Special Fan Giveaway! USA ONLY...

Hey fans!
Here's a special fan giveaway! Thanks for being so patient with me while I've been gone with my horrible fibromyalgia flare-up for two weeks! I've missed you and wanted to give you a special giveaway from me to you! You have to live in the USA to enter this giveaway. Or have a USA mailing address :o) Here are the two prizes and descriptions of them.

In Bloom by Reese Witherspoon Body Lotion   Value $15.00
Sensual and elegant, it entices the senses with gardenia blossoms and lush florals, enveloped in amber wood and peach tea leaves. Body Lotion. 6.7 fl. oz.

Award-winning actress, Hollywood producer and working mother, Reese embodies the perfect balance of inner and outer beauty. Her celebrity style and sensual elegance are captured in the heart of In Bloom.

”In developing In Bloom, I found myself drawn to the scents of my childhood in Tennesse. We had a great big magnolia tree in the backyard and it’s that beautiful white blossom that inspired the perfume. In Bloom is indicative of where I am in my life today. I’m feeling very strong and independent, and so happy, so full of life. The fragrance truly captures that feeling – it’s very sensual, very romantic and alluring.” – Reese Witherspoon for Avon

AVON SILICONE GLOVE PROTECTIVE HAND CREAM  Value $5.00
A family favorite!  This product has been with Avon for years and years now!  Continual and lasting gel protection against skin irritants. 3.4 fl. oz.

Now here's your RAFFLECOPTER and the required steps to do in order to win these products!  Thanks!

NEW GIVEAWAY!

Carolyn's Zucchini Oatmeal Carrot Walnut Bread

  I like making my own recipes and sharing them with others!  This is my latest creation during zucchini season!  It's good for people who are looking to cut calories and eat healthy.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup whole wheat flour           1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt                              1/2 cup agave nectar
1/4 tsp. baking soda                 1/4 cup applesauce
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon          1/2 cup grated zucchini
1 egg from egg beaters              1/4 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup chopped walnuts           1/2 cup oatmeal (I use the flavored ones... maple brown sugar!)

DIRECTIONS

1,  Olive Oil Spray and whole wheat flour one 8 x 4 loaf pan.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2.  Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3.  Beat egg, oil, vanilla and brown sugar and nectar together in a large bowl.  Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well.  Stir in applesauce, zucchini, oatmeal, carrot and nuts until well combined.  Pour batter into prepared pan.
4.  Bake for 40 to 60 minutes or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in pan on rack
for 20 minutes.  Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.   Enjoy eating!

Stop School Bullying!

I've watched Friday, Sept. 17th 48 Hours Mystery about School Bullying.  I'm sure that many of us remember being bullied or our friends being bullied in school or maybe our children being bullied.  It's a horrible thing and this show first showed a boy (with long hair) who preferred to sit with the girls and do "girl things" and had to transfer to his third school until something could be done about it.  The boy's mother got proactive about the situation and found out that once she brought it to the school's attention they would actually do something about it.   She met with other mother's whose child(ren) were being bullied.  She spoke at the school and asked the children who had been bullied or knew of someone being bullied and she found out that what started at 30% of the school rose to 70% of the school.   The teachers were placing placards like this one in their classroom and talking with the kids about talking to the teacher if anyone of them are being bullied.

 The first boy I'm speaking about actually said that he felt like killing himself.  He already causing self injury to himself by cutting himself and hurting himself.  Thankfully his mom stepped forward and did something about it! 

If you have any doubt that bullying kills then get a ticket to this play, The Bullycide Project and it tells the story of 150 children who took their lives since 1973 because they didn't think anyone could do anything about it.  Often the parents of these children are in the audience.  So many parents didn't know this was going on so they couldn't do anything.  But now they know and can do something. 

One gal, Jessie was tormented horribly.  And no one did anything about it, her friends failed her.  Then she did one thing that couldn't be undone.  She took a picture of herself naked and put it in a text.  And then she was attacked unmercifully.  A policeman told her that it would be a good idea to go public.  So she went on TV.  After this the attacking got worse.   People were spitting on her and hitting her.  One night she attended the funeral of a fellow student who had taken his life because of bullying.  That night she went and hung herself.  An awful tragedy.

Determined that something positive happen, Cynthia Logan went before the Ohio State Senate calling for a passing of the Jessica Logan Act...  an act to protect the children.   A mother there shared about her daughter being bullied in school and online.  The bullying started when she was 6.  It was in her daughter's 4th grade of school when she realized what was happening at the Catholic School she was attending and they did little to help her.  Tara was transferred in 5th grade and the friends from Dara's old school told her new friends how she was hated and then the new friends became haters too.  On FaceBook a group of kids started a Dara Hating group.  Horrible things were written about her.  The mother spoke to Dara about not hurting herself or killing herself and Dara shared that she would never do that.

Jacob, another boy interviewed shared where all the bullying "hotspots" were in his school.  He shared how in dodge ball people gang on some and just hit them like crazy.  He also shared that when kids share about it they get it worse.

Middle school tends to be the worse.  This is when hormones are raging, cliques are formed, friendships seem more important than anything else.   Is this ringing some familiarity to you?  

Dara's mom turned to Dara's principal and she turned in pages of documents and said it was bad but he said that he needed proof at school to do something.  He talked to the girls at school who were doing the bullying.  But nothing was done to punish them.  The mom became obsessed with finding out anything she could to help her daughter... online and offline.   She found out that one of the horrible things she found out is that children under the age of 13 are joining facebook.  Facebook says that they are aware of the problem but that they currently can't do anything about it.  Dara's mom took her off of FaceBook.

What's the law in your state about bullying?  Go to http://cbs.com/bullying

I was happy to find a number of good resources online to help with school and online bullying and here are some of them:

• SECRET on FACEBOOK has an anti bullying campaign... MEAN STINKS.  Please join there and help to support their program. 
• EYEGUARDIAN Keeping an eye on your children on FACEBOOK.
• Bullying and Violence:  What You Need to Know
• and many more resources can be found here:  I searched on SWAGBUCKS for it and found this information.

3000 FAN AVON PRODUCTS BY CAROLYN GIVEAWAY!

Congrats to all 3000+ fans at Avon Products by Carolyn!   Three other sponsors have joined in this giveaway and I thank them very much for doing this.  The prizes and sponsors are as follows:

AVON CANVAS COSMETIC BAG!

AVON MOISTURE THERAPY HAND CREAM

$5.00 WALMART GIFT CARD

TUPPERWARE OPEN HOUSE BUTTER DISH

Topaz and diamond created ring 10 carat white goldplated...truly stunning size 7

We hope that you all are excited about the chance to win any of these giveaway gifts and I've given you MORE CHANCES to win with this giveaway!  GOOD LUCK!

Beauty Brite's Giveaway Round Up!

   Come and join the giveaway!  She's offering great items!
Click Here

Back to School Recipes!

It's that time again and I know the moms and dads want to make excting back to school recipes for their kids!
So here is some help for you!

Ingredients:

2 large strawberries, halved 1/8 cantaloupe, cut into balls or cubes 3/4 bananas, peeled and cut into chunks

3/8 apple, cut into chunks 8 skewers

Directions:

You have scaled this recipe's ingredients to yield a new amount (2). The directions below still refer to the original recipe yield (5).

1.	Thread the strawberries, cantaloupe, banana and apple pieces alternately onto skewers, placing at least 2 pieces of fruit on each skewer. Arrange the fruit skewers decoratively on a serving platter.

Ingredients:

1 all-beef hot dog 1 hot dog bun 1 packet ketchup

1 packet prepared yellow mustard 2 tablespoons shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:

1.	Prepare your child's lunch box by packing the hot dog bun, ketchup, mustard and Cheddar cheese.
2.	Preheat your child's insulated beverage container by filling with boiling water. Let stand for 15 to 20 minutes. I put the kettle on when I get up and let it heat while the kids get ready for school. Right before they leave, dump out that water and replace with more boiling water. The preheating keeps it hot for a longer time. Place a hot dog into the water and close the lid.
3.	When your child is ready for lunch, they can take the hot hot dog out of the container and place it on the bun. Top with ketchup, mustard and cheese to make a hot lunch from home.

Ingredients: 1 pita bread round 1 teaspoon olive oil 3 tablespoons pizza sauce 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 1/4 cup sliced crimini mushrooms 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt Directions: 1. Preheat grill for medium-high heat. 2. Spread one side of the pita with olive oil and pizza sauce. Top with cheese and mushrooms, and season with garlic salt. 3. Lightly oil grill grate. Place pita pizza on grill, cover, and cook until cheese completely melts, about 5 minutes. Ingredients: 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup quick cooking oats 3 tablespoons butter, softened 1 cup confectioners' sugar 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter 2 1/2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream Directions: 1. In a large bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter or margarine, 1/2 cup peanut butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add egg and beat well. 2. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir. Add oatmeal and stir. 3. Drop by teaspoons onto greased baking sheet, and press each mound down with a fork to form 1/4 inch thick cookies. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 minutes, or until cookies are a light brown. 4. To Make Filling: Cream 3 tablespoons butter or margarine with the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, and the cream. Spread filling onto half of the cooled cookies, then top with the other half to form sandwiches.

$100.00 VISA CARD GIVEAWAY!

Welcome to the $100 VISA Gift Card Giveaway! This giveaway is sponsored by 20 different blogs. To enter, simply follow each of us on Twitter using the Rafflecopter form below! Giveaway starts 9/7 at 12:00 am EST and ends 9/20 at 11:59 pm EST.

You only need to enter the giveaway on one of our blogs, but you can come back once a day to claim your daily entries too!

Libman Freedom Spray Mop Giveaway and Product Review

I recently had the opportunity to do a PRODUCT REVIEW on the Libman Freedom Spray Mop!   It's incredible!  I had been a loyal Swiffer Wet Jet user.   I did a test with coffee spilled on the floor in two places and cleaned the one spot with the Swiffer and the other with the Libman Freedom Spray Mop and the Libman won by far!

Some of the features of the Libman Freedom Spray Mop that won me over was the ability to be able to use a cloth mop that could quickly clean up the floor and rinse it out and place it back on the mop to continue to clean the rest of the floor.  No more earth-unfriendly features from the Swiffer.   The Swiffer uses harsh chemicals to clean the floor and the plastic cloth that goes into the landfills.  With the Libman Freedom mop all I have to do is throw the cloth into washer and dryer and it  comes out totally clean.   With the Libman Freedom mop I received an extra cloth and an extra refill bottle.   I'm able to make up my own floor cleaning solution!

With the Libman Freedom Spray Mop you get the following features:


-Freedom to choose any cleaning solution you want to put in: Your favorite cleaner, plain water, environmentally friendly solution etc. Removable bottle for easy filling.
-Freedom from costly and wasteful disposable pads- reusable microfiber pad can be machine washed up to 50 times. Safe on all flooring surfaces.
-Freedom from batteries- trigger sprayer allows you to control how much liquid is coming out.  Just grab and go, no heavy messy buckets to lug around
-Quality manufactured in the USA (Arcola, IL) by a 4th generation family owned company.
-Sold fully assembled in the mop and broom section of your favorite store.

I will never go back to the Swiffer Mop again.  The Libman Freedom Spray Mop is the mop for me!  Libman also gave me the opportunity to give away a free mop coming directly from them to you.   All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form and the random selection winner will receive the all the same things that I received!  Good luck!