Blog Hop Blitz Week #3

The air is a bit more crisp.

The official start of fall starts on Sunday.

We are well underway with the football season.

We are forever banning the existence of the football widow, unless of course, she's a bigger fan than he is! She has her head in the game because she's joining our team and linking up her tailgate recipes, game day decor/rituals, inspirational posts, funny posts, her best post of the week. She's sharing all of this here at our Blog Hop Blitz!

Now, give a big shout to the team:

Terri and Shawna from Easy Life Meal and Party Planning are two amazing sisters who team up to produce amazing foods. They've kicked off the fall season with their Four Seasons Blog Hop.

Check out co-host Betty's amazing weight loss, let her show you how to maintain your new body over at A Gut and a Butt.

Stay in shout mode, cause here are our MVBs from last week, Week #2:


Lydia's Flexitarian Kitchen cooked up some awesome meatballs, perfect for game day. They look delicious!

Here on our hop, we enjoy any link that you link up with. The old saying goes "laughter does the heart good", Starting Over...Again provided us with a bit of humor. Keep the laughs coming!

What would game day be without some salsa? Turnips 2 Tangerines gave us not one, but 2. Who's gonna be brave enough to try the Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa or the Salsa Verde? Both look yummy, bring on the tortilla chips!

Congrats to the Week #2 MVBs! All three will pinned to our Football Blog Hop Blitz Pinterest board.

Alright, let's do this! But before you link up, be sure to grab our button, letting everyone know where your linking up this football season.

<div align="center">
<a href="http://gladiator-in-heels.blogspot.com/" title="Blog Hop Blitz" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1359.photobucket.com/albums/q795/ttkels/final_smallerversion4_zps693990f5.png" alt="Blog Hop Blitz" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Bloggers start your engines (ok, I know that's car racing talk, you know what I mean)!

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SHE...For 5 minute Friday

10080 minutes in a week, here are 5 of those minutes reserved especially for 5 minute Friday, with Lisa Jo Baker.

Here's some background:


1. Write for 5 minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word. (On your blog or in the comments). 

2. Link back here and invite others to join in {you can grab the button code in the blog footer}. 
3. Go leave some comment props for the five minute artist who linked up before you. 

This week's word: SHE

Ok, my timer is set, here we go:

She is many things to many people. 

Some days she is brave.

Quite a few days she is vulnerable. Although she works hard to not let others see that side of her, they may take advantage.

She is now warm, loving. She now knows how to give hugs, kisses, words of "I love you" and "I am proud of you".

She wasn't always like this. Back then, she didn't want to. Well, truth be told, she didn't know how.

She likes who she is now. Finally.

Life has a way of growing you up. She finally realizes that. 

Life also brings the right people at the right time. She gets that now.

Life also brings the wrong people sometimes to make a lesson more meaningful. Helps you to appreciate things more. 

Yeah, she gets that now. She is instilling these things in her children. She is enjoying the fruit she sees them bearing. 

This is gonna be alright. Things are alright. Wait...better than alright. Things are awesome, wonderful, peaceful. 

She is here. 

Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday, it's Thursday, everybody jump up and down cause it's Thursday!! Or something like that...

Here I am, catching up on what's going on in the blogsphere tonight and I stumble upon this:

I need more of this in my life, so I decided to link up and tell you guys what I am thankful for this Thursday:

1. It's been a rough few months at work for me. It started to take it's toll on me, not just only at work but at home. So, I am thankful for a husband who "gets" me. He has a way of helping me to see the positive side, even when I don't want to. 

2. Ok, rough at work, add back to school stress. YIKES! But, so thankful that my kids are my kids, that I have been graced to parent them. It gets rough sometimes but there are so many parents that have it much tougher than me. So, I am thankful for mannerable (if that's a word), well behaved children. 

3. My first 2 thankfuls above were more enjoyable because of music. I am thankful for music. For the past couple of months, I have been enjoying the Tarzan soundtrack. Yeah, I know...but my daughter and I love watching that movie together. Anytime I can sing along with Phil Collins is a really good time. Here, take a listen:

4. It's a great feeling to have an open forum where you can type words that, hopefully, inspire others. That's what we as bloggers have the opportunity to do. So, I am thankful for this blog and those they I come into because of it. 

5. Rounding out my list of thankfuls, drum roll please....

Oh. My. Goodness. If you have not tried this ice cream, please excuse yourself, head to the nearest grocery store and get it. Get 2. When all else fails, this can get me going...usually going extra hard at the gym but going nevertheless. 

Blog Hop Blitz Week #2

Week #2 looks to bring some heated battles to the field:

Eli vs. Peyton (brothers who come from a football legacy family, they play on separate teams, Peyton is the oldest).

Seahawks vs. 49ers (showdown on the west coast, both teams have sensational, young quarterbacks).

Your tailgate recipes, game decor and rituals, your best post, being put on display (you, yes you, linking up your best of the best).

Speaking of the best, here is our awesome host team for week #2:

Terri and Shawna, from Easy Life Meal and Party Planning are two amazing sisters who team up to produce amazing foods. Hopefully, some of their skills will rub off on me.

Betty shares her victories of weight loss and how she maintains keeping it off over at A Gut and a Butt.

Jessica gives us a peek into her Wondering Brain, sharing insight on being wife, mom, and doctoral student.

Please be sure to show them some love by clicking their linky to follow them. 

Alright, the moment you've been waiting for, well, one of the moments you've been waiting for! Right before you link up, take a look (and a follow would be awesome) at our Week #1 Most Valuable Bloggers (MVBs)!

1. Thank you Esther at Enchanted Beginnings for getting us in the spirit. Esther points out "10 things she loves about football season". She gets us motivated while...
2. Getting Stuffed takes care of our hunger pains with her Buffalo Chicken Mini Muffin Poppers. 
3. The title says it all, "I don't care for football chili" from Such a Mama! She found a way to cope by making her chili and now, hopefully, linking up with us every Sunday. 
4. This Picadillo Stromboli Braid from Sourdough Native made our mouths water. Simply delicious!

We had an awesome time picking the Week #1 MVBs. All 4 MVBs will be pinned to our Pinterest board for additional exposure.

One more thing before we get to the moment you've been waiting for. Grab our Blog Hop Blitz button (say that 10 times fast), letting everyone know where you're linking up this football season.

<div align="center">
<a href="http://gladiator-in-heels.blogspot.com/" title="Blog Hop Blitz" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1359.photobucket.com/albums/q795/ttkels/final_smallerversion4_zps1fdaecc2.png" alt="Blog Hop Blitz" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

On your mark, get set, go (wait, is that even how they start a football game)!

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Houston, we have a command center

1 Senior Parent meeting

1 PTA meeting

2 Girl Scouts meetings

3 times missing the school bus

1 early dismissal

2 dentists appointments

It's only been 1 month since school started back. I already feel like I've ran a marathon. Have I told you lately how interesting it is to have one in the 2nd grade and the other a high school senior? Oh yeah, throw in the fact that the 2nd grader is a girl, the senior a boy. That's a different post for a different day.

So, remember me posting my grand, spectacular way of staying organized this school year? Here's a visual refresher:

When originally researching the type of command center I wanted, I read several comments from those who went before me on the quest for organization say "I really thought this command center would work for us, but found out we never used it".

I am known for falling for cutesy, gadgety things, only to find that I really didn't need them. I actually believe Hummingbird has inherited this trait.

Ok, so fast forward. 1 month later, look at what we got:



We are working this thing like a mule! Here's how it's working for us:

1. Calendar - I plot out appointments, meetings, Yogli's work schedule, Hummingbird's PE days, etc. And it's color coded!
2. This is where I tack on anything I really need to remember and if it's a physical piece of paper. This can get kinda bulky. We've got the school calendar, Disney on Ice coming up in October, Girl Scouts reminder of the candy and magazines sale (you can order the magazines online, let me know if you need the link), Box Tops for education, and other handouts. This section might need a lil extra work. 
3. I never got around to putting the kid's names on the file folders. The content pretty much gives it away as to which file folder belongs to who. The bottom one is for Hummingbird, you see what's in the front, more Girl Scouts stuff. This year the 2nd grade teachers decided that homework should be online. Yes, online homework for 2nd graders. Already fired off an email about that...ok, focusing back on the command center. 
4. Yogli's file contains college brochures and all of his senior year stuff. 

Based on the pic above and my description of that pic, you can see that we are definitely getting some good use from our kitchen command center. If you want it to work, you gotta work it. Things won't magically appear on it. The kids know where to look for signed papers or the schedule for the next day. It has helped to foster in more responsibility on their part. And it's given me a few milliseconds of free time!

Now, can someone please create something that will cook up a hot meal and do a few loads of laundry. Let me check Pinterest for some ideas!

Umm...yes I accept this Liebster Award

It's Monday, fresh off the weekend with the debut of my seasonal football blog hop, Blog Hop Blitz.

It's Monday, back to work.

It's Monday, back to helping with homework and hearing "Mom"!

It's Monday...okay, you probably get it. But whoa, what's that sitting in my inbox?

Is that a Liebster Award nomination?

Yes, yes it is. Now, this makes this Monday worthwhile.

2013 Blog Hop Blitz - Week #1

Que the music (imagine the NFL theme music), bring on the food, and link up! Let the Blog Hop Blitz commence!

Who are you representin'?

Welcome to week #1. Our blog hop is seasonal, coinciding with the 17 weeks of the NFL football season. 

Blog Hop Blitz gives football and non-football fans another way to increase readership/followers blog traffic. How? Well, we play the game by linking up our blog posts of tailgate recipes, games decor projects, cool game rituals, game field trips, you get the point. Maybe you've got a post about overcoming adversity, like many football players, tell us about it. Don't have any football related posts? No problem, link up your best post of the week. After that, be sure to leave a comment, spread your football knowledge, ask a football question (we've got some knowledgeable football co-hosts) or even give a shout out to your favorite team!

As an added bonus, each week you will have an opportunity to vote for our MVB, Most Valuable Blogger. That MVB will be featured on Saturdays as our pre-game feature and will also be pinned to our Pinterest Community Board, generating more blog traffic!

Introducing...me and my crew:

Go ahead, grab our button, show where you're linking up this football season!

<div align="center">
<a href="http://gladiator-in-heels.blogspot.com/" title="Blog Hop Blitz" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1359.photobucket.com/albums/q795/ttkels/final_smallerversion4_zps1fdaecc2.png" alt="Blog Hop Blitz" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Here's how this is gonna go down:

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Blog Hop Blitz Preview

Punt, sack, red zone, snap?!?!?

No, this isn't a school yard rhyme, it's your preview of the 2013 Blog Hop Blitz!

This hop is here to ease the pain of football widows, to pump up football lovers and increase our blog traffic!

The early bird gets the worm, so participants can link up early at the pre-game each Saturday, beginning Sept. 7. The hop officially goes live on Sundays, beginning Sept. 8. 

Our blog hop is seasonal, coinciding with the 17 weeks of the NFL football season.

Our Blog Hop Blitz gives football and non football fans another way to increase
readership/followers/blog traffic.  How? Well, we play the game by linking up our blog posts of tailgate recipes, game decor projects, cool game rituals, game field trips, you get the point. Maybe you've got a post about overcoming adversity, like many football players, tell us about it. Don't have any football related posts? No problem, link up your best post of the week. After that, be sure to leave a comment, spread your football knowledge, ask a football question (we've got some knowledgeable football co-hosts) or even give a shout out to your favorite team!

Each week, you will have an opportunity to vote for our MVB, Most Valuable Blogger. That MVB will be featured on Saturdays as our pre-game feature and will also be pinned to our Pinterest Community Board, further generating more blog traffic!

Once you're done, go enjoy that game!

So, without further ado, let's play ball(is that even football lingo, got a lot to learn!)...guess I should say "let's link up!"... Ok, a lil anxious, link up in 5 days!