Sunday Giveaways

$25 Amazon GC at ravenhappyhour.com

Friday Giveaways

Clutterbags Wristlet at Posh Point of View
Wildlife Works Cotton/Soy Tee at dkMommy Spot

Just about enough!

I have had just about enough of sickness around here. First Frog had a raging fever (see "Why Is the Room Getting Bigger" for more on that!). I took her to the ped Monday to get a school excuse. She was able to go back Wednesday.

Thursday: I went into Monkey's room to make sure her alarm clock had gone off and was startled to see that she had turned into a Pumpkinhead .
Her lymph nodes were swollen underneath her chin and her face was swollen from sinus probs. She stayed home due to mortification potential (well that and the mild fever and cold but in middle school potential mortification comes first). Of course the swelling went down as the day went on.

Frog took the opportunity to get on my last frazzled nerve last night. (Monkey escaped this opportunity, she was on her best behavior yesterday..no middle-schooler drama). Frog watched Annie and apparently now wants to live in an orphanage. She moved out over the summer. To the shed/clubhouse in the yard. Because she "didn't like rules". That lasted...oh about 20 minutes. Frog is my dramatic "spirited" child. She has always been this way. From birth. I am wondering how 8 is going to be. She turns 8 on Oct. 12. Hopefully she will become more agreeable. I have had just about enough of this argumentative 7yr old stage!

Of course I couldn't help kissing and tucking her in again after she was sleeping. She is lucky she is cute and has a lot of redeeming qualities.

Tuesday Giveaways

"JASCO is giving away a $93 set of mineral makeup to one dkMommy Spot reader. This set includes: 1 Mineral Foundation, 1 Bronzer, 1 Setting Powder, 1 Blush, 1 Eye-Shadow, 1 Kabuki Brush,and 1 Vegan Lipstick." @ dkmommyspot of course!

Monday Giveaways

There is a great giveaway going on! It is for the launch of The Mindful Moms, a new site. Check it out here.

List of prizes:

• Mom’s Favorite Stuff Tote Bag
• Manic Trout Sweetest Thing Earrings
• Thermaplex and Pinxav Samples
• Rita Wilcox French Purse in Aqua
• OnTray2Go in mellow yellow
• Giggling Lola from Kids Preferred
• Giggling Charlie from Kids Preferred
• Sizzles the Dog from Kids Preferred
• Think-ets
• Haba Little Heart Clutching Toy
• Haba Mushroom Clutching Toy
• Haba Dwarf Clutching Toy
• Imagiplay Puzzle Me Up frog
• Fancy Nancy Card Game
• Animal Soup card game
• Grandparent Talk Clip
• Family Talk 2 Clip
• Family Talk Clip
• Cahootie Truth or Dare
• Charlie & Lola - I Am Not Sleepy and I Will Not Go to Bed (softcover)
• Charlie & Lola - I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato (softcover)
• Charlie & Lola - I Completely Must do Drawing Now (softcover)
• Charlie & Lola - My Very Busy Sticker Stories
• Charlie & Lola - Sizzles is Completely Not Here
• Mythmatical Battles Cards
• 2 gift sets from SpaSecrets.net (3 soaps, foot scrub, foot cream)
• Monster Room spray from Lindsay’s Candles

Also there is a contest for one copy of Night Life and one copy of the new release Pure Blood !both signed! from Amberkatze's Book Blog

Sunday Giveaways

$25 Amazon GC@bargainbriana

Why is the room getting bigger?

My youngest dd, Frog, came home from grandma's early w/ a fever. She is fine when her temperature is down but gets loopy when it spikes. Both my kids have a tendency to hallucinate with high fevers. Years ago my oldest had a raging fever. She was fine when she laid down for a nap. A little while later she started freaking out! She sat straight up in her bed and started screaming while pointing at something. Turns out she thought her knees were on the other bed in her room.
Well a little while ago Frog was sitting on the couch and started looking around worriedly "Why is the room getting bigger?" Hmm..guess we are in for a rough night!

Her fever went down again and she is in my bed trying to rest. I am going to take her in tomorrow, she has already missed a few days of school and you can only have 9 unexcused absences. Plus strep is going around at school and she has a sore throat and arm and leg aches.

Animal Shelter Donations?

I volunteer at a local shelter The Humane Society of Pulaski County in Little Rock, AR. My latest venture is gathering items for auction. Proceeds would be donated to the shelter for the spay and neuter program. This shelter recently took in several animals pushing their always full shelter to overflowing! Usually policy is to spay or neuter animals before they are adopted but with earlier spaying and neutering undesirable behaviors can be nipped in the bud (hormonal aggression, marking, leg humping, etc.). Not to mention no worries taking opposite sex animals into the on site dog park!
If you would like to donate funds directly to the shelter click here.
I am planning to sell a few items on my etsy site w/proceeds going to the fund also.
There isn't anything up yet, but for future reference the items will be under "charity items".


FOR LOCAL CONTRIBUTORS:
If you have any items that can be auctioned off (we would need to bring in lots of 10 items but if you have anything special feel free to LMK).

The auction house is located in Thornburg, a rural area outside LR. I have seen toys, yard equipment,tools,box lots, furniture, home and garden items, antiques, jewelry, etc. for bid also. I can provide you with a contact for tax write off info. solta@hotmail.com

Wednesday Giveaways

Hair sets @ Mommies United
4 gift baskets @ Mommies United
10 start the day off right prizes (cereal,etc) @ Mommies United
Get Ready For School prizes @ Mommies United
20 Prizes! @ Mommies United
fun kid pjs of your choice@ Simple Reviews

Tuesday Giveaways

Life is a Verb by Patti Digh @ Unexpected Bliss
from Amazon:
"In October 2003, Patti Digh’s stepfather was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died 37 days later. The timeframe made an impression on her. What emerged was a commitment to ask herself every morning: What would I be doing today if I had only 37 days left to live? The answers changed her life and led to this new kind of book. Part meditation, part how-to guide, part memoir, Life is a Verb is all heart. "

Monday Giveaways

4 prize baskets up for grabs @ Mommies United!

Blogability

I caved and took the fun little blog level test that is making the blogging rounds.
Here are my results.

Movie Reviews

Well that is some funny bullshizzy. I was expecting a grade school level. *Hee Hee*. Or maybe that means you have to be a genius to figure it out ;) .

In other news, my car is working. For now. Or rather it worked for my dh. Which means in a day or two it may leave me stranded somewhere again. I swear it reminds me of Christine (spooky Stephen King story about a car). She really really wants to retire.

Sunday Giveaways

Zivio Boom Wireless Headset @ Cowgirl Critiques

Amazon, $25 and 2000 Entrecard Credits, and more!:Saturday Giveaways

$35 Amazon Gift Certificate @My Life For The World To See

$25 Paypal and 2,000 Entrecard Credits! @ Jeflin's Investment Blog

Friday Giveaways

$25 Whole Foods gift card @ dkmommyspot

$25 For Your Bug-A-Boo gift certificate @ dkmommyspot (Baby items and play food)

$20 LaundryTree Gift Certificate @dkmommyspot They sell laundry soap. Made of nuts. Or rather dried berries. Throw them in your wash and they make a soapy substance that cleans your clothes. Freaky.

2 dozen cookies from Platine Cookies @ Tres Fun They all look super yummy!

Zap

Well here I sit typing on a very very old computer. It has the lovely feature of a flickering annoying monitor. My laptop is all packed up. Wrapped with bubble wrap,cushioned by tissue paper,inside a cardboard form, and inside a box with plastic. Which is w/in another box filled with packing peanuts.

I have apparently been destroying everything electronic lately. I used the paper shredder..broke. Drove my car...broke. The pencil sharpener?..broke. The list goes on.
Of course my husband can get everything to work again and I touch it and that is it.
My car has a problem with the alternator. I have had just about enough of it lately. It actually caught on fire a few months ago. I think it is telling me it wants to retire. We bought it way back in the 90's when my oldest was a baby. She is in middle school now. Maybe it is time.

Poor Baby

In a few minutes I will be packing up my baby for repair. My laptop. I'm sending it to the service center to fix some issues it has and to get a new ac adapter cord sent back w/it. It is still under warranty..thank goodness!

Frog's Halloween Birthday Bash

Frog, my 7 yr old, started a new tradition last year. Her birthday is in October. October 12th to be exact.

She wanted a Halloween themed party. That was such a hit that she has been planning her 8th birthday party for almost a year now.
Though a lot of the details have changed (over and over and over!) she is still set on having a Halloween theme.

Decorations
We went to Party City last year and splurged on decorations. The outside of our house had spiderwebs all over the front porch, stairs, and front door.
The dining room walls had murals of tombstones,spiderwebs, and signs all over them. I also bought a cardboard chandelier to hang over the food table.

Food
I made frothy green punch w/ an ice monster hand floating in it. We served that in a cauldron with dry ice. A black light shone through the dry ice fog for an extra creepy special effect. For a cake I made a regular cake with a crack in it. I placed plastic rats inside like they were crawling out of the crack and decorated the cake with red gel along the crack and Halloweenish writing in black and orange.
We got the usual party fare, chips, veggies, dip, etc. I also served eye balls (green olives) on toothpicks.

I am not sure how I am going to top last year!
I have been researching online and found that at Half Price Costumes you can Get 10% off & Free Shipping on orders $70+ Use hpc10ship at checkout

If your kids are like mine and change their minds about costumes before Halloween you may not want to spend that much. If not here is another deal Free Shipping on Halloween costumes
They even have Pet Costumes Here.

New Giveaways

1. pretty vintage hairpins @ subu 8/14
2. cloth grocery bag @ Green Mom finds 8/19
3. Mama Mio Skin Care products @ Hip Mama's place

That was weird

I just put some stuff out for freecycle and the trash guys took it. Trash was not supposed to run today. They drove by then I heard the back up signal. When I looked out the window the bags were gone. This is the same service that takes months to pick up scheduled trash and they STILL have not brought me a recycling bin (requested several times over the years and I still use an old laundry basket). *scratches head*. Hopefully they cabbed it instead if throwing in the back.

Site Updates 8/11-8/15: Wall Street Survivor, etc.

You may have noticed that there is a new button on the right side. I had been thinking about playing the market, but wasn't sure how good I would be at picking profitable stocks. How about you?

I got curious and started playing Wall Street Survivor and am getting much better at it. Wall Street Survivor is an online trading game. It is fun, a little addicting, and you may learn something from it. Plus playing is FREE and you could win great prizes!

School

Monkey's Spanish teacher called yesterday. Yes, my kids are in school already. A new charter school that was just built. Monkey is in middle school this year (6th) and Frog is in 2nd.
Anyway, the teacher was calling about some problems that Monkey has been having in class. Not bringing her dictionary, composition book, etc., and not doing homework.

The reason the kids are in this new extended day school is that they have time to finish homework at the end of the day. If they have good grades they can go home earlier w/parental permission. If they stay for the last part of the day they are supposed to be doing homework, tutoring, or after school clubs.

Theoretically homework in public school is only supposed to be about 30min-1 hr MAX.
Well Monkey would take hours on homework despite testing really well at school and on classwork. She would not get done until well after dinnertime.

I suspect that she is either talking or drawing again instead of doing her homework.
Plus she is an organizational nightmare. She has come by it honestly though. Look at her parents!

The phone rang a little while ago I hope it wasn't her teacher calling again!
Does anyone have any suggestions to keep her on track?

Back To School Event!

I almost forgot to post about this online event. Do you have kids in school? Are they starting back soon? Mine are already in school, they started July 21, but this event will be useful for those on a regular schedule.

Here is a quote from the site:

Come and join in on all the fun Mommies United is having an entire week dedicated to that one day! The big day, from your first day of Kindergarten to high school we are celebrating Back To School! Their will be articles from actual teachers (including our very own Christine. Real life events of actual parents will be shared. Tips and tricks to get your children on the right track, before school even starts!

Plus the prizes! Yes there will be prizes to win, to get your little one started with school shopping. From educational, to clothing there are some great things to win. Just in time for school to begin, so stop by and join us.
Add the button to your sidebar now and don't forget to come to the open house August 18-25.

Get Your Giveaway Fix Right Here!

Are you feeling antsy? Jumpy? Jittery? I feel your pain (or maybe that is my homemade Starbucky coffee drink knockoff). Are your fingers just itching to enter another giveaway after all the Bloggy carnival excitement? Well here are some for you!

I will add more as I find them so check back!

ABCoaster Giveaway @ Subu (ends TODAY Aug. 7 at midnight)

Great gift pack @ sporkfashion contains:
-One single-strand beaded necklace in orange (Value: $10.00)
-One matching bracelet (Value: $5.00)
-One CD by contemporary Ugandan musician Fabbian (Value: $10.00)

Tea from Mellow Monk-giveaway @ dkMommyspot

Adorable apron at Posh Point of View

Kootsacs-reusable food bags @ Vintage Indie

WHAT!?

YOU HAVEN'T SUBSCRIBED YET!!!!!!!!!!??????

Monkey Drama

Well it happened the other day. Monkey who as yet hadn't exhibited quite as much angst as say her younger sister Frog (that is another story...the force is strong with that one) had her first real argument with me. Not so much an argument as a unexpected freakout .

It was over something small, I don't even remember what now. I know it was about something I asked her to do and she had put it off long enough. She snotted saying I nag too much and grandma would never have been as naggy to me as I was to her (ha little does she know!).

I said I only have to nag because she doesn't do what I ask the first time. In the blink of an eye it had escalated to "I hate you, you are not fair, and always mean!" or something to that effect. Before I knew it Monkey had flown out of the room and down the hall to her room. As the house echoed with the sound of her door slamming I was sitting on the couch looking a little bewildered.

Monkey is not as old as some of the other kids in her grade, only almost 11 (these are old pics she sudden;y looks much older!) , but I suppose this new snottiness is to be expected. I have seen it with my troop and I have seen it with other kids that age. Asserting their independence etc. etc. People have been guessing her age at 12 a lot lately. She is in middle school after all. *sigh*. I guess I wasn't expecting her to start growing up so suddenly.


Later she apologized. Dh made her the first time but then when we were alone she apologized for real. I am sure this is not the last time.

Bloggy Giveaway Carnival wraps up

Well, the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival is ending. I have had two notifications of PRIZES so far. Two lovely books. "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" which I have been wanting, and "White Tombs" which I was trying to get for dh (but you know I will read it too!).

I came across another giveaway today. The prize is TruKid products. Cool, my dd is a soaphog.

And more giveaways:

Green Feet Going Green Starter Kit @ Mom Confessions
Paula Deen swag @ PENSIEVE