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Spring Cleaning “Truly” Done

Spring and summer weather dawn the days of increased creatures, crawlies, bugs and the like. As a desert dweller, Arizona native, we know that the warmer temps definitely mean that tiny creatures will be crawling, flying and scurrying about. In addition to the warm weather, rain and humidity often bring about pests that can cause damage and are very costly. Adding pest maintenance to our spring cleaning routine has become habitual.

One might think that living in an arid and dry climate such as Arizona we would not be susceptible to the most expensive property damaging pests; termites. These little buggers are estimated to incur $5 billion in property damage costs each year. Sadly, home owners insurance rarely covers these wood chomping menaces, and the path of destruction accounts for more than combined damages of storms, floods, and fires.

termites, pest prevention, spring cleaning, truly nolenLast year our home saw a rather extensive infestation that we quickly remedied. But while in the throes of the chaos of what to do with these nasty little pests, we experienced stress from trying to gauge how catastrophic the infestation truly was and the overall costs associated with treatment and repair, if needed.

However, you can be armed with the necessary tools to treat and avoid termite infestations with Truly Nolen; they can provide you with the following information in first line defense to combat these springtime pests. Some tools to help identify and cope with termites:

  • Small wrench to tighten your pipes. Remember, termites love moisture!
  • Number 2 pencil. Mud tunnels are pencil-sized tubes that protrude from a house’s exterior walls and serve as an environment of protection and moisture for termites.
  • Measuring tape so you can be sure that your home has the recommended minimum of 6 to 8 inches between ground level and porch steps, lattice work, door or window frames, etc.
  • Small flashlight to help you search for rippled or sunken traces behind wall coverings, which are indicative of termite infestation.
  • Truly Nolen stress ball to keep you calm while preparing for this year’s termite season.

Above all else, just know its not IF you will get termites, but a matter of when. No one is safe from these destructive pests, but now you can be ready to take preventative measures. As you are prepping your home for the arrival of warmer weather and impending pets during your spring cleaning, be sure to add pest control and prevention to your list as well.

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Kindergarten is the Big Day with Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats

This post is brought to you by Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats. All opinions are my own.kelloggs, cereal, kindergarten

All winter parents were longing for the dog days of summer to arrive. When the day finally came for the kids to depart from the crayons, pencils and elementary learning’s, groaning ensued once more from parents counting the days until school resumed. This year our fish family ventured into a new era as the twins had their first big day celebrating their fifth birthday and we counted our days all summer until the little squids had their first day of kindergarten.

What better way to start the BIG DAY right but with the most important meal of the day, breakfast! My three fish kids started their morning off with a bowl of Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats with skim milk. Although my daughter will secretly confess she prefers hers without milk at times. Frosted Mini Wheats has eight layers of whole grain fiber to help kids feel full and focused to conquer their first BIG DAY.

Karie Herring, five fish, kindergarten, twinsNot only were the twins beginning their education adventure but they were enrolling in a new school environment. We helped to prepare them by doing some of the following to make that first BIG DAY less hectic and reduce their anxiety:

  • Chose their own clothes and shoes for the school year
  • Picked out their own school supplies
  • Showed excitement for picking out backpacks
  • Let them choose their own lunch pails
  • Stress free excitement (from parents)

As parents we often forget the last step in helping our children to tackle their BIG DAY is to show lots of positive reinforcement and excitement and pocket all the stress. Not only are our kids anxious and a little stressed but so are the parents. Remember that everyday can be a BIG DAY with tests, activities and the like for our kids when school is in session. We can help them overcome any fears and anxiety with lots of simple fun, excitement, and always focus on the positive.

Did your kids have a BIG DAY this year when returning to school? Any major milestones like my twins entering kindergarten? For more BIG DAY success stories, tips, and ideas visit: http://www.scholastic.com/pcbigday/

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P Allen Smiths Radish Top Pasta Recipe

So I love to share my food and what I make. Great pride is taken in what my family eats as far as food and if you want to know or catch a glimpse of your diet snap photos. If you are ashamed to show the final result, chances are you should be ashamed to put that into your body. The other night I shared my version of P. Allen Smith’s Radish Top Pasta. Who you might ask is P. Allen Smith? Well spend a Saturday morning perusing public television and you might have the gifted opportunity to watch from Garden to Table where Mr. Smith shares some real delicacies from his garden for meals. My family was in heaven when we saw this dish so I knew I had to make it. Continue reading “P Allen Smiths Radish Top Pasta Recipe”

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Whos guffawing over the detachment parent

Maintaining the wild giggle to myself of the faded memory of the TIME magazine cover I too shake my head in misunderstanding of the critical judgment passed by parents and non-parents alike. I wonder why we “freak out” to see that a parent so chooses a path to nurture and bond with their child that may be socially out of norm, albeit unacceptable to a vast majority. Yet the parent that lets their child run the streets, is unaware of any retardation they may experience that puts them at a huge disadvantage among other children, and lacks the parental attachment necessary to provide basic loving care is ignored. Not even a huff, snort, or pissy remark given to this form of action and behavior.

I am talking about a parent that has no nurturing qualities whatsoever. I am speaking to a parent that lets their child leave the house and is unaware of their disappearance and is not in the least bit concerned to their childs whereabouts. I am speaking to a parent who has fully admitted the only reason the child is in their life is to save their marriage.

And we thought breastfeeding a kindergartner was preposterous.

Copyright of Sarah Maizes Moms.Today.com

What I find most appalling is the fact that this parent ADOPTED their child. They CHOSE this child. They CHOSE to bring a special needs child into their home. They CHOSE this life. Call me callous, but this is like adopting a dog. Now when faced with the challenges that childhood brings with this child and the struggles of social growth and cognitive skills they seem to think that this behavior is the norm and ignore the fact their child has greater needs that some parents do not have the capacity to work with, through, or have any experience in the matter. They seem to brush the kid under the rug like he or she is the everyday norm, run of the mill standard kid with no special needs.

I struggle with this parent daily due to our close proximity. I have struggled to not write on this subject because of the damning effect. I struggle as I watch this parent spend more quality time with the family dogs on her daily constitutional than she does quality time with her child. I fight the urge to tell her to fuck off when her child randomly leaves their home and she is unaware of his disappearance, or maybe she is aware and does not exude concern, and the child shows up at my house, unannounced, unwanted, as the child stands at my doorstep entitled to come in and spend time with our family. I find pity and concern and anger with this situation that the child finds solace and acceptance in my home despite my hidden anger, concern, and lastly my pity.

This child acts as an ape in my home, climbing on counters, standing on counters and other household items that are not meant for this type of behavior. Pulling my window coverings from their bases in the walls leaving gaping wounds in my drywall needing to be repaired due to his feral behavior. I had patience and understanding in the beginning, knowing his situation. At first I made excuses that the child needed to know the boundaries in our home, to understand our rules and so we discussed healthy boundaries and rules.

Out the window….like their coverings.

I tried to reason and explain to the parents what his behavior entailed so as not to have a repeat offense.

Ignored.

Now, as the child visits my home on an almost every weekend basis I am faced with a rage I can no longer bridle from this parent who lacks any form of attachment, love, or concern for her CHOSEN child. The child is very special needs and quite frankly I am not equipped to deal with this sort of child that is not mine. I do not have the skills to entertain him on the days that are MINE to spend with my flesh and blood. To relax and enjoy my children because I am too spun and wound tighter than a drum because THIS child invades my home. Call me selfish, I can. Not my kid. You are probably thinking: “Don’t let him in,” “Send the child home,” all warranted responses to which I say, I am not the one letting him enter our home.

Often times the child shows up and is let in by my husband, sometimes my kids. If left to me I would leave him at the door at which he compulsively rang the door bell where I would want to rip the notification device from the wall to prevent further use. I then begin to question the motives of the mother who once sent him over stating, “It’s my weekend to relax and I want my time.” I nearly cam unglued and my rage almost got the better of me as I began to hoof my angry, selfish, self-righteous ass over to her house to demand she explain who the hell she was to make such claims and assume the weekends were not my family’s either. TWAT!

I digress.

So I then question her motives again. My only assumption is her daft obliviousness to the fact that we have goings on in our lives, that we do not just sit around waiting for her to send her child off to our home to give her reprieve, she must just think that since we have three children…in the grand scheme what is one more. Again I curse TWAT and how dare she. But then I thought, why not play her game. One day the child came to the door and we sent our THREE children in tow with this child back to his home for a full on play date at their house.

The silence lasted about week. It was bliss.

Until the weekend this child came to the door on a Sunday, of all weekends, that we all decided to sleep in. By sleep in, I mean we all slept until roughly nine in the morning. The morning was glorious until I was ripped from my peaceful morning arousal by the door bell, a knock at the door, dogs barking fervently. FUCK!

Running to the door I answered and politely sent the boy away as he attempted to pout and I bit my adult lip to not rip his head off. Meandering back to my room to lay quietly again in my comfy bed to get my wits about me I hear another knock. Short of losing my shit altogether I advise my eldest son that is awake to ignore the door and the child coming to it every fifteen minutes. For an hour the child paces in front of our house after being sent away and finally I cannot take it and so I text the mother to see if she understands the gravity of the situation. Advising her I sent the boy home at nine…by now it is fifteen after 10 in the morning.

She doesn’t catch my drift.

Then the child is trying his hand at jimmying open my son’s bedroom window. At this point my husband is awake, because my sleeping lion has now come full rage and is about to pull the kid home by his ears. By no means am I a violent person, but the events that have taken place have pushed me to corporal actions. My husband calms me for a moment, steps outside and takes the boy aside, speaks to him and sends him on his way. While I pace furiously through my kitchen eyeing the events to the front of my house through my dining room window, I cannot take anymore shenanigans. I text the mother to explain that their child was sent away an hour ago because we wanted to sleep in without their child coming over for once, I explain him pacing in front of our house for the hour, I explain the attempted break in.

Crickets.

No apology.

No admission of guilt.

Not even giving a fuck.

Then I am speechless. At a complete loss to the lack of concern on behalf of this parent. Their child was away from their home with no known whereabouts for more than a hour. They had assumptions I am sure. Let me further caveat all this that the child is EIGHT years old with special needs. Born of a mother who abused alcohol and drugs. A child who has spent his entire life in some form of therapy classes for social, cognitive, and other basic skills born unto children who are not born of the deficiencies he faces. But clearly he is of sound mind and body to walk around a neighborhood block, on a very heavy traffic neighborhood street, to come play with my children, without supervision on his jaunt, without concern of his whereabouts.

Maybe I am blowing the whole situation out of proportion. Maybe I just care to the whereabouts of my children. Maybe I care to their concern and to that of others. Maybe I enjoy to just spend time with my children on the weekends after I work all week. I am selfish in that I do not want to watch another parents child who sends them off so they can have peace and quiet. Maybe I find that there is a happy medium between the attachment and detached parenting ideals. I like that my children are their own person and being, sleep on their own, completed breastfeeding at one year, but still have me tuck them in at night, I have them still hold my hand across the street and through parking lots, I find that more of being a concerned, loving parent, than fitting into any mold of parenting principles.

When has the detached parenting gone too far? Or in this case was their any “parenting” involved at all?

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The Stay at Home Dad – Manny or Daddy

dad, daddy, raising kids

stay at home dad, man, husband, chad herringOur current economic atmosphere has evolved a new breed of a stay at home parent. Formerly mothers were the primary care givers in the home and the most likely proponent to attend PTO meetings, running the kids to sports activities, and doing the household upkeep. Homes used to be comprised of a working father and stay at home mother, very a-typical, very “Cleaver-esque,” very reminiscent of our grandparents, possibly our parents of the baby-boomer era. The idolization of the American dream of a stay at home parent to raise our children and the other parent in the workforce, “bringing home the bacon.” However, as aforementioned, the weather has shifted and as a society, more and more dads are in the home world heading up the household at her core. Now mom is the one who is bringing home, and sometimes, frying up the bacon too.

Yet how much credit is afforded to these men who collide head on with the “stay at home” job? Men are men, and they do not have the same nurturing and caring as women do who often take to the stay at home career much more gracefully. Not to say fathers and men cannot be as effective, I am only indicating that the vagina is an upper-hand in the soft touch of caring for a home and family. But again, who is to say that a man cannot keep his hardened parenting style as the brute force in parenting, and carry on a softness and tenderness that emanates greatness in our children.

My husband is one of these men. He is my hero. He was formerly a manny. A slapstick reference to his job by calling himself a male nanny (manny) where he was and is much more than that. Gifted with a layoff leaving him unemployed, we thought to only be temporary, has become a full-time opportunity that has afforded him time with our children that fathers are not often privileged to experience. He wakes with them in the morning, they ask for him at bed for good-night story time, and they are all different people, The Chad included, because of the power of daddy. Many men “claim” to be a stay at home dad, where mom works in the home and dad happens to stay at home and claim to be a care taker, but really he is a glorified babysitter, not a true parent, not a true parental caregiver, nurturer. I say that very cavalier because these men are aware they lack the nurturing gift of fatherhood, a gift and art learned only through precious time spent with their children. Face it, most dads fumble with the kids only because mom comes in and takes over, rules the roost, puts out any fires and calms all the storms. Moms have only learned this by experience, gifted again with precious time with the children, the nurturing that begins from womb to breast as we hold our babes tightly. Men have a different experience and much different than the woman’s, so some detachment can be expected, they do not have 40 weeks of bonding prior to delivery.

stay at home dad, twins, raising kids, parenthoodI say that men fumble because they do, at no fault of their own. I commend any dad who will spend alone time with his children sans mom. Sans a woman of any sorts to jump in with maternal instinct to care and nurture and fix the errors dads should be afforded to make when adventuring through parenthood, fatherhood. Ladies how many times have you bitched, moaned, groaned or carried on because dad served up peanut butter and jelly for dinner and didn’t prepare the three course meal topped with sparkling water in a clear glass tumbler? I have a few small words for you if they have done this – FUCK YOU and of course GET OVER IT. Admittedly you know you have had moments of weakness where a full meal was not served, you have half assed the house keeping, or best yet, you ponied up to hire a housekeeper because “you don’t have the time” or “the energy” or flat out you cannot handle the way your husband handles the housekeeping for you because its not “your way.” I pity you for your coarse and selfish behavior. I pity you for not appreciating a man who is willing to be that bigger man and take on a traditional feminine role for the greater good of the family unit. Given any amount of time men glide through the home calming any household storm, simmering a sibling bickering bout, and giving to his wife with the truest love and affection money cannot buy.

I could not be more blessed and more honored for my husband and all his struggles to take on his role as a true daddy in our house. We will be able to look back on these years and be thankful that each of us was afforded time to be home with our kids and watch them grow in different phases of their lives; no one ever knows how rewarding being a stay at home dad or a stay at home mom job really is until they have done it. We will never regret any sacrifices and or struggles during this time because we gave of ourselves to our children, selflessly and with the utmost love.

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Brita Bottle for Kids

The most permanent trend among parents and kids these days is healthy! Healthy habits such as eating, drinking and going green with foods and food delivery products. These habits are fostered by the parents with their children from the beginning to culminate a healthy lifestyle throughout generations. Not only are these life choices a clean way of life but they help to keep our planet clean and reduce the overall carbon footprint.

Brita® is a company that is listening to parents and the way they want to teach their kids healthy habits. Brita® has developed the Brita® Bottle designed just for kids. The filtration company known for water filter pitchers and water filtration for the home has developed a fun, affordable, and convenient solution for kids to drink great tasting water on the go.

No more purchased bottles of water.

No more worries about lead leeching water bottles.

No more worries about plastic leeching water bottles containing BPA.

Brita® offers three fun, bright colors in kid-friendly styles. 13 ounces of water can be refilled time and time again without having to replace the filter until you hit the 40 gallon mark, or every two months if your child drinks the recommended amount of water per day. Sadly, only 15% of school-age children drink the recommended amount of water the body needs to refuel and replenish (i). An even more pathetic and striking fact is that on average, school-age children consume six sodas per week (ii).

Why not promote a fun and easy way to drink water that is portable, green, and saves you money?

The water bottles are dishwasher safe, are fully recyclable, and can replace over purchased plastic water bottles a year. Fill up the Brita® Bottle anywhere and on the go because the filter is built inside. Don’t fill up our landfills with all that plastic and think about all the good we are doing by not allowing that plastic to leach into our ground water and water systems.

But the benefits do not end there! With every purchases of a Brita® Bottle for kids receive a free children’s book. Hurry though this awesome offer wont last long, so be sure to head to your local Meijer or Meijer brand store to pick up your Brita® Bottle and be sure to visit http://www.scholastic.com/brita/ for more details.

 

i. Hudson, William (2011, April 18). “For Children, Where’s the Water?” Accessed from: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/18/water.school.children/index.html

ii. Strum R, Powell LM, Chriqui JF, Chaloupka FJ. Soda Taxes, Soft Drink Consumption and Children’s Body Mass Index. Health Affairs. 2010;5:1052-1058 http://www.kickthecan.info/sugary-drink-consumption

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Book Lovers Getaway Sweepstakes

Book lovers abound, Ontario, Canada is enticing all fellow book lovers to run away with a writer. You and five of your closest book-loving friends jetting off to Ontario, Canada is just the first chapter of an exceptional three-night getaway. The story unfolds in five-star luxury in vibrant Toronto where you’ll get up close and personal with the city’s iconic sights and with celebrated author, Joseph Boyden. The plot thickens in picturesque Muskoka; scene of fine wine and dining, galleries, outdoor adventures, an exclusive event with fellow book lovers and a resort and spa stay overlooking the fall colors of Lake Rosseau. As with every great story, the memories will last long after the final page has been read. For the readers of The Five Fish this awesome sweepstakes appeals to everyone!

Booklovers getaway combines literature with a unique, all expenses paid travel prize (and Mom’s guess what, this is some adult time away to enjoy with friends…heck bring your hubby too!)

• 2 great opportunities to spend some time with award winning author Joseph Boyden.

• Meet and Greet at the historic Fairmont Royal York hotel in downtown Toronto

• “An evening with Joseph Boyden – reading and book discussion’’ in scenic Muskoka, Ontario

No matter which way the story turns everyone is a winner for this sweepstakes! So what are you waiting for, turn the page and enter to win now and here is what you and five friends could enjoy:

• Return air travel via Porter Airlines to Toronto
• Accommodations at the regal Fairmont Royal York in Toronto and The Rosseau, Canada’s first JW Marriott Resort & Spa in Muskoka
• Shuttle from Toronto to Muskoka in quintessentially Ontario fashion via a short yet exhilarating float plane ride, admiring scenic landscapes and vibrant fall colours en route before landing on Lake Rosseau
• All meals, including a culinary tour of Toronto and dinner high atop the CN Tower with an exclusive tour of the world’s tallest wine cellar
• Two memorable literary events with Joseph Boyden, celebrated author of Three Day Road and Through Black Spruce. You and your guests will enjoy a private reception with Boyden in Toronto and attend an event in Muskoka where he’ll talk about the books he has written, the one he is currently writing and how his native Ontario inspires his work
• Guided tours in Muskoka will give you a flavor of the region’s marine and aboriginal heritage; you’ll experience its natural beauty while hiking and mushroom foraging; you’ll enjoy its local arts scene on a fall studio tour; and of course, there will be time to visit the quaint shops of Ontario’s ‘cottage country’.

Total prize valued at $15,000 CAD / $14,600 USD

Don’t hesitate seepstakes ends soon! Visit  ontariotravel.net/booklovers for details!!

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Childrens Privacy Online – Public Parenthood

Going about dinner with my family tonight, I realized how much I have been able to enjoy my children outside of my blog. For the years leading up to this moment I shared almost the two full years of my children’s lives, the first two years of which were for my twins and before were the months leading up to their birth. The fodder of their lives and daily isms is what has driven this blog, making this mostly about parenthood, parenting, being a mother, their antics. All roles and life experiences to revel in, but I am realizing more and more how much I have enjoyed the privacy of my children growing up in front of me, my memories, my moments; our moments.

My little blog will now be evolving and growing as my children have. Visually recognizing that our relationship is truly about parenthood and parenting, mother and child, our values as parents withstanding the test of time, societal pressures, growing pains, individuality, fitting inside the box. Am I fulfilling my children’s lives with cultural enrichment, worldly values and acceptances, and ensuring blinding and bigoted boundaries are eliminated from their being? Call their experience enlightenment or a sense of ascension but I want my children to be just that, children.

Children of their own pace and world away from PR influence, marketing, and main stream of the best and greatest toy, gadget, gizmo, and whatchamajig. Full of wonder and imagination. Encouraged. Loved. Cherished. Appreciated. Supported. I think with a “mommy” or parent blog we are too busy touting our “look at me and look at my kid” that we forget to teach, encourage, cherish, educate. A blog is too much of a public parenthood platform that we are too busy sharing that awesome moment that we forget to live in that moment. Fantastic to put that moment forever into electronic history, but what about just living in the moment. Living with our children. Seeing what we can learn as parents, teaching our children the power of responsibility, ownership, love, respect, values, regret, and the lessons to be learned from these moments.

I watched the other day as a parent went on a tirade about soda served to her young child. While I do not like my children to have soda or other processed drinks including bottled fruit juices (grape, apple, etc), I also know that I can educate them at a young age the affects of these beverages can wreak on their overall health from teeth to how it affects their overall being, thwarting any outside influence to peer pressure them into the sea of wasted humanity. But with watching this parent’s tirade I watched her never take ownership to share or educate her child about soda, any soda, nor did she educate others about her beliefs for her children and that they are her own and to be respected regardless of general society and despite what others believed to be socially okay. In part, her parenthood was so public she forgot to parent her own child and self. We all fuck up, we make mistakes, but evermore, a part of making those mistakes is owning them and teaching our children that we make mistakes, own them, learn from these errors, grow!

Now that my twins have reached the exact age of their oldest sibling when this blog was erected, my eldest son was just about four when I started this blog, I am seeing another turning point to talk about what I do to be a responsible parent. How my children will interact in the unknown future world and hope that my small influence on them  to be righteous, fierce, honest, modest, and simplistic will be contagious. My hope is that this contagion to spread among the masses that being a parent and a public parent means to be held accountable and not inflict some executive order of power that we lack education toward our children in values, decision making and critical thinking. That we value our privacy and publicity as parents and these are in sync with one another.These characteristics should not be left to the institutionalized educators, the education should begin with parenthood. Basic parenting, basic adulthood, and simple humanity.

I only hope that my children know that each human puts their pants on the same each day, and by no means will they ever think themselves more superior, and that my most basic love and adoration for them will be enough to fill their hearts as they have filled mine for dozens of lifetimes.

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The Family Road Trip Sweepstakes

Summer is here, and so are the groans of boredom, heat, and nothing to do at all. As parents we look to beat the heat, boredom, and provide a family friendly form of entertainment and education with our kids so we often have done what our parents have done. Road trip! The open road has been the ultimate adventure for children and adults of all ages. But let’s face it with the rising cost of fuel who can afford to take a road trip. Well now you can with Purolator and the BreatheEasy Family Road Trip Sweepstakes.

Purolator is the maker of the Breathe Easy cabin filter. So you too can breathe easy on a road trip where all the fixings are supplied for a fun filled family road trip anywhere you want to go!

Enter this sweepstakes and FIVE (5) winners will have the opportunity ti win $200 gas card, $25 gift card for snacks and $75 worth of books and toys from Scholastic! You have to hurry! Time is limited as the sweepstakes ends June 30th!

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Double the Cheerios Club Pack

Now that summer has arrived and the kids are home, FULL TIME, have you noticed your grocery bill start to climb? Well you don’t have to feel the pain of the rise in groceries if you are a club member to such stores as Sam’s Club or Costco, to name a few. Being a club member offers perks and benefits to help you save money on your monthly grocery costs.

What’s even better? That buying in bulk helps to save more as well since club stores carry most of the major brands we see and shop for in our standard grocers.

What’s so exciting?

New 2 box Cheerios contains two individual boxes, making them easier to store and easier to pour!
Not to mention…

By reducing the amount of air in each individual bag, these enhanced containers fit 10% more cereal than before and use less packaging. While each box contains more cereal, packaging material has been reduced by over 200,000 lbs, saving 1,000 trees and taking 130 Cheerios trucks of the road, decreasing CO2 emissions
You don’t have to take our word for it, check out all the benefits of new 2 box Cheerios packaging! http://bit.ly/CheeriosNew2Box

New and improved 2 box Cheerios are now available on the shelves of Costco, Sam’s Club and BJ’s nationwide. (MyBlogSpark.com, 2012)

Now you too can share in the Cheerio’s awesomeness and enter to win (2) Cheerio’s Two Box packs, for a total of (4), yes FOUR boxes of Cheerio’s. What’s even doubly better, is that TWO winners will be chosen to receive:

  • (2) new 2 box Cheerios packaging (four boxes)
So here is how you enter to win:
  • Tell me if you shop at a club store, why or why not? (You must do this before all other entries)
  • Subscribe to my reader
  • Follow me on Twitter
  • Tweet this giveaway daily with @KariewithaK #MyBlogSpark
  • Like The Fish on Facebook
  • Share the giveaway on Facebook (Worth 2 entries, every day you share)
  • Blog this giveaway (Worth 5 entries)
  • Comment on a non-giveaway post

Contest ends June 16th @ 2:59am EST.

As always: No Purchase Necessary, available to US residents. One entry per household. US postcard entries also acceptable if you do not have access to the above entry options, no limit to postcard entries as long as all are received before the close of the contest, email contests@thefivefish.com for your postcard entry details or to use email as your postcard entrance as these entries will be logged by the administrator of the blog. Winners will be chosen by “And the Winner is” Failure to adhere to the aforementioned rules set forth by this contest will result in forfeiture of your entry with no notice. Facebook does not promote, endorse, nor sponsor this review and giveaway and will be held harmless. As always, good luck and enjoy. My opinions herein are my own and are no way influenced by the receipt of a free product, they are an honest reflection of myself and my review of the integrity of the product.

“Disclosure: “Disclosure:  Cheerios® cereal, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.” I was provided with a 2 box pack of Cheerios at no cost in order to promote the product and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.”