Back to School with Seventh Generation

Now that the fall school schedule has resumed and our kids are socializing amongst their friends and teachers that they missed over the summer a lurking menace is socializing with our children as well.

GERMS!

Disgusting, sickening germs that our children spread around as they touch things, sneeze, cough, you name it, they touch and spread this menace in the classroom and bring home to the family.

To prevent the spread of germs our teachers request that the students bring in hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes. But as a parent, I am rather particular about the disinfecting wipes, cleaners, and products my children use at home. Our family is especially conscious about the environment and the harmful chemicals in some disinfecting and cleaning products. Seventh Generation has an amazing line of cleaning, disinfecting, and paper products for your home that are environmentally friendly and the ingredients are botanically based, on chemically.

For back to school My Blog Spark and Seventh Generation is promoting their line of disinfecting cleaner, wipes, and products for a healthier home, classroom, and to help keep our children healthier while promoting a healthier world to live in by reducing our carbon footprint.

You too can enjoy the fruits of a healthier home on lots of levels by entering to win the prize pack offered by My Blog Spark and Seventh Generation! Here is what your goodies will look like:

To be considered for entry tell me what you do to help prevent the spread of germs with your child and would you like to use a product like Seventh Generation that is both healthier for your home and the environment.

(Comments like “pick me” and “enter me” and “I want to win” will disqualify your comment for entry into the giveaway.)

For complete entry options be sure to check out the rules page for details. Be sure when Tweeting you @SeventhGeneration to show your support!

CONTEST ENDS SEPTEMBER 25TH

Babies The Movie

Last weekend The Chad and I went to see “How to Train Your Dragon” in 3D, which by the way TOTALLY ROCKED! Well while we were amped for the movie we enjoyed the trailers for the newest releases, and if you ask me, that is generally the BEST part of any movie.

As the trailers were moving along, the best film that is sure to touch many hearts, as well as the hearts of mothers across the globe popped onto the screen. BABIES. This documentary captures the moments of four children from San Francisco, Tokyo, Mongolia, and Namibia during all their firsts during their first year of life. Here watch the trailer:

The Chad and I were ooh’ing and ahh’ing at this super feel good movie of the year. Heartfelt, unique, and positively breathtaking capturing all the sweet moments of humanity during a child’s first year of life. Be sure to check it out, maybe take your mom or any mother in your life to the movies for Mother’s Day to enjoy a feel good film.

*I wrote this post as part of being a BzzAgent.

Shop Old Navy Weekly for $50 Off

As we enter into spring and with so many of us taking our resolutions seriously with weight loss and living healthier lives we are in need of a new wardrobe. Yes ladies and gents, shopping!

I am lucky enough to bring you one of my favorite brands, Old Navy and the special offers they have on the website OldNavyWeekly.com. The OldNavyWeekly.com site features some hot deals for kids and toddlers as well as the “Item of the Week” which is a super deal and of course totally fashionable from Old Navy.

The “Item of the Week” for the week of February 26th to March 4th is Men’s Short Sleeved-shirts and they are available for $8.00 (Reg. $19.50) Men’s short-sleeved shirts are small on price but big on style. With a slightly tapered cut, retro print and buttons, they come in classic spring colors and look super with jeans or khakis. Whatever his taste, the Men’s short-sleeved shirts are a can’t-miss style buy. You can only get them in stores so be sure to head to your local Old Navy to take advantage of these great deals for “Item of the Week.”

In addition to the “Item of the Week” I am bringing you a giveaway for even MORE savings at Old Navy where I am giving away TEN (10) coupons for $50 off your purchase of $100 or more at Old Navy good for the week of February 26th to March 4th.

So I want you to tell me who wears the Men’s Short Sleeved-shirts better?
Supermodelquin Josh or Supermodelquin Wesley?
Extra entries:
  • Follow my blog (Google Friend Connect/blogger) and tell me you do
  • Follow me on Twitter
  • Tweet this giveaway with as many tweet entries as you want as long as there is a comment separating your last tweet entry: Enter to win one of 10 $50 off coupons to @OldNavyOfficial from @KariewithaK http://goo.gl/fb/ntZK
  • Subscribe to my feed
  • Fan The Fish
  • Blog this giveaway with a link back to me (Worth 5 entries)
  • Grab my button
  • Post about this giveaway on Facebook
CONTEST ENDS FEBRUARY 21st @ 11:59 PM
The date allows enough time to pull winners and distribute coupons in a timely manner. The coupons are date sensitive and are one time use only. If the coupon is not used it will expire and a new coupon will NOT be redistributed.
Best of luck!
*The Five Fish did not receive anything in exchange for this post. This post is a hosted giveaway for promotional purposes only and I was contacted by the host company on behalf of Old Navy.

MyFreeCopyright.com Registered & Protected

The Perfect Gift with Taylor Gifts

Valentine’s Day is upon us and I for one am not a fan of the holiday but as a woman, I take full advantage of the fact that my husband bears gifts on this day. So I was perusing various gifts as I am a practical woman, I like for items to last. Flowers die. Chocolate is gluttonous. Cards can be recycled. I want a tangible items that I can see each and everyday and know that my love bought me something that I can use for my passions.

My passions right, what exactly are my passions. If you read my Monday posts you know that my passion is food. Hands down, food is one of my main passions. I love to cook, I am a pâtissier and I pride myself in my culinary desserts and meals. I think the easiest dessert that I recently had the pleasure to make was creme brulee. I knew that the dessert would be impossible for me, I thought I was bound to destroy the warm custard. However, I lucked out and the end result was magnificent, minus the fact that I did not have a creme brulee torch to give the custard the sugary, golden, crusty coat.


I did make do with my oven on broil while I hovered to be sure that the sweet goodness did not boil over or burn. In the end, I found that the dessert would not be impossible for me and that next time I needed to have the finishing tool for the job. As for any job you cannot expect to show up without that ONE item. So I am sure to “hint” to The Chad how I would love a creme brulee torch not only for creme brulee but also for my flambe dishes and my reduction dishes as they require fire and when you have an electric cook top, fire is a bit hard to come by.

While this gift may seem completely off the wall, I find it completely practical, functional, a sign of true love that my man can gift me fire for Valentine’s. You know a man is a keeper when he can gift you fire and knives for a holiday.

What will you ask for this Valentine’s Day? Are you the hopeless romantic who swoons for flowers, chocolates and cards? Or are you the more practical gift recipient for gifts that last and are functional are the sure fire way to your heart?

Go Go Pets Review & Giveaway

Some families enjoy the pleasure of adopting a new pet into the family. They are loved, petted, caressed, looked after, named, and then finally cleaned up after. The cleaning job is generally left to mom and dad…..in my household namely me. The most common request for pets that I have heard from mom’s and dad’s have been dogs, cats, fish, and hamsters.

The folks at Mom Select and Cepia Toy decided to choose Phoenix and the Phoenix-metro areas to invade and unveil “Go Go Pets.” Go Go Pets are great because they mimic real life pets without all the fuss and my home was one chosen to review their hamster pets and the “habitrails” that were included.

So my family is the proud owner of a hamster named Mr. Squiggles. I am quite happy to have adopted and received Mr. Squiggles for a few reasons:

  1. No mess. Hamsters are stinky, they live in cages, and they have all sorts of junk they make messes with. YUCK
  2. Hamsters are a rodent….I hunt rodents like the pests they are. This rodent, you would never know he was and is a rodent.
  3. The feeding, the cleaning, all the excelsior cedar for their cages, we don’t need any of that.
  4. I never have to worry about him dying and explaining to the kids why we put him in a shoe box….I just crack him open and pop in new AAA batteries.

When the box arrived and I opened to see all the different habitrails I was a bit overwhelmed and spent a good amount of time putting the pieces together. Not that there is a lot to them, just there were a number of habit areas for the little rodent. Plus having an antsy five year old doesn’t help when you are trying to put something together as fast as you can so they can begin playing. So here is what some of the “habitrails” looked like partially assembled:

Now with any toy and or new animal you have to find a place for them and they all have little quirks, ticks, and annoyances for some parents, here are mine:

  1. Immediately had to change the batteries. As with any new toy as the batteries installed are for demo use only and not full play so they die within an hour of hard play.
  2. The habitrail comes apart easily requiring an adult to continuously put the contraptions back together.
  3. Mr. Squiggles didn’t like the wheel. He would fall over sideways, again requiring someone to fix him or get him off the wheel altogether.
  4. The hamster is ALWAYS making noise. I don’t mind toys that make noise, but there should be some shut off timer that after some time and no response the thing shuts up!
  5. He likes to back up A LOT, so going forward around the habitrail was a task for Mr. Squiggles.

Now I am not saying anything bad about the toy itself, just that I have higher preferences as a parent and mom about some of the toys my kids play with. Overall though my oldest boy LOVES Mr. Squiggles and the Go Go Pets toy. My twins, they like it because they can play demolition team on the house and chase the little fur ball. My philosophy is if the kids like it and are happy with the toy with no complaints….I’m good as well.

Here is a good deal about Go Go Pets…..you get one too!! Yup, you get your very own hamster and a habitrail. No muss or fuss of a real hamster, but your kids get to enjoy all the endless hours and entertainment that the cute little rodent brings! He has a love setting where he purrs for you and talks and his Go Go setting where he is on the move! Want to win your own Go Go Pet and habitrail? Here is what you will get:

One Hamster – Chunk

One habitrail – Car & Garage

Now here are all the rules for playing and you must post a comment for each entry and the additional entries thereafter to increase your odds (1 comment = 1 entry, Rinse and Repeat). Let me also say…if you don’t follow the rules…..no loot…….no email, no loot, rules are made for a reason and to avoid spammers! So let the fun begin:

  1. Follow my blog and tell me you do so or have done so, make sure you leave a valid email addy. (Worth 1 entry)
  2. Subscribe to my blog in a feed, then come tell me you did so. (Worth 1 entry)
  3. Follow me on Twitter @KariewithaK come back and tell me so (Worth 2 entries)
  4. Tweet my giveaway on Twitter, come back and tell me you did, one per day please! (Worth 3 entries)
  5. Grab my button to your right, add it to your blog, come back and give me the link showing you did! (Worth 5 entries)
  6. Tell me why you would want one of these cute little fur balls for your kiddos, with your valid email addy. (Worth 2 entries)
  7. Blog about this giveaway with the Mom Select button below and my button, come back and give me the link. (Worth 6 entries!!)
Now if you do not provide a valid email address you will be excluded from the drawing. The giveaway ends on June 7th @ Midnight AZ Time. I will choose a winner from Random.org

Good luck and have fun!