Textbook Mommy

My Surprising And Strange Travel Product Find!

2012-02-24T17:09:00.002-08:00

While shopping on Amazon for some gifts for my sister's upcoming birthday, I came across a strange product I had never seen before. First off, I should mention I was shopping for travel related items. She requested a couple travel neck pillows for her boyfriend and her who are leaving for Hawaii soon for vacation.

So I find two super cute travel pillows that have a cute print for her and a modern print for him. I'm thinking what else would she like for her trip? So I continue to search under travel related items, when I come across this:

First glance I'm thinking "Hmm...travel product with a catchy name?" I have to admit the picture in the search results caught me as a strange item and I had to click on it and see what this whole Go Girl thing is about. First product feature says: "Allows women the convenience of going to the bathroom standing up". Um, what? That's totally what I've always dreamed of being able to achieve, the convenience of going to the bathroom standing up! Not. The description also states it's for women who don't want to have to sit on a public toilet. What about toilet seat covers or the old toilet paper down on the seat trick?

I honestly had to hold myself back from buying this for my sister to go along with her gifts as a "gag gift", which we do to each other every now and then! I still don't really get the whole allure of this product, but I guess someone must need it or they wouldn't be selling. And for those of you who are interested in this:

It also comes in khaki color!

You Go Girl!

Heart Healthy Food Choices

2012-02-22T14:12:00.001-08:00

We all know that heart disease is a factor we all need to worry about, especially us women! Are you eating for optimum heart health? There are many simple changes you can make to your diet that will greatly reduce your future risk of getting heart disease.

1) When shopping the produce aisle, think color!

Think berries, oranges, yams, broccoli, carrots, spinach, and more! These colorful fruits and veggies are a great low fat and cholesterol free addition to a healthy heart diet.

2) Focus in on your dairy/calcium habits.

Low fat and reduced fat milk, cheese, and yogurt are wonderful additions to any diet. If you're a vegan, make sure to fill any Vitamin D gaps in your diet with options like calcium fortified orange juice and fortified cereals.

3) Get your grains!

Specifically, whole grains that is! Substitute your average white bread, pastas, and cereal for whole wheat versions for a healthier heart. Make sure you are buying bread that is truly whole grain wheat bread, not bread labeled "wheat" that is simply white bread in disguise!

4) Eat lean meats and up your protein intake.

Lean meats such as chicken, pork tenderloin, and turkey breasts are another great addition to a heart healthy diet. To up your protein intake, (especially for you vegetarians like me!) choose protein rich beans like kidney, black, soy, and garbanzo beans.

5) Omega 3 rich foods are a plus!

These days upping your intake of Omega 3 rich foods is easier than ever! Options are found in cold water fish such as salmon and tuna. If you don't eat fish you can also find Omega 3 in walnuts, flaxseed, soy products, and even some Omega 3 enhanced cereals and breads!

Now let's zero in on what is not heart healthy:

Too much salt! Make sure you are reading sodium content on labels. 2,300-2,400 mg of sodium a day is what is considered "average".
Steer clear of too much sugar. This one can be hard to resist, but keeping an eye on your sugar intake is key!
Watch out for unhealthy fats! Try to minimize your intake of unhealthy fats such as trans and saturated fats to keep your heart healthy.

Clorox Clean Up Recipes For Fun

2012-02-21T16:20:00.000-08:00

Clorox has a great new site for you all to enjoy and it's filled with fun and creative recipes to get your little ones participating in the fun of food! It's called Clorox Recipes For Fun and it's a must see, especially for you fellow moms. Clorox knows that's it not just about cleaning up the messes, it's about making them too! This website is chock full of recipes for your kids to get excited about. These are not just a compilation of your average recipes by the way!

Clorox Recipes For Fun includes recipes in the following categories:

* Wacky Science

* Arts and Crafts

* Kiddie Cooking

* Creative Cooking

My favorite is the Wacky Science recipes category! In this collection of recipes you will get the details on how to make homemade bubbles, paint, gloop, volcanic eruptions, and more! Here is one of my favorite recipes below!

Glow in the Dark Slime

Ingredients:

1 - 4oz bottle of clear or blue gel Elmer's glue

1 cup of warm water

2-3 tablespoons of glow-in-the-dark paint

Green Neon Food Coloring

2 teaspoons of Borax

1/3 cup of warm water

Directions:

1) First mix together the Elmer's glue and the 1 c of warm water.

2) Stir in the paint and food coloring.

3) In a separate small bowl mix together the 1/3 cup warm water and 2 teaspoons of borax. Stir until the borax is dissolved.

4) Now add about 2 tablespoons of the borax solution to the glue solution. Stir continuously while adding the solution.

*This recipe can make 2 small half jar fulls of slime or your could package a smaller amount of slime into favor baggies.

Want a Chance to Win $10,000 Towards an Ultimate Mess Party?

I thought you might enjoy that one! So how do you get in on the chance to win? Just head on over to Clorox Recipes For Fun and register. Just think of the kind of Ultimate Mess Party you could throw with that kind of cash! There are also ways to gain extra entries such as submitting your own fun and creative recipe here, or get in on the chance to win the daily prizes being given away, such as gift cards, just by viewing other recipes on the site!

Giveaway is open to those in the U.S., 18 years of age and older. This giveaway will end at 11:59 PM EST on March 27, 2012. For further rules, please click here.

* Like Clorox on Facebook to get the latest updates *

* Disclosure: This post was written for Clorox, in partnership with Social Moms. This is a compensated post, although all opinions expressed within are 100% my own, and in no way a result of any outside influence.

Extreme Flash Sign Ups!

2012-02-20T13:58:00.000-08:00

Hey Bloggers! Want to increase your Twitter followers and Facebook page fan likes? Come sign up for the Extreme Flash Giveaway happening Feb.29-Mar.2, hosted by Oh My Gosh Beck for only $3.50! That includes both a follow on your Twitter and Facebook fan page like option in the giveaway!

The last Extreme Flash Giveaway had over 100 participants and hundreds of thousands of entries! This is one blogger event you don't want to miss! The prizes for this giveaway will include 3 different winners each receiving an Amazon gift certificate! Sign ups will close on February 26th. To get in on the fun - click here to sign up and be sure to say Textbook Mommy sent you!

Organize Your Life With Clipix!

2012-02-20T12:00:00.001-08:00

Want a great new tool to organize and simplify your life? Try clipix? With clipix, you can create multiple boards to organize everything from your favorite recipes you find online, to your favorite online articles! You can share your variety of personal boards with your friends and family to stay organized, swap ideas, and more! Best of all, accounts at clipix are free! Pictured below is one of my boards from clipix featuring shoes I love.

Need some more ideas for how to integrate clipix into your life? How about using clipix to plan your next vacation, find and save healthy family recipes, organize what supplies you will need for your next work presentation or your child's next field trip, fun and interesting craft ideas, and so much more!
What's great with clipix, is you can choose whether or not you want your boards to be public or private! Want your boards only seen by your closest friends or family? You got it with clipix! You can also use clipix on the go with their featured iPhone app! You also have the option to share your latest clips on clipix through Facebook and Twitter!
What will you clip with clipix? Want kind of boards would you like to create? I love to clip and create boards for recipes I want to try, fashion pieces I adore, and quotes that motivate me! I encourage you to see how clipix can work for you. Sign up is simple and free! Want even more information on how clipix can help you organize and simplify your life? Check out the YouTube video below!

Promoted Post

Cloud b Twilight Turtle Giveaway

2012-02-19T21:00:00.000-08:00

The Cloud B Twilight Turtle turns any ceiling into a starry night sky and has 8 different constellations that your child can learn. Stars can be shown in 3 different colors, and it even has a sleep timer that prevents it from staying on longer than 45 minutes. This is a great gift for any child, and we are giving you a chance to WIN one! Just fill out the rafflecopter below to enter. :)

This giveaway was made possible by:
Shawn's Auto Advice
BlogGirl
Textbook Mommy
I Heart Giveaways
The Food and Travel Buff
My bric-a-brac
Jared's Little Corner
Couponing In PA

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Day 17 of the 21 Day Mommy Blogger Weight Loss Challenge

2012-02-17T20:03:00.000-08:00

Today is Day 17 of the 21 Day Mommy Blogger Weight Loss Challenge put on by Dustin Maher, author of Fit Moms for Life. Today was a good day! I got in my protein and veggies, as well as 45 minutes on the elliptical. I can't believe there are just a few days left in the challenge! While I have decided to not take on next month's challenge due to the pressures of school right now, I am going to be transitioning from this program into another program that is a new take on dieting - so stay tuned for weekly updates and reviews on that soon!

Extreme Cash Giveaway!

2012-02-16T21:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the FEBRUARY EXTREME CASH GIVEAWAY!

Our last giveaway was a huge success with over 600,000 entries. This time we’re bringing you MORE PRIZES which means MORE CHANCES for YOU to win!

We are giving away:

(1) $300 Paypal Cash prize

(1) $200 Paypal Cash prize

(1) $100 Paypal Cash prize

(1) $50 Paypal Cash prize

(1) Kodak Easyshare Sport Camera

There are lots of entries available and this giveaway will go on for a whole month, so take your time! Be sure to bookmark this page so you can come back every day and claim your daily entries too.

This giveaway ends 3/15 at 11:59 pm EST and is open worldwide. There are over 100 participating blogs, but you only need to enter the giveaway on one of our blogs. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kids Smoking Smarties

2012-02-15T21:49:00.000-08:00

Above is a video from March 2009 about the latest fad of kids smoking Smarties. While I remember hearing about this back then, it hadn't hit our small town yet that I had heard of...until the last two days. Yesterday my middle school aged daughter comes home to tell me about how kids think they are cool because they're smoking Smarties. She then proceeds to tell me how they crush up the candy and inhale it through the Smarties wrapper and blow out the dust, mimicking smoking I guess? Then today my elementary school aged daughter comes home to tell me this is starting up at her school as well! She said one boy was even caught snorting the candy dust up his nose on the school bus.

My immediate response was to question them about if they had tried it. They both told me no and that they are "not that dumb". Well, I took the opportunity to just elaborate about the dumbness of it and also to explain the obvious health risks that go along with it. Reports I showed them online talked of infection from the candy sitting in the nose or lungs too long, problems associated with it being inhaled down the wrong pipe, and more. The thing that troubles me is that kids are acting like mimicking smoking is cool. I'm glad my daughters are not following the crowd on this one. I guess I had figured this fad had come and gone already. I'm afraid of what kids will think of next! I'm am glad from what my girls told me it sounds like the schools are taking it very seriously and have already handed out harsh punishments for those caught involved with the craze. Have any of you other moms had to have the Smarties talk?

Day 15 of the 21 Day Mommy Blogger Weight Loss Challenge

2012-02-15T19:16:00.000-08:00

Today is Day 15 of the 21 Day Mommy Blogger Weight Loss Challenge put on by Dustin Maher, author of Fit Moms for Life. I can't believe we're into the start of week 3 already! I was initially planning on doing the challenge again next month, but it's been difficult juggling everything with the pressures of school right now, so I think I am going to hold off on joining up again. Gotta keep those grades up to graduate this year!

I have been on top of the world today with my weigh in results. Some of you may remember my dreaded 1 pound loss last week. Well, this week I lost 3 pounds! That's 4 pounds in 2 weeks! This weeks loss is definitely propelling me forward to keep losing more and more, even past the challenge. Today I did a full hour of cardio and core exercises. I did good on my meals, getting protein in on two of them. I'm also impressed with how easy it has been to change from eating junk food to eating the right foods. I feel great! Bring on week 3!

Here's some other wonderful mom bloggers in this month's challenge. Stop by and give them some support!

Day 14 of the 21 Day Mommy Blogger Weight Loss Challenge

2012-02-14T21:04:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Today is Day 14 of the 21 Day Mommy Blogger Weight Loss Challenge put on by Dustin Maher, author of Fit Moms for Life. I skipped two days of blogging, my apologies. I have been doing my workouts and eating plan, just been way too busy to blog about this, or anything else for that matter! It's the second week of midterms for me and I had to give my blogging a break to study hard. Tomorrow is weigh in and I hope to see better results than my one pound loss from last week. I'm feeling so much more healthy and energized already from this program and I think I can actually continue this past the challenge! I hope everyone had a wonderful and amazing Valentine's Day! Fingers crossed for a great weigh in tomorrow!

Here's some other wonderful mom bloggers in this month's challenge. Stop by and give them some support!

Hoodie Hoo Paypal Giveaway!

2012-02-12T21:00:00.000-08:00

$100 Paypal Giveaway

Welcome to the Hoodie Hoo $100 Paypal Giveaway Feb 13 - 20, 2012

The Legend of the Hoodie Hoo:

Always on February 20! On this winter day, people go out at noon, wave their hands over their heads and chant "Hoodie-Hoo". It is a day to chase away winter and bring in spring. After all, everyone in the northern hemisphere are sick and tired of winter at this point and a little crazy being cooped up inside all winter and not seeing the sun.

Coupon Scribbles has teamed up with 20 bloggers to give away $100 in Paypal Cash!!!There will be one grand prize winner who will receive a$100 Paypal deposit of cash!!! The sweepstakes will run February 13th through 11:59pm EST on February 20th, 2012. To enter simply follow the instructions below. Winner will be notified via email on by February 25th. Good Luck!! Details $100 Paypal Giveaway Sweepstakes begins on February 13th and ends at 11:59pm EST on February 20th, 2012 Method of Entries: Rafflecopter

Participating Blogs

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Every Day Is Black Friday At dealnews.com

2012-02-12T15:00:00.001-08:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of dealnews for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you love price matching before buying to get the best deal like I do, you need to check out dealnews! dealnews.com scours the internet to bring you the lowest prices (we're talking Black Friday deals!) on a range of items such as electronics deals, clothing deals, and more! That's 365 days a year you are guaranteed to find the lowest price on just what you're looking for with dealnews!

With dealnews, you can even set up email alerts so you never miss the latest deal! You can also sign up for the dealnews newsletter that provides a daily selection of the best offers of the day. What will you find a bargain on through dealnews? Take a browse around dealnews.com and then come back by and leave a comment with what great deal you were able to discover!

I found this wonderful deal pictured below on Victoria's Secret Boots and Shoes up to 65% off! Other deals I found on dealnews was Carters kids clothing for 80% off, Ralph Lauren for 65% off, Lugz buy 1 get 1 half off, and countless other great deals! I know I will be using this site quite often in the future to get the best savings out there. I mean, who doesn't like a good deal? Remember, you can use dealnews to get custom alerts, their fabulous free newsletter and even a mobile app to stay on top of all the latest low priced deals while on the go!

Day 11 of the 21 Day Mommy Blogger Weight Loss Challenge

2012-02-11T20:13:00.000-08:00

Today is Day 11 of the 21 Day Mommy Blogger Weight Loss Challenge put on by Dustin Maher, author of Fit Moms for Life. Today was a pretty good day! I did 30 minutes on the elliptical and 20 minutes of core exercises. Even though the scale didn't show me any significant love last time I weighed in, I think I'm losing some inches because the thighs of my jeans are getting roomier. Score! My only fault today was caving in to a piece of french bread with dinner. I just love bakery fresh french bread and I couldn't resist! Had to minus my point for that one! Tomorrow was supposed to be my designated day off day, but since I took the other day off because of midterms I'm actually going to stick to my workout tomorrow to make up for it. Now I'm going to skedaddle and get some homework done!

Here's some other wonderful mom bloggers in this month's challenge. Stop by and give them some support!

Avoiding April Showers Sign Ups!

2012-02-11T17:25:00.000-08:00

Avoiding April Showers is a Giveaway Hop being hosted by Put A Little Umbrella In Your Drink, Seeds of Life and Taking Time for Mommy, plus And The Little Ones Too! It runs from April 16 – 30. You will need a package worth $25 or more to do the hop.

* Make sure to enter early, as this event is limited to 150 entrants!

For more details on what should be a wonderful event, please head on over to And The Little Ones Too!

Day 10 of the 21 Day Mommy Blogger Weight Loss Challenge

2012-02-10T20:05:00.000-08:00

Today is Day 10 of the 21 Day Mommy Blogger Weight Loss Challenge put on by Dustin Maher, author of Fit Moms for Life. Some of you may have noticed I missed yesterday. I admit it, I failed yesterday. I had been at school for half the day taking midterms and I was exhausted! As much as I wanted to workout, it just wasn't going to happen. I listened to my body and rested. Feeling bad about yesterday, I put in a good strong workout today. I did a full hour of cardio and strength training. I think tomorrow I may switch it up and use my elliptical as I'm getting kind of bored with the same routine. I'm also trying to recruit my husband into taking walks with me in the mornings a couple days a week.

What I was proud of today: That I put in the longest workout so far in the program and I survived, lol!

What I could of done better: Not had the Penne at Applebee's for lunch. :(

Here's some other wonderful mom bloggers in this month's challenge. Stop by and give them some support!

Sh*t Mom Bloggers Say

2012-02-10T16:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I just ran across this video on YouTube and if you fellow mom bloggers haven't seen it, it's a must watch! I can relate to pretty much all of this! The video was done by MamaKnowsItAll.com and it couldn't be more spot on. I loved the video so much, I just had to check out the blogger and the blog behind it. Brandi is the wonderful mommy blogger behind this video (and blog!). Her blog content is amazing and her posts are about stuff us other moms can relate to. I don't want to spoil it - so just watch the video and you'll see why I love it!

Easy Tip To Boost Your Blog Traffic!

2012-02-10T09:37:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for an easy way to boost your blog traffic, focus on your blog post photos. Yep, it can be that easy! Are you tagging your blog photos properly? Tagging your photos properly makes them easier to find. If you've ever searched Google images, then you know how it works. You type in a search term, you get photos for that search result. Correctly tagging your photos can get your photos seen, which can lead them of course to your blog!

Let's take for example one I see a lot when I copy a giveaway event badge I'm participating in to put on my blog's homepage. I'm specifically talking about those that don't have the nice code already under it for you. I'm talking the ones where you need to save the image to your computer first. So I right click to save the badge and it automatically pops up let's say something like ChristmasBadge5789. Well, you can change that of course before you actually save it to your computer. How you save photos is by thinking in terms of internet searches. So for example, I would probably change this to Christmas-Blog-Hop or even Christmas-Blog-Hop-Giveaway. The dashes I use indicate where you would put a space in an internet search.

This is key to remember when choosing how to save your uploaded photos you are going to use on your blog. If your photos mass save under one name like mine do when uploading, go back in and take the time to personally label each one accordingly. You can also think of it this way: If I'm searching photos on Google to find a cute Valentine's Day card craft, I'm probably going to see your photo if it's been labeled Valentine's-Day-Card-Craft rather than something that's been tagged BlogPhoto32. It takes an extra step of time, but it could mean more traffic to your blog later on!

If I'm not using personal photos, I'm either using company provided photos for my reviews (which are usually already tagged properly by the company which is nice!), or I use a royalty free image site like MorgueFile.com. You will usually need to change the name of royalty free images when you save them to better suit your blog post needs. Just remember: Think of search terms! It really does make a difference!

KissMyShamrock.com Review

2012-02-10T08:56:00.000-08:00

St.Patrick's day is fast approaching, and what does that mean? You need something green to wear of course! KissMyShamrock.com has a wonderful line of funny Irish t-shirts for both men and woman. Just a sample of some of the great shirts they carry say "It's A Green Thing, You Wouldn't Understand", Kiss Me, I'm Irish", "Not Only Am I Perfect, I'm Irish Too" and more! Kiss My Shamrock also comes with a satisfaction guarantee. If for any reason you are not completely satisfied with your order, they will make it right!

Girly Tee "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" $21.00

Thanks to Kiss My Shamrock, I was able to review one of their wonderful and hilarious t-shirts! I was pleased that my shirt fit me perfectly, as I was a little leary with ordering a men's size medium. While I'm not Irish, I still was excited to get a shirt that I could wear on St.Patrick's Day that had green on it. I mean, who wants to get pinched? The shirt I received is pictured below. Though I'm not a big drinker, the shirt is still cute and funny for a once a year holiday! I like the quality put into the shirt I received. The screen print is perfect and the cotton tee is thicker made, just how I like them. My husband is jealous and wants one now too! So if you're looking for a wonderful and unique shirt to rock on St.Patrick's Day, I suggest you check out KissMyShamrock.com!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

February Paypal Cash Giveaway

2012-02-09T21:00:00.000-08:00

Who's ready to win some cold hard cash?

Uncreative Mommy, Unorganized Mommy of 3 and Nifty Mom have teamed together to bring you the $50 Paypal Cash Giveaway!

The winner will receive $50 via Pay Pal. Entries are open from February 10 to February 17.

Enter below in the Rafflecopter!

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Clipix Helps You Organize Your Life

2012-02-09T14:01:00.001-08:00

Now there's a great way to save and organize your life with Clipix, a free and useful tool that is helping people everywhere organize their life online! With clipix, you can "Clip" anything online and then save it on one of your personalized boards to come back to.
So how exactly does it work? Well, you add the "Clip" button provided on the Clipix website to your bookmarks bar. Then, anytime you find something online you want to save to come back to, you just hit the button in your bookmarks bar, find the exact picture or piece of information from that website you want to save, and then save it to one of your designated boards. Simple! There's also an iPhone app for Clipix so you can take your "clips" on the go!
I like saving recipes I find online, so Clipix works great for that! I can save them all to come back to later! I also love shoes, and with Clipix I can have my private window shopping collection at my fingertips. Oh a girl can dream! Below is a picture of a board I have started on Clipix called "Great Shoes".

Other fun ways to use Clipix is for gift ideas, saving interesting articles, vacation ideas, decorating ideas, fun activities, and more! How would you use Clipix? Sign up today!

Want to know more? Watch this great video to hear all about Clipix!

Promoted Post

Looking For Sponsors!

2012-02-09T10:18:00.000-08:00

I am currently looking for sponsors for the following above events. These events are set to bring huge traffic with over 50 blogs participating in each, all linked together! If you have a product that you would like to donate for a giveaway on one of these events in exchange for a detailed review and write up of your company, please email me at textbookmommy at gmail dot com Thank You!

Day 8 of the 21 Day Mommy Blogger Weight Loss Challenge

2012-02-08T20:24:00.000-08:00

Today is Day 8 of the 21 Day Mommy Blogger Weight Loss Challenge put on by Dustin Maher, author of Fit Moms for Life. Let's start with today's weigh in. I waited a week for this moment. I had told myself anything lost is a plus. It was hard to keep that mantra when I realized I had only lost one measly pound. Seriously, one pound? I worked my butt off! I'm not going to let this get me down though. This just means I have to push harder! Today I did a mix of cardio and core. My oldest daughter actually did the workout with me, which I thought was fun! Kudos to the rest of the moms who are still going strong after week 1! We can do this ladies!

Here's some other wonderful mom bloggers in this month's challenge. Stop by and give them some support!

Why Must I Be So Empathetic?

2012-02-08T19:08:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to realize I am just way too empathetic. I'm one of those people that reads about an abused puppy and can't get over being upset for days. Why? I had to quit reading too much news a couple years ago because it was all just too violent, too depressing. I take the weight of these things when I don't need to. The other day my mother in law called me to tell me a story that was on Dr.Phil about a child who had been locked in a closet for 8 years. I could go on about it but I won't traumatize you with the details. I've now thought about this periodically every day since I heard about it three days ago! This empathy issue with me is something I'm realizing I need to get in check, fast! I'm going to school to be a therapist for abused and traumatized children. I won't make it very far if I can't learn not to take on everyone's emotions. But how can I not feel gut wrenching empathy when I hear of a child locked in a closet for 8 years and had to endure horrible and unspeakable things. I keep telling myself: sympathy good, empathy bad. Anyone else have this problem?

Wicked Wednesdays Giveaway!

2012-02-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

I have teamed up with I Am A Couponer and other fabulous bloggers to bring you another one day event. Enter for a chance to win a $25 ToysRUs or Target gift card and a bonus prize of a Let's Rock Elmo! The entry process is very simple -- there is one mandatory entry and the remaining entries are optional. I recommend that you complete as many entries as possible to increase your odds of winning. This is a one day event that will end at 11:59 pm Eastern time so don't wait to enter... use the Rafflecopter below to get started. Good Luck and thanks for being a fan!

a Rafflecopter giveaway