Frosty and I are Cool Like That

I realize I have been gone for a long time! I am so sorry about it too. At the end of October my family and I moved. During the move we had no internet. In fact, I wont have any until the beginning of the new year. At that time I will be back with a vengeance! However, I did make a promise for a post this month that I intend to keep.

At the beginning of the month I was contacted by a very sweet couple. Cameron Von St. James and his my wife Heather asked me to share a simple post of something I am thankful for especially at this time of year. Heather is an 8-year survivor of mesothelioma and she makes it a part of her life to stay thankful, especially for their daughter.

If you would like a little more about their story, you can check it out here.

I realize I have so much to be thankful for. In November I discussed several different things that I am thankful for. I have been blessed with a fantastic husband, two great kids, and a loving extended family on both sides. I'm also blessed to have a comfortable place to live, be employed, and be capable of living this life I love.

Today, I wish to share my thankfulness to YOU, my readers. You have been patient during my absence and fantastic over the past year. I look forward to sharing all the recent changes with you all. I  also look forward to catching up with what's been going on in your life. Thank you for being a part of my life. Thank you for dealing with my whining, pouting, and rants. Thank you for all the encouragement you have provided to me. I now know how much I need you and this blog to stay sane! So, like Frosty, I will be back again soon!


I hope you find something to be thankful this holiday season. I hope you had a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Dear Kailee

Dear Kailee,

You are a sweet, strong, and smart young lady now. I can’t tell you how proud I am of you. Thank you for staying true to your dreams. You have loads of talent! I mean it! 

Thank you for being such an awesome aunt to my boys. They love you and think you are amazing. You have a long and wonderful life ahead of you; I can’t wait to see what God does with you! 

Thank you for being a wonderful younger sister. I hope you know how much I love you.

Dear Roger

Dear Roger,

Thank you for being my friend through the years. Your goofy, fun personality made our childhood interesting. I know we got in several spats, but we would surely go to the grave for each other. I know I would for you.

I pray life gives you all your dreams. You are so talented. At times I am a bit jealous, but then I remember how much I love you. Your talent is now even clear to the world via your eloquent reviews on A Daily Dose of R&R. 

Keep up all the hard work! I know you will go far. Thank you for being such an awesome brother.

Dear Dad

Dear Dad,

Dad, you really are such a huge part of the woman I am today, By choosing to raise Roger and I, you took on numerous challenges. I know we were expensive (especially with my tendency to injure myself) and often annoying. (I can admit that now.) Thank you for providing for us and living us unconditionally. You are the example I always used to compare what a man should be like. You took great care of us and taught me so many things.

Thanks for humoring me and taking dance lessons with me. That little thing is something that will be with me forever. It is one of my favorite memories.

You are a loving, giving, and hard working man. I have great respect for you and I thank you for being who you are. Thank you for being my dad. I love you.

P.S. I can’t forget to thank you for my wedding. You were generous and it was perfect. It was my dream wedding.

Dear Andrew

Dear Andrew,

It’s hard to write a thank you letter to you without it becoming a mushy love letter. So, I will make every effort to keep the extra mushiness down.

 

You rescued me from myself when you came into my life. You truly are my knight in shining armor. Thank you for being patient with me and understanding of my healing wounds. Thank you for never pushing me and always respecting my boundaries. Very few men have the character you do.

Thank you for accepting me with all that includes. You took on my debt, medical fragility, and emotional wounds. You deserve so much more credit than I give you. Thank you for living with me and loving me every day. Thank you for keeping your cool when I blow up. Thank you for supporting my interests and passions (like this blog).

You work hard to keep things together when life gets stressful. You’re working hard to become a good father and husband. The kids adore you and Benjamin especially, looks up to you. (Literally and figuratively. Haha!)

You gave up a comfortable life and many future plans to have a family with me. I love you and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Dear Heather and Food Lion

Today's letter is actually two fold, but before I start I must share my recent adventure. As I mentioned at the end of October, I was invited to join Food Lion's 2013 Frugal Cook Off. This took place on November 6th. It was a blast! I was put on a team with one other blogger and asked to cook a meal for five with a surprise cut of beef and a 15 dollar budget. My partner, John from The Hungry Asian, was fantastic. We made an awesome team. He was fun and talented. We got second place in the very close competition. Our surprise cut of meat was beef sirloin kabob meat. We decided to go with that and make sweet teriyaki kabobs with rice and cucumber salad. Let's just say, I wish I was the one who got to eat it, not the judges. One of the judges even told us that they would gladly order our dishes at a restaurant.

Our Dish- Thanks to John

Although my team didn't win, I was blessed with gift cards, Food Lion brand foods, and an embroidered apron with my blog name on it! This leads me to my next topic- GIVEAWAY! One of my gift cards were for you my readers! Would you like a $100 giftcard to Food Lion?! Well, here's how to enter:

1. Follow Me via Facebook and/or Blogger
2. Like Food Lion on Facebook
3. Comment below that you did!

That's it! You know you want to, so go a head and enter!If you would like more information and pictures from the Cook Off, check out Food Lion's Facebook and Twitter! The final date for entries is 11-20-13. I will announce the winner on my blog and Facebook!

You can also check out a tid bit about it on this video!
WSLS 10 NBC in Roanoke/Lynchburg Va
 
Also, please check out some of my fellow bloggers who competed.

Heather from Desperately Seeking Sanity

Raki from Outside the Box Mom

Alicia from Fun Reviews and Giveaways

John (@HungryAsianRke)

Paula from Virginia Sweetpea

Elizabeth from  E, Myself, and I

Speaking of fellow bloggers, that leads me to my letters of thanks! My first one is to Heather from Desperately Seeking Sanity.

Dear Heather,
Thank you so much for befriending me from the start! It has been awesome to know a fellow blogger in our area. I am learning a little more from you each day. I look forward to planning blogger events with you at some point.

Secondly, I thank you for getting me involved with the The Food Lion Frugal Cook Off! It was a blast and I never would have had that opportunity without you. I know you made the difference in so many bloggers lives. I pray that you will blessed as much as and more than you ever imagined!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Food Lion,
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to compete in your Frugal Cook Off! It was one of the highlights of my blogging career. It was so much fun and it gave me the chance to meet so many other bloggers in my area! I hope I get the opportunity to partner with you again in the future.

Also, thank you for the gift cards. Both my reader and I are so thankful! I know it will be extra useful with the holiday season around the corner. Keep up all the good work!!

Dear Mom

The deep dark hole of an internet-less apartment can nearly drive someone into insanity. My heart is broken over all the missed posts and glorious time on Pinterest. However, life must go on. The theme for this month is "A Thankful Heart is a Happy Heart". I won't lie, I borrowed this title from a VeggieTales movie. November is a perfect time to be reminded how blessed we are. Its also a good opportunity to thank those who have blessed us! I plan to write letter of thanks each post this month. Each letter will be addressed to a person, company, or organization that has blessed me.

All that being said, I want to start this month of with a letter to the most important and influential woman in my life. I have her to thank for so much. Without further ado...

Dear Mom,
There is no other person on Earth who has the impact you have had on my life. Thank you for giving up dreams and plans to raise me I know how big a thing it is to have a baby now.You gave me the world view that keeps me grounded, strong, and hardworking. Thank you for all the skills that you instilled in me. From cooking and housekeeping to multitasking and critical thinking, you made me the woman I am today. Thank you for being an example of helping others and building strong relationships. I have learned how to lead others, give selflessly, and nurture those around me, all from you. Even today, I look at you as an example of those things. You are a picture of overcoming insurmountable obstacles and challenges. I only wish I was more like you in that area. Thank you for giving me a love for others and a strong background of tradition. I know you worry sometimes about my desire for self perfection, but you are quite the example to live up to. On behalf of all those lives you have blessed, thank you. I love you so much.

I could have spent all day writing things I'm thankful to my mother for, but I spared you all the crazy stories and personal details!

I have some fun to share with you on the next post, so be on the look out. (Think GIVEAWAY)

Exciting News!

I have some exciting news to share with everyone. It seems like that this time of year is a good one for my family! As most of you already know, my family moved over the past two weeks. It has been nice to have a place of our own. However, with moving comes stress.  I am trying to keep the excitement of it above the stress level. 

Speaking of stress, job hunting is still full time for my hubby! We have high hopes considering recent interviews and contacts. Perhaps we will be seeing a turnaround for the better before Christmas. We will be glad to take financial struggles off the stress table.

Anyway, on to the most exciting news of all! I was recently contacted by Food Lion to join their “Food Lion Frugal Cook-Off”! They take a select group of local bloggers, put them on teams and set them up on a challenge! This is a great opportunity to share my blog with others and meet new friends. Beyond that, if my team wins our dish will be featured at a local restaurant for a whole week and our team will be featured on our local news channel! 

The competition takes place next week on November 6^th at 6pm. We will be given a $15 budget, 45 minutes cook time, a team of bloggers, and access to a restaurant kitchen! I have high hopes and I’m super excited.

So, if you are a local reader… please let me know if you would like to join the audience for this event.  I would love to have a few readers cheering me on. Please see my contact information.