Earnest Parenting » Contest

Win a Jockey Bra and Purex Crystals

Amy LeForge — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:04:02 +0000

Yesterday I published my review of the Jockey Tech Terry Performance Sports Bra and Purex Crystals fabric softener. Today, we have a giveaway! Jump down to the widget below and use one or more of the ways to enter. Good luck! Winner to be chosen by random drawing on 1/25/2012 by random drawing.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Get your bonus copy of my book Fun & Free Activities for Families on a Budget. Download here

Archives.com Hosts Run & Hug Share Your Story

Amy LeForge — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:51:22 +0000

Do you have any long-lost family members that you haven’t seen in years? Would you love to reconnect? Share your story before December 19, 2011 for a chance to win an all-expenses paid reunion as well as $1000 cash.

Once the entry session closes, the public will vote on the stories, and a winner will be announced on December 23rd. What a great potential Christmas gift!

The top ten vote getters will win a free year-long subscription to Archives.com to explore their own family tree further.

Here are the details from the Archives.com announcement: To enter, simply submit your favorite memory of a long lost relative with whom you would like to be reunited at http://www.runandhug.com/families/. Then, share with family and friends so they can vote for you!

If your story receives the most votes, you and a companion will win two all expenses paid trips to reunite during the holiday season. You will also be given $1,000 in cash to enhance your trip. Cash prizes of $500 and $200 will be awarded to the runner-up and second runner-up. The top ten contestants with the most votes will receive year-long subscriptions to Archives.com to further explore their family tree. (read the FAQ)

Good luck to everyone!

Earnest Parenting: help for families who want to reunite.

Image courtesy of derriel street photography via Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.

Get your bonus copy of my book Fun & Free Activities for Families on a Budget. Download here

Teflon SHIELD Wiper Blades Help Keep Windshields Clear

Amy LeForge — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:20:25 +0000

(Editor’s note: don’t forget to scroll down and enter to win in the Rafflecopter widget below!)

When TechnoBoy and The Mercenary were just infants, Hubby and I took them to visit family. It was about a 2 hour drive, which we made easily while the boys slept. Two days later when we headed home, a large winter storm was on the way. At the time, Hubby was actually living with my family for his job, so he drove his vehicle while I had the babies in the van and we headed out.

The storm was awful! Traffic was just bad enough that we couldn’t get ahead of it. If we’d have managed that, we could have stayed ahead of the leading edge there and scooted on home to safety.

Instead, we had to slog through near blizzard conditions. It was super wet and ice formed on my wiper blades faster than the heater could melt it off. Ugh. What a trip. The babies woke up and we had to stop and feed them, which then required the necessary burping and changing. In a storm. I think it took us 4 hours to make the drive instead of two, plus the time stopping to clear the wipers and take care of babies. What an exhausting experience! I was never so glad to be home as I was that day.

That’s why I was pleased last week to receive a set of Teflon Shield Wiper blades to try out. These things work great! In the interest of science, I had Hubby leave one old blade on and put the new one on the driver’s side. Then I waited for it to rain and took a picture. Granted, the picture doesn’t do it justice. Have you ever tried to photograph a windshield with a cell phone? Not easy!

I put in an arrow so you could see the line of water that the other blade left. It is an older blade, but not terribly old so while this is not a completely fair test, it does demonstrate the wipers fairly well. I wouldn’t say I rose to the level of clinical trial or anything like that, but it was fun.

All that to say that we have a couple of neat opportunities here! Advance Auto Parts stores are offering the blades on a buy 1 get the 2nd half off sale, and a portion of those proceeds go to the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation, to help kids with cancer. That sale is good until November 30, 2011.

Also! I get to give away a set! Using the Rafflecopter widget, enter by leaving a comment on this blog post (you have to then click the I Did It button in the widget), like this post on Facebook, or Tweet about it. Contest will end at 12:01 am Eastern time on Sunday December 11, 2011. Good luck!

Earnest Parenting: helping parents keep their windshields clearer

FTC disclosure: I was given a free set of wipers to review. They’re great so far!

Get your bonus copy of my book Fun & Free Activities for Families on a Budget. Download here

Journey Closer to God with the Book “Prayers for Today”

Amy LeForge — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:55:00 +0000

Kurt Bjorklund is the author of the book “Prayers for Today: A Yearlong Journey of Contemplative Prayer”. This book contains prayers and meditations along with Bible verses, all aimed at helping the heart grow closer to God.

Bjorklund, a Christian pastor, writes in the introduction that he was as a young man very drawn to prayer. At the same time, he was often disappointed at how distant God seemed, saying “over the years, my prayers became more a vague ‘should’ than a pathway to the heart of God.” He also explains that the tradition of his early faith “emphasized extemporaneous prayer and viewed the classic practice of liturgy and written prayers with suspicion.” A friend suggested he work through a book of prayers and he found himself growing closer to God as a result.

“Prayers for Today” is a collection of 260 days of prayer, organized along several themes: thanksgiving, confession, affirmation, petition, renewal, and more. Each day has several prayers, verses, or meditations aligned with its theme. Use of the book 5 days a week will keep you busy for an entire year. The author suggests that if a particular day is difficult to pray, perhaps you should park on that one for a while and allow your heart time to pray with conviction. Move through the book at whatever pace and in whatever order suits you best.

I have to say, I LOVE this book. We all go through periods in life where it’s dryer than others. This book is ideal for helping me focus on God and on communicating with Him in a more organized and meaningful fashion. As it happens, I’m feeling the need for more structure in my life, so the arrival of this prayer guide couldn’t be more perfectly timed.

How about you? Would you enjoy a copy of “Prayers for Today”? Well sure you would! I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to do a giveaway. I love giveaways!

We’re using the RaffleCopter system again, and I think I’m getting better at this. To enter, leave a comment on this post telling what your favorite book of the Bible is. If you can’t decide, just list a book. Anything from Genesis to Revelation…whatever you want to choose. Then, click on the Rafflecopter widget to input your name and email and click that you’ve left the comment.

Additional entries may be earned in the widget by liking this post on Facebook, following me on Twitter, and so on. Winner will be chosen by random drawing after the giveaway ends at 12:01 am on November 28, 2011.

Good luck!

Earnest Parenting: helping parents get closer to God through the “Prayers for Today” book.

Get your bonus copy of my book Fun & Free Activities for Families on a Budget. Download here

Sentry Safe Helps Protect Your Valuables in a Fire

Amy LeForge — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:02:54 +0000

I will admit it: I do spend time worrying about what would happen if a disaster struck the house. If we’ve been away for an extended period, I always breathe a sigh of relief to see that the house hasn’t burned down in our absence. While worry isn’t the best choice, taking action to protect your important belongings is very wise. To that end, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about getting a safety deposit box so that our important papers would be saved in case of fire.

The problem with the safety deposit box plan is that I can only get at it during bank hours. And then there’s the rental fees. Blech. That’s why I was so excited last week to learn that Sentry Safe manufactures products that will protect your belongings in fire and flood. Who knew?? They were kind enough to send me a Pink 1100 Fire Safe, which is tres awesome because my boys are naturally repelled by pink. (They did examine it closely though, and if it weren’t pink I probably wouldn’t be allowed to keep it. Heh.)

The reason it’s pink is because Sentry Safe is donating a portion of the sale of those safes to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. And! If you check out their Facebook page they’re doing amazing giveaways every Monday in October. Last week it was a safe and a Wal-Mart gift card. Check it out!

Sentry Safe also did a live demonstration of one of their bigger safes last week and I was privileged to watch. They burned a safe at 1500 degrees for half an hour, then raised it 15 feet off the ground and dropped it. After the firefighters pried the thing open (and they had to work to do it), the contents inside were only a little warm. I was surprised. And I won a Big Bolt safe in the corresponding Twitter contest. So exciting!

Something else that Hubby and I have been discussing is getting each boy his own lock box. Because they share rooms, sometimes cash and other junk precious belongings get mixed up or lost. If each boy could have his own lockable treasure box, that might reduce the problem.

Anyway. The whole reason I wrote this post is to tell you that I get to do a giveaway! I love giveaways. We’re trying out a new system for giveaways (don’t you love it when I experiment on you?). It’s from Rafflecopter. Just use the widget below to enter the random drawing. You can do one or all of the options, totally up to you. Contest is open from now until 12:01 am on October 30, 2011. Winner will be announced after close of contest.

Good luck!

FTC disclosure: Sentry Safe gave me a Pink 1100 Fire Safe for free, and I also won a Big Bolts safe in one of their Twitter contests. I do think their products are amazing, and I just may give each boy a Sentry Safe 0500 Fire Box for Christmas. But don’t tell them that.

Earnest Parenting: helping parents keep valuables safe.

Get your bonus copy of my book Fun & Free Activities for Families on a Budget. Download here