Tat it up...

For some reason, (which is beyond me) my girls are in LOVE with tattoos. They have been for a while, it started with an obsession with Lyric where she just loved to write on herself and tell me it was a tattoo, or try to write on me to give me a tattoo and now it’s spawned off to Aria who also has the obsession. Once I got my real tattoo Lyric was just in awe of it, always wanting to look at it, to touch it etc. I swear one day this girl is going to be tatted up and have her own shop.

For now though, the ink isn’t really that pretty on her skin, you can’t really tell what the tattoo is, and I really don’t like pen all over me as well. She’s even had a Henna tattoo this summer and was sad when it finally washed off. What shall I do with her? Well, I’ve found the perfect solution to the pen at least, and it helps me teach her read at the same time. Yes I’m still talking about tattoos. They’re Tattoos for Tots!!! These are really cute removable tattoos for kids. These are the first of its kind with learning in mind, the designs combine printed words with pictures which engage children to make connections between letters and sounds, it’s a wear to learn sort of thing. The Tattoos for Tots was created by two moms, an elementary school teacher and a graphic designer, these temporary tattoos are made in the USA and contain only safe and non-toxic, FDA approved colors.

The tattoos seemed to last pretty good, they didn’t just come off after a day of normal wear and didn’t rip or tear or flake off. With just a scrubbing in the tub they came off, so when you want them off it’s pretty easy to do.

Visit www.tattoosfortots.com to view some more and order some for your little one, these would be great for stocking stuffers this Christmas season.

WIN IT!!!
I have 4 packages of Tattoos for Tots to giveaway. Each package contains 2 sheets. So that means that 4 lucky readers will have a chance to win. All you have to do to be entered is head on over to the Tattoos for Tots website and take a look around, come back and let me know which tattoos you like best from which collection.

This giveaway is open to those WORLDWIDE!!! And is open to non bloggers, PLEASE just remember if your blog profile is private, or you’re a non blogger, leave an email address or your entry will be disqualified....Winner will be chosen via random.org

For extra entries (please leave each extra giveaway in a separate comment, each will earn you an extra entry):
• Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link
• Stumble this giveaway
• Subscribe to my blog via RSS or Email
• Add my blog to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar
• Fave A Wrestling Addicted Mommy's Blog on Technorati

Giveaway Ends October 9, 2008 @ 11:59pm EST

If I could ask a favor....

Today is a pretty big day around here. A very nerve wracking one as well. First I'd like to thank those who have kept us in their thoughts and prayers during the past 2 months. I'd like to let you all know that Rodney has found a job!!! Not the best job in the world, but it's work and it brings in money.

He's now working with Altel full time as a sales rep and he started yesterday. So far he's enjoying it, that's him the cell phone guy, his love lol. Well, he also has a job offer with Sprint as well for an assistant manager position, all we're doing right now is waiting for the official letter of an offer which should be in within a few days. So Altel will go bye bye and onto Sprint he'll go.

But the reason today is a big day around here, is because Comdata is making their decsion today. Remember Comdata is the BIG job, BIG money, Great benefits, Home office and traveling a few days a week, 9-5 weekends off job. Basically the dream job!!! It's down to Rodney and one other candidate and the VP will be making his decision today if he hasn't already. So my favor, any T&P's or luck or whatever you can throw our way would be appreciated. I'm going to sit here stalking Rodney's email and voicemail all day while he's at work. For once in our lives, it would be great to NOT get the short end of the stick and actually get the really great job. Rodney wants it so bad, and I feel he does deserve it after all the 'crap' we've gone through with his other employment we deserve to be with a long lasting company for once with great pay and not get taken advantage of.

So here I'll sit, and wait and wait and wait, once I know I'll update so you'll all know as well...

FREE Handbag Giveaway from HandbagPlanet.com

Ok, if your like me you have an obsession with handbags (and shoes lol). One of my fellow bloggers (Sheena from Mommy Daddy Blog) sent me an email the other day letting me know about a great new site that's giving away some AMAZING handbags.

HandbagPlanet.com is launching a new handbag store on October 15th, and to celebrate they're giving away a FREE handbag every hour for the first 24 hrs of their launch. All you have to do is sign up! Head over to www.handbagplanet.com and sign up yourself, then pick that beautiful bag that you'd like to win. It's all free, no spam, no phishing scams no nothing, just an easy way to win a great looking bag!!!

Ghouls, Ghosts and Gobblin's...OH MY!

Or in my case, cute little monkey’s and pretty little girls. It’s that time of year again, Halloween! One of my favorite times of years. Time for all the ghouls and goblins to come out at night, unless you live in my house and have two little girly girls who want nothing to do with being even remotely scary and gross!

That’s right; my children want to be cute little things, pretty little things. It’s quite the dilemma sometimes to find the perfect costume for a good price, so many things are just way too expensive to even consider for a 2 year old and a 5 year old for one whole night. This year, Aria wanted to be a monkey and Lyric, well she had to be the difficult one. She wants to be Hannah Montana. Now that’s a pretty popular costume this year it seems, but the price I was seeing was outrageous.

Lucky for me, The Family Review Network teamed up with the Halloween Party Store this year and gave some of us the opportunity to do a review of a costume. Lyric was thrilled as we looked through all the costumes (we already had Aria’s), and her eyes opened as wide as ever when she saw that yes, they had affordable (and official Disney) Hannah Montana Costumes. She got her wish!!

Once I placed my order, I was surprised to see the costume at my doorstep only a few days later, Lyric thrilled with her costume couldn’t wait to try it on. I was always a little scared of seeing what the costume looked like in person, would it be a cheap costume that was going to rip the first chance she put it on? NOPE! The costume was in great durable condition and each piece packed up on its own. Great quality and it fit perfect.

I’ll defiantly be heading back to the Halloween Party Store next year for the girls next Halloween costumes. Great prices, great quality and a selection for not only kids but adults too (and plus size costumes as well) it’s a hit for us!

Visit www.halloweenpartystore.com to view more costumes that they carry, and to buy one for yourself or your kids. Halloween is fast approaching so you better hurry, don’t want to be one of those last minute homemade costumes that your child will never forget (and not in a good way).

Daily Freebies!!!

~ Bear Naked Free Fruit & Nut Granola Sample

~ Tide Free Sample of Tide Total Care

~ Degree Free Sample of Degree Men Absolute Protection

~ Astroglide Free Sample of Astroglide X Premium

~ Chatelaine Free Book for the first 10,000 (Canada)

~ Prada Free Perfume Samples (UK & Ireland)

~ Schick Free Quattro Titanium Razor or Trimmer

~ Walmart Free Sample of Benefiber Fiber Drink Mix

~ Del Monte Free $35 in Coupons

~ Nature's Bounty Free Tote Bag

~ Wildlife Gifts Free 2009 Calendar

~ Stetson Free Sample of Stetson Rich Suede

~ ASPCA Free Pet Safety Pack (US & Canada)

~ Playtex Free Drop-Ins Original Nurser System (US & Canada)

~ Ontario Beans Free Recipe Booklets and Place Mats (Canada)

C is for Cookie, K is for K'nex!!!

A childhood memory that spans the test of time it seems is Sesame Street. I’m sure you remember watching it, and see your own kids watching it today. I even remember and still have some of the Sesame Street books and toys from my childhood that my kids now enjoy when they visit Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

It seems that the popularity of Sesame Street hasn’t faded over the years, and with the introduction of Elmo, it seems that it’s hotter than ever. Team Mom has introduced us to a great new toy from Sesame Street and K’NEX. The K’NEX Sesame Street building sets! I was pretty familiar with K’NEX but always associated it as something for older children. When I heard about the K’NEX Sesame Street building set’s I was excited to see something for the younger kids to enjoy (ages 2+) and thought for sure that this is something Aria would love. She’s a very creative thinker and also a big time Sesame Street fan.

When we got the box in the mail, her eyes lit up with joy. ERNIE!!!! Was the first word that came out of her mouth when we opened the box. We were delighted to see the Bert & Ernie Building set. Playtime looked like it was going to be fun on that day. In the Bert & Ernie building set you can find three educational ‘play & learn’ activity cards. These allow both the parents and children to have great fun together while creating, learning and building with different activities and learning about colors. Each set also comes with a portable storage container that you can fit all your pieces inside and take with you, or put away neatly. The Bert & Ernie set has 46 pieces to it and you can build Bert & Ernie as well as a number of other imaginative things.

A great toy yet again from K’NEX, not only does it give the kids some fun times, which also allows them to use their imagination, but as well the Sesame Street building sets helps with physical, social-emotional, language, and cognitive development. My children just loved their building set, and I’m sure your child will love creating their favorite characters from Sesame Street themselves. Visit Knex for more sets and information.

WIN IT!!!
Win your very own Sesame Street Building Set from Team Mom and K’NEX! All you have to do is visit the K’NEX website and let me know which K’NEX Sesame Street building set you think your child would love for themselves. One winner will be chosen randomly to receive a K'NEX Sesame Street Building Set. *please note that the winner will be set a random K’NEX Sesame Street Building Set

This giveaway is open to those with a US mailing address only (No P.O Boxes sorry)!!! And is open to non bloggers, PLEASE just remember if your blog profile is private, or you’re a non blogger, leave an email address or your entry will be disqualified....Winner will be chosen via random.org

For extra entries (please leave each extra giveaway in a separate comment, each will earn you an extra entry):
• Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link
• Stumble this giveaway
• Subscribe to my blog via RSS or Email
• Add my blog to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar

Giveaway Ends October 8, 2008 @ 11:59pm EST

Keeping your children safe.

One of my top jobs as a parent is to keep my children safe. With the way this world is today, it’s a hard task to do sometimes, the worry you go through on a daily basis sometimes clouds your judgment. But as parents we always have to be on top of our game when it comes to our kids. That’s why knowing your surroundings, knowing the threats that could exist in your neighborhood is essential. A great many resources are out there today especially for parents when looking at neighborhood threats, you can more than likely view a List Of Child Molesters in and around your area online to make sure that you and your family are prevented from becoming victims. Keep yourselves and your children safe.

Eco-Fashion!

I know right now the trend seems to be to find the most eco-friendly, eco-conscious products for just about everything in our homes. I hope this becomes a way of life and fades fast as a ‘trend’. One place that’s a great way to become my eco-friendly is by looking at our clothing, what makes a better statement?

MyConservationBaby.com provides a great way to spread the message of becoming more ‘green’. They offer clothing for all ages from onesies, hats, and tees for both children and adults. With great messages like “Protect The Environment”, “Conserve”, and “Stop Global Warming” these products are more than just some great looking clothing. The earlier we start putting these thoughts in our next generation the better and we all know how aware other people are with our kids and even our clothes, so why not put out a great message instead of some usual cute little witty sayings?

Teaching your family to instill the habits they’re wearing can also be a great start of awareness for the cause. Start small, especially with the kids simple tasks and ways to conserve will last through their lives and they’ll pass it on to their children. Their clothing is made from 100% baby soft certified organic cotton, and is both quality made and machine washable. Their tees do run on the smaller side, so I would suggest ordering a size up.

Take a look at their products, and start your family on the right track today. Visit www.myconservationbaby.com pick up a shirt or two provide yourself with some eco-conscious fashion!

Aspiring Little Chef's

The girls love to cook. They love being in the kitchen and watching me, or trying to help themselves. When I’m working with a new recipe, sometimes it’s hard to give them a chance to help out, as it could be difficult not only for them; but for me as well.

When I found a cookbook for kids, I was thrilled and had to try it out. Handstand Kids provides cookbooks that have easy recipes for kids to learn how to cook and have fun while doing it. It also helps introduce them to a different language at the same time. It’s great to give kids a hands-on learning experience and get them excited about the world around them.

We got the Italian cookbook and being Italian myself, it was nice to be able to teach my kids some words that they can familiarize themselves with when cooking. You’ll journey into Italy once you open your pizza box and find the cookbook inside along with your very own chef’s hat. Inside the book, you’ll find pages that illustrate items and then give you the Italian word underneath. The recipes were fun and easy that we could all do it together; the girls especially loved the chef’s hat that came inside the box along with the cookbook.

Not only does the book offer fun and flavorful recipes, but the Handstand Kids are also a diverse group of characters (the vegetarian, the picky eater etc.) so there’s sure to be a character that you or your child can be familiar with. The recipes are also nutritious recipes but something kids will find delicious at the same time.

Handstand Kids cookbooks are a great item for kids who are interested in the art of cooking. It’s also a great help to parents when they want to find something easy enough to cook with their children. Right now you can get the Italian Cookbook and the Mexican Cookbook from Handstand Kids. Handstand Kids was just named one of the 2008 winners of the Top Toy of the Year from TDMontly.

You can purchase a Handstand Kids Cookbook for $28 by visiting their website: www.handstandkids.com

Gear

I'm not much of the outdoors type of woman. I can leave the bugs, and the cold, and the dirt, and everything else behind. Just not my type of thing, but give ma some green and a mall to shop in and I'm one happy woman! I guess if I had to, I could do some shopping for someone for the outdoors, I mean shopping is shopping, and I'm happy to do it. Although it may be a bit boring, maybe I could find some cute stuff who knows. All I know is that Galco is a great place to go when looking for tatical outdoors gear! So if your in the market, check it out!

Blah!

Something I've noticed. The past couple of days I haven't been feeling well (and to the commenter who asked if I could be preggo, that's a 100% NOOOO!! lol), I've been just feeling so BLAH! Nevermind the fact that I broke out like crazy! It's not fair, I left those times behind as a teenager, and now even in adulthood I have to worry about acne ugh!

Thankfully I did a race around the clock and got the house all ready for this weekend for Lyric's Birthday. She's so excited about her birthday, little does she know the ton's of presents that she got. I can't wait for her to open them. Not much of a day, just hanging out at the house, she wants to roast marshmellows and light some sparklers as well. So a simple birthday but she's happy about it and that's all that matters.

Misikko Winner!!

Popping on tonight to let you all know who the lucky winner is for the Hana Professional Flat Iron ..

Chosen randomly the winner is:









Commenter #324:
mitch said...

I would love to try the Corioliss Ultra Slim Flat Iron.

CONGRATS!! You'll be emailed shortly.

Winner has 72hrs to respond to the email sent, if there is no response a new winner will be chosen.

I'm off...

So I'm starting my weekend off a little early. Normally I don't blog on weekends if I can help it, but tonight, I sit here curled up in bed, sweating and calling the toilet my newest best friend (because you all needed to know that). I don't know what's wrong with me, its just one of those things that HIT me out of no where. What's worse? I have a house full of family and friends this weekend to celebrate Lyric's 5th birthday.

So I'm hoping to get this whatever it is, out of my system fast, I need to clean, wrap presents and be presentable come Friday. Lord help me if this gets any worse....

Have a great weekend guys!!!

The days of our lives...

Well, I've kind of kept quiet about what's been going on here lately.

First, Rodney was offered a job as a Sales Rep with Alltel. The pay sucks, but with commissions it's livable, and we all know Rodney's very good at doing what he does, which is selling cell phones. So he took the offer, but the background check place is being a pain in the you know what... and saying they need verifiable employment and the w2's aren't good enough (umm, it's not his fault that the last 2 companies he worked for 1 was bought out after he left, and his most recent closed), so we've had to go back over 6 years to find an employer for them to call up. Good luck on that...So we're still waiting on that.

Remember when this all first started, Rodney had that awesome job come along that we were hoping for, the one that was a base of 50K/yr and with commissions they said a conservative amount that a regional makes is 6 figures... yea, well we're still waiting...That is the Comdata job, and THAT is the interview he had this morning at 8am face to face finally (up until now it's been 3 phone interviews). Rodney said it went really well, and he feels confident. Said that the guy talked as if Rodney was already working for the company and it was more like a conversation rather than an interview. What do we do now? Well, he wants Rodney to write up a letter and email it to him, basically telling him why he would be the best person for the job. So we'll do that today. Then he said in about a week or so he'll get a call about coming to Nashville to do a drug screen and some other stuff (I'm assuming that's if he gets chosen lol), but the fact that he said the more positive instead of the negative is a good sign!

This afternoon, Rodney has a second interview with Sprint for an Assistant Manager Position, meh, not the best, but he knows Sprint inside and out and the pay is better than Alltel...

So here's hoping this Comdata business comes through, It really sounds promising after I heard about the interview, but I don't want to get my hopes up because I'm banking on this job, we could REALLY REALLY REALLY use it, it would change everything!! It's also great because although there is travel during the week, sometimes overnight, his office...HOME BASED!!

So that's whats going on... If anyone has any tips about that letter I have to help him write up it would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Someone caught the wave..

And won themselves a mixed case of Nui Water! Would you like to know who? Wonder if it's you? We'll lets find out!

The winner of a mixed case of Nui Kids Water is.....................








Commenter #117:
purango said...

I like that they donate 50% of profits to charity. garrettsambo@aol.com

CONGRATS, I'll be in contact via email shortly.

Well, that was interesting, another lucky person has a chance!!! The previous winner's email bounced back so I had to choose another. So the winner of a mixed case of Nui Kids Water is..

Commenter #26:

jenn s. said...

I love how natural sugars are used and how they give so much to charity. Sounds like a super company with a great product.

The winner has 72hrs to contact me back with their shipping information. If the winner does not contact me in the alloted time frame another winner will be picked.

Yes, It is time for bed....

As a parent, life is sometimes crazy, chaotic, and downright unorganized to say the least. With two active girls, sometimes our daily routine just gets out of whack and out of order, I don’t know one minute to the next sometimes. This isn’t good for me, or for the girls. Thinking, we need a schedule of some sorts, some better organization, along came Milestone Parenting with their great concept.

My girls really like to do things on their own, but when I’m doing something else, sometimes it’s hard for them to know, whey they should be doing things, and when they shouldn’t. Well Milestone Parenting has come up with some great routine charts to help out. With two routine charts, both personalized with the girl’s names, we were on our way! The Personalized Bedtime Routine Kit wand the Personalized Daily Routine Kit both come with a chart, stickers which gives you the typical daily routines according to the type of chart, and a quick start guide.

The days (or nights depending on the chart) are planned out according to the stickers which depict an activity such as brushing your teeth, eating a meal, cleaning up toys, reading books and even bed time then you choose the right time for each ‘activity’ to be done. This was great for my girls since it was visual rather than words, and it taught them how to tell time at the same time! It allowed them to be able to do their daily routines on their own, without the help of mom or dad (most of the time), and they knew what was to be done when. With a digital clock next to their charts, they could recognize the digits written on their chart beside the clock. They knew exactly when it was time for dinner, time to clean up and time for bed.

The posters for the routine charts are great, durable and reusable! So are the stickers, so this makes changing a routine easy, simply change the time and away you go!

If you need some help with daily organization for your kids and family check out Milestone Parenting on their website: www.milestoneparenting.com

Stains, Stains, Stains

Oh the stains!!! I can’t believe how many stains a house can incur, with children and pets (and sometimes even husbands), it’s an unavoidable part of a mom’s life. The number of times I’ve tried to stop a stain from happening is uncountable. In fact right now we have a lovely stain on our nice area rug from my children, who thought it would be a good idea to get into some of mommy’s peppermint foot cream and get it all over them, and leave a wonderful pink stain on our carpet. We’ll get back to that though later on in the post...

When I was approached by Mom Central with the opportunity to review a product from WD-40, I jumped at the chance; it was just what I’ve needed for that pesky stain since nothing else seems to work. And with the WD-40 name behind it, I was intrigued. I was sent the Non-Toxic Spot Shot Instant Carpet Stain & Odor Eliminator as well as a sample piece of carpet, and some things to stain it up with (chocolate sauce and ammonia). The Spot Shot is supposed to make stain and order removal easy and family friendly.

I can say, I was very impressed with the Non-Toxic label on the bottle, I’m always looking for safer cleaning products around my house, and it’s also environmentally friendly, another great plus. Spot Shot should eliminate old tough stains as well as new stains, and also neutralize smells though the dual-odor eliminators, it also incorporates anti-resoiling agents into your carpet to help prevent stains from returning. So to make the review great, and real, I took out the carpet sample, and went on my way, staining it with the ammonia (COUGH oh my, that stinks), as well as the chocolate sauce.

My one issue already, is that you could tell the carpet sample has been treated, as the chocolate sauce almost rolled off of it in little beads. I continued to rub both the things in really well in order for it to be saturated. I also decided to add my own experiment by adding some orange soda to the carpet. I let it sit for a while, get that stain in good, and then proceeded to use the Spot Shot.

First I tried it on the ammonia, rubbed it in with a damp cloth and didn’t see a stain left in its place. I did however let it sit and dry, and I can still smell the ammonia. Now it’s not as strong as it was, it smells almost like hair dye now in the carpet… hmm… Onto the next test...The chocolate sauce. Again with a damp cloth I rubbed the carpet with the Spot Shot, and it seemed to come out pretty easily and well, I was impressed. Now the big challenge, the orange soda. Not so impressive! It took a while for me to scrub it out, and I can still faintly see that it is there after the amount of scrubbing and the drying time. So sad to see. I did notice something else thought after I lifted the carpet sample up on my floor. The orange soda that did come out of the carpet sample, didn’t lift, it actually was pushed thought the carpet and ended up on my floor. I am so not impressed now.

I moved on, and back to that stain I was telling you about before, the lovely pink lotion stain on my carpet. I’ve tried everything to get it out, and I thought maybe this will help, even if it only pushes the stain through, at least I know now and can get to it under the carpet tile right away. Well…Spot Shot didn’t get my tough stain out. It may have lightened it a little bit, but nothing that I could tell really had changed. I was so disappointed. I used a damp cloth, I used a sponge and I also used a scrubbing brush to try to work with Spot Shot on this stain, but to no avail, it just wasn’t going to come out. I’m so disappointed. I can’t say I highly recommend Spot Shot to other mom’s for stain removal or odors from my own experience, just from my simple tests; it didn’t make a pass for me.

You can however check it out for yourself, and maybe you’ll have a better experience than I did. You can find more information about Spot Shot by visiting the website: www.spotshot.com on the website it also claims that they do have a money back guarantee, so I guess if this is something I’d bought, I’d probably be taking them up on that offer.

Another Round..

Of some great giveaways around the blogosphere. I have to say, I really love entering all of these great and wonderful giveaways, and I do love having them as well. Thanks to all the blogger's who participate, and all the companies that sponsor them. I think what we've all got going on here is great, keep up the good work everyone!!

Cool Moms Rule!

• Enter to win a Disney DVD Bingo Set (ends 9/28)

A Mom Who Loves Reviews

• Enter to win a Soda Stream Starter Kit (ends 10/1)

Mamma Made

• Enter to win a Dragonfly Dress (ends 9/26)

Mama Manifesto

• Enter to win Honest Kids Drink Pouches and Honest Tea (ends 9/25)

Mamas Like

• Enter to win a Ballerina In a Box (ends 9/23)

Classy Mommy

• Enter to win a Cupcake Club Alarm Clock (ends 9/23)

Ohana Mama

• Enter to win Mother Ink Tattoos (ends 9/23)

An Island Review

• Enter to win a Caramel Apple Cinnamon Butter Candle (ends 9/23)
  

Do you have that Glow Mama?

There’s nothing worse during pregnancy than having to drink just plain water. At least for me, I’m not a huge water drinker normally, but during my pregnancy it was awful. Just not something I could drink, I’d have to force it down almost.

Well now, those pregnant women who have the same problem I did, no longer have to worry because Glow Mama is there to keep you hydrated, healthy and give you a great refreshing taste in the form of Kiwi!

This isn’t one of those high sugars, artificial everything drinks either. Glow Mama knows the importance of healthy nutritious drinks for pregnant women and mom’s so they make sure they only use the best of the best ingredients along with keeping those artificial sweeteners out of their drinks. They also don’t use any artificial colors or flavors, no caffeine, and 0 fat! Basically, Glow Mama is a what you see is what you get drink, no surprises.

One of the main ingredients after water is kiwi juice. Did you know that kiwi’s are one of the most nutrient dense fruit in the world? I sure didn’t. I actually love kiwi and couldn’t wait to try out this drink, although, the third ingredient on the list is white grape juice, I can say honestly I could taste that well and above the kiwi flavor. It was a little disappointing as I was looking forward to a kiwi taste, but it was good and refreshing just the same. You’ll also find can juice, fiber, calcium and vitamins (C, B3, Iron, B6, B12), and folic acid on the ingredient list of Glow Mama.

Not only is their drink very tasty and refreshing, but if you check out their website you’ll find lots of different recipes for some great mocktails so that you can use to ‘enhance’ your Glow Mama drink and make it a little more interesting.

For more information, check out the Glow Mama website: www.drinktoglow.com. Thanks to The Family Review Network for allowing me to introduce this great product to my readers.

Also for a special treat, Glow Mama wants to offer 15% off of their products to my readers, when ordering from their website, simply enter the code: wrestling and you'll receive 15% off of your order.

Am I really a complete Idiot?

I bet you've all heard about the line of books "The Complete Idiot's Guide", such a funny name and also a great line of books that do carry a lot of useful information. You can really find The Complete Idiot's Guide to just about anything you want information on, or to know about.

Thanks to The Family Review Network, I found two of their guides that are just a great read, and a must have if you have kids in the house. Both guides offer some great tips and information.

I first got read The Complete Idiot's Guide to Backyard Adventures, this I was hoping would give me some insight on what the heck to do with the girls in the backyard. Since this summer, especially my oldest has been all about the outdoors and camping. What could we do to make it more fun at home and in our own backyard? This book was really a great guide to have. It gave us some great and fun activities for the girls, and really it provides them for kids (and adults) of all ages, so this can be used over and over as the girls grow up. It’s also got some great ideas for lessons and education about the outdoors, and things you can do around your home instead of going on an expensive vacation. This book was great; a small investment for some big adventures that can be had as a family. Lots of activities I’ve never thought of, and I even learned about the outdoors myself a bit.

The next book I read was The Complete Idiot's Guide to Snack Cakes. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this book, but it sounded interesting, and I’m not that great of a baker or cook, so anything can help. It would be nice to teach this idiot a thing or two when it comes to the kitchen! The first thing I noticed was the great colorful photos! It made everything look so good. The recipes are very easy to follow, and there’s so many of them. Easy snack cakes to make in your own kitchen, I think I’ll be able to bust a few of these out on my own, hopefully without burning any of them. There are recipes included not only from American kitchens, but from kitchens around the world, all brought to you and written by an expert master chef and baker, but believe me, and the recipes are easy enough that you don’t have to be one yourself.

Head over to amazon.com and check out these Complete Idiot Guides and more!

Be Enthusiastic with your Dress Up Clothes...

Dressing up is one of the fun things little girls love to do, and mine are no different. On the daily it seems they find someone new that they can dress up to be, and especially around this time of year, they think of it more and more with Halloween on the way.

Finding good quality dress up clothes that aren’t going to fall apart two days later isn’t an easy task. A lot of my girl’s dress up clothes are raggedy and missing pieces, not new looking at all. I mean they get played in, they need to be a little tougher than some of the dress up clothes that we have. Well a place called Cordelia’s Corner agrees with me on this. Rebecca Blake was tired of the same thing, tired of buying dress up clothes that would ultimately fall apart shortly after they were purchased, so she decided to make her own.

Not only are the dress up clothes from Cordelia’s Corner durable, they’re also washable too, and have yet (at least in our home) to disappoint. Both my girls play with their outfit constantly, and have worn it inside the house and out, and I can say this is one of the more cuter pieces we own, but also one of the most durable. Not a thread out of place so far. And their imagination goes so far with one simple outfit. The beautiful Pink Filled Skirt that we got was so pretty, made with 100% polyester organza, and filled with so many beautiful white artificial flowers and green leaves, this was a dress up skirt no girl could turn down, paired with a pink leotard, Lyric was a beautiful dancing ballerina in an instant!.

Cordelia’s Corner has great dress up clothes made for almost anyone; some of their costumes are so great that they can be worn as a flower girl or pageant dress! How unbelievable is that, and again they are all washable, some hand, some machine and a few that are dry clean only, but they’re not going to fall apart once they are washed, no matter which way they’re done.

All of their products are made with enthusiastic play in mind, and as you can see from the pictures that I’ve got, my daughter was very enthusiastic when she first slipped on her dress up clothes.

Visit Cordelia’s Corner and take a look at their products, be it for dress up play time, a tea party, or even a Halloween costume that your daughter would love to own, these great dress up clothes won’t disappoint. For more information visit: www.cordeliascorner.com

Great Giveaways...

Some are last minute, some end in a few days or a few weeks, but these are some of the great giveaways I've 'stumbled' upon....

Robyn's Online World

• Enter to win your choice of 2 Between Me and You Keepsake Journals (ends 9/26)

A Daycare Life

• Enter to win a L'oved Baby Nursing Shawl & Signature Pants (ends 10/4)

Leslie's Life

• Enter to win a bottle of all natural hand wash (ends 10/3)

Red Sox Mommy

• Enter to win a Tee of your choice from Planetmomtshirts.com (ends 10/2)
• Enter to win a Precious Girls Club Book (ends 9/30)

Something Snappy

• Enter to win a leash pouch and wool ball from Purrfect Play (ends 10/2)
• Enter to win a Dwink Box Holder (ends 9/28)
• Enter to win The Ultimate Back To School Combo from Mabels Labels (ends 9/26)

An Island Review

• Enter to win an 8oz bottle of Febreze Fabric Refresher Decor Collection (ends 9/29)
• Enter to win Bob the Builder Can-Do-Zoo Software (ends 9/27)
• Enter to win a quarter membership to Listplanit (ends 9/26)

An Island Life

• Enter to win a copy of Generation Text (ends 9/27)
• Enter to win Avatar The Last Airbender: The Complete Book 3 Collection

Blessings Abound

• Enter to win a pair of See Kai Run shoes (ends 9/29)
• Enter to win 1 of 4 Spazzsticks (ends 9/26)

For The Love of Baby

• Enter to win a Precious Girls Club book (ends 9/29)
  

Nurse Mommy

• Enter to win a pair of hand made knit socks (ends 9/26)
• Enter to win two full size eye shadows (ends 9/25)

MomDot

• Enter to win an item between $25-$50 from Crib Rock Couture (ends 9/22)
  

What a pain...

I love that its so easy to sell things online now. You no longer need to wait for a garage sale, or flea market or any of that business. With the great invention of craigslist and Ebay it's so easy...

Recenltly to make ourselves some more money here and there we've been listing a lot of things on ebay, the only thing I can say that is awful. How time consuming it is to get everything together, take pictures get a listing up, and then you sit in wait for 7 days (or however long your auction is) to see if your items have sold... Thankfully we just made a mortgage payment with the items we just listed, it's a great relief that we had such easy access to selling things online, and making enough money to actually make a mortgage payment. That lifts a big burden off of our shoulders for at least another month.

The downfall now, getting all of our bearings in order, and getting everything ready to ship. The shipping part is the most frustrating to me. Getting all your supplies, the packing, the taping the address writting and then the trip to the post office. Thankfully that job is Rodney's. Poor guy had a box full of things to take and over $100 worth of shipping costs. It was all worth it tho, a mortgage payment plus some is now sitting in our bank account...Ebay is a lifesaver!

GREENGUARD

So many of us worry about our children’s health. Certain times of the year we worry about them being outdoors due to allergies, bug bites, UV exposure, and air pollution. But, did you know that the indoor air is two to five times more polluted than the outdoor air? There’s also health risks associated with indoor air pollution. The source for these pollutants come from a variety of products in our homes and schools due to furnishings, flooring, electronics, window treatments, mattresses, cleaners and even paints.

The GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certification Program tries to offer a solution to parents who are concerned about the indoor air quality of their homes, schools and other places their children spend their time. The GREENGUARD Children & Schools standard is overseen by the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI), which is an industry independent and non-profit organization. Their mission is to not only improve indoor air, but to improve the quality of human life by testing and certifying indoor products based on strict chemical emissions criteria.

You can find the GREENGUARD Children & Schools certification mark on more than 170,000 different products that are produced by over 500 different manufacturers.

You may not know, but some of the very materials and products that we use to furnish and maintain our indoor environments can release hundreds of pollutants such as formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ozone and even biological allergens.
Because of all the time spend indoors especially during the winter months that are on the way, so many children are at risk of breathing in these pollutants, and especially at risk are those with asthma, allergies and respiratory diseases. GREENGUARD Children & Schools wants to help, so with the help of GEI who is considered the world’s foremost resources on indoor quality and other companies who meet the standards of using the GREENGUARD mark (such as DuPont, Georgia-Pacific, BASF, Owens Corning, Benjamin Moore and others) products and undergo quarterly testing to ensure that the products are safe and continue to meet the emissions criteria that GREENGUARD stands by.
With all the concern today on environmentally friendly products, and keeping our kids safe and healthy, it is hard to distinguish which products are truly environmentally friendly and which ones are not. When you see the GREENGUARD mark, it ensures that that product has passes rigorous testing to prove that it will emit the fewest possible pollutants into the air.

GREENGUARD Children & Schools standards takes into account the special sensitivities that our children have and incorporates those into their most stringent product emissions criteria. They make sure that every day products meet strict emission levels of pollutants including VOCs, phthalates and respirable particles.

For more information on the GREENGUARD Children & Schools certification program and GEI you can visit www.greenguard.org

Daily Freebies...

~ Walmart Free Huggies Sample

~ Calvin Klein Free Secret Obsession Fragrance Sample

~ Greenies Free Sample of Pill Pockets Pet Treats

~ Costco Free Sample of Kotex Lightdays Pantiliners

~ PVA Free Fun Mailbox Name & Address Labels

~ Head & Shoulders Free Trial Size (Canada)

~ Purina Free Sample of Cat Chow Naturals

~ Fresh Pets Free Sample (UK & Ireland)

~ Walmart Free Sample of Nicorette White Ice Mint

~ Walgreens Free Sample of of Always Infinity

~ Estee Lauder Free Sample of Sensuous Fragrance (UK)

~ Member's Mark Free Infant Formula Samples

~ Nicorette Free Starter Pack of Nicorette White Ice Mint

~ Head & Shoulders Free Dry Scalp Care or Smooth & Silky Sample

~ Senseo Free Bag of Senseo Pods

~ Kids Kitchen Free personalised Wooden Spoon (UK)

We all need some happiness...

STRESS! PMS! KIDS! HUSBANDS! Those four things are something that can drive woman nuts, and those four things alone can attribute to pain, frustration and a need for some relaxation! But with most of us on a tight budget, how can we get a ‘spa’ like relaxation at home? Well, The Happy Company has come to our rescue.

The Happy Company is devoted to developing tools for a healthy living that fit into the busy modern lifestyle most of us have today. They want us to be able to take care of ourselves, love ourselves, live, love and be happy! The Happy Company provides good-for-you products that will give you a feel-good experience and relive some of that stress while giving you the relaxation comforts that you need. In the early 90’s The Happy Company was started with the small hand-held wooden massagers, and now have expended into the entire relaxation industry.

My family and I got to try a bunch of their great products, and they couldn’t have come at such a great time. With all the stress and frustration around here, relaxation was needed. My husband’s favorite product, the cozy Neck Wrap is something we’ve both used, but something he uses on a daily now. I’ve used it for a really bad kink I’ve had in my neck and it worked great, it gave me the relief and comfort I needed. He uses it at night to distress and give comfort. The Neck Wrap has a flax seed fill insert which you can heat in the microwave for heat comfort and the outside cover is 100% polyester ‘chenille’ and is so soft and comfortable. Once you heat up the neck wrap, the insert naturally retains heat to either keep you warm, or help you relax while the herbs inside sooth your senses with a light pleasant smell of aromatherapy (lavender, clove and chamomile). If you don’t want the scent, it is removable, which is a great feature, the cover is also machine washable.

Their Warming Scarf is something I have yet to use, but can see it as being very useful as the winter months approach. The design in itself is such a great concept. The Warming Scarf is made of a durable warm and very soft fleece, and also has grain filled inserts in the pockets (found on the end of the scarf). You can pop the inserts into the microwave and then put them back into the pockets of the scarf which will give you long lasting warmth and relaxation whenever you need that chill taken away from the cold that’s on the way, a great concept for those on the go. It also has the great features of the pockets having zippers on them, so it's a great place to store your cell phone or keys while your wearing it.

One of my favorite items (one of, because I do have another) is the Hot or Cold Gel Body Wrap. This wrap has been great when I’ve got cramps due to PMS; it’s also been great for those back aches. You can take the gel pack insert and either microwave it for some heat, or keep it cool in the refrigerator for cold therapy. The cover is adjustable and can be used on any part of the body. This product is great for any of those aches and pains in your muscles or joints. It will help relax you and reduce that pain as well as improve circulation. Like I said, so far, I’ve found this great for lower back pain and cramps. A must have for any woman. *Note that this product does contain latex.

My other favorite product is the Soothing Eye Mask. The Eye mask can be used either with or without the gel insert. The cover of the eye mask is a very soft machine washable knit cover, we have ours in 100% acrylic sweater, but you can also purchase it in a 100% cotton jersey cover. So it’s very comfortable and soft, perfect to use without the gel insert as a sleeping mask. I however have been using it whenever I’ve had any of my lovely sinus headaches lately. The gel insert can be kept in the refrigerator so it keeps nice and cool to give that soothing experience when placed on the eyes. The gel also contours to your eye shape and has more than enough coverage to make sure that all the points that need to be affected.

The Happy Company has so many other products to help you be on your way to a happy, relaxed life, be sure to check them out at: www.thehappycompany.com and find your way to happiness.

WIN!!!! The Happy Company wants to make sure that they spread the happiness around, and wants to offer my readers a great prize. Five (5) lucky readers will win a Soothing Gel Eye Mask from The Happy Company. All you have to do is visit their website and leave me a comment telling me some of their other great products that you might like to try, and why you would benefit from the Soothing Gel Eye Mask.

This giveaway is open to those with a US mailing address only!!! And is open to non bloggers, PLEASE just remember if your blog profile is private, or you’re a non blogger, leave an email address or your entry will be disqualified....Winner will be chosen via random.org

For extra entries (please leave each extra giveaway in a separate comment, each will earn you an extra entry):
• Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link
• Stumble this giveaway
• Subscribe to my blog via RSS or Email
• Add my blog to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar

Giveaway Ends October 6, 2008 @ 11:59pm EST

I have a goal...

And I'm going to implement it right after Lyric's birthday is finished. There's no way I can implement it before hand, I'm too busy and my thoughts are just not in it. My goal, is to loose all my icky weight...I really need to do it for good this time. I guess once Rodney has whatever job in his pocket it will make it easier as well, back to buying the healthy foods, and who knows, maybe for once being able to get a gym membership. All I know, is I hate the way I currently am, and really want to be able to go shopping for some swimsuits by next summer. I'll get to my goal, I swear it, if it takes everything I have, It will be done... It's now or never.

Winter is on it's way...

Winter is on its way. I’ve been through many tough winters. I mean come on, I am Canadian, I did grow up just off of Lake Ontario, some of the winters we had were pretty rough. Even right now, living in Ohio, we get a lot of snow. I’ve seen enough snow to last my life time, but thankfully I haven’t had as rough as a time as some people, just to think, those who live in Montana, or Colorado with all of those hills to drive up and down. I don’t think I could do it, I hate driving in the winter as is, I’d really hate it if I had to drive around with roads like that, all snow covered and icy, to the point where I’d need tire chains on my tires. No thanks; I think I’ll stick with the mounds of snow on the straight roads instead, shoveling my driveway with a good old fashioned shovel.

Bills = Headaches

There are so many expenses today when it comes to living and being an adult. From the mortgage, electric, cable, internet, and cell phone. Sometimes I don’t know how to keep up. Lately we’ve been trying to downsize our bills because of our recent circumstances. We don’t pay a whole lot, but it’s always nice to find a way to pay out less. Even with car insurance, it’s a struggle to find the best price and the right coverage. We really need to sit down, write everything out and do things one by one. Listing them all and trying to go over everything all at once has been just a giant headache.

So behind...

I've been so behind lately with so many things. Housework, my reviews, giveaways, blog posts ack, sometimes it feels like my life is so out of control, I don't know how I'm going to ever catch up. I can say, it's been really nice having Rodney home for the most part, we've gotten a lot accomplished at least around our house. Hopefully, with some upcoming interviews this week, this will be the last week we have the time to do that all day. It's great having him home, but things are running low, including money.

Anyways, I wanted to say I'm so sorry for the lack of posts, the forgetfullness of announcing some giveaway winners, I'll get to that right now. I've just been busy around the house and whatnot, being a wife, being a mom you know how it goes....

First for the winner of a shirt of their choice from Fliggity.... This giveaway ended on 9/18...The winner was chosen at random like usual, and the winner is.....









Commenter #87:
mama zen said...

I LOVE the Biggity Bat!

kelli at pfrog dot net

CONGRATS!!!!

The 5 winners of the Best-Ever Spinach Country Living Collection Dip Mix from Heritage Specialty Foods (ended 9/19) were chosen at random and are:










Commenter #2:
sandy said...

Heritage - Hearst Ranch Truffle Red Wine London Broil
and pecan pie in a jar

Commenter #82:
tarahsrecipes said...

The "Southwestern Cheese Ring" sounds wonderful and right up our alley!

Tarah
tarah716[at]ymail.com

Commenter #84:
gkstratos said...

Chicken Pot Pies!
gkstratos@yahoo.com

Commenter #49:
miss bliss said...

Wow! I'm hungry for dips. I'd try the Heritage - Blue Crab Forestierre Dip. YUM
michelleharrod(at)hotmail(dot)com

Commenter #152:
jennifer said...

The 3 dips in the Country Living - Appetizer Dip Trio sounds great! Thanks for the giveaway!

CONGRATS GUYS!!

Next the winner of the Wow Wow Wubbzy DVD which ended 9/20 is:

Commenter #10:

windycindy said...

"Little Bear" is our favorite show. I would love to introduce my sons to this show. Please enter me in your drawing. Many thanks for a fun giveaway drawing! Cindi
jchoppes[at]hotmail[dot]com

CONGRATS to everyone!! I'll be in contact via email shorty. Don't forget to check out the other giveaways going on right now, and keep your eyes open for newer ones coming soon!!!

Fire Ants...

Yuck!! First of all I hate any bugs/insects period, but ants are icky. Especially when they can hurt you. Thankfully I've never encountered any fire ants or fire ant nests, I guess I'm lucky. But I know there are those out there who have and it doesn't sound like a pleasant experience either. It's great to find a site that helps you and give you guides on dealing with fire ant infestations and the various ways that their mounds can be eliminated. I know that finding information like this is helpful, so when you can find a great site online where you can find out quickly how to eliminate these pesky ants, it's a lifesaver!

R.Kelly Speaks...

I'm sure a lot of you know about the R. Kelly sex scandal trial that has gone on. He was found innocent (really? how that happened is beyond me), and now he's speaking about it.

I used to be a huge R. Kelly fan, his music is great, the man can sing and turns out hits like no tomorrow, but the man has an issue, and it needs to be addressed. I can no longer consider myself a fan, nor listen to his music after the claims (and also seeing the sex tape, come on it was him, no doubt about it). It's quite clear that this man is a pedophile, a child molester whatever you want to call him, he's it. People that are sitting behind him (fans) who are cheering him on, offering him support really need to open their eyes to this man. I know I don't want my children listening to some man singing that could potentially hurt them. As usual, because he's a celebrity, he gets an innocent verdict and a slap on the wrist. When is the law going to be on the sides of the citizens, and of the sides of our children instead of the sides of these celebrities?

R. Kelly makes me sick...I hope that somehow, somewhere someone speaks up and tells the truth about him, or it's found out somehow...You can check out his BET interview where he speaks out below:


One thing I am proud of....Funk Master Flex, thank you for speaking out, speaking out publicly about this sick poor excuse of a man. It takes a lot for one celebrity to speak out about another, and I praise him for that. So many people see the truth of this man, why the law/jurors didn't is beyond me...



For the girls who have been abused and taken advantage of from him, I only hope that they realize they're under age, he's a grown man, and it wasn't a good thing that happened, at the time, I'm sure all they think of is "Oh, My God, this is R.Kelly" but in reality, it was abuse and something very WRONG that happened to them...

Daily Freebies...

~ Carefree Free Pantiliners Sample (US & Canada)

~ Ringtonehall Free Mobile Cell Phone Strap (US, Canada & UK)

~ Women's Health Free Sample of Tampax Pearl

~ Kotex Sweeps Free Sample Pack for entering

~ Downy Free $1 Coupon for Downy Total Care

~ L'Oreal Free Sample of Skin Genesis (Canada)

~ Fusion Free 3-Pack of Condoms (UK)

Dating a Millionaire?

Yes, I’m married. I love my husband to death, but what would it be like to date a millionaire??? I can only ever think about what it would be like, because well, we’re not millionaires and we never will be. I do have a single friend though (yes D I’m talking about you), who really needs to just get out there and date more, have fun…Maybe she should look into dating some good looking rich guys, D maybe you could one day be one of those Millionaire women I think you should give it a try!

Crochet is Cool!!

I'm not really big on knitted or crochet items, it's just not me, but when I saw the newest line of handbags from The Sak I actually fell in love. And to think, they're crochet, it's pretty unbelievable that this is something I would love to have, but it's true! I'm a big fan of handbags in general, but I'm very picky at the same time. Between shoes and handbags it's a tossup as to which I love more.

The latest line of handbags from The Sak bring crochet from grannyish to being hip! Sakroots is a tribute collection celebrating The Sak's 20th anniversary and they're using that to show their new collection which is inspired by the natural surroudings of Bali, Indonesia where the brand has very strong roots and they're growing strong! These stylish new bags feature The Sak's signature honeycomb weave in rich fall colors such as olive, flint, sangria, taupe, black and coffee. Each bag also has a functional top zipper and has a great removable beaded bracelet which you can wear on your wrist or use to decorate your bag.

Sakroots retails from $79 - $89 and is available now at select retail locations and www.thesak.com be sure to check them out, there's so many cute new bags that are just calling my name, and I'm sure you'll hear your name being called too once you take a peak!

Winners have been chosen....

J.Blossom graciously provided me with two mini-fun packs in Great Big Grape, and you all entered to try to win, we now have our two randomly chosen people!!! Thanks to everyone who stopped by and entered, didn't win? Don't worry there's a lot more giveaways going on here, just check out the left sidebar! Also if you'd like to get some of J.Blossoms amazing products, just head over to their website, sign up for the newsletter and you can get 10% off your first order.

Now on to the winners of the Mini-Fun Packs in Great Big Grape....










Commenter #62:
bfox74 said...
I like the message that all girls are beautiful. My favorite product is 8 oz. Natural Body Lotion - Great Big Grape.

Commenter #30:
lena said...
I love the j.blossom Ballerina Doll Gift Set! So cute! I would love all of this for my little girl!

Congrats to you both!!! I'll be in contact via email...

I'm an abuser...

I sit here on this laptop daily, blogging, playing games, and doing other multiple things online. Some days I’m fine, surfing through the net at my leisure and other days, I’m cursing at both my modem and the computer. Why is it that I pay a premium amount, yet some days my internet is as slow, if not worse than dialup? Makes you think, why pay for something that’s supposed to be faster when most days it’s not?

I guess I should be fortunate though, most days the internet is rockin’. It’s mostly during the night when the issues arise. We’ve gone from so many different companies, we’ve even looked at HughesNet, you know satellite internet. I guess it’s just no matter who you use, even if it’s a satellite company like Hughes Net, you’re going to get various speeds, so I guess I should be happy with what I get. I mean, I use the internet so much, is it that hard to ask that I have some super-fast speeds? You’d think in this day and age we’d get around the lagging or slow problem that we all do experience from time to time. It’s just plain annoying though. Like last night, I was trying to play Monopoly on Pogo (ok who else is a pogo addict???) and all of a sudden it lagged like nothing else. Every night it seems to happen. I guess the more people on the network, the slower it works.

GET WITH IT PEOPLE! We’re an internet society; we need fast speeds to get on with our daily lives online!!! I’ve never tried a satellite technology for internet; maybe trying it would be an eye opening experience? Dialup, cable, dsl have all been tried…hmmm maybe I should get Hughes Net; it couldn’t hurt to try right? Maybe it could be the answer, maybe my poor computer would appreciate it a bit more and not hear the cursing I do at it each nice. My poor abused computer, but how I love thee, I wouldn’t be able to get through the day without it. I guess I should start taking out the frustration on the poor little black box that sits beneath my television on top of my router, that’s the problem, it’s not my poor computer, I’ve been abusing the wrong piece of electronics. I guess maybe my next blog will be an open letter of apology to my poor computer. I’ll start it with….I’m sorry computer…

Giveaways around the blogosphere...

Once again I've found some great giveaways. Some of them end VERY soon, so head on over and check them out!

MomDot

• Enter to win an Apron from Carolyns Kitchen (ends 9/18)

The Mommy Insider

• Enter to win a 25th Anniversary Cabbage Patch Doll (ends 9/18)

Jo-Jo's Place

• Enter to win a 3-Pack Gift Box from P.B. Loco (ends 9/18)

dkMommy Spot

• Enter to win a bag of Bare Naked granola (ends 9/18)

Rockin' Mama

• Enter to win one of 10 cases of Primo Water (ends 9/18)

Oh! How Lovely!

• Enter to win a $20 store credit to Elephannie (ends 9/19)

Boutique Cafe

• Enter to win a Brown Bag Lunch Set from Lilly Bean (ends 9/19)

Did You See That?

• Enter to win one of five Cake By Me Sets (ends 9/22)

A frog in the tub...

Any parents with young kids, knows how important organization is, especially in the bathroom. We just have a flood of bath toys for the girls, sometimes it seems like there are more toys than there is water in the tub!!! Our big problem is a place to put them. Until recently we’ve used a mesh bag and hung it up, not the prettiest thing in the world, but it was a solution. That was until I found the Frog Pod from Boon. First, Boon is such a great company; they have modern and sophisticated products that I just love. We have a few utensils and dishes from them that my youngest loves and still uses and they’re also dishwasher safe and child safe as well... (See the Groovy and Modware products) , so Boon is a name in our house that we do love and enjoy.

The Boon Frog Pod is a big plastic frog. You simply attach it to your walls in your tub with your choice of either using the adhesive, screws, or the suction cups. We chose to mount it on the bathroom tile with the adhesive and it’s holding strong! The frogs back is a scoop with holes in it that you can use to simply scoop up the toys once your child is done with their bath, the holes help to provide a way for the water to escape so your toys aren’t sitting in any moisture while they dry. Once you put the scoop back on the frog you can also find a shelf up top to keep all of your children’s soaps and bottles that they bathe with, a great concept that has left less clutter on our tub! It’s also easy access to the bath products when bathing my girls. You can also use the frog’s toes to hold washcloths or bath puff’s. I just love our Frog Pod, it’s cleaned up our bathroom and made it way more organized!

I was a little afraid at first of the size of the Frog Pod, thinking it may be too big, or too bulky but once up on the wall, it was a perfect fit, and is out of the way of everything including ourselves when showering. The girls just love it as well and love to put their toys in the scoop after the bath, so it does help me with cleanup. I highly recommend the Frog Pod for parents out there; It will keep your bathroom and all the bath toys organized and things out of the way.

You can visit boon on their website: www.booninc.com and check out the Frog Pod and more of their amazing items.

WIN IT!!!!

You can also look here and have your chance to win a Frog Pod from Boon for you and your family! All you have to do to be entered is visit the Boon website and tell me another item that you’d be interested in.

This giveaway is open to those with a US mailing address only!!! And is open to non bloggers, PLEASE just remember if your blog profile is private, or you’re a non blogger, leave an email address or your entry will be disqualified....Winner will be chosen via random.org

For extra entries (please leave each extra giveaway in a separate comment, each will earn you an extra entry):
• Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link
• Stumble this giveaway
• Subscribe to my blog via RSS or Email
• Add my blog to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar

Giveaway Ends October 1, 2008 @ 11:59pm EST

Sensitive Diapers for Sensitive New Skin

I remember, the day both the girls were born, the first thing to hit their cute little bottoms was diapers. The diapers that were first worn by the both of them were Pampers Swaddlers. Not only was it the diapers the hospital provided, but it was the first pack of diapers I had bought for the girls as well. Time has moved on and we’ve moved up to one with no diapers anymore, and one now in pull-ups but I’ll always remember the little bottoms that used to fill the tiny little Swaddlers.

It’s great to see that the Swaddlers line of diapers is still around for all the newborns that come into this world, but one thing that parents are lucky to have now that we didn’t is the Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive diapers. I know once we left the hospital and started on our own journey with diapers, especially with Aria, we had to go from brand to brand, there were no ‘sensitive’ diapers for her, and she has very sensitive skin.

Pampers Swaddler Sensitive are the diapers that have been used by some hospitals for a while now, and now they’re finally being introduced to the public. These cute little great smelling (yes, ok, I’m weird the diapers have a great smell to them, obviously not when they’ve been used though) diapers also have a smart color-changing strip on the outside called a “Wetness Indicator”. It turns from yellow to blue once the baby is wet, what a great idea, especially for new mom’s.

The Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive diapers were designed and developed for the first five month’s a baby’s life and made to ‘swaddle’ your baby by also helping to protect their delicate, sensitive skin. The diapers have a touch of aloe in them for softness and also have an Air Dry breathability in the diapers to make sure your new baby’s sensitive skin is cared for. The Absorb-Away Liner helps protect a baby’s skin from wetness, it also has the great Umbilical cord Notch in the newborn size which believe me is a great added feature, probably one of my favorite features among the old Pampers Swaddlers, it ensures that the diaper is kept away from the Umbilical Cord so that it can heal appropriately. The new Pampers Sensitive Swaddlers are said to be gentle and hypoallergenic, I really wish that I could try them to see how hypoallergenic they claim to be, like I said, Aria had horrible rashes and things due to diapers when she wore them, so these would have been great for her poor little tushy.

You can find the Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive diapers in sizes newborn, 1 and 2 and visit the Pampers website to find out more.

Daily Freebies...

~ 9 Lives Free Bag of Cat Food for the first 50,000 (Starts at 9am CT)

~ MORE Magazine Free Rembrandt Gift Package for the first 200

~ Bear Naked Free Fruit & Nut Granola Sample

~ Chelsey Henry Free Laptop Sleeve

~ Candy Direct Free Sample of Jelly Beans

~ Nature Made Free 14-Day Supply of Liquid Softgel Vitamins

~ Bounce Free Sample of Bounce Awakenings (Canada)

Boogily Head Winners...

Thanks to all of you who entered the Boobin' Boogily giveaway. The five winners have been chosen via Random.org and they are:













Commenter #54:
anna said...
I'd like to win Marshmellow! Thanks!

Commenter #42:
Laddie said...
I like Scantron! Thank you.
mlcmateo@yahoo.com

Commenter #70:
._. said...
Well I asked connor.. lol and he says his favorite is "Scantron"lol
La
lauren@scrapfasticdesigns.com

Commenter #105:
rockin' mama said...
I'd choose the Kitix!
Cute!
jasonncaryn at yahoo dot com

Commenter #73:
carol drury said...
cdrury@gmail.com
pinko for me!!!

Congrats to all!!! Don't forget to check out the other giveaways going on right now, take a look at the left sidebar!

The Great Masquerade!

That time of year is coming again. The time for all of us to let down our hair, and mask who we really are. Halloween season is upon us, and I can’t be more excited. Halloween is a fun holiday, and something we as a family have fun with every year. As the girls get older it becomes more fun. Like last year, we’re hoping to head up to Canada again this year so I can take the girls trick or treating around my old neighborhood. Last year they had a blast and my best friend came with me to take the girls around. As cute as they looked (Lyric was a dead cheerleader and Aria a pink poodle) they had just as much fun. Ok, maybe Lyric a bit more than Aria as she was in the stroller the whole time because she just didn’t get the concept.

This year they each want to be something different so I am scouring different halloween costume stores to find the perfect costume for each of them. Aria wants to be a monkey with a banana, and Lyric wants to be (go figure) Hannah Montana. With money being tight, I’m not having the easiest time finding ‘cheaper’ costumes, but I’m sure the more I search and the more I think we’ll have something in time for Halloween.

Get Back To The Table Month

In today’s families it’s getting rarer to have a family dinner together. There’s so many different activities going on, lessons, meetings, and parents working, it’s hard to find the time to actually sit down and have a meal as a family. I remember as a child, we made it a point to have family dinner every night and talk about our day. I notice in my own family this is something we’re lacking and I hope to turn that around. Even though my children are young, once they are in school, it would be nice to have a family sit down and a time to connect with each other about our days.

Recently Mom Central did a survey and even though 98% of the mom’s polled think that yes, children do benefit from eating meals at the table with the families, only 61% of families actually do this every day. I guess I’m guilty of being one of those mom’s and families.

A company who wants to help in the effort to keep families together at dinner time is Libby’s. They’ve even launched a “Get Back to the Table Month” campaign on a website: www.getbacktothetable.com. When visiting the site you can find many helpful hints and resources as well as recipes and shopping lists and money saving advice. Things to help you as a mom and to help you as a family get back to that table together. Not only do they have the helpful resources but they also highlight the benefits of establishing a regular family sit down dinner together. They mention that families that eat together have children who tend to:

• Perform better in school
• Have a lower risk of smoking, drinking, and drug use
• Have a higher self-esteem
• Develop stronger interpersonal relationships
• Eat Healthier
• Teenage girls develop a healthier body image

To help out families with their dinner budgets, and to make things quicker and easier for our busy lives as mom’s Libby’s provides canned veggies to help ease our dinner dilemmas and time constraints. It makes for an easy and healthy part of your meal.

So tell me, do you have dinner as a family? How do you make sure that this is an ongoing ritual in your home? If you don’t do this already, how can you strive to help your family have family dinner sit downs?

Daily Freebies...

You know, as of lately I've been noticing something about myself and my freebie posts....I'm now often forgetting to enter myself to get the freebie. I really need to stop doing that, I'm missing out on all these great things. Often I do find I go back for a few days and register for them, but ugh, why can't I just do it at the same time.

I also just realized today how many freebies/samples that I do have. Just shampoo/soaps/lotions/toothpaste/deodorant/feminine products alone, I have a huge tote bag full of them in my pantry closet upstairs by the bathroom. My husband often asks, what the heck are you going to do with all these things. It's simple. Great for when we have guests and they forget things, or if we run out of something at the last minute we always have a back up.

Freebies are great aren't they? Now onto your daily listing for today...


~ Nature's Bounty Free Tote Bag

~ Walmart Free Sample of Jergens Naturals Lotion

~ Walmart Free Sample of Crest White Expressions

~ Walmart Free Sample of Pledge Multi Surface Wipes

~ Walmart Free Sample of Benefiber Fiber Drink Mix

~ Jergens Ambassador Free Moisturizer and Samples (Canada)

~ Calvin Klein Free Secret Obsession Fragrance Sample

~ Mr. Clean Free Mini Magic Eraser

~ Iams Free Bag of Premium Protection Cat or Dog Food

~ Christina Aguilera Free Sample of Inspire Fragrance (US & UK)

~ Celine Dion Free Sample of Sensational Fragrance

~ Kotex Free Sample Pack

~ Kashi Free Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Cookie

~ Protecting America Free Emergency Radio

It's a scary world...

Today’s world is so different from when we were growing up. It’s a scary world, especially when you have children, and especially when you have girls, there’s so much dangers out there that we do what we can to keep them safe. I remember when we were looking at buying our first home, one of the many things that I always checked before we even considered looking at the house was checking to see if there were any Sex Offenders around the house and the area, and how far they were from the nearest school, park etc. I’m very grateful that today there are resources online that can help us find this information, I'm also grateful for Megan's Law it helped me in choosing where to live and how to keep my own girls safe.

Woogi World

Looking for a fun but safe place for your children to be online? Then visit this great place called Woogi World! Woogi World is a great online place for kids to learn, create and engage themselves. Thanks to Mom Central we've found a very safe site for the girls to play on, it also gives parents the opportunity to limit their child’s activities (such as the chat portion) as well as allow parents separate access to the child's account.

When you log in to Woogi World your child will have to sign up and create a Woogi Name. Lyric has been playing on Woogi World for a few days, coming up with a name was no issue for her, she comes up with the most out there, creative names you can think of. After your child signs up, they must get parent approval to enter the site. After that, they can then do so many things like outfitting their Woogi character, creating a WigWam, play games against other Woogi’s online, create art and music and lots more. Woogi World also lets kids earn Watts which is “Woogi money” so that they can purchase more items for their Woogi’s Wig Wam and items for the Woogi itself.

Woogi world is a little much for Lyric who’s 4, but she enjoys it just the same. There are challenges such as teaching typing skills while it being in a game setting, so for her it was a bit much, but hey, it was fun for me!!! Woogi World basically teaches responsible internet usage, education and helps them be better people both at home, school and in the community.

You can try out Woogi World for yourself by visiting www.woogiworld.com and sign up, or sign up your child, you always have access to their account through your own parental account where you can check up on their activities and limit things like chat which I mentioned above if that’s something you’re worried about. Woogi World is a fun and creative site, check it out!

Engage in some amusement

It’s almost that time of year when Amusement parks will be closed for the season, but you can still get in to some really great ones until then. Places like Morey’s Piers (The best Amusement Park in New Jersey). Now I’ve never been to New Jersey myself, we did for a while contemplate moving there, and I would love to go one day, just to say I’ve been there, but Morey’s Piers looks like a great and fun place to go. I know if we took a “Jersey Vacation” this would be one of the spots we’d hit up for sure.

With all of the weekly specials they have, it’s a very affordable day and vacation for a family! They have specials every day of the week almost, defiantly something to look into to save some of that vacation cash! While viewing the Morey’s Piers website you can also find hotels and motels in and around Wildwood to make your stay even easier.

We’ve never had a family beach vacation, I’d love to go on one, I know the girls would have so much fun if this was something we decided to do, the beach, the rides and all of the Wildwood attractions that are around Morey's Piers is a great place for a New Jersey vacation and looks like it would be great for some family time!

Political Debates

I love them, but people get so up in arms about things... No matter which candidate your gunning for, everyone has their own personal views on things. Just because you support one candidate doesn't mean that everything out of your mouth is because you are a supporter of that candidate. I for one have my own opinions on things, my own values, my own ideals and my own thoughts, just because I support Obama (yes you read that right, after doing my research I am now an Obama supporter) doesn't mean that I do not like Sarah Palin because I support Obama. I don't like the person she is, I don't like what she stands for. Heck if she was on Obama's side I wouldn't like her, she just doesn't relate to me or my family or my lifestyle, my thoughts on her have no bearing on my support for Obama.

I just wonder, during 'political' times, why is everyone categorized like that? Why are our own opinions and views made to be out that we only think that way because we support X person. There are some things I don't agree on with Obama, there are many more I don't agree with with McCain, but regardless on who I want to see as the USA's next president, I still have my own views on things, candidates don't chance my personal opinions. Besides, I'm not an American Citizen, so my views are honestly A LOT different than those born and raised here, I don't have an undivided love for this country like some people do, so what I say shouldn't be taken at a full capacity anyways, I can't even vote....

To answer or not to answer...

How many times have you gotten a phone call, especially on your cell phone, and you just don’t recognize the number? I for some odd reason get it a lot, and I’m one of those people where if I don’t know the number, I’m not wasting my minutes answering the call. So it’s great when you can do a Phone Number Lookup online and see where the number comes from and if it’s something you should call back or even answer if your fast enough.

Limited trips..

With Rodney looking for a new job now, the times of him working on his own schedule seem to be a wishful thought. It’s sad, his other positions being of higher level management we had a lot of leeway with time off, looking for a new position one of my concerns is the lack of travelling we’ll get to do up to Canada now, but I guess that’s life, just not a life I’m used to. Maybe we’ll take this weekend to go up again, who knows. All I know is we’ll be back up there in October around Halloween time per request of the girls to go trick or treating with their “Aunty D” (my best friend). We’ll probably spend a little more than a week there. Hmm I wonder if we should get some travel medical insurance this time, last time we were up there for a longer period we had a little allergic reaction to something with Aria. That’s something to think about I guess.

What dreams my come...

I still dream of the days when Rodney and I can finally take a vacation, somewhere nice, by ourselves. No family, no kids, just the two of us. With the tough times we’re going through now with money, it looks like this dream is a far off one. The dream still lingers though, and the many ‘warm’ places, nice beaches and fun awaits us. I just don’t know how long I’ll have to wait for that time.

Thinking of a place to go, thinking of the time to relax, it sounds so nice….Right now the stress of just waking up in the morning is getting to me, life is hard right now. Not only for us, but for lots of American’s today, the economy is in the toilet and we need to do something about it sooner than later or then where will we be? I certainly won’t be booking or looking for anything like Barbados villa rentals anytime soon because of the state we’re in, maybe some of you can, and be grateful and lucky that you can think of these things, because there’s so many of us who aren’t even an arm’s reach from being able to.

Help Support Babycapes...

Hey guys,

I'm sure many of you have been introduced to Suzi Homemaker and her great products (see review), well Suzi and her colleague Elizabeth have teamed up and created a great new product called Babycapes. They can use your help right now. Babycapes is a contestant in the 2008 StartUpNation Home-Based Business Competition in the Glamorous and Innovative Product categories. So if you could take a second our two and head over to cast your vote: http://www.startupnation.com/homebased100/contestant/1899/index.php. All you have to do is click on the "Vote" button and you're done.

Thanks to all of you who have voted and who will vote, and help a couple of mom's reach their goal of making Babycapes a household name.

You can vote once a day....

Thanks!

Celebrity Rehab...

What is it with celebrities and rehab? If you read any of the ‘entertainment’ blogs, it seems like at least once a week there’s a new celeb going into rehab for something. Be it drugs, sex or alcohol rehab they’re in for one reason or another.

Is the entertainment industry that bad? Is it that bad to do a fun job, get a ton of money for it where you need to turn to drugs or alcohol? I’m sorry, but if I was making a paycheck like half these people were, alcohol or drug addiction would be the last thing I would want to be near. I have money, I want to stay healthy not end up in a drug treatment center somewhere where I can’t go shopping and spend all that great money I’ve eared.

I dunno, it just boggles my mind sometimes how people react to things in this world.

Huggies: Inside the diaper video and Sweepstakes

As mom's I'm sure there's a ton of diapers you've gone through or go through. Well Huggies Diapers has a great new video out right now called Inside the Diaper. This video goes behind the scenes of one funny commercial and takes it to a new and surprising place. Huggies is trying to take a new and fun look at leakage protection with diapers, without so much product placement it makes you sick! They're trying a new approach by telling and creating a story, mom's (and dad's) will want to watch and hear more about.



To enter the contest visit the site HERE and tell a funny story about a time when some pee got a little out of control with a child, or when you were in some desperate need of a diaper that excelled in leakage protection. Doesn't have to be a long story, just a sentence or two is sufficient, just make sure its funny or interesting.

The prize????
There are two Grand prizes, each of which feature two kinds of coupons:
Coupon 1: Any one [1] Jumbo Pack of Huggies Diapers...FOR FREE
Coupon 2: Any one [1] Huggies wipes (64ct or larger), Bath & Body Product, Cleanteam Product, or Changing Pad...FOR FREE

The winners will be awarded FIVE coupons: three Huggies diaper coupons and two Huggies wipes coupons.

So head over there now and enter yourself!! I know there's a ton of parents out there who could really use this prize...
http://m80parents.blogspot.com/2008/08/huggies-inside-diaper-video-coupon.html

Catch a wave with Nui Kid Water

I hear so many people who have a hard time getting their kids to drink water instead of juice or soda. Thankfully my girls are pretty good and I don’t have that issue, although they do prefer juice over water any day, they enjoy the flavor and who can blame them. Thankfully there’s a product out there to help us moms with ‘picky drinkers’ that enables kids to drink more water.

Nui Kid Water not only tastes great, but is a good alternative to water and gives kids the flavor they crave. Nui Kid Water is made from all natural ingredients, has low sugar, added vitamins & minerals, as well as dietary fiber and antioxidants. Nui Kid Water also wants to curb the epidemic of child hood obesity, so the caffeine free green tea antioxidant present in Nui also helps burn fat and inhibits the growth of bacteria in the mouth that can cause cavities. The high level of calcium helps burn fat…See for yourself, take a look at their nutrition fact sheet.

Nui Kid Water is formulated just for kids, but believe me, Nui water tastes so good, that Adults will be chugging them down just the same, I know I did. My girls enjoyed Nui Kid Water that it didn’t last very long in our house. The three great flavors: Outrageous Orange, Purple Power, and Raging Red were all a favorite; the girls couldn’t pick just one.

I felt good giving my girls something healthy to drink, giving them more water and even though flavored with real fruit juice, it has half the sugar of apple juice and there’s also no high-fructose corn syrup inside. Visit the Nui Kid Water website at: www.nuiwater.com, it’s a pretty cool website, and you can find more information about Nui Kid Water there, as well as where you can find it in your local area. Also in October they'll be coming out with even more flavors and a new packaging, so be on the lookout!

Win a Mixed Case of Nui Water!!!!! Right here you can win you and your family a Mixed Case (12 bottles) of Nui Water, which includes all three flavors!!! All you have to do is visit the Nui website and tell me something interesting you found on the website, either about the website itself or of Nui Kid Water.

This giveaway is open to those with a US mailing address only!!! And is open to non bloggers, PLEASE just remember if your blog profile is private, or you’re a non blogger, leave an email address or your entry will be disqualified....Winner will be chosen via random.org

For extra entries (please leave each extra giveaway in a separate comment, each will earn you an extra entry):
• Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link
• Stumble this giveaway
• Subscribe to my blog via RSS or Email
• Add my blog to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar

Giveaway Ends Sept. 23, 2008 @ 11:59pm EST

Today's Great Giveaways...

On my search for more great giveaways today....I came along these, check them out and enter yourself!!!

Shopping Gems

• Enter to win a Mermaid Toddler Bedding Set from Olive Kids (ends 9/20)

Sarcastic Mom

• Enter to win a $50 Gift Certificate to Good For The Kids (ends 9/20)

All Because Two People Fell In Love

• Enter to win a Too Hot Tot Bling Onesie (ends 9/21)
• Enter to win a $50 Tiny*Prints Gift Certificate (ends 9/30)
• Enter to win an Outdoorman T-Shirt from Field Dress (ends 9/15)

An Island Life

• Enter to win a Glenna Jean Bedding Set (9/18)

Blessings Abound

• Enter to win a rose necklace from Bright and Bold (ends 9/22)
• Enter to win a List Caddy (ends 9/21)

Seven Dogs and a Baby

• Enter to win a copy of Strawberry Shortcake Rockaberry Roll DVD (ends 9/15)
• Enter to win a copy of Carebares: Care-A-Lot Collection DVD (ends 9/15)
  

Mama Sparkles

• Enter to win a 3 pack of P.B. Loco Peanut Butter and Spreader (ends 9/15)
  

Scribbit

• Enter to win a $50 gift certificate to Warm Biscuit (ends 9/15)

Mamanista!

• Enter to win Brain Quest Flash Cards (ends 9/15)

Savvy Housewife

• Enter to win a Quacker Sports bag & Granola Bars (ends 9/15)

Nurse Mommy

• Enter to win a Halloween Costume for your child (ends 9/18)
  

Please, could you vote for me?

I hate to do this, but I really want to win....

There's this website called whogets.com, it's such a great site, you register for free and enter yourself in to win great prizes. Nothing to buy, no ads to click on nothing, just register and enter into the contests.

Once you've entered you wait and then if your chosen as one of the finalists, people vote for you to win or not...I'm in the final for a Blue 4gb Ipod Shuffle, and I'd really love your help to win!

First you do need to register in order to vote: www.whogets.com it's easy, and free.

Then if you could, go to the Ipod Shuffle contest: http://whogets.com/contest.php?id=433 and vote for me (pretty please) my username is lyricsmama

I really do appreciate it, and if you could get anyone else to vote for me too, that would be wonderful...

Thanks guys!!!

Great Giveaways...

So I'm supposed to be listing things on eBay right now....Once you've done a few listings, it really gets tiring, and well I have a ton of pics that are uploading to photobucket at the same time so that I can include them in my listing without having to pay the stupid fee's for more than one picture...I really hate eBay fee's.....

Anyways, so while I wait for that to happen, I'm surfing through some blogs and happened upon some great giveaways....

This Full House

• Enter to win a 1-year supply of Scott Bath Tissue and Towels (ends 9/18)

BabyLuxe

• Enter to win Clothespin game from Briarpatch (ends 9/17)

Now What Baby

• Enter to win Bath Desserts Sorbet Sugar Scrub (ends 9/16)

Just a mom's take on things

• Enter to win a $25 gift certificate to Build A Bear Workshop (ends 9/19)

Rare Bird Finds

• Enter to win a $50 gift certificate to Bath Nation (ends 9/14)

Obsessed Much?

• Enter to win two whipped body scrubs (ends 9/14)

Moms Favorite Stuff

• Enter to win Barbie & the Diamond Castle Prize Pack (ends 9/14)

A Daycare Life

• Enter to win a Hip-T (ends 9/26)

Red Sox Mommy

• Enter to win a Soda Stream Soda Lovers Start up Kit (ends 9/24)

Sandra

• Enter to win a Soda Club Kit (ends 9/19)

Seven Dogs and A Baby

• Enter to win a Can Can Skirt (ends 9/30)
• Enter to win Where The Wild Things Are and 5 other stories from Scholastic (ends 9/30)
  

Puzzle Play

My girls just ADORE puzzles, they will spend a ton of time trying to figure them out and play. Lately I’ve seen some great wooden puzzles from ImagiPLAY, including the Rainforest Puzzle.

The Rainforest puzzle was enjoyed as usual by both the girls who were intrigued by the pieces (18 of them) and how they were put together and how different it was from their regular flat puzzles. The Rainforest Puzzle is made for children ages 3 and up and is made from rubberwood (an earth friendly hardwood). Worried about Lead paint still on your toys? Don’t be. ImagiPLAY uses lead free paint on their puzzles so you don’t have to worry about any lead poisoning going on in your children. The puzzle doesn’t have to fit to one exact mold either, my girls found many fun ways to play with it and create a ‘puzzle of their own’ almost, it allows for a lot of creativity and imagination. This is great puzzle that will be played with for hours on end, and will last through the years with playful enjoyment by all. I can say, even I had fun with this helping the girls figure it out at first.

ImagiPLAY is a great company who strives to create high-quality educational toys that both give children the desire to explore as well as inspire their imaginations. Their motto is "Toys with Integrity" and I do believe that they really provide that with their products as well as making toys from eco-friendly sources. It's great when a company provides great toys with educational values as well as benefits the earth, what a lesson for your kids!

Visit www.imagiplay.com to view more of their great line of puzzles and other toys for your children or for a great gift for someone else’s. With the holidays approaching, I think this would be the perfect thing for under the tree.

Wow, Wow, Wubbzy...

Those of your with preschoolers are probably familiar with the cartoon “Wow, Wow, Wubbzy” that airs on Nick Jr. I know at our home we’re pretty familiar with it, and I’ll admit, it’s a cute show, on the occasion you’ll find me watching it right along with the girls.

For those not familiar with ‘Wow, Wow, Wubbzy!’ the main character Wubbzy is a fun, lovable, curious little guy who just loves to play, play, play with all of his friends in the fun and wacky town of Wuzzleburg. It’s a really cute and funny show that will keep kids (and yourself) laughing while providing wholesome life lessons in a humorous and heartfelt way. On September 23rd, there will be a feature length DVD for ‘Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!’ released called “A Tale of Tails” that will be available from Anchor Bay Entertainment.

We got to preview the new DVD ‘A Tale of Tails’ early in our home….Just as expected it was a great dvd that the girls were glued to until the end. ‘A Tale of Tails’ is about Wubbzy feeling like an outsider because of his (cute) curvy tail, the other kids thing it’s a little weird too and think it keeps causing trouble. You’ll also find 5 more episodes on the DVD as well: Special Delivery, Widgets Wild Ride, Attack of the 50 Foot Fleegle, Come Spy With Me, and Wubbzy Tells a Whopper. The DVD carried the same humor and lessons such as solving problems, teamwork and cooperation that you’d find watching the show on Nick Jr. and is 92 mins. in length.

You’ll find a great surprise with the DVD as well…Extras on ‘A Tale of Tails’ includes:
• 2 Bonus Episodes (Mt. Fizzy-top, Puddle Muddle)
• Bonus Music Video
• Coloring Pages
• Printable Activities
• DVD Ring Toss Game
• Birthday Party Invitations
• Sneak Peeks

If your kids are a fan of ‘Wow, Wow, Wubbzy’ this is a must have pick for a DVD, even if your kids aren’t familiar with the show or the character, this is something any preschooler and their parent will enjoy watching over and over again. You can purchase a copy of the Wow, Wow, Wubbzy DVD at amazon.com or other various retailers Sept. 23, 2008.


WIN “Wow, Wow, Wubbzy: A Tale of Tails” DVD

That’s right; you have the chance to win your very own copy of the Wow, Wow, Wubbzy: A Tale of Tails DVD. All you have to do for a chance to win is leave me a comment telling me who your favorite Wow, Wow Wubbzy character is. Not familiar with the show? Let me know which Nick Jr. show you and your kids like to watch.

This giveaway is open to those WORLDWIDE!!! And is open to non bloggers, PLEASE just remember if your blog profile is private, or you’re a non blogger, leave an email address or your entry will be disqualified....Winner will be chosen via random.org

For extra entries (please leave each extra giveaway in a separate comment, each will earn you an extra entry):
• Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link
• Stumble this giveaway
• Subscribe to my blog via RSS or Email
• Add my blog to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar

Giveaway Ends Sept. 20, 2008 @ 11:59pm EST

Daily Freebies...

~ Spread Airborne Free Sample

~ TheraCran Free 3-Day Sample

~ Walmart Free Coupon for Downy Total Care

~ Post-It Free Sample of Super Sticky Recycled Notes

~ Greenies Free Pet Dental Treat Sample (Canada)

~ Tide Free $1 Coupon for Tide Total Care

~ Mattel Free GeoTrax DVD

~ Parents Choice Free Baby Formula Samples

~ Free small bag of cookie samples from Jones Bakery

~ Free 4lb bag of Purina One dog or cat food....CALL: 1-866-894-BARK (1-866-894-2275) *automated*

Have a Healthy Halloween...

Looking for a great alternative to candy this Halloween, that kids will still enjoy and not turn their noses up at, or well....egg your house for giving them a sucky treat?

Try the Snikiddy Snacks!!! I've mentioned Snikiddy before and how much my girls enjoyed the snacks (as did I....see review). These would be a great alternative this Halloween to hand out rather than the usual hard candy, chocolate, chips etc. Why not give kids a healthy alternative that they'll enjoy and will taste great.

The Snikiddy Snacks Organic Cookies snack packs are delicious and a healthier alterntiave to candy for trick-or-treat goodies this Halloween. With snack packs that include Chocolate Chippers, Cherry Oaties and Banana Nibbles as well as high quality ingredients, a positive message and a great taste, kids wouldn't know the difference. All they'll see is a great snack pack of yummy cookies that they'll enjoy.

Visit Snikiddy today at www.snikiddy.com and pick up some Organic Cookies snack packs or look around and see what else you can find for your own kids, or for a great trick-or-treat handout this year for Halloween...

No Where To Hide...

There’s so many avenue’s today to find people. It’s pretty clear that if you wanted to find someone nowadays all you have to do is turn on the computer and log into the internet. It’s sure to find someone you’re looking for be it via a blog, a message board, a social networking site, or even searching an online database for public records. It’s almost downright scary that you can’t really ‘run and hide’ from the world anymore, there’s always a way online to easily find a person. Is that a good or a bad thing? I guess it could be sort of both.

The Waiting Game...

The days go on and on and on….and we sit here and wait….We’re still waiting for the job to come along. Although we have had some kind of promising news this week I guess. Our number one pick for a job for Rodney had yet to call us back or email or anything. Last we had heard if you remember that he had called and they told him they hope to know more on Thursday. Even though it came and went, Rodney called them yet again on Monday and left a message. This job is too promising and too good to just it slip past us, he’s being as aggressive as possible to ensure that he’s picked for this position. We keep dreaming about it, it would be the perfect situation for our family. A home office (and yes, I’ve been eying some great home office furniture), great pay, weekends off and a 9-5 day….from his past job being on call 24/7 and working till who knows when, this is a dream come true.

A few days ago while we were cleaning up the house, moving some of our computer desks around the house into various different rooms (yes we need a change of something we’re going nuts), Rodney got a call from the company FINALLY!!!! Basically the recruiter was telling him the higher ups were dropping the ball on this and taking their time. She gave Rodney the email to one of the Vice President’s that in did a phone interview with and told him to email him the same follow up email that he had sent to her. So we did that, and thankfully got a response….It makes you think though, how these people can advertise a job over a month ago and just sit there in their comfy little office chairs all this time and just let people who need the work, who are qualified and a top candidate slip out of their reach because they’re taking their sweet old time…..So back to the email, we got a response that he’ll be in Ohio within the next SEVERAL weeks (*thud* the wait is never going to stop), for face to face interviews, and that he’ll contact Rodney to set up an interview.

So I guess it’s good, the job still sounds promising, and it’s still the top pick, most money etc….but the waiting is UGH unbelievable. Thankfully Rodney has a few follow up interviews next week with some companies, neither pay well, and he has to follow up with a phone call for a third one that does sound very promising….So that’s the update around here, still nothing exciting going on. Lyric’s 5th birthday is coming up at the end of the month, and although we can’t do much, family is coming down here to help us out to celebrate….

Public Records

Doing a public records search online is pretty easy today. Most public records such as marriage and divorce records, birth and death records, business information, property records, court and criminal public records are easily accessible online today by just doing a search. From your own personal computer in your own home, you can find almost anything you want nowadays online.

Healthy Kids, Naturally

(Family Features) Keeping kids and teens healthy can be a challenge during the busy school year. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say that nearly 22 million school days are lost annually due to the common cold alone. Fortunately, there are some simple, and natural, things parents can do to help kids stay healthy and energized for all their activities.

Hygiene. The CDC says that the single most important thing you can do to keep from getting sick is to wash your hands. When there's not sink and soap around, use natural hand sanitizers, wipes or gel with 100 percent pure essential oils.

Nutrition. Growing bodies and brains need fiber and nutrients to stay healthy. A child's health can suffer from too few of these good things and too many sugary, highly processed foods.

The USDA Food Guide Pyramid recommends nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. One serving size of fruits and veggies for children equals one of the following:
- 1/2 cup juice
- 1 cup raw leafy salad greens
- 1/2 cup chopped raw, canned or cooked fruit or other vegetable

Essential fatty acids, particularly omega-3s, are crucial for development and health of the brain, heart, nervous system, tissues, skin and immune system, especially for school-age children. DHA can be found in fatty cold-water fish like salmon, mackerel and tuna, and in DHA-enriched products like eggs and milk.

What about nutritional supplements? If kids and teens are actually eating nine servings of colorful fruits and veggies plus foods containing all the other recommended daily nutrients every day, then they probably don't need them. But with picky eaters, tight schedules, food allergies and more, they don't often get what they need. In these cases, supplements might be a good idea. But be careful. While it's easy to find a fun and fruity multivitamin that kids don't mind taking each day, its the nutrients they need, not loads of sugar or artificial colors and flavors.

Rest. Rest, relaxation and sleep are key for handling stress. While moderate stress is normal, the demands of school life can cause stress overload for youngsters and adolescents and their parents and teachers! Be sure to schedule in downtime and allow for adequate sleep when you're planning the week.

Kids need more sleep than you might think.
~ 3-6 years old: 10 3/4-12 hours per day
~ 7-12 years old: 10-11 hours per day
~ 12-18 years old: 8-9 hours per day

Stomachaches, nervousness, trouble sleeping, anger flares or infections may be signs of stress. Fortunately, there are plenty of safe, effective ways to handle it. Breathing deep, exercising, stretching, physical play and homeopathic remedies may help.

If you would like to know more about natural ways to help your kids stay healthy, the Whole Body Team Members at Whole Foods Market are well educated about all of the products they offer and are happy to answer questions.

You can also visit WholeFoodsMarket.com for educational podcasts and more information.
Courtesy of Family Features

Homemade taste without all the work...

Summer is over, and fall is here. With the thoughts of the holidays around the corner, it always has me thinking of what to have around the house in case anyone stops by or for those family dinners where you want to bring something, you’re just not too sure what to bring. I found a great store online that has all the answers!

Heritage Family Specialty Foods offers delicious alternatives for you to buy instead of breaking your back figuring out what to do next. Their Country Living Collection is a great new line of gourmet foods and gifts that keep that delicious ‘homemade’ taste without all the work for you.
We got to try their delicious Best-Ever Spinach Dip Mix, and oh my…are they ever delicious!!! Everyone in the family just loved it, and it was so easy to prepare, just add the one or two ingredients listed (ours was sour cream) and you have a delicious tasting homemade dip for yourself or to serve at that next party your planning.

The Country Living Collection includes 5 different flavors for their dip mix: Best-Ever Spinach, Farmland Cheese, Old Country Dill, Fieldstone Garlic Butter, and Hickory Barbeque. They have something to please almost anyone.

Heritage Family Specialty Foods Country Living collection also carries a great range of Rubs, Pie Crusts, Meats, Desserts, and Appetizers. Anything you could want for that next get-together all in one spot with a delicious homemade taste, without all the homemade work. Visit www.hfsfoods.com today and take a look around to find something that you and your family would love just as much as we loved our Best-Ever Spinach Dip mix….

For my readers, Heritage Specialty Foods has designated a special code so that you can receive 20% off any order placed online now through 12/31/08. All you have to do is enter the code: AWAM when placing your order.

WIN!!!!

Is your mouth watering already? How hungry is their great website making you? Well now you have a chance to WIN one of the Dip Mixes from the Country Living Collection from Heritage Specialty Foods. We’re giving away to five (5) lucky readers the Best-Ever Spinach Country Living Collection Dip Mix. All you have to do is head over to the Heritage Specialty Food’s website and take a look around. Then come back here and let me know besides the Spinach Dip Mix which of their foods would you like to try? It’s that simple…

This giveaway is open to those with a US mailing address ONLY!!! And is open to non bloggers, PLEASE just remember if your blog profile is private, or you’re a non blogger, leave an email address or your entry will be disqualified....Winner will be chosen via random.org

For extra entries (please leave each extra giveaway in a separate comment, each will earn you an extra entry):
• Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link
• Stumble this giveaway
• Subscribe to my blog via RSS or Email
• Add my blog to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar

Giveaway Ends Sept. 19, 2008 @ 11:59pm EST

Daily Freebies...

~ Redken Free Real Control Comb

~ Walmart Free Sample of GoodNites

~ General Mills Join Pssst for free Products and Coupons

~ Tide Free Sample of Tide Total Care

~ Costco Free Sample of Kotex Lightdays Pantiliners

~ Earthbound Farm Organic Free Recipe Brochure (US & Canada)

~ Ducks Unlimited Free Decal (US & Canada)

~ Walmart Free Huggies Sample

~ Betty Crocker Free Sample of Betty Crocker Potatoes

~ Betty Crocker Free Sample of Warm Delights Minis

~ Jennifer Lopez Free Sample of Deseo for Men Fragrance

~ Costco Free Poise Pad Sample

~ Splenda Free Sample of French Vanilla Sweetener

~ Purex 2x Free Sample (Canada)

~ Ragu Free "Feed Our Kids Well" Recipe Book

~ Dunhill Free Sample of Dunhill London (UK & Ireland)

Make It Straight...

My hair can tend to be on the crazy side at times, frizzy, wavy and just plain unruly. Although my hair isn’t full of curls like my daughters, it has a wave to it, some days it’s good, most day’s it’s bad, so straightening it, although time consuming, helps me tremendously to tame my hair so it does what I want it to.

The best flat irons right now aren’t the ones you just pick up for the cheapest price. For a good flat iron you really do have to shell out a decent amount of money, not a ton, but a decent amount. You want to find something that’s not going to burn your hair, and find something that’s easy to use.

Thanks to Misikko great professional flat irons are available at an affordable price. Their top of the line ceramic flat irons are really one of the higher qualities of hair appliances. We got to try out the Hana Professional Flat Iron and I was very impressed. The Hana Professional Flat Iron has glass-smooth ceramic-tourmaline plates which helps to seal in the natural oils for a conditioned, sleek look that lasts all day. It also features damp-to-dry styling (which is a must for a busy mom like me), it also features floating plates that self adjust to different textures and has an adjustable temperature. We tried this out by using it not only on me but Lyric as well. As you can see from the before and after pictures, even without straightening products, the Hana Professional Flat Iron did a remarkable job straightening her curly hair.

I really like the fact that this flat iron does provide a maximum frizz-free conditioning shine (as you can see from the pictures), and I also love the adjustable temperature dial that has 5 settings ranging from 140-450° F, so when doing my hair and my daughters hair, I can adjust the temperature easily for each of us. The Hana Professional Flat Iron also includes a Luxe heat proof storage pouch, heat proof silicone mat, and special edition tin case, it also carries a one year warranty.

In comparison to my Revlon flat iron this one is a clear winner and high preference over the other, plugging it in and turning it on provides a quick heat up and the on/off switch is very easy to find. It also didn’t snag my daughters hair like my previous iron; even at the lower setting it did a very good job. I highly recommend if you’re looking for a new flat iron to check out the Hana Professional Flat Iron by visiting www.misikko.com. I do also have to give them praise on their very fast shipping, if you notice, they also give you free 2 day shipping if you order from them.

Until then, you can try your hand at winning one right here!!!

Win a Hana Professional Flat Iron from Misikko. One lucky winner will win their very own Hana Professional Flat Iron (ARV. $99.00). All you have to do is visit the Misikko website and tell me one other item they carry besides the Hana Professional Flat Iron.

This giveaway is open to those with a US mailing address ONLY!!! And is open to non bloggers, PLEASE just remember if your blog profile is private, or you’re a non blogger, leave an email address or your entry will be disqualified....Winner will be chosen via random.org

For extra entries (please leave each extra giveaway in a separate comment, each will earn you an extra entry):
• Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link
• Stumble this giveaway
• Subscribe to my blog via RSS or Email
• Add my blog to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar

Giveaway Ends Sept. 26, 2008 @ 11:59pm EST

Extreme Home Makeover Hits Toledo Ohio!!

We've got some big excitement around here lately, not only after how many years of being TORTURED with Sonic commercials did we get our very first Sonic restaurant, but Extreme Home Makeover is here in Toledo this week!!

Talk about excitement all around. We were going to take the girls and go view the demolition yesterday but we got too busy. Now I sit and wait and think of when the heck I'm going to get down to that build site. Not really for the house, but I WANNA MEET TY!!!! OK yea, I'm one of those crazy women who just LOVE Ty Pennington, and what I wouldn't do to catch a glimps of him. Me and my great friend Leslie (from Leslie's Life) are hoping to get together sometime this week and take a girls trip down there so we can act like we're crazy giddy teenagers again trying to meet Ty.

They are building a house for a very deserving family, a Toledo firefighter Aaron Frisch, wife Jackie and their eleven children have all been living in a 4 bedroom ranch home (some of the children are adopted from Hati, as well as from Toledo), I can't even imagine, so they are very deserving of the home.

It will be a trip to view them building it, it's amazing how far its come already, I just can't wait to get down there myself, to see both the houes AND TY!!!! Rest assure, that if we do get to go, and I encounter that CUTE CUTE MAN that i'll be posting the many pics that I hope to get!

Searching for marriage records?

Doing some searching for a family tree? Maybe just need some family information as your searching your own genealogy and ancestry. An easy way to get some information that may be helpful is by searching marriage records. Anyone in the state of Ohio can choose to search the Ohio Marriage Records simply and easily online by using a unique search engine that contains a multitude of public marriage records that are recovered from country courthouses statewide! Any marriage that happened in Ohio, you can find the information that you need by using this search engine.

Dress for your imagination...

Imagination is a great quality about our children. They seem to have so much of it and it’s great to let all of that imagination out, it’s a quality that somehow slips away as we become adults sometimes.

Fliggity is trying to keep that imagination alive by offering “clothing inspired by a child’s imagination” and that is exactly what they’re doing. With such great items such as shirts that fliggity fly which enable your kids to fly to their wildest imaginations, or the stylish superhero’s shirts which bring out the superhero inside of them you can see how Fliggity is gaining popularity.

We received the How Old Am I shirt in the candyland pattern as Lyric is turning the big 5 years at the end of the month, I thought she would be thrilled with this shirt. Which she was, she can’t wait to sport it on her birthday for everyone to see and happily announce that she’s 5 years old. The quality of the shirt is great, no loose stitching and it’s nice comfortable material that will last through washes and her rough play.

If you’re ever looking for that gift for a child and you really don’t know what they would enjoy, there’s no need to go elsewhere. Fliggity has something any child would enjoy. Visit www.fliggity.com and check out all four of their great categories to find the perfect gift for your child or someone else’s.

Win your favorite item from Fliggity…
That’s right, you can have a chance right her to enter to win your favorite item from Fliggity. All you have to do is head to their website and let me know which item you would choose if you won, it’s that simple!!!

This giveaway is open to those with a US mailing address ONLY!!! And is open to non bloggers, PLEASE just remember if your blog profile is private, or you’re a non blogger, leave an email address or your entry will be disqualified....Winner will be chosen via random.org

For extra entries (please leave each extra giveaway in a separate comment, each will earn you an extra entry):
• Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link
• Stumble this giveaway
• Subscribe to my blog via RSS or Email
• Add my blog to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar

Giveaway Ends Sept. 18, 2008 @ 11:59pm EST

More great giveaways...

As you can tell, I do love freebies and love giveaways!!! So I'm constantly entering some great ones. I thought I'd share some of my current entries with you all so you can go ahead and try to win yourself, see how nice I am ;) lol

Mommie Daze

• Win a Dorothy Lime Apron and Glove Set from Carolyn's Kitchen (ends 9/10)

Mommy's Idea

• Win a On-Task On-Time for kids (ends 9/10)

Vermillion Rules!

• Win your choice of a custom tutu or a personalized reversible Superkid Cape from Love, September (ends 9/10)

MomReviews

• Win a prize pack from Yoplait Kids! (ends 9/11)

Lipstick to Crayons

• Win a copy of The Nightmare Before Christmas (ends 9/11)

Daily Freebies...

~ No Nonsense 2 free Pairs of Breathable Socks

~ ValueMags Free 2-Year Subscription to Parents Magazine

~ DigiLake Free Post-its (US, Canada & UK)

~ StartSampling 3 free Issues of Town & Country

~ Purina Free MyKitten Welcome Kit (Canada)

~ Yes Peas! Free Recipe Booklet (UK)

~ Mighty Dog Free Can of Dog Food

~ General Mills Free Fruit Roll-Ups Sample

~ Underjams Free Sample of Absorbent Night Wear (US & Canada)

~ Mom Central Free Green Works Dishwashing Liquid Sample

~ Cetaphil Free Cleanser and Lotion Samples (Canada)

~ Mary Kay Free Mascara Sample

~ Quaker Free Multigrain Chewy Granola Bar Sample

Great Mineral Makeup

I’m a mineral makeup girl. I absolutely love it and the great coverage it gives. It’s nice and light which is a must. I just hate that heavy sticky feeling that you can get with some other makeup.

I found a great new place called Alice Cosmetics that offers a great line and variety of mineral makeup from foundations, concealers, eye shadows and more. I find their makeup to be very lightweight and smooth; it almost feels like you don’t have makeup on at all.

My favorite is their foundation which offers great coverage that’s also sheer, added to that a great soft touch blush that adds a healthy glow to my complexion.

Alice Cosmetics mineral makeup is also water-resistant and nonreactive so it’s a must have if you have any acne problems. I have very sensitive skin as well and found Alice Cosmetics line to work great with my skin. They have so much variety and specialty products including a buff palette, eye shadow guard and brushes, their cosmetics line is not one to pass up. If you’re a mineral makeup lover, or even new to mineral makeup this is the place to shop.

Not sure if what they have is right for you? Alice Cosmetics offers a great sample program where for just $2.50 each you can test as many colors as you’d like that way you can familiarize yourself with their line and find what works best for you without having to shell out the full amount. Speaking of shelling out money, you won’t have to do a whole lot of that when shopping here, Alice Cosmetics offers their makeup at a great and reasonable price that will fit within anyone’s budget.

Visit www.alicecosmetics.com to view their line of makeup and specialty products and give them a try. You can also find some great tips and makeup how-to's while you're there.

Drowning in a sea of debt...

Today is another day. Rodney has headed off to do two interviews, one for Sprint and one for Alltel. I’m hoping they go well, we’re not sure of the pay and that is what gets us a lot of the time. With 2 job offers he ended up turning down because of the low pay, it really honestly just BITES….Why bother taking a job that he’d make less that what we’re getting from unemployment?!

It just about sickens me that this has happened to us, and to many other people in this country right now, the economy is in the toilet and more and more people each day are sinking into more and more debt. Some people feel awful about it, some people look down on others because of it, but today, it’s honestly something that looks like it can’t even be helped. So many are struggling just to survive and pay the bills that must be paid.

One way to eliminate the stress of going into debt if you can is by looking into a way to consolidate debt. Places like Bills.com help you with ways that you can find a solution. Knowing how much you can afford per month as well as your credit score is very helpful when trying to get a budget figured out and get those debts eliminated.

We’ve thought about doing some refinancing lately but it’s just not in our cards, and not an option for us, heck credit counseling won’t really work for us right now. With no income it’s hard to figure out how much of a monthly payment we can afford, but when the income comes piling back in (hopefully sooner than later), we’ll be looking into some debt consolidation routes in the future to help us get back on track.

Aaaa-Chooo!

As happy as I am to see that fall is on its way, I’m also sad and uncomfortable at the same time. The relief from the heat is really nice, I love the cool breeze, the fall colors and the ability to wear nice comfortable warm clothing again, but Autumn is the time that my seasonal allergies flare up.

The itchiness, tingling, sneezing, and watery red eyes gets the best of me. Today they’re on full force and I’m laying here in my bed blogging because I just feel like a brick has hit me. It always amazes me that in the spring I’m usually ok, but come fall, forget it, I’m a mess. I’m not one to take medications, never mind the fact that most allergy meds really don’t work for me at all. It’s hard though on days where I feel like this. Thankfully the trip to Canada enabled me to be able to pick up the only allergy medication that works. Reactine. Unfortunately you can’t purchase it here in the US so I try to stock up on the expensive great working stuff.

So, today I curse my body, I curse the earth!! DAMN YOU ALLERGIES…..I hate when something overpowers me so much…..

Daily Freebies...

~ Free Noevir skin care consultation and cosmetic sample

~ Walmart Free Sample of John Frieda Luxurious Volume

~ Total Beauty Free Sample of the Perfect French Manicure

~ 4Women Free 2009 Calendar

~ Slush Puppy Free Goody Bag

~ Nature Made Free 14-Day Supply of Liquid Softgel Vitamins

~ Campbell's Free Healthy Request Microwaveable Bowl (Canada)

~ Dove Free Sample of Cream Oil Intensive Body Lotion

~ Walmart Free Gain Scent Card

~ PVA Free Fun Mailbox Name & Address Labels

~ Purina Free Bag of Yesterday's News Litter

~ Listerine Free Sample of Quick Dissolving Strips (Canada)

~ For Goodness Shakes Free Bottle (UK)

~ RewardsGold Free Subscription to TV Guide

Giveaways....

It's been forever since I've entered some giveaways so, I'm online, I might as well enter. Here are some great ones going on right now.

A Daycare Life

• Win a black/silver fountain jet starter kit from soda club (ends 9/10)
• Win a Kidz Bop 14 CD (ends 9/14)
• Win a Complete Laundry System from Mystic Wonders Inc. (ends 9/22)

Stir-Crazy!

• Win a $50 gift certificate to Tiny Prints (ends 9/30)
• Win a jar of P.B. LOCO peanut butter (ends 9/18)

Something Snappy

• Win a $25 gift certificate to Karens*Creations (ends 9/20)
• Win a Preserve and Preserve Jr. toothbrush (ends 9/17)

Every Girl Is Beautiful...

I love finding great brands and products for the girls that have a positive message and are more than just the product inside the bottle. J. Blossom is one of those products.

Featuring fun, natural and great smelling bath and body products J. Blossom also provides a great and clear message that it’s more than just our skin that matters. Every product on the J.Blossom line also comes with a great saying on the bottle, founder Jamila White wants to provide little girls with the self esteem that they should have rather than hearing all the media message that they’re given. Each product lets little girls know that with tags such as “I have a beautiful smile”, “Beautiful skin comes in all shades – yummy chocolate, smooth caramel, or creamy vanilla!” and my favorite "Short or tall, thick or thin, I love the skin that I am in!".It was nice especially for the girls, to see someone that looks almost like them on one of their products for once, although they’re not hit with the media/social concept of light skin, straight hair and skinny bodies, as they get older I try to instill in them that they’re beautiful no matter what, it’s the inside that counts. The girl’s favorite thing about the products was the great grape smell that came from their lotion and lip balm. The lotion is one of their favorite things to put on after a nice warm bath. The smell of grape isn’t too strong, and I actually find it very pleasant.All of the J.Blossom products are natural and free of artificial colors and mineral oils. From bath products, lotion, lip balm and even insect repellent J.Blossom has great affordable products for kids of all ages. Gift sets are also available at a great price and with the scents of Strawberry Banana Smoothie or Great Big Grape what little girl wouldn’t love to indulge in them.

Visit www.jblossom.com to view more of their products and grab some for yourself and your kids. If you sign up for their newsletter you can also get 10% off your first order! You can also try your hand at winning some yourself right here on A Wrestling Addited Mommy’s Blog.

Win a J. Blossom Mini Fun Pack in Great Big Grape. Two people will have the chance to win one of these great fun packs which includes the following:

• A 2oz bottle of J.Blossom Natural Body Lotion
• A 2oz bottle of J.Blossom Natural Bubblebath/Shower Gel
• A J.Blossom Natural Lip Balm
• A Mesh Bath Puff
• Packaged in a reusable vinyl drawstring bag

A great prize pack I know my girls would definitely enjoy and am sure yours would too. Now, to enter for a chance to win this great prize, what you need to do is head to the J.Blossom website and let me know what you like about their products as well as what product you’d like to try most.

This giveaway is open to those with a US mailing address ONLY!!! And is open to non bloggers, PLEASE just remember if your blog profile is private, or you’re a non blogger, leave an email address or your entry will be disqualified....Winner will be chosen via random.org

For extra entries (please leave each extra giveaway in a separate comment, each will earn you an extra entry):
• Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link
• Stumble this giveaway
• Subscribe to my blog via RSS or Email
• Add my blog to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar

Giveaway Ends Sept. 17, 2008 @ 11:59pm EST

Keep It Organized with Labels

It’s back to school time!!! Not only is it an exciting time for the kiddos, but for the parents as well, after dealing with their kids all summer, back to school is an awaited ‘break’ from it all! Back to school doesn’t start in this house till 2009. Lyric will be starting Kindergarten next year and she’s so excited. With all the back to school things going on, it’s already making me think of next fall and her first trip to school. What will she need? How will we do things? It’s a big change in our household as I’m sure it is for many families when their oldest heads off to school.

One thing for sure we can use around the house now, and for when school starts is a great solution for labels. That’s were DYMO steps in; they’re one of the business that helps people organize and identify their world. With products from embossers, label makers, desktop products and even industrial portables and computer-connected products, DYMO label makers offer functionality for just about anyone. I know around here we could sure use one to label the multiple toy bins that the girls have, we could use it for address labels, kitchen functions and the many file folders that we have that currently are a mess to go through without the proper labels.



With school in session labels are an easy way to organize and keep track of things, print out labels to keep on your kids belongings so if they get lost, they’re easily identified as to who it belongs to. Binder spines are the perfect place for labels, easy to just pull out of the locker without having to search to see which binder is for which class.

DYMO provides all this and more with the labels and labeling accessories. Visit the DYMO site for all of their Back To School products and see how they can help you or your child.

How to teach responsibility

Responsibility isn’t something that you’re born with. It’s something that you’re taught. It’s something that we as parents need to teach our children as they grow. We need to give them the guidance and tools so that as they grow to be adults, they’ll know what it means to be responsible. Sometimes figuring out where to start or how to even teach kids about responsibility is a hard thing, that’s why Liberty Mutual has started the Responsibility Project.

Thanks to Mom Central for introducing this great site to me. The Responsibility Project is a must see site for parents and kids to see and learn about responsibility. This great resource can help parents talk to their kids, and give ideas on how to start teaching personal responsibility. Because of the overwhelming reaction from viewers who have seen the Liberty Mutual commercials based on the “pay-it-forward” concept, this great site was developed to share and discuss this quality of responsibility. Resources that are included in the Responsibility Project are some short films, discussion guides, and a great blog which enables families to teach and talk about personal responsibility.

The films are all great, they’re not just for older kids either, me and my girls sat and watched a few of the films on the site. It opened some discussion with my oldest about responsibility and responsible actions and even team work. Her favorite film was Dinner for Two, which was great as it taught about the responsibility of sharing and how to resolve conflicts.

As a parent, this is a great site you have to check out with your kids, visit The Responsibility project from Liberty Mutual at www.responsibilityproject.com

Have a night of fun at the circus!

The lights, the sounds, the show!!!! The excitement that all little children share when going to the circus, especially for their very first time. Seeing the animals, the clowns and all of the circus performers is something loved and enjoyed by everyone. I’m sure we all remember heading to the circus as a child, and now it’s time to pass that fun on to our own children and let them share our fondest memories.

One of the oldest and greatest circuses around is the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. It’s more than just a night out on the town, it’s an experience and a memory that they provide to families that will last a lifetime. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus are about to set off on their next new and exciting adventure around the country. Mom Central and Ringling Bros. have come together to ensure that families out there can enjoy this great experience together and have offered a 20% discount code that’s applicable for tickets in the following cities:

Indianapolis, IN - Sept. 4-7, 2008
Kansas City, MO - Sept. 10-14, 2008
Grand Rapids, MI - Sept. 18-21, 2008
Denver, CO - Oct. 2-13, 2008
Boston, MA – Oct. 8-13, 2008
Cleveland, OH - Oct. 24 - Nov. 2
Chicago, IL - Nov. 6 - 30, 2008
St. Louis, MO - Nov. 6-9, 2008
Auburn Hills, MI - Nov. 12 - 16, 2008
Highland Heights, KY - Feb 27 - Mar. 1, 2009
Cincinnati, OH - Mar. 4 - 8, 2008

You can purchase discount tickets by visiting www.ringling.com, type in your zip code and then select the show date you wish to attend, and then simply enter the discount code: MCC for your 20% discount!

You can also enter to win a family four-pack of tickets to each of the above cities by going HERE and entering. Don’t have a circus coming near you? You can have a chance to win one of 20 prize packs of Ringling Bros. merchandise which may include a special edition DVD, clown noses, program book, etc.

What are you waiting for!! Have the time of your life, and keep the circus memories alive in your family!!!

*Please note that the code is valid for buying tickets with the following ticket price brackets: $24, $19, and $13

Group Organization...

Mom’s today have a lot on their plate, besides keeping the home and family organized you have to think about all those extra activities that go on throughout our lives. Families today seem to participate in so many different groups and activities I can’t understand how some people keep everything organized and know who does what at what day and what time.

Thankfully we have yet to run into this situation, but as the girls get older, I know the more activities and groups that we’re going to end up participating in, it almost is a headache just thinking about it.

There’s one place that seems to have the solution for this ‘hectic lifestyle’ though. Qlubb.com is a web-based resource that’s here to make organizing your group activities so much easier. Qlubb makes it possible to connect with all of your group members and easily organizing dates, member rosters, reminder services, calendars and much more. You can easily communicate with other group members online at your leisure. Another great feature is the secure sign in that protects the group’s information. Only those who have access to your group can see all the features and have access to your group. You can also take the hassle out of individual registration and have one sign in and one group password to pass along to all your members.

Having Qlubb around seems to make things a lot easier to organize things, dates and times rather than using a regular calendar and making tons of phone calls or individually emailing people to organize things.

Check out www.qlubb.com and register your group today. Make your lives less hectic with some easy organization.

The long road ahead...

I'm not sure where it leads, or when it's going to even start leading to something....I know so many people are or have been in the same situation, but it doesn't help the helplessness feelings that are going on. It doesn't help the depression that sets in when you don't know if your going to be able to make your house payments. Thankfully I did get some time off from these feelings, which will explain my absence from the blog.

Labor Day weekend we decided very last minute we needed a break from reality so we headed up to Canada to spend time at my parents house. It was only supposed to be for the weekend, but we ended up spending over a week up there. With no real rush to come back home, no job offers for Rodney, no upcoming interviews and being able to apply online for jobs, we decided what is there to go back to?

The time being around family and friends helped tremendously, it was able to allow us to escape and enjoy things for a while. The girls had a blast, we had fun, I got to take them to my most favorite place as a child, the Ontario Science Center. Lyric had so much fun she has asked to go back for her birthday (we shall have to see). But once reality set in that we did have to make that drive back home the depression and grumpiness hit again. Once we got home you could feel the tension and frustration in the air between the two of us. I just have not felt up to blogging or even logging online much.

We've accomplished things around the house, which is good. We're trying to keep our spirits lifted and I know family and friends will be there for us to keep us up but the time is just dragging and the money just keeps going down and down and down.

I don't know how people can survive this, I know we will, but the times are trying and it's so frustrating for myself, I can only imagine how Rodney feels as he feels his role as a provider for his family has now been compromised and he now feels 'less of a man', to which I tell him no, if he was doing nothing about the situation it would be different but he's trying his hardest to find something and that's more than some 'men' do in these situations.

Something has to come around soon, it just has to, I hate that the holiday season is around the corner and I worry about the girls, I worry about Lyric's birthday coming up at the end of the month and worrying that I can't get her all I want, and how to explain why we have no money is getting to be a typical conversation around our home with her. I hate telling them no, they can't have this or that or can't go to this or that place, I hate that I can't get any of us clothes for the fall season right now, we all need some. I just hate being in this position.....

Tassi Winners

I'm glad that so many of you were interested in trying this great product. I still use my Tassi daily and will continue to do so, it's such a great idea, one of those "why didn't I think of that" kind of things....The Tassi Giveaway ended September 2. The following people were chosen randomly to win one of five powder blue Tassi's.

The winners are:










Commenter #56:
ginny said...

I stumbled this post!

Commenter #16:
Anonymous said...

One size fits most.
-Terra
partymix25(at)hotmail(dot)com

Commenter #82:
carol drury said...

cdrury@gmail.com
I love that it started as a small family business and they keep it personal!

Commenter #43:
janetfaye said...

What’s the Tassi? It’s a patented product that makes it easy for you to keep your hair away from your face. Made of a comfortable stretch terry cloth, the Tassi goes on in three easy steps and gently lifts and holds your hair.

Thank you!

janetfaye (at) gmail (dot) com

Commenter #73:
blessings abound said...

I have your button on my sidebar! Thanks!

akblessingsabound[at]gmail.com

Congrats to the winners, I'll be in contact via email shortly!!!!

Winner of a custom scent...

I am still loving my custom scent made by Scent Design, I can't wait till I get the chance to create some more for myself and possibly for some great gifts this holiday season. The Scent Design giveaway ended on September 1st. The winner of two full 1oz bottles (choose up to 5 scents) and two empty roller ball bottles (to take those great scents on the go) was chosen randomly and the winner picked is:








Commenter #93:
bison61 said...

all spice, bergamot, frankinscense, musk and patchouli

tiramisu392 (at) yahoo.com

Congrats on your win for a great prize!!! I'll be in contact via email.

Internet Riches Winners

The book Internet Riches seemed to be a big hit with a lot of my readers, so many of you are interested in figuring out how to make some income online. The giveaway closed on August 29th and the following 5 people have been chosen randomly to win a copy of the book Internet Riches by Scott Fox for themselves.

For those of you who didn't win this time around, be sure to check out Scott's blog at www.scottfox.com and also sign up for his great email newsletters as well.

The 5 winners for a copy of the book Internet Riches by Scott Fox are:










Commenter #47:
anonymous said...

Because im broke, and need to start making some money. Maybe it would have some good ideas for me.
kadia3 at yahoo dot com

Commenter #42:
chic shopper chick said...

My husband and I have been desperate to start our own company for years now, and I've recently started looking at options via the net. This book would be a great way to jump start that for us. We need some ideas, some pointers, because we don't know anyone personally who has done this before us. We would love to win this, thank you for the chance!

Commenter #73:
Janice Wright said...

Who wouldn't love to become a millionaire? I would like to see if I can apply any of these ideas to my life.
jwright at iowatelecom dot net

Commenter #76:
ladyvon5845 said...

I live on a very small fixed income and always looking for ways to add a few dollars were ever I can so this book would be a great help. ladyvon@grm.net

Commenter #14:
janetfaye said...

I blogged your giveaway.

http://grammyjanetsplace.blogspot.com/search/label/August%20%20Blog%20Giveaways%202

janetfaye (at) gmail.com

Congrats to the winners, I truly hope you enjoy the book and it helps you make some 'internet riches'!!! I'll be in contact via email.

Giveaway Winners...

I'm sorry I've completely left my blog on hiatus for a while, I've forgotten about the giveaway winners for the various giveaways going on. I am swamped with new reviews and giveaways that I hope to start up tonight on my blog, so please, bare with me and be on the lookout for some great new products and giveaways.

Now on to the winners of a few past giveaways that have been long overdue in being announced. The first giveaway to announce the winners will be for the 10 cases of Primo Water that ended September 3rd....The winners picked randomly are:












Commenter #35:
Angie said...

Even mild dehydration will slow down an individual's metabolism as much as 3%.

Very interesting. I had no clue that it slows down your metabolism that much.

Thanks for the chance to enter.

Commenter #148:

Mannequin said...

I blogged about it!

http://fracturedtoy.blogspot.com/2008/08/giveaways-links-raves-and-thanks_26.

Thanks for the extra chance!

Commenter #70:

Depro said...

75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.

Commenter #24:

Blessings Abound said...

Water regulates the temperature of the human body, carries nutrients and oxygen to cells, cushions joints and protects organs and tissues.
(American Water Works Association)

akblessingsabound[at]gmail.com

Commenter #17:

*heather* said...

BUTTON on my sidddddddddddde Bar!

Commenter #169:

Moonmaiden said...

I think it's interesting that "75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated." :) *Thanks* for the giveaway!

ols[dot]moonmaiden[at]gmail[dot]com

Commenter #11:

dianne said...

I subscribe to your feed :)

Commenter #64:

kristleharrison said...

I did not know that a dairy cow must drink four gallons of water to produce one gallon of milk. Wow, that's a lot of water!
I'd love to try this! I too, am water-snobby. ;)
Great giveaway!

Commenter #197:

penguin28 said...

Even if your drinking water looks, tastes and smells good, chances are it contains one or more contaminates — and you can't tell.
Eww Yuck!

penguinchick@comcast.net

Commenter #121:

ladyorchid said...

Did you know: 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated

tys29@hotmail.com

CONGRATS to all 10 winners, I will be contacting you via email.....