My Suburban Kitchen

Delicious Recipes to Keep my Family of Four Happy and Full

Heating Efficiently: Pellet Stoves

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This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Harman Stoves for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am always searching for ways to be more responsible to the environment while also not breaking the bank.  For most households, their biggest expense during these cold winter months is heating.  Unfortunately, heating homes can also be one of the biggest contributors to environmental pollution too.

A popular heating alternative is a pellet stove.  Pellet stoves cost {on average} 44% less than oil, 47% less than electric and 53% less than propane heat.  Plus, biomass fuels used in pellet stoves are composed of renewable, carbon-neutral products so they are extremely environmentally friendly.  You can learn more about pellet stoves here
Pellet Stoves are Awesome

Another perk of pellet stoves: The federal tax credit on 75% efficient biomass heating appliances was reinstated on January 2, 2013.  The bill includes a "tax extender" which provides a tax credit for qualifying biomass-burning stoves. The credit is 10% of up to $300 on a qualified biomass heating appliance purchased between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2013! That makes a pellet stove an even better way to save on home heating costs.

One of the leaders in pellet stoves is Harman Pellet Stoves.  Dane Harman designed and built his first Harman stove in 1979 in an effort to reduce his family's heating costs. Now, after more than 3 decades, the Harman brand has 36 models of heating equipment including pellet stoves, inserts and home heating units.

Harman Pellet Stoves is giving away a journal sized notebook made of recycled materials to one Just Us Four reader! 

Want to win?  Simply visit Harman Pellet Stoves and then leave me a comment telling me what you like about the company or their products. 
The contest will run for 7 days and a winner will be drawn and announced here at the conclusion of the contest period.

Also, be sure to connect with Harman on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest!

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The Updated Blog

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So, last week, you guys got a fun surprise and new blog design showed up here!  Monica, from Designer Blogs, worked her buns off to create the awesome design and all the great stuff that went along with it.  If you are shopping for a new blog design, I HIGHLY recommend them {and no, they did not pay or perk me to say that}!

A few of the highlights of the new design:
– Drop down menus: This will make it easier for you guys to find posts that fit into the categories you are interested in.  These do require me to update the categories on all of my posts which is a slow process so be patient with me…I will get them all organized!

– New Buttons:  Yep, those changed too!  Please be sure to update the button on your page 🙂 You can grab the code from the sidebar or by visiting the Grab a Button page.

– Additional social media buttons.  You can now follow me via Google+ and BlogLovin simply by clicking on the icons in the sidebar.

– A fancy new picture.  I have the lovely Elevee Photography to thank for my awesome pictures.  My friend, Kere, hooked me up with some Stella & Dot jewelry to wear and Erica worked her camera magic.  I’m still trying to decide which picture is my favorite so you may see that picture in the sidebar change a few times 🙂

– LinkWithin – Now, each post has links to other relevant posts at the bottom. I hope it helps you find more content that interests you!

I think those are the major highlights of the blog design.  I had a great time working with Monica and she really helped me put my ideas into a real website.

Your Vote Makes a Difference

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This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of White Cloud for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have a huge soft spot for anything child related.  My son has spent enough time in the doctor's office or hospital for children with illnesses to really get to me though.  Each year, we do our best to give back to charities and organizaitons that benefit children in need by donatining money, clothing, toys and our time.

White Cloud, the makers of facial tissues and toilet paper, has teamed up with one of those organizations too: Children's Miracle Network.  They collected artwork from kids in the 168 Children's Miracle Network (CMN) Hospitals as potential new covers for the White Cloud tissue boxes.  Once all the artwork was collected, they narrowed it to 10 finalists.

That's where you and I come in!  The 10 designs can be found on the White Cloud Facebook page so fans can vote on their favorites!

Photobucket

Three winning designs will be chosen and printed on special edition White Cloud Facial Tissue boxes that will be sold exclusively in Walmart stores during the month of May.  Find a store near you!
In addition to featuring the designs, White Cloud will also be making donations to each of the CMN hospitals with winning designs.

Now, helping to score money for hospitals that serve children just by voting is a piece of cake.  But, there is some icing to that cake!  Fans who vote for the designs will be offered a chance to enter a sweepstakes to win $25 Walmart giftcards.  Three grand prize winners will get a one-year supply of White Cloud products.  Like White Cloud on Facebook to get all the details and keep up with the announcements.

Now, what are you waiting for?  It is time to vote.

Voting App

Abbreviated rules (a.k.a. legal mumbo jumbo that is important):  No purchase necessary.  Void where prohibited.  The CHilren's Miracle Network Contest and Sweepstakes are sponsored by Kruger Products (USA), Inc.  The Contest is open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia, between the ages of 4 and 14, who are eligible paitents at one of the 168 participating Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.  The entry period for the Contest begins on November 29, 2012 and ends on December 28, 2012.  The Voter Sweepstakes is open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia, 18 years of age or older.  The Voter Sweepstakes begin at 6:00pm ET on January 3, 2013 and end at 11:59pm ET on January 30, 2013.  For official rules, visit http://mywhitecloud.com/tissue-box-contest

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National Blogging Day of Silence

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I will be taking today off as a day of silence and remembrance as far as technology goes. I will not be blogging, tweeting or updating on Facebook but plan on spending my time with my littles and remembering and praying for those families who lost so much in the Sandy Hook, Connecticut school shooting.

I will see you tomorrow for a new day of posting. Until then, I hope you will take the time to remember and pray for the families of Sandy Hook who have lost so much.

Wrapping It Up #DisneyPrincessWMT

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Now that most of my shopping is complete, it is time to get down to the business of wrapping up all my wonderful presents to give.  I like to have fun with the wrapping and try to either keep the person guessing on what the gift is or give it a unique twist on regular wrapping paper.

I bought two Disney Princess gifts {one for H and one for a friend} last week and they were on my list of things to wrap.

…

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An Easy Afternoon Before I #FinishMyList

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The holidays keep people pretty busy and totally crazy! {Please say yes so I know it isn’t just me!} If you’re a mom, chances are they are even crazier for you because a lot of the gift planning, buying, wrapping and giving falls to you.

I wanted to give a good friend of mine a little break from the craziness of the holidays recently. Of course, it is the holidays so my budget was pretty small. So, I visited the Mastercard Marketplace to see if I could score a deal. The only stipulation to use the marketplace is that you use your Mastercard. No problem in our household. We have our Mastercard and our card for Costco and that is it as far as credit cards go 🙂

So, what exactly is the Marketplace? It is a site where there are bunches of offers for discounted goods, services and restaurants that are open to Mastercard holders. You can sort the offers by category, start dates, popularity and even check out offers your friends have liked!

I started my plan in motion by making sure my friends’ kids had stuff to do so she wouldn’t have to worry about watching them. I wanted this to be true time away. Once that was settled, I invited her over under the pretense that I needed her help with something around the house.

In reality, I was planning a sweet and treats afternoon! I had found an awesome deal in the Marketplace where I could get delicious pastries from an upscale local bakery at half off! I clicked on the deal and it took me to the site to finish up my purchase. Using my voucher was a breeze at the local bakery too!

I picked up some macaroons and petit fours. I was pretty excited to see the cute little Christmas themed petit fours!

To complete our “treats”, I bought some ingredients to make frozen hot chocolate and pulled out my super cute red and white straws.

The frozen hot chocolate was so easy to make and really delicious.  I used a recipe from Epicurious which mimics the Frozen Hot Chocolate from the famous New York restaurant, Serendipity.

My friend was so surprised when she showed up! We had a fabulous afternoon of relaxation with some very delicious pastries and frozen hot chocolate to complete the “party”.

Want more info on the Marketplace so you can plan your own afternoon delight? Check out Mastercard Marketplace’s twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and MasterCard #CBias #SocialFabric #FinishMyList

The Big Blog Move

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As you all know from my announcement at the Pinworthy Projects Party on Friday, I made the move to WordPress.org over the weekend.  I’m still working on figuring out all the ins and outs so please be patient over the next few weeks {months!} as I tackle the learning curve.

I did want to come in a share a few things about my move in case you are contemplating a similar one {warning: this is long and picture-less}…

1) Why I moved?
I will be honest and tell you that the decision to move was definitely a struggle for me.  I liked the comfort and ease of using Blogger.  I’m not a coder or an html wiz so the idea of working in WordPress seemed really daunting.  BUT, there were downsides to Blogger too.  Blogger friends were having their blogs randomly deleted or marked as spam…Blogger technically owned all of my content…there was some functionality that I knew I just wasn’t getting but would want as my blog grows.

2) Do I think I should have moved sooner?
Honestly, no.  There are some costs associated with the move and, while minimal, they are costs.  I think it is important to make sure blogging is something you LOVE and really plan to do for the foreseeable future before making the jump…unless of course you just have a bunch of money you need to use.

3) How much does it cost?
This was a big concern of mine.  I make some money from the blog but definitely not tons and I was scared the switch would eat away at most of the money I do generate from the blog.  Here is a general breakdown of the costs for me:
Domain Name: $10/year {I already had this}
Hosting: $4.95/month {I use Bluehost and paid 3 years in advance…more on that in a bit}
Migration: $150 {I used Kristi from Linaeur Designs and she is FABU!}
Akisnet: $10/year {This is optional and you set your own price}
Total: $348.20
I made no changes to my blog design this go around but that would, obviously, have been higher.

4)  How long did the move take and was it easy?
I can’t say enough about how great Kristi is.  She was totally patient with me {while probably thinking I was a nutcase}.  She did all the work in less than 24 hours and {most of it} while I was sleeping.
For my part, I got my domain name {technically, I already had this} and signed up for hosting {first through Host Gator but because of some issues I ended up with Blue Host instead}.  Then, I forwarded a bunch of info from those two things to Kristi and she did the rest.
The biggest thing with the move for me was waking up the next morning and not being able to access my blog.  That totally wasn’t Kristi’s fault and people other places COULD access it.  It just takes awhile for different servers to update and I was apparently on a slow server.  It only took Kristi about 5 emails to talk me off the ledge 🙂

5) How do I like it?
Like I said, I am still adjusting to the changes but so far, I love it.  It isn’t nearly as difficult to figure out as I expected which is a relief. I’m sure you’ll be seeing lots of Facebook posts and Tweets asking for recommendations for different plug-ins and such but, overall, things are going well with it…heck, I’ve gotten 2 posts + this one out since the move!

And now, a big plea from me:  With the move, the only thing I lost was my Google Friend Connect widget so technically 850+ followers.

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE it if you would now consider following me via Linky Followers OR BlogLovin {or heck…both would be fabulous!}.  You can find those over in the my right side bar.
I’ll be running a bunch of giveaways over the next few weeks and that will be an entry method so go ahead and get a jump on it.
Of course, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest following is awesome too.

Let’s Get Ducky

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This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Duck Brand® for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

The holidays are upon us in full force which means LOTS of decorating and crafts!  Christmas crafts use everything from tissue paper to acorns. 

Want another innovative idea for Christmas crafts?  Check out Duck® Brand duct tape in their new holiday prints. Yep, the tape your dad used to fix everything in the house and nerds used to hold their glasses together is now a craft staple.

Maybe you want to make a candy cane with some leftover cereal boxes…no problem with this adorable candy cane duct tape from Duck® Brand.  The simple red and white stripes make it so versatile for Christmas decorating and it is by far my favorite print.
Printed Duct Tape, Candy Cane, 1.88

On their website, there are a bunch of different “ductivities” you can make using the duct tape.  There are some really cute ideas and plenty of inspiration for Christmas crafting too.  Take a look at this super cute duct tape stocking and present!

stocking

Now, even if you aren’t a crafter, Duck® Brand duct tape is super useful in other ways.  I use it for wrapping gift boxes, sealing mailing boxes and even as stocking stuffers for friends who are crafty.  So many uses…

Do you use duct tape in non-traditional uses?  Have you checked out the new holiday prints offered by Duck® Brand?  Be sure to friend them on Facebook to keep up with all the new print releases and to get ideas on innovative and unique ways to use duct tape in crafts and every day life.

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© 2012 Just Us Four.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Weekend Glimpse – YHL Book Signing

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This past weekend was crazy busy…birthday parties, Christmas shopping, basement work, car shopping and…the Young House Love Book Signing here in DC!

Our weekend started getting hectic on Friday when these showed up at the door

Obviously things we wanted but a lot to add to our already very full plate!  

On Saturday, I hit the road with Junior and drove into DC for the Living Social event with John and Sherry from Young House Love.  Originally, we had planned to go the book signing at Flor earlier in the week. BUT, Living Social had an event in their new event space, 918 F Street, that offered some crafting along with the book signing. Crafting + YHL…sold!
We arrived and found two long tables with places for about 50 people.  Each setting had the supplies for our crafts.

After we sat down, in walked John and Sherry!

I immediately regretted not bring my regular camera but figured I would just suck it up and deal with the little point and shoot 🙂 So, apologies for the rough pictures that follow…
First up was painted vases.
Thankfully, the finished product looks WAY better than this!
While we were crafting, John and Sherry walked around and talked to people and did some crafting too.
I have zero pictures of the second craft which was painting wooden candlesticks but you’ll see my finished product in some of my Christmas decoration pictures later.  The last craft was painted ornaments.
John gave our end of the tables a demonstration.
My finished products
Once we finished up the crafts, we headed in for the book signing.
After hearing stories of people waiting for hours in lines, I felt so fortunate to be able to have this event where there probably only 50 people waiting for signings.  John and Sherry are efficient but definitely DO NOT rush anyone through which is awesome.
It was our turn!  In addition to our books, we actually had them sign two of the ornaments we painted during the crafting session.  Worried the marker would wipe off, we had Sherry sign in paint 🙂
And, of course, a picture for the scrapbook!
So, what did you do this weekend? 🙂

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shannah
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© 2012 Just Us Four.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.