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I have just become an Official Event Chaser. How awesome is that? I used to go to concerts all the time. My friends loved going to concerts too so we would all go together in a few car loads. We had a blast! Some great memories were made.

When I had kids the concerts stopped. Now my teenage daughter has been after James and I to take her to concerts. That is when I realized how long it has been since I went to a concert. My kids are older now so I need to get out and have fun again!

When the opportunity to become an EventChaser came around I was thrilled. I could get out, have fun, and write about it. As an Event Chaser I can get free or drastically reduced Concert Tickets. That is a pretty awesome deal if you ask me!

I was asked for a list of things that I would be interested in and as soon as I saw the All Time Low Tickets for The Rave/Eagles Ballroom I knew I had to add it to my list. My daughter has gotten me into All Time Low and I have some great memories of that place. I have seen some great concerts there.

Since I work with General Mills I have been contacted a few times to vote on covers and headlines for the Betty Crocker magazines. As a thank you they always send me a copy when they come out. I got so excited yesterday when I saw that the Betty Crocker Christmas Cookies issue came.

It is actually all pull out recipe cards and the recipes are awesome. We love making Christmas cookies and have gotten stuck in a rut so I can not wait to try these out. There are so many that I do not know where to begin.

Once again I am getting excited and want to get started on the holidays.

The weather this weekend was wonderful! I loved being able to open up the windows and get some fresh air in the house. The sun was out so we spent a lot of time outside. I am really going to miss days like that over the winter. Many people in my area love winter but I hate it. I really miss Arizona and being able to spend time outside all year long.

Today we were back to cold weather. There was even frost on the ground when I took the kids to school. Right now I am curled up on the couch with a blanket over me. If I could build a house and start from scratch, I think I would get under floor heating.

It just sounds so comfortable and cozy. Having a gas furnace means I have to get cold before I can get warm again. When the furnace kicks on I always get a cold breeze where I sit on my laptop. Plus it blows around dust and we all know how much I hate cleaning.

There are so many neat options for homes these days. I was looking at Floor Heating Online and found some really cool Mirror heaters too. You flip a switch...they heat your mirror...you keep a perfectly clear mirror. How awesome would that be? I hate trying to clean off the mirror so I can do my hair after a shower.

I love pumpkin pie but I also like to find different types to make. Have you started to think about your Thanksgiving menu yet? Most people want a simple and traditional menu so you can not get too creative with dinner. You can get creative with dessert though. This pumpkin pie is wonderful. Pumpkin cheesecake is a perfect combination and the gingersnap and pecan crust is the perfect compliment.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups crushed gingersnap cookies
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar, divided
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a medium bowl, mix together the crushed gingersnap cookies, pecans, and butter. Press into the bottom, and about 1 inch up the sides of a 9 inch springform pan. Bake crust 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Set aside to cool.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, and vanilla just until smooth. Mix in eggs one at a time, blending well after each. Set aside 1 cup of the mixture. Blend 1/4 cup sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg into the remaining mixture.
3. Spread the pumpkin flavored batter into the crust, and drop the plain batter by spoonfuls onto the top. Swirl with a knife to create a marbled effect.
4. Bake 55 minutes in the preheated oven, or until filling is set. Run a knife around the edge of the pan. Allow to cool before removing pan rim. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

We have a winner to announce in the 100 Brochures Giveaway!

The winner is CuriousGirl! Congrats!

Thank you to UPrinting for sponsoring this blog and providing us with tons of products and giveaways. We are still doing giveaways so make sure to check out our Current Giveaways.

I recently joined The Blog Frog and it is certainly addictive. I am new so I would like to join the communities of other bloggers and have people join mine.

If you are on The Blog Frog please leave a link in a comment here so I can join your community. If you want to join my Your Fun Family Community on there I would love it.

If you have no idea what I am talking about I will try to sum it up...

You join, you add a widget to your blog, and then you have a community your readers can join and you can join other people's blog communities. Many members (I do) have a widget with recent visitors so if you log in to The Blog Frog and then visit their blog you will show up with a link to your blog.

If you join other blog communities you can talk in their forums and a link to your blog shows up with every comment. Your new blog posts and Twitter updates show up in their community too. I have been addicted to the forums and have been getting new traffic from it.

Long story short, If you are a member or join now please let me know. I would like to make more friends on it since I am new to it.

As children grow they go through many stages. Many of these stages drive us crazy! One of these stages that many children go through is a regression back into the baby stage. Just as your baby starts to turn into a big kid they claim that they can no longer do all of the things they learned and they need you to do it all for them.

They just got some independence and it gave you a tiny bit of time to yourself. Then all of a sudden you are back to square one. Maybe they miss being your pampered baby. Maybe they realize that the rest of their life is downhill once they are expected to do everything for themselves. Whatever the reason, as parents we want our "big kid" back.

I have one tip for this stage that is assured to help out. The main idea is to get your child excited about doing things for themselves again. You can do this by creating a "big kid" chart or making a "big kid" jar.

Simply create a list of all of the things that your child should be able to do for themselves. Make a chart with this list or tape it to a jar. If you make a chart the child can add a sticker every time they accomplish a big kid task. If you make a jar they can add any object or just a penny to the jar.

At the end of the week they can count up all of their big kid tasks and get a prize. They will get excited again about being a big kid. They may even surprise you and find new things that they can do to get big kid points.