Pebble for Simpler Shopping

Times are tough these days. It's a good idea to do some research before you go out and make a big purchase. My boyfriend does it all the time, looking for computer parts or monitors. Sometimes he looks up and compares really silly things that we won't be buying anytime soon like an ATV or hot tub. But whatever, to each his own, right.

I found a new site Pebble.com, that he can go to and compare prices and ask questions. I'm looking for a new camera, so I checked it out. I just clicked on the brand I wanted and looked at all of the cameras. I chose one that interested me and hit the "Compare Prices" button on the right. That brought up a new screen with a couple of different prices from different stores. Would you believe there was over a $200 difference between two of the stores?! I'm glad i did my homework! I also checked out the Q & A section and got a few of my questions answered. I also had the option to post a question if I wanted, which is really great.

Ravens R & G

Ravens

By George Dawes Green

The Boatwrights just won 318 million dollars in the Georgia State lottery. It's going to be the worst day of their lives.

When Shaw McBride and Romeo Zderko pull up at a convenience store off I-95 in Georgia, their only thought is to fix a leaky tire and be on their way again to Florida-away from their dull Ohio tech-support jobs. But this happens to be the store from which a 318,000,000 million dollar Jackpot ticket has just been sold -- and when a pretty clerk accidentally reveals to Shaw the identity of the winning family, he hatches a ferociously audacious scheme: He and Romeo will squeeze the family for half their prize.

That night, he visits the Boatwright home and takes the family hostage, while Romeo patrols the streets nearby, prepared to murder the Boatwrights' loved ones at any sign of resistance. At first, the family offers none. But Shaw's plot depends on maintaining constant fear-merciless, unfaltering terror-and soon, under the pressure, everyone's sanity begins to unravel . . .

At once frightening, comic, and suspenseful, RAVENS is a wholly original and utterly compelling novel from one of our most talented writers.

Ravens took me forever to read, due to real life getting in the way {when doesn't that happen!}. Once I finally got to sit down and read the other day though, I finished the last 3/4 in no time. I think it was a great read. I didn't want to put it down, I just had to know what was going to happen next. It was a great story about love, betrayal and fear. The bad guys actually had me rooting for them at the end! I know right, what's wrong with me?! So, given what I just said, I didn't like the ending because I got so caught up in another aspect of the story, therefore wanting it to end a little different. But..... overall it was a great read. Like I said, one that I couldn't put down. I literally read it in like a day and a half, so that kind of speaks for itself.

Ravens is available for $16.49 on Amazon.com


Win it:
Three lucky Outnumbered 3 to 1 readers will win a copy of Ravens.

For your first entry? Leave me a comment about this book, or another by this author. This step must be done before you can qualify for extra entries.


EXTRA ENTRIES - Please leave an additional comment for each extra entry!

• Follow Outnumbered 3 to 1 through Friend Connect
• Subscribe to Outnumbered 3 to 1 through email or feed
  
• Favorite me on Technorati
• Add my button to your blog and tell me where to find it.
• Post about this contest on your blog, linking back to this post (2 extra entries).
• Enter any of my other giveaways and leave a comment telling me which one (Max 1 extra entry)
  
• Follow me on Twitter and tweet this giveaway and leave the link to your tweet. (Can be done daily)
• Comment on any non-giveaway post. Comment here with the title of that post. (Max 1 extra entry)
  
• Display my Back 2 School Spectacular button
  

THE RULES:
*Make sure I have a way to reach you, by either enabling your email through blogger, or leaving your email in the comment.
*Winners are chosen by random.org, so make sure you leave individual comments, not all of them in one!
*Winner has 72 hours to contact me, or another winner will be chosen.
*Contest ends August 14th at 11:59 pm. Winner will be posted shortly after.
*Open to US entries.
*Rules for each entry must be followed to be valid.

Thank you to Hachette Book Group for providing my review copy, along with the winners' copies

Aloha Friday

Aloha Friday this week is all about drama! So I want to know your thoughts.

Are you the kind of person who feeds on drama, or do you have the "Why can't we all just get along attitude"?

Visit An Island Life for more Aloha Friday.

Wear Your Music Review

These one-size-fits-all, unisex guitar string bracelets come in all different colors! Made from real guitar strings, they really rock! Wear just one or stack on a ton! Great gifts for music lovers of all ages! Rock’n’Roll jewelry is here to stay! A percentage of the profits from these bracelets are donated to charities that support music.

Wear Your Music offers some really cool bracelets made from guitar strings. They come in a variety of colors and you can actually purchase a bracelet made from an artist's guitar strings! How awesome a gift would that be to a music fan?!

I got to review the Guitar God Gold pictured here. It looks really cool, and you can easily form it to your wrist. I have gotten many compliments, and then even more when I tell them it's made out of guitar strings. My friend's boyfriend is in a band, and I bet he would just love one of these!

Inspiration

I found this video thanks to Kayla from The Eclectic Element and it is such an inspiration! It is amazing that a five year old little girl has such a big heart. It makes me want to plan something that the kids and I can do together to help people in need. Maybe a food drive or something? I'm going to have to put some serious deep thought into this, but I really want to do something. Every little bit helps.

Bloggers Gone Wild

I was disappointed that I didn't go to BlogHer this year. Now I'm not.......

There have been so many stories and posts about the "horror" stories on BlogHer this past weekend. There was talk about mom's fighting and elbowing over swag, someone threatening the Croc's guy, a fight, big controversy about babies in bars, the whole Nikon hates babies thing, complaining about not getting an invite to the right party, telling sponsors they should have had better swag, you name it.

I am pretty new to blogging, so I don't have a "clique" and I have never had problems with any other bloggers. Thank God, because I would hate to see what some of these women would do if I pissed them off. I have come to the conclusion that blogging is like a popularity contest. Well, I never have tried to win one of those. I'm me and if you don't like me for me, then too bad. I won't change for anyone I know in real life, and certainly not for any one in the virtual world.

Wordless Wednesday

Visit Extraordinary Mothers, and 5 Minutes for Mom for more Wordless Wednesday.

Untimate Nights Review

Ultimate Nights offers a variety of "adult" products for your enjoyment. You can shop online or host a party for you and your friends. You can even become an Ultimate Nights Consultant to gain extra money.

I received a couple of products from Ultimate Nights to try out, like the Patience Candle pictured here. The scent is Tobacco & Vanilla Bean and it smells pretty good. I also got the Zen palm size massager and a vial of Ultimate Instinct. Here's a little bit of information about that.

Ultimate Instinct was created to mimic the sexual attraction associated with pheromones secretion. This special blend of 100% pure oils is the chemical reproduction of what we believe to be the human pheromone scent in its purest form. No mineral oil, fillers or cutting agents.

Ideal for Men AND Women, it reacts to your own body heat, blending with your own unique essence creating your own ULTIMATE RESULTS!!

I thought it smelled really good, and it made me feel sexy. The boyfriend liked it too, and I think it might have worked!

Someone I Love is Sick - Review & Giveaway

Someone I Love is Sick

is a customizable tool to use when talking with children ages 2-6 years old about a parent or grandparent who has cancer. It addresses all stages of the cancer journey including diagnosis, treatment, hospitalization, recurrence and end of life. The tool can be used by families and health care professionals. All proceeds from the sale of this tool benefit The Gathering Place, a non-profit cancer support center providing free programs and services to individuals and families.

I had a chance to review Someone I Love is Sick and I think this would be a great tool to help kids understand what's going on when someone in their family has cancer. Children learn by reading, and this book answers a lot of questions they may have. Each page only has one sentence on it, so you can go nice and slow, so as not to confuse children. The book is actually unbound in binder form, so you can arrange the pages however you want depending on the stage of cancer.

Win it:
One lucky Outnumbered 3 to 1 reader will win a copy of Someone I Love is Sick.

For your first entry? Head to Someone I Love is Sick and tell me something you learned. This step must be done before you can qualify for extra entries.


EXTRA ENTRIES - Please leave an additional comment for each extra entry!

• Follow Outnumbered 3 to 1 through Friend Connect
• Subscribe to Outnumbered 3 to 1 through email or feed
  
• Favorite me on Technorati
• Add my button to your blog and tell me where to find it.
• Post about this contest on your blog, linking back to this post (2 extra entries).
• Enter any of my other giveaways and leave a comment telling me which one (Max 1 extra entry)
  
• Follow me on Twitter and tweet this giveaway and leave the link to your tweet. (Can be done daily)
• Comment on any non-giveaway post. Comment here with the title of that post. (Max 1 extra entry)
  
• Display our Back to School Spectacular button
  

THE RULES:
*Make sure I have a way to reach you, by either enabling your email through blogger, or leaving your email in the comment.
*Winners are chosen by random.org, so make sure you leave individual comments, not all of them in one!
*Winner has 72 hours to contact me, or another winner will be chosen.
*Contest ends August 11th at 11:59 pm. Winner will be posted shortly after.
*Open to US entries.
*Rules for each entry must be followed to be valid.

Contest Tuesday

It's time once again for Contest Tuesday. Don't forget to check back every Tuesday for a fresh linky so you can get in on some great giveaways or to link your own. Feel free to link up as many giveaways as you want.

Also, it's not required, but it would be great if you could help spread the word about this link by posting my button, tweeting, etc.

I have a bunch of giveaways going on right now, just click the links on the sidebar to get to them all.

Blog Hop 7/28/09 - Favorite Kid Photos

This is one of the absolute favorite pictures of the boys taken a few years ago on their first trip to the waterpark. The look on both of their faces is just priceless and Big Bro has such purple lips, it's hilarious!

First Round of Outdoor Living Event Winners!

TheOutdoor Living Event has come to an end and I would like to announce and congratulate the first round of winners. I will be emailing you all as well, and you will have 72 hours to respond before I will be forced to draw new winners. As with all of my giveaways, winners are chosen via random.org to make it fair to everyone. For those of you that didn't win, enter some of the giveaways still going on and maybe luck will be with you next time around!

Country Bob's Sauce - 8 Winners and one Grand Prize Winner!

#44 Bill and Lorie Shewbridge claimed

#69 ossmcalc

#23 Cat@3KidsandUs claimed

#97 mattschmunk claimed

#99 Mommy Daisy claimed

#37 valerie2350 claimed

#87 Laney claimd

#106 Confessions of a Mom

Grand Prize Winner

#56 collyn23 claimed

Kinesys Sunscreen

#86 Jennifer

Bra Barrette

#42 Danetta claimed

Primo Activewear

#1 Nicole Feliciano

SlimPerfect

#97 Stephanie claimed

SSS Bug Guard

#12 Stephanie claimed

JumpStart

#36 Melissa Henderson claimed

Julbo Sunglasses

#5 Amy Mccathran claimed

Not Me Monday

Wow, it's been a few weeks since I participated in this meme. I've been so busy lately with summer time and the Outdoor Living event and finding sponsors for the Back to School Spectacular. Here's my list of "Not Me's" for this week.... the ones I can remember at least!

I did not take 5 kids on a mile walk to the grocery store to get stuff for a picnic lunch, and I did not spend almost 4 hours at the park with them and have a great time! Not Me!

I did not finally realize that I have to tolerate my sister's much older boyfriend, so that I can see her on a regular basis. Not Me!

I also did not take his son for the night on Thursday so that my sister would take my kids on Saturday. Not Me!

The boyfriend's dad has been staying with us for awhile, and I did not enjoy the fact that he was away this weekend. Not Me!

I also did not purposely have my sister take the kids Saturday night so that the boyfriend and I could have some much needed alone time. Not Me!

I did not have such a relaxing evening sitting outside around the fire without the kiddos around Saturday night. Not Me!

I did not have a great night {and morning} since it was just the two of us. Not Me!

I did not wish his dad was still gone when he pulled up this afternoon. Not Me!

I did not say yes when my sister called to see if the kids could spend a second night at her house, because i did not enjoy some time all to me not having to worry about anyone else. Not Me!

Visit My Charming Kids for more "Not Me' Mondays

Outdoor Living Event - Shred Sled Review

We had the opportunity to review the Shred Sled. I was in the basement doing laundry when it came. Lil Man comes down the stairs, uses his 'man' voice and said "It's the UPS man. I have a package for you ma'am". I laughed and went upstairs to find the Shred Sled. I was happy when I opened it up and saw that I did not need to assemble anything. We went outside to check it out but we had a hard time figuring out how to balance it. Thank God for teenage brothers though! They quickly figured it out and were all having a blast in no time at all. My lil bro CJ did awesome and he just rocks on that thing. He can even go sideways, which is awesome! The boyfriend's cousin Seth said that I can quote him in saying "This is the coolest thing ever and I love it!" He tried to give Big Bro $30 to 'rent' it for the week lol. Here are some shots of all the kiddos riding it.

Post "Bowls of Hope"

In the fight against hunger, Post Shredded Wheat has partnered with Feeding America. For each box of Post Shredded Wheat you buy, Post will donate one bowl of Shredded Wheat. Help us donate up to 15 million bowls of Shredded Wheat to feeding America. Visit feedingamerica.org to learn about other ways to help those in need.

I grew up eating Shredded Wheat, before they even had mini's. My grandma used to buy the regular kind with huge squares that I would have to cut up. I ate the unfrosted ones without sugar and I loved them. I was able to try the Honey Nut Shredded Wheat and it is delicious. Even the kids think so. Lil Man will actually grab some kind of healthy cereal before the sugary crap. Sometimes he eats all of my cereal before i even get a bowl from the box!

I think this is a great cause that Post is supporting, because many of us don't realize how many hungry people are really out there. The only thing you have to do to help is buy a box of cereal your family would eat anyway. Every little bit counts.

Outdoor Living Event - DreamSacks Review & Giveaway

We know you will love these towels made from 70% Bamboo and 30% Organic Cotton. They are soft and eco-friendly. The color and design are fun and cheerful, irresistible for the summer months ahead. Perfect for beach, spa, pool, picnics and all fun events.

We know you will appreciate the price. The reason for the great price on these beautiful towels is that some irregular looping occurred during the weaving process. So we are able to offer them to you at this low price.

I had the chance to review one of these beach towels from DreamSacks. I chose the Double towel in Nectar & Pool. I took it out of the box and was like "Holy Crap!" It was huge folded, like a good 8 inches thick I'd say. I didn't have any plans to go swimming, except to take the kids to the wading pool, which there was no way I was going to let them use this big huge towel that I wanted all for myself! So I used it after my shower instead. I wrapped that towel around me and it hung past the ground! That's how huge it is. I was in love. It's going to be great taking it to the beach because I can spread it out as a blanket to lay out on if I want too. I could probably wrap both kids up in it and roll them around in the sand too if I wanted!

Win It!
I have a beach towel to give away to one lucky reader.

To enter this giveaway just stop by DreamSacks and tell me something else you'd like to try. This entry is mandatory and must be done before all extra bonus entries are valid.

Extra Entries: Only valid after the first mandatory entry - Please leave a separate comment for each entry as they are numbered and drawn randomly.

• Follow Outnumbered 3 to 1 or tell me you already do
  
• Subscribe to Outnumbered 3 to 1 via Email or Feed or tell me you already do
  
• Post my main button on your blog
• Follow me on Twitter and 'Tweet" this giveaway {This can be done daily}
  
• Favorite me on Technorati
• Blog about this giveaway and include links to this post and DreamSacks - 3 entries {Leave separate comment for each}
• Enter any of the other Outdoor Living Event giveaways {Max 2 extra entries}
• Display our Back 2 School Spectacular button
• Last but not least, add 2 extra entries if you have my Outdoor Living Event button posted on your blog!

This giveaway is open to US Residents until August 1st at 11:59 PM. I will notify the winner via email and post on this blog. The winner will have 72 hours to respond to the email or I will have to pick a new winner.

Don't forget to enter the other Outdoor Living Event giveaways!

A special Thank You to DreamSacks for participating in this event!

Aloha Friday

Since about half of the Blogosphere (ya I can't spell right) is at BlogHer as I type this up my question will be all about that this week.

Why didn't you go to BlogHer?

If you did go, or are there now, then tell me some of the fun things you've done.

I'll answer my own question this week. I didn't go for a number of reasons. The main ones are I didn't really know all that much about it until a few months ago since I am pretty new to blogging. I didn't know how to go about getting sponsorships, and I simply could not afford a ticket and room and board on my own right now. I will be there next year though, and I can't wait!

Visit An Island Life for more Aloha Friday!

Fun Day at the Park

We took the boyfriend's nephew over night last night, so I figured I'd take all the kids and do something fun today while he was at work. We just left and I didn't tell them where we were going, that it was surprise. My brothers were outside when we left so we dragged them with us. We walked to the grocery store and got sandwiches and chips for lunch, then walked back towards home and stopped at the park to have a picnic lunch. Right when we got under the pavilion to eat, it started to downpour. We sat and ate, and by the time we were done, the rain stopped. It worked out perfectly. After lunch the kids played on the playground, then went into the wading pool. We were gone for about 4 hours. They had a blast. Here's some pictures I took.

My Lil Brother doing flips off the swing

Big Bro Chillin

And jumping off the swing

Lil Man chillin

All the kiddos

Cousin getting buried in the sand

Lil Man putting sand all over himself. Doesn't it look like he's wearing khackis? Nope, just sand. He's actually wearing jean shorts lol

Rinsing off