In So Many Words

Mother’s Day is coming up soon, and 5 Minutes for Mom is again celebrating moms with a bunch of great giveaways. Here is some info from the Mother’s Day Giveaway 2011 post:

“Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.” -Anonymous

The sacrifices of being a mom are many, but so are the joys. It is time once again to honor all that you do with one of our favorite events here at 5 Minutes for Mom, our Mother’s Day Giveaway.

We have some fun things in store. Of course we have flowers and chocolate covered strawberries. We also have a BOB stroller and HP Notebook. Yes, we have some fabulous giveaways for YOU, because you deserve it!

Our Mother’s Day Giveaway 2011 event kicks off today, April 21st, and will run until May 7th. We will announce our winners on the morning of Mother’s Day, May 8th.

There are two giveaways up so far, and more to come over the next few days. Rules for entering are listed on the individual giveaway posts:

• Mother’s Day Giveaway – HP Pavilion dm1
• Celebrate Mother’s Day With ProFlowers

Pop on over if you’d like to enter (or feel free not to – more chances for me to win)!

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, it’s more than time to be finishing up Christmas presents. Especially since my husband’s family has decided to celebrate on the weekend before Christmas! (I’m totally fine with those plans, if any of you are reading, by the way. It just means I have to get myself organized!)

Anyway, 5 Minutes for Mom is having a fantastic bunch of giveaways, 30 in all. You can enter through Friday, December 4th at 12pm EST, and they will be announcing the winners on December 5th, so everything can be shipped out in time for Christmas.

As part of their Christmas celebration, 5MFM is also sponsoring Under the Tree 2009, where you can nominate a deserving family in need to win some of the same prizes being offered in the giveaways. What a wonderful opportunity to see someone blessed!

Have you seen the awesome Mother’s Day Giveaway over at 5 Minutes for Mom?

It actually started last week, but it goes through May 9th, so there’s plenty of time to enter for the items you would like to win. So go enter and spread the word!

I would seriously love the HP Mini or the BluRay player, but I would be happy to win a great slow cooker or beautiful Mother’s Day flower arrangement as well – all the prizes are fantastic.

For those of you in the Central Pennsylvania area, I also just got an email about a Mother’s Day present from Hersheypark and Friendly’s:

Mom receives a FREE Mother’s Day admission to Hersheypark with a special coupon from participating Friendly’s Restaurants in Pennsylvania (while supplies last) now through May 10.

(And I’ve got a season pass, so who wants to go to Hersheypark for Mother’s Day with me??)

If you are love to read, there are a couple of great challenges going on this spring. I’m planning to do them both but still need to get my list together for the first one, since it started last Friday.

Spring Reading Thing 2009

Spring Reading Thing 2009 from Callapidder Days (March 20th -June 20th). This challenge basically involves making a list of the books you plan to read this spring and then reporting back at the end on how you did. You can include reviews of the books, but you don’t have to. I’m sure reading everyone’s lists and reviews will end up making my to-read list even longer, but, hey, there’s nothing wrong with that!

Read Together 2009

Read Together 2009 from Snapshot (April). For this one, set a goal for reading with your kids. It can be reading aloud, reading the same book and then talking about it, reading as a family, whatever you choose, and then posting at the end about how it went. The goal is to connect more with your children through reading.

31 Days to Build a Better Blog

Even though I don’t blog to make money, I enjoy reading Problogger for the great information and ideas Darren provides. I was really intrigued as I was scrolling through my blog reader and saw this image.

Each day in April, Darren will be posting one way to make your blog better. It will include both a teaching component and a practical component, i.e. homework. You can also register your email for notifications and extra content.

Scribbit Newsletter

And speaking of signing up for things, did you see that Michelle at Scribbit is now offering an email newsletter? It will include lots of extra stuff like:
* Sneak peaks into upcoming giveaways
* Online coupons from sponsors
* Recipes and crafts
* Insider blogging tips
* More fun things to do in Alaska

You can sign up for the Scribbit newsletter here.

So, you tell me, what other cool things am I missing out on?

It’s that time again – time for the Ultimate Blog Party from 5 Minutes for Mom! I participated a little bit last year, but I was still learning my way through the blogosphere and it also took place right around my son’s birthday, so I found it all a bit overwhelming. I’m so glad Janice and Susan were thoughtful enough to start it after his birthday this year.

I’ve been getting things ready for the party, trying out a spiffy new layout and making sure my family had lots of videos to watch while I blog hop for the next week! Speaking of family, let me introduce you to the cast of characters.

Come on in and make yourself at home. If you need a little break from all the partying, grab a book from the shelf, sit down and put your feet up for a while. Goodness knows, you’ll find me with my nose in a book just about any time I’m not at the computer!

Besides blogging and reading, my other great passions are stamping/scrapbooking and, on the more serious side, autism awareness.

I am a total information junkie and love sharing what I have learned with others. This obsession interest led me to create a series of Autism Resource posts and also opened the door to be part of the writing team at 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

Currently, I am posting at 5MFSN once a week as the host for the Try This Tuesday meme. It is a blessing and an honor to be part of that special community of people.

So that’s a bit about me and my little blog. If you’d like to learn more, you can subscribe to my feed, and I would love it if you would sign the guest book (i.e. leave me a comment) before you leave! Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t invite you to all the other great parties going on this week. Psst, one last thing. If you are a Twitterer, you can follow me here.

PRIZES I WOULD LOVE TO WIN

1. INTL 36 – Custom Blog Design by Sara*s Pixel Studio.
2. INTL 1 – Custom Basic Blog Design from Sweet ‘n Simple Design
3. 19 – $50 Gift Certificate to Target Stores from Shoot Me Now!

My other choices would be 21, 26, 68, 91, 113, INTL 61, USC56, USC47, USC15 (yes, I know, they are all gift cards – that’s my favorite thing to win, other than a blog design of my very own!)

I am currently away on vacation with my husband’s family, but just had to take a few minutes to share some very exciting news (at least it is for me – I hope you will think so too)!

A few weeks ago, I was approached by Tammy @ Praying for Parker about participating in a new blog for parents of children with special needs. It would be one of several sister sites to 5 Minutes for Mom. Humbled and honored to be considered, I accepted the offer with fear and trepidation great excitement to be even a small part of this new venture.

As the planning has progressed, I have been amazed at the wonderful team that has come together to form 5 Minutes for Special Needs. I truly believe that this site will be a place where parents can come for support on our journey, insight into ourselves, our kids and the world around us, and inspiration to keep going even when life is difficult. So when you have a minute, or five, I want to invite you to take a look at the redesigned 5 Minutes for Mom and visit the new sister sites:

• 5 Minutes for Books
• 5 Minutes for Going Green
• 5 Minutes for Parenting
• 5 Minutes for Special Needs

My first post should be up tomorrow morning. I look forward to seeing you there!

5 Minutes for Mom is hosting the Ultimate Blog Party. Fun, prizes, and – best of all – an easy way to connect with other bloggers you haven’t met before. I plan to do some major blog hopping myself. Check it out for yourself!

For those of you who are visiting me for the first time, welcome and thanks for stopping by! The main cast of characters includes myself, my DH Happy King and my DS Little Guy. My passions are reading, stamping, autism awareness, and serving Jesus – not necessarily in that order!

Thanks for coming to my party – I’m so glad I didn’t have to clean the house first!!

My top three prize choices would be:
#117 – $25 gift certificate to Target from Angela at mommy bytes
#60 – $25 gift certificate to amazon.com from Judy at Welcome to My World of Dreams
#39 – $20 gift certificate to amazon.com from the Organized Knitting Club
(Are you sensing a pattern here??)

Other choices would be #’s 11, 62, 132, 129, 59, 56, 49, 70, 91, or 44.