Free Stuff - 01/30/10

A happy mailbox is a mailbox filled with free stuff. Enjoy the following offers for free stuff. Come back every Saturday for more!

HOUSEHOLD:
Glad ForceFlex Trash Bags HERE
Purex 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets HERE
Bounce 4-in-1 Sheets HERE
Post-It Index Tabs HERE
Uni-Ball Pen HERE

FOOD:
Box Of Kellogg's Special K Cereal HERE
Sample Barbara's Organic Cereal HERE
Sample and Coupon KickinBerries Acai Drink Mix HERE

HEALTH/BEAUTY:
Sample Playtex Gentle Glide HERE
Sample Dove Shampoo HERE
Weekend Sample Kit HERE

CHILDREN:
Pampers Potty Training Kit HERE
Child Safety Kit HERE
Sample Member's Mark Infant Formula HERE

PETS:
Science Diet Simple Essentials Pet Treats HERE
Free New Pet Exam HERE

ENTERTAINMENT:
Book - Revolution In World Missions HERE

MISC:
Cruelty Free Shopping Guide HERE
A Traveler's Guide To America's Dairyland HERE
Greg Biffle Bracelet HERE

God's Gift To You

God's Gift To You
By Max Lucado
“Every perfect gift is from God.” James 1:17

An itinerant preacher from Nazareth can do something for the hurt that is in your heart. Maybe you’re trying to rebuild an estranged relationship . . . Maybe you’ve been trying to find God for longer than you can remember. There was something about this Nazarene preacher that made people cluster around him like he was God’s gift to humanity. He is your gift as well.

"Healing Hand Of God" - Jeremy Camp

All Dressed Up

There's been a huge ice/snow storm coming through the central US states keeping a lot of us indoors. With kids home and the roads too icy to leave the house, what do you do?

I have been having a lot of fun today with this online game. It's called All Dressed Up. You can create a male or female character from the 30s, 50s, or 70s and dress them up with fashions from that decade. The challenge? You'll be able to choose fashions (and music) from all three decades, but to earn points you must match up your character with the correct fashions from their decade. When you're done you can click finish and see your score and even print your character.

Want to take it a step further? Print your character at the end and make some paper dolls for your little ones to play with.

Bring The Family Back To The Table

As someone who tries to put the 1950s family values into practice, there is one I've noticed has become less and less loved in this generation -- coming together at the kitchen table for a meal. Whatever the excuses have been, I challenge my readers next week to come to the table and enjoy a meal as a family. Can you even do one meal a day? Let's start with breakfast. Wake up earlier. Put your next day items out at night (clothes, keys, backpacks, etc). Do whatever it takes to make it to the kitchen table at the same time as the rest of your family members.

Did you know a 1998 study showed that children who eat breakfast tend to perform better at school? Compared to children who skip breakfast, children who eat breakfast score higher on tests, are less likely to miss class or be tardy, have fewer reported discipline problems, and make fewer trips to the office.

Cereals are an easy and quick way to get a breakfast on the table for your family. Did you know that ready-to-eat cereal eaters consume less fat, less cholesterol and more fiber than non-cereal eaters? Cereals also deliver important vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients, making cereal a top source of key nutrients in children's diets.

General Mills has taken your health a step further and has committed to further reduce sugar in cereals advertised to kids under 12 to single digit grams of sugar per serving. The company has already been reducing sugar in cereals while increasing key nutrients, such as calcium and vitamin D, and providing whole grain.

For more information about kids and cereals, please visit Cereal Health and Wellness.

Right now, General Mills is offering this $1 off one of four types of General Mills cereal coupon to help get your family back to the table and enjoy a meal together. Why not make it the first one of the day?

Will you accept this challenge?


Dear FTC, I received four VIP coupons from General Mills through My Blog Spark to help bring my own family back to the table for breakfast and that inspired me to challenge my readers to do the same. No cash was exchanged here. Thanks.

Home State

It's been a rough start to 2010 for this blog. Extra long Christmas vacations, illness, the launch of a second blog (The Generosity Project), getting a third blog rolling (still secret), and other family life stuff has had me all over the place except here. This week I'm working on some new articles and getting this blog rolling again by next week. In the meantime, if you're missing me, head over to the new blog and let me know what you think.

2010 Dream Home Up For Grabs

Part of our holiday break landed us in Albuquerque, NM. Hubs and I instantly fell in love with Albuquerque - and all of New Mexico, really. Don't be surprised if we move there. We loved it that much.

I don't know if you have heard of the 2010 HGTV Dream Home, but it's equally as gorgeous and happens to be built right between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico. It comes move-in ready and includes a new vehicle (2010 GMC Terrain) and $500,000. Once we made it home to Texas, we watched the television special for the 2010 Dream Home tour (thankfully DVR'd by my mother in law while we were away). While my luck has been really bad lately, I couldn't help myself wanting to enter to win. It'd be just too perfect. Bad luck for us could equal our luck turning around and being able to move to New Mexico and enjoy a home of our own complete with a casita in the back for family to stay when they visit (or to rent out on weekends so we could afford the property taxes) - not to mention a new vehicle and $500,000.

While I really want to win this, I thought I'd let my readers know about it too. You can enter to win daily through February 19th here. If we don't win, the next best thing would be for one of my readers to win it and invite me over some weekend.

Rosarita Blog Tour

Rosarita (formerly Rosita) has been a household name since the 1940s mostly due to their delicious Mexican-style refried beans.

Pedro Guerrero, of Arizona, had a dream to bring Mexican food to the masses. Armed with only a third-grade education, Guerrero founded Rosita Mexican Food Products in the 1940s, though he had discovered the popularity of tamales in 1923 when he sold them at a festival. As the company expanded from fresh tamales into canned beans, the name was changed to Rosarita. One of Guerrero's sons designed the picture of the Mexican woman for the logo.

While the refried beans are the most popular, Rosarita just came out with a new salsa that is sure to become a new household favorite. Currently, the salsa is only available in Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas, and Phoenix at select grocery stores and Walmart. I know that's not quite fair to the rest of you, but hopefully that will change if the salsa does well in these select markets.

The Rosarita salsa comes in three varieties:

• Mild Salsa Mexican - a big kick of heat despite the mild label
  
• Medium Salsa Verde - a green salsa and a little more heat than the red mild salsa
  
• Hot Salsa Taquera - I couldn't touch this one, but hubs was drinking milk after every other bite and he can usually tolerate pretty hot stuff. lol
  

Despite the heat, this salsa is packed with really great flavor. It tastes really fresh - possibly the freshest salsa I've eaten without making it myself.

Want to try the salsa but not a fan of Mexican food? Try using the Salsa Verde over some broiled fish. Or use the mild or hot salsa in your favorite chili.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Rosarita and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Wedgwood Winner

Welcome back!

I can honestly say that's the first time I've been sick
for an entire two weeks.
Not fun.
Know what is fun though?
Finally picking a winner for the
Wedgwood china contest.

Thanks to random.org, I picked a winner this morning.
The Crazy Suburban Mom (Tracy)
has won a fine bone china starter set by Wedgwood!
Congrats Tracy!
I'm serious when I say the first thing you should do with it
is turn the teacup over on the floor and stand on it.
You'll be amazed at the durability!

For all those who entered and did not win,
stay tuned for more great giveaways coming soon!

As for all other things Homemaker Hero,
I will get to them as soon as I can.
Please have a little patience this week
as I try to get back into the swing of things.