Running away? I'll help you pack.: May 2010

Monday, May 31, 2010

(CLOSED) Perricone Giveaway (Up to $150 product of your Choice)

Ok mom I must say sorry I remember being in my teens making fun of mom for using eye creams and other skin creams. I thought she was nuts for spending large amounts money on these things. Well here I am in my 30's and find myself now going to the same make-up counters and finding the best creams. I know the old saying you become your parents is more truth to that then I ever knew.

Taking care of your skin is very important, working for a plastic surgeon for many years I saw skin come in all shapes with all the different damages one can do. Let's just say to get your skin back to normal is NOT a cheap experience along with the pain that comes from peels and lifts. Yup say spend the money on the creams you'll thank yourself later!

Now I introduce you to Dr. Nicholas Perricone a board certified dermatologist. Working for in the medical field let me just say board certified is VERY important, this means extra steps and schooling along with having to go threw a board of your peers to get this title. Dr. Nicholas Perricone a best seller on the New York Times #1 list has done years of research to find the reason behind inflammation. He found that inflammation leads to skin problems like no girls friend breakouts, dreeded wrinkles and the evil of all evils loss of firmness.

You can find Dr. Nicholas Perricone on several tv appearances such as Today Show, Oprah, Larry King, 20/20, Good Morning America, The View, CNN, Access Hollywood & Man others.

One lucky winner will get a chance to win a product of your choice up to $150!

Just a few of his wonderful products!

BUY IT: Head over to Perricone to pick out your favorites.

WIN IT: Tell me what Perricone Product you would choose make sure it's (up to $150.00).

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Giveaway ends 6/14/10 Only residents of the U.S. or Canada are eligible to win.

I was not paid for this review these are my opinions and experiences. No monetary or any other form of compensation was given to me.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

MSM ~ Boneless Ribs in Crockpot

Happy Memorial Day everyone, hope you're having a great day and make sure you take a moment to thank those who served and serve our country. I'm blessed to have the life I have because of amazing men and woman!

Today I bring you a yummy crockpot recipe, I had one of dad's beers left over and the supermarket had the Boneless Ribs on sale (I used pork, sorry my non pork buddies). I found this recipe on another great blog and had to try it out. Thank you to Cheryl check out her recipe HERE. This was amazing, Cole even had seconds on this one! VERY easy to make and don't worry the beer cooked down and just have a great hops flavor to the meat.

4-5 large boneless beef ribs

1 pint of beer (use a light Lager, we used Red Stripe)

1/2 to 1 bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce

1 cup of Fresh Pineapple chunks

1/2 onion, sliced thinly

Salt and Pepper

Bring your ribs to room temperature and blot them dry of any moisture, salt and pepper both sides

Sear the ribs using a very hot pan and a bit of oil, sear on all 4 sides of the rib

In the meantime place your thinly sliced onions on the bottom of your crock pot

Place your seared ribs on top of the onions and add your beer and enough barbecue sauce to cover the ribs

Add your pineapple chunks and cook on high for 6 to 8 hours, the longer the better

Serve with rice or mashed potatoes

ALEXIS NOTES: I of course used pork instead of beef, they were on sale for $1.19 a pound can't beat that. I of course am a lazy crockpot user and didn't sear the ribs, I just threw them in and it turned out great. I had a red onion so that is what I used. I also had brown rice left over from my Bzz Agent Kit to review and loved it. Again for my crock pot liners so it was a overnight soaker but that was my own fault. Enjoy I promise you'll love it! I'm on a beer kick funny I don't drink it but I baked with it two days this week.

Linking up with Think Tank Momma for her Delish meme. Check out her site for more recipes :).

The Promise of Lumby Book Review

The fourth addition in my favorite series is great, they just keep getting better and better! I'm telling you this is a series I could read and read again. Usually I'm a read once and I'm done, but these characters have grown on me and I feel like I know them personally. Gail Fraser has the best way of writing that makes you feel like you're sitting down with some old friends talking about what is new in town.

The newest addition to The Lumby Series is "The Promise of Lumby". When the beloved vet has gone threw with her promise to retire the town just doesn't want to hear it. They don't believe she would actually leave them. Weeks before leaving the town for good for a long overdue vacation and then on to move closer to family her clinic still hasn't sold and it's looking like the town may not have a vet anymore. That is until a stranger comes to visit. Dr. Candor is a mystery and is looking into buy the practice. The town that usually doesn't like anyone new is opening their arms wide open to fill a much needed spot in there town.

Dr. Candor keeps to himself doesn't answer many questions which leads Dennis the owner of the local newspaper to want more answers. Can this man be for real or is he hiding a deep secret? While Dennis and the Mayor Jimmy D start to question Tom and his past, Tom falls for Mac the towns best craftsman or should I say craftswoman. Tom tells her about his past the accident that his wife was in that lead to a mishap while he was performing surgery on a very rare panda. That one moment led to so many things that went wrong, he lost his job, his wife who was pregnant by someone else and the life he knew so dearly. He paid his dues and earned back his license, all he wanted to do was to start over and leave the past behind him. He didn't want pitty so he never told the town about what happened and when the newspaper detailed only about he loss of his job and the poor panda, it looked like the town turned on him.

Going back to face his past and leave Lumby forever he asked Mac to come with him. Will the town figure out what happen and know that they pushed away a great man? Tragic events may just lead him back to Lumby and for good. Add in the monks from Saint Cross who are receiving exotic animals as gifts and you may just have a zoo on your hands! Trust me I was laughing out loud yet again reading this. The people at the gym think I'm nuts, I'm giggling in the corner holding a book and trying not to fall off the machine.

Thank you again FSB you have given me the gift of the best series I've read in YEARS.

BUY IT: The Promise of Lumby paperback for $15.00, currently on sale at Amazon for $6.00 or on Kindle for $12.99.

I was not paid for this review these are my opinions and experiences, I received products to try and to tell how I liked them. No monetary or any other form of compensation was given to me. I review products free of charge to give my experience and opinion.

Lumby's Bounty Book Review

As you know I'm in LOVE with the Lumby books, I've already made it a goal to meet Gail Fraser the author of this amazing series. Lumby is set in a small town in my home state Washington. Just one of the reasons I love the series. The other is Gail's writing style it just keeps you wanting to turn the page and find out more about this unique town. I promise you will laugh the whole way threw these books!

Lumby's Bounty is centered around a hot aired balloon festival. Turns out the towns misfit son signed the town up to hold the festival. Not knowing anything about hot air ballooned they form a committee with Mark (the owner of the Montis Inn) as the leader. Mark can never do a project with out something going wrong. Of course the first balloon attempt goes terribly wrong, let's just say the Monks at the Saint Cross Abbey an hour away had some roof damage from a fly away balloon.

Thankfully two men visiting Saint Cross come to the rescue who have experience with building and flying Hot Air Ballooned. The small town of Lumby don't always take kindly to new people and this is no exception. A romance blossoms with one of the foreigners and one of the most prominent ladies.

The first balloon sewn by the Mayors wife sadly didn't survive a mishap, can she make a second one in time for the big event? Along with the goings on of this huge event they will encounter bad weather, rumors and a budding romance. This was a fast read that I was sad to put down! Hank the plastic flamingo that is the town mascot of course makes several appearances and helps keep the humor and the town never having a dull moment.

Enjoy I promise you'll love it and even better you'll find some amazing recipes in the back of the book! Thank you again FSB, I truly cherish this series and think Gail needs to write them faster because I'm not sure what I'll do when I reach the latest one.

BUY IT: Lumby's Bounty paperback for $15.00, currently on sale at Amazon for $10.20 or on Kindle for $12.99.

The Happy Stepmother Book Review

As a step daughter I know the unique dynamic of the role of being a stepmother. We fit right into the percentage of what is now called "the blended family". As we know it doesn't always go smooth. Stepping into the role as a stepmom is a hard role to fit into, the mold that was left behind may just not be the same shape of the new mom to be.

Being a stepmother is a hard balance between knowing were you fill and where you step back. Many families with stepmothers find themselves caught between trying to please both the children and of course their husbands.

Dr. Rachelle Katz, Ed.D., LMFT founder of the website stepsforstepmothers.com created a book to bring you to the Happy Stepmother faze. Full of stepmom stories, tons of tips, strategies to help find that happy place you've longed for. As for all mom's one of your the tips that is a must take care of yourself. Stepmom or not you feel better if you have a positive outlook things around you are better. I know most of you are saying yes you say take care of yourself easier said then done. Believe me it's a hard one for me too, but as she points out in the book there are simple and easy ways to make this part of your life. One of the things threw out the book is the importance of journaling. Along with that are questions for you to answer during different chapters of the book.

You're not alone and believe me there are many things that can help you become a happier person and stepmother. Even though I'm not a stepmom I found several things in the book that was very helpful for just being a stressful mom on the go.

BUY IT: The Happy Stepmother: Stay Sane, Empower Yourself, Thrive in Your New Family for $15.95 or currently on sale at Amazon for $10.85 and on Kindle for $9.99.

Thank you again for FSB for another book that is close and dear to my heart.

EyeGlasses My Future is Looking Clearer

Oh how eyeglasses have changed since my younger days. I remember when I was in Junior high and volunteered to be the person who checked off that everyone in the class got their eye check. Yup I marked myself as having one when I didn't I couldn't take a chance I would have to wear one of these to school. No four eye comments wanted for this girl!

Sadly I got older and could not avoid it any longer I dreaded going to the doctor to get prescription glasses. I had images of those glasses from my youth or worst my poor dad wearing the glasses referred to as "Coke Bottom Glasses". I was so worried my vision would bring those glasses to my future.

Since driving or walking with out little blurry items in my way, I couldn't put glasses off any more. Thankfully I walked in and saw all the beautiful glasses and was told that I too could wear those glasses. Who knew I could be hip and fashionable, with the other ladies and another crutial part I could drive with out those darn blurry spots. Oh yes I found out those blurry spots were other cars, yup that's a helpful thing to be able see!

Now with a busy life, 2 kids and a husband in tow my time is rather limited and going to shop for things on my own is not always something that happens. Thankfully we have the internet these days, what would I do with out it? All I know is I can contact my eye doctor have my prescription faxed over and order my glasses online! Oh yes the small things that can make my life so easy! Order online and shipped to my house, I don't even have to get out of my PJ's for that, well maybe to walk to the mailbox but even then I could go out in my PJ's!

And since you all want to be rocking like me with glasses I have a coupon code so you can order yours online also! I know it's because I love you like that! Head over to order your glasses online at the check out enter the code MOMMY10 to receive 10% off the already discounted glasses!

Thank you to GlassesUSA for the coupon code to share with my readers! And hang in there gang I will be sporting a new pair of glasses soon to show off! Oh yes a girl can never have too many pairs of glasses. Isn't funny the girl who avoided them at all cost loves them and can't wait to accessories with them!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of GlassesUSA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Queen of Your Own Life Book Review

Awhile back I caught a Kathy Kinney & Cindy Ratzlaff on a talk show talking about their new book Queen of Your Own life. I just had to read it. First off I just LOVE Kathy Kinney, who played Mimi for years on "The Drew Carey Show". She has the best sense of humor in all the interviews I've seen her in and of course who could not laugh at Mimi and her troll dolls?

Currently I am not at the middle point in my life but as we know time flies and who doesn't want to read up and humor to what I need to look forward to. The book is written with the perfect spice of humor and life lessons.

How the book started, this is what made me laugh because my mom has said this same thing! Kathy couldn't sleep one night because her feet where hot, so of course what does one do when we can't sleep we hope on the internet. Yup I've never done that (as I write post at midnight ... lol). As she searched about hot feet she found that sites said she was in the "Crone Stage" get ready sit back and just except your in the ugly part of your life. Nothing like being told you're a Crone Aged women to set out to write the book to let others know you're just at a new and exciting part of your life!

Kathy & Cindy met up for a Girls Getaway (I so need one of these) for travel and dinning and the thoughts came together became the hilarious book Queen of Your Own Life: Welcome to the Rest of Your Life!.

A taste of what you will find in this book:

Seven gifts
Here are the seven gifts you’ll give yourself by reading our book:
1. Claim your beauty and feel your power
2. Clean your mental closet and find your Queen voice
3. Admire yourself for who you’ve become
4. Build deep, fulfilling friendships with other women
5. Establish firm boundaries that will strengthen all of your relationships
6. Discover the simple trick to finally being happy
7. Proclaim yourself Queen of Your Own Life

Enjoy I promise this is a perfect book for yourself or a GREAT idea for a Mother's Day Gift!

BUY IT: Queen of Your Own Life for $18.95 currently at Amazon on sale for $11.07 or Kindle for $9.99.

Thank you again to FSB for another funny book to my collection!

Mimi (Funny Lady) Of course Kathy in real life with Cindy!

Saturday, May 29, 2010

(CLOSED) $25 Gift Certificate My Baby Clothes Boutique

Baby Clothes sure have come a long way since we were young. I so rocked the corduroy rompers & whatever was handed down to me. Now days they have the most adorable clothes and what little girl could be a stylenesta with a rocking Baby headbands.

My Baby Clothes Boutique has the cutest items I'm a little jealous that one of readers will receive a $25 Gift Card. I found some of my favorite summer outfits, since it's getting to short season! Isn't that tutu the best thing you've ever seen? I so want to borrow a friends little girl just to dress them up in that!

Make sure to check out the Last Chance Clothes section for some great deals! There is some great discounts on some really cute outfits. They even have some Tutu's in there!!! The whole site is dedicated to finding the fashion forward baby clothes at a steep discount. You know longer need to be Brad & Angie to have stylish and hip clothes! Watch out world our babies will be giving those Hollywood babies a run for their money ... truly a run for the money sense you'll be saving so much and able to buy even more!

One Lucky winner will win a $25 Gift Certificate to their My Baby Clothes Boutique site.

BUY IT: Head over to My Baby Clothes Boutique and find some amazing deals.

WIN IT: Check out My Baby Clothes Boutique and tell me what you would spend the $25 Gift Certificate on.

EXTRA ENTRIES - Do as many as you like just leave a separate comment for EACH:

Add My Baby Clothes Boutique to your blog roll - Send a email to Shannon@mybabyclothesboutique.com for a Special TREAT Plus (4 Extra Entries)
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Retweet and let me know you can always click the retweet button (2 Extra Entries) can be done daily. Running away? I'll help you pack.: $25 Gift Certificate My Baby Clothes Boutique http://bit.ly/bklkJZ
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Blog about the giveaway or on your side bar (3 Extra Entries)

Giveaway ends 6/14/10 Only residents of the U.S. or Canada are eligible to win.

I was not paid for this review these are my opinions and experiences. No monetary or any other form of compensation was given to me.

Friday, May 28, 2010

(CLOSED) CSN $80 Giveaway

Well we talked about my poor dad and his reseeding hairline over Recessed Lighting. So I'm here to be your fair Godmother, we don't need a bunch of reseeding hairlines running around! So hold on to the hair regrowth I have a $80 dollar giveaway to CSN and their 200+ sites.

I of course have to show a few of my favorites from their Children's Furniture, Racks and Stands and of course Barstools.

Aren't these pretty cool? Yup I'm jealous of the winner!

So hold on Bald yes may be beautiful but let's save your beautiful hairs and shop with so many choices that are always on sale and most times with FREE (yup people, sometimes things in life are FREE) shipping!!!

WIN IN: Since I started with the story that lead to lose of hair head over to Recessed Lighting head over there and let me know what you like there.

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Giveaway ends 6/14/10 Only residents of the U.S. or Canada are eligible to win.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

(CLOSED) SuperValu $25 American Express Gift Card Giveaway

As most of you know I'm a little nutty when it comes to collecting box top for Cole's school. Yes I'm a little competitive but it really does help. Some people say really what can 10 cents do, well hello if you collect enough of them it can really add up! Every cent counts, especially for little school's like Cole's. This last year I sent a call out an amazing friend from high school came to my rescue and donated hundreds of box tops. We got close to 400 box tops, Cole's Class collect 741 (yup Cole had a little over half). Get this his school collected 1781 close to half was from his class room!! Oh yes we one the root beer float party ... Ok Cole did not me but you get the point!!!

Yes mom is a little proud!

Check this out SuperValu partnered with Box Tops to win 50,000 box tops for your school yes that is $5,000.00 that so would be exactly what Cole's school needs for the covered area they want for the slides so the kids can play outside when it's raining. Believe me Cole's teacher would thank me for this if I won :). Let's just say indoor days for Cole all day not a good thing. All you have to do is register here to enter to win and you get 5 bonus Box Tops just for signing up!!! You only have until Monday May 31, 2010.

To jumpstart your boxtop collecting one lucky winner will get a $25 American Express Card to stock up on your General Mills Favorites and of course your box top collection! I have already used mine to collect a plastic ziplock full I'm getting ready for next year!

WIN IN: Let me know what General Mills Box Tops Items you could stock up on.

EXTRA ENTRIES - Do as many as you like just leave a separate comment for EACH:

Friend SuperValu on
Facebook
(2 Extra Entries)
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Twitter
(2 Extra Entries)
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Giveaway ends 6/7/10 Only residents of the U.S. or Canada are eligible to win. No Post Office Boxes.

I was given a $25 American Express Giftcard for this review these are my opinions and experiences. Thank you to American Express in partner with SuperValu for the giftcard along with BlogSpark.