I have been entering lots of giveaways lately because, well, it's just fun to get free stuff. You also end up discovering new blogs that you would never had found if you weren't entering the giveaways. I have been particularly on the lookout for giveaways that have digital cameras as prizes. My Kodak point and shoot camera that I bought at Circuit City a couple of years ago finally died on me and of course it ran out just as the extended warranty that I paid for also ran out. So now I'm without a camera :( blogging is just not the same without a camera to take photos with.
Anyway, I've been entering lots of giveaways as I said, so now it's my turn to give something away. Three things, as a matter of fact. Check out these giveaways on my blogs:
PANTENE FULL AND THICK REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY
Win a year’s supply of Pantene shampoo AND $100!
IVAREST SUMMER SURVIVAL KIT GIVEAWAY
I received free samples of the Ivarest Cleansing Foam and Ivarest Poison Ivy Itch Relief to try out. Visit our backyard and enter for a chance to win a set. You’ll be glad you have them when you need them.
BOOK REVIEW & GIVEAWAY: YOUR FAMILY CONSTITUTION BY SCOTT GALE
I just read this book and found it very helpful and insightful. If you have kids, this is a great book to read when your family is in chaos and you are at a lost to how to regain control. Read my review and get a chance to win a copy of the book.
Also, please help me out and comment on my post, Summer Activities for Teens. I’m in a contest for who gets the most comments 
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This week is a 90 degree weather week for us. For some, those temperatures are scorching but for us, it is just a precursor for what's to come. We are actually thankful when it's a dry 90 degrees. Just don't let it be humid because then we'll surely melt!
One good thing about it is, we won't be needing any fat burner supplement in this weather! But we still do need sustenance and this is the time when we turn to our vegetables. Vegetables will fill you up but it also won't bog you down in this heat like meats can. They are also abundant this time of year. For me, I get them from my garden and from our local farmer's market. When they are at their freshest is the best time to cook them. They not only impart their best flavors, they also provide you with vitamins to keep your energy up. So check out some of our favorites from our kitchen...
Pasta Primavera and Opo Squash in Tomato Sauce
Garden Pasta Soup and Zucchini & Eggplant Stirfry
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I watched Nightline last night because I like that show and the president happened to be on talking about health care. If you hadn't already heard, health care reform has been a hot media topic lately. The president promises sweeping health care reform before the year is up.
I hope so. It's one of the issues closest to me because I have growing three kids and my husband and I aren't getting any younger. We need more and more visits to the doctor or to the dentist and everytime we go, even with insurance, we end up forking over more money that we really can't afford. Two of my daughters, for instance, have needed braces since they were in elementary school. They are now in high school and I can't afford to get them their braces still. Sure there are many ads out there for the Smile Doctor, the Frisco Dentist and others who claim to maintain your teeth at an affordable price. But 'affordable' is always relative. What they think is affordable isn't always affordable for me.
So yeah, I'm really looking forward to see how this health care reform pans out as I know a lot of people who are in the same boat as I am are also watching.
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I really, really need a digital camera! I miss my Kodak point and shoot that died on the last fishing trip when it was inadvertently dropped. I can't afford to just go out and buy one so you can imagine my excitement when I found out Amanda - A Stay at Home Mom's Point of View is giving away a Kodak Z1015 digital camera! The Z1015 is heaps better than my old one with more amazing features and zoom capability.
I've gotten slower with blog updates because I don't have a camera. It's amazing how I've gotten into the habit of photographing everything I cook and now that I can't, I feel like I'm missing something. Sort of like when you cook something and you forget to season it. So I hope I win!
Then I can also stop randomly meandering on the internet like a lost soul, stopping to look at sites about buried skulls, weird sea creatures, moving companies New York, plumbing DIYs, worm composting bins, and what ever else pops up. I know, it's a little pathetic.
I need a digital camera!!!! :)
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It's that time of year again, and yesterday we fired up the grill for the second weekend in a row. We grilled some
hamburgers,
hotdogs, pork chops and fish. I know, it seems like a lot but we'll eat off all that meat for at least three days. During the summer months, when we'd rather be doing something fun at the end of the day rather than cooking, it's a godsend!
The garden is also starting to put forth its bounty and yesterday, I harvested a basket full of green beans and peas. We made a quick
salad of it and along with some
potato salad, we had a feast on our table!
Grilling time actually makes us eat healthier and lower fat foods. Combine that with the fact that we also do more outdoor activities, why it's way better than the
best diet pills you can buy! The girls and I have started walking at least a mile everyday when I get home from work. They're out of school now for the summer and they are cooped up most of the day playing video games, watching TV or on the computer. We all need the time outside for some exercise and fresh air. This is the perfect time to do it too since it's not yet oppressively hot.
So have you fired up your summer yet? I'm so glad the for the warm weather!
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It seems only yesterday when we were sending out birth announcements. Kindergarten came way too soon. This week, I felt like like I've been through a whirlwind. My baby, my youngest daughter graduated from elementary school. Whatever am I going to do?
My baby will be in middle school next year and if her sisters are any indication of how fast time flies, she'll be graduating from high school before you know it! Oh, I know it's all part of the great cycle, but I just can't help but wish I could have held on to them a little longer. I miss when they were barely toddling and I could smooch them and hug them all I want. Now they are all biting at the bit, raring to go. Go, where, they're not sure either but go is what they want to do. If only it was easier to let them 'go'.
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Life has a way of interrupting blogging schedules and everything else. That's just what it did for the past week. Work schedule again got in the way of blogging. It was such a hectic week that I didn't even have time check emails! and I'm talking about work email, mind you. Never mind the hundreds that piled up in GMail and Yahoo!
I'm not complaining though. Well, not too much anyway. I actually enjoy having a hectic week once in a while. Pressure and sheer magnitude of the task actually made me more organized and efficient! What I would dawdle to do over a couple of days normally was accomplished in half a day! Yeah, I got it in me to accomplish large tasks, I knew that... I just wouldn't want to do it on a daily basis :)
Let's see, besides being my busiest week at work, my daughter also went to a two day seminar one town over last memorial day weekend. She also ended up having to get new eyeglasses which put a big ole $300 hole in my pocket. Not to mention that it's end of the year and it's finals time for the girls and my baby is graduating elementary school.
I seems like I just dropped her off at kindergarten!
All through that, wouldn't you know it, I was about a hundred bucks under budget because my insurance decided to take last pay period as a payment make up for a calculation mistake on their part! I was almost ready to take on some health insurance leads that were volunteered to me when I was griping about the cost of my health insurance. And oh yeah, that $300 hole? That's also because my health insurance does not include vision care so eye glasses are out of pocket! Now if that doesn't make you want to blow off some steam, eh?
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Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every 6 months. - Oscar Wilde
Everybody is Ugly is the blog for a fashion site that my daughter introduced me to,
Chictopia. If you have budding fashionistas like I do, this is a great place for them to share their fashion sense with other young people who have the same interests. Being fashion conscious doesn't always mean designer duds, a lot of the kids on the site shop at consignment shops and vintage stores, looking for unique clothes that expresses their personalities and uniqueness.
My daughter, for instance, like to shop at
wholesale clothing stores that sell their demo items. She figures she always gets a head start on what's new and upcoming in fashion. I like it because it saves me money!
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My youngest daughter will be transitioning to middle school by the fall. It seems like I just dropped her off to kindergarten! So what happened? Why is she going to big girl school all of a sudden?
She decided to attend an arts magnet school and I just went and registered her. She's excited because she will finally be getting courses that she has been wanting to take but was not offered at her elementary school. For her first couple of years she is scheduled to take guitar and piano. She has always wanted to play piano since she was six. She and her sisters have been teaching themselves on a keyboard but since she's going to be taking lessons I guess we'll have to think about buying a piano now. The only problem is finding a space in our small house to put it.
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Lisa reviews is giving away two beautiful Bright Green tote bags. According to Lisa's Review,
The totebag itself is made of 65% recycled bottles (which equals about 4 plastic bottles!). It is machine washable, and it sure beats using the plastic bags that you get here. It’s the little things that we can do that really make a difference, and Bright Green allows us to make those little changes. We all want to save the world, but we have to do it one step at a time.
So get on over to Lisa's Reviews and enter to win the
Bright Green Giveaway!
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