We Have A Winner...

Thank you so much for everyone who makes an effort to read and support my writings. I hope to continue to have a variety of giveaways in the future. The bigger my blog gets and the more followers I have, the better items people will donate :) If you have any ideas for post or just a topic that interests you, feel free to comment or write me about it (jenntram44@yahoo.com). I am always looking for fun new ideas to write about.

Congrats to Peggy Davis of Madison, MS for winning an adorable chapstick key fob of her choice. Please contact me with your best contact email and I will pass it along to Amy at Gabrielle's Good Tidings so she can ship it right away for you. Don't forget you get to choice the pattern of your choice and can browse her store HERE .

Thanks again for everyone's entries and support! My blog has reached almost 3,000 views since I started just a couple of weeks ago! Tomorrow we will find out the gender of our third sweet pea and will likely post our reveal experience to our kids in the next few days! Sweet dreams!

Giveaway Time!

This Giveaway is going to have some of the same rules except I will be promoting a lovely little Etsy Shop that has been featured on Very Jane! I will introduce the Shop and give a little bio before announcing the prize.

Gabriel's Good Tidings was founded in 2005 by Amy Gabriel. Her love for stationery design began when she served as a missionary in Africa from 2002 until 2004. As her days came to a close and the sun set over her village, Amy created handmade note cards and personal stationery to keep in touch with family and friends on the other side of the world.

By the time she returned to America, her designs had developed into an art and were appreciated by many. Inspired by Luke 2:10 "The angel said to them, '...I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people...'" Amy founded Gabriel's Good Tidings to minister to others by providing high-quality stationery at a reasonable price.

Today, Amy's stationery has evolved to sewing gifts for both baby and mommy. She enjoys creating new designs and giving traditional items that handmade touch. While paper crafting will always be her first love, she has fine tuned her sewing skills and is enjoying expressing her creativity through fabric. 

Amy lives in Orlando, Florida, with her wonderful husband and two crazy kids.

You can read more about her shop here!

Browse her handmade items and make a purchase here!

Amy has generously allowed me to write about her shop and will give our winner a chapstick key fob of his/her choice! 

 Here are a few examples of these beautiful and VERY useful items:

HERE ARE THE

To be entered you MUST:
Become a Follower or Google + Follower by clicking the links under my short bio and family picture

For additional Entries:
1. Sign up for Amy's Email Newsletter here
2. Share this post with any social media site (FB, Twitter, Instagram, Pintrest)

Please remember to comment that you have done one of the above (or every time you have entered) so I can be sure to enter you in this giveaway!

Stay Tuned this Sunday night, July 28th @ 8pm when the winner will be announced!

Start entering now! You never know if you could be a winner!

Girl or Boy??

15 Old Wives' Tales...how real are they?

I couldn't resist doing this post before we find out the gender of Baby Trammell #3 this upcoming Monday. Sorry guys...this post may be more interesting to the ladies out there but I think it is fun and interesting for everyone! If you are pregnant, take these tests and see what your percentage is! 

#1 Heartbeat

Legend has it that if the baby's heartbeat is above 140 bpm it is a girl. Anything lower, a boy

My baby's heartbeat is consistently in the 150s, which means GIRL

#2 Shape of Mom's Face

When your face gets rounder and fuller when you are pregnant, this means girl, if it seems narrower you will have a boy.

My face has always been round lol. Guess this means GIRL

#3 Mayan Tale

For this test you add the age of the mother and the year of conception. If it is odd than you will have a boy, if it is even than you will have a girl!

I was 30 years old in 2013 when this baby was conceived. I added 30 + 2013 = 2043 which is odd. Means BOY for me!

#4 Acne

If a pregnant lady has a significant amount of increased breakouts during pregnancy this means girl. If your skin is free of this nasty pimples it means boy!

I have definitely had more breakouts than clear skin. This means GIRL for me!

#5 Cravings

Salty or sweet? Woman who are having girls are said to have more sweet cravings and woman having boys tend to crave meat and salty items!

I am a sweets fanatic this pregnancy. GIRL for me!

#6 Eyelid Skin

This is a weird one! If you are pregnant take down your lower left eyelid. If there is a veins that are shaped like a "V" or branches you are having a girl. If not, you are having a boy!

Yep, I actually did this...I am crazy lol. I have a distinct "V" on the inside of my lower eyelid. GIRL!

#7 Baking Soda

Take a solo cup and put 1 tbsp of baking soda in the bottom. Urinate into another cup. Pour your urine over the baking soda. Does it Fizz? This means boy, if not you will have a girl!

LOTS of fizz. BOY all the way!

#8 Legs

Are your legs getting bigger? This means boy! If you legs are lean and lovely, this means girl!

My legs haven't changed much. GIRL!

#9 Mood Swings

Are you more moody than normal? If so you will have a girl. If you are pleasant as ever, it is a boy for you!

My mood swings are off the charts. (I feel sorry for my husband! haha) GIRL!

#10 Bread Crust

Do you like to eat the crust or end of the bread? Boy for you! Those who peel the crust off or want a middle piece of bread, you will have a girl!

I have never liked crust, yuck. GIRL for me!

#11 Chinese Gender Calendar

Go to this website and choose your age and month of conception. It will tell you girl or boy in 20 seconds!

This was a BOY for me!

#12 Red Cabbage Test

Buy a red cabbage from the store and chop it in pieces. Bring a pot of water to a boil in your kitchen. Add Cabbage. Let it boil for 30 minutes. Pour the water from the pot (not the cabbage just the water) into a cup of your urine. What is the color? If you get Pink/Red is boy and Blue/Purple is a girl! 

Yes, I did this too... It was a dark blue/purple. GIRL!

#13 Dreams

Are you pregnant and have dreamt you are having a girl or a boy? Well guess what? It will be the opposite of what gender was in your dreams!

I have had three dreams, 1 with it being a boy and 2 with it being a girl. Guess I will choose the most common, which was girl dreams. BOY for me!

#14 Headaches

Getting headaches? That means a boy for you! No headaches? That means girl!

I had a time period where I was getting a lot of headaches. BOY for me!

#15 Morning Sickness

Feeling ill? The more sick you are the more likely you are having a girl!

I am much more nauseous with this pregnancy than with my two sons. I think it is my sense of smell that gets me sick! GIRL!

Now let's tally up my results!

I had 10 Girl results and 5 Boy results from the above list.

 Looks like I have a 67% chance of having a GIRL and a 33% of having a Boy!

We will see this upcoming Monday :)

I would love to hear from y'all about how accurate these were for you. If you are pregnant let me know your percentage! If you already have a child see how accurate these tales were for you! Write me some comments with your results!

Doritos Casserole, your kids will love it!

Time for another fun and easy recipe! This time I will introduce a yummy Doritos casserole that your kids will love! I have personally cooked this and it was a hit for my family!  

Ingredients:

1lb Ground Beef

1 Package of Taco Seasoning

1 Can of Diced Tomatoes (I love Rotel)

8 oz of Sour Cream

1 Package of Crescent Rolls (8)

1 Bag of Doritos

1 c of Shredded Cheese

1 Can of Tomato Sauce

Here are some examples:

 Step 1: Brown meat and drain

Step 2: Add Taco Seasoning, Tomato Sauce, Diced Tomatos, and a bit of water to the cooked meat. Mix well and simmer.

Step 3: In a 9x13 dish press out crescent rolls and roll them to form crust.

Step 4: Layer hamburger mixture, then sour cream, then cheese.

Step 5: Crush 3/4 a bag of Doritos and sprinkle pieces on top.  See picture below for a reference on how to layer ingredients. Don't forget to crush up the Doritos. I have no idea why this person didn't! 

Step 6: Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

There you have it! A delicious casserole that your kids will be excited to eat! This is also a recipe that you can make the night before, come home from work the next day, sprinkle cheese and Doritos on top, and throw into the oven for a bit. Perfect! I may cook this again soon!

When I was in high school...

School is on the verge of starting up again. I work as a high school counselor and was remanicing on old memories of my high school days. How much different are things now??? My students look at me like I am 86 years old when I tell them we didn't have cellphones in high school and what?....what was a beeper??

The following is a walk down memory lane for the folks who went to high school in my time...the late 90's. These are some of the coolest fads we had in our teens. Hope you enjoy these flashback as much as I do!

#1 Mix Tape

You all know that you either made or received one of these bad boys in high school. For those of you young souls who can't even comprehend what this is...it meant love back in the day. If your boyfriend or your girlfriend made you one of these it meant they were really into you!

#2 AOL

Our kids will never understand the frustration of getting kicked offline by your little brother or sister picking up the phone! Remember the annoying dial up and having to wait 10 minutes for everything to go through just so you could check your mail?  Or how about chatrooms where it wasn't quite as creepy for you to talk to strangers?

#3 Surge

Did you forget about Surge? I think this was before all the energy drinks came into existence. In other words this was the energy drink! I don't remember this tasting fabulous but I do remember drinking this regardless wanting to get some energy!

#4 Backstreet Boys

Don't act like you didn't love them...I may have even been to a concert in high school and my sister may have hung a poster in her room. lol This was the beginning of the Boy Band era. N'Sync and 98 Degrees can be included in this.

#5 School Reports

I know this is extremely random, but due to my comparison of schools now and then I came across this and had to include it. Can you even think back to when we had to stack up books to research and then xerox the pictures to paste on a poster board for a presentation? Most of them came out like this and everyone in the class would squint to see your pictures. We didn't even fathom how much of a pain it was to not have internet!

#6 Beepers

Lovely little things, aren't they? I'm not sure teens these days even know what these are? The worst thing was when you actually got a page and couldn't find a phone or a quarter to call someone back. How about messages like 143 or flipping your beeper upside down to relay a hidden message. Oh those were the days...

#7 MASH

Ladies, don't lie and act like you have never done this before. This was some of the best doodling options when you were bored in class. It not only passed the time but told your future too! Much better than a Magic 8 Ball!

#8

"I don't want to wait..." I remember getting excited to sit down to watch this show every week. I guess it was full of the drama but not as raunchy as 90210 so my parents allowed me to watch it. 

#9 Video Tapes

These clunky things were the highlight of date nights if you didn't physically go to the movies. I still have some of these puppies from back in the day. Not really sure why considering I don't have a VHS Player...

#10 One Strapped Overalls

Overalls...not so cool....but one strapped overalls...look at them! I have pictures of my friends and I wearing these and all I can think is "what were we thinking??" Good thing it was cool at the time!

These are just a few things that popped into my head as I was thinking about times in high school. I can promise you that kids these days may think we were dumb with our overalls on watching our VHS tapes, but I can promise them this....We had a heck of a time :)

Remember This??

I couldn't resist researching on where and how to get this outfit! 

The bad news is that I found the shorts...the exact shorts...but they were $255!!!! Then I decided to find this outfit on an "everyday kind of budget".

Good news is that I found this entire outfit for $50.97! I even included some cute shoes that would accessorize well at the end of the post. That would make the total $70.96 if you added shoes :) I have included pictures, the website to purchase these items, and the specific price for each. This does not include tax ladies. 

Here we go! Let's start from top to bottom:

Flower Necklace

Buy me here

Seriously, y'all this looks like the exact necklace that is one of J Crew's top selling necklace (about $99)....except it won't cost you near the money! This comes from Very Jane website and is on sale for $11.99!! You can't beat this price and it comes in lots of different colors!

Pocket Blouse

Buy me here

I found this shirt online at Target. It is extremely similar with the double pockets in front ant the ability to either roll up the sleeves or tack them to the side. It is also long enough to tuck in. This shirt was reasonably priced at $22.99! I found almost the exact shirt online at Antropologie for $88 if that gives you a price comparison. This shirt seems extremely lightweight allowing you to be comfortable in warmer weather!

Polka Dot Denim

Buy me here

I was so excited about this find! Not only was I searching for anything better than $255 polka dot shorts but I really like the style of these. I found them online at Zara for a whopping $15.99!!!! You can't beat that!!!!  This short is not as high wasted but can still have that appearance with your tucked in shirt.

Total for this outfit: $50.97 !!!

Very Jane Necklace: $11.99

Target Blouse: $22.99

Polka Dot Shorts: $15.99

This original outfit would have been a Total of $442.00! 

J Crew Necklace: $99

Antropologie Blouse: $88

Paul Smith Shorts: $255

As a bonus I decided to throw in a pair of cute sandals that I thought would complete the outfit. These are from Target and are $19.99. 

Buy me here

I love a good bargain, don't you?