Hmm, I Think I See a Pattern...

Thought this was super strange to see in my Facebook feed today: Four different blogs all with contests for Scout Bags.

Okay, it's just a coincidence, right? Well, these four all posted and started today:

• http://africasblog.com/2012/05/25/scout-bag-giveaway/
• http://www.mamaluvsbooks.com/2012/05/summertime-scout-bag-giveaway-win-2.html
• http://momdoesreviews.com/2012/05/25/win-2-scout-bags-summer-fun-ends-61/
• http://fullpricenever.com/new-scout-bag-giveaway-2-bags-to-1-lucky-winner-perfect-for-summer/

So, no, it's not four different giveaways or anything super creepy... Just that I follow four blogs on FB that are all doing the same contest by either hosting it or sponsoring it. (I know I saw it six times in my feed, but these are the only four links I could find on there right this second.)

Am I the only one that hates this trend? I've seen a lot of blogs posting the same things one after another... So what about those that do go out and get the content on their own? Are they any better or can anyone even tell anymore? (There are a lot of any's in that sentence!)

I just hate the thought of those horrible sponsored giveaways. I know you have hosting fees to keep your website up, but to host a giveaway and have other people give you money in order to buy something to giveaway seems sort of silly when most of them could just get the products for free if they just talked to the company and did a review.

I also hate how much companies are targeting Mommy Bloggers recently. Perfect example: The Avengers Movie. I love comics. I like some of the movies that they didn't butcher. Lots of mom's that blog got to see the new movie for free, some even at the premiere, and get free products to review that had the characters on them. That's all fine and well... But why are you targeting moms? I'm sure some of them may be fans, but probably not a ton. I'm sure lots of them love the "hot" guys on the screen. But I'm pretty damn sure it was just a ploy to get more women to watch and then get their kids and husbands. That ticks me off. Don't target the original audience, just whatever can get more money. That is BS.

And, no, I'm not complaining about this specific giveaway. Actually, I haven't even looked at it! So if you're looking to get one of those bags, go over and sign up for a chance! I'm just venting because I can. ;)

Are You A Cat Person?

Or, more specifically, a cat lady?

Well, here's a contest for you!

Are you on Catster? I am!

Maybe I'm Reaching for the Wrong Demographic Here, But LOL!

...And I despise Lord of the Rings. Seriously. If I wanted to sit down and read a book about people walking all over Hells' half acre, well, I just wouldn't. I'd rather play an RPG or play D&D or Vampires with friends.

Princess Prize Pack!

I can't very well wish for this--though that dress is immensely adorable!--because we have two little princesses that have no problem beating one another for things, along with their brother who likes to be a princess too!

And since all these lovelies are for one princess, I'll have to pass... But that doesn't mean you have to! Hurry over there and win!

Bugs!

With all the fuss that Izy's been going on about with ants lately, when we were outside earlier working on the tent, I spotted a tiny Praying Mantis!

It's just a nymph, so it's so so so tiny! I thought it may have been a stick bug at first!

Father's Day Giveaway, Plus a Free Gift for You?

Claim a free surprise gift & enter for a chance to win a Motorola XOOM 32GB Tablet!

No idea what the free prize is. (Probably something lame like a desktop background or something. Or free spam emails!) Still, we don't possibly have the money to buy this normally so it's worth signing up for a chance!

Yellow Pepper is SO in! Giveaway ends TOMORROW!

Hehe. I just adore this color. Doesn't match a thing I have though.

Sign up before this one is gone!

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Attack of the Monster Mr. Hoppy

First and foremost, allow me to explain that a Mister Hoppy is, in fact, a frog or toad.

Izy woke up last night screaming bloody murder. She's shaking, clutching her blanket, unwilling to move from the corner of her bed where she is standing, screaming about something through tears and mumbles.

Finally, after my husband sat her down and she shook her way over to the doorway where I was did I begin to understand her, though she was hyperventilating:

"Mr. Hoppy attacked me."

Of course, there is no frog or toad in the house or in her bed for that matter, not to mention that she generally likes them unless they jump on her face like a little tree frog did some time ago. Even then, it doesn't bother her half as much as her big sister.

Izy just has a tendency to hyperventilate whenever she is upset. She's always been that way!

She just wanted to cuddle, then eat some more pizza, color, then go to bed with us. There was no way she was willing to go back into her bed even though Daddy had "taken Mister Hoppy outside where he belonged."

After staying awake most of the night, she finally started twitching and fell asleep against me.

All was good until her sister couldn't sleep only seconds after Izy fell asleep. We ended up trading one child for another.

Kalli stayed up for a little while, but she just could not get comfy. That was her main problem. Didn't help me any though, as she's always been a Daddy's girl and wanted nothing to do with me whereas her sister used to stick to me like glue.

None of the kids are really cuddly all the time... DD just wants people to pick him up and as long as he knows you he doesn't care who you are. Izy cuddles when she is scared and Kalli snuggles when she wants something. Sebby is too little to pick sides, but he certainly prefers Daddy over me because I'm on a mission to get that little boy's head the right shape!

In any case, Izy was all good after she was put in bed--even if it was pretty early this morning. No more nightmares about Mister Hoppy jumping on her and her pillows, then worrying about her sister and brothers being attacked too.

That is, until she fell asleep tonight.

Iz is always the first one out. She gave up naps in order to stay up like her big sister, but makes up for it by passing out about a half an hour before her little brother and waking up a little later than her sister. So, the other two were still up watching Puss In Boots when she started screaming.

She was suddenly at the door, struggling with it. I thought it may have been her sister but both of them can open doors and DD doesn't know how to climb out of his bed yet. It took a little while before Daddy went and let her out and she was freaking.

Runs over to me, going on about how Mr. Hoppy attacked her again. I put her on my lap and hold her to get her to stop shaking and calm down enough to breathe. She finally does and goes on about it jumping on her and it's in her bed again.

Her sister is beside her bed. Her brother is beside her bed. Neither of them have seen anything and don't even know what she's going on about.

My first thought is, like last night, that maybe it's the hanging plant by the window. Maybe she wakes up and sees it and thinks it's something falling? But it's been there for a while...

Maybe her sister is being mean and playing tricks on her? Maybe her brother is throwing things at her and startling her awake? Neither would surprise me...

But, it seems to just be nightmares as there is, currently, no proof of anything else.

So, here we are at 12:30 on a Wednesday night Thursday morning with Izy in the chair not wanting to sleep again. Maybe tomorrow we'll do better.

She didn't take any naps today, but she's been in one hell of a mood too.

Then again, Daddy and I are too. If she whines one more time about ants or bugs in her ear/climbing on her or about the crayon wrappers that she thinks look like bugs that she just peeled off...

If nothing else, she was really cute running around singing The Doom Song earlier.

...I'm sure Daddy didn't think so since he was playing his video game, hehe.

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What Happened to Blogger Integrity?

I do things now that I haven't always wanted to do, but I think they are good choices not just for me and this site but for my readers as well.

• Yes, I have ads on my sidebars. 
• Yes, I have posts that will earn me pennies but save you dollars.
• Yes, I have made reviews about products that I have used and enjoyed and gotten something in return for it.

I will not, however: Lie.

• I will not post a product I do not endorse or have a member of my family use.
• I will not ask for votes in my blog posts, though I will leave the links there for you to vote if you wish.
• I will not use other websites to trick you into coming to my site just to make myself money, even if I watch others do this.

Honestly, I can't believe what I've seen other bloggers doing lately. Maybe it's because I've been looking around online more and I've just never noticed until recently, but this is getting ridiculous. If making a post promoting an item to get people to click through on a link that you will get paid per sign up isn't enough, they're using other sites (like Pinterest & ReclipIt) and having popups on their pages as well!

People are getting too greedy.

I've been blogging since before I turned 13. I've been on a computer since I was 4. Maybe I just have some "old school" philosophies about what's wrong and right online, but perhaps I'm just behind the times.

My grandparents raised me better than that though.

Reclip.it!

I'm not one for Pinterest. Don't get me wrong, I have an account but only because I had to in order to use it for contests and such. I don't like the immense amount of spam and links that are only there to get someone else money. It just doesn't seem right to me.

Well, Reclip.it is fairly new and there aren't as many people abusing the system over there--yet. I have an account and have been "clipping" deals when I see them and sometimes not even posting them here! Of course, that's just because I've been busy recently and slacking off so that's not going to last oh so long.

In any case, if you want to know what deals and freebies I've been looking up and/or are about to post, check out my Reclip.it by clicking the tab on the top left of the site.

If anyone is looking for an invite, leave a comment!

Squished Head... Thinking that might be a nickname in the future!

If you have children, I'm sure you know how soft their tiny skulls are for a while. If they lay on one side more than the other, you have to flip their heads around or their head will get lopsided.

Well, all of our kids have different shaped heads. Kalli always liked to sleep with her head to the right, so she's a bit flatter on that side--not as though you can tell with all those curls though. Izy's head is bumpy on top to the right, whereas her Daddy's head is bumper on the left. Double D is flat in the back because he just lays like that, still. But Sebby is the worst...

For three days, he constantly pulled his head to the left. Three days, and his head was completely flat on the left side and rounded on the right! Oh my, it freaked me out. I know Kal's head did that a few times, but his looked horrible!

He's still looking more to the left than to the right, but it's not as though there's anything wrong... He just really likes to sleep on that side. When he was a few weeks old, he learned how to kick enough to roll over to his left side. We can only assume he's been doing this much longer than since he's been out of the womb.

So far, so good though. He might not like it, but his little head has been getting turned to the right a lot more than before. He fusses about it and I can only assume things are much cooler to look at on the left side, so we've been putting up more things to the right for him to look at.

He can move his head around just fine, but he favors the left over the right. Once his head solidifies more, I really don't care. But right now, I'd prefer to attempt to make his head a more proper shape.

Plant a Tweet!

Ever heard of these on Twitter and wondered why your friends are asking for retweets? Well, it's a different type of RT...

When you click on the link, you'll get to see their planted "tweet" flower grow. This flower needs water, RTs, and nurturing, pinning on Pinterest. Each time someone helps by making it grow, they get that much closer to winning a Lowe's $10 gift card.

It takes a total of 60 RTs & Pins to flower into a gift card, so help them out!

There are still a number of gift cards left too, just in case you want to sign up to get your own!

Busy Busy Busy!

Saturday we had a yard sale and we had been getting things together for it last week. Yesterday we went out with the in-laws for a Mother's Day celebration up north. Today we've been out getting the part for our van to get it fixed and back on the road. Hubby's out doing that now.

Oh yes, our new van is dead and has been for a little over a week now. I'm so spectacular at driving on this gravel road that I managed to get a rock lodged up and broke the connector from the fuel pump to the gas tank.

Note: If you ever smell gasoline while driving down the road, do not pull over until you get into a parking lot or safely off the roadway.

We've been doing quite a lot to get enough money to buy a new fuel pump, which is the cheapest way to get the part that is needed. Managed to run out today with the kids and get that, so hopefully we'll have the van back up and running very soon.

You wouldn't realize how much you use a family vehicle until you have to manage four children in the cab of a truck. Yikes.

Awesome Pepsi Sale at Family Dollar!

Get the ad and take it to Walmart or Target or anywhere else that does price matches too. If you have any coupons, then all the better. (I couldn't find any in my binder though!) Get them while you can!

Mother's Day Pampers Gifts to Grow Rewards Code!

10 point code

FBMD76C7HMEXT12

Free Cottonelle Toilet Paper Roll Cover at CVS!

CVS has a sale going on with these babies. Buy any one Cottonelle Roll Cover (the three designs above are currently available) with bonus roll of Cottonelle toilet paper inside for $1.99 and get $1.99 ECB's back! That's a free roll cover people!

Online, the roll costs $2.00 plus $1.99 shipping and handling, unless you have a code and then you'll be paying only shipping cost. If you've been looking to get one of these, get one now!

Sale ends May 26th.

Winner Announced!

Are you the winner? Contact me ASAP!

"Copy-Kids Eat Fruits & Vegetables" Review & Giveaway!

Ever had your child not want to eat something essential, like fruits or vegetables? Then this might just be the right DVD for your home too!

For one, it's basic. Kids watching other kids tend to mimic. If you have children happily playing and eating fruits and veggies, then more likely than not yours are going to want to join in. (Hey, sometimes doing what everyone else does is good for your kids! So, you can stop asking if they're going to jump off a bridge too--at least this time!)

Secondly, well, just look at this adorable mascot:

Blue parrot. I know my kids love it. Even I do! It's colorful and certainly grabs your attention, in a good way.

There are several chapters on the DVD (like bananas, carrots, broccoli) that target certain fruits or vegetables so if you're kids are only having issues with certain ones, you can target those.

I'll even admit that some of the stuff on here I don't like! Raspberries and avocados? Ew. This might make me want to give them another shot, but I still tend to lean towards the "those are icky" kind of thing, but I'm rather stubborn and set in my ways at this point! Good thing kids minds are more easy to mold.

My kids are good with fruits and veggies. (I guess that's the good thing about them being more like me on eating than their father, who is a bit picker.) Still, we all have bad days and this is something fun to watch and get them eating!

I'll tell you a secret--if you want your kids to eat anything, get them to watch this DVD. Even if it isn't the targeted fruit or vegetable, you should be able to talk to them more about eating good/healthier foods and get them to try more. You know, the ol' "if you try it you might like it" routine.

Honestly, my kids loved it. (Banana eatin' right here.) Kids like to watch other people have fun and the kids in this are having fun.

Now if only I could get an adult version with foods I like to get my husband to try something new...

If you'd like to see the video quality and content, you can watch a trailer here.

It was rated by Dr. Toy in 2011 as one of the best children's products in creativity and music.

You can find them online at Copy-Kids.com and on Facebook or you can win a copy in our giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wordless Wednesday: 6 - 2 = 4

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