7QT Friday: blah, blah, blah, GIVEAWAY!

1. Happiness is letting your 3 year old burst into her older sisters' bedroom to wake them up with Rebecca Black's Friday blaring from your iPhone.

2.

Theresa of Ordinary Lovely and Micaela from California to Korea (and back again) are running a blog hop called See Me Homeschool. (You can read my interview for Micaela's How I Homeschool series here.)

You can get an in-depth look into the chaos that is St. Jude's School for Kids Who Want To Read Good and Do Other Things Good Too on Monday, February 23rd.

That's Monday, Monday, better check back on Monday...

Dang song stuck in my head.

There are lots of other (better) homeschooling bloggers participating so be sure to check out their homeschools too. Here is the blog hop schedule.

If YOU have a homeschool and want to participate, there's a link-up and an Instagram hashtag (#seemehomeschool).

3. This is a short video of actress Frances McDormand saying wise things about aging and womanhood. 

4.

I've been having far too much fun over at the Twice website. Technically, it's Like Twice. Twice is another one of those online secondhand stores, but with higher end clothing and...

wait for it...

Actual Measurements of the Actual Items for sale!

Do you realize what this means?

It means a much higher chance of getting something that actually fits!

Not only that, but the Twice people include the "fit" in the description.

Lemme 'splain.

The women in this house wear Julie fit pants from LOFT. Over at Twice, if the tag says "Julie," they let the web readers know that detail!

They also have good prices and a great return policy. They'll give me a little bonus if you sign up through my link and they'll give YOU a $10 credit!

5. RobinsOwn Soap Shoppe on Etsy.

You must go to there.

Robin makes soap by hand in her home using goat's milk and a cold process method that I do not understand.

I do understand that the soap is beautiful to see, smell, and touch.

Brown Sugar Soap

Edmund uses the Cedar Bay in the shower. Patrick uses a bar of Sexy Man he got for Christmas.

We currently have a lovely sweet wine heart-shaped soap in the powder room. Who knew that wine scented soap would smell so delicate and clean?

I got wee rashy Polly the Simply Goat's Milk shown above.

Pumpkin Bier, or as I think of it, Cinnamon Goodness

Robin is always adding new scents and shapes and I have yet to receive one I didn't care for.

I don't have a picture of them, but for Christmas I gave some people Robin's Madonna and Child shaped Cherry Almond soaps.

Sunshine Yuzu

In the past, we have also enjoyed the Frankincense and Myrrh, the Pumpkin Bier, and the Sunshine Yuzu flavors too. Sunshine Yuzu is my favorite everyday hand soap scent. Yuzu is a Japanese Lemon.

I'm saving this one for summer. It's called Icky Yucky Hands.  It's so pretty, it looks like it would taste good.

Robin is a single mom who runs her Soap Shoppe out of her own home.  She doesn't have a car, so she walks to the post office to deliver her handmade products every Friday.

I don't know Robin and she has no idea who I am, but I do know her soaps and recommend them to everyone I know.  I call her "my soap lady."

6. A GIVEAWAY!

I am going to give one of you LUCKY readers this gorgeous bar of Blackberry Sage Dragon soap AND the teal soap dish pictured here.

Just hop over to Robin's Shop then come back and tell me what you think looks good in my comment box. I will choose a winner from the commenters so please make sure your contact info is accessible.

The winner will be chosen sometime in the next week when I get around to it. Probably by Wednesday because I'm planning a WWRW post for that day.

Patrick just stuck his head over my shoulder and said, "What are you blogging about? Soap! I love her soap!"

7.

I did not do a What We're Reading Wednesday post this week, but the February link-up lasts all month.  Next month's link up will be on March 4th.

Linking up with Kelly for 7QT Friday! Friday! Gotta Get Down on Friday!

7QT: Advent and St. Nicholas Day

1.  Advent starts in NINE days and St. Nicholas comes two weeks from today!  Giddy-Up!

Someone I know, love, and trust shared this item on Facebook yesterday, so of course I did that one-click spendy thing on Amazon.

2.  Since Amazon is also someone I know, love, and trust (within reason), and they had a suggestion for me, I nabbed these bad boys too.

I guess this means we'll be having gingerbeard instead of gingerbread.  tee-hee!

3.  In getting ready for the Advent-ure, (I sure am punny today) I did an online search for a high-quality child-safe Advent wreath.  I'm looking for something similar in quality to this Shabbat set.

Facebook friend, Angela bought two Shabbat sets from Barnes & Noble.  She's re-painting her candles and re-purposing them for Advent.

I'm impressed, yet overwhelmed with that route.  So I turned to Etsy Handmade instead.

ADHToys is making me a set like this, but it will include "lit" and "unlit" candles.  Easy on my temporal budget, while financially supporting a crafter's home business, winning all around.

Message her!  She'll probably do one for you too.  If you ask nicely.

4.  Speaking of Etsy Handmade things, I sent my precious nephew, Isaac, a homemade flannel blanket from Etsy seller, Project Orange.

When I messaged her that it was a gift, she wrapped it, tied it with ribbon, and added a printed note from me, all at no extra charge.  I love these Etsy folks!

5.  I'm trying to do more Christmas/St. Nicholas shopping at Etsy and independent stores.

Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum got me started on this kick.  She has lots of great ideas in her Catholic and Handmade Christmas gift guide:  ties in liturgical colors, handmade boxes for his homebrew, handmade saint medals, and more.

I know a girl who will love these Doctor Who inspired earrings,

and a couple of girls who desperately need red riding hoods.

This is not my photo or my kids.  They belong to Etsy seller, OriginalsbyLaurenToo. 

Heck, I'm even finding stuff for my #indignant17yo.  What teen boy doesn't want a lego mini-fig keychain in their stocking?

How cool would these Lord of the Rings inspired travel posters look in the boys' room?  Or in Patrick's office?  Or in our bedroom?

6.  Enough of the Windows shopping!  (Last pun, I promise.)

Soon it will be time to set up my collaborative Jesse tree and try to find the Advent at Ephesus cd that I bought last year.  It's probably at the bottom of a Christmas tub.  sigh.

**I am really on top of things this year.

I already ordered and received real beeswax Advent candles from Toadily Handmade Beeswax Candles.  Ripped this idea off Mary at Better Than Eden.  Of course, she is hand-rolling her own candles.  *cough*over-acheiver*cough* I'm just phoning it in with the pre-rolled kind.

7.  I am planning to do a(nother) post about our favorite Christmas/Advent books.  Kendra at Catholic All Year posted her Five Favorite Read-Alouds for Advent, and I was surprised to see that the Thornton Family's picks for this season are all different!  Every year, I find more and more Christmas stories to treasure.

This year, I got The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski from the library.  It pays to request Christmas books in November.  Patrick read it to Jill, and he was spellbound. He immediately started looking to see if it had been made into a movie, and was disappointed to see that it has.

**Just by typing that, I have ensured that a major appliance will break down in the fourth week of Advent, or someone will vomit as soon as we begin our post-Christmas roadtrip to St. Louis.

Feel free to leave me a little present/comment below.  You could share your favorite Etsy shop/item, your favorite Christmas/Advent book or cd, or your favorite cookie recipe.  Or just say, "Hey!"

Linking up with Jen at Conversion Diary per usual.

Happy Thanksgiving if I don't see you on What We're Reading Wednesday!  I mean, I'll be here, but will you?