My Guest Post on the "Remaking June Cleaver" Blog

While my friend Kenda is on a bloggy vacation, I had the pleasure of writing a guest post for her blog Remaking June Cleaver.  The post shares a survival kit for parents with sore throats and laryngitis, a timely topic since I have been sick for two weeks now.  I would love it if you popped over to Kenda's blog to read this short post.  I think you might get a kick out of it, especially if you have ever had to care for children while sick with a bad cold or flu.

Stocking Stuffers 2010 Giveaway: New Wendy's Pick 2 Menu (Wendy's GC) [CLOSED]

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of bringing my family along to have lunch with several local bloggers and their guests at the Wendy's restaurant in North Reading, Massachusetts. What was the occasion? Well, we were invited to try out Wendy's new Pick 2 for $4.99 menu, where you are able to choose one out of four half salads plus another item, such as a side or a beverage or even a junior-size hamburger.

I brought my husband, sister, and twin preschoolers to the lunch. Our first grader was in school. We took lots of photos, but not all of them came out well with our little point and shoot. I regret not bringing my digital SLR with us.

Here is my family enjoying their lunch . . .

I ordered the BLT Cobb Salad with a Baked Potato . . .

My chili-loving husband opted for the Baja Salad and a bowl of Chili . . .

Below are the Boston area bloggers I met. There were some familiar faces and some that were brand new to me . . .

(From left to right) Kim of Mommycosm, Kate (and son Kellen) of Adventures in Parenting, Sarah of In the Trenches of Mommyhood, Melanie of The Coupon Goddess, Charlene of Charlene Chronicles, Christy of Quirky Fusion, and Karen of 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires

Visit Wendys.com to view the entire Wendy's Menu or to find a Wendy's near you.

Thank you to Wendy's for providing gift cards for my guests and myself to have lunch at one of their restaurants and an additional gift card for our contest prize. This article is part of a paid campaign for TheMotherhood.

What you can win:
One lucky reader will receive a Wendy's gift card to try out the Pick 2 for $4.99 menu (a $7 value).

Limitations:

This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. If you enter anonymously and do not include a valid email address in your comment entries, I will not be able to notify you should you win this random drawing.

How to Gain Entries:

Leave a comment telling me which of the 4 half salads from the Pick 2 menu you would like to try. You MUST do this to be eligible to win this contest.

Extra Entries:

1) For 5 extra entries, leave a relevant comment on one of my non-giveaway posts. Then leave FIVE separate comments with the name of the post on which you commented. You will earn 5 extra entries for each different non-contest post you comment on.

2)

For 5 extra entries, enter one of my other contests. Leave FIVE separate comments here telling me which contest you entered. You will earn 5 extra entries for each contest you enter.

3) For 10 extra entries, sign up for WendyMail . Then come back here and leave TEN separate comments telling me you did.

4)

For 1 extra entry each, if you are a Friend of mine on Facebook and/or if you have "liked" the 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires Facebook page, then leave a separate comment here telling me so with the link to your Facebook profile.

5) For 1 extra entry each, follow Wendy's on Twitter and/or "Like" Wendy's on Facebook. Then leave a separate comment for each with the link to your Twitter or Facebook profile.

6)

Follow me on Twitter. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your Twitter profile.

7)

Tweet about this giveaway linking back to this post. Then come back here and leave the link to your tweet in a separate comment. You may do this once per day until the end of the contest.

8)

Subscribe to this blog's feed. Or you can follow me through Blogger or subscribe via email (widget is on sidebar). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

9)

Subscribe to A Blog of Goodies' feed (the sister site to 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

10)

Add my button or blog link to your blog's sidebar. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your blog.

<br /> <a href="http://www.3garnets2sapphires.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd206/Busymonkeez/Graphics4Me/NEWBlogButton125x125.jpg" /></a><br /><br />

(All entries will be verified prior to awarding this prize.)


Random Drawing:

This contest will be closed on Monday, October 18th, 2010 at 11:59pm EST. A random number drawing will be held shortly after. The winner will be announced here and will be contact via email or through their blog. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new number will be drawn.

Good luck in the drawing!

BlogHer 2010: Familiar Faces

It is no secret that I took many photos at BlogHer 2010, but I did not seem to take enough of all the bloggers I was finally able to meet in person. So many times, our meetings were just 60 seconds long while rushing from one place to another. I wanted to at least share the few familiar faces I did manage to capture.

To our left is Louise of MomStart and myself at the Hallmark party. Louise is also one of the 3 women who keep a charitable organization called Bloggers Give going. If you are a blogger, you should check it out and find out how easy it is to make a difference for deserving children and their families.

Me and Lee (fellow-Constructive Mom) of My Sentiment ExactLee

Renee of What Mommies Need, Cissy of Cool Baby Kid, Kate of The Shopping Mama, and Bridgette a.k.a. Experimental Mommy

Lisa of The Brand Ambassador, Life With Lisa, and The Product Review Place and Robyn of Robyn's Online World

Elizabeth of A Nut in a Nutshell

Elizabeth of Table for Five

It was such an honor to meet and spend some time with these wonderful women! I hope our paths will cross again in the future.

BlogHer 2010: Kellogg's Mom Breakfast Club Event

One of the events I was most looking forward to at BlogHer 2010 was the convening of the members of the Kellogg's Mom Breakfast Club with representatives of Kellogg's Brand Cereals. This meeting marked the launch of Kellogg's new website LoveYourCereal.com, a site designed to educate consumers on the benefits of, as well as the misconceptions about breakfast cereal.

This breakfast took place in the Jean Nouvel Building on W. 20th St and 11th Ave. This high rise of luxury condominiums is constructed of glass and steel and is still under construction. We were extremely fortunate to be able to enjoy the view of both the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty from this penthouse space.

I hope you'll enjoy these photos from this memorable event . . .

(Click on any photo to enlarge)

Meet the Kellogg's Mom Breakfast Club Team Members:

Amanda of Mommy Mandy

Audrey of Mom Generations

Caryn of Rockin Mama

Cooper of TheMotherhood

Elizabeth of BusyMom.net

Emily of TheMotherhood

Jennifer of Mom Bloggers Club

Julie of Mommie Cooks

Karen of 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires

Liz of This Full House

Melanie of ModernMami.com

Nicole of Momtrends

Robyn of Robyn's Online World

Tricia of Once a Month Mom

Vanessa of ChefDruk Musings

It is an honor to be part of the same team as these outstanding bloggers.

The Kellogg's Mom Breakfast Club is a paid campaign led by TheMotherhood.com . Thank you to TheMotherhood and Kellogg's for a wonderful breakfast, cereal samples, cereal bowls, and an exciting kick-off to this campaign.

Thank You to My Elf Amanda!

This year, the MomDot Community (run by Trisha Haas) was able to organize a Secret Santa Elf gift exchange. This was a great idea to boost morale and to strengthen a sense of community . . . not to mention that it was fun!

It turns out that my elf was Amanda, who authors Confessions from Householdsix. My gift arrived a few days ago and I did not wait one second to open it.

Amanda had managed to find one of the two books I had mentioned on my wishlist. It is the last book in a trilogy. I already own the first two, but have been waiting to read them until I could obtain the third book. I had been looking for this book for almost a year, so I owe Amanda a huge THANK YOU!!! She was also generous enough to include a Barnes & Noble gift card so I can continue my search for the other book on my wishlist.

I also would like to extend a big thank you to Tanya of Mommy Goggles for taking the time and the initiative to organize this online event.

Looking For a Bloggy Forum to Join?

Whether you have been blogging one week or one year, if you would like your blog to continue to grow, then you will benefit from finding the right blogging community to join. I have been a member of the MomDot forums since June of 2008 and it has been my home online ever since.

I'm telling you this because the MomDot forums are now open to the public for registration. If you hope to find friendship, support, and knowledge as I have from this community, stop by and register so you can take a look around. Although most of the members are mom and dad bloggers, you do not need to be a parent to join.

Click here to register at MomDot

Mommy Confessions: Child Labor

Yesterday was especially busy. I really shot myself in the foot because I am booked, double-booked, and triple-booked as far as reviews go in preparation for the "Get Cool For School" event on top of the regular bloggy commitments I have scheduled.

I Confess . . .

I really overworked my children yesterday. Usually they have so much fun helping me with product reviews. I felt a sudden wave of panic when I realized how much I have to do this month. So all in one day, Jake watched a new DVD, read a book with me, and did two photo shoots. Makenzie also had a photo shoot. There were two videos made which starred both Jake and Luke (Makenzie went on strike). Then there is my poor husband who was in one of the videos and was my one man backstage crew.

I hope my family will still be speaking to me by the time July is over.

If you're a mom who needs to get something off her chest, visit Victoria at Life Starring the Kids and Me to play along!

You Know You Are a Serious Blogger When . . .

You know you're a serious blogger when . . .



. . . you keep your nails short so you can type faster and blog more efficiently.



. . . you learn to type with one hand, eat with the other, and read to your toddler with a book open on your lap all at the same time (and doing all 3 well too).




. . . you just don't feel right not having at least one post published every calendar day.




. . . you need to use a DayRunner to organize your blog-related activities.




. . . you have to get your blog post in for the day even if it's a holiday.




. . . you are sick in bed and you only get out of bed to use the bathroom and to make your daily blog post (well . . . unless you have a laptop).




. . . you have clothing or jewelry with your blog's name on it.