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The Night Before Back To School……

August 24, 2009 by Momstart 3 Comments

 

"JuiceBoxJungle has a funny show (see my sidebar) about Losing It that helps you feel better about yourself as parent and remember to enjoy those crazy times as well as the calm ones. What better time to remind ourselves of this than the beginning of the busy new school year. Cookie Magazine and the PTA are debuting School Year’s Eve this year to celebrate the start of the new school year and education by encouraging party-throwing and resolution making. They’ve asked – and sponsored – me to talk about my own School Year’s Eve resolutions. Here goes…”

 

Twas the night before back to school and all through the house there were screams of terror and mayhem about.. My children were crying, the lunches weren’t made, while I kept promising my daughter that her clothes would not fade. Once they were in bed and snoring with sleep, I made sure two alarms were set to go BEEP.

Well, that’s my attempt……

School Years EveBack to School means school supplies, clothes, getting to bed one time and lots of organization. Since my kids aren’t in school yet and I missed the boat on getting my daughter signed up for toddler school. I’m going to have to start looking for preschool for the year after next year if I want to get her into school. We have to do it really early. I have no idea what to look for in a pre-school. I have really high hopes, I would think most moms do. Hopes in my kids capabilities and the teachers that will mold them.

It’s going to be trouble but I want to get my daughter in some kind of class this fall too.. It’s going to have to be great for families because I’m going to need to take my son as well. Any suggestions?

Here are my resolutions for this school year.

1. Take my kids to the park a lot

2. Teach my daughter the alphabet and my son

3. Teach my kids to count to 20.

4. Make healthy food for my kids to eat.

5. Blog when my family is asleep.

6. Find lots of learning avenues for my children.

7. Save as much money as I can.

8. Share all my resources with my readers.

9. Organize my house.

10. Try not to suffer from mommy guilt.

11. Get my children signed up next year for something.

12. Read to my children

13. Sing to my children

14. Dance with my children

15. Make dinner three times a week or more.

 

Jungle Ad Network Blog Fodder by Cookie Magazine and the PTA

 

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With: Cookie Magazine, Jungle Ad Network

Guest Post – 9 Tips to Save Money on Back-to-School Shopping in 2009 by Leah Ingram

August 24, 2009 by Momstart 2 Comments

 

By Lifestyle and frugal-living expert Leah Ingram

According to a recent National Retail Federation survey, the average family expects to spend about $550 on back-to-school shopping. That’s way too much in today’s economy. That’s why I’ve put together these 9 tips that can help you spend $90 or less on your back-to-school necessities.

1. Get your child’s school supply list before you hit the stores. By knowing ahead of time what you need to buy, you won’t end up spending money on anything your kids don’t absolutely need for the first day of school.

2. Start by shopping at home via your kids’ leftover school supplies from the last year. This is a chance for you to inventory what you already own or what you still have from last year that you can reuse this year.

3. Focus your shopping in a store where you can buy all of your back-to-school necessities–from socks to scissors to sticky notes. By limiting where you do your shopping, you can avoid any impulse purchases that can happen when you go from store to store. For example, Walmart is the perfect one-stop-shopping resource that allows you to find everything you need in one place.

4. Make your kids pay for any "upgrades." If they need a basic pencil box–but want the SpongeBob version instead, that just happens to cost a bit more–that’s fine. Just make them use their allowance to pay for the difference.

5. Take advantage of bundle deals that can keep your costs in check. For example, Walmart offers an elementary school bundle of supplies where, for less than $9, you can get your crayons, glue sticks, markers, notebooks, colored pencils and more.

6. Shop with another mom so you can split the costs. Maybe your daughter needs only three spiral notebooks but there’s a great deal on packages of six spiral notebooks. If you bring another mom along, you can both get great deals on your kids’ school supplies and spend less overall.

7. Take advantage of price-matching offers so you can save even more. For example, if you bring in a competitor’s printed ad, Walmart will match the price on the same items it has for sale in its stores.

8. Stock up lunch-making supplies, such as reusable containers and refillable water bottles. Just by having your kid bring lunch to school everyday (as opposed to buying), you can save an additional $500 a year.

9. Use back-to-school deals to stock your kids’ closet. With tons of affordable fashions for kids during back-to-school, you can update your children’s’ wardrobe now so you’ll save yourself from shopping and spending later. Many of the low-priced apparel items you’ll find at Walmart during back-to-school season are basics that your kids will wear throughout the school year.

For more ways to save on back-to-school shopping, visit Walmart.com or Leah Ingram’s blog  Suddenly Frugal at www.suddenlyfrugal.com.

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With: guest post, Leah Ingram, suddenly frugal

Dole’s Bowl a Day Challenge FREE Fruit Bowl Coupon

August 23, 2009 by Momstart 7 Comments

BowlADay logo  If you Take the Dole Challenge and enter to win 300.00 then you will automatically be able to print a coupon for a free dole fruit bowl of your choice.

DOLE Fruit Bowls are a nutritious snack that are perfect for on-the-go snacking— for lunches, on road trips or whenever you feel like having a satisfying fun fruit snack. 

Sound like an ad? Well it is. I do get these bowls and the parfait’s are delicious. 

 

With DOLE Fruit Bowls, there are so many places and ways to enjoy a little fruit without the mess of cutting and clean up.

· DOLE Fruit Bowls are 80 calories or fewer

· DOLE Fruit Bowls are rich in Vitamin C

· DOLE Fruit Bowls are naturally Fat Free

· DOLE Fruit Bowls are low in Sodium

· DOLE Fruit Bowls have been honored as the ChefsBest® Award-Winner since 2004!

·

Go and register at  the Dole Kitchen at www.DoleChallenge.com, where you have three chances to win:

· Give a tip on how YOU enjoy Dole Fruit Bowls for a chance to win $300!

· Challenge YOUR friends to play along for another chance to win $1000!

· Then, reward yourself and download a FREE coupon!

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With: Bowl a day, Dole Challenge

New Pure Silk Shave Cream For Women Coming Soon to Mom Start

August 23, 2009 by Momstart 1 Comment

 

Plumeria shave cream Coconut & Oat Flour shave cream

Pure Silk

six decadent Pure Silk® creams – Plumeria, Citrus Zest, Peaches & Cream Sensitive Skin Formula, Raspberry Mist, Coconut & Oat Flour, and Melon Splash

have aloe and vitamin E

Retail for 1.79

Filed Under: announcements

Walmart has affordable laptop choices

August 21, 2009 by Momstart 1 Comment

 

Toshiba 17" Satellite L355-S7915 Laptop PC with Intel Celeron 900 ProcessorToshiba Satellite L355-S7915 ($348) – a 17” laptop with 3GB memory and a 250GB hard drive – great for work, movie watching and PC gaming.

 

 

 

Dell 15.6" Inspiron 1545 Laptop PC with Intel Celeron Dual Core T3000 Processor & Windows 7 Tech Guarantee UpgradeDell Inspiron I1440-3488 ($598) – a 14" Laptop with 4GB memory and a 500GB hard drive – a powerful notebook at a great price.

 

 

 

image HP Pavilion Slimline s5123w-b Desktop Computer ($498) – this desktop computer with a 19” HP 21907 widescreen monitor has 3GB of memory and a 320GB hard drive, perfect for students who prefer to keep their computers in their dorm rooms.

 

Visit Walmart’s blog Checkout for more ways to save money at Walmart.

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With: Checkout, HP Pavilion, Laptop sales, Toshiba

Enter to Win a 500.00 Gift Card to Walmart for a Room Makeover

August 20, 2009 by Momstart 7 Comments

When the dust settles next month or the next. Which children and the economy you never know what’s going to happen right?

Well, I would love to decorate my kids’ bedrooms. They are the colors that they are but they need more of a character. You know, the character that my kids illustrate.

KILZ and Lisa LaPorta (from HGTV) are giving away a 500.00 Gift Certificate to Walmart. This gift certificate is to be used for a Room Make over.

 

 

 

Anyone can enter the contest by:

§ Visiting www.KILZCleanStart.com and browsing Lisa’s project tips to help pick the room they want to enter for a makeover.

§ Click on the “WIN” tab to enter the contest in a matter of minutes –

I tested it out, it’s very easy to do. Then you can have the option to:

1. Tweet you message on Twitter, and/or

2. Post your message on a mommy blogger’s comments page

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With: giveaway, LILZ Clean Start

Hellmann’s and Billy Ray Cyrus are Feeding America and we can help with our Facebook accounts

August 20, 2009 by Momstart 1 Comment

Feeding America

Feeding America is one of my favorite charities because no one should have to go hungry. Today I’m writing to you to tell you about a program that Billy Ray Cyrus and Hellmann’s are teaming up. Mom Select told me about this opportunity.

As moms, we know that no matter what lunch we prepare for our kids, they always seem to want to swap sandwiches with their friends once they get to the cafeteria at school!  Which you can fight with some creativity but that’s another post all in itself. This post is about swapping sandwiches.

Hellmann's

When it comes to the time-honored tradition of swapping sandwiches, kids will do what kids will do. Thank Goodness, Hellmann’s® and Best Foods® Mayonnaise has teamed up with musician and actor Billy Ray Cyrus to encourage people of all ages to celebrate their favorite childhood ritual and join the virtual Sandwich Swap ‘n’ Share program to raise money for Feeding America®, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity.

How To Help:

For every sandwich created as part of the virtual Sandwich Swap ‘n’ Share program on Facebook.com/hellmanns, Hellmann’s® and Best Foods® will donate 7 lunches[1] to Feeding America®. 

So go to facebook and create a sandwich.

What you can get out of it:

If that isn’t enough to get you to click over right now, you just might win a $250 grocery store gift certificate.

Then get more donations

And for every friend on Facebook® that you share your sandwich with, Hellmann’s Facebook and Best Foods® will donate an additional 7 lunches to the charity.

So just by making a sandwich, and sending to four friends on the first day, 35 lunches will be donated.

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With: Billy Ray Cyrus, feeding america, Virtual Sandwich Swap

IHOP Kids Eat Free Every Day

August 20, 2009 by Momstart 1 Comment

IHOP Logo

One of my favorite places to take my children to eat is IHOP. We are a pancake friendly family.

These days going out to dinner as a family is expensive.  This summer, families can break out of their routine without breaking the bank by heading to IHOP, one of America’s favorite restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner, for its national ‘Kids Eat Free’ dinner promotion.  

Kids Eat Free EVERYDAY from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.

· Promotions runs from August 17 – September 13
· Families who dine in at IHOP daily will receive one free Kid’s Meal with each adult entrée purchase
· For more information please visit www.iHOP.com

FUN FACT:
· Kids who eat most often with their parents are 40% more likely to say they get mainly A’s and B’s in school than kids who have two or fewer family dinners a week. (Time Magazine, “The Magic of the Family Meal,” 6/4/06)

KEY: Spend time with your kids people!!!

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With: IHOP, kids eat free

Are you an Anne Geddes Fan? Did you know she sells clothing?

August 19, 2009 by Momstart 1 Comment

Anne Geddes Online Gift Shop

Not only does Anne Geddes produce some of the most popular photograph books of itty bitty babies, but she has a baby, toddler, and maternity clothing line.

I had no idea that this talented photographer had her own inspired lines. Well, that’s for good reason. They are just being released to America this Fall.

Anne Geddes’ collections will transform baby layette in America this fall when she introduces us to the best-kept baby secret from “down under”. This collection will start with a must-have garment called the pure Singlet™.

Anne’s whisper-soft design creates a comforting, gentle layer beneath baby’s outer clothing, one-pieces, tops, or pajamas; her classic Singlet is a nurturing, newborn-perfect top that protects baby’s chest area from chill and supplies a soothing layer in the cooler weather. It can be worn by itself on warmer days. Made of beautiful organic cotton, Anne’s softly luxurious pure Singlet was inspired by the singlets worn by every Australian and New Zealand newborn—an essential purchase for all caring mums.

That’s Moms here in America!!

 

clip_image001

· pure Singlet™ – A favorite must-have for babies “down under” that Anne is pleased to share with North American “mums,” this undergarment features Anne’s sweet newborn print at the front and soft muslin detail; $24.50;

 

 

 

I couldn’t find any other pictures for all of these other items but man, does she have a lot of cute stuff at her online gift shop. This is a list of all the items that are going to be released in this line later this fall.

· Cotton Lawn Gown & Petticoat Set – This gorgeous classic gown shows Anne’s sleeping infant print on the chest and a hint of muslin peeps from under the hem; the petticoat has delicate shell buttons on each shoulder; a lovely satin embroidered scalloped edge finishes both garments; $119.50;

 

· Cotton Lawn One-piece – The classic baby boy’s outfit, made from 100% cotton lawn, accented with muslin at the cuffs, ankles, and chest; with Anne’s charming newborn illustration on front and a satin-ribbon tie at back; $69.50;

 

· New Zealand Merino Hat – Pure and natural New Zealand-made merino wool combines with lightweight, open-weave muslin in this delightful hat, perfect for baby in every season; sold as a set with the Merino Booties – $39.50;

· New Zealand Merino Booties – Lined in 100% cotton lawn with an outer layer of lightweight merino wool, these super-soft booties tie with a satin drawstring ribbon at the ankle, and show Anne’s sweetest baby print on top; sold as a set with the Merino Hat – $39.50;

 

· New Zealand Merino Cardigan – A wonderful cardigan for baby’s homecoming from the hospital, with a curved front opening, a single wooden button closure, and Anne’s newborn illustration nestled on the front panel of this New Zealand merino wool and soft muslin

combination; $44.50;

 

· Organic Cotton Leggings – These soft footless leggings are made from certified organic cotton, finished with muslin trim at the ankle, and feature a small muslin pocket on the front, embellished with Anne’s sweet baby illustration “curled” inside; a soft fold-over waistband is gentle over baby’s tummy; $29.50;

 

· Organic Cotton One-piece – Perfect for everyday, the Anne Geddes pure one-piece is made from certified organic cotton, and features a sweet little muslin pocket on front, with a soft muslin trim at the cuff and ankle and natural wooden button closures at the pant legs and neck for easy dressing; $49.50;

 

· Baby Muslin Wrap – The ultimate in comfort for baby, this soft wrap is made from layers of 100% cotton lawn and muslin, with Anne’s gorgeous baby illustration placed subtly behind a muslin layer; $69.50;

 

· Baby Muslin Washcloth – Layers of 100% cotton lawn and muslin make this washcloth perfect for the wonderful bath time ritual of nurturing and bonding; trimmed with cotton, it will be the cloth every mother desires for baby’s soft skin; $19.50.

About Anne Geddes


One of the world’s most respected photographers, and a multiple New York Times and internationally bestselling author, Anne Geddes creates images that are iconic, award winning, and beloved. Capturing the beauty, purity, vulnerability, and preciousness of children, her imagery embodies her deeply held belief that every child must be protected, nurtured, and loved. Reflecting this belief, Anne Geddes and her husband, Kel, are committed to “giving back” and honoring the preciousness of children. That is why, since 1992, designated funds have been donated through the non-profit Geddes Philanthropic Trust to help prevent child abuse and neglect.
Anne Geddes’ images have been published in 83 countries, and been featured in her books that have sold more than 18 million copies worldwide and been translated into 24 languages. Her clothing collection, Anne Geddes Baby, was launched in 2001. For more information, please visit her website at www.annegeddes.com or the flagship Anne Geddes retail store located in the Downtown Disney® District, in Anaheim, California.

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With: anne geddes, pure singlet

Does your Cat Box Stink?

August 19, 2009 by Momstart 1 Comment

My husband and I do not have cats. We both detest cleaning the cat box. We even had one of those automatic litter boxes and it was a disaster. I mean, just a mess. So we don’t have cats. Well, Arm & Hammer wants me to share with you a deodorizer solution.

 

My Stepmom’s Trick – Just pour Arm & Hammer Baking soda directly in with the cat litter. You would never know she has three litter boxes in the house. I can’t ever smell it.

 

I’ll give you the facts on the new product but no opinion.

Deodorizer Spray

Now, ARM & HAMMER® cat litters are formulated with a new Ammonia Block formula that works differently. The improved formula instantly destroys the toughest odors on contact, even nasty ammonia odors caused by the breakdown of urine.

Powerful Baking Soda Crystals

The new Ammonia Block formula contains powerful ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda Crystals, replacing the baking soda powder in the existing formula. The baking soda crystals are boosted with additional ammonia neutralizers and are easily visible in the litter. They combine to destroy even the worst odor before you smell it.

What are the benefits of the new Ammonia Block formula?

Sizes· Ammonia Block ultra fast clumping formula immediately absorbs and locks in moisture

· ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda Crystals are a powerful natural odor eliminator

· Baking Soda Crystals allow owners to visualize the baking soda, providing outstanding odor fighting reassurance

· Now, ARM & HAMMER® cat litters are formulated with Ammonia Block formula, tackling ammonia odors like no other litter!

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With: Arm & Hammer Ammonia Block, Cat Deodorizer, Super Scoop

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