Recycling is Twice as Cute

October 31, 2008 By Momstart 4 Comments

Oh wow there are two separate things I want to blog about in this post, and I’ll show you why they are in the same post before I’m done.

First. Do you remember when i was talking about Smilebooks, Well it gets even better. How about Blurb. This is even better. You can create a 40 page book for 12.95. That is a great price for a photo book you create on your own. I am just really impressed with this and thankful to the Parent Bloggers Network for Showing this to me. You can even turn your blog into a book. WOW.

Two: Blurb and the Parent Bloggers Network are hosting a cute kid costume party contest. I have a costume that we used twice. Last year, my daughter wore it. She was just learning how to crawl. She was so cute. I am entering this into cutest costume under two.

I have another contest, and it is one that I have already posted but it is my favorite picture of the two of them in their costumes this year.

I just love how the two of them are looking at each other. It is so cute to me. So this one is the one I am entering into the Best photo Category. This picture was taken by a local photographer as part of a charity to my MOMS club. She only took five dollars and she only charged us 30 for this shoot and a Christmas shoot we have yet to do.

My final photo is my son in the tiger outfit. Both of my children are very happy children. We are so blessed in life to have these bundles of joy. This one I have having a very hard time picking which category to enter it into. I think I’ll put my little man in the Most creative costume. Now, you may look at it and say; that is not very creative, but if you notice, his costume was his sisters, his socks have some pink in them, they were also his sisters, and his diaper was his sisters. (NO it was not a used diaper, it was just purchased for her over a year ago.)

There are my entries.

Now what are we doing for Halloween. We are having a “trick” or “eat”. We are collecting food for the local food bank. My kids are two young for candy and I certainly don’t need it. We will also be going to one of the local malls with some friends and their son. He is the same age as my daughter so they play sometimes.

Filed Under: Blurb, Costume Contest, the parent bloggers network

Blog Party

October 31, 2008 By Momstart 2 Comments

If you go around visiting blogs like I do, you may have seen that different sites are having mega giveaways this month and next month. Well, Have you noticed my cute little button on the right for MomDot?

November is the month to enter enter enter.

You can find Tons of information Here and Here

You can even get a pre-entry by posting a post like this one. It is so easy to enter.

SO many contests.

If you can’t wait until then:

You can find a list of all the current contests for tons of blogs out there by visiting My Precious Pennies

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Dance Praise 2 The Remix = Family FUN

October 29, 2008 By Momstart 3 Comments

I had the honor of reviewing Dance Praise2 the ReMix by Digital Praise. This fun dance pad is targeted to families with children ages four and up, so I was delightfully surprised that we had a HUGE family fun night.

It was extremely easy to install. You plug in the USB and install the game off of the cd. After a few simple clicks the game is ready to play. You can have up to four pads going at once.

I started off with a single song and was exhausted after stepping to it. I loved watching my daughter try and copy me. She is almost two. My 6 month old also wanted to be involved so we picked him up and let his feet touch the corresponding arrow. Very exhausting as a parent, but what a fun happy family evening we had.

My husband was playing with all of the settings. Something he just loves to do with everything. He set the mode to calories and put in his weight. He didn’t realize how difficult it is to burn 100 calories. We then set off to using our hands to slap the pad. It was more fun for my daughter that way.

The problem with most dance pads (for me) is that I don’t know the music. I like to know the words to songs and since I listen to the local Christian station, I don’t know a lot of words to the newer mainstream music. I was also surprised that the music was the actual artists singing their songs. Oh, we really enjoyed this. It’s fun, just leaving the music playing in the background.

Here are some additions from the first version of Dance Praise that was a HUGE hit in 2006; these additions are sure to make Dance Praise the Remix even bigger:

A customized play list feature that lets dancers select, organize and dance continuously to their favorite songs;
Exciting “unlocks” that reveal additional dances;
An arcade-style Tetris stepping game using the Dance Praise dance pad;
A revised Exercise Mode with improved record keeping that lets users dance as long as they wish, while burning a targeted number of calories. The feature makes exercise fun, not only by tracking calories burned over weeks and months, but also by charting weight loss;
Individualized sign-in that allows players to track their high scores by song and skill level;
A new super-easy level so younger kids can dance successfully right away;
Four-pad capability that allows four dancers to play simultaneously – each at their own level;
All new 3D graphics, including silhouetted characters that dance in the background;
New bonus scoring items that add even more fun.

This is a great way to spend family time together.

Filed Under: Christian, Dance pad, Dance praise

Wordless Wednesday

October 29, 2008 By Momstart 12 Comments

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Meal Plan Monday!

October 27, 2008 By Momstart 2 Comments

Yes, this is helping me. To make a menu every week is keeping me out of the grocery store every week.

Meal Plan

Mon English Breakfast Sandwiches (I got two packages of Thomas EB muffins for less than a dollar)
Tue Sandwiches for lunch, chili cornbread mix for dinner (cornbread on sale for 20 for 10)
Wed Cornbread chili mix, and grilled cheese
Thur Chili dip – two meals
Fri Curry chicken sandwiches green beans
Sat curry chicken sandwiches, green beans, mexican
Sun mexican food, and mac and cheese and corn

Grocery list
Beans * 2,
baby food * 12
coffee creamer

I also made peanut butter and jelly muffins today. YUMMY and HEALTHY!

Filed Under: Cooking, Green bean, Meal plan

Traffic Source

October 27, 2008 By Momstart 12 Comments

We all want to know how to increase traffic. This is something I have been working on for a month.

My favorite thing to do, well actually it is a love hate relationship is www.entrecard.com
But it takes so much time.

I’ve also been trying to list myself everywhere.

BlogCatalog

These are slow but they do give you people every now and then. The more sources the better.

This site has a great list of traffic articles smartadvise.info

Many people have many different ideas on how to get traffic. One important thing is content. I see over and over again, that content is king. Well, it is true. You have to have something that interests people to get them to come back to your site. One site I read said that you really need to have at least five great how-to articles. Those are the ones that will get people to check you out. They also said that they should be about 500 words in length. I’m not sure I agree with this, just because I don’t want to stick around and read something really long. Hmm, what do you think?

I also found that commenting works wonders. Comment love, as some people call it. You leave comments and then others will come back and leave comments on you. If they find something they like they may even book mark you. This also takes time because comments should be relevant and not just Hey, love your site.

I have also joined a lot of communities:

Fun Places to Be

Something else I found that is great and I had no idea that this works, but it does. I had it happen to me. When you write an article, Do not copy and paste. I did this and I was so embarrassed when the person contacted me and told me to remove the content. Dumbo here, realized that is Plagiarism. Be kind, just link to them. LINK not copy. When you link to someone they can find out about it. They will thank you if you copy and LINK, they will not be happy.

So to sum it up

Content
Comments
Link
Blog roll exchange
traffic sources

Don’t be like me and expect fame overnight. It doesn’t happen that way. You have to get your name out there. You can make money too. Over the next week I plan to write two more articles (I have to gather some information first)

One will be
How to become a reviewer
and the other
How to make money on line (I have a small list I’m working on) My test site www.momstartjustadvertising.blogspot.com failed, but I did learn a LOT.

Filed Under: Comment, Love-hate relationship, Traffic

The winner is Plus 9 other lucky winners

October 27, 2008 By Momstart 9 Comments

True Random Number Service

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

24182826

3948412334

Timestamp: 2008-10-27 02:23:46 UTC

Numbers 15-25 (you win the ten coupon grand prize)

Heather’s Stitches said…
Morning,I’d love to be entered fro the coupons, I have a special dog named Sniffer, she is a mix and we have had her since my first girl was 3, now 3 kids later first girl is 9 and the youngest boy is 3…Sniffer has seen them all come home from the hospital..sniffed and welcomed them and allows everyone to climb all over her and runs after them outside..is very protective of her “property” and we adore Sniffer for it!I’ll post on my blog your give-away, come by for a chat!Heather
1
Anonymous said…
I am from the Free Shoppe. I would love to have one of the coupons! annabell88buess at yahoo.comThanks!
3-13
Clippergirl56 said…
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I am glad you told me about your giveaway. #1 I have two dogs who would love the treats…#2 Our area did not get the free coupons ours were only $1.50 off. I am definitely sharing your giveaway on my blog, selfishly for my dogs.
28
Anonymous said…
I am also from the Free Shoppe and my email addy is twingit@aol.com. I am upo early here in Calif. with my great pryenees dog, Sarge. He is HUGE! Thanks for doing this, even if I do not get a coupon. Have a great day!
26
Renee said…
I am from the Free Shoppe. I would love a coupon cause my new poodle has a pancreas enzyme production disorder and is limited to what kind of dog foods and treats he can eat. Pedigree is what I’ve got him on and he is doing very well with it!kturnerhinklin35@yahoo.com
42
I am from Free Shoppe and if you have any coupon left I would love to have some of the dog coupons I have 5 dogs . Thank you.. Donna bayedupfornow@yahoo.com
48
I am member of Freeshoppe and saw your posting on the dog food treat cpns for free, I would really love to be considered for this.Thank youMargieMargielittleton@gmail.com
47
Anonymous said…
I am from Free Shoppe. I would love these- well- more like my dogs would!!! joisie1978 at yahoo.com Thanks!!!

33
Anonymous said…
I’m from the Free Shoppe & would love any of the free coupons. My cocker spaniel loves them & I also donate food & treats to our local animal shelter. Thanks!
34
Anonymous said…
I’m from the Free Shoppe & would love any of the free coupons. My cocker spaniel loves them & I also donate food & treats to our local animal shelter. Thanks!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

In and Out

October 26, 2008 By Momstart 2 Comments

Do you ever think about the air you are breathing. Is it clean, is it fresh. How healthy is it to breath. It is something we all are required to do. When we are sick, it takes so much effort to breath in and out. Last time I was sick I felt like, wow, if I had to think about this right now, I wouldn’t be able to do it.

When I was pregnant and working, they decided to paint the store and stay open at the same time. I REFUSED to come into work during the painting. I wasn’t going to take a chance on my unborn baby that the paint they were using was safe or not.

What about buildings or schools. Is the air safe there. I don’t really like thinking about things like this because I feel like there isn’t anything I can do about it. What can you do?

There is a non-profit company that is thinking about this problem and DOING something about it. Kids spend 85 % of their time inside at school and home and indoor air is more polluted than the outside air. Greenguard Indoor Air Quality is overseen by Greenguard Environmental Institute. They are dedicated to improve human health and the quality of life through programs that improve indoor air and indoor products that affect air quality. Greenguard began testing products in 2001 and they have developed three different certification programs; one of them is for Children and Schools. Over 110,000 products produced by over 100 manufacturers have been approved by this program.

You can view the requirements:
Chemical Emissions From Building Materials, Finishes and Furnishings Test Method

Chemical Emissions from Cleaners and Cleaning Maintenance Systems Test Method

Chemical Emissions from Flooring Test Method

Now, I was looking through the Building materials, finishes, and furnishings test method and learned quite a bit. I never thought about the chemicals that are released by furniture, or just any product just sitting there. (Last year, we did learn that Christmas trees need to be replaced every five years because they start releasing lead, all of them do) So, they have created small chambers to test items like furniture.

Here is a list of certified products and companies:

VitalAir Air Purifying Filters

Lifekind Crib Mattresses

Naturepedic Organic Cotton Mattresses

BonaKemi Floor Cleaning Products

Lenovo Laptops and Monitors

Bernhardt Design Chairs

Q Collection Junior Cielo and Solare Cribs

AkzoNobel Freshaire Choice Paints

Benjamin Moore Aura and EcoSpec Paints

Sherwin Williams Dutch Boy and Harmony Paints

Wilsonart Sinks

Phifer Sheerweave Fabrics

Hunter Douglas Shades

Owens Corning Residential Building Insulation

If you would like to learn more about the air quality in schools

GREENGUARD Environmental Institute
2211 Newmarket Parkway, Suite 110
Marietta, Georgia 30067
1.800.427.9681
www.greenguard.org

Or leave me a comment and I’ll gather more information for you.

Filed Under: Air pollution, Air Quality, Greenguard Environmental Institute

Oh Crap

October 25, 2008 By Momstart 1 Comment

I have got to blog about something about me. You know, lately I’ve been so busy.

Oh, I have to blog about this lotion, or I have to blog about Pssst. I’ve had so many different things going on. I’m Glad, I just think this site it so MUDDY. I like doing Wordless Wednesday because then I can just put up a picture of my cute babies. Ahh, now there is a happy thought.

My coupon clipping has gotten quite lax. UGGG. I had to go to the grocery store today and I didn’t clip any coupons. I had to get bread and I couldn’t my bread coupon and both of my children were fussing. So I said oh crap, and for some reason, my daughter thinks this word is so fun to repeat. Crap.

I saved 25.15 and they didn’t do some of the coupons right, but I didn’t want to argue, I was too tired from the corn maze today.

I didn’t pay for the corn maze so that saved me 5 dollars or so, I’m not really sure. I didn’t even go wait in line. My friend said she waited in line and was told they aren’t charging adults and 2 and under is free, so I just said well, I guess we’re in for free today.

I did feel guilty until there was no tractor to pick us up when we were done. So I had to hike up the road with two kids on me. I no longer felt guilty. I should at least leave all of you with a photo of my kids but that would take even more work. I’m lazy tonight. It’s Friday. I have to pick a winner for my coupon contest.

Thanks for hanging with me.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

LeeLou Contest

October 24, 2008 By Momstart Leave a Comment

Monday kicks off the Leelou Launch Party, to enter visit her site. She is going to have TONS of awesome giveaways, new free layouts, free linkys and some exciting new announcements. The party will run every day from Monday to Thursday. So make sure you take a new launch button from her site to put in a post on your blog! You’ll need to make a post with this little linky gem in order to win.

Filed Under: blogger, contest, free layout