Merry Christmas from The Home and Garden Cafe.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas.

Image via Stock.xchng

Dunkin Doughnuts has free coffee samples, while they last. Just click on the banner below, then click on “free sample” when you get to their website. Enjoy!

I have some fun things coming up here at The Home and Garden Cafe.

I’ll be having a giveaway next week for the Bloggy Giveaways, so check back to see what’s up for grabs the first of the week.

I’ll also be having some holiday decorating tips from Julie at Ed’s in Tipp City. She has some beautiful holiday decorations, and throws a wonderful Christmas party for all the Ed’s Heating and Cooling (they’re in the Dayton Ohio area) employees every year. I’ve talked her into sharing some of her entertaining secrets, and I can’t wait to share them with all of you.

I also have a few holiday home decorating ideas of my own, and some holiday recipes coming up in the next few weeks.

I’ve come up with some fun gift guides, and gifts you can make yourself to share with all of you.

Stay tuned! If you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe to The Home and Garden rss feeds so you don’t miss a thing.

I have a couple giveaways going on at my other blogs, please stop by and check them out.

At She Knows Parties I have two giveaways going on:

• The first giveaway is for a 10 pack of their new Celebration Single Use Cameras®, they’re perfect for parties! Click over there to enter before midnight Sunday August 17th.
• The Second giveaway is for 3 copies of SplashShopper Data Organizer Software, great for getting organized when your planning birthday, or holiday parties. Enter to win before midnight this Sunday August 10th.
• I’ll have a couple more giveaways at She Know’s Parties coming up in the next couple weeks, so check back there often.

At Mother Earth’s Garden you can sign up to win 6 cans of Thompson’s Water Seal Aerosol Waterproofer. Enter to win before midnight this Sunday August 10th.

I also posted my favorite recipe for Zucchini bread.

Robust Cooking has, a recipe for, Chicken Skewers on Watermelon and Feta Salad, a tasty way to celebrate National Watermelon Month.

Kid’s Birthday Fun shares that making your own cupcakes for a birthday party doesn’t have to be complicated, just add sprinkles for cupcakes kids will love.

She Knows Parties  has some fun ideas for a dog party, including dog invitation ideas, and dog party games and activities.

Since everyone’s buzzing about the Olympics, Light the Torch has some fun and tasty recipes for your Olympic party.

Happy Reading! Have a great weekend!

Image via Stock.xchng

Here are a few fun links for your weekend enjoyment.

This year all the rain has left our area extra buggy, here’s the recipe for a homemade insect repellant bar.

The blueberries are in season, at Robust Cooking I shared a recipe for Blueberry Oat Bran Muffins.

During the hottest days of summer why not plan a beach or pool party?

The Olympics are coming up in a few weeks why not plan some backyard Olympics games?

Batman the Dark Knight costumes are going to be popular this Halloween.

Check out all the great animated children’s movies premiering in 2008.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Join

Welcome to Green Thumb Sunday. If you want to check out everything that’s blooming in my garden check out my post for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day at Mother Earth’s Garden.

Here’s a couple of my favorite blooms.

The planters on my front porch are blooming like crazy.

Here’s another shot of my peonies. I rescued a couple from the heavy rain, and wind we’ve been having plenty of lately.

This white hydrangea is another one of my favorite garden blooms.

Don’t forget to check out the other participants in Green Thumb Sunday.

Images (c) Linette all rights reserved

I haven’t had much time to post anything here lately, but here’s what I’ve been up to on some of my other blogs. Feel free to stop by and say hi.

At the Kid’s Birthday Fun Review summer is the time for movies, on both the big screen and the small screen. If you’re planning a Wall-E birthday party, or a Camp Rock party stop by and check out some of the ideas.

I also have a new lens on planning a Kung Fu Panda party. We went to see Kung Fu Panda this week, it was a really fun movie. My son’s ready to go back and see it again!

I have a couple more new lenses, one on melting, and molding chocolate, and I’ve been working on some yummy cupcake ideas. I’m on a food role!

Check out my pink peonies (one is pictured here), the Garden Pest Control Round-Up, or the view from my window at Mother Earths Garden.

At She Knows parties I have 4th of July Party Decorations, a summer ice cream party, and ideas for a girls night in bachelorette party.

My favorite recipe for making strawberry rhubarb crunch is at Robust Cooking, along with details on how I make my own personal cookbook with my favorite recipes.

Have a great weekend!

 

Join

The purple irises up by the house aren’t doing bad either. I think I need to dig this bunch up and move them around next spring.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Hope you all have a wonderful Mother’s Day. I always think of Mother’s Day as the day to really dig in the garden and get everything planted. It’s not going to happen this year. It’s been raining all night and all day.

Here’s a shot of my lilac bush when it was in full bloom a couple days ago, the blooms are starting to fade a little now.

This baby bunny was in my garden this morning. He’s trying to hide, he needs to find a better hiding place before the cat finds him. They’re so cute when they’re that size. Too bad they grow up to be rabbits, and consume my garden along the way.

We’ve had a ton of rain today, I wonder if his hole was flooded.