Sherry describes herself as a "basic run-of-the-mill stay-at-home mom," but she's anything but basic. She's a creative, caring person whose days center around three boys, a husband and their life raising pigs and Black Angus cows.

Image Courtesy City Chic on a Farm

She blogs as a City Chic on a Farm but she's also committed to writing about charity work, cooking and saving money. She shares beautiful pictures from her family's farm that will make you wish she'd invite you over for country cooking and lemonade ... as long as you don't have to get up before sunrise to help with the cattle or clean pigpens.

Are you a SAHM with a blog? Submit your blog to be featured on the About.com Stay-at-Home Moms site. You could be the next Mom Blogger of the Week.

Get free stuff just for hosting a party. Manufacturers look for people willing to throw a party to check out new products with their friends. One way to get connected is through HouseParty.com.

Members of our playgroup have been chosen to host parties for toys, food and TV show sneak peeks. When you host, you get free products or samples to keep and share with your friends.

For our playgroup's first party, one of our members received a box full of brand new toys from a major manufacturer. At first, the hostess only offered a few RSVPs so every child could leave with a toy. But the response of moms who just wanted to come check out the new toys was so great, the hostess let everyone come over. At the end of the party, she held a random drawing for the toys.

While you wait to be selected as a hostess, get in the habit of throwing parties to exchange your own stuff. A toy exchange or clothing swap are fun ways to get rid of the old in your house so you can get something new to you.

More Thrifty Thursday Tips from About.com Parenting Guides:

• Start Early to Save on Holiday Gifts
• Hand-Me-Downs for Teens Are Trendy
• Save With Toy Store Price Matching
• Check for Senior Discount on Groceries
• Inexpensive Preterm Labor Teaching Tools
• Nordstrom's 1/2 Yearly Sale is On Now!

Cooking with friends and family just got competitive. Food Network has released Cook or Be Cooked on Wii.

Photo Courtesy Food Network

Video games don't normally catch my attention. I wish I had time to play more games, other than Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. But Food Network's first video game teaches you real cooking skills you can use in the kitchen and comes with more than 30 recipes from expert Food Network chefs.

Food Network Vice President of Marketing and The Next Food Network Star judge Susie Fogelson is an in-game avatar along with Mory Thomas of Food Network Kitchens. They offer tips and reviews as you crack an egg or prepare the perfect steak with or against your friends.

I like the idea of this game adding fun to food prep. Some of my most memorable girls' nights in have been in the kitchen. That's where we gravitate even when we're supposed to be watching a movie in the other room. If only there was a game that prepared meals for me.

Now that you've turned the clocks back, it's also a great time to review your family's fire safety plan. Change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Test each one. Hold a fire drill with your kids.

Photo © mulad / Flickr

Make fire safety a fun learning activity with printable coloring pages, a fire truck craft and a fire prevention word search. The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) also has a website just for kids to learn about home fire safety and play fire safety games. They can even download an official Junior Fire Marshal certificate if they pass an online fire safety quiz.

Include babies and toddlers in your fire safety plan too. The USFA website for parents recommends you practice with every member of your family so you'll know exactly what to do in an emergency.

Hopefully, you'll never need your plan. But preparing the whole family can help every mom sleep a little better at night.