Two years ago I transferred my blog over to a self-hosted WordPress site.  If you are like me, I had absolutely no understanding of what hosting even meant.  I just knew I needed WordPress hosting before my blog would be up.   A friend of mine transferred my blog and added my blog to DreamHost.  I was happy and went on with my blogging on my new site!

I decided to check out DreamHost on my own and took a couple of hours looking at all the options there.  Again, this was all new to me but I wanted to get familiar with the different sections so went through each of them, one by one.  I never change anything unless I know or read up on what I need to do.

Communication is key and DreamHost has been great about it.  I mentioned earlier that I had no idea what a “hosting server” was but the newsletters or changes they make are clear and concise in the emails I receive.  They will walk you through the change or upgrade step by step.  I need and appreciate that from them.

Does my server go down?  I can count on one hand how many times I have been down in two years.  My heart would start beating faster when my blog was down, not knowing what to do next.     They have a DreamHost status blog which tells me what is being worked on and what time (you can even find them on Twitter).    The time and updates are posted periodically but it helps to know what is going on, and it just isn’t your blog.

My experience with DreamHost has been nothing but the best.  Are you thinking about switching over to a WordPress blog?  I would definitely suggest trying them.  The pricing is very reasonable at just under $120/year!  If you have any questions, feel free to ask me and I will try and get you the answer if I don’t know it myself.

Happy blogging!

Disclosure:  DreamHost has credited my account with hosting fees for this honest review.  These are completely my opinions and how I feel about the hosting site.

Rice is definitely a staple item for our dinners. It’s versatile and a great whole-grain option. That’s why we were excited to try the Success Boil-in-Bag rice. The rice comes in four flavors – White, Brown, Jasmine, and Basmati. It’s pre-portioned and each bag is self-straining.  Each box contains four bags that serve two. Each box costs $3.50 regular price and would make two meals that serve 4.

Both varieties took slightly longer than the 10-minute advertised cooking time, but that’s still much faster than the 35-45 minutes brown rice usually takes.   The texture and flavor of the rice was fine, although the Jasmine ended up being more like plain white rice because some of the flavor drained out in the water.

I did have several concerns such as boiling food in plastic bags.  It turns me off cooking any product in plastic.  We contacted the representative regarding this issue and she informed us the plastic bag is made of BPA-free high-density polyethylene plastic #2, so it is safe for use and is also 100% recyclable. 

My second issue was the cooking time.  It took much longer than the 10 minutes claimed on the box.  Our Success Rep explained this is an average time but can take a little longer or shorter depending on different stove temperatures and possible altitude differences.

~Megan

Disclosure:  I was sent the Success Rice coupons for review purposes.  I was not compensated to write a positive or favorable review.  These is my personal opinion of the product.

Welcome to Thursday’s Connect Cafe. This is a fun link up for our Google+, Facebook and Twitter pages. Link them ALL up if you want to! (Just be sure to put the URL of the page you want followed to make it easy on everyone.)

All we ask is for you to follow the 3 hosts on Google+ (Click on the name and it will take you to our Google pages)

Deb

Melissa

Tammy

To make it easy, I have all my links right here for you!

Welcome to Thursday’s Giveaway Cafe with fantastic giveaways. Every giveaway linked up here, are valued $25 or more.

Your hosts are Deb from Menopausal New Mom,
Melissa from The Rheinlander’s
and myself, Tammy from Tammy’s Two Cents.

Have fun entering!

Last night, I asked both of the kids to help me out by making their lunches.   As I was emptying lunch bags tonight to make tomorrows lunch I found this in Brad’s bag.  Oreo’s and sugar!  Oh my!   Guess he still needs moms help!

Be sure to link up your WW with Melissa at Keeping Up With the Rheinlander’s or to find more Wordless Wednesday pics.

I’m a 30-something professional and graduate of The Evergreen State College. My long-time boyfriend (and best friend) Ryan, our beautiful dog Matia, and I are a family of three. We spend our time trying to balance work, family, friends, and fun! Contributing to Tammy’s blog is just one of our many adventures.

I would love to have you give Megan a warm welcome  in a comment!  Happy to have you here Megan!

Are you a briber?  (Is that even a word?)  I guess it is now!  How many of you bribe your kids to do their reading or homework, so they can play outside with their friends, watch TV or play on an iPod?  I am raising my hand slowly because I do it all the time.  You can call it negotiating, bribing or just plain parenting but we all do it.

This weekend we had the perfect example of this.  Emily has been wanting the 2nd season of her favorite tv show since she began watching the 3rd season.  She paid for the first season but didn’t have the money to purchase the 2nd.  Scott told her if she read two of the books (the tv show is based on a book series) he would buy it for her.  Friday, she came home from school and started reading.  She read ALL weekend and by Sunday morning she had earned her season.

Brad is our gamer boy!  He loves his XBOX but his newest game is online where he can play along with his friends.  They are skyping (at least 3-4 of them at a time) while they play Minecraft.  It cracks me up.  As much as I like him spending time with his buddies we do have limits.   At 10, he would much rather be hanging out with his buddies than doing his reading or homework.  We have to explain to earn the online time, he has to take care of his school work as a priority.

One of the other things the kids have been doing is hanging outside with their friends but they all have their iPods and play games together.  The girls like sites such as DressUp121.com while the boys are hanging out playing “more” minecraft or filming skits.  I know there is controversy on screen time but I do think these kids can take the creativity of these sites and learn skills in a fun way by creating makeovers, doing some cake decorating or brain games that makes you think.  (I even play those since my brain gets a bit fuzzy at times, especially the older I get!)

What are your thoughts about online time?  Do you have limits or do a little “bribing” so they can earn that time?  I would love to hear your thoughts.

We all know family time is so important but it’s hard to get everyone together and do something fun.  I know with our kids, as they have gotten older they are gone more and more.   Scott and I are very family oriented and make time to have fun.  We enjoy geocaching, soccer and most recently enjoyed the Tacoma Rainier’s as a family.   I love making memories with the kids so they can look back and say “I remember when we did this and had so much fun!”

I am sure many of you are the same way.   The Happy Family Movement created the Summer Bucket List two years ago and this year they are celebrating their third.  The Summer Bucket List is where families is (10,000+) make meaningful, happy memories before the glory days of summer rush by — it’s all about taking time to enjoy your family in an intentional way.  Think Pizza Chef Night or a Glow in the Dark Party.  Families with little ones or grown up kids can join in on the fun!

The families who sign up for the FREE Summer Bucket List Challenge will receive a set of fun tools and resources to help them along the way.  Giving all of us great ideas on what to do.  They even have weekly giveaways!  Also an e-book stuffed with bucket list ideas, regular updates on the Happy Family Movement blog, and access to a great community on Facebook to share projects and feedback as they create an amazing bucket list.

The challenge begins today so what are you waiting for?  (This is open to everyone, everywhere!)

Deb, Melissa and I have joined together to make the Sunday Giveaway Showcase better than ever!

Ready to link up yours?

Our family loves movies but it tends to get expensive for all of us to go.  By the time we purchase tickets and maybe a few treats we are looking at $60-70.  That’s fine once in awhile but not something we can do very often.

I was excited to be invited to get an IndieFlix subscription and be able to offer 10 of you a 2-month subscription.  Indieflix is a community of fans and independent film makers.  Through Indieflix, you can enjoy all the movies, documentaries and so much more.   Indieflix is giving all filmmakers the chance to have their films shown and watched by all of us.

There are two films I am anxious to watch.  The first one is Finding Kind.  It is a documentary of two best friends (who happen to be the pretty girls) travel the county, speaking with middle and high school girls about their pain and the pain they have caused others.  This is an anti-bullying movie that is suppose to touch us all.  I really want to spend the time watching this movie with Emily.

The other film I would like to see is Living On One Dollar where four college students take along one video camera and $56 dollars.  They spend 56 days in a rural Guatamalan village.  Their inspiration is to show our cultural how to make a difference!  It sounds eye-opening.

How would you like to see both of those films and many more with a 2 month subscription to IndieFlix?

Head over to IndieFlix and tell me what movie you would like to watch first.  (Mandatory entry)  I will pick 10 winners from the comments I receive.  Be sure to leave your email in the comment so I can contact you if you are a winner!

Giveaway will close on May 31, 2013 at 9 p.m. PST.  Winner will be chosen by the WordPress plugin “And The Winner Is…”   US only.

Disclosure:  I received a 3 month subscription to IndieFlix for review purposes.  I was not compensated to write a positive or favorable review.  This is my personal opinion of the product.