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Totino’s Pizza Products and School Giveaway
This is a sponsored review from My Blog Spark and General Mills.
If you have kids like my kids, when they walk in the door, their very first stop is the kitchen. Sometimes I feel as if I spend my entire life in the kitchen, either preparing, serving or cleaning up from multiple meals and snacks each day. Totino's can help change how much time you spend in the kitchen, with their wonderful Party Pizza and Pizza Roll Snacks.
A great after school snack, my daughters and I found the Totino's Party Pizza to be delicious with a nice crispy crust. Many prepared pizzas have soft crust or doesn't cook evenly, but Totino's delivered a great snack pizza, straight from the oven, in less than 15 minutes. If I had to pick a negative about this pizza, it would be its size. I'd like to see the pizzas come in larger sizes that would more easily accommodate three (always) very hungry kids.
Totino's Pizza Rolls are also a nice after school snack that can take the place of less healthy options. Loaded with pizza sauce, flavorful oregano and cheese, Totino's Pizza rolls make a simple, yet yummy and healthy after school snack sure to please even the pickiest of little snackers. Note to Moms: be sure to set your time for the lowest time first so as not to explode your pizza rolls all over the place. Yes, I learned this the hard way.
You can also feel good about purchasing Totino's products because they participate in the Box Tops program. Box tops earn money for your child's school so there's even more reason to put them on your grocery list.
If you would like to win this prize pack, provided by My Blog Spark and General Mills, simply answer the following question:
What are your essential "school ingredients" for starting the new school year off right?
The contest ends on September 29th. One randomly chosen winner will receive a backpack, a pack of hi-lighters, a floppy calculator, a brand new binder, two mega glue sticks, some bonus Box Tops and coupons to give Totino's a try!
Good luck!
BBM gives Totino's products. . .
Shady Day Sunscreen Wipes
My husband has a degree in chemistry and for the LONGEST time, I've been begging him to invent and create an SPF pill. After years of slathering goopy lotions on my kids at the pool and beach, it would be a fantastic improvement.
And then these Shady Day Sunscreen wipes arrived in my mailbox (thank to Mom Central). I'll admit it. They seemed entirely too good to be true. I figured they would either stink or be greasy and nasty, OR worse yet, they wouldn't work.
So, I threw them in my beach bag and we took them to the beach with us. When I pulled the first wipe out I was pleasantly surprised. I am frequently turned off by smelly lotions and products, but the fragrance on these was light and nice. The wipe itself was soft. I used it on both of my girls and on myself. One wipe covered my 4-year old's entire body.They are absolutely genius for the face. Say goodbye to sunscreen in eyes and gooped up in the hair.
I passed a couple wipes off to our hosts for the weekend at the beach and they liked them too. The feeling on the skin after gently moving the wipe over the skin was smooth and silky, not slippery or greasy.
I figured if they smelled this good and felt this awesome, they couldn't possibly work that well.
But they did! No one who used a wipe got even a spot of sunburn the entire weekend at the beach. The wipes were large enough that they really lasted and the time it took to use the wipes was next to nothing compared to the time it takes to lotion up every part of the body with SPF goodness. Another benefit of using these wipes is that they feel kind of cool, but in a good way. It's not like that brutal first squirt of sunscreen lotion that usually gives you a chill right down to your toes.
This is one product that I am totally psyched about! They're not cheap (about $14 for one pack of 15), but they are worth every penny (in my tired of slathering kids opinion).
BBM gives the Shady Day Sunscreen Wipes a . . .
This review is sponsored content from Shady Day and Mom Central. A product sample was provided.
What Matters to You: One-a-Day and Wellness
This is sponsored content from BlogHer and Bayer One A Day Multivitamins.
When it comes to the core components of life (relationships, family, money, nutrition, health), what matters to you most? It's a difficult question to answer because money doesn't mean much if you don't have health. Many of these components work within each other. But when I think about what matters the most to me, even when I haven't been my healthiest (three years of knee problems will sort of make you feel unhealthy), it's the relationships in my life that have carried me through the rough times.
After losing my cat at Christmas (had to put him to sleep on Christmas night-imagine telling your kids that when you walk in the door from the vet), and then losing my grandmother over the course of three hospital stays and finally a massive stroke that resulted in us moving her to hospice care, and then finding out I needed to have a third knee surgery, it's hard to feel positive about anything.
But then it hit me, that although these past months have been unbelievably challenging ones for me, although I've often thought "Why me? Why all of this now?" on more than one occasion, I realized I most certainly did have reason to feel thankful for certain things and people in my life.
First and foremost, these past months taught me that my neighbors are not merely neighbors; they are friends, dear friends. The people on my street and in my community rallied around me, bringing prepared meals and heartfelt wishes for personal peace, so much so that it was a bit overwhelming. My karate friends, some who hadn't seen me in months, showed up and offered me emotional support even though I haven't been able to attend class. I am so very thankful for the friends that I have in my life, those near and those far away, who are always able to make me feel better whether it's a personal visit or a phone call. I am so very blessed with an amazing support structure of wonderful people. Relationships, meaningful ones, can make all the difference in your life.
When you're not feeling at your best mentally, and when you're having trouble digging yourself out of the doldrums, having a good support system is key to getting yourself back on track. Speaking of getting yourself on track, there is an interesting little tool that you can use to help you keep track of and continue to work on your own wellness goals. "What matters to you" is a great website, sponsored by One a Day Women's Multivitamins, where one can navigate around a relaxing website and focus in on your own personal goals. Whether you find your goals and a healthy lifestyle by using this site or not, the pictures and the ease of navigation alone will delight your senses and relax you.
And here's another thing that can delight and relax you. . . winning $150. For your chance to win the $150 giveaway from BlogHer, please answer the following question in the comments below:
What matters to you more?
For another five chances to win $150 from BlogHer, make sure you visit this page so you can check out all of these sponsored posts and up your chances at winning. There's also an additional chance to win a $100 Visa card on the main page! Winner will be chosen one month from today!
Crystal Light Review #4: How Do You Get Enough Sleep/Rest?
This is sponsored content from BlogHer and Crystal Light.
I am a night owl, plain and simple, which means that having a class that starts at 8 a.m. is a bit inconvenient for my sleep schedule. I've found that if I continue my night owl ways too far into the semester, it doesn't take long for me to get cranky, miserable and completely sleep-deprived.
And let's be honest. . . once you have kids, taking a daily siesta isn't about to happen. So, how does a busy Mom with a crazy schedule that defies her night-owl status survive?
First, I don't believe in this "early bird" business on weekends. Weekends are two wonderful little days where I allow myself to catch up on sleep. You won't find me at the gym at 8 a.m. on either of those days. In fact, you'll be hard-pressed to find me out of my pajamas by noon, especially in the winter. Hibernation people, it's a good thing.
Second, when I'm tired, I rest. I once read a study about sleep deficits and how if you're sleep deprived, you actually have more horrible driving skills than someone who is drunk driving. There are some days when I am just completely wiped out. Those are family movie days in Mommy's bed and they work wonderfully. If I find the right movie (insert Mickey or Princess anything), I can totally zonk out for a good hour IF my daughter doesn't decide that today will be one of those days where she thinks it's fun to pry my eyeballs open. Most of the time, this little rest is enough to rejuvenate to the point where it can get me to bed time.
Finally, even if I can't get some quality daytime shut eye, sometimes just kicking back on the sofa while the kids play nearby is enough to get a second burst of energy going.
Another way to fake it if you don't get enough sleep is by infusing your body with good things to keep you going. Crystal Light Sunrise does just that with a dose of 100% Vitamin C and other nutrients like calcium. Filling your body with good things can definitely help with your energy level and keep you feeling energized, even if you stayed up way too late watching Iron Chef.
To enter for your chance to win the $1000 sweepstakes or to visit other reviews of Crystal Light, please visit the round-up offer page here. For official rules on entering, please visit here. To check out my other posts on Crystal Light and for your chance to win even more, please visit my Crystal Light homepage.
AND now, for your chance to start commenting and winning (a $100 Visa card), please answer the following question in the comments section:
If you don't get enough sleep, how do you compensate and feel more rested?
Crystal Light Review #3: How Do You Keep a Positive Attitude?
This is sponsored content from BlogHer and Crystal Light.
Quite simply: I don't keep a positive attitude all the time. But as someone who is about to embark on a third knee surgery for the same problem, I would say that I'm about as skilled as they come when it comes to keeping a positive attitude and trying to see the bright side to things.
My family and I recently had a rough couple of months which ended with my grandmother passing away after almost a week on hospice care. It was so very difficult not to feel sorry for her and for ourselves going through something so horrible. But when I spoke at her funeral, only days after her death, I was able to keep a positive attitude, even then, when I was completely emotionally and physically exhausted.
Instead of looking at those eight days of her last hospital stay as a burden, I chose to interpret them as something else. I said during her eulogy that those eight days gave us all time to tell her how much we had loved her and how much she meant to us, instead of the other way around for a change. It took eight days for her to pass because it took us that long to tell her all we needed to say.
Yep, I'm quite skilled in keeping a positive attitude. One of the ways that I do this, is by always trying to see the "reason" behind things. For example, tearing my ACL and the subsequent surgeries and months of physical therapy that followed, was no walk in the park (not even a leisurely crutching-your-way through the park). However, my physical therapist and I became great friends and I was able to become really good friends with his wife as well. Silver lining. It's there. Sometimes you just have to look for it. Sometimes, the only thing that allows you to see it is time.
Sometimes, keeping a positive attitude comes from making a couple simple choices, that in turn make you feel good about yourself which allows you to continue the whole positive vibe indefinitely. Choosing to eat healthier for a couple days in a row can do that. Choosing to eliminate sugars from your liquids can help you do that too. I eliminated sugars from my liquid intake after having gestational diabetes, and Crystal Light and their infinite number of choices helps to make that easier to commit to, without a doubt. With an infinite number of possibilities and recipes everywhere that include Crystal Light in them, it's easy to start making positive changes in your life, which will most likely result in a more positive attitude.
To enter for your chance to win the $1000 sweepstakes or to visit other reviews of Crystal Light, please visit the round-up offer page here. For official rules on entering, please visit here. To check out my other posts on Crystal Light and for your chance to win even more, please visit my Crystal Light homepage.
AND now, for your chance to start commenting and winning (a $100 Visa card), please answer the following question in the comments section:
What are some things that you do to keep a positive outlook on life?
Getting Rave Reviews
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