Friday Free for All–Stay Warm, Friends!

 

 

Happy Friday everyone! It seemed appropriate to designate this Friday Free for All theme to be “Staying Warm”. I apologize for the lack of relevance to those of you living in warm areas, know that I am jealous of you right now 🙂

 

It’s been a pretty wild week here in Virginia as far as weather. While it isn’t unusual for us to get a large snowstorm every few years, this last one was a really BIG one! We weren’t plowed out for four days and my kids are out of school this entire week, which as any mom knows presents a few challenges. We enjoyed some movies, monopoly games, unending shoveling and consumed far too many calories in sugar to get through, but we made it. The unexpected vacation has been fun but I’ll be more productive when we’re back to our routine. To give you some idea of the snow fall here last weekend, this was the snow drift between my car and our garage, it’s almost over my seven-year old’s head!

 

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So staying warm seems to be a good topic to cover today! It was my primary concern as we snuggled under blankets all last weekend and prayed that we wouldn’t lose power like so many did, we were really very lucky.

I could resist ordering another pair of fleece leggings {despite already owning two pairs} during the storm, and those of you who follow us on Facebook already know that.  They are such a steal that adding another color to my collection seemed to be a very good idea. You can find them on these flash sales sites like HERE and HERE, they are so comfortable and warm– they are my winter wardrobe staple.

Speaking of staples, you’ve seen Christy’s Christmas gifts, let me show you my Christmas gift… I know that UGG boots have had their day but I confess I still live in them during the winter. There is just nothing more comfortable and sometimes that is more important than fashion 🙂 Did you see they came out with a new “slim” line? It has much less clunky toe than the old boots. I had to size mine up due to the snug fit in the new design, my new ones finally arrived this week {when our mail service finally resumed}.  The new ‘slim’ ones are available here, I love them! I’ll pretty much be living in them until spring comes.  {The older style is on major sale here too, as are these which were the ones I planned to get before seeing the slim version.}

 

Being snowed in made me grateful for technology, I recently signed up for Amazon Unlimited and can read as much as want via the Kindle App {I read on my phone but it also works on my iPad} for $10 a book. It was a lifesaver during the storm, it’s the best when you finish a book but still feel like reading, you can just download another one– a bookworms dream! {They offer a free 30 day trial too FYI}

Moving on, I drink a ton of tea during the day on cold days. This one remains my favorite, my Mom introduced me to it years ago, you can order it here. Christy makes it into the cutest gifts as you can see below, it gets me through the afternoons on cold days.

 

 

I am cooking my way through this book this winter and I love it. Most of my recipe ideas seem to come from Pinterest these days but like most Moms I struggle with new ideas for dinner for our family of five. The Pioneer Woman’s recipes are awesome, we all know that, but the best part of this new book is that she has a huge section on freezer cooking/prep. I have started making large batches of things like meatballs, taco meat etc. per her recipes and now on our busier nights I can pull them out, add some sauce or fixings, and have a hot dinner in no time with little effort. Life-changing!

 

 

For other warm dinner ideas check out our best soup recipes in this post here.  I made several large pots of soup we ate off during the storm, nothing beats soup at this time of year!

 

 

If you really hate winter, and I confess I do much to my cold and snow-loving husband’s chagrin, you’ll appreciate this find. I feel a bit like a really old lady in saying it, but since my kids FIGHT over who gets to use this I promise you’ll love it. It’s an electric wrap, they call it a “spa wrap” 🙂 and it’s divine to snuggle up in {or put over cold feet} while you read or watch TV on cold, winter nights.

Hopefully some of these will make your winter a little less painful this year! I’ll leave you with one more tool to get you through these winter days, in particular for all you moms who have had kids out of school all week {like me}, you definitely deserve one of these!

 

 

You can find the recipe for our Sweetheart Martini HERE.

A few reminders…enter our giveaway for a HomeRight Paint Stick HERE.

The Calendar Pad organizing notepad {below} is available at a discount until 1/31 using the coupon code “2016”, you can order one via our online organizing store HERE.

{See why these will help you plan ahead, have less stress and stay organized in this post HERE.}

 

I have just updated our Home Management printables, they are available at an introductory price of just $2.99 right now— They compliment The Calendar Pad perfectly for those of you already using it–

They are available HERE, find more information on them HERE.

 

Enjoy friends, and stay warm!

XO,

 

 

{affiliate links in this post are included for your convenience, see our disclosure policy here}