No Foolin' April Fool's Weekend!

April Fool's Day is this Sunday, and we are hosting a promotion that can't be beat. On March 31 and April 1, you can save 15% on all merchandise on the website using the coupon code april-fool (enter the code at checkout)! And no, we're not tricking you! Don't forget, there's free shipping on orders $75 and over!



Here are some cool and unexpected ideas for surprises on April Fool's Day:

- Do dinner backwards! Cook up some meatloaf in cupcake wrappers and mix some food coloring into mashed potatoes for a faux frosting topping- these "cupcakes" will trick your family but still get a full meal into them. Serve white vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce for dessert and pretend it is mashed potatoes with gravy. Kids will love this sweet surprise!

- Using a toothpick, poke a hole into a banana and wiggle the toothpick left and right. Do this up and down the length of the banana, so it becomes sliced within the peel. Hand it to someone and ask them to help peel it for you, or offer it to a child. When they open it, the banana will already be sliced!

- Moms and dads, wait until your kids are asleep and switch them into another bed! If they are too big or they'd wake up, take all of their clothes out of their closet or switch around their dresser drawers. Flip their things upside down in their room, or quietly rearrange the furniture!

- Light a candle and let the wax melt down. Get some wax paper and set the candle on its side while the wax is still hot. Let it cool and then peel off the wax paper. Then set the candle on something valuable or important to your "victim," so that it looks like it is covered in wax.

- This year, April Fool's Day is on a Sunday. Wake up early and then go running through the house in a hurry, yelling at everyone that they will be late for school or work. You'll be sure to take them by surprise!

- Buy some fake flowers at the store and plant them in your victim's garden.

- Carefully open a bag of chips and remove all of the chips. Replace them with another snack or flavor of chip and carefully glue the top closed again, then offer the bag to your victim.

- Put yellow food coloring into the tank of your toilet and make everyone wonder why the toilet isn't flushing correctly!

- Fill a plastic cereal bowl halfway with water and let it freeze overnight. At breakfast, coat it in a thin layer of cereal and some milk, and watch as your spouse or kids try to scoop up their food but are stopped!


What pranks are you going to try this year? What ones have you used in the past?

Winner announced! And Spring has Sprung!

Congratulations to last week's winner, Terri C.! Please contact us to claim your prize!

Don't forget that there are still three more days to enter the 100th Blog Entry Giveaway; a winner will be announced on Friday!

Many of us have had a taste recently of some really beautiful weather, which has made us very excited to finally say that spring is here at last!

With the warm weather fast approaching a continuous state, it is time to start thinking of the sunny months ahead. Because it's so hard to see these wonderful days go to waste, especially in New England where we are located, we are looking for some ideas of ways to have fun in the sun. Any interesting ideas for activities are welcome!

Share your favorite things to do this summer. Do you have any book suggestions for the beach? Any special things you do with your kids or grandkids that might be of interest to another family? Some frugal tips for vacations or snacks? Many of you work full time- how do you squeeze in some summertime into your busy lifestyle? We're all ears, and so are the other readers!

Here are some ideas that worked for my family last year:

-Field Trip Fridays: Every week, I researched free or low-cost activities in the greater community, such as art exhibits, events at local historical sites, zoos and sanctuaries, etc. and planned an activity for Friday afternoons for my children and myself. It was a low cost adventure that guaranteed at least one day a week of fun and excitement for the whole family. You could easily pick any day of the week and plan ahead to fit into your schedule. And although it sounds like just one more thing to do, we all really enjoyed exploring and adventuring. I then made a scrapbook for my kids of the places we had gone, and we collected pamphlets at each location for keepsakes. We visited Fort Knox and heard them fire cannons, we petted hissing cockroaches and stood inside a whale's skull, we visited injured birds at the bird sanctuary, we explored a lighthouse, and many other awesome and free or cheap activities.

-Pool membership passes: A local campground sold a pool membership pass for their summer season for $50.00 for the whole family. While it seemed expensive at first, it amounted to less than $10/person in our larger family, and spread out over three months, it was affordable. We often visited the pool for several hours at a time, bringing snacks or lunch, or showing up between meals or after dinner for a pre-bed time swim. The kids had a blast and were able to practice their swimming, and it gave us all something to do to cool down and get out of the house without spending big bucks each time. It was also much cheaper than water park passes!

-Visiting the ice cream shop: We would often grab a small, inexpensive soft serve cone and take a drive along the shoreline. Sometimes we even did this for dinner! Shh :)

What are you planning on doing this summer to make it memorable?

Winning Wednesdays- Winner announced and NEW CONTEST posted!

Congratulations to the winner of last Wednesday's contest, Jenn! Here are the correct answers for the close-up picture contest:

1) Drawer/door in fridge
2) Animal cage/kennel
3) Coffee
4) Blender
5) Tissues
6) Peep hole
7) Dryer lint trap
8) Window/Venetian blinds
9) Wii remote button
10) Fire alarm/smoke detector

As you may know, we recently celebrated a FREE SHIPPING promotion for all orders placed in the U.S. and Canada! In honor of this excellent offer and some more to come, this week's contest is about you, the people who love our stuff and help keep us in business. We'd love to see "The Faces Behind the Frikes!" We love to see who, exactly, loves us and wants to wear our jewelry. You are more than just a number to us!

To enter, take a photo of yourself and send it to nicole@cathyscreationsjewelry.com with your name. Your photo will be posted in the blog, and will count as your entry into the contest. You can send any picture- you showing off your favorite bracelet, you with a loved one, a photograph that explains your life (with you in it, of course!), even a silly face! Our Frikes come in all colors, shapes, and sizes, and this is not a beauty contest! A winner will be randomly chosen. If you're proud to be a Frike, show us and the world and enter today!

And if you haven't already, don't forget to sign up for the 100th Blog Entry Giveaway! The giveaway is open for 10 more days, so there's still plenty of time!

ENTRIES FOR THE CURRENT CONTEST:

"Faith and I"
dancer541@aol.com


Terri C.


Jennifer A.

100th Blog Entry Giveaway!

Congratulations to our random winner: Deborah (chocfrost@charter.net) Please contact us to claim your prize!

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In honor of this blog being the 100th blog, we are hosting a giveaway! The prize is our Metallic Rainbow Bracelet for the winner and another matching bracelet for someone they love! A random winner who responds to the blog will be chosen to win.


And, as a bonus and to give a shout-out to the number 100, we are offering a second part to this giveaway. If at least 100 people comment below and enter to win, we will give away yet another Metallic Rainbow Bracelet to another random winner! This means that if 100 people participate, you have two chances to win... So please be sure to pass this link along to your friends and family!

To enter, please tell us who your second bracelet would be going to, and why. Remember that this contest is random, so you don't have to have a particularly incredible story to win. Just tell us who you'd love to see it go to and why, and you're entered to win!

We will be announcing winners in two weeks, on March 24! You can enter any time from now until March 24.

Please do not forget to include contact information in your post, such as email address or your name, so we can verify the winners!

Winning Wednesdays- Winner announced and NEW CONTEST

Thank you to those who participated in last week's blog contest! Our Frike with the most number of correct answers was Heidi Slattery! Congratulations! Please contact us about your prize!

Here are the correct responses:
1 b
2 c
3 d
4 c
5 a
6 b
7 a
8 c
9 c
10 d

This week's contest is going to be a little different. Below are closeup pictures of ten things. The theme is "Around the House." Please note that these items may not be in every home, but are considered normal to find in a modern home. This time, there are no multiple choices- you have to guess what you're looking at! This should be a lot of fun!

Please post a numbered list, 1-10, of what you believe is in the pictures below, and leave contact information such as your name or email address. Thanks!

Here are the pictures!

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

You have until Wednesday morning at 12 a.m. to enter, so please guess and pass the contest along to friends. We really want to see more participation!

Reflections on Friendship

Friendship is something that is as unique as the people who engage in it; we all have wants and needs, limits and boundaries, expectations and efforts that are varied from the other people we know. Even when we find someone who seems to be exactly like we are, we find that there are subtle differences, whether in personal lives or our personalities. Everyone is different.

Yet something drives us all to seek companionship of some kind in life, and usually our most comfortable area of forming relationships is friendship. What is it about friendship that drives us all to seek to find a home in it?

Maybe it's the companionship. It's nice to know that someone else cares about you, even if you need your space, even if you aren't interested in having someone in your everyday life, even if you like to keep people at arm's length... We all like the sense of belonging somewhere, or at least being kept in the heart of someone who truly knows us and appreciates us regardless of our faults. We like to know that there is someone who would be there in a pinch, even if we never intend on using them to fulfill that need.

But in our heart of hearts, we also like to give. We like to be there for someone, and to know that we are trusted and valued. We like it when people confide in us and share their feelings with us, because it shows us that we have accomplished something with this person. It warms our hearts to listen and give, because we know we are able to make a difference. It boosts our sense of self-worth to be able to be a friend worth having. This is partly why it hurts so much when people don't take us up on our offer of friendship; we take it personally, wonder what we did or did not do. We sometimes allow ourselves to forget that it is not always an insult to not be a good match.

Friendship is something that we seem to be born seeking. As children we enjoy the hours spent with playmates and then classmates, relishing in our shared joys and helping one another with bumps, bruises, and hurt feelings. And how heartwarming is it to see a small child comfort a friend in need? Some of us even determine how successful we are as parents or mentors based on how children in our care respond to others when the time comes to be sensitive, loving, and caring. It can be a great source of pride to raise someone who is considered a good friend. We find a certain level of comfort in knowing that we fostered this trait in others.

But why? Perhaps because it is so difficult to find. There is an old quote that true friends are hard to come by, and it's true. We have to ask ourselves often if someone is worthy of our time, attention, and affection. It is no small feat to be a friend, or to have a friend. We test the waters, we take with us baggage from past experiences of being burned in friendships, and we live and learn.

How often do we evaluate the type of friend that we are? At first blush we might all say that we are a good friend, but we should always look to ourselves when we think of friendships. As with all relationships, friendship is a two way street. We must always be sure that we are being the kind of friend we would want in others- kind, loving, caring, honest, helpful, attentive, considerate... Like anything else in life, we won't always get it right. We won't always be a good person, or think of someone else, or do the right thing. It is up to us to apologize and try to make it right, and if we can't make it right... we should still apologize. We won't always be forgiven, but that, too, is life.

In the end, friendship counts, and it counts for a lot. If we do it right, it enriches our lives and makes us better people. We can take pride in being a good friend who helps guide others, provides loving support, and remains a positive influence. We can enjoy the fruits of our labors by enjoying friends who add to our lives in these ways as well. The kind of friend we expect to find should always be the kind of friend we strive to be. And instead of counting the number of friends we have, we should rejoice in the strength of the friendships that do take off while in our tender care. Friendship is something too precious to take for granted, or to squander.

What do you need to work on in your friendships? And what do you appreciate about them?