Showing posts with label link love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label link love. Show all posts

Luck Be A Lady Tonight

Friday, February 13, 2009

I'm buying a lottery ticket tonight. I've had such good luck recently I'd be a fool not to.

A few weeks ago I won this leather case for my iPod Touch from Live SpeakR (video review coming soon).



I won a box of Little Debbie 100 calorie snacks from Melanie at Don't Try This at Home (can't wait for it to get here!).

I won this box of Lake Champlain chocolates from Spatulas, Corkscrews and Suitcases. (Today's recipe is for mini Red Velvet cakes, so cute!)

I got this all in one at the Kodak event I went to earlier this week.


Drama Dad and I are being interviewed by a national magazine and might be featured in the May issue! I don't know if I'm allowed to say yet but it's a magazine I read and I'm so stoked about the opportunity!

And on Wednesday I found out I'm one of 10 finalists in the Mabel's Labels BlogHer 2009 sponsorship! I'm overwhelmed and so happy Mabel's feels I'm worthy of the chance to go to BlogHer on their behalf. Read my submission here.

The winner of the Mabel's Labels contest is determined by votes. I'm having a contest to say thank you to everyone who votes for me. I have gift cards from the holidays that I've been hanging on to and I'm glad I did because now I can pay it forward.

None of this would have happened if it weren't for this blog. I'm so blessed and thankful. Having you all here
makes me want this space to be the best it can. For that, I want to pass a little of my luck on to you.

I have for one winner a $75 prize package:
(2) $25 gift cards to Restaurant.com (they're in my email)

(1) $5 Starbucks card

(1) $10 Target card

(1) $10 Barnes and Noble card


There will be three opportunities to win*:

1. Vote for me and leave a comment here that you've done so.

2. Send out a Tweet and leave the URL here. (optional, you need a Twitter account)

URL for this post: http://tiny.cc/T1WAE
URL to Mabel's Label's voting page: http://tiny.cc/b4HNU

3. Post the button below on your site (optional, voting ends 2/23 so it
won't need to be up very long)

*ETA 2/22: This contest and the voting are closed. I'll be choosing the winner after verifying the entries. Thank you!

That's it! Thanks so much for coming to this blog and being so supportive. It means the world to me to have made so many friends. There are literally thousands (if not millions!) of places you can spend your time online and the fact that you choose to come here is flattering and humbling. Thank you!


Congratulations to all the finalists. I'm honored to be in your company!


*The rules: Leave a comment for each of the items you decide to do. I'll draw a winner at random after the voting ends on 2/23. The winner will be notified here and via email and will have 24 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Likewise if the chosen winner is verified to have not fulfilled the requirements (not posting the button or Tweeting as stated) they will be disqualified and new winner chosen. You do not have to follow my blog to enter. PLEASE make sure there is a way to contact you in your entry! If I can't, find you I will have to pull a new winner. Please follow the Mabel's Labels voting rules! This is a pretty big prize (IMHO) and I want to be fair to everyone. I owe a huge thank you to Melanie for helping me with the button code! FYI- None of these people asked me to link to them. Good luck everyone!

Sick Day Part Deux

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

I'm actually feeling much better (thanks for all the get well wishes!) but now I'm even more behind on household stuff and my contributor posts etc. etc. so today is a catch up day. Go visit these fine folks instead.

How do you feel about Jon and Kate Plus 8? Really real reality TV or shamelessly sell-outistic? (Yep, made that word up just now) Go read why Tena at My Therapy is no longer watching (me too).


Braja lives in India. Braja talks about what it's really like to live in India. Braja takes great pictures of India. One more time: India.


Auds at Barking Mad on the mom who gave birth to eight babies. Give her another Amen from me.


And meet Steph's latest knitting project, Septy The Septopus.

I should be back on Monday. Until then,



Delicious photo from here with many, many thanks.

Takin' A Sick Day

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

I feel like crap. I'll be back when my eyeballs stop pulsing and my sinuses don't feel like they're going to explode.

Here's a few posts I read over the weekend that have stuck with me:

Casey talks about self acceptance, inner demons and doughnuts.

Kelly from Don Mills Diva challenges us to stand up to journalists and "mainstream" media and force them to take bloggers and their writing seriously.

Bakerella does it again with a stunning Valentine's Day box.

Moms With Mini Vans: Does This Look Familiar?

Saturday, January 17, 2009



Unfortunately, I can relate. Thanks to San Diego Bargain Mama for sharing the link!

She May Never Speak to Me again After This

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Have you ever been in a situation that reminded you of someone you know, at a totally inappropriate moment? That happened to me today when I thought about Bejewell.

I went for an ultrasound this morning (no, not that kind!). When I got into the exam room, the tech told me my doctor ordered two different scans, one abdominal and one v@ginal. Yippee! If you've never had an internal ultrasound, the wand is like a vibrat@r for newbies only not nearly as fun.


So, after the outside ultrasound, I had to use the loo so as not to pee on the table for the internal exam. I got undressed, stretched out, and the tech smeared me up. (Side note: sincere thanks to whomever designed the gel warmer thingy.) Despite being female and having the same ladyparts, she couldn't find the, um, entrance and I had to insert the wand myself. Yeah, I know!



I'm staring at the ceiling while the tech is moving the wand around. Left, right, up and down like a vajajay joystick. Despite having an empty bladder, my discomfort is growing and I'm sure my uterus and ovaries were all, "the hell?" And the more the tech stirs my innards the more pressure I feel until I'm scared I might toot. Which made me think of the "musical fruit" song from when we were kids, and that made me think of Beej.

Which? Totally made me want to laugh. But I couldn't because I was worried the muscle contractions would force the joystick out AND make me toot. So I had to try and hold in my laughter and gas at the same time which, let me tell you, was not easy.


Now that I have embarrassed myself and potentially lost a friend, it's your turn! Where have you been that made you think of someone even though the circumstances had zero to do with the person?

Help Spread The True Meaning of Christmas

Monday, December 8, 2008

I have read that perhaps this current economic crisis will be a much needed wake up call of sorts. We, as consumers (and I raise my hand here because I totally like my stuff) should take this opportunity to re-examine and re-evaluate our shopping and spending habits.

We should make more of an effort to buy American, buy local and buy sustainable. We should become a better example to our kids of what "people over possessions" really means, particularly over the holidays.


Helping the military and their families is a cause that's really important to me. I'll never forget the generosity of the small business my
husband was working for when he was activated after 9/11. They gave him a small salary while he was gone which was so helpful to me since I was managing the household alone.

Not every military family can say the same. Despite the housing allowance and commissary, many families still really struggle to make ends meet, and it can leave parents feeling frustrated and depressed.


Here are a few organizations I've come across who have cheap, easy or free ways to send some holiday love to our men and
women in uniform. because morale is so important.

*I found Wish Upon a Hero through an affiliate program I belong to.

Anyone can post a wish for something they want or need. I've used it to ask for help with the postcards and DVD player for my soldier and have gotten a nice response. I've also granted wishes by sending cards and postcards. There are many people looking for "small" but meaningful wishes that won't cost you much, if anything (free to join the site).

*Xerox has set up a
site where you choose a postcard and they will mail it to a military member FREE (thanks Thrifty Mommy!).





*I saw eMail Our Military on Mommy Pie's site and had to look into it.

eMailOurMilitary

They have so many projects to contribute to (more than listed here):
  • Postcards
  • Care Packages
  • Soup for the Troops
  • Voice mail messages
  • Artwork from kids (great for a Scouts, class or church project)
I did see they require a $2 processing fee but couldn't tell if it's needed for all the activities.

*The
Red Cross is also sending cards to soldiers (postmark deadline 12/10).

*At the Starbucks near me and the Albertson's, shoppers can buy bags of coffee and leave them to be sent to the troops.


*And there is always the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program.


If you know of any other groups supporting the military for the holidays (or any other good causes) please leave it in the comments.

And, with the money pinch so many of us are feeling, will you be taking a more grassroots approach to the holidays?
(*None of theses companies know I've written about them)

Movie Madness Carnival - Review of True Romance

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

One of my favorite movies of all time is True Romance. I don’t think it made huge box office dollars (at least by today’s standards) but I don’t know anyone who’s seen it who hasn’t liked it. It has an incredible cast and was written by Quentin Tarantino (Brad Pitt is freakin’ hilarious! and Val Kilmer has a split second cameo).

In college (November 1995), I used this movie to write a paper. The topic was Gender Analysis in the Movie True Romance. I took the stance that even though Patricia Arquette’s character, Alabama, gets the stuffing beat out of her, she’s no Cinderella waiting for and needing a man to rescue her as many female leads seemed to do. She thinks on her feet, improvises and turns the tables on the bad guys.

She doesn’t need Clarence (Christian Slater) to say, “now honey, when we walk in, let me do the talking and follow my lead.” No sir. She totally holds her own, gives as much as she takes (if not more!) and in the end it’s she who saves the day, rescues her man and rides them off into the sunset. Arquette kicks some serious ass in this movie and it’s why I love her today.

The writing and acting in this movie are phenomenal. Did I mention the spectacular cast? This is definitely a move to watch after the kids are asleep (or better, staying at Gramma’s).




For more movies, head over to Daily Mish Mash. There are prizes!
add to kirtsy

20 Days of Giveaways

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

My friend Laurie at Tip Junkie will be celebrating her 1-year blogversary by giving prizes to all of you! For 20 days! Hop on over for all the details then mark your calendars. Giveaways start this Monday, June 30th.

Win A Bounce House!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

But not from me! I've been trying to get Drama Dad to buy one of these from Costco for a long time. With the money we've spent renting them, we could have bought one by now!
This would go over really well in our neighborhood. I'm shamelessly admitting that my inner Bree Van de Kamp wants ours to be "the cool house" on the block. Enter the contest at The Secret is in the Sauce.

Around the Web this Week

Friday, June 20, 2008

These are two things I've come across on the web that have stuck with me this week.

Did you hear about the 17 high school girls in Massachusets who made a PACT to get pregnant?! And one of the fathers is a HOMELESS man!

Where are their parents? School officials say that 4 pregnancies is "normal" for the school. What the heck are kids learning today about relationships, sex and contraception? Obviously nothing at this school.

The Blogess wrote a great post on this.





Mommy's Martini had her son tell her that the teacher's at his preschool told another little boy, Ethan, that he "cried like a girl" and they were going to have to "change his name to Esther" if he kept on doing it. That type of ridicule coming from an educator (aimed at 4 year olds no less!) is irresponsible to say the least.

We look to the other adults in our children's lives to be role models and to support and uphold the values we teach at home, not undermine them with insulting, gender stereotyping comments. Head on over and offer her your advice on how to handle the situation.

*Today is the last day to win the discounted blog makeover, Starbucks and Target gift cards in my contest.
 
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