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Blogging Planner from Brandcation

Posted by html404 on August 3, 2012
in Blog Stuff, Business, Uncategorized

If you are a blogger then this post is for you. If you are a blogger trying to monetize your blog, this post is definitely for you. It will help you get organized and treat your blog as a business…using the Blogging Planner.

The Blogging Planner is a neat little planner was created by bloggers for bloggers to help us organize posts, keep track of paid opportunities, PR contacts, events and so much more. It holds a year’s worth of planning, after which you will have to get a new one.

These photos say it all:

Front Cover

Brainstorming

Calendar

Monthly Focus Page

Weekly To-Do’s and Income Recording (Making tax time easier having everything in one place!)

Blog Conferences

PR Contacts

Brand Events

Goal Setting – If we don’t set goals we’ll never achieve them!

I love the planner. The concept is very well thought out and it is easy to use. However, I will admit with struggling to get myself into the habit of using it. Old habits die hard. I am use to writing things on slips of paper….and losing them. I write things in notebooks (of which I have many) and forget which notebook I wrote it in because I often grab just any ole notebook not the one I need! Or I can neglect to write something down or add it to my online calendar, which creates mishaps and mistakes to occur. You would think I would just buckle down and discipline myself to use this new tool so I have everything in one spot, but no I struggle against change and it seems like soooo much work. Ha! I know I am fooling myself. That’s why I am determined to use my Blogging Planner consistently for the rest of the year so that I am treating my blog as a business and have everything in one place for when tax time rolls around. I need to just stop procrastinating and do it!

All that to say that I do have other tools that I use to help me keep somewhat organized but they are all in different places. Not in just one spot. That’s what I think the Blogging Planner can do if it is used properly.

When I attended Brandcation in May, Trisha and Lynsey gifted all of us with this Blogging Planner, it also contained the contact info for all those bloggers attending, the PR info of our swag etc. in the front of the planner. This was a special deluxe version of the planner. The one they are selling will not contain PR or bloggers’ info, obviously. Now the planner is also available in two different sizes. I hear the large size is nice and spacious, more for your desk at home, while the smaller one is perfect to take with you when you are traveling to conferences and events.

Are you a blogger? Do you treat your blog as a business? How do you think this planner would help you?

You can learn more about the Blogging Planner or purchase it here.

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

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Family Movie Night and Snacks #Snacks4WimpyKid #CBias

Posted by html404 on July 31, 2012
in Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Fun Stuff, Movies, Uncategorized

Our family really enjoys watching movies. We enjoy a wide variety of movies from super heros to Ann of Green Gables. It has been a while since our whole family viewed a movie in the theater; probably a couple of years ago when we went to see the Tooth Fairy at the Wednesday Morning Movie Series – when they offer movies for $1! It’s a pretty cheap outing for our family. The guys in our family saw Courageous last year. However, we’ve seen no movies release in recent months. It would be kind of fun to see the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which is coming out in a few days. My older daughters and I have watched one of the others and laughed and laughed. I have sort of banned my boys from seeing the whole movie due to the rudeness etc. they seem to pick up on so easily – they come out with enough potty talk all on their own! They have seen clips of DOAWK though and loved it, of course.

Here’s what some of our family might look like in the DOAWK series:

Artwork compliments of our children

When we watch movies at home, our preferred movie snack is popcorn. We make it the old-fashioned way in a pot on the stove. However, when we go out I tend to make them eat something before we go out. Yes, to save money because snacks at the theater are pricey for ten people! I usually like them to eat healthy snacks, like fruit or something and Del Monte Fruit Cups are perfect for traveling or eating at home before going out. They are easy to offer as a healthy dessert after a meal too. There are two different kinds of fruit cups. One is in the produce section and the other is in the canned fruit aisle. We chose the one in the produce aisle as the ingredients seemed healthier and there was no added sugar. Apparently, these are different than the Fruit Cups as they are called Fruit Naturals, which I didn’t know until now. Oops. We have tried the Fruit Cups, just in May as a matter of fact, I just prefer snacks without added sugar or sugar substitutes, like artificial flavors, which I did not see on Walmart’s shelves in the Fruit Cups section, unless I missed some labels as I had already put the Fruit Naturals in my cart.

Robert’s aunt just sent us some money telling us that she’d like to see us use it for something fun and a Del Monte DOAWK family night would be perfect. That or go-carting and mini golfing. Maybe we’ll plan on doing all three to help celebrate the winding down of summer. August may turn out to be a busy, but highly entertaining month for us!

If you are planning on going to the opening of the new A Diary of A Wimpy Kid consider tweeting about it or Delmonte fruit cups as healthy snacks and please remember to use the hashtag #Snacks4WimpyKid and @DelMonteFoods

Watch Del Monte’s Facebook page for an upcoming Diary of A Wimpy Kid’s contest and be sure to enter too!

Do you have family movie night? What’s the last movie your family saw together? What snacks do you usually eat?

“This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All opinions are my own.”

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U by Kotex Beginning Period Discussions

Posted by html404 on July 24, 2012
in Family Stuff, Parenting, Uncategorized

The Talk. The Birds and the Bees. Period. Sex. The Passage of Becoming a Woman. Menstrual Cycle. Puberty. Whatever name you have dubbed it, if you have daughters, discussing a woman’s cycle is inevitable. My husband and I basically have three teen daughters (it will be official next year when our third daughter turns 13) in the house. I talked a bit about our beginning period discussions with my daughters here. As much as I hate to admit it, I am an older mom now in my 40’s- don’t feel like it though! – and know I have moms in their 20’s reading. I am hoping this post will be provide insight or ideas or maybe encouragement to you, especially if your own mother did not model how to go about having period discussions. A lot of moms feel inadequate, don’t we all at some point?

Due to my own mom’s lack of initiative in this area, I actually chose to be quite open and honest with my own children about our bodily functions and God’s purpose for them. From the time my oldest was old enough to know what my maxi pads were, she knew what they were for and where to get them for me if I happen to start and not have any in the bathroom.

I have always waited for my children to ask questions or for the topic of sex, man/woman relationships or periods to come up naturally, unless the opportunity arose that I could bring it up in a natural way. When these issues were discussed, I gave them enough information for their age, the time frame we had and topic of conversation. I found if I talked too much I lost my older daughter, if she asked more questions after a brief response then I tried to answer with more information. For the longest time with one specific question I responded with, “I know you want to know the answer to that but mommy just isn’t ready yet to tell you, but I will when you are older.” That day eventually came and it was as natural as a tea party. Seriously. We were sitting on our bed and it came up and I knew she was ready, I was ready and I think even her sister was there and I told them. There was no awkwardness, not until after the fact when I worried that I might not have explained it as best as I could.

The topics we discussed depended on the girls’ questions and how our conversation evolved. We would cover how much bleeding would happen, what they were to do if they happened to start away from home, where we would keep our supplies, how long a period lasted and probably more I can’t think of.

I actually did give them Maidens by Design to look over, with the intentions of us all doing it together, but we never did. If they had questions, they’d ask after reading it on their own. Maidens by Design is a curriculum for mothers and daughters to work through together or host a class for a group of friends. Just a fun twist on learning about something important in a girl’s life and celebrating becoming a woman. So much of being a woman is not celebrated anymore, especially compared to some countries.

As much as having a period is an inconvenience, there is a greater purpose for it and I want my daughters to recognize that and embrace it rather than grumble and complain about it all the time. This is something I tried to emphasize when having these beginning period discussions.

U by Kotex Tween is a great resource with a Q & A section to help inspire you on how to have those beginning period discussions. They also offer pads that are designed just for tweens. For more information, please visit U by Kotex Tween on Facebook, Twitter and Hello Period for tweens.

“I wrote this review while participating in a Brand Ambassador Campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of U by Kotex Tween and received products to facilitate my post and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

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My Long Lost Blackberry Smart Phone, Sniff & $40 Amazon Giveaway

Posted by html404 on July 21, 2012
in Giveaways, Techie Stuff, Technology/Electronics, Uncategorized

Some of you may remember the story of my long lost Blackberry smart phone (if not read about it here and here) but I’ll happily give you a brief synopsis of the story.

I loved my Blackberry. It was a cool fuschia color and I loved how fast I was getting at typing on the tiny keyboard – at least it was a keyboard, unlike my iPhone’s. But I digress. While I found certain aspects of my Blackberry mysterious to use, I was getting the hang of it and just as that was happening, the thing dies on me. Too bad objects can’t love me back and appreciate my love for them – by not breaking. Alas, they don’t and they do break.

I lost all my contacts and was unable to retrieve them. Thankfully most of the important ones were in my email files or in the hard copy address book. But what I could not retrieve are my photos. I was very disappointed. As you know photos have a lot of sentimental value in the memories they create and preserve. Another sore spot was fact I was never able to figure out how to back up my Blackberry.

The thing is the phone guys were unable to fix my phone due to not having the battery in stock. Whether that was a ploy to get me to upgrade I have no idea, but I needed my phone so I opted to upgrade. After all, you can live without their smart phone these days? I know I’d miss mine.

Content and/or other value provided by our partner, Asurion.

Would you like to save yourself the trouble of all I went through and have peace of mind with the content on your smart phone?

Check with your cell phone provider for the Asurion protection package. Asurion offers smart phone/technology insurance. It protects your data, privacy, provides technical assistance and service coverage to replace your phone. Most companies do offer this when you first purchase your cell phone so be sure to ask and you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble and heartache of losing precious photos and data.

Now you have a chance to win a $40 Amazon gift code! Just see the details below.

$40 Amazon Gift Code Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have fun and good luck!

Faith and Family Review is being compensated an Amazon.com gift card in exchange for writing this post. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

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Back to School Supplies #BagItForward #CBias @Elmers @Walmart

Posted by html404 on July 19, 2012
in Education, Giving Back/Charity, Uncategorized

We are only a month into summer but school will soon be starting back up again as back to school sales indicate. Most show their teachers appreciate at the end of the school year. Some may not even show their appreciate at all! For shame! But if you forgot to do it a month or two ago, I am going to share a way you can easily do for this back to school session.

As you know, we homeschool, and just like any other family purchasing school supplies is a little like Christmas around here. New glue sticks, new markers, new crayons, new pens and pencil and erasers you can actually find, are a source of rejoicing in our home. Seriously.

The other night my two older daughters and I went out to Walmart at 11:30pm to shop for quality school supplies at low prices for Elmer’s simple service project, which is a campaign supporting teachers by offering a donation of buy 2 school supply items and Bag It Forward to the teacher of your choice. My daughters were tickled to be out a midnight with mom shopping and we had fun.

To help with our shopping experience, I downloaded Elmer’s 1st Day App, which is also available at the school supply list holder. I simply went to the website clicked download and it was quickly downloaded to my iPhone. It is an app to help parents and children to capture the memories of the first day of school. It is available for a free download here. Using the 1st Day App will actually help drive donations to the Kids in Need Foundation which provides funding to teachers and ultimately kids.

We shopped for notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, more notebooks, glue, glue sticks and more pens and pencils.

Our donation gift is not wrapped in pretty paper or anything because our teacher is very practical and did not want wrapping paper or a gift bag wasted when the school supplies were just going on shelves.

This is going to be very weird and out of the norm for me in the giving back projects I usually participate in. My daughter was suppose to write this for me but she slept in! But here’s it is…we chose me as the teacher.

I admit my family doesn’t take time to officially show their appreciation at specific times of the year for all I do, other than Mother’s Day and my Birthday. However, there are little ways all throughout the year they thank me – my husband surprises me with big and little gifts when I least expect it or my oldest daughter will say she’s so thankful she’s homeschooled and will share that gratitude with me. There’s never been a time when we’ve taken our children on a field trip or another place that our children haven’t thanked us. So this simple service project was a way for us to get a jump start in purchasing school supplies for our eight children, as we go through a lot of school supplies. We are very grateful for this opportunity and privileged we have the option to homeschool.

My children woke up to the bags of school supplies yesterday and cheered, “Mom got school supplies!” And were soon asking for new markers and crayons to color.

I am still deliberating over who we could share a bag of school supplies with, as it just doesn’t feel right that we gave to us! Maybe I can call an elementary school and see if there’s a family in need of school supplies and give back that way.

Be sure to visit Bag It Forward on Pinterest, Elmer’s Facebook and Twitter. The Pinterest board has some very creative ideas!

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Elmer’s. #BagItForward #CBias #SocialFabric. All opinions are my own.”

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Back to School Savings

Posted by html404 on July 19, 2012
in Thrifty Thursday, Uncategorized

School supplies and back to school clothing costs adds up fast! Start shopping now to beat the rush and use these coupons to increase your back to school savings:

· Get $10 off 2 Jansport backpacks with this Target coupon (click for code, expires 8/4). You can also earn up to 5% cash back.

· For back to school clothes and shoes, save 10% off any order with this Kohl’s coupon (click for code, expires 8/23). You can also earn 4% cash back.

· Save with free shipping on orders of $25+ when you use this Scholastic Store coupon (no code needed when you click the coupon link, expires soon). You can also earn 7% cash back.

· Enjoy free shipping on orders of $50+ when you use this Office Depot coupon (no code needed when you click the coupon link, expires soon). You can also earn up to 7% cash back.

· Get 10% off orders $250+ with this SchoolSuppliesToYou.com coupon (click for code, expires soon).

Note: Cash Back rates can change from one day to the next. These rates were valid 7/13/2012.

BeFrugal.com offers free coupons and Cash Back, currently with an average rate of 7% at 3000+ online stores. For even more savings, sign up for a free account now.

To get the most savings, be sure you activate your account before you click to use the online coupon offers above. This way, you’ll earn Cash Back plus save big from using the coupons above.

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Mom’s Dream Backyard Oasis #SearsPatio #SummerWithSears #CBias

Posted by html404 on July 16, 2012
in Furniture, Home, Uncategorized

I love spending outside, especially in the summer. There’s just something relaxing and peaceful about being surrounded by nature. I get that from my mother. We have a beautiful spacious backyard here at the house we are renting. However, the patio is in need of a little love. We only have a couple of lawn chairs and that is the extent of our outdoor furniture.

We really do not have any outdoor decor either. That’s why I scoured Sears online catalog and Outdoor Living section last night and today looking for outdoor furniture and accessories to spice up our sad looking patio.

I have always been somewhat of an early riser. I love early mornings. I dream of creating Mom’s Dream Backyard Oasis. Of course it would be for the whole family but my plan is to use it in the early morning for some alone time. Whether it’s reading or getting a head start on blog posts or client work, I want to have a place to go that is all my own – at least for a short time during the day!

It was so fun to dream and create what I consider my dream backyard oasis. Below you will find my Polyvore Wish Board of most of the items I found that would make my patio more attractive and fun to spend time on. The one thing I did not do is consider cost as I chose things, after all this was a “dream”. When I dream I dream big and dreaming means money is not a factor. Sears does have a Shop Your Way Rewards program, but I did not get a chance to check that out, but I am thinking it might offer some sort of savings for a huge dream project like this.There’s also the Sears local ad to search for budget friendly items too and I think when the time comes for me to seriously plunk down some money for a whole new patio makeover, I would start with the ads, shop sales and watch for promotions.

Sears Style Hub really did not help me in my research, perhaps someone more design focused would find it helpful.

I thought Sears had a great selection and would definitely consider making my purchases there.

My online shopping experience was good. However, I did experience a scripting message last night that froze up my computer causing me to go to bed early to start fresh in the morning. That was one negative thing, the other was Polyvore doesn’t have their themes categorized, at least from what I could see so it took me a long time to find a board for the amount of photos I wanted to use. It was very time consuming. Uploading them to the board took no time at all, which was definitely a plus.

Here are the steps I took, starting with Sears online catalog:

Shopping the Sears Outdoor Living Section

Creating a Polyvore Wish Board

Adding Photos to My Wish Board

My Completed Polyvore Wish Board

Dream Backyard Oasis #SearsPatio #SummerWithSears by faithandfamilyreviews on polyvore.com

Here’s a complete list of everything above and a couple more. Please give a thumbs up to the items you like:

View List on List.ly

For those of you shopping for new outdoor items, Sears is currently offering:

Up to 30% off patio furniture and grills
All Grills on sale
Be sure to check out the Red Tag Event for great deals on Patio Furniture and Grills
More than 50% Off this Ty Pennington Style Halston 4-pc. seating set

Consider following Sears on Facebook and Twitter to receive more informational updates and promotions.

In the comments, tell me about your dream backyard oasis.

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Sears. #CBias #SocialFabric. All opinions are my own.”

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Livrada E-book Gift Cards Available at Target & Giveaway!

Posted by html404 on July 15, 2012
in Ebooks, Gift Ideas, Giveaways, Uncategorized

Disclaimer: Please note that I do not necessarily agree with the content of the books listed below. I am more interested in the idea of an e-book gift card.

Most of you know that I love to read. Love, love, love books. They are my dear friends that take me to new places and introduce me to new worlds. E-books have been around for a while. E-readers are still relatively new. I still haven’t gone over to the “dark” side. There’s just something about having a book in hand to read. I am intrigued though and maybe all the new e-readers will improve so much they’ll win me over. Either way, Livrada has come up with a cool new way to give e-books as gifts – Livrada E-book Gift Cards.

Today Livrada is launching their e-book gift cards at ALL Target stores! In this initial launch there are six best-selling titles available. Here are the current titles available:

Fifty Shades of Grey

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

State of Wonder

Gone Girl

Charles Street

Odd Thomas

No more gift via email or generic gift cards. Our gift cards are replicas of the actual book cover! So grabbing a quick gift, no longer has to feel impersonal.

And they have offered one to giveaway to our readers – YOU!

Now for the giveaway!

Giveaway of Fifty Shades of Grey Livrada E-book Gift Card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Watch for Brande’s future review of Fifty Shades of Grey and her thoughts on the e-book gift cards! Coming Soon!

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Last Day for the Taste of Chicago 2012 #seemoresights @Transitions @SocialMoms

Posted by html404 on July 15, 2012
in Eye Care, Travel, TV Shows, Uncategorized

It’s been an incredibly busy weekend. We went to look at a vehicle yesterday – a gas guzzler Ford Expedition – but the vehicle isn’t big enough. It was older but very clean and in good condition. We are talking about going to two vehicles instead of one big one. Then some of us traveled 2 hours in traffic to the Taste of Chicago 2012. It was busy. Slight rain did not deter people either.

I think it was busier than last year by the size of the crowds, but maybe not.

Lots and lots of people.

We ran into pockets of much needed rain, but it cleared up by the time we got to the Transitions booth.

While my husband drove around the block with our sleeping toddler, my rock star boy, Peanut and I went to get our free vision screening. The screening line went quickly and they were very efficient and wiped off the screening equipment after every person. That impressed me. The screener was very courteous. I didn’t learn anything I didn’t already know – all three of us are overdue for an eye exam and new prescriptions. That means the other three children and my husband are too since it’s been a couple of years since we went to the eye doctor. Bad, I know, but I plan to make our appointments this week as it makes my heart sick to think my children are not seeing as clearly as they should be. I have been experiencing mama guilt since last fall when we didn’t make our yearly appointments.

We didn’t know celebrity chef Robert Irvine is going to be at the Transitions booth today from 11am-1pm. We were very disappointed to find that out there. We like Chef Robert and watch his TV show Restaurant Impossible. The thing is I had already offered to volunteer at a local Folk Festival to help with the kids’ craft table. So even if we had known, my girls and I were already booked. Though, my husband could have dropped us off and taken the boys into the city.

If you are planning on going to the Taste of Chicago today, plan to drop by Transitions for your free vision screening and to meet Chef Robert. Even if you aren’t planning on going, Chef Robert is a great reason to go, don’t you think? Leave me a comment telling me what you’d say if you met Chef Robert or another celebrity chef.

While this is a part of Transitions #seemoresights series, this particular post was not a requirement. I chose to write this myself.

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TCBY Frozen Yogurt Pool Party #TCBYGrocery #CBias

Posted by html404 on July 14, 2012
in Food and Treats, Fun Stuff, Uncategorized

A couple of months ago a fellow homeschooler posted on our homeschool group that a friend was selling their pool. It was only used one season. We thought with all the land we had here that it would be great to have a pool to play in so we bought it. One minor detail….we neglected to ask the landlords first, as we really didn’t think it would be an issue. When we did, they talked among their sibling group – this sibling group manages the property since their dad has Alzheimer’s and is in a nursing home – they said no because it’s a liability. You don’t know how disappointed we were. Now we have a nice 15ft by 36″ pool sitting in our garage all boxed up waiting for us to find our forever home….some day.

How can we have a pool party then without a pool? We played in the water at the outside tap. All our garden hoses were out in the garden and in the pasture with the chickens so we filled up water balloons to celebrate and used the water at the side of the house; which also happens to leak and spray all over the place and acted as our sprinkler. We did look for sprinklers at Walmart when we went shopping but there was only one style available and after envisioning the children breaking it, we opted to save the money. Things break easily and fast and lots at our house.

We bought our treats though!

Video of who the little princess above was aiming for! See the video below to find out!

Our pool party was in celebration of National Ice Cream Day, which is tomorrow July 15. It has been super hot here lately. It’s like that every where from what we hear and read. And what better way to cool down than to play in cool refreshing water and snack on some TCBY Frozen Yogurt treats?! Fun, eh?

Leave a comment telling us what flavor frozen yogurt or ice cream you will eat in honor of National Ice Cream Day! Personally, I really like the Vanilla Bean, Orange and Chocolate. All the TCBY Frozen Novelties we tried are a hit with our crew. We really enjoyed TCBY’s frozen yogurt. Special thanks to #CBias for giving us the opportunity to try it for the first time! Hmmm…speaking of treats…wonder if there’s any left?

If you are interested in learning more about #TCBYGrocery, then please join us on Thursday, July 26, 2012 for a Twitter Party from 1-2pm EST. There will be chances to win some cool prizes too! In the meantime, check them out at TCBYGrocery.com, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and TCBY #CBias #SocialFabric #TCBYGrocery. All opinions are my own.”