Category Archives: Clever Girls

Resolutions…

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I’ll be honest with all of you. I don’t make New Years resolutions and the reason why is because I never, ever keep them. I have good intentions though and start out strong but someone where along the way I forget about it and fall back into my old ways.

So this year my resolution is to not make one. Perfect… problem solved!

Besides there are things that I’ve already committed to doing. Like losing another 5- 7 lbs, toning up, and eating right. I’ve also committed to making sure that my family eats better and since I’m the one that does all the shopping and cooking this shouldn’t be a problem. These are things that we should be doing anyway on a daily basis and not just because it’s a new year and we think we start with a clean slate.

This year we’re cutting back on the sweets & snacks and for a while I think that my family might hate me. But that’s alright because there are a few healthy options that I have in mind for them to help ease the transition.

First is breakfast… forget those sugar coated kid cereals. Of course we all know that we shouldn’t skip breakfast so we’re going to try out some Kellogg’s Special K cereal with strawberries or Kellogg’s Eggo Nutri-grain waffles and then if they try to tell me that they’re to busy and are running late they can try one of the Kellogg Special K Protein shakes that are pre-made and ready to go.


Health_Bundle Morning_Bundle
I’ve tried all of these and know that they’re actually good! Best of all I know that I can get them at a good price with or without a coupon.

Okay, so maybe I didn’t make a resolution for myself but it seems that I made them for the rest of my family. Shhh… don’t tell them though!

Shop and play to win with the Buy 5 Save $5 sale taking place December 30-January 12 at the Kroger Co. Family of Stores! Automatically save $5 at checkout when you use your Shopper’s Card, just by buying 5 participating products. In addition, you can play this quick and easy online game for a chance to win up to $15 off your entire trip.

I was selected for participation in this campaign as a member of Clever Girls Collective.

An Everyday Victory ~ Me time!

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Everyday Victories logo

Thank you to P&G and Kroger stores for celebrating “Team Mom’s Everyday Victories”! Please visit the P&G’s event page to play games, win money off your next Kroger trip and more fun!

As a mom who works full time outside the home finding that personal “time out” can really be a challenge! After work my day doesn’t slow down or stop… I immediately begin my other full time job as mom which includes personal shopper, laundress, housekeeper, chauffer, train & tractor conductor, teacher (for homework that can’t be figured out), and of course boo-boo kisser.

I think that the last time I had me time I was lost… I didn’t know what to do! I mean yea, there’s a list of all the things that I can and want to do when I get the time but when I get that free time I’m so overwhelmed with my options that I usually just veg on the couch and watch something mindless that I enjoy…. like Food Network or the Cooking Channel. I know… I know… it’s an exciting life isn’t it?

Want to hear something sad…. there are times that I look forward to going grocery shopping when I get to go alone. Why? Well because it’s an hour of time alone wandering through the store. Again… exciting life. But there is a plus side to going shopping alone and it’s that I manage to get everything I need and tend to not forget as much! See…. bonus!

This week I was able to get a bit of time to myself after the toddler went to bed. I pulled out the foot bath and did a mini pedicure at home while Tweeting and watching the Cooking Channel. Now that was nice and the only thing that was missing was a nice glass of wine! That evening was my own everyday victory.

How do you carve out time for yourself? When you get that special time what do you do?

Hurry in to Kroger and Kroger Banner Stores for P&G’s big sale event, June 10–23!

At Kroger and its banner stores, more than 30 of your favorite P&G brands are at HOT sale prices through June 23, including Tide, Charmin, Cascade, Pampers, Crest and Olay. Look for tags with special prices throughout the household needs and health and beauty aisles, and be on the lookout for even bigger offers – like getting serious dollars off when you buy a bundle of products.

Before hitting the store, visit P&G’s event page on Kroger.com.

You can play games like basketball, track and gymnastics to win money off your next Kroger trip, download digital coupons, print a shopping list, and learn more about P&G products!

And as part of this event, consider trying one of these fab products from P&G: Vicks Nature Fusion, Charmin Basic, Downy Unstopables, and Swiffer Duster Extenders!

I was selected for participation in this campaign as a member of Clever Girls Collective.

Giving Back with Members Unite

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Members Unite

Thank you to Members Unite for sponsoring this post and sparking a creative discussion with children about the importance of giving. Visit MembersUnite.com for a simple, interactive, fun way to fund amazing projects every single month! 100% of your monthly contribution goes to the winning projects. I was selected for this opportunity by Clever Girls Collective.

Members Unite is a simple, interactive, fun way to fund amazing projects and for as little as $5 a month you too can help out! The projects are funded through member contributions and because of that the members ultimately control the outcome each month.

Every month, they launch a 4-week cycle where they work together to determine which project gets funded. They start with 9 projects and through a voting process by the members the projects get narrowed down each week until they have determined the best project to fund for that month.

Lauren & Members Unite

Lauren checking out the Members Unite projects

I sat down with my girls and explained the website to them and what it was all about and they loved it. I then let them read through all of the projects that they Members Unite has listed and before long they were talking about the projects and which ones they liked the best. It was unanimous the Fill up the Tanks of Struggling Detroit Residents was their number one choice! Why? Because we are only 2 hours from Detroit and we all know how hard things have been on the people of this state these past few years.

As the economy still struggles to recover, rising gas prices are making a tough situation even tougher for those living paycheck-to-paycheck. In Detroit, where the unemployment rate tops 10% and times are especially hard, putting enough gas in your car to go apply for a job opening or travel to an interview may simply be impossible. The city of Detroit is facing its own cash crisis, and additional local government help for residents is highly unlikely. If this project wins, we’ll give one gas station in Detroit a $5,000 donation to pay for local residents’ gas for a day on behalf of Members Unite.

I asked Lauren why she picked that one as her top choice and she told that it would do the most for people here (in Michigan). It would get people to work, school, and where ever they need to go. I think that she understands the rising cost of gas because of how often we talk about it and then explain what it used to be just a few years ago. Of course a few minutes later she wasn’t sure because she really liked the project to give the gift of self-esteem which would provide 5 hair prosthetics or wigs to children who have lost their hair.

My choice was a little different. While I agree with the girls that helping those in our state is important I feel that it’s also important to help out our service members and that is why I chose Send the Essence of Home to a Soldier.

Most of us can’t even imagine what it would be like to be thousands of miles away from home for months at a time. Think of the things you’d miss—our families and our friends for certain, but how about the little things like a good television show or one of your favorite snacks? For the men and women who serve in the US military, this type of scenario is just another day at work. MarineParents.com, Inc. wants to give our soldiers a little taste of home with care packages that contain a variety of snacks, from Ramen noodles to granola bars and even chewing gum. MarineParents.com, Inc. needs donations to cover the cost of the care package items. If this project wins, we will be able to send 227 care packages to Marines who are serving overseas.

This one is important because my sister and her husband are both active duty service members and have both been overseas several times. I know how difficult it was for them and how if they were to be deployed again it would be even harder because now they have two little boys. Every little bit helps show that we care.

Community service is an important part of the kids education here and they’re required to complete 20 hours each year starting in middle school. They have tons of fun with it and help out so many organizations and people in our community and Members Unite is a great way to expand their horizons and think outside of our community. They’re able to see other people and places that need our help and how we can do something which I love. Together we can review all the projects that Members Unite  has and talk through them and decide which one we want to champion. They can also show us how we can help more at home as well by planting trees in our yard, donating to a local baby pantry, or even by creating our very own smile cards and handing them out to someone who makes our day a little brighter!

Take a few minutes and check out the Members Unite site and sign up! You’ll love it…. I promise.

 

They are the Fab Five!

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Thanks to Trop50 for sponsoring my writing about fabulous bloggers. This year Trop50 is granting 50 Fabulous Wishes. Click here to enter for a chance to win $1,000 to celebrate a friend with a refreshing attitude about looking and feeling fabulous!

There are so many amazing bloggers out there that I admire and love to read and to narrow it down to just five of them is no simple task. How do I pick one over another? What if I leave someone important out… what if this…. what if that… Do you see my dilemma?

Well, I’m going to try and narrow this down for you and share with you some new, some of, but in the end they’re all friends and great bloggers.

1. Single Mom on a Budget

SingleMomonaBudget

I’ve known Jill for almost a year now and she is a terrific friend and has some of the best deals around for the Denver area, coupons, giveaways, and great ways to save. We met last fall during the Back to School, Back to Blogging even that Gigi over at Kludgy Mom was running. We both were looking for someone to be a faerie blogmother and decided that we’d do it for one another and since then we’ve been supporting each others posts, guest posting, and just helping out in general when one of us needed.

We quickly found out how much that we have in common and that we got along well! She’s been a great friend and is always there when I need her.

So take a few minutes and check out her blog and some of the incredible deals she has to offer.

2. Ciao Mom

Elena and I met when we were paired as writing partners for The Red Dress Club. She is an amazing writer and I love reading what she writes whether I see if before it’s posted or if I just happen to be wandering by her blog. She recently vlogged and I was finally able to “meet” her! She’s a wife, a mom, and most importantly a survivor. Go over and read what she has to say… you won’t be sorry. I promise.

3. Mommies in Timeout

For some reason Elena (yes, there are two of them on my list!) doesn’t have a button, but I’m fully confident that when she has her blog redone that she’ll have one then!

I met Elena a few months ago through The Red Dress Club as well. I started reading through her posts based on the prompts and was pulled into her blog and have been reading it ever since. She too, is a great writer and knows how to tell a story! I should also mention that she is one of the reasons that I actually stepped outside of my comfort zone and started doing vlogs. So a huge thanks should go to her for that because I vowed that I would never do it!

I recently had the opportunity to actually met her in real life and she is one of the nicest people that I’ve met and I was so glad that I had that opportunity. What’s even better is that we live less than 2 hours apart and can get together again.

4. Kludgy Mom

Kludgy Mom

Okay, first of all if you haven’t heard of Gigi’s blog yet then you must living under a rock or something! She’s is so talented and always has something really cool going on at her blog like the Facebook 500, App Girl Friday, Back to School, Back to Blogging or her newest event, The Summer of Love.

I have learned a great deal from all the great info that she has shared with everyone and really appreciate it. It’s people like her that help us who are new to the blogging world and encourage us to stick to it.

5. Dysfunctional Supermom

Dysfunctional Supermom

Brandi is just awesome. She is funny, open, honest, foul mouthed, and all around a great friend. We met a while back on Twitter when she asked about blog buttons or something and I offered to make her one. Since then we’ve been friends and I’ve been reading her blog daily (or when she posts).

She tells it like it is and doesn’t hold back, and best of all she doesn’t apologize for anything. She is who she is and is confident in that. I admire that because I’m the quiet chicken in the back of the room where as she’s the one being loud and having a great time talking to everyone. I know that if I needed something and asked her she’d come through for me even though we are several states apart.

There you have it friends, the Fab Five! If I didn’t mention you that doesn’t mean that you aren’t totally awesome too… it just means that I was limited to five and these ladies were the first to come to mind.

Share with me a great blog that you read!

Don’t forget to enter the 50 Fabulous Wishes contest for a chance to win $1,000 to celebrate a friend with a refreshing attitude about looking and feeling fabulous. I was selected for this Tropicana Trop50 sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do. I received compensation to use and facilitate my post.

My Best Friend

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There are many people in our lives who have helped us out one time or another and many of them help again and again. Do you have that kind of person in your life and who is that special person to you? Is it your mom, sister, grandma, aunt, close friend, or teacher? To me that special person is my sister.

As children we played together and caused trouble together… oh and tormented our younger brother together. Then we got older and she started to annoy me….a lot. Circumstances changed as they often do in life and I moved into with our dad and she came along too but it wasn’t long before she moved back into our mom’s house.

We spent the majority of our middle and high school years apart, time that we could have reconnected and created long lasting bond between sisters that just can’t be broken. It’s something that I regret not doing and feel like I’ve missed out on something important.

Fast-forward many years. My sister and I have a great relationship now we talk every single day whether it’s on the phone, text messaging, or IMing online. She really is my best friend.

My sister has been here for me through some difficult times… my divorce, two miscarriages, and of course all the antics of raising a little boy (I have 3 girls and a 15 month old son where as she has 2 boys 3 & 5yrs old).

To some it may not seem like much…she’s your sister… it’s what sisters do. But to me it’s everything and more because of where we came from, where we started, the way our lives have changed, and how we have grown and come together as sisters should.

Without her I would have an emptiness that could never be filled. She’s my friend, my confidant, and most of all she’s my sister.

Hearts of Haiti

For that special person in your life or for a wonderful Mother’s Day gift I have a special offer for you.

You can find a great Mother’s Day gift from the HOH collection at Macy’s and use the promocode: CLEVERGIRLS to get a discount of 15% off Heart of Haiti and Rwanda Path to Peace products between 5/3 – 5/8.

To view the Shop for a Better World / Heart Of Haiti collection in it’s entirety (including just added items for Spring), visit:http://bit.ly/gaalFP

I was selected for this very special “CleverHaiti” opportunity by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity. All opinions are my own.