I regularly eat Fiber One Vanilla Yogurt.  With 50 calories, 5 grams of fiber and 0 grams of fat, it really does leave me with ZERO GUILT.  In fact, I just had one now!  Fiber One Yogurt also comes in Strawberry, Peach and Key Lime flavors.

I really enjoy the taste of Fiber One Yogurt, it is a filling snack that fits in perfectly with my goals to eat better and watch my calories.  It satisfies my sweet tooth and keeps me from being hungry in between meals.  And Fiber One is Hungry Girl approved!

One of the many places you can purchase Fiber One Yogurt is at the Safeway family of stores.  Safeway stores include Dominick’s, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Vons and Genuardi’s.

Safeway wants to give you the opportunity to try Fiber One Yogurt for yourself!

PRIZE

One winner will receive a coupon redeemable for a FREE 4-pack of Fiber One Yogurt plus a $50 Gift Card to use at any of the Safeway family of stores.

(note: The coupon offer for a free cup of Fiber One yogurt is not valid in some states, including Idaho, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, and Tennessee.  Gift can be used at ANY Safeway location including Dominick’s, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Vons and Genuardi’s.)

HOW TO ENTER

Leave a comment telling us why you want to try Fiber One Yogurt.

EARN EXTRA ENTRIES

Once you complete the mandatory entry above, you are eligible to earn extra entries:

*Subscribe by email or RSS - 1 extra

*Tweet the folllowing on Twitter - 1 extra (leave a link to your Tweet)

Enter to win a $50 gift card from @whatsthatsmell, Safeway & Fiber One http://bit.ly/a7iyzJ

*If you complete both the subscribe and Tweet extra entries above, you may then leave UNLIMITED comments to be counted as extra entries so long as you talk about healthy living, eating, fitness or Safeway stores.

Leave a separate comment for each extra entry.

Giveaway is open to the USA and ends on Thursday, March 25, 201o at noon CST.  Winner will be pulled using random.org from all eligible entries.

I received a coupon for a FREE 4-pack of Fiber One Yogurt and a $50 Safeway gift card in exchange for spreading the word about Fiber One from Safeway through  MyBlogSpark.  They also provided identical items for the giveaway.

Even though the 80’s were not my favorite decade (can you say white sweatpants and Wham shirts), there are certain things that bring back the nostalgia and the defining memories of being a pre-teen and teenager.

Corey Haim was a cute kid and had an innocence about him, or at least portrayed innocence very well through the characters he played.

Lucas and The Lost Boys (and The Goonies, but that was the other Corey) are movies I remember watching over and over again on HBO.  

He was about the same age as me, and it is really sad to hear that he died the way he did.

(please leave the link to your Wordless Wednesday in the comments…I’ve pretty much given up on linkies)

Leave it to the government to find another way to waste money.

Today I got a letter that said United States Census on the envelope. 

I expected it to be the census form.

No.

It was a letter telling us that in a week, we will receive the 2010 Census form in the mail.

I wonder how many starving children could have been fed if they had donated the money they spent writing, printing and mailing MILLIONS of letters.

I understand the importance of the census, but do they really think this letter is going to influence people who would never return it anyway?  Offering people $1 to return their 2010 Census forms would have been more effective and probably cost less than they spent issuing these letters.  Or better yet, offer to donate $1 to a U.S. charity for every form returned.

In the world of Twitter, there seems to be this drive to obtain as many followers as you can in a short amount of time.  It’s almost obsessive the way people focus more on gaining new followers than they do on actually using Twitter for social networking and connecting with people.

Personally, I don’t know how anyone keeps up with 30,000 people, I certainly don’t keep up with even half of the 2700 people I follow.  Some people use Twitter to spam people, I use it to network, and advertising is MUCH different from networking. 

So I made a list.

10 reasons that I don’t follow back someone who follows me on Twitter

1. You follow thousands of people yet have only Tweeted once.  Yeah, I learned a long time ago how to identify one-sided relationships.  It was called dating.  I don’t need to do it anymore.

2. Your profile picture is not personalized – it is the Twitter default avatar.  As cute as the bird is, I doubt you ARE a bird, and if you are, I ain’t following you anyway.

3. Your profile picture is of a half-naked woman.  Only an idiot invites spam porn Tweets.

4. You are following thousands of people  yet have only a couple of followers.  Either ya smell funny or you spent the last 12 hours following people instead of having a life.  Either way, I’m avoiding you.

5. You promise to help people make a ton of money online. You might be a con artist if…..

6. You don’t appear to actually talk to people, merely advertise your blog, product or service – over and over and over.  You might be a spammer if…..

7. You sent me an auto-dm welcoming me as a follower and suggesting I visit your site, so I unfollowed you because you are annoying.  Don’t do it.  Send a Tweet.  Thank me that way, add me to your #FF, but don’t send me a commercial via DM.  It’s rude.

8. We have nothing in common.  I’m sorry, I’m just not as into rap music as you seem to be.

9. We don’t speak the same language.  I got English.  That’s it.  Not Spanish, not Polish, and not even pig latin.

10. You ask me to vote for you in some online contest even though I just started following you yesterday and I’ve never even exchanged pleasantries with you.  So yeah, I unfollowed you because you are annoying.  And rude.  And obnoxious.

In the average person’s quest to find legitimate paid survey opportunities, there really are more scams out there than actual paying companies.  And unfortunately, one bad experience will often cause people to think that ALL paid survey companies are a scam. But there are legit companies out there, you just have to know where to look and how to spot them.

Today, I happened across Vindale Research.  I had seen them around before but today I finally decided to signup and see what they are all about.  What follows is not a full blown review of Vindale Research, but it serves as my initial impressions upon signup and hopefully helps you make an educated decision before signing up for yourself.

Immediately after registering for Vindale I was met with a screen of “offers” that I could choose to participate in.  This is warning sign #1 when it comes to determining the validity of a paid survey company.  Any company that provides a list of third party offers is not a traditional market research company.

From here, I probably need to define what I mean by a “traditional” market research company.  Legitimate market research companies maintain a database of panelists (you and me) and they are hired by brands and manufacturers to administer surveys to get consumer opinions about products and product development to help them improve existing products and decide how best to market new ones. Most of these companies reward their panelist in some way, shape or form for simply taking an online survey and giving their honest opinions.  The rewards range from sweepstakes entries to cold hard cash.

Vindale Research says the following about their membership:
*Review products and take simple online surveys
*Make a difference by sharing your opinion
*Earn great rewards
*Keep the products you review

One of the main things that Vindale Research seems to offer are “evaluations” of products and services, and they do warn you that there may be “acquisitions fees” that will be refunded to you at the completion of the “evaluation”.  Traditional market research companies will NEVER EVER ask you to buy something, provide a credit card number or sign up for a free trial. 

After signing up, I was immediately offered a “tutorial” evaluation that pays $5.00.  All I have to do is sign up for a “free trial” to receive my credit report for free and enter my credit card number in the process.  Vindale will then administer a very brief survey about my experience.

I need to stop here and say this again.

Loudly.

TRADITIONAL MARKET RESEARCH COMPANIES WILL NEVER EVER ASK YOU TO SPEND MONEY, PROVIDE A CREDIT CARD NUMBER, OR SIGN UP FOR A FREE TRIAL.

Now maybe after reading all this you don’t care that Vindale isn’t a traditional market research company, you just want the $5.  And hopefully, for those who DO sign up, they actually pay out as promised.  They should be, for every $5 credit report they pay out on, they are likely earning $16.  That credit report company they ask you to “evaluate” pays $21 for every lead they get.  So Vindale gets paid $21 when you participate, gives you $5 and pockets $16.  Brilliant.  Totally brilliant.  I have no problem with anyone making money as an affiliate marketer.  I do it.  I often make money off click-throughs and purchases made when someone clicks on a link on my site.

But, from the very inception of my blog, I was determined to help people make smart decisions when it came to joining programs online to earn money, especially ones that aren’t exactly quite what they seem.  Based upon my experience with free paid survey companies, in my opinion Vindale Research pays you for completing offers, and they tack a survey onto the end of it for good measure.  They are not a paid survey company in the traditional sense.  There are plenty of similar companies out there, although some of them don’t pull any punches and tell you up front that you get paid for completing offers.

If you are comfortable with this, and do sign up, or are a member already, I’d love to hear your feedback.  However, if you are not interested in completing offers, and are looking for legitimate traditional market research companies, you can check out my free paid survey sites page.

Note: I cannot provide a testimonial regarding Vindale and receiving payments.  I only have $2 in my account and their payment threshold is $50.

1. Frozen vegetables taste better than canned vegetables.  Well, except for green beans.  And peas.  Peas are good no matter what, even with Chinese food, Cat.

2. My daughter needs some help in the fashion department.

3. They’re not always “up to no good” when they get quiet.

4. Being a single parent is hard, even if it’s only for two weeks.

5. Promising McDonald’s is a very effective behavior modification tool.

6. Always order a second chicken quesedilla because the two-year-old eats like a lumberjack.

7. Some food is worth the extra calories, especially when wrapped around a Nathan’s.

8. I suck at Snowboarding on the playstation 2 – as evidenced by the fact that the six-year-old beats me EVERY TIME.

9. Pepsi Max has almost twice the caffeine as regular Diet Pepsi and Pepsi has irresponsibly NOT clearly put that information on the package.

10. Florida is very, very appealing right about now.

I’m not even going to try and see if the linky is working.  Leave your WW link in the comments, I promise to make an effort to visit everyone this week!

We love Isabooties!

My daughter is 2 and stills wears them around the house (even the pair that is 2 sizes too small), and both of my nieces wear them too.

To celebrate their new spring styles, Isabooties has a 20% off coupon code: spring10

Plus if you spend more than $50 on their site you get free shipping.

I really wish they made them for adults…I could use a pair.  My slippers always fall off (I’ve had a few ‘fall up the stairs’ incidents) and the ones they make for adults that don’t fall off make me feel like I am wearing sheepdogs on my feet.

I am always looking for new, easy ways to eat healthy but that also taste good.  Something that has an authentic flavor, that is filling and leaves me feeling completely satisfied, not just full.

In an effort to eat better, I often find myself eating frozen meals, especially for lunch.  Recently I was offered the opportunity to try the new Healthy Choice All Natural Entrees, and I received two sample meals in the mail (it was kinda fun to have frozen food delivered to us in a cooler) to try out.

I received:

Roasted Red Pepper Marinara

and

Creamy Basil Pesto

Healthy Choice All Natural Entrées were created to help people eat healthy yet still have food that tastes good.

All-natural ingredients such as pumpkin, asparagus, nine-grain pastas, and 100% extra virgin olive oil are highlighted in our line of new All Natural Entrées, which includes four vegetarian options. Each contemporary recipe was crafted to deliver delectable food packed full of nutrition.

I admit that I was skeptical before I tried one of these meals.  I simply did not expect them to live up to their description.  I chose the Roasted Red Pepper Marinara to try first and boy was I wrong.  It tasted authentic, and had a grown up, sophisticated flavor.  And as corny as it sounds, I ate slower to savor each bite.  I even ate the peppers – I am a major picky eater and usually pick that stuff out or eat around it.  Combine the great natural taste with the low calories and high fiber, this meal was a perfect fit for my attempts at a healthier lifestyle (and I calculated 5 Weight Watchers points for this 8.5 oz meal)

I haven’t yet tried the Creamy Basil Pesto, but I’m looking forward to it.

The new Healthy Choice All Natural Entrées come in the following flavors:

• Creamy Basil Pesto
• Lobster Cheese Ravioli
• Mediterranean Pasta
• Portabella Marsala Pasta
• Portabella Spinach Parmesan
• Pumpkin Squash Ravioli
• Roasted Red Pepper Marinara
• Sweet Asian Potstickers
• Tomato Basil Penne
• Tortellini Primavera Parmesan

If you would like to try the new Healthy Choice meals, make sure you check out the printable coupon on their website!

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Healthy Choice 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.”