It's Me Melbie! - PearlParadise.com Giveaway

What if I told you that you could WIN a Pink freshwater pearl bracelet from PearlParadise.com would that excite you as much as it excites me?

If so then you should head on over to It's Me Melbie! because she's got one heck of a giveaway going on right now.

Hurry because this giveaway will end Wednesday, May 26, 2010 @ 11:59pm MT

She Scribes Is Giving Away A $50 Chili's Gift Card

I LOVE Chilis and I would love to take my husband out to eat there. Thanks to She Scribes I know how I could WIN one. It is a fun contest called Shout Out to Eat Out.

It seems that EVERY DAY until August 30, 2010 one lucky winner will be selected to receive dinner at Chili's for FREE! Sounds GREAT to me!

All you need to do to enter is up load a 10 - 30 second video why you need to eat out tonight. Just grab your video camera, tell Chili's why need you need to eat out, upload it to YouTube and then upload it on to their Shout Out to Eat Out web site.

To help promote this contest She Scribes is Giving away a $50 Chili's Gift Card!

How cool is that? You need to hurry because this giveaway ends May 26th!

100CafeStreet.com – Dessert Blog Is Giving Away Blondies

Oh sure they are giving away Brunettes but did you hear what I said originally? I said they are giving away BLONDIES!!!!These Blondies and Brunettes are from Hot Blondies Bakery.

If you have a sweet tooth, and trust me I do, you should head over to 100CafeStreet.com IMMEDIATELY if not sooner. That's because this giveaway ends May 26th.

Midday Escapades Is Holding A P.F. Chang's Giveaway

I have always wanted to go to P. F. Changs. Everyone I know who has eaten there include it in there places "You ABSOLUTELY MUST try."

That's why I was excited when I saw that the blog, "Midday Escapades" was holding a PF Changs Giveaway. She had a WONDERFUL review that looked so good I could almost taste what she ordered. Oh my it looked good.

Warning, when you see her dessert which included six warm, crispy bites with coconut-pineapple ice cream and drizzled with caramel and vanilla sauces you will want to grab the keys and head on over to PF Chang's tonight.

Two (2) lucky winners from Midday Escapades will each receive a $50 Gift Card! Good luck!!!!

We're Not Gonna Take It

This video started the whole thing. God forbid that we have an unencumbered half day during exam week. That's how other schools do exams but not us.

We were each assigned to a "school improvement" group and I was placed in a group called incentives. Here's the joke. I thought they were talking about incentives for teachers. Hee hee.

No the incentives were for students. How are we going to encourage them to come to school? How are we going to get them to score higher on their EOCT? In other words, just how did we plan to reward them for doing what they are supposed to do.

This conversation went down the drain pretty quickly. Things like why are parents not encouraging students to do better in school or why don't parents make kids come to school. I mean it's not like we can come to their home, get them dressed and ready to come to school, and then escort them on to the bus.

I mostly listened and let my thoughts wander. There was one teacher that going on and on about how we should reward them by giving them time to "just chill" every week. That's when I thought about this video.

Excuse me for being a Business Teacher but I got this bright idea of we teachers making a video and the theme: "Can We Count on You?" I suggested that we could make this video go viral and keep the theme with students winning T-shirts with the theme and being a part of a big Academic pep rally.

At that point everyone bought in. Everyone loved the concept and my name kept being thrown out there as being the person who created the campaign. How's that for being the one you can "Count On."

Enter The Kodak EasyShare Digital Camera Giveaway

Have you seen the movie Babies? It opened in theaters this past Mother's Day. You don't have to be a Mom to love this movie.

Now you can WIN a Kodak EasyShare digital camera and $20 Kodak Gallery coupon code when you head on over to Book Room Reviews for you chance to WIN!

To Be A Maven Or Not?

I recently received an email from a woman who is running a site very similar to mine. I guess you could say that we are running a site similar to hundreds of others.

She wrote me an email telling me that she wants me to change some words from my twitter profile because she's going to trademark her blog name and the fact that I have been using these words on my account for quite some time might keep her from getting the trademark.


The thing is that my blog has been around longer than hers. I really don't want to relinquish those words but I am concerned that this may become a "mean girls" flame war. It seems that there are many people out in the blog-o-sphere who want their way and they want it right now. If they don't get it they bad mouth you.

I wrote her back with the facts and offered her a change in the spelling. Well she wrote back and her is what she said:

Hi Cathy -
Thanks for responding. I did not mean to imply you knew I even existed or was
trademarking. I am in the application process currently. I was just surprised to
see it as I thought I had done an extensive search before I even chose my name last
year - wanted to make sure it was not already out there. So when it popped up I was
just surprised, that's all.

I did not think rewording would be a big deal since it was only in your bio and not
on your blog - so I was not meaning to ask you to make a big change in how you
operate, but if it is, i apologize, that was not my intent. Your change in spelling
is fine if you are comfortable with that.

I suppose I will make the change

The Bill - Be The First One On Your Block To Read It

You can now say that you did what other government officials have not done, you can actually READ Arizona State Bill 1070.

Of course it would be easier to join the chorus of those who hate the bill but have not read it because then you would be part of the in crowd.

Janet Napolitano, who has been a vocal critic of the new Arizona immigration law, told Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Monday that she had not reviewed the law in detail, but nevertheless repeated criticism she made in April on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the law is a “bad law enforcement law




Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder said he hadn't read the law either, although he too has criticized it. He told the House Judiciary Committee he'd "expressed concerns" about the Arizona law, "on the basis of what I've heard about the law" from newspaper and TV reports. Holder has questioned whether the law is constitutional and has said the federal government may challenge it in court.



Eric Holder speaks as though he were an expert on the law and yet, he hasn't read it. Perhaps I should speak out on War and Peace. I haven't read it but I think it was just horrible when you read the part about how innocent babies and pregnant women killed, but the love scene where all the countries get together and hug for peace is great. Oh that didn't happen in War and Peace? It doesn't matter because you can say whatever you want if you are on team Barrack.

On Tuesday, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley revealed that he, too, had not read the bill, despite commenting on it.




It must be nice to be really, really smart, so smart that you don't even have to read something but you can claim you know what it says. Sounds almost like a magic trick. Maybe they're psychic.

Arlen Specter

Arlen Specter, lost Tuesday to Rep. Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania's Democratic Senate primary. Guess you can't win them all. Gee I bet you were just counting on Obama's support to pull you through.



Wouldn't you have just thought that Obama's star power would have pulled you to victory? Actually, it seems a bit more like the kiss of death when Obama comes out to stump for you.

It was not the first time he changed parties.



Then he flipped back to being a Democrat.



Will you be a member of the Tea Party next Arlen? Maybe a change in party really will help you get re-elected.

Susan Powell Update: Remains Found in Idaho Unlikely Those of Missing Utah Mom

Police in Utah are investigating whether the remains of a woman found in Idaho are those of missing West Valley woman Susan Powell. Detectives believe that it is very unlikely that the remains are Powell's.

The badly decomposed remains were found last Friday about 12 miles east of Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Idaho authorities "are pretty sure it's one of their missing-person cases from three years ago," West Valley Police Capt. Tom McLachlan told the Deseret News. "They're pretty positive it's going in that direction."

The West Valley police department has named Josh Powell, husband to Susan Powell, as a “person of interest” in the case. Josh Powell has not been arrested for Susan Powell’s disappearance, and detectives say only that interviews with him left “more questions than answers.

MyFourMonkeys - Kleenex Hand Drying Song Giveaway

If you were to stop by my house today you would know exactly why I could use a $50 Service Master/Merry Maids gift certificate. As fast as I can clean things up the family dumps more junk. It's like I am the only one who knows how to operate a trash can, but that's another story.

The real story is that the My Four Monkeys blog is giving away a $50 Service Master/Merry Maids gift certificate. This is in an effort to bring attention to the Kleenex Hand Towels.

According to the post I read, the New Kleenex Hand Towels delivers a clean, fresh towel every time for better hand hygiene. I also learned that hand drying with disposable towels can help prevent the spread of germs, and the CDC guidelines for hand washing recommends hand drying with a single-use towel.

So hurry over to My Four Monkey and enter today. Oh and if you win, can you send the certificate my way?

A Nut in a Nutshell - Chili's Giveaway

Head on over to the Blog A Nut in a Nutshell and find out how you could WIN a $50 GC. The giveaway on the blog A Nut In A Nutshell ends May 17th.

This giveaway is running in conunction with the Chili's Shout Out to Eat Out website where you could win just by uploadin a 10-30 second video telling Chili's why you don't want to cook tonight. They're giving one away every day through August 30th!

WIN An All You Magazine Subscription From Deal-icious Mom

All You Magazine is about to kick off their second annual
Grocery Challenge contest I entered last year and blogged about how much I spent each week.

You can sign up starting May 14, 2010. The goal of the Grocery Challenge is to spend $25 or less per family member per week on groceries during a four-week period. The contest runs from June 20 to July 17. The winning family will be awarded a $1,000 grocery card and the opportunity to appear in ALL YOU, scheduled for our November issue.

There's plenty more information about this competition and how you can WIN a subscription to the All You Magazine on the DealiciousMom.com blog.

WIN A $50 Visa gift card from Western Union

Head on over to An Island Life blog and you might WIN A $50 Visa gift card from Western Union when you answer the question "What would you buy your Mom or someone if you won.

This is all in an effort to bring to bring attention to Western Union's Campaign Return The Love Campaign. Find out more by heading on over to An Island Life today.

Check Out The Mom Spark - Nestle Giveaway

You could be the BIG WINNER in the Nestle Family Mother's Day Prize pack being given away in the Mom Spark Family Day Out Giveaway.

Nestle Family Mother's Day prize pack with $29.99 Shutterfly.com gift card, 30-day supply of Glowelle and coupons for Carnation Instant Breakfast Essentials, Juicy Juice, Dreyer’s Ice Cream, Toll House, Nesquik, Cranberry Raisinets, Stouffer’s, Nestle Pure Life, Wonka Exceptionals and Wonka Sploshberries (ARV $150).

WIN A $75 1-800-Flowers.com Gift Certificate

Mother's Day is right around the corner. Have you decided what to get her yet? My Mom LOVES Flowers and that's why I love 1-800-Flowers.

The People at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM and Jollymom.com are giving away a $75 1-800-Flowers.com gift certificate and you could WIN.

Quick there's still time to enter because this giveaway ends May 12th.

Baby Moose Play In Sprinkler

So cute. Watch the Moose frolic in the sprinkler. This brings up the question is it moose, meeces, or mooses?

Mother Bear Rescues Cub From Tree

This is one reason why you should NEVER bother a mother bear.