Oh, Stop & Shop - How I Wish You Were In Manhattan!

Stop & Shop is a truly great place to shop for groceries when you are on a budget - and let's face it, who isn't these days? They give you great tips (like buy all your baking goods and turkeys now when they're at their cheapest and freeze the perishables for months), as well as the freedom moms need to make their shopping experiences as quick and painless as possible. One of things you can do is sign up for the "Scan It" program, where you can hand the scanner to your kids and have them scan products as they go into your cart. Your kids will love the "laser gun" and you can keep them from running amok through the store. Also, the deli kiosks can take your order, give you a slip with your number on it and you can continue to shop without waiting on the hour-long lines at most deli counters in supermarkets. When your order is up - they call the number over the PA system!

The best part about Stop & Shop during the holidays is that they have ready made holiday meals so you don't have to cook a thing! For those of you who know just how disastrous my cooking attempts turn out to be - this is FABULOUS news! They have Turkey dinners and Ham dinners and even a Rib Roast dinner! They even have a "Meal Extras" package so you can have leftovers of all the little things you love without looking like a moocher when you leave your family's house with huge plastic containers of their food! WHOO HOO!!!

I found out all this great stuff at the complimentary Stop & Shop luncheon they gave bloggers last week here in NYC. Right before the luncheon they gave us an opportunity to make fun "food gifts" like chocolate covered pretzels. The food gift I chose to make was "Cookies in a Jar", which entailed getting all the ingredients into a large Ball jar, making it look almost like sand art. Take a look:



And another fun moment was getting caught in something I NEVER wear -- an apron!



Here's the best part for you: if you leave a comment here with one of your quick and easy holiday recipes (can be a link back to a post of your own if you like), I will give away the Stop & Shop gift card they gave to me at the Luncheon to one lucky winner! And if you're guessing that I am shamelessly using this giveaway to get holiday meal ideas because I'm a disaster in the kitchen on my own - you're right!!! :-)

Big Apple Circus Fun!

I was so thrilled to be at the Big Apple Circus last night!

I took my Theo, of course; my Goddaughter, Sibelle; and one of my oldest and dearest friend's son, Geo. Sibelle, Geo and I had a blast! Theo? Uhm, not so much - he was terrified! I know not all kids are the same and that there are so many 2 year olds out there that would have been super-excited to be at the circus. Unfortunately, my little guy doesn't seem to like crowds and loud music in confined spaces, which, of course, defines the circus to a T. Add in horses and clowns and well, just see for yourself:

I never thought having fabulous, third row seats would be a bad thing, but the horses seemed so gloriously close to us that I thought Theo was going to have an epileptic fit from fear. LOL. Poor baby. He did calm down by intermission though, and the second half of the show was more enjoyable for him. Next year I just know he will be utterly enchanted by the experience, as he will be older and less fearful.

All in all I had a wonderful time. We got to see amazing acts from around the world (the Trapeze artists will blow your mind!), Bello the clown was fantastic (he comes from 7 generations of circus performers - that's over 200 years of circus pedigree!), and the part that I loved best was that the dog show was performed by dogs rescued from animal shelters all around the country. How awesome is that?!?

If you have the time and are in the New York tri-state area from now until January, you should absolutely go see it! After January they move on to other parts of the country, so if you're not in the New York tri-state area check out their website to see if they will be stopping near you. And please don't judge me for saying what I'm about to say, but if your little ones get scared that could be a good thing too -- my super-independent Theo NEVER lets me cuddle him, but for almost 2 whole hours he was firmly in my arms, not wanting me to let go of him for even a second. It was so lovely to hold my baby like that - even if it was only because he was scared. Hmmm, I might have to go back to the Big Apple Circus in a few weeks (cue the evil laughter).
:-)

Hope Everyone Had a Wonderful Halloween!

And The Winner Is...

As you know, when I have a giveaway I leave it to my trusty assistant, Theo, to pull the winner's name out of a hat - but today he is at the sitter's as I have a ton of things to get done. So, instead of Theo, I used Random.org to select the winner of the Big Apple Circus giveaway. Are you ready?

Drumroll, please!

The winner of the Big Apple Circus giveaway is Sharon from Good, True and Beautiful! Yayyyy!!!

Sharon, I will be forwarding your information to the people over at the Big Apple Circus shortly and they will send you your voucher good for 4 tickets to the one and only Big Apple Circus!!! Congratulations, Sharon!

Gratitude

I just wanted to take a moment to offer immense gratitude out into the Universe. The last few months I've been so worried about how things might turn out that I haven't been fully present to what is. I am blessed with so many things, not least of which is a beautiful, healthy little boy that I waited all my life for. And in addition to that? My family, my friends, my home, my writing, this blog and all of you! I am so deeply grateful for my life and everything in it - even all of the things that I thought would break me. They didn't. I'm still here. And what a truly wonderful life it has turned out to be thus far.

It's My SITS Day!!!

Welcome, everyone! Today is my SITS Day and I am so excited! What? There are some of you who don't know what SITS is??? Well now, I'd be glad to tell you all about them!



SITS is a community of women bloggers who offer each other support through comments. What's more, there are many friendships that are made through SITS, friendships that span states, countries, whole continents! It's a wonderful community and I am very proud to be a part of it - and today is my day as their Featured Blogger! As a SITS Featured Blogger, I get to share my 3 favorite posts with you:

The Mommy Paradox

A Sobering Week

Tomorrow Starts My Own Personal 'New Year'

I hope that you enjoy your peek into my online home here at Single Mama NYC - and if you decide to come back over to my place in the future, you will always be welcomed here!


P.S. If you are in the New York City area and would love a chance to win 4 Big Apple Circus tickets, you can enter here.

HAVE A HAPPY MONDAY AND A WONDERFUL WEEK!!!

Single Mama NYC Has Its Own Domain!

Single Mama NYC used to be found at http://nycmamasan.blogspot.com - mainly because when I started this blog I started it as NYC Mama. This summer I changed the blog name to Single Mama NYC so that single parents looking to find bloggers they could especially relate to would have an easier time finding me. I have now gotten this blog its own domain name:

http://singlemamanyc.com

Don't worry if you use the old domain name though, it will direct you here immediately!

Xoxo.