranks from the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars…shouldn’t we be supporting them now that they are home? Why not spend a few hours this weekend cleaning out your closets (don’t forget the kiddos)?  You can always drop them off on your way to work Monday or the next time your headed out to run errands.

Get Started

• Go through each of your closets and remove any clothes you haven’t worn in over a year or that don’t fit anymore. Let’s face it, if you haven’t lost the weight or worn the outfit chances are pretty good that you aren’t going to.
• Gather all of your unmatched socks and gloves. Shelters and charities will pair them up and hand out to those who need them.
• Coats, winter hats, gloves, scarf, and ear muffs are needed badly at this time as well as any blankets you may no longer need.
• Don’t forget to collect all of the shoes you and your family have out grown (physically and trend-wise), there are many people out there who would love need to have a new pair of shoes.

Preparation

• *Make sure all of the clothing are undamaged and have been washed in a Free and Clear detergent…that is a detergent without any colors or fragrances. *
• Check all clothing for tears or holes, do not donate clothing with holes or tears.
• Be sure to read over all of Goodwill’s guidelines for proper donation before dropping off anything.  These guidelines are smart for everyone to follow no matter where they plan to donate.

Donate

Aside from the Salvation Army and Goodwill, local shelters, hospitals, schools, and churches are also in particular need of these winter weather supplies.  Of course, call ahead first before dropping anything off.  They will appreciate the heads up and you’ll be able to make an informed decision concerning their greatest needs.

January is widely-held as the coldest month of the year, so why not take a few moments today and help someone less fortunate than yourself stay warm.  Any random night could find anywhere from 700,000 to 2 million people are go homeless (this statistic from around 2000, since then there is an estimated 500,000-1 million additional people on the streets.)  If you were already without a roof over your heads (and your children), the last thing you need is to also be at risk of freezing.   I hope you’ll join me this month and donate your gently used winter clothing to a donation center near you.

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Image courtesy of Wave3.com

As a mother it is absolutely heartbreaking to think of the children around the world who will wake up a week from now without any gifts under their tree (if they have a tree at all).  That’s why we make a concentrated effort each year to adopt a child from our local Christmas Angel Tree and donate to our church’s Operation Christmas Child effort each year (we sent out over 100 boxes this year…we only have around 300 ppl in our church.)

We make it a point to make sure our kids never take for granted the privileges they are afforded and try to cultivate a spirit of giving in both of our girls.  Despite what we are able to do, it never escapes my attention how many Angels are not adopted.  How I grieve for those families, for those children who will not have a Christmas….

This year in the large metro area near our hometown there were nearly 3,000 children not adopted. Thankfully a local television station held an “Angel-a-thon” and raised over $110,000 (aprox.  $40 per child) for the Salvation Army to spend on the unadopted children.  Toys For Tots also collected enough toys to cover the children.

In a time when it can be hard to find people doing things for others..just because…it brings tears of joy to my eyes (yes, I’m sap.) I am thankful for people who give of themselves this Christmas season.  I am thankful for the people who step up and fill the gaps.

So if you do this any time throughout the year, thank you. You model what I try to live and want my girls to live. It’s good for them to see people doing things for others for no other reason than to do it…it’s good for me to see it too.  You make me proud of the community I share with my girls.

What are you thankful for today?

Happy Thankful Thursday!  Read more things to be thankful for today at Women Taking a Stand.

Read more of my Thankful Thursday posts.

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This post is for her.

So this morning I am sitting in my easy chair saying #prayersforanissa and finally writing the post I’ve been putting off since we got the news.

You see, my friend, fellow blogger, and phenomenal mom of three, Anissa Mayhew, suffered a massive stroke Tuesday and has been in the ICU since.

Now, I’m not gonna get all sappy and go into a long spiel about why I love Anissa, I just do. I love her for all the same reasons many others do.  Her bawdy humor, her devotedness to her children, her kindness, but most of all for being willing to make you feel like you are included…like you belong.

Truth is I’ve only met Anissa twice IRL (in real life), but have spent many hours laughing with her and being in awe of her strength.  Her kindness, hilarity, and snarkiness are beautiful and are ever present in her blogs, tweets and FB updates.

BTW: She would so be making fun of the 3000+ of us who are worried sick and have shed tears for her.

I hesitated writing this post because the truth is I could never do Anissa justice…I will never be able to adequately describe her effect on social media and the word around her.  However, there have been over 382 posts written for or about her (and linked up on Aiming Low), so I encourage you to take some time today and read them.  If you don’t already know and love Anissa, take a bit and peruse Anissa’s blogs, the blog posts, and the outpouring of love and support on Twitter…Just be sure to bring a ton of tissues.

You will need them.

Also, when you’re praying for your family tonight won’t you please say a prayer for Anissa and her family too?

You can find updates on Anissa’s condition, needs, and leave her a message by heading over to CaringBridge.  For more instructions on how to help Anissa’s family, head over to Aiming Low.

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Last Friday, I hosted our local Office Max A Day Made Better party to collect supplies to benefit our local elementary school. We were able to raise some great school supplies and will be blessing our school’s special education department next Monday with all the goodies! Check out all the fun we had…

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According to the American Cancer Society, every three minutes a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer. It is estimated that there will be 192, 370 new cases of invasive breast cancer and 40,170 deaths from breast cancer in 2009.   

The National Cancer Institute reports that while breast cancer is the leading cancer among white and African American women, African American women are more likely to die from this disease.   Another little known fact is breast cancer incidence in women has increased from one in 20 in 1960 to one in eight today. This could be due to better tracking and testing, also raised awareness of the disease.

Companies like Bright Pink do their part everyday to keep us informed and to remind us about the important things, like remembering to perform a self check every month.  Bright Pink provides a great new service called Underwire Alerts.  These alerts will send you a text message every month to remind you to check your breast health and speak up about awareness!  To sign up simply text PINK to 59227 or by visiting BeBrightPink.org.  Once you’ve signed up be sure to encourage 10 of your friends to do the same.

You can also help further the Breast Cancer Awareness cause by purchasing special Pink items this month. Many companies will donate a portion of their profits to great organizations such as Susan G. Komen and the National Breast Cancer Awareness Fund, just be sure to check that they brand is actually donating and not capitalizing on the opportunity.

Brands that are making a difference in the cause

Ford

Avon

YoPlait

Dove Hair Care

More Breast Cancer Information

http://cms.komen.org

http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/

http://www.breastcancerawareness.com

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