Mommy Has To Work: A Box Tops for Education Giveaway and Sweepstakes

Mommy Has To Work is holding a "My Blog Spark" back to school prize-pack giveaway. Contest ends 08/08/2009. Click "HERE" to go directly to her contest page and enter! Continue...

Favorite Kid Photos "Don't Blink" Blog Hop

I have so many favorite pics! But I did manage to narrow my pics to one of my son and one of my daughter. What a fun bloghop! This 1st one is my son Joshua. We went fishing in Cloudcroft NM. The first few fish we caught he was scared to death of! By the end of our trip he decided he liked the fishies :) Lol,It was soooo cold in the morning and I didn't bring him enough clothes. What a parent huh? So that's a pair of my warm ups I put on him. This next pic is my daughter Jeanette graduating from kindergarten. She was so excited! And we were so proud and teary-eyed :) Ugh! She is now in college. Then for her H.S. graduation they sung "Don't Blink by Kenny Chesney", talk about pulling on the heart strings! Below is a YouTube video. Not mine, someone else uploaded it. I just added it to share it with you. Ok, blog posting is not suppose to make you cry! Continue...

KIDO'Z Kidsafe Web Browser

I am an odd one I know ;) My children are already raised. I have no grand-babies or any on the way but I have a hobby (maybe an addiction?) of downloading all the newest freeware programs, games and cool stuff for kids. I have already downloaded all the nursery rhymes, learn to read, learn to spell, learn Spanish and keep collecting all the Disney films because someday my grand-babies are going to think grandma rocks! Or who knows what the terminology will be by then! I have always thought it would be wonderful to see someone create a browser just for kids. This last week I received an email introducing me to the new KIDO'Z web browser. The KIDO'Z browser is free to use, free to download and best of all it is completely kid-safe. Needless to say, I now have my own copy of the KIDO'Z web browser to add to my collection! It took me about 2 minutes to download and install this cool kids browser and it's not a memory hog on your system resources either! Of course, I had to play with a few of the games, puzzles, parental settings and so forth. This browser is great! Your children won't be able to wonder off to any inappropriate sites. KIDO'Z web browser is totally kid-safe and all links within the browser are self-contained. All outside links are blocked. Yet, this browser offers a large variety of fun kid things to do. Children are able to surf sites, play games, and watch video's, read books and so much more. KIDO'Z is simple to use even for the youngest of children because it is point and click and very interactive both visually and audibly. For the real test, I had my sister-n-law bring over her twin girls. I turned the browser over to them and of course they loved it! Not only that but, they found games that I had no clue existed? Educational games to challenge their spelling and math skills! Ready to try this browser for your little ones? Simply Click Here to begin download of your KIDO'Z browse safe internet. Continue...

MckLinky Blog Hop Favorite Recipe Or Meal July 21st 2009

Old El Paso Enchiladas Being born and raised in the great southwest,I've come to love spicy foods. My favorite meal comes from Old El Paso Products. A plate of Enchiladas, re-fried beans and Spanish rice. I have a short story to share with you before posting this recipe: I am sure it’s pretty much the same for most of us. We grow up not thinking much about how food, music, tradition and so many aspects of our lives stem from our roots. I am addicted to Jalapeno’s! I knew that but I did not realize the impact it would have on me if I were not able to get my hands on them. Did you know they don’t sell jalapenos at the Burger Kings in Hawaii? They offered me hot sauce instead! They don’t sell them at the Pizza Hut and they don’t carry them in the grocery store! The canned ones yes, if your lucky but the fresh ones? Forget it. Two weeks, no jalapeno’s. My digestive system went haywire! Anyone been to Hawaii? Finding a good Mexican food restaurant? Not happening! I now add a few to my purse when traveling! No Joke! With that being said, here's the recipe. I am not Mexican. I’m a whitey. I don’t boil red chili pods to make my enchilada sauce, and rarely do I cook Spanish rice from scratch. I use Old El Paso products to create my favorite Mexican dinner. Ingredients: 1 – 32 ounce cans of Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce. 1-16 oz can of Old El Paso re fried beans 1-16 oz can of Old El Paso Spanish rice. 1 Package Of Old El Paso Taco Seasoning Mix 1 lb. of pre-cooked ground beef. Drain fat. ½ cup of finely chopped white onion 1 lb of shredded sharp cheddar cheese 8-12 Corn tortilla shells Fry the corn tortilla shells lightly, only till they are soft (3-5 seconds on each side). Use a paper towel to blot excess oil and set aside. Grill onion in one 1tablespoon of cooking oil until lightly browned; add pre-cooked ground beef and the package of Old El Paso Taco seasoning mix. Cook another 2 minutes or so until well-mixed then set-aside. Heat the Old El Paso Enchilada sauce and line up your serving plates. Submerge one tortilla at a time into the sauce and place onto your plates. Top each with some hamburger mix and some shredded cheese. Pour some extra enchilada sauce onto each and repeat the process for desired number of enchiladas. Serve with Old El Paso Refried beans and Old El Paso Spanish rice. 1 fresh jalepeno Yum! Continue...

A little of this and a little of that!: How young is too young

Haunting text messages sent to your childs cell phone. She has included a video link to her post. If I were 10 years old and got that, it would scare the crap out of me too. A little of this and a little of that!: How young is too young Continue...

The Devil's Company by David Liss Giveaway

Thanks everyone for entering my contest! Congratulations "Rita (drala625)!" You are my winner of The Devil's Company by David Liss! I've sent you an email. Please contact me within 72 hours :) One of my lucky readers will win a brand new copy of The Devil's Company by David Liss. This novel was just published on July 7th, 2009 and I was fortunate enough to win one! However; I am pressed for time these days. It would be awful to let this book sit on my shelves! David included a letter thanking me for my support of his previous books and a synopsis to introduce "The Devil's Company." This book sounds so good! If you win, read and love this book...please spread the word! Author "This is my third novel featuring the protagonist Benjamin Weaver, and it is probably my favorite of the three. It is certainly the one I had the most fun writing. Like its predecessors, it examines important issues in today's world - in this case, corporate power - through the lens of the 18th-century Britain. I hope you might consider spreading your enthusiasm about The Devil's Company to friends and family in person and online, whether it's through a personal blog or website, a social networking page, or sites that sell books. I hope this early gallery will be a small token of thanks for your enthusiasm and support over the years. I would love to hear from you so please let me know what you thought of The Devil's Company." Review taken from Amazon Books Website. "David Liss spins another rollicking tale of murder, blackmail, intrigue, espionage, and phaeton chases. I was caught in the action in the first few pages and could barely put the book down until I was done! Often times I peg the plot in a book like this quite a while before the ending, but this book kept me guessing right up to the end." Click HERE to read the remainder of this review along with more great reviews written on David Liss books! Ready for the Hoops?! 1st Entry: (Must be completed prior to all other entries): Click HERE to visit the personal website of David Liss. Have a look around then return here and leave a comment on my post to share a tidbit of information from David's site. Share anything from his Bio, Blog, Other Books Written. You decide, Just Share! Additional Entries: (Each counts as 1 extra entry). Follow me on twitter HERE. Link to me by any method (Leave link in comments). Mention or blog this contest somewhere else (Leave link in comments). Contest open to: US Residents, 13+ Contest ends: 08/16/2009 Thanks For Entering Everyone & Good Luck! My winner will be very happy! Continue...

Old El Paso Enchiladas

Being born and raised in the great southwest,I've come to love spicy foods. My favorite meal comes from Old El Paso Products. A plate of Enchiladas, re-fried beans and Spanish rice. I have a short story to share with you before posting this recipe: I am sure it’s pretty much the same for most of us. We grow up not thinking much about how food, music, tradition and so many aspects of our lives stem from our roots. I am addicted to Jalapeno’s! I knew that but I did not realize the impact it would have on me if I were not able to get my hands on them. Did you know they don’t sell jalapenos at the Burger Kings in Hawaii? They offered me hot sauce instead! They don’t sell them at the Pizza Hut and they don’t carry them in the grocery store! The canned ones yes, if your lucky but the fresh ones? Forget it. Two weeks, no jalapeno’s. My digestive system went haywire! Anyone been to Hawaii? Finding a good Mexican food restaurant? Not happening! I now add a few to my purse when traveling! No Joke! With that being said, here's the recipe. I am not Mexican. I’m a whitey. I don’t boil red chili pods to make my enchilada sauce, and rarely do I cook Spanish rice from scratch. I use Old El Paso products to create my favorite Mexican dinner. Ingredients: 1 – 32 ounce cans of Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce. 1-16 oz can of Old El Paso re fried beans 1-16 oz can of Old El Paso Spanish rice. 1 Package Of Old El Paso Taco Seasoning Mix 1 lb. of pre-cooked ground beef. Drain fat. ½ cup of finely chopped white onion 1 lb of shredded sharp cheddar cheese 8-12 Corn tortilla shells Fry the corn tortilla shells lightly, only till they are soft (3-5 seconds on each side). Use a paper towel to blot excess oil and set aside. Grill onion in one 1tablespoon of cooking oil until lightly browned; add pre-cooked ground beef and the package of Old El Paso Taco seasoning mix. Cook another 2 minutes or so until well-mixed then set-aside. Heat the Old El Paso Enchilada sauce and line up your serving plates. Submerge one tortilla at a time into the sauce and place onto your plates. Top each with some hamburger mix and some shredded cheese. Pour some extra enchilada sauce onto each and repeat the process for desired number of enchiladas. Serve with Old El Paso Refried beans and Old El Paso Spanish rice. 1 fresh jalepeno Yum! Continue...

Congratulations! I Have A Winner: Hotel For Dogs DVD Giveaway

Thanks everyone for entering my contest! Congratulations "Melissa!" You are my winner of Hotel For Dog's On DVD! I've sent you an email. Please contact me within 72 hours :) Continue...

Request A Product Review

I Welcome Product Reviews Do you have an excellent product that you’re wanting reviewed or want to host a giveaway? After reviewing your product I'll be sure to get the word out and give my reader's an honest and accurate opinion of your item(s). Additionally, hosted giveaways of your product will be further promoted by: 1. Submission to many major contest and sweepstakes sites. 2. Twittered and linked to many blog-giveaway sites via Mr. Linky (an incredible tool to get the word out in the blogger community about your product(s) and giveaways. TERMS: Real simple. All product reviews are free of charge with the exception that I keep the product once the review has been completed. I am open to all reviews that are family friendly. I would also love to do product reviews for new services, software, games, freeware and utilities. Email me and we can work out any further details. I will respond within 24 hours of receiving your email to discuss any details that might not have been mentioned here. Thanks, Have a great week! Continue...

What is PR? Can I Do Product Reviews?

What is PR? Can I Do Product Reviews? There are hundreds or maybe thousands (I have no clue) of new posts written daily by blogger’s. Many topics yes, but within the topics themselves you find them discussing their interests, opinions and views. And more often then what you might think, they are discussing interest in the newest products to reach the market. The “must haves” and “I can’t wait till it’s out!” Companies offering excellent products look to blogger’s like you and I to review and promote their product. In return for this service you often get to keep the product once it’s been reviewed! Blogger’s fit the perfect profile. They are naturally curious, often opinionated and have a natural gift for gab, gossip or whatever you want to call it. We post, have followers, and are highly active in the social networks. We have numerous contacts! We buzz across the Internet discussing the newest trends, deals, current sweeps, giveaways, and of course the best new products on the market! Bottom line being we get the word out, the product is highly promoted and a good number of the population has been reached! Sound fun? Still interested? I had no clue where to begin or who to contact. I guess I could have just started emailing the blogger’s holding PR’s but that’s rude and many would consider that as Spam. Google searches led nowhere, my kids are raised, and my site is more of a freebie site, most PR’s are Moms testing products for their babies and so forth. So I had pretty much given up on the idea of doing Product Reviews. But this last week while searching for more links to place on my site, I found the “Blog Friendly PR Button" located on Sara's "Reviews & Giveaways" blogspot. I left her a comment thanking here for placing the button there and how grateful I was to find it. She replied and was very kind in giving me some pointers! Well that is pretty much all you need to get started! You will receive a response email after sign up letting you know what is needed next. I've added it below if you would like to take a quick look: From: The Blog Friendly PR Team, Let's get you started. Below is the list of the info we need from you, please let us know if you have any questions or comments. You can find our badge under Link To Us on the main page of Blog Friendly PR and we would love for you to display it on your site. If you need any help with anything feel free to let me know. * denotes required fields Name of Blog*- Blog URL* - Description of your blog (around 150-200 words)* - No. of Subscribed Readers* - No. of Blogger followers (if applicable) - Google Page Rank* - No. of current monthly page stats - A link to view your page stats (if available)- Contact info (either your name/email or your name/link to your contact page)* - Twitter ID - Links to 3 of your best reviews or writing samples* - Main category you'd like to be listed in (please only choose one)*There were several to choose from a main category, then are also to choose 2 more from the sub-category list. If you have not included a 125x125 blog button in your original email, please attach one now. Submissions without blog buttons will not be listed. If you need a basic graphic button made up for a fee of $5.00, please let me know in your response. YOU BUTTON MUST BE 125 X 125 in size before you will be listed. If you need it re-sized there is a $2.00 charge. And, last but not least...How did you find Blog Friendly PR? Jyl (www.blogfriendlypr.com), where we believe that If you think you're too small to make a difference, you've never been in bed with a mosquito! After reading through the above list, I realized how much I still needed to do and sent a response email with all my questions. To: Jyl Nipper or any member of the PR Friendly Team. Thank you so much for your fast reply.Upon reading through the list of information needed from me, I feel I need more time to prepare for these reviews. I've not posted enough writings or reviews to offer any insight to my writing ability or style. I have no clue what my Google rank is or how much traffic I receive to my site. I am certain however; that I can offer my readers an accurate and honest review of products I’ve tested.Meanwhile,I plan to make many visits to the Blog Friendly Website where I know I can find answers to all my questions! And eventually join the ranks of “Product Review” bloggers. Looks like you have an awesome forum! Catch you there! P.S. I'm wishing to use this data in creating a post for my blog. I think it would be a great intro. Let me know if that's a problem ok? Thanks! Kathy Jyl responded to my email and I am including it just to show you how awesome and helpful they are at Blog Friendly PR. “Not a problem at all Kathy. If you have questions that come up feel free to ask. We will be happy to help you get started in any way that we can. Your Google rank...not sure what browser that you use, but you can Google the key words, “page rank add on” and you will find one that you can add to your browser. They tell you what the rank of any page that you visit is, not just your own. To find out your subscribers, you can use the Google feed burner, it used to be called Feed Burner I think. You can also ask other blogger’s and most will always be willing to help you with things like that. Just let me know when you get ready to list. You are still welcome to use the site and contact some of the companies listed to see if they will do a review with you. It never hurts to try. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have been told no just to get a few that say yes." Jyl Continue...

Crafty Mommy Madness: Another Blog Secret

Ran across this post and had to add my 2 cents. I hate filling up my email with spam as well. I am always signing up for stuff. I use a really neat tool for this. It's a disposable email. Use it to signup for your freebie. Respond and discard! It's a Firefox add on and you can check it out here: SPAMAVERT. Quoting from link:"Spamavert was born out of annoyance at the amount of junk mail we received. A lot of the junk mail came from companies we at one point had a relationship with, even for something as tiny as downloading a piece of software. And we were annoyed at those companies, because there is no need for them to have our e-mail addresses. So a solution was born; Spamavert. A simple idea of disposable e-mail addresses evolved into a nice, free service for anyone who might be interested." Continue...

Blerp! New Tool For Bloggers. Gonna Make Our Lives Soooo Much Easier!

Just found and signed up for blerp! This tool is sooooo cool! Quote: Taken from Blerp's about page HERE."Blerp allows you to start discussions right on top of your favorite websites. Unlike typical web comments, you are in full control. You can post on any webpage you choose, regardless of whether they permit user feedback." <<<==== Not sure I like that idea ;) "In other words, Blerp transforms the entire Web into one giant forum where everyone can participate. Getting started is as easy as adding a comment, video or photo to a webpage. You can start a new discussion and anyone who’s interested can join in. You can also share your blerps with your friends. In this way, blerping becomes a social experience, where you can track what your friends are saying all across the web, and they can follow your conversations and join in at any time." I haven't tried out all the features as I just joined like 15 minutes ago. But it sure makes twitter and feeds easier. You can also add the Blerp Button Widget for your site: Quoted from: Blerp's Widget page: HERE.The Blerp button is a great tool for site owners and blog publishers: * Allow your users to give you feedback * Build community and stimulate discussions on your site * Generate buzz within the Blerp community * Drive traffic from Blerp to your website * Promote content by virally sharing it through Blerp's network Gonna go check out it's other features now. Hope you do too. Continue...