Even though Valentine’s Day is just one day of the year, that doesn’t mean that the romance should end February 15th.  Join us for a post-Valentine’s day Twitter Party to chat about keeping the romance in our lives year round.  With romantic and delicious prizes sponsored by Dr. Oetker Ristorante, we’ll be sure to keep your taste buds and the hopeless romantic inside of you happy!  I hope you’ll join me at the…

Dr. Oetker Ristorante Twitter Party

When: Thursday, February 16th form 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. ET

Where: #RistoranteRomance

How: To participate be sure to use the party tag during the hour and follow host @ResourcefulMom.  Learn more about how to participate in a Twitter Party.

Prizes

Grand Prize Winner receives “A Slice of Romance” Package for the perfect date night:

• Luigi Bormioli Esperienze Crystal-Glass 88 oz. Decanter
• Chocolate Delights Basket, one similar to this one from Godiva [estimated value at $75.00]
• Three-month NetFlix subscription
• Dr. Oetker Ristorante Gift bag, oven mitts and coupon

Runner-Up Winners (3):

• Talavera Melamine Platter
• Wine-Cork Candles, set of four
• Dr. Oetker Ristorante Gift bag, oven mitts and coupon

RSVP

Planning on joining us?  Let us know here by adding your Twitter URL (http://twitter.com/username).  An RSVP is not required to participate or to be entered to win.

 

My home runs on the power of Microsoft Windows whether it’s time spent on my desktop creating documents in Word, sending birthday party emails for my daughter via Outlook, or handing my laptop over to my five year old so he can play learning games.

Did you know that Microsoft Windows can also power your Valentine’s Day?

According to a survey conducted by the Retail Advertising Marketing Association, 53% of women say they would end a relationship if they didn’t get something for Valentine’s Day.  While I’m content with a nice card, I’d also love this Valentine’s Day gift idea – a Windows Phone, the perfect last minute gift.

Check out these built-in features that not only make the Windows Phone a great gift, but can also help make your Valentine’s Day unique:

• Built-in Social Networking: Post a cyber love letter to all your social networks in one touch for a PDA she’ll never forget!
• Pocket-to-picture-to post: Snap a picture of your date and upload a picture in seconds! It’s a snap with Windows Phone.
• Pin your favorite music: Feel like setting the mood with the right music for Valentine’s Day? No reason to spend hours customizing a CD when you can pin playlists off of Zune directly to your Start Screen.
• Local Scout: Out and about and want to arrange a spontaneous dinner? Let Local Scout be your guide, use it to find the best places to eat wherever you are
• Apps: Check out these must-have apps for the time-strapped lover:

• Valentine Cards

Choose from over 40 fun and romantic templates they can be personalize with photos and messages.

• Perfect Date Ideas

Picking a Valentine’s Day date can be daunting for some. This app provides dozens of ideas for a one-of-a-kind night.

• OpenTable

Search thousands of restaurants to find the perfect cozy table for a romantic rendezvous. Trust us, pizza and beer won’t cut it tonight.

• Mobile Sommelier

You’ve got the perfect date. Now find the perfect wine. This app helps you match the right vintage with your meal.

• Flixster

After dinner, use this app to pick the best rom-com from their library of the latest movie trailers and reviews.

But wait, there’s more.  

Also, just in time for Valentine’s Day, Microsoft Windows wants to share some great tools for you to connect with your loved ones!

• Tip #1: Use Windows Live Messenger (Window’s free video chat service) to say ‘I Love You’ to your loved one’s
• Tip #2: Share your latest photos with friends and family via Windows Live Photo Gallery and SkyDrive
• Tip #3: Use Microsoft Paint to create and send a virtual love note, like the one we created above—all free services for you!

And as if that wasn’t already enough, we’ve got an AMAZING Valentine’s Day giveaway for you as well.

One lucky Resourceful Mommy reader will win the following from Microsoft for themselves and their Valentine:

• TWO Samsung Focus Flash Windows Phones
• A month of service
• His and hers SkinIts

Enter to Win

To enter to win, leave a comment telling me the worst Valentine’s Day gift you ever received!

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents age 18 and older and ends Friday, February 17th at 11:59 p.m. ET.  

This post was written in conjunction with my participation in the Windows Champions program. Windows Champions are bloggers who are hand-selected to work with Microsoft Windows. As part of this arrangement, they have been loaned a Windows 7 PC for the course of year and are given the opportunity to learn about Windows and Microsoft products. I have not received monetary compensation in exchange for this post.

Product for giveaway is being provided by Microsoft.

As many of you know, I began my professional life as a teacher, first teaching English and literature to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders and eventually ending my time in the field of education teaching 8th grade English along with 7th and 8th grade drama.  Along the way I tutored kids in everything from basic math to SAT prep and spent countless hours directing school musicals.  I know first hand that no teacher works only forty hours a week and “summers off” is truly a misnomer.  For this reason, I love charities that support teachers such as DonorsChoose.org and have written about them in the past.  

DonorsChose helps fund school projects in support of education and literacy, and LeapFrog – also an early literacy advocate – is supporting this worthy charity.  LeapFrog is no stranger to giving.  Since 2009, LeapFrog has donated more than $1.5 million in Tag Reading Systems and books to the classrooms of more than 20,000 students.  But they don’t want to stop there.  Instead, they want to help bring $100,000 total in Tag Readers and books to classrooms in need, and they’ve partnered with DonorsChoose.org to help teachers who want Tag Readers and books for their classrooms.

Today’s Friday Featured Giveaway combines a charity that I love and a brand that my entire family loves!  LeapFrog has provided me with a $25 gift card to support a school of my choice via DonorsChoose, and one Resourceful Mommy reader will have the chance to do the same.

Giveaway

One reader will receive the following:

• $25 gift card to DonorsChoose to support the school of their choice
• LeapFrog Tag reader and six books

This giveaway is open to U.S. readers age 18 and older (no P.O. boxes, please) and ends February 17th at 11:59 p.m. ET.  Books shown in the image are not necessarily the books in the prize pack.

Enter to Win

To enter to win, please leave a comment below telling me who your favorite teacher was when you were a child!

Good luck!

Giveaway LinkUp

Are you hosting a giveaway on your own blog? Add your link to our link list so we can help spread the word!  Readers, be sure to check back often to find new giveaways to enter on the list.

February is American Heart Month and we’re excited to announce that California Walnuts have received the American Heart Association’s Heart Check mark!  To celebrate, we’re holding a Valentine’s Day #IHeartWalnuts Twitter Party where we’ll share deliciously romantic recipes and award Valentine’s Day presents to lucky participants.  I would love to see you at the…

#IHeartWalnuts Twitter Party

When: Tuesday, February 14th from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. ET

Prizes

I have long loved office products. I was that kid who played with a pretend receipt pad just to own my very own carbon paper.  Binder clips in different sizes get my heart racing, and a well-appointed binder has been known to cause me to swoon.

As a work-at-home mom, my love for organizational products flows from the menu calendar on my refrigerator to the white boards hanging in my home office.  I’ll admit that the home office product geek in me was absolutely giddy for the chance to attend the unveiling of the new Martha Stewart line of Home Office products with Avery available exclusively at Staples.

Martha Stewart herself walked us through the highlights of her new product line with Avery, which currently includes over 300 products.  I love the clean look of the colors featuring what I prefer to call “Martha blue” as well as crisp black and white patterns and the occasional pop of red.  Rather than easily stained linens, the surfaces of binders and journals are an attractive and easily wiped clean shagreen, which mimics the look of snakeskin.

Product categories range from  desk organization, to journaling, to labels which can be utilized throughout the house.  While the blue binder was the first item I put in my shopping cart at Staples.com, the items that called to me most at the launch event were the chalkboard labels.  

Described by Martha as “permanent removable,” these labels – available in different styles and sizes – can be placed securely on a surface, then be removed without damaging that surface or leaving an adhesive residue.  I’m anxious to use them on the cereal containers in our kitchen so that the different kinds of cereal can be easily recognized, yet the container labels can be changed with the wipe of a moist cloth and the swipe of a stick of chalk.

Now it’s time for one of you to meet the new Martha Stewart Home Office line available at Staples.

Giveaway

One Resourceful Mommy reader will win a Martha Stewart Home Office Pantry Pocket/Kitchen Organization prize pack with the following items:

• Plastic File Pockets (2)
• Removeable Kitchen Labels

Enter to Win

To enter to win, leave a comment telling me your biggest organizational challenge in your kitchen!

This giveaway ends Wednesday, February 15th at 11:59 p.m. ET and is open to U.S. residents only.

Watch in the coming weeks as I introduce more products from the Martha Stewart Home Office line with Avery exclusively at Staples including more giveaways!

I have been compensated for my coverage of this event and the execution of this giveaway.

It’s time for the second Twitter Party in our three part The Lorax Twitter Party series!

Coming to theaters March 2nd, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is an adaptation of the classic tale of a forest creature who shares the enduring power of hope.  The animated adventure follows the journey of a 12-year-old as he searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection the girl of his dreams.  To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world. (Rated PG)

Join us next Wednesday as we share tips from The Lorax on how to be more friendly to the environment.  We’ll be chatting about how we can “speak for the trees” and also be awarding valuable prizes to randomly selected participants.  I hope to see you at the…

Going Green with The Lorax Twitter Party

When: Wednesday, February 15th from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. ET

Where: #TheLoraxMovie on Twitter

How: To participate, use the party tag during the party hour and follow sponsor @TheLorax and host @ResourcefulMom.  Learn more about how to participate in a Twitter Party.

Want to connect with The Lorax now? Learn more at the official website of The Lorax, on YouTube , and don’t forget to like The Lorax on Facebook!

Prizing

Select prizing is being provided by Seventh Generation, a partner of The Lorax.  Be sure to read below for information about the chance to win even more great prizes from Seventh Generation!

- Five (5) winners will each receive Seventh Generation Cleaning Kits

- Five (5) winners will each receive The Lorax eco-friendly gardening tote set with stainless steel tools and a copy of The Lorax book tucked inside

- Five (5) winners will each receive a $50 Fandango gift card and a copy of The Lorax book

Seventh Generation is running a sweepstakes on their Facebook page. Win a trip for 4 to Redwood National Park or 1 of 5 high-efficiency washer/dryer sets. Plus they’re giving away 1,000 green laundry kits! You can enter once a day, so visit often to keep your chances growing!

RSVP

Planning on joining us?  Let us know here by adding your Twitter URL (http://twitter.com/username).  An RSVP is not required to participate or to be entered to win.

When I was twenty-three I taught at a private school where I was part of a team of three teachers who taught all of the same classes and worked very closely together.  It was my first teaching job and I became close to the other teachers, celebrating with one when she shared news of her daughter’s much fought for pregnancy.  Just a couple months later I found myself in her home where she was sitting Shiva, grieving the loss of both her daughter and unborn grandchild to breast cancer.  I will never forget the look on her face, the sadness in her eyes when she greeted me.  The grief in the room was so heavy that it was almost visible, the mirrors covered, the scruff on the faces of the mourning men, the stooped shoulders, the quiet conversations.

Just a couple months before, I attended the funeral for my favorite aunt, Nette. The youngest of my grandmother’s siblings, she lived just a few houses down from me and her home was a magical escape for me as a child and teenager.  She didn’t have any children, but somehow found a way to mother everyone else’s.  Our time together was spent watching The Muppet Show and Wheel of Fortune, eating chips out of a giant metal tub and drinking root beer floats made with diet soda and diabetic ice cream because of my uncle.  We were a motley crew sitting there in the evenings when my dad had a house to show and my mom was seeing patients, all laughing a little too loud at Miss Piggy and Kermit, all eating a little too much.  In some ways Nette was the black sheep of the family, and I loved her all the more for it.  To me she was part mom, part grandmother, all friend.  She made my birthday cakes when I was a little kid and helped me sew Greek letters on sweatshirts when I was in college.  We stood in her kitchen while she hemmed the pants of the first suit I bought to interview for teaching jobs.

The week before Christmas one year in junior high school, we were having dinner at her house like we did every year for Christmas when she pulled my mom into the kitchen to look at a bump on her forehead.  It turned out to be a rare cancer that can be knocked back again and again, only to come back someplace new and without warning.  She fought for ten years, always with a smile on her face, always laughing.  During one particularly bad round of chemo that took her hair, I visited to play Parcheesi with her and my great-great aunt Hilda.  These women played for blood and they loved to get under each other’s skin.  Nette waited until Hilda got up to go to the bathroom and then took the bandana off of her head, showing me her nearly bare scalp, the patches of fuzz, the thin, veined skin.  She said Hilda wanted desperately to see what she looked like with no hair, but she refused to show her until she had the nerve to ask her to see.  She knew Hilda was too proud to ask, and so they were having a stand off.  She wanted to show me just to piss Hilda off.   For the rest of the day we giggled like little boys who had lined up tacks on the teacher’s chair, virtual daggers being thrown at us from Hilda who knew we were up to no good.  That was Nette.

The sadness over losing her didn’t hit me the day she died or even at her funeral.  Instead, her funeral was a day of food and laughter, just like the time we had with her.  My dad’s truck got stuck in the snow in the cemetery, almost as if she had planned it.  “God, please make it snow and please make someone get stuck.  If possible, please make it be Lup because the whole family loves to blame him for everything. That would be even funnier.”  Instead the sadness comes at events that she is missing, like my wedding less than a year after her passing and the birth of my kids.  It comes when I am on the floor playing with my children and realize they will never know this woman who meant so much to me.  It comes when other families are robbed by cancer.  It comes when I remember the looks on their faces…

Like my friend Krista’s mom.  Krista was in my small circle of close friends, my favorite homeroom buddy who loved to giggle about boys as much as I did, my friend with an older sister who could teach us how to dance and tease our hair even higher.  We “dated” brothers from another school and would plan together when we could see them, at dances at our school, at wrestling matches.  We tried out for band front together.  We passed notes in the halls and hung out at Kim’s house and loved life.  We celebrated my thirteenth birthday with a crazy party complete with DJ – my brother’s best friend switching out mix tapes for us – and fancy food.

But Krista was often sick. I remember hugging her in elementary school when her headaches were so bad that she couldn’t stop crying.  I remember when they thought she had appendicitis, or could it have been her gall bladder?  The doctors never seemed to know for sure, which was frustrating because to me, doctors were magicians. My mom was the town doctor and she could magically stop vomiting with an injection or sew the tip of a coal miner’s finger back on or even deliver a baby in her office when the hospital 30 minutes away was 30 minutes too far.  But the day I overheard the ladies at church gossiping that Krista had cancer and her family was told she only had six months to live was the day I realized that sometimes doctors can’t do a damn thing.  I sat in my kitchen while my mom stirred something in a big, steaming pot across the room, and without making eye contact I asked if the doctors could find a treatment to save her.  And without making eye contact she told me that it didn’t sound like that was the case.

I watched as the chemo took her hair. It cracked her lips until they bled.  Her failing kidneys turned the white around her stunning blue eyes yellow.  Her voice became weak.  The last time I saw her she held the morphine button in her hand, pressing it in a steady rhythm just in case it was time.  And then she was gone.  We said goodbye to her on a cold, rainy morning one week before my 14th birthday, and her mom held each of us in her arms so tightly, a look of utter desperation in her eyes when she held us.  Ten years later she held me again at Kim’s wedding, that same look in her eyes.  She looked at me and said, “You’ve grown up.”  Utter desperation.

Today the Niebur family says goodbye to Susan, known on Twitter as @whymommy, author of Toddler Planet, mom to two, an inspiration to more people than she probably even realized.  Susan and I were not close, but knew each other, chatted at local events, shared information (okay, let’s be honest – she shared cool stuff with me) on Twitter, attended each other’s sessions at conferences.  I will not be at her funeral today.  Funerals are really for the living, and I made sure that in life, Susan knew that I was nothing short of blown away by her brilliance, her grace, her simply unbelievable courage.  Many of my good friends will be there today and I wish so very much that I could be there for them, to support them as they grieve this loss.  But I cannot bring myself to add more snapshots of the faces of those left behind once cancer has taken someone from them.  Yes, there are conference calls keeping me home, calls that have already been rescheduled, work deliverables that need to be done.  There is bad weather predicted and I need to be here should schools send kids home early.  But there is sadness and grief and images of loss from the last twenty years that are keeping me in my chair today, unable to move.

Cancer is hell. It is pure madness that in a world where I can hold a piece of plastic, metal and glass in my hand and speak to my husband on the other side of the world, we cannot stop rogue cells from rapidly multiplying and stealing people’s children, their mothers, the most loved and cherished people in their lives.

Susan lived a life that somehow mixed faith and science together seamlessly without contradiction.  It is with faith that I pray today for those who loved her most and will grieve for her forever.  It is in the name of science that I ask you to stop by the following foundations and consider supporting them today:

Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation

American Cancer Society

Pediatric Cancer Foundation

Lymphoma Research Foundation

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Every parent knows that one of the biggest challenges of diaper time is getting your little one to stay still long enough to go from wet to dry. Whether your tot is an acrobutt or a little baby rolling pin, we’ve all battled a case of the squirmy babies!  Thankfully, Huggies has the solution with Little Movers Slip-On Diapers available at Walmart.  It’s time to end the diaper drama!  Join us for the…

Huggies Slip-Ons Twitter Party

When: Monday, February 13th from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. ET

Prizes

A little over a week ago I partnered with Leah from Mamavation along with many other bloggers and their blogging communities to ask Strong 4 Life to take down their anti-obesity commercials and billboards that feature images of overweight children with slogans like “Get a Life.”  We called the campaign #Ashamed, and sent the message that shaming children and their parents is not the answer to the obesity epidemic.

The Twitter event brought more than 23 million pageviews in one hour and Headline News covered the story on their site.

What happened next?  A link back to this blog from HLN resulted in emails and comments on my posts calling me fat and lazy, a stupid and horrible mother, and even said repeatedly that my children are fat and unhealthy.  One comment even called me a fat Nazi.  Because this is my blog and therefore my rules, those comments went straight from moderation to the deleted folder and the emails went to spam.  In my head I responded with things like, you’re right, I wasn’t healthy, but my kids always have been and always will be under my roof.  That’s what moms do – they care for their kids before themselves.  I wanted them to know that I spent my childhood riding up and down the alleys of my town all afternoon on my orange Huffy and running from yard to yard playing hide and go seek and town chase.  I didn’t sit on my butt watching TV every afternoon. I won softball trophies and pull-up contests on the maple tree in my backyard, and I’m fairly sure I could soundly kick the ass of every person who emailed me. I wanted to yell that my home doesn’t have a single cookie in it nor have my children ever tasted a sip of soda, that they have perfect height/weight distribution and have  never had a single cavity. I wanted to post pictures of their soccer trophies and ballet recital pictures.   But instead I hit delete and went on with my day.

What is worth writing is this:

• The fact that I heard from people in support of the Strong 4 Life campaign who believe it’s okay to call innocent, healthy children fat and their mother a Nazi for standing up for the mental health of children and NOT from physicians, dietitians, educators, and mental health professionals is incredibly telling.
• Any reader who believes that I am not aware of the severity of the obesity problem in this country or the resulting health and economic effects is not a reader, but a troll.  Go find another bridge because you’re not welcome here.  I’ve lived the obesity problem in my own home, I have beaten it in my own home, and I do not have time for your inability to read before you speak.
• Shame will never be an acceptable form of motivation to accomplish any goal. Period.  Children who are called fat and made to feel ashamed will not react by changing their lifestyle and eating habits. They will instead internalize the guilt and sadness.  The fact that Strong 4 Life has not heard from kids saying that they feel embarrassed is because embarrassed kids don’t tell you they’re embarrassed and ashamed.  They tell their therapists thirty years later.
• Sacrificing the whole child for the sake of their physical health is also not acceptable.  As a mother I have chosen to educate my children about nutrition, provide them with healthy foods, remind them that there are also sometimes foods and never foods, and encourage active play and exercise.  I have also never used the words fat or skinny to describe a human being in front of them or shamed them for any bad choices they have made when given opportunities to choose on their own.  I want my children to be strong and healthy and fit. I also want them to be happy and confident and free of the guilt and shame so many of us felt as children.

I applaud Leah for continuing to work with Strong 4 Life to find better ways to reach the families of Georgia, and I will continue to be ashamed of this campaign and stand by Leah in her work.

Looking for low calorie, low sodium, low fat options for your kids – while eating out? Are you searching for restaurants that offer kids meals emphasizing lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy? Check out Kids LiveWell, a program from the National Restaurant Association in collaboration with Healthy Dining.  Please join us for a Twitter chat with registered dietitian, Joy Dubost, to learn more about Kids LiveWell and receive answers to your questions about eating out while on the go.

Kids LiveWell Twitter Party

When: Thursday, February 9th from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. ET

Where: #kidslivewell on Twitter

How: To participate follow hosts @ResourcefulMom and @kidslivewell and use the party tag during the event hour.  New to Twitter Parties? Learn more about How to Participate in a Twitter Party.

Guest Expert: Joy Dubost, registered dietitian, Director of Nutrition for the National Restaurant Association and National Spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Prizes

 $25 to $50 gift cards to restaurants will be awarded throughout the party!  

RSVP

Planning on joining us?  Let us know here by adding your Twitter URL (http://twitter.com/username).  An RSVP is not required to participate or to be entered to win.

About The National Restaurant Assocation

The National Restaurant Association launched the Kids LiveWell program in collaboration with Healthy Dining to help parents and children select healthier menu options when dining out. Restaurants that participate in the voluntary program offer   menu items specially designed to increase consumption of fruit and vegetables, lean protein, whole grains and low-fat dairy, while limiting unhealthy fats, sugars and sodium.

The Healthy Dining Finder website and mobile site gives parents nutritional information, restaurant names and locations all at your fingertips!

About Joy Dubost

Joy is a Registered Dietitian, Board Certified in Sports Dietetics (CSSD) and an experienced Food Scientist. As Director of Nutrition for the National Restaurant Association, she leads the the development and implementation of Kids LiveWell.   She has worked in the area of food science and nutrition for over 10 years, which includes the areas of clinical nutrition, nutrition communications, public policy, recipe and product development, and nutrition education. She has published a number of peer reviewed scientific papers and frequently authors various nutrition articles for professional and consumer media outlets.

She is a current spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, past spokesperson for the New York State Dietetic Association and serves on the nutrition division leadership team for the Institute of Food Technologists. Joy received her Doctorate in Food Science from Pennsylvania State University, her Master’s Degree in Food Science from University of Georgia and her Bachelor’s Degree in Nutrition and Chemistry from Hood College and completed her dietetic internship at the University of Michigan Hospitals.

Joy is passionate about communicating impactful, realistic messages to the media and consumers. She is a trusted source of nutrition information and has spoken to the media, athletes, students, consumers, and corporate clients on a wide range of nutrition and food science topics. She is frequently quoted in local and national publications, such as USA Today, Men’s Fitness, Shape, MSNBC Today, Discovery, LA Times, and NY Post and has made several radio and television appearances, including ABC News, CBS News, and FOX News.

Twitter Party Rules:
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY

HOW TO ENTER: Beginning date and time and ending date and time, participants must use the @ symbol and the hashtag #kidslivewell to respond directly to @ResourcefulMom in order to qualify to win prizes in response to questions during the event.  @ResourcefulMom will choose a winner at random using Twitter search by refreshing the search page.  The most recent tweet using the hashtag #kidslivewell and tweeting to @ResourcefulMom will be the winner.  All decisions are final.  Neither the party sponsor nor the hostess @ResourcefulMom is responsible for misdirected or undeliverable Twitter updates, including those from private Twitter accounts.  This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.

RESPONSIBILITY: By entering and participating, entrant agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Sponsor, Resourceful Mommy Media, and all participating entities from and against any and all claims, demands, liability, damages or causes of action, losses, costs or expenses that may be imposed on any participating entity due to entrant’s participation..