Congrats to the winner!
I was thrilled when I was contacted by EcoStore USA, and very intrigued by their product line. Lately, as my kids have become more and more involved in the household cleaning, I have wondered about the wisdom in letting them use any old cleaner to do their chores. With 5 kids, I can't keep my eye on each one ALL the time.
There is SO much talk today about going green, but does it all really mean? We have all grown up surrounded by "non-green" products, and we're ok, right?
Check out some fast facts about household products:
• are plant- and/or mineral-based and free of nasty chemicals (No Nasty ChemicalsTM)• use safer ingredients from renewable resources
• are formulated with your health in mind• are safely super-concentrated• meet the highest environmental standards• have not been tested on animals• are GE free (free of genetically-engineered products)• are packaged in recyclable packaging
Congrats to comment #45, Robert and Hannah, the winner of Tower of Strength by Annette Lyon!
Thanks for all of you who showed interest in the book. Robert and Hannah, you have 48 hours to get me your info to forward on to Annette.
Everyone else: I will be having lots of new books to give away coming soon! Stay tuned!
Most of you who follow my main blog, Life is Sweet, know that I LOVE good food, and I love to cook. I try to share my recipes regularly on my Family Food blog. I was so thrilled when I received two bottles of Country Bob's All-Purpose Sauce in the mail, along with a recipe booklet. I canned my planned dinner for that night and made one of Country Bob's recipes. Oh MY goodness! This stuff is GOOD!! And, guess what?? Country Bob's is giving away a bottle of this very sauce to TWO of my readers! Seriously, you need to try this!
Here's a little history about Country Bob's Sauces:
|
| ||
| |||
First, I cooked Corn Pone Pie. YUM Yum YUM!
Next, I used it on top of burgers the other night. Ooh! I love a burger with a little kick. I'll definitely be using Country Bob's again or my next burgers.
I was so excited to see all of the positive comments about our new Spanish Language Learning software! Thank you to everyone who entered, registered, blogged, and tweeted. You are the greatest! I giggled out loud when I used random.org to pick a winner tonight and came up with our winner.....#58, Untypically Jia!!
I need this. You have no idea. I live in New Mexico and I don't speak Spanish. My husband served a mission in Venezuela and I still don't speak Spanish. I TOOK 3 years of Spanish in High School and I still don't speak Spanish!
Help!
Have you heard of Flirtbuttons? I was lucky enough to find out about the Flirtbuttons Etsy shop in January, when I saw a review and giveaway on another blog. I instantly fell in love with the fun and unique items in her shop, and I was more than thrilled when I won this bracelet:
It's even cuter in person, and I love to wear it! One of the BEST, most amazing things about Flirtbuttons is their incredibly low prices. They are SO affordable! Go check out her store and see what I mean.
Here's another item that I have. One of Flirtbutton's many fashionable pocket mirrors:
The next item on my want list is this collection of magnets:
After having such a good experience with Flirtbuttons, I started chatting with the lady behind all of the fabulous creations. I even checked out her blog. She volunteered to giveaway this black bird pendant to one of my readers!! How awesome is that?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Would you like to win this unique pendant? Go check out Flirtbuttons and come back here to let me know what your favorite item is! (that's your required entry)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here are a few things you can do for extra entries:
~Follow me here or on Life is Sweet's main page
~Tweet about this giveaway
~Add either of my buttons to your blog
~Blog about this giveaway, with a link to this post
~Buy something from the flirtbuttons store for an extra 3 entries!
**Make sure you leave a separate comment for each thing you have done. If you already follow or have a button, just let me know for an extra entry!**
This contest will run until Monday, April 6 at 10:00 pm Eastern time. I will announce a winner the next day, and the winner will have 48 hours to send me their address or a new number will be chosen. Good luck!
Congratulations to comment #15, Dina of Just Another New Blog! She is the winner of the Corneille CD!
I faved you!
*Giveaway Closed*
If you've been following all month long, you already know that each week during March I'm giving away a copy of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home: No-Nonsense Advice that Will Inspire You to CLEAN like the DICKENS
This week, I turned to Mrs. Meyer's advice on getting stains out of clothes. I typically set my stained clothes off to one side of the washer to deal with, um....later. Later is just never a good thing when it comes to dealing with stains. And then there are the clothes that I don't *know* are stained until I am folding the already-dried clothes. Ugh. With a family of 7, there are just too many clothes to pick through them individually before sticking them in the washer.
My absolute favorite stain tip was this one: Use an eye dropper to put a few drops of hydrogen peroxide on bloodstained garments before washing them. If you are out (say, at a soccer game....) when the clothes become blood-stained, spit on the spot!! Yes, that's right! Spit on the blood. Saliva has an enzyme that breaks down the proteins in blood.
Luckily, I didn't have to try out the blood-stained clothes tip this week. That's not to say that we didn't get any skinned knees this week, though. We get plenty of chocolate, milk, and grass on clothes on a regular basis.
Have you been trying all month to win a copy? Are you a newbie here? You still have plenty of chances! Not only will I give another book away this week, but next week I'll have two books to give away. I'll take ALL of the entries form the month for a chance at the last book (so if you have been commenting all along, you'll have even more entries.
******************************************************************************************
Here's the deal, same as always. Leave one comment for an entry. This time around, share your favorite tip for getting stains out of clothes.
******************************************************************************************
For extra entries, you can stumble, fave on technorati, kirtsy, tweet, blog, grab a button, follow me, add me to your blog roll....all the typical extra entries. I'm easy to please! Just be sure you add a comment for each entry.
This giveaway will end next Monday night, March 30rd, at 10:00pm. I will then announce the winner of this week's book and pick ONE MORE winner out of ALL of the entries received this month. So, if you have been entering all month, your chances are even better! Open to residents of the US and Canada only. No PO boxes, please.
Remember to leave me some way to get ahold of you if you are the winner! If the winner does not respond back to me within 48 hours of being contacted, I will have to pick a new winner.
Good luck!
PS--Congrats to last week's winner, CandG-Jill W! She gets her own copy of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home!
When I was asked to review a brand new CD, The Birth of Cornelius
Corneille might be a new name in the music industry here in the US, but he has already had a remarkable career in Europe, with his albums reaching diamond-selling status in France. He has also led a very interesting life, and his thoughtful music and lyrics reflect that.
Corneille Nyungura was born in Fribourg, Germany, where his parents were students. At the age of six, his family returned to Rwanda, their country of origin. As a boy, Corneille began to develop an interest in music, and he credits his father for nurturing his interest. “I was singing something in my room,” he says, “and my dad heard me, and said, ‘That sounds good, it kind of sounds like Tracy Chapman.’ And I remember thinking, ‘Oh, It’s OK for me to make music.’ At age 16, he made his first recording, and was selected as a finalist in a music contest sponsored by the state-run television station.
But in 1994, Rwanda’s President Habyarimana was assassinated, and the largest, most horrific genocide in modern history claimed over 800,000 victims. Corneille’s parents and other family members were killed in the massacre. He alone managed to escape—first to Kinshasa, and then to Germany, where he was taken in by some family friends.
You can learn more about Corneille on his website, www.corneillemusic.com
Corneille says, “Music has been the place where I could go to hide and forget about the world. I couldn’t make sense of a majority of the things that happened to me, so I used music as a shield. But over time, music has become a vehicle to channel out everything that I’ve been keeping from myself for all these years. And the new album is definitely the most honest, real assessment of everything that’s happened in my life, because I’m not trying to hide as much.”
*****************************************************************************************
Would you like to own a copy of The Birth of Cornelius? I've got an AUTOGRAPHED copy to give away to one of my readers! All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me what music genre is your favorite. Easy peasy!
*****************************************************************************************
For extra entries, you can
*Follow me,
*Tweet about this giveaway (leave link please),
*Blog about it,
*Click any of my buttons at the bottom of my post (stumble, kirtsy, technorati),
*Post my button on your blog (Life is Sweet counts, too!),
*Add either Life is Sweet or this Reviews blog to your blogroll,
*Subscribe.
If you can think of another way to direct more people over here, do it and let me know!
Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry, and make sure you leave a way for me to get ahold of you. This giveaway will run until Friday, March 27 at 10:00 pm Eastern time. I will pick a number with Random.org's widget and announce the winner the next day. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me or I will pick a new number. Good luck!
**Giveaway closed**
If you've been following all month long, you already know that each week during March I'm giving away a copy of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home: No-Nonsense Advice that Will Inspire You to CLEAN like the DICKENS
This week, I can feel the Spring coming on, and with Spring comes open windows. The windows that have been closed all Winter long are looking....um, pretty grimy. Yuck. So I decided to take Mrs. Meyer's advice for cleaning windows. Do you want to know her secret?
Just mix one quart of water, one tablespoon of dishwashing liquid, two teaspoons of white vinegar, and a generous splash of rubbing alcohol. (She said that exact measurements are not neccessary.) Then apply the mixture to crumpled up newspaper (the number one tip I've received this month, by the way!)
I loved it! And my windows looked amazing after a little clean-up. It's incredible how much better the house feels!
Have you been trying all month to win a copy? Are you a newbie here? You still have plenty of chances! Not only will I give another book away this week, but next week I'll have two books to give away. I'll take ALL of the entries form the month for a chance at the last book (so if you have been commenting all along, you'll have even more entries.
Here's the deal, same as always. Leave one comment for an entry. This time around, tell me your biggest problem spot in your house. Why do you really need this helpful cleaning resource?
For extra entries, you can stumble, fave on technorati, kirtsy, tweet, blog, grab a button, follow me, add me to your blog roll....all the typical extra entries. I'm easy to please! Just be sure you add a comment for each entry.
This giveaway will end next Monday night, March 23rd, at 10:00pm. I will then announce the winner of this week's book and list the last giveaway. Open to residents of the US and Canada only. No PO boxes, please.
Remember to leave me some way to get ahold of you if you are the winner! If the winner does not respond back to me within 48 hours of being contacted, I will have to pick a new winner.
Good luck!
PS--Last week's winner was Nikkicrumpet from Blah, Blah, Blah, Blog! Congrats!
**Giveaway Closed**
About a month ago, I met a wonderful woman named Annette Lyon. Annette is an award winning LDS author of 6 novels. From her website I learned that Annette has been writing since second grade, when she piled pillows on a chair to reach her mother's typewriter. (I can totally relate to that!) She is a cum laude graduate from BYU with a degree in English, and she has experience with newspaper, magazine, and business writing, but her first love is fiction. Tower of Strength, her sixth and most recent novel, is her fourth historical centered around old Utah temples.
In 2007 she was awarded Utah's Best of State medal for fiction. Spires of Stone, her fifth novel, was a 2007 Whitney Award finalist for Best Historical Novel. She has received three publication awards from the League of Utah Writers and currently serves on the Executive Committee of the LDStorymakers, a guild for LDS writers. You can learn more about Annette on her website or on her blog.
Last month, Annette sent me a copy of her latest novel, Tower of Strength, and I loved it! It is a perfect book to read while you sit back on the couch with a warm blanket. Tower of Strength is the story of Tabitha, who was widowed at age 19. She finds herself newly pregnant and alone, but through her strength of character is able to make a life for herself and her son. After several years, she finds that she must return to her hometown and face things that she had left behind many years before. It is also the story of Samuel, a recently widowed man, whose path crosses with Tabitha's.
Click the video to see a preview of the book:
Annette has been generous enough to offer a copy of her brand new book, Tower of Strength, to one of my readers. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post.
For extra entries, you can do any (or all) of the following:
~Follow me here or on Life is Sweet
~Post my button on your blog or add me to your blog roll
~Fave me on technorati or stumble a post
~Tweet about this giveaway!
~Blog about this giveaway with a link back to this post (5 entries!)
~Visit Modern Molly Mormon (where I am a featured writer) for another chance to win! Then come back here and let me know you entered there for double chances.
Remember to post a separate comment for each entry. This contest will end on Monday, March 30 at 10:00 pm Eastern time. Thanks and good luck!
Amanda from the Richardson Family (#21) is the lucky winner of a DVD of her choice from Lots to Learn! Congratulations, Amanda! And thanks, once again to Random.org's amazing widget. :)
If you didn't win, don't forget that I've got a discount code for 30% off your purchase until April 1st. See the button and the code in my sidebar.
Happy Monday!
PS--While you're here, make sure you've entered my other 2 contests.
**Contest Closed**
I recently got a book called Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home: No-Nonsense Advice that Will Inspire You to CLEAN like the DICKENS
Each week I'll be sharing a tip I learned form Mrs. Meyers. This week I decided to clean out my drains. With 4 girls in the house, and lots of food going down the disposal, our drains get clogged from the basement to kitchen to bathroom. I am not a huge fan of the harsh drain uncloggers, simply because I'm worried about the kids getting into them. Once, after using one of the harsh drain cleaners in my tub, I was horrified to find one of the kids taking a bath...before I'd had a chance to clean the tub.
Mrs. Meyer's formula is simple and can be used from the bathtub to the kitchen sink! She recommends pouring a half cup of baking soda down the drain followed by half a cup of white vinegar (see, vinegar is a great cleaner!). After a few minutes, pour a kettle-full of boiling water down the drain. Wala!
Intrigued? Do you need this great resource? Enter to win a copy for yourself! The best news.....I have 5 copies to give away! Don't win this week? Enter again next Tuesday!
Here's what you need to do:
1) Leave me a comment here. I'd love to hear YOUR favorite cleaning tips!
For extra entries:
2-Tweet about this contest (I'm @1momof5 on twitter) and leave me the link to your tweet
3-Blog about this contest and link back to me (http://1momof5-reviews.blogspot.com/) and get 2 extra entries!
4-Follow me! (or my main blog) Do both, and get 2 entries!
5-Grab my button and post on your blog (Life is Sweet button counts, too!)
6-Fav me on Technorati (again, both my main blog and reviews blog count), stumble your favorite post from Life is Sweet, or kirtsy one of my posts.
This contest will run until Monday, March 16, 2009 at 10:00 PM Eastern Time. I will announce the winner that night, and then post a NEW contest for the 2nd book giveaway the following day (Tuesday the 17th). This giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada. No PO boxes, please.
Remember to leave me some way to get ahold of you if you are the winner! If the winner does not respond back to me within 48 hours of being contacted, I will have to pick a new winner.
Good luck!
PS--the winner of week 1's book is Lori at Time of Your Life. Congratulations, Lori!
How many of you mothers have a difficult time finding a good balance between keeping your children entertained and happy, and providing wholesome, educational toys and activities? When my kids come home from school, they tell me about the toys that their friends are talking about, or the things that they have seen their friends bring to show and tell. Honestly, I am not always excited to run out and buy these toys that they describe to me. So much of what I find in the stores and in ads is either more violent than I would care for, or just plain fluff. Have you ever felt this way?I recently had the opportunity to review a product from Action Toys, Inc. Action Toys is a company dedicated to providing children with fun and educational toys. They have many award winning products, which can be found at stores near your home. You wouldn't believe the squeels at my house the day our package from Action Toys arrived. They sent the Pottery Wheel from their Curiosity Kids line. We opened the box and found a very good sized pottery wheel with tons of accessories, including 2 pounds of clay, six colors of paint, cutting and sculpting tools, and thorough instructions. First impression: impressed! I knew we were in for hours of fun! Necco was the first to try the pottery wheel out. She was able to follow the instructions and set up the pottery wheel on her own, and got started right away. I was happy with the power of the motor, along with the fact that the wheel had multiple speed and direction settings, and an easy-to-use foot pedal.
Later, Reese sat down with Necco as her guide and made a bowl of her own. Again, I was happy with how easy it was for her to use it. Both girls were thrilled.
I spent some time browsing through Action Toys' website, and was impressed by their I Dig Collection. Next month's Cub Scout theme is all about dinosaurs, and I can just imagine Twizzler, my 8 year old son, and all of his cub friends going on their own dinosaur excavation adventure! That's pure boy heaven!
Action Toys has offered my readers 20% off their online purchase, plus FREE SHIPPING with discount code BLG001 (just enter this code at checkout). Pass the word! Go check out Action Toys and tell me what products look the most intriguing to you!
We've got a winner for the Eleven Collection Shoes Giveaway!
Lucky number 136...Calley--Daughter of a King from Clay in His Hands!
I love the Bridget shoes
*CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED*
Don't forget the discount code for 30% off (found on my left sidebar), good until 4/1/09
Many of you have heard me talk about the fact that we don't have cable...which means we don't watch TV. But that does NOT mean that we don't watch videos. I am always on the look-out for fun, wholesome, and educational DVDs for my kids to watch. I particularly love to find preschool programs that have some substance for AJ, my 3 year old who is home with me all day while the other kids are at school. I recently found out about Lots To Learn, an award winning children's video series that does a fantastic job at entertaining AND teaching preschoolers.
After we had watched the very first video in the 5-DVD series, I found AJ singing the theme song around the house. He loves the music! The shows are engaging, using a nice combination of real kids, puppets (Buster the dog and Gato the cat) and other animations. The dancing skeleton in the Head to Toe with Buster is my favorite! I also love the fact that they repeat the alphabet so many times throughout the DVDs.
It's hard to pick one favorite, because whenever we put one of the DVDs on to play, AJ is enthralled. He probably asks for the Buster's Favorite Animals DVD most often. I really like Head to Toe and Buster Loves Music. If you are looking for a program to entertain and teach your preschooler or toddler, check out Lots to Learn!
And, guess what? You can win your choice of Lots to Learn DVDs. If you don't want to wait, or you'd like to buy the entire series instead of just one show, Lots to Learn has also offered my readers a special discount:
You can get 30% off all prices (even sales prices), utilizing the code preschool. This offer will expire on April 1, so hurry!
To win one of the Lots to Learn DVDs, here's what you need to do:
**(Manditory) Click the button below to visit Lots to Learn. Then come back and tell me which DVD you would like to win!**
If you'd like more chances to win, you can do any of these things for extra entries. Just be sure to come back here and leave a separate entry for each thing that you've done. You are welcome to tweet or stumble multiple times for extra entries. The only restriction is one of each type of entry per day.
~Follow my blog (Life is Sweet counts, too!)
~Add my button to your blog
~Tweet about this giveaway (I'm @1momof5)
~Blog about the giveaway
~Favorite me in technorati --button at bottom of post (also counts for Life is Sweet)
~Stumble this or any of my posts --see button at bottom of post!
This contest be open until Sunday, March 15 at 11:59 PM EST. Winner will be announced on Monday, March 16. Please leave me a way to contact you if you are the winner! If the winner doesn't get back to me within 48 hours, I will have to pick a new winner (so check your emails!)
Good luck!
This giveaway is now closed. Look for the new giveaway posted!
And the winner of this week's copy.....#72, Lori!
I have your button :)
http://lori72.blogspot.com/
from the Hachette Book Group. It has tips on how to clean just about anything in your house. A fabulous resource! I decided to take her tips and work on a few problem spots in my house this month for each of my Tackles in March. But the best part? I get to GIVE AWAY a copy of the book each week for the whole month!
.jpg)
I would love to win this book. amsbolda@hotmail.com