Texas Banter

Once again, another year has begun. Usually, I would have already made a post about what I learned in 2009. But without a computer at home, it makes it nearly impossible. But I do hope everyone had a lovely Holiday season. It was going great until Manders and I ended up with the the flu the day after Christmas. We figure we got it from someone at our Grandma’s house when we were over there Christmas Eve.

Anyways, we have a lot coming up this year. More reviews, more giveaways, and a lot more events. In fact, in a few weeks, we should have our first giveaway. I am also thinking of having spotlighting a “blog of the month”. I still have details to work out.

So, we have a lot to do this year and I can’t wait to share it with you all!

Happy New Years everyone!

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted any updates and I do apologize. Unfortunately, our computer at home went down for the final time, making it impossible to get online at home. We are now resorting, once again, to visit the public library to get online. And once again, we only have an hour in which to do what we need. We don’t know when we’re going to get a new computer, or even if we’ll get one by the end of next year. We are hoping things work out to where we can, but I guarantee nothing.

But within a few days, it will be Christmas Eve. Some families will be riding over to their relatives before heading home while others will be spending their Christmas Eve at home and heading to bed before Santa arrives. I, myself, will be spending a couple of hours with my relatives at my Grandma’s house.

So from my family to yours, wishing a Happy Holidays!

Thanks to our friends at MyLipStuff, Manders and I were able to review a 6-pack of yummy lip balms!

I personally have dry lips. Sometimes they’ll get chapped or the top of the lips will be super dry while the bottoms aren’t so bad. I don’t like Carmex because of the taste and to gooeyness so I prefer lip balms. I’ve tried several brands like Aquafina that was almost $2 per 15 o.z. tube. The Aquafina kind of burned my chapped/dry lips so I threw it away. I’ve tried generic but it took FOREVER for my lips to heal. When MyLipStuff was happy to oblige and help these poor lips, I could hear my lips sing a tune!

I am very picky about my lip balm. I don’t like for my lip balm to go on mushy or taste like the Carmex sitting on the desk. But they didn’t! They were so flavorful! I’ve never had lip balm so full of flavor! My favorite? Pancakes & Syrup. Yummo!

The good thing about these lip balms? They are 100% natural and are never tested on animals. As an animal lover, that’s a brownie point in my book. Their products do not contain any harsh ingredients- and never contain petroleum or mineral oil. Another good thing is that they have over 500 flavors! They have everything imaginable- even Boxed Wine! Want something Christmasy? Visit their Limited Edition page!  You also have over 18 different label choices- everything from customizable to Booze labels!

These are perfect for any type of Holiday and even birthdays! They making great Stocking Stuffers and a great birthday gift package tie-on!

Thanks to MyLipStuff for allowing us to review these products. No monetary compensation was received.  These are my personal experiences and honest views/opinions.

Today we officially start off the week-long countdown to birthday 25! This will be the first event that Manders and I will hold without any other blog participants. We have tons of memories, past birthday pictures, reviews, and a giveaway! Let’s start off with how this giveaway will go:

Manders and I will review the same product. We will hold the same giveaway. We will put all comments together and choose the winner. So someone won’t win from Texas Banter and another person win from Confetti Dreams. Only one winner. It’s a team-giveaway!

I can’t believe we are only 6 days away from turning 25. These years have flown by. I am excited but then again, I’m not.  Know what I mean? 25 is such a big number but I’m getting goosebumps that I made it to 25. Yikes!

Welcome the week-long virtual birthday party of Manders and I!

We are starting our celebratory birthday week off with a Giveaway!

Soy Delites is a company right from the heart of Texas, in Austim to be exact, that makes soy candles. They use 100% natural soybean wax and cotton wicks, which means a long-burn and a cleaner burn for candle lovers! They offer several styles to choose from, including tealights, votives, travel tins, and their signature glass candles. They have over 20 different scents so that everyone can get the scent they want! They also make the perfect gift or stocking stuffer for those on your list who loves candles!

We were delighted to try their 9 0.z. glass soy candle. I can’t remember the scent, but all I know is that it made the room smell heavenly! There was no soot on the candle as I snuffed it out and there was not a lot of smoke as the candle burned.  I love Soy Delites!

WIN IT

In conjunction with Soy Delites, Texas Banter will be giving away one of Soy Delites 9 o.z. glass jar candles to 1 (one) winner!

To enter, visit their website. Look at their scents, choose your favorite, and come back here to tell me what you chose! Be very careful because what you choose will be the scent you will be sent. Get it?

THIS IS MANDATORY! “Enter me” or “Nice giveaway” does not constitute as an entry and will be removed. YOU MUST LEAVE A VALID E-MAIL TO ENTER! OPEN TO U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY.

Extra Entries (8): Leave a separate comment for each entry and/or link.

*Follow me on Twitter (Username- texasheartland.)
*Subscribe to Texas Banter Mailing List
*Tweet about this giveaway (profile link or status link))
*Follow Manders on Twitter (Username- confettidreams.)
*Add my Texas Banter Button
*Blog about this giveaway

*Add the Birthday Party Event button.

*Comment on any of Manders’ posts on Confetti Dreams.

The giveaway starts on Monday, December 7th upon going “live” and will end on Saturday, December 12th at 11:59PM CST. Entries submitted after that time are voided and are not counted.

Winners have 48 hours to respond to the winning notification. If the winner(s) have not responded within the 48 hours, a new winner(s) will be chosen.

All winners chosen via Random.org.

No compensation was received for this product/post. All opinions posted are that of my own.

Mom is trying to see what needs to be done while Dad is fixing breakfast. A parade is on the TV while Manders is in the bedroom (she hasn’t been feeling well, either). Zeus is asleep while some cats are asleep and some cats are smelling food. A turkey will be cooked today along with dressing and all the usual sides. Everyone will take their mandatory “Thanksgiving” nap and tonight will be spent watching the Texas Longhorns beat Texas A&M (I’m a Longhorns fan). After the game, Manders, Dad, and I will trek outside and put up the Christmas lights on the house.

Yep, it’s Thanksgiving. Not only a day to eat your fill, but a day to spend with loved ones and be thankful for many things. What am I thankful for? My family. No explanation needed. I am also thankful for my readers. We had our first giveaway back in May and every giveaway has been a complete success. Because of my readers, I was able to make Texas Banter official. In fact, starting on December 6th, Manders and I will hold our last giveaway together to end the year. I am sure 2010 will hold many more as well.

So, thank you for being there with me through thick and thin. Computer problems, health issues, and things that didn’t go right.

From my family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

In 4 days, everyone in America will be filling up on turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. We’ll be doing the same, just a little different. The menu will be different and how we do things will be a little different. We’ll have 3 new kittens that will be smelling the turkey and want a piece. I know that Bear will be getting his turkey from Mom while Brother and Sister will be begging anyone who is willing to give them a bite. Of course, Smokie and Princess won’t be excluded. I’m sure Zeus will get his own little bites as well.

After eating, we will most likely be taking that required nap. If we happen to find the rest of the Christmas decorations, we will end up putting the tree together- while making sure that Brother and Sister aren’t waiting to sabotage our decorating. They are notorious for getting into everything. But what kittens are? Smokie and Princess will be sitting there, wanting to help like always. Zeus will most likely be napping. Even while we are decorating for the Holidays, I will be watching the Texas Longhorns beat the snot out of Texas A&M. What can I say? I’m a Texas fan!

After the pending win of the game, we will gather all the Christmas lights that go on the house and trample our way out into the yard. Manders and I will argue over what lights go where. We’ll cuss out the lights that don’t want to blink (or shouldn’t be blinking). Mom will tell us to come inside if they aren’t working and work on it the next day but as determined as my sister and I are, we’ll end up spending all night out there. But eventually, they’ll start doing what they’re supposed to and we’ll stay outside, just marveling at our work. Pictures will be taken during the decorating fiasco and fuses will have grown short.

But I love spending the Holidays with my family. It is fun, sometimes funny, but the most important part of the season.

I know it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet (that’s next week) and I still have 24 days to go until Manders and I turn 25 (that’s December 12th) but if you haven’t noticed, I’ve changed the look of Texas Banter for the Holidays! I don’t know about you, but I am getting very excited this year for Christmas for some odd reason.

So far, I still have a few people to purchase gifts for, my annual Christmas card list to make, and decorations to look for/make/buy. This year, instead of purchasing expensive glass ornaments (4 months old kittens and glass ornaments on trees don’t mix), we plan on making 95% of our ornaments. In fact, we just purchased some Snowman ornaments craft from Oriental Trading for our living room tree as well as our bedroom tree. Thanks to places like allfreecrafts.com and other various websites, we’ll be able to make ornaments out of the items we have here at home!

This year, we plan on having 2 trees- the big 6 footer and a small 4 foot tree. Of course, the 6′ will go into the living room and the small 4′ white tree will be placed in the bedroom. We have don’t have a “set” tradition on when we put the trees up, but it is ALWAYS before our birthday.

To be honest, I don’t know why I’m excited about Christmas this year. Maybe it’s because we had a TOUGH year and are still going through stormy waters, but it gives us something to look forward to. Along with that, it could also be that this summer was brutal and we thought we’d never make it to Fall/Winter. Whatever it is, I’m just glad I’m in this Holiday spirit this year.

I know our birthday is 34 days away and the event doesn’t start until December 6th, but we wanted to let everyone know and get everything ready so we’re not rushing around days before to get things together.

On December 6th, we will be starting a week long “birthday party” to commemorate Manders and myself turning 25. Our birthday isn’t until December 12th, but we wanted to celebrate our birthday with all of our readers. I, myself, won’t be the only one holding the “birthday party”. Manders (aka Confetti Dreams) will also be having the same thing on her blog as well. This is the only event where other bloggers won’t be able to participate. We will have buttons available if you would like to help us promote the event. You can e-mail me at angela@texasbanter.com or Manders at amanda@confetti-dreams.com with the subject “Birthday Party Button” and as soon as the button is created, we will send that out to you.

Since it is the Holidays and the party is 2 weeks before Christmas, all reviews/giveaways will start on December 6th and run until the 12th that way the winners can possible receive their prizes before December 25th. If you have a product that you would like for either Manders or myself to review during the event, send an e-mail to either e-mail listed above BEFORE December 1st so that we may receive it before the event so it can be part of it. Since it will be close to Christmas, we will gladly review any Christmas-themed products as well as stocking stuffers.

So remember, starting on December 6th, we will start the “birthday party”! I’m so excited!

As I had mentioned a while back (which was almost 2 months ago, I believe), our computer had gone down and we were forced to visit the local library to use their computers. But because of the flu cases in the area and the fact that they don’t disinfect the computers and such, we could only go once to twice a week.

So before we were able to commit to anything (as far as purchasing computer parts), we had to open up the computer to see what had gone on. Through knowledge (or somewhat knowledge) of computer components, we were able to deduce that it was the power supply that had sparked. Thanks to some miracle, we were able to purchase a new one.

We had received it Tuesday (yesterday) and went ahead and put it in. We almost shouted with joy as the lights on the computer tower lit up with new power. Once we hooked up everything and got the internet to working, Manders was the first to be on since I was the last one the night before it decided to go haywire.

We will most likely be on quite a bit before the newness of having the computer back wears off and we get used to having it. We have a lot of things coming up this month as well as next month, including product reviews, giveaways, special events, and tons of fun! So keep an eye on Texas Banter (as well as Confetti Dreams)!