Still The One giveaway

Being a Military Spouse, I love to find books and read stories about military life, and was happy to find this book, Still the One by Robin Wells. I'm excited about reading it, and I hope that you will be too.

Robin Wells takes us back to Chartreuse, Louisiana, for a deeply moving story of forgiveness and second chances.

STILL THE ONE

After Katie Charmaine's husband is killed in Iraq, all she has left is a closet full of his clothes, a few pictures, and fond memories. She not only lost her love, but her last chance to have the children she's always wanted. Until Zack Ferguson shows up in town . . . with the daughter Katie gave up for adoption nearly seventeen years ago.

Zack Ferguson has never forgotten Katie, or the one magical night they spent together. Seeing her again brings up a tidal wave of emotions: regret over the way he left her, anger at the secret she kept, and desire he hasn't felt in years. But he's in town for Gracie. Their daughter is sixteen, angry at the world, and-worst of all-pregnant. She needs the love of her two parents now more than ever. Can these three forgive the hurts of the past and open their hearts to each other?

Would you like a copy? I'm going to be giving away 5 copies so if you'd like to win a copy, please leave your entry comments below.

Main entry:
What has been your favorite romance book that you've read so far? I loved the Time Traveler's Wife. Even though she wasn't a military spouse, she went through similar things that we do because she always had to wait and wait for her husband to come home.

Extra Entries:
1. Follow me on Twitter
2. Follow my blog over on the left hand side by Google Friend Connect
3. Fan my Facebook page
4. Tweet about my giveaway and let me know you did.
5. Follow my blog on Network Blogs on the left hand side.

Giveaway will end June 30th. Only residents of the U.S. or Canada are eligible to win and No P.O. Boxes, please, per the publisher.

Krogers, Biggest Loser and a giveaway for $30 gift cards

I love The Biggest Loser, I had never watched it until the results show of Season 8, which I watched because I was hanging out with Baby D and just didn't change the channel. But I was moved by the show and the weight loss that the contestants had achieved. So I got sucked in and loved it.  The Kroger Co. Family of Stores (which is Kroger’s is a favorite store of mine, besides the commissary for groceries), General Mills, NBC’s hit TV Show “The Biggest Loser” and other key sponsors are partnering to donate up to $1,080,000 to Feeding America this year. If you watched The Biggest Loser, then you probably saw the ads for Feeding America and the Pound for Pound Challenge.

As the official supplier of the Biggest Loser Ranch and partner of the Pound for Pound Challenge, the Kroger Family of Stores wants to help you achieve your goals. If you´re a fan of the Biggest Loser, you may have seen several great General Mills products featured on the show. These products, including Yoplait Greek yogurt, Total, and Multigrain Cheerios, are available at your local Kroger Family of Stores and can help you stick to your weight management plan.
Want to do your part? Here’s what you can do to help.

·         Visit www.pfpchallenge.com/Kroger to make your pledge to lose weight and to get more information and to find tools to change your life for the better. It is free, easy and only takes a minute to make a change that can help you and help the hungry in your local community.

·         Through June 30, 2010, for every pound you pledge to lose, the Pound For Pound Challenge will donate 14¢ to Feeding America® - enough to deliver one pound of groceries to a local food bank.

So if you would like to win $30 gift cards to the Kroger family of stores which includes: Kroger, Fred Meyer, Ralph´s, King Soopers, City Market, Dillon's, Smith´s, Fry´s, QFC, Baker´s, Owen´s, Jay C Food Stores, Hilander, Gerbes, Food4Less, Pay Less Super Markets and Scott´s Food & Pharmacy, check out the ways to enter.
Main entry: What is your favorite general mills product? I know mine is Yoplait smoothies. They are wonderful.
Extra Entries:

1. Follow me on Twitter
2. Follow my blog (on the left hand side) by Google Friend Connect

3. Follow my Networked Blog page (on the left hand side)
4. Fan my Facebook page
5. Tweet about my giveaway and let me know you did. You can do this multiple times.

For 5 bonus entries visit http://www.pfpchallenge.com/Kroger and pledge your pounds for the cause. If you have already done this, just let me know. I know that I had already pledged my pounds early on. You can pledge up until june 30.

Contest Ends June 10th

Disclosure: Kroger Family of Stores gift card, information, and giveaway were all provided by the Kroger Family of Stores and General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

Getting to Know YOU Sunday

It's Sunday once again so I thought I'd participate in the Getting to Know YOU again this week, put on by MannLand5.

1.  Have you ever snooped around someone else's house?
Sure I did, but its been a long time ago.

2. Can guys and girls be friends? ( thanks Jen!)
Yep they sure can.

3. Can you curl your tongue?
Nope I can't but it would be fun to

4. Have you ever stolen anything?
Yea I did when I was little, but I took it back

5. Would you rather talk on the phone or text?
depends on who but I love texting. But there is the need for adult interaction at times too.

6. Memorial Day plans?
Going to a cook out, and hanging out with my boys

7. What do you do to relax?
Read

8. Do you do anything to honor those that have died fighting for our freedom?
When I was able to I would put flags on the headstone of my grandfathers that fought in WWII. I remember to be thankful for those that have fought and lost their lives for us and support those that continue to, which include my wonderful husband.

Colonial Williamsburg, free passes for Military May 28-31

Being a history buff, I've always wanted to go to Colonial Williamsburg. It's barely and hour or so up the road for where we are, but we've just not had the time or chance to go. So with hubs being on leave right now and this great news about Colonial Williamsburg being free for military this coming weekend, we are excited about taking Baby D and going. Here's some information that is on their website about this coming weekend.

Honoring Service to America

Free “Honoring Service to America” Passes Available May 28–31, 2010

From Friday through Monday of Memorial Day Weekend, Colonial Williamsburg offers weekend-long admission passes to active duty military, reservists, retirees, veterans, and their families.
The “Honoring Service to America” pass provides admission to Colonial Williamsburg exhibition sites, art museums, and most daytime programs. It also includes free parking at the Visitor Center, access to the short movie Williamsburg—The Story of a Patriot, and complimentary use of Colonial Williamsburg shuttle buses.
These weekend-long admission passes are available only at Colonial Williamsburg on-site ticket sales locations, including the Visitor Center, the Lumber House Ticket Office in the Historic Area, or the ticket window in Merchants Square. Appropriate military identification is required.

The service member need not be present. Free “Honoring Service to America” passes will be provided to immediate family members of currently deployed troops, with appropriate identification. Military veterans who separated before retirement can bring a copy of their honorable discharge paperwork, DD Form 214, as identification of service.

Mamavation Monday 5/24

Another week is here so that means its time for Mamavation Monday. Mamavation is a social media project to help mamas lose weight with support from other mamas on twitter and other forms of social media. The Sistahood is filled with all different types of mamas who have goals to lose weight, get healthy, and support others.Follow @BookieBoo and @Mamavation on Twitter to find some great support and get ideas for your weight loss journey.

My post this week is going to be short and sweet. I've been sick almost the whole week now, since Tuesday or Wednesday. It hasn't been too good for my workout, but I did lose 4 lbs. So I'm hoping that once this horrid cold is gone then I can get back to my stuff.

I hope that our moms @Rachel_L and @mentallyinked are having a great week. And Congrats to Kia @Bodhi_Bear for being our Sista of the week.

Getting to Know YOU

When I was reading through a fellow Navy Wife's blog last week (one Guy in a house of Girls) and saw that she had taken part in Getting to know YOU that is put on by MannLand 5

So here's my first Getting to know YOU.

1. Do you have a fetish?
Nope not at all
2. Do you sing in the shower?
Well yes and no, I use to a lot more when I had a radio in the bathroom, but to think up a song all on my own, well I dont do that very often. But if anything lately I'll hum the Handy Manny theme song.
3. Who was your first crush?
 actor Chad Allen from Different Strokes. Can you tell I'm an 80's child.
4. What do you think is the best manly trait a guy could have?
Being loyal and protective
5. Do you sleep naked?
Nope I have to have something on. 
6. What do you do when (you think) no one is looking?
sing. not the same as in the shower. But I know I do not have a great voice
7. What's the first thing you do when you go online?
check my email then my tweet deck and then facebook
8. Summer is.....?
way too hot sometimes. But its my bday time of year

Traffic- BLAH

Ya know, I really dislike traffic. I grew up in a small city and the most traffic that we usually saw was around the holidays and people were trying to get to the mall. But then I moved to San Diego and that was a fun experience. Drivers there are wild, and you have to learn to adapt so that you dont get into an accident with one of the many people who do not pay attention while driving. And I thought that the San Diego area and LA were bad. NO WAY. Moving to Hampton Roads and shown me a whole other side of the term 'aggressive driver'. And of course I can't say that all drivers in VA are horrible, crazy, insane drivers, because a lot of the time they are not from VA because so many people get placed here for work or military or whatever reason. But at least once a day on any type of road I drive on, someone almost hits me. The speed limit on the highways here is 55. You seem to have to go at least 65 so that you don't get rear ended, but that is still not fast enough for most of the drivers on the road. I firmly believe that some people have either a death wish or a holier than thou complex and just do not care or do not pay attention when they drive. I can not wait until we can move away from here. Ok Rant is over now.

Box Tops for Education, SuperValu and a giveaway ($25 American Express Gift Card)

So I'm sure there are plenty of us that cut off the tops of General Mills products to save Box Tops for the kids. Right now I send them to my friends children since my little man is only 7 months, but if there is still a Box Tops for Education program when he gets in school, you can bet we will still be collecting them. We do like Hamburger Helpers and Tuna Helpers here in our house, so we usually have a ton of Box Tops.

Right now there is a sweepstakes going on with SuperValu stores and Box Tops for Education, giving you a chance to win 50,000 bonus box tops for your school. That´s a $5,000 value! All you have to do is register at www.GrowingLocalLearning.com, and click the link to the 50,000 bonus box tops sweepstakes*. You will automatically receive 5 Bonus Box Tops just for signing up! Make sure to check and make sure that the giveaway is going on in your area, it is valid in certain areas. Here;s a little more about BTFE.

In fact, every year 24 million parents and children join in clipping Box Tops to support their local schools. As a result, SuperValu shoppers helped participating schools earn more than $10 million in the 2008-09 school year alone!

To make it even easier to participate in the program, the SuperValu family of stores (ACME, Albertsons, Cub, Farm Fresh and Jewel-Osco) joined Box Tops for Education in creating a website that not only tracks your Box Tops contribution and the school´s redemption, but also offers recipes, coupons, store promotions and more.

 But besides all that, there is a giveaway involved in here too. Would you like the chance to win a $25 American Express giftcard? Here's the deal, I'd like to know how many General Mills/Box Tops for Education products you could buy with the $25 giftcard. I know for us, since we shop at the Commissary, they have Hamburger Helpers for less than a $1 and so we can stock up on tons of those. Plus we were able to get General Mills cereals (Lucky Charms and Reese Puffs) around $2.50 a piece. So we stocked up on those items and a few more like Betty Crocker Potatoes and cake mixes. So for you, how many products can you get? Leave a comment down below with your answer and I'll use Random.org to pick a winner on May 31st at Midnite, the same day that the contest on Growing Local Learning site as well.

You can also get some extra entries (leave a comment for each one):
1. Follow me on Twitter
2. Follow my blog over on the left hand side by Google Friend Connect
3. Fan my Facebook page
4. Tweet about my giveaway and let me know you did.

Disclosure:  The American Express gift card, information, and giveaway were all provided by SuperValu and General Mills through MyBlogSpark. 


WINNER: Comment #11 Sepsi! Congrats!!! 

Happy Feet by Earth Mama Angel Baby

So I can attest that my feet hurt. For many reasons I'm sure, but getting up and down with a small infant is towards the top of that list. Waking up in the middle of the night, having to get a bottle, have to get a toy, having to move to another place, etc etc, well I'm sure you get the point. My poor feet are just screaming 'Please pamper us". I was given the chance to try out Happy Feet (100% Organic Herbal Foot Soak For Tired, Swollen Tootsies) by Earth Mama Angel Baby. It is an organic herbal foot soak, and let me tell you that just a little soak in the water helped relive some of that aches and pains that my feet were trying to tell me. Plus Happy Feet soften my feet which was wonderful with the fact that I LOVE Flip Flops and they are somewhat dry. Also since I have a cold today when I used Happy Feet, the peppermint that was used in it helped to open up my nose. Here is a listing of the wonderful organic parts that make up Happy Feet: sea salt, Epsom salt, Rosemarinus officinalis (organic rosemary) leaf, Mentha piperita (organic peppermint) leaf, Thymus vulgaris (organic thyme) leaf, Achillea millefolium (organic yarrow) flower, Lavandula angustifolia (organic lavender) flower and Rosa centifolia (organic roses) with Lavandula angustifolia (organic lavender) oil and Mentha piperita (organic peppermint) oil .  

Here is the product information as listed on the Earth Mama Angel Baby site.

Carrying around a whole lot of baby? How do your used-to-be-little feet feel about that? Yeah, we thought so. Make those swollen feet happy with this soothing organic herbal foot soak.
Mama's blend of organic lavender, organic yarrow, organic thyme, organic peppermint, organic rosemary, salts and organic pure essential oils added to a foot bath will pamper and perk up your ever-expanding ankles.
Great gift for dads too! After all, walking the floor with a fussy baby is a job for the whole family.

Antifungal herbs and essential oils also work great for those pesky gym locker room problems.

Check out their site for many other products that are organic and are for many different needs of you and your baby.

I was not paid for my opinion, I did receive Happy Feet to try and review.

Carrying around a whole lot of baby? How do your used-to-be-little feet feel about that? Yeah, we thought so. Make those swollen feet happy with this soothing organic herbal foot soak.
Mama's blend of organic lavender, organic yarrow, organic thyme, organic peppermint, organic rosemary, salts and organic pure essential oils added to a foot bath will pamper and perk up your ever-expanding ankles.
Great gift for dads too! After all, walking the floor with a fussy baby is a job for the whole family.
Antifungal herbs and essential oils also work great for those pesky gym locker room problems.

Do you need a bra makeover?

I know that I do. I've been measured several times to try to find a bra that fits, but when you get 3 different measurements from 3 different stores that have bra specialists, well you don't know what to do.With the weight loss that I've had and now also having a baby, you could imagine what shape, or lack there of my breasts now have. So I entered into a contest to try and win a trip to NYC for a Playtex Bra Makeover. Who wouldn't love the chance to film a webisode and get fitted for the best bra for your body. So here I am trying to win that. By posting this information, I am entered into a contest to win a free bra from Playtex. I did not receive any compensation for this post and thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Mamavation Monday 5/17

Well its another Monday, which means it's time for my Mamavation post. If you are new to my blog and have no idea what Mamavation is, here's the run down. Mamavation is a social media project to help mamas lose weight with support from other mamas on twitter and other forms of social media. The Sistahood is filled with all different types of mamas who have goals to lose weight, get healthy, and support others. I found the Sistahood by chance, and can say that I love what Leah (@Bookieboo) has done to help women get healthy for our families. Check Mamavation out if you are in need of support for your healthy life goals.

Ok well after that lil blurb, here's my post. I gained a pound. Not too big of a surprise since I've been under a BOAT load of stress. With dealing with my school work, attending tons of appts trying to get back into good health, dealing with the household since my husband has been gone and all that jazz, and tons of other things. But thankfully hubs has leave (aka vacation) coming up so we can share some of the load and I can focus on school and getting my workout on. Plus its that lovely time of the month, so enough said. But for this week I'm going to be working on fixing healthy meals and getting more fitness in during the day. If I just had a stand that I could stick my school book on while I use the gazelle. Maybe hubs can make me one.

Just want to give a shout out to our moms @Rachel_L and @Mentallyinked. They are amazing and doing great and I hope they have an amazing week. Also a big shout out to OpenSky, who has supported Mamavation and has provided their kitchen scales as prizes during the campaign. Also, do you have a question for Dr. Oz?? Check out @BookieBoo's post here about her upcoming trip to the Dr. Oz show. And this weeks Mamavation Monday show is about Pregnancy Fitness. Read up about it here, and check out our Mamavation Monday show here.

101 Things I Learned in Culinary School giveaway.

I enjoyed reading through the copy of "101 Things I learned in Culinary School"  by Louis Eguaras with Matthew Frederick, that I received from Hachette Book Group.  There is a whole website about 101 Things I Learned in (fill in the blank) school located here.


Here's a quick description of the book:

Louis Eguaras, a renowned chef at the Le Cordon Bleu Program at the California School of Culinary Arts, provides readers with a terrific overview of what is truly involved in the preparation, cooking, and presentation of meals. He also provides invaluable insights into just what is involved in making this one's chosen profession.

The book will feature a wide range of illustrated lessons, from how to properly hold a knife... to the history of food... from food preparation and presentation... to restaurant hospitality and management, and much more.

The book will be presented in the distinctive and highly-attractive packaged style of 101 THINGS I LEARNED IN ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL, and will be the perfect gift for anyone who is thinking about entering culinary school, is already enrolled, or even just the casual chef.

I've been working on cooking for the last few years. More so since I got married, but it sucks when you're married to someone who's home less than half the time. So I've been trying to come up with creative meals for just me. But I love cooking for others more. There are plenty of fun little facts included in the book. Like the different types of starch in potatoes. There are starchy potatoes, medium starch potatoes and low starch potatoes. Did you know that there were that many types? And they had different cooking uses? And what about the concept that Good beef is 30 days old? Glad I'm not that big of a beef eater. There are many more fun facts and ideas about cooking that anyone would be interested in.

So I'm able to offer up 3 copies of 101 Things I Learned in Culinary School so that you can learn some interesting things about cooking, or maybe refresh things that you already knew.

Main entry:
What's one thing you love about cooking?

Extra entries (leave a comment for each one):
1. Follow me on Twitter
2. Follow my blog over on the right hand side by Google Friend Connect
3. Fan my Facebook page
4. Tweet about my giveaway and let me know you did.

Hope you enjoy the giveaway. It will run till May 21 at midnight. Good luck.

Forgot to add the couple of rules from the company
-Only residents of the U.S. or Canada are eligible to win
-No P.O. Boxes, please.


UPDATED: Winners were comments 1 Sepsi, 5 The Wifey, and 11 Mrs. JPT. Congrats to you all. 

3 years

3 years. Wow, how slowly yet quickly 3 years have gone by. On May 6 was my 3 year wedding anniversary with my husband. I was lucky enough to have him home from his underway by the end of the day, which was exciting. So much has gone on in those 3 years that it should be reflected on a little bit. Our wedding day for instance. Well it wasn't the big shindig I'm sure most thought I would have. I flew to Groton CT and got married in the living room of a Justice of the Peace on a Sunday afternoon and then went to Ruby Tuesdays for a meal with my hubby. We then went to see Meet the Robinsons in 3D. I got food poisoning for eating shrimp (I'm not a big seafood eater anyway) so that sucked, and I had a 6 am flight back home the next morning since he had training the next day also. But nothing else matter but us saying our vows and committing our lives to each other. It took over a year before we finally got to live together, which was absurd given that he wasn't even deployed, it was just in school on the other side of the country. But there are rules that the Navy has, and as much as I hated them, we had to abide by them. But we did get to finally live together and moved cross-country twice together. And then went through our first deployment and a pregnancy apart together. But with all the complications that we've had, I would never once consider giving up the life that I have with my husband. He truly is my other half. And even though being a Navy Wife is hard, I love it and enjoy the pride that I feel for my husband. So 3 years down, who know how many more for us to go. But I'm glad that I get to spend the rest of my life with him.

Mamavation Monday 5/10

Well I'm down 2 lbs, yay. Now if I could just get under 190 I'd finally be happy. I started physical therapy on my back. With the exercises that I have to do I'm sure my arms will be really strong. But it seems to be helping with my back. My therapist said that if the pain is in the center of my back then its working. On another note. my blood work came back from last week, and I have a B12 deficiency. So now I get shots once a week for 3 more weeks and then once a month for the next year. But it should also help with my energy levels too, so here's to that. I've been walking when I can, and doing any thing that I can, but getting my die down has been a big part of it right now. My water intake has been increasing so hopefully that will keep going on. @Aquahydrate would be good for that. Check them out here , they seem to do water giveaways and much more.

My goals for this week:
1. Attend my physical therapy appts and learn ways to get my back into better shape.
2. Eat as healthy as I can, with hubby being gone and not here to cook for.
3. Start finding easier fitness routines to use until my back is better and all
4. To get through the mamavation sista posts finally this week.

Sorry I was around much last week, my computer got a virus then my tweet deck wasn't working so I just stayed off for awhile.

Mamavation Monday Post 5/3

Well here comes another month. I'm doing ok. I went to the doctor today about my leg, they are running some blood work to see if they can figure out what the problem is. Luckily the leg pain that I have is not always constant, but its bothersome when I'm walking. But we did make it to the park yesterday and the more that I walked the less the pain was but I'm hoping to get some word from the doctor soon. I've been trying to eat the best that I can still I'm not able to work out as much. I'm hoping that I can get some fitness in soon, but just limited as to what I will be doing until I get an ok from the doc. My husband is still being as supportive as he can, and my Sistas are a great support too.

The last week I've not been on as much since I was babysitting for another Navy wife while she waited for daycare to come it. Following around and taking care of two little ones is a lot of work, and I'm sure I burned some calories while doing that. I realized that hopefully it will be a little while before we have the next one lol. but who knows.

I want to say a big thank you to my Mamavation sistas who are such amazing women and who offer great support. I can't wait to get back to supporting everyone again. And to our Moms, you girls rock, keep up the great work you gals are doing. And a HUGE thank you to Earth Footwear who is amazing sponsor for Mamavation. I would really REALLY love to have a pair of Earth Footwear. I've heard amazing things and hopefully they would help me while I'm taking it easy until I can get back into my big workouts. Until next time, keep on trucking.