Blog Hoppin' Tuesday: Why You Should Read Simply Sweet Home

For this week's blog hop everyone is telling readers why their blog is worth reading. So here's a few fast facts about Simply Sweet Home, and why you should come here ALL time!

1. Recipes - I always post a featured Recipe of the Week, and sometimes I post additional recipes or recipe links for you to check out.

2. Sweet Thursday - Each month I host a dessert carnival, complete with yummy looking photos and links. At the time of the carnival I announce a theme for the next month, and you can submit your dessert and be featured in the next carnival.

3. Giveaways - I host a few giveaways each month. You can win all kinds of prizes including jewelry, print/media products, website memberships, and much more. (In fact, I have 3 awesome giveaways going on right now and couple more coming up in honor of my blogiversary!)

4. Tips & Ideas - I post on a lot of ideas for home and family, including organizing tips, home decor, party planning, crafts, and money saving.

5. Personal Posts - This year I've worked to make the blog a little more personal: I share items from my home, shopping trip finds, and fun photos of my kitty cats. (And when hubby and I have a baby, there will be a lot more personal stuff featured here!)

6. Special Events - From time to time I host special events on my blog. In December I'll be hosting my 2nd Annual Christmas Festival.

7. I strive to make Simply Sweet Home a fun and informative place for everyone. I've been blogging here for 2 years, and though the topics may vary from week to week, the goal is still the same: Sharing ideas on how to create a Simply Sweet Home!

-Jerri

Special thanks to Grace Jacobsen for sponsoring this blog hop.

Blog Hoppin' Tuesday: Show Off Your Art

This week's blog hop theme is "Show Off Your Art." Well, I'm no artist. But my stepmother is. Last year at Christmas time, she painted a portait for each of us. I personally love landscapes and country home pictures. I especially love the work of Thomas Kinkade. So when Donna asked me what kind of picture I'd like to have painted, so I showed her some of my favorite Thomas Kinkade photos from an old calendar I had.

I chose one of my favorites, and she used it as a model to paint me a picture. And this was her finished product. It looks very lovely in our living room.

Another thing that makes this portrait special is the frame around it. My dad's not an artist either, but he's great fix-it man and builder (not to mention, a great cook...but that's another story). So my dad actually built the frames to go around all the canvases. Great Job, Dad!

My dad also made some awesome birdhouses for all of us, which Donna painted. I'll definitely share those with you in the future, as well as some more of Donna's work.

-Jerri

Blog Hoppin' Tuesday: My Funny Fridge Cat

I have more cat pictures for this week's blog hop. This week's theme is Funny pictures, quotes, stories, etc. And I couldn't think of anything funnier than a cat invading my fridge...

Dixie Belle loves to look in the refrigerator. I think she knows what it's for! And one day I was putting away the groceries, and I turned around to find her actually in the refrigerator. And of course, being the picture freak that I am, I had to grab my camera right quick and snap a few photos. (Don't worry, I checked the fridge for hair and wiped it down before putting the rest of the food in. And besides, Dixie assured us that she was clean as a whistle.)

Here Dixie Belle is posing for the camera, as if this is exactly where's supposed to be. Doesn't she look innocent?

Here she's gazing at the potatoes in the crisper and trying to figure out why she can't get them. (And if you think she looks intrigued by the potatoes, you should see her when there's a bug or a tree frog on the outside of the windows!)

And here she is going for the food that's not under glass. She's reaching for the cottage cheese here, but what she doesn't realize is there's some fresh chicken just above her head.

...And still intrigued by the potatoes.

And I think she's a little mad at me here because I'm telling her it's time to come out.

And here she's taking one last look at the place before she has to exit. What an exciting tale to tell her brother!

-Jerri

Blog Hoppin' Tuesday: New Photos

For this week's bloghop, we're sharing some favorite recent photos. So I picked out a few funny pictures of my kitties to share with you, complete with my fun and cheesy commentary.

Anytime my husband goes out of town or even leaves the house, the cats seem very "interested" in what's going on.

In these pictures Rebel is....um...rebelling! I'm not sure if he's trying to keep "daddy" from leaving or if he wants to go too. You make the call!


Dixie was a little mad that Rebel got to the suitcase before her...after all, she is the queen and is supposed to have first choice of all items to sit on and play with. But she decided to put her personal feelings aside and focus on the task at hand: Keeping Daddy From Leaving.

While Rebel remained entrenched in the suitcase, Dixie successfully held and defended a pile of clean, just-folded shorts and underwear. "This oughta stop him!"

"If Daddy wants to leave, he has to go through us!"

But in the end, they could not stop the inevitable....Daddy had to leave!

So they retired to the office with me where they napped and snuggled together. Just before falling asleep they had a top secret discussion about future campaigns, including a "Welcome Home Ambush."

....and they did a little grooming too, of course!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and story. Thanks for stopping by!

-Jerri

Blog Hoppin' Tuesday: Kid Pictures

For this week's blog hop, everyone is sharing their favorite kid pictures. I chose to share a funny picture from last Christmas. This is my niece and nephew. My nephew got some toy power tools. One of the tools was a chainsaw. In this picture, he is trying out the new saw on his big sister. Doesn't he look happy?

-Jerri

Blog Hoppin' Tuesday

I've decided to participate in the Mcklinky blog hop. I've seen a few blogs that I visit participating, and I thought it would be fun to try it out. If I enjoy it, I may even make it a permanant weekly feature here.

For this week's blog hop, the theme is "3 Things You Didn't Know About Me." Here are my 3:

1. I started making my own beaded jewelry a few months ago, and I plan on opening my own Etsy shop in the next few weeks. (More details to come soon...)

2. I'm a huge fan of the Harry Potter book series and the movies. (Can't wait to see The Half-Blood Prince!)

3. I love collecting things! Some of the things I collect are mice figurines/ornaments, Hallmark ornaments, dolls, bears/animals (especially Beanie Babies), and antiques. I also have a China cabinet filled with figurines and other little treasures that I've collected over the years.

-Jerri