Every year my husband and I buy Pee Wee items he’ll need in the new year. We do this because he usually gets his annual shots around December/January, so we take the opportunity to make sure Pee Wee is set for the new year with some fun stuff and some necessary stuff. And we usually buy these items and give them to Pee Wee as his Christmas gift. We like to think he appreciates the gesture and all the fabulous goodies we get for him.

We hope.

This year, I unfortunately waited until the last minute to go shopping for my baby boy. As in, I was at Walmart at 1 pm on Christmas Eve in cold rain trying to get his gift basket done. I had to have something under the tree for him! First, I went to get some liquid courage and set off to get this basket done.

Walmart has a great pet section, and although the dog-related items are only about 2 full aisles worth, I easily found everything Pee Wee could want or need to stock up on for the new year. I wanted to show you all some of the items I picked out because they would be great for you if you have a pet, or if you got a dog for Christmas or if you need to buy some gifts for someone with a dog. I will personally vouch for all the products I picked out since they’ve been used on my sweet dog Pee Wee.

Y’all ready to shop?

The first thing I always gravitate towards is fun stuff: toys, clothes and anything that squeaks.

The good thing about the fun stuff is that most dogs/owners will be able to enjoy them (without having to worry about allergies and such) so you don’t need to think about it too much. Just make sure it’s gender/breed/size appropriate, and you’ll be set. Pee Wee loves turtle neck sweaters, small toys that he can hide and I love good prices. The above gray sweater was only $5.44 and the green alien toy was only 97-cents. At Walmart, most clothes for dogs was about $5-$10 and toys were about 97-cents to $5. You get a lot for your money.

Then you also need to stock up on items to de-stinkify your pup. Therefore, my next category is bath products for the pooch. Between walks outside, peeing on trees and licking themselves silly, they will smell. Bad. But there are lots of ways to combat their stench.

This item caught my eye, though I didn’t buy it. We do have a shower wand that I can use to easily bathe Pee Wee, but if you don’t, maybe this is a good option?

My dog has sensitive skin and lots of allergies, so if at all possible I try to buy shampoo that is natural or without a lot of stuff in it that will irritate his coat/skin. This line by Oster has a ton of great scents and is made from natural ingredients. I prefer Sulfodene shampoo for Pee Wee, but I did snag the wipes for those days when he needs a refresher since I can’t just Febreze the dog, right? It was $4.97 for 80 wipes.

Another must have for any dog owner is an absorbent towel. This one was about $2 and is perfect for most small to medium sized dogs. And Pee Wee is going to hate me for saying this, but a good nail clipper is essential to maintain your dog’s nails. We’ve tried about 10 different nail clippers over the span of Pee Wee’s 6 years on earth, and these are the easiest type to use. Bonus? They have a guard to help you not cut the quick in the nail and make your dog want to put you on Craigslist. ;-)

 

Moving onto the next section: practical items for any dog.

If you ever decide to buy your dog or any dog a bed, please make sure it is washable! Why? Revisit the de-stinkify your dog section above. They smell, their bed smells= you need to wash them both regularly.

 

And to round out the practical items, I also picked up an automatic water bowl (Daniel has been wanting Pee Wee to get one of these for awhile) and a collar and leash combo. We constantly lose Pee Wee’s leashes, so to have it be an all-in-one is really neat. It’s also nice to not have to worry about neck size if you’re wanting to pick up a collar as a gift for a dog or pet owner.

 

So, we’ve done the fun stuff, the bath stuff and the practical stuff, this leaves the best and most important category for last…TREATS!

No doggy gift basket would be complete without lots and lots of treats. I love giving treats to Pee Wee to help reinforce good behavior or simply to distract him from barking at squirrels during my TV shows. Whenever I look for treats, I try to find some that seem like they’d be tasty and a good size for Pee Wee to be able to chew/eat.

My choice? Milk-Bone® small biscuits! This box was only $2.50, came with more than usual and includes a $2.00 coupon to use when you buy any Milk-Bone® product + Pup-Peroni or Milo’s Treats. My local Walmart didn’t have any Milo’s treats in stock, but I didn’t sweat it because Pee Wee adores all the varieties of Pup-Peroni.

 

With the coupon, it makes the Pup-Peroni only 48-cents! What a deal. And they even have lean varities of Pup-Peroni if your dog is trying to lose a few. Aren’t we all?

Finally, I need a basket to put all these goodies in. But I also wanted something I could use to hold all of his stuff in, so I went to the storage and organization section to choose a bin rather than a decorative basket. I’m all for functional.

 

After that marathon shopping session, I headed back out into the rain and back home to put it all together…and you’ll see how it all looked once I put it together and gave it to my sweet Pee Wee next week. But for now, what items do you consider a must have for any dog? Are there any I missed? I’m always looking for awesome products for my buddy, so please do share. If you want to see even more ideas and items to include in a dog gift basket, you can check out my Google+ album here with ideas not in this blog post. Won’t you take a look?

And now I am off to try to clip my dog’s nails. Wish me luck! Is there an easy way to trick them into loving the experience? A girl can dream!

See? He loves turtleneck sweaters.

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias #ILoveMyk9

Today’s post will not be about glitter, room makeovers or any of that kind of stuff. Instead it will be about how I completely and utterly failed this year at the one thing I wanted most.

To be skinny/thin/healthy/Jessica Alba’s Twin

As of this morning I am actually 2 pounds heavier than I was a year ago. This means in the span of one year, I lost 30 pounds and gained 32 back. Yes. That’s awful. Yes. I feel horrible.

I want to cry.

Because of my recent weight gain this past month (where I’ve put on about 10 pounds…TEN!) even my fat pants don’t fit. This means I need fat-ter pants. I went in search of fatter pants, and nothing fit right. Nothing looked right. I was even willing to go up a size and not give a rat’s ass about the number on the tag.

AND NOTHING FIT.

I wanted to die. Right there in that dressing room. But how sad would it be to read about a woman dying in the Cato dressing room? Very sad. I don’t truly want to die, of course not, that’s insane, but I am so tired of battling my weight. I’ve been battling this all my life. And I don’t think I’m ever going to win.

Y’all. I don’t know. I simply don’t know. What is wrong with me? Why am I at my all time highest weight EVER? How? Why? WHY DID I LET THIS HAPPEN? Again. AGAIN!

I honestly don’t even know how to put my sadness, shame and hatred of my body into words. I look at myself in the mirror and I think to myself, “You let yourself go, Monica.” And women who do that sorta thing usually at least have an excuse. They just had kids, they are having a rough patch in life, they just experienced loss. And me? Well, life is fan-freakin-tastic to be honest with you. I have really nothing majorly wrong except that I am pretty sure my mother-in-law hates my guts.

So why I am fatter?

Is it all the eating out? Probably. Is it all the drinking? Possibly. Is it all the lack of exercise? Definitely. Do I know what I need to do? Not really. What I’ve done is gone balls to the wall for the first 3 months of the year and then give up the Nazi regime I’ve created for myself because I can’t do it anymore.

I am lazy. Like just pure lazy. I don’t want to workout, I want to do nothing that requires effort. Am I depressed? Perhaps. About what? No clue. I have a wonderful husband, beautiful home and lovely friends. And a gorgeous, adoring dog. This would be enough to motivate anyone to get into shape and live life a little fuller and longer.

And here I sit with a diet coke and pan de polvo cookies. Which are made with Crisco. Which is getting me further and further from my goal of feeling like a beautiful, confident and healthy 20-something woman.

I don’t know. I simply don’t know.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you had a beautiful day with your family and friends. How am I?

Well…Dear lord I am exhausted today. And I’ve been exhausted all week because we’ve been working on our master bedroom closet makeover. And it looks fabulous, we’re 80% done and I couldn’t be happier with how it looks.

The only way we’ve made it through the week is with quick dinners, one of them being Tyson Mini Chicken Sandwiches. (Click on the link to see if your local Walmart stocks them)

Eating out can get expensive, cooking can take forever (and mess up my clean kitchen!), so thank goodness for these mini chicken sandwiches. You can cook a pair in 2 minutes flat, and boy they do taste good. I am sure we’ve all had the frozen chicken entrées that look more like a sponge and taste nothing like chicken. Oh and the bread is good, too. I was pleasantly surprised and impressed.

Proof that it looks like chicken:

These aren’t like that. With 8 to a box, these were our Christmas Eve fourth meal (fourth meal= when you’ve had 3 meals, but are up so late you require a 4th) and they also were a dinner earlier this week when we had been Christmas shopping all morning, working on the closet all afternoon and just wanted to eat and sleep and be done. And they were also a quick snack before a party (I was starving and couldn’t wait to eat…oops).

That’s 12:36 am on Christmas Day when I was up making these sandwiches. I was eating by 12:40.

I know some of you may be wondering what the calorie info on these lovely sandwiches is (for a pair/2), and here’s the info. They’re not super low calorie, but they’re a great alternative to going out and having burgers/fries or pizza (both in calories and cost).

I like that these came with the cheese on them, and they really did cook up nice and juicy in 2 minutes flat. I had these with some chips for one meal and for another I had them with some leftover mashed potatoes. They go with pretty much anything. You can also fancy them up with lettuce, tomato and mustard, but I like them as is.

Easy, quick dinner after work, during crazy holidays or when you just feel lazy. And boy do I sometimes just feel lazy when I am off from work and doing a million and one things.

So from my kitchen to yours, these are a great timesaver and affordable. Also, when you buy 2 boxes of these lovelies you can get a $5 Walmart giftcard! If you’d like to see how my shopping trip went, you can view it over on my Google+ album.

$5 Walmart giftcard offer details:

Three easy steps to receive your Walmart Gift Card:

1. BUY any two (2) Tyson® Mini Chicken Sandwiches (8 count).
2. ATTACH  your original Walmart cash register receipt, dated between 10/31/11 and 1/13/12, containing the address of the Walmart store, the purchase date, and the purchased products of either Tyson® Mini Chicken Sandwiches or Tyson® Mini Chicken Sandwiches with Cheddar Cheese all circled,  THIS COMPLETED FORM,  AND
3. MAIL to:  Tyson® Chicken Walmart Gift Card Offer, 35610 Mound Road, Dept. 2030, Sterling Heights, MI 48310-4725. Envelope must be postmarked by 2/13/12; received by 2/20/12.

Product must be purchased by 1/13/12. Offer expires 1/13/12 or when supply of gift cards runs out, whichever occurs first.   Supplies limited to 2,000 Walmart Gift Cards.

They’re easy to find in the freezer section at participating Walmarts.

I’ll be sending in my receipt for sure. That essentially makes it a BOGO free kind of offer since one box is $5.14.

Basically quick dinners helped us knock this project out…I will do a full reveal, but for now you’ll have to settle for a sneak peek!

Squee.

Well, it’s late here in Texas, so I am going to go cuddle with my hubby and Pee Wee. We wish you all a very Happy Holiday! xoxo.

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias #TysonGoodness

Well, my time as a Latina Smart Ambassador is wrapping up, and I wanted to take some time to reflect on the experience. It was truly wonderful to get to be a part of something that is so positive and makes a difference in women’s lives by providing scholarships. I had the privilege, and I truly do consider it a privilege, to help judge the entries to select the top 20. Reading and viewing all those entries helped fuel the fire within me that I sometimes put out inadvertently. That spark for life, change, education and success that we neglect or ignore because it requires effort and work.

Well, Latina Smart reminded me that with effort and work, anything is possible. The women that entered the scholarship contest have that spark I mentioned above, and because of them the Latina culture will be better. We’ll have more opportunities, more awareness and more impact on people’s lives.

I know don’t write much about being Latina on these pages, but it’s not ever something I ever forget about. Culture is something that is important to me because my mom and grandma have always instilled that in me. My culture is something I think about when preparing holiday meals: I am so excited to get to eat tamales, bunuelos and pan de polvo in this next week! Delicious. My culture is also something I think about when I reflect on memories with my grandmother who passed away 5 years ago on Christmas Eve. The Latina culture is in my heart and soul, and I can’t thank Latina Smart enough for really helping me get down to my roots.

My mom, myself and my granny back in 2005.

Being an ambassador was just what I needed at a time when I felt down and uninspired. That spark is back, and sometimes when it flickers away for a moment, I think of all the women I’ve met through my Latina Smart ambassador journey and I feel alive again.

Thanks Latina Smart for the opportunity of a lifetime.

You can follow the Latina Smart community over on Facebook and on Twitter.

This is going to be quick because I have a closet system I am working on…oh the madness. MADNESS I tell you.

But I did want to announce the winner of the giveaway! I verified entries and after all that jazz, the lucky, lucky person is…

Her comment was the following:

Tracey, I hope this prize pack helps you and your son create lots of projects and memories in 2012. Congrats!

You have 24 hours to contact me via email at monicawantsit @ gmail.com

Congrats!

Now back to that closet system for me… oy!

This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #ElmersHoliday #gluenglitter #Looks4Less #collectivebias #CBias.

This post is sponsored by Serve from American Express. Sign up for Serve and receive $10 credit towards your first use. Comment below within the next 7 days for your chance to win an extra $100 credit to your account!

I love hanging out my friends, especially during the hectic holiday season or after a long work week. It’s fun to cut loose and unwind and get dressed up for a bit. I love to go out with Daniel, Candy and Todd to our local pub because it’s low key and the drink specials are awesome.

Basically any excuse to hang out with my friends and wear sparkly earrings while drinking Long Island Iced Teas=FUN.

But sometimes we go to places where they don’t split the check properly or they won’t split the check at all (why?!), so there’s that awkward, “Um, so I’ll pay you back when I have cash…is that ok?” or “Do you have change for a $20 since my part was only $14?” moment that can put a damper on an otherwise fun night at the pub (as shown above after quite a few drinks…).

Enter Serve from American Express. Now you can instantly pay your friends back while you’re at the table. You can even pay them the exact amount. You can send them the money instantly and they can receive it instantly if you all have Serve accounts. Bonus? You get $10 in your account just for signing up, and you can earn a bonus $50 by referring friends. And I am sure you have lots of friends you go out with, right?

More pictures of us having way too much fun, or drinks, maybe both.

In the time it takes me to send a text message, I had sent my pals money right to their Serve accounts. Minus the one who has to send in some documentation to get their account up and running… but for most people signing up for Serve takes less than 10 minutes. You will also get a Serve card in the mail that you can use anywhere American Express is accepted. Now that I have my friends set up with Serve, it’ll make going to lunch or pitching in for the office gift exchange that much easier.

And even better? One of you can get a $100 credit to your Serve account! Just enter by leaving a comment on this blog post with what you’d love to use $100 on after you sign up for your Serve account and leave me a way to contact you (e-mail preferred). Even if you don’t win the $100 credit, you do get $10 just for opening up an account.

Remember to sign up for Serve and receive $10 credit towards your first use. Comment below within the next 7 days for your chance to win an extra $100 credit to your account! Official sweepstakes rules and regulations may be found by clicking here. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

I love to decorate, and with the exception of being overwhelmed at the thought of outdoor lights, I find it a joy to deck the halls of my home for Christmas. However, I realize not everyone can or is able to decorate even a simple Christmas tree during the holidays. I firmly believe every family should have a tree in their home, especially if you have little ones.

So, my task was simple. Find a family in need of some beautiful holiday décor in the form of Christmas tree trimmed with gorgeous bows, glass ornaments and sparkly shoes… and I found the perfect family! Well, my in-laws did because they know everyone in this small town, so again, thank you!

The family owns a local adult daycare in our town. As you can imagine, running an adult daycare center is especially difficult because of the needs of the elderly. Well, given that they care so much about the people they serve everyday, they’ve spent all their energy and time to decorate the adult daycare center to spread holiday cheer there. Also, they’re coordinating a Christmas dance for the people that attend their center. With all the planning, working and efforts they’ve put into that, they weren’t going to put up their tree this year. At all. The horror.

Until I came along.

This past Monday, I grabbed the huge box of velvet visions tree decorations that Kmart sent over to me to decorate it forward and make someone’s holiday a little brighter.

I didn’t do this alone though…my husband, sister and brother all lent a hand to make this a beautiful tree for a beautiful and deserving family!

My little brother, Gabriel, unwrapping all the sparkly shoes one-by-one. Look at how happy he looks. Love him!

My gorgeous little sister unboxing all the gold french horns and trumpets that came in the kit.

And my husband was busy putting up all the glass ornaments:

While I fluffed up all the bows (boy were there lots of bows!)

After we were done, we had a beautiful tree!

And I also rubbed off the decorate it forward message to my 2 teenage siblings. It’s always good for teens to help give to their community/others. And? We all had a great time.

To me Decorating it Forward meant to think of someone else who may be in need this holiday season. And boy did it feel good. :) Have you done something nice for someone this holiday season?

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias

Thanks to Duncan Hines for sponsoring my writing. There's no limit to the baking possibilities, so grab your favorite Duncan Hines mix and Comstock or Wilderness fruit fillings and Bake On! www.duncanhines.com.

I love going out with my girls. There’s a local pub that is fantastic and fun to go to here in town. It’s low key and yummy…and expensive. A margarita is $7. A long island iced tea is $6. Yowzers.

This is why those sorts of outings are far and few between. Instead the BFF and I love to have girls night in. We’re actually having one this Friday, and I thought it’d be cool to give you all some ideas of how we plan our night in so maybe you can host something similar with your girlfriends. The great thing about girls night in is that they are usually affordable, FUN, and PJ’s are considered couture fashion (AKA: totally acceptable!)

Entertainment:

-We love renting games from Redbox. At $2 a night, this is a fun way for us to look like total dorks doing Mario & Sonic Winter Olympics 2012. For what it’s worth, we take it super seriously and also for what it’s worth, I suck at the rhythmic ribbon competition. Also? We get super psyched & competitive. Here’s a girls night in photo from earlier this year.

Megan was very excited to win that Mario Kart race.

-Watch cheesy chick flicks. Our recent favorites? Burlesque, Bridesmaids and Dirty Dancing. This is a good time to scour your DVD collection and dust off an oldie but goodie. Or again, Redbox is your friend.

-Talk. We talk a lot (right, Candy?) about anything and everything. And sometimes, that is truly the best entertainment.

Food & Drink:

-Pizza is always an economical choice. Locally, we have a place that offers pizza for $5.55 or Domino’s usually has carry out for $6.99. Another thing we’ve also done a lot of is BYON: Build your own nachos. One friend will bring tortilla chips, I’ll brown up some taco meat, another brings some queso and everyone else brings other toppings or drinks.

-We love to create our own cocktails. Usually they involve 1 liquor of our choice (lately it’s been cake or whipped cream flavored vodka) + soda. This keeps it simple, cheap and tasty.

-Or if you don’t want to bother with food, you could ask everyone to bring a dessert. Someone brings cookies, someone brings ice cream. The point is that everyone can pitch in, which makes it easy on the checkbook and stress free.

Location:

-Whether it’s at your house or your BFF’s, the main things I focus on are the 3 S’s: seating, scents and stuff.

• Seating: have ample seating for your guests to be comfy and lounge.
• Scents: If you don’t have time to clean your house before your girls arrive, scented candles are your best friend. Plus, instant décor!
• Stuff: Make sure you have plenty of stuff to eat & drink and stay entertained.

I hope those ideas help inspire you to host a girls night in. Hey, you can even host one and have them help you wrap gifts before Christmas. A girls night in is affordable, no fuss but much fun. Get to planning!

The above photo is of my girlfriends getting ready for their Mario Kart race to start. Look at how prepared they all are…love them. :)

Remember to check out Duncan Hines' website www.duncanhines.com to find some great recipes for your holiday get-together! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective.

Today I am quite proud to show you all my Christmas décor in the living room and breakfast nook. Later on this week, I’ll show you all the décor in my dining/office space. I am so excited! I worked many hours on fine tuning the décor to fit our silver/gold colors, and I hope you enjoy. Won’t you step inside?

Oh and these 2 guys? Not much help. But aren’t they cute?!

Our Christmas tree… ta-dah!

The tree is primarily silver/gold/crystal ornaments, but I did add in some black for some drama.

Love these plastic crystal-ish ornaments from the Michael’s $1 spot.

Our holiday mantle + some pillar candles in our fireplace. Oh and hey, our $30 runner from Garden Ridge. Looks like those fancy schmancy (aka: expensive) trellis rugs that everyone loves. The purpose of having the runner there is to hide the extension cord that powers our tree.

Pee Wee loves this chair. And sweater.

I stuck to gold/silver mercury glass + glass hurricanes to create a monochromatic look.

The mercury glass candlesticks were $12 for the pair at Ross.

On Pinterest, I pinned a photo of the ornament vase filler that I loved from Pottery Barn. Their version would have cost me $30+ each, while my version cost me $15 for the pair (maybe less). The top left photo is Pottery Barn’s version, and I break down how I recreated it. $1 store ornaments + $3 glass hurricanes from Walmart + 1 votive in each center= the look for less. :)

And if you all also noticed, my mantle is now white. I gave it a makeover all for free. It took me about an hour of hardwork to add some baseboard/casing to the front of it, caulk it and paint it. Done. If you need an air compressor for small jobs around the house, I cannot speak highly enough of my Evolv air compressor w/nail gun. I have no ties to Sears nor Evolv, but I just want to spread the word about an affordable air compressor that is good for most DIY house jobs. We bought it for about $75, so watch for sales.

And yes, the stockings are all hung on a curtain rod I had on hand from Walmart. Genius way to hang a lot of stockings! I won’t take credit for the idea though, I will admit I saw it on Pinterest first. But I do love my version!

On the back console table where our surround speakers are, I added an apothecary jar filled with $1 store ornaments and $1 store pinecones. Took me 2 minutes, tops. Great way to use up extra stuff.

And while you’re in the living room, you can clearly see our breakfast nook, so I HAD to decorate it. Right? I mean, yeah, def. This is all stuff I had on hand. The only thing that is new is the bird cage hanging from the center and my GORGEOUS GHOST CHAIRS. I lurve them. LURVE! You can snag some here. I bought them on sale on Cyber Monday for $167 for the pair.

I think I love how it looks more at nighttime though…it’s a romantic spot. The candy canes add a whimsical touch. Plus the little table will make for a great bar set-up during holiday parties.

If you look closely at the picture below this photo, you’ll see I created another PB-esque knock-off:

See? Look below… Their version would have cost me about $25, while mine cost me $4. I had gems on hand and bought the vase/candle holder at Marshall’s for $4. The trees are felt ones I bought at Dollar Tree many years ago and never used. Red pomander is leftover from my wedding in 2009. Oh how time flies.

Well, those are the highlights of my living room/breakfast nook décor. What do you think? Anything you really love or don’t love? If you have a post with your decorations featured, please let me know so I can go ogle them.

Be back tomorrow with some tips on how to host a low-key, low-cost girls night in holiday party. Just something simple for you and your friends to kick back and enjoy the holidays. See ya tomorrow!