Blog touring

Posted March 19th, 2008 by Jen in blog stuff, carnivals, product review, sports, the office
1 Comment »

Oh, the places you’ll go. Dr. Seuss.

I’ve been wandering all around. The Christian carnivals, Carnival of Family Life, food blogs, homeschooling blogs, homesteading blogs, BendBlogs. And principled government.

Whew, I’ve been to a lot of places, and more to go!

Puss ReBoots thinks I rock. Wow, what a compliment! I’m passing this blog award on to:

Sometimes I’m Actually Coherent
Funki Planet
The Parenting Diaries
MooBee Farm
Peregrinations

Check out these blogs that rock - I think you might agree.

Announcing the winners of my sports products Giveaway:
(please email with a shipping address)

Living For God: New York Giants Rug
An Untraditional Home: Pittsburgh Steelers Stainless Steel Thermos
Thou and Thou Only: Georgia Tech Trailer Hitch Cover
Funki Planet: Ohio State Watch
Brett’s Blog: Dallas Cowboys Tire Cover

Congratulations to these blogging winners!

BlogCatalog

Tags: blog award, blog carnivals, giveaway, sports products

My Ultimate Blog Party 2008 & A Giveaway

Posted March 8th, 2008 by Jen in blog stuff, carnivals, sports, the office
22 Comments »

Welcome, I’m so glad you stopped by! The 5 Minutes for Mom blog is hosting another Ultimate Blog Party, which is basically a “carnival” to meet other mom bloggers and surely win some prizes! The idea is to go to their sites and browse through the hundreds of mom-bloggers who’ve linked up there - get your own blog noticed and get acquainted with some you’ve never encountered.

So, if you’ve come here through 5 Minutes for Mom and have never noticed me before, here is my introduction:

I’m Jennifer and I live in Central Oregon. You’ll figure that one out pretty quickly, since I write about my region quite a bit - I love where I live and can’t help but tell you about it! We are country folks, me and my husband and four children and dog. We’re desert dwellers trying to live a simple life with a high-tech twist. We have a few internet businesses, including one that I mention here fairly often, TeamMASCOT.com. I manage that store and am about to give away some cool prizes, so keep reading!

My husband got me into blogging one year ago, as an experiment in marketing. He designed my lovely site and enjoys tinkering with it - myself, I have NO clue how to program and have trouble placing simple icons in my sidebar. Well, I discovered to my amazement that I loved to write and now I can’t stop! My husband and I have always made a nice business partnership - he creates businesses, I manage them; he programs, I write. Except for that one day early on when he fired me and I quit all in the same breath. Oh, we’ve come a long way, baby.

We changed my blog format last month, and I’m really excited to see where this goes. You’ll notice on my main page that I have a monthly topic, and each week I publish a “feature” article. Last month was famous artists, this month is vineyards, next month will be highlighting some of my industrious girlfriends who have their own businesses. This new endeavor has been a blast - sometimes, I just need a little direction and my features keep me focused as I explore topics that I want to learn more about. I still blog in between my features about the other issues that are very important to me, like education, faith, family life, and world news.

Thank you, those of you who check in here regularly - I can’t tell you how enjoyable it’s been to meet people from all over the world, some of you even in real life! And are you ready for my prizes?? Of course, these all come from my business, which happens to be a sports-themed store, so if that’s up your alley, here’s the list of truly excellent products:

1. New York Giants Rug
2. Dallas Cowboys Tire Cover
3. Pittsburgh Steelers Stainless Steel Thermos
4. Ohio State Stainless Steel Mens Watch
5. Georgia Tech Trailer Hitch Cover

TO WIN, just go follow each link, browse around TeamMASCOT to see what other items you like, and come back here and leave me a comment, telling me which product you’d like to win. You will get special consideration if you mention this contest on your blog and link to TeamMASCOT! And that would just be really nice of you. Let me know if you link. But, you do not have to be a blogger to win. I’ll choose 5 winners (in honor of 5 Minutes for Mom) on March 14, the end of the Ultimate Blog Party. Be sure to fill in your email in the comment form so I can notify you if you’re a winner! Oh, and you don’t even have to be a mom to win!

Thanks again for stopping by, and I hope you come back soon!

Technorati Tags: blogging, children, giveaway, contest, prizes, sports business, ultimate blog party

WW: Wear Your Helmet On The Ice!

Posted February 6th, 2008 by Jen in carnivals, family life, sports
8 Comments »

Now, that’s a good mom…after being reprimanded by the Canadian, I helmeted the kids the next time on the ice. Kind of a no-brainer for three and four year olds ice-skating, why didn’t I think of this sooner?

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, check out 5 Minutes for Mom, and also the Wordless Wednesday Hub.

Technorati Tags: wordless Wednesday, ice skating, helmets

New York Giants Win Super Bowl; but my contest winner is a Patriots fan!

Posted February 4th, 2008 by Jen in carnivals, giveaways, sports, the office
3 Comments »

Great big giant congratulations to the New York Giants on their stunning Super Bowl XLII win!! And huge congratulations to the WINNER of my Super Bowl Giveaway: Shannon Jordan at A Reforming Mom, who is a true blue New England Patriots fan (despite her husband not being). I hope this soothes the pain of the loss. Way to go Shannon, and if you can sneak this auto accessories package onto the family van, go for it! Shannon will be receiving a Patriots license plate frame, a Patriots auto emblem, and a Patriots sheet of removable decals. In the case of a house divided, it may be a good thing they are removable. Thanks to everyone who participated in  my Super Bowl Giveaway! The items in my giveaway were all from my online store, TeamMASCOT.com, and if you are a sports fan, you might want to take a look. Keep an eye out, I’ll always have more contests! The winners of the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival (890 giveaways!) are being posted HERE-Rocks in My Dryer-, so if you’re not sure if you won something, take a peek!  

Tags: contest, football, giveaway, New England Patriots, New York Giants, sports, winners

That Contest and Some Links

Posted January 31st, 2008 by Jen in carnivals, giveaways, sports
1 Comment »

Thanks to everyone who has entered my Super Bowl Giveaway of NFL auto accessories! Go HERE to enter, you have until this Saturday. Just leave a comment to enter, and read the post for details. Be sure to visit the Rocks in My Dryer Bloggy Carnival where hundreds are giveaways have been going on all week. It’s nuts over there. Count them. 890 GIVEAWAYS!! FREE STUFF!! And if you’re like me and don’t really want more stuff, many of the giveaways are CASH. Can Shannon make it into the Guinness Book of World Records? There would surely have been even more giveaways but for the nemesis of all bloggers–spammers, which forced Shannon to shut down Mr. Linky early.

Thanks are in order as well to some great bloggers who also hosted my giveaway - and I would recommend posting your giveaways here. The point is exposure, especially if you own a small business you are promoting, and many blogggers also simply want traffic. Whatever the reason, here are a few good places to submit your contests:

Laura Williams’ Musings: A Christian homeschooling mom of seven, Laura regularly posts giveaways, writes fabulous book reviews, and has quite the recipe roundup!

The Contest Beat (which is for sale, by the way - anyone want to add to their internet holdings?): This is contest central, where you can find everything from cold cash to a Nintendo Wii.

MyBlogContest: Sweepstakes, contests, giveaways, free stuff.

An Island Review: Kailani always has great lists of contests and giveaways. I forgot to submit my giveaway here, but I have in the past. I love this site -it’s clean, pretty, and easy to navigate.

Prize-A-Tron: Angela and baby Connor have tons of good stuff to give away, and don’t miss more of Angela’s contests at Seven Dogs And a Baby - it seems she really does have seven chihuahuas. Can they be trained to change diapers?

I know there’s more - let me know where you post your giveaways.

Recent carnival activity of interest:
The Carnival of Family Life
The Christian Carnival
The Carnival of Homeschooling
The Carnival of Christian Women (coming tomorrow)

And I have a few blog awards!! I’ve missed some and forgotten others in the craziness of the past season, and it’s taken me a full month to get “sort of” back on track. I’ll pass these awards on later, I’m just going to mention them now and give myself time to think! And seriously, if I’ve missed something you intended for me, feel free to remind me. :-)

First, Grace at Sandier Pastures has blessed me with many awards, and one of them is the “I’ve Got a Friend Award,” which I was very honored to receive. If you’d like to get a taste of Dubai through the eyes of an expat from Japan via the Philippines, then go visit Sandier Pastures!

e-Mom at Chrysalis has also given me some awards, the most recent one being the “E for Excellent Award.”. e-Mom has a wonderful, inviting blog, full of encouragement, reviews, humor, marriage and family tips, and so much more. Drop in for a cup of coffee (this IS where I won my Starbucks gift card).

Coming soon: my review of Suite Francaise (oh, how do I get those little French accents to work on my keyboard??!). I KNOW that little mark goes under the “c.” Anyway, if there’s one book you read this year on war, this should be it. It’s historical fiction set in France during the German Occupation (early/pre WWII), and the story behind the story is even more fascinating. I will leave you hanging with this: the author, Irene Nemirovsky (a Russian Jew whose family had emigrated to France to escape the Bolsheviks), was murdered in Auschwitz and the manuscript of Suite Francaise survived the war and wasn’t discovered for over 60 years, and was just published in 2004 in France, where it was an immediate bestseller, and in 2006 in the U.S. I was almost shaking when I first laid hands on this book just over a week ago. I have a few chapters left and will report soon.

Super Bowl XLII Giveaway: Auto Accessories

Posted January 28th, 2008 by Jen in carnivals, giveaways, product review, sports, the office
58 Comments »

Super Bowl XLII is set for February 3, 2008 in Arizona, a showdown between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots!! Diary of 1 and TeamMASCOT are hosting another giveaway right here, right now, in honor of this great football tradition!

This Super Bowl Giveaway is an auto accessories package for the team of your choice: The Patriots or the Giants of course — and I will even let you choose a different NFL team, because I know those team loyalties run very deep! The package will contain the following three items:

1. An auto emblem: an officially licensed auto emblem made of hard plastic with a metallic finish and adhesive on the back to stick to your car or truck, or any hard surface - refrigerator, RV, door, etc. Measures approximately 3×3 inches and 1/4 inch thick.

2. A sheet of static cling decals: Better than a sticker, remove and reuse these team logo window decorations whenever you like. Each sheet contains five decals with team logos and graphics, of various size and design. Removable and fade-resistent. The sizes of the static clings are: One is 2.5″x4.75″, one is 4.75″x6.5″, two are 5″x9″, and one is 3.75″x19″.

3. A plastic license plate frame: These team logo license plate frames attach easily to any vehicle and feature bright graphics and team colors. The license plate holders are 6.25″x12.25″ and meet the vehicle standards for display of registration tags. These auto tags are made of hard, sturdy plastic.

How to win: Simply leave a comment below, and include the name of the NFL team you want for the auto accessories package, and I will randomly choose a winner on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008! I will notify the winner via email on Sunday, Feb. 3. If you are a blogger and would like to have an extra entry included in the drawing, just mention this contest on your blog with a link back to this post. You must have a U.S. mailing address to win this contest.

For hundreds of NFL and other team-logo products (NCAA, MLB, NASCAR, NHL, and NBA), please visit my family business, TeamMASCOT.com - support America’s small businesses!

This contest is part of the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival at Rocks in My Dryer. Head over there for literally hundreds of amazing giveaways all week!!

Giveaway Update

Posted December 5th, 2007 by Jen in carnivals, giveaways, sports
3 Comments »

Thanks to all of you who have left a comment on my Holiday Sports Giveaway - you have until midnight tonight, then tomorrow I’ll announce the winners!

I really appreciate the blogs who have mentioned my Holiday Sports-Themed Giveaway. Thank you to to following wonderful bloggers:

Laura William’s Musings - Daily Contest Roundups, Book & Product Reviews, Recipes, and More. Check out her blog and you’ll be a winner!

Contests Anonymous - This contest addict spends hours each night surfing the net looking for contests that other moms will enjoy! Wow, all her findings will leave you reeling.

My Blog Contest - Get tons of free stuff over here, always a new contest, always great prizes.

5 Minutes for Mom - Bringing moms the best in blogging, shopping, parenting, and entertainment. Thanks to Kailani for including me in her list of contests and giveaways. Be sure to check out the Mom Owned Stores while you’re at the 5 Minutes for Mom site…you especially don’t want to miss A Rocking Horse to Love, where you’ll find every imaginable sit-on creature and adorable decor for your child’s room, and also Pedal Cars and Retro Collectibles, a fun blast to the past with unique gifts like the pedal cars and Crosley Radios, 1930s Coke Machines, and everything for the vintage lover! One more place to stop is the 5 Minutes for Mom Readers’ Blogs - featuring blogs submitted by readers, and a great place to meet a new blogging friend, and of course, get your own blog listed!

Daily Thoughts Contest Roundup - More amazing giveaways! This blogger is an eBayer, scrapbooker, avid reader and stay-at-home mom to two wonderful daughters. Check out her offerings.

The Contest Beat - A great place to submit your contests and see other giveaways as well. Take a look over here, you could win an iPod Nano or a 42 inch HDTV!

If I missed anyone, let me know!

ALSO, a few carnivals have passed me by…I’ve been so busy, as all of you have, I’m sure!

The Carnival of Family Life - G’day from Down Under!
The Carnival of Homeschooling - The Snowed-in Edition
The Christian Carnival - this should be up by tonight.

Rockies, I Have Hope; and a Giveaway!

Posted October 26th, 2007 by Jen in sports, the office
5 Comments »

The World Series 2007 is underway, pitting the unlikely Colorado Rockies against the legendary Boston Red Sox. Two games into the series, and the Rockies are 0 for 2. For those of you who love to root for the underdog, you’ll understand my perhaps preposterous notion that the Colorado Rockies will win the World Series. Jayson Stark at ESPN said it first; while I don’t know if he continues to hold that position (Rockies win in six), I agree, except I think it will be won in seven.

I haven’t told my readers this yet, but I have a sports blog I started recently, and you can read my first post on the Rockies here, before they won the National League Championship, then here after sweeping the NL Series. You’ll read about a series of unlikely events that propelled the nearly unknown Rockies to the world stage; now the start of the World Series looks instead like a series of unfortunate events. But I have hope, speculative as it may be!

There’s the Coors Field advantage and the Colorado Rockies magic, and that’s what I hang my hope on. The advantage is not the beer, it’s the altitude, and the magic is a club that’s played together with one of the greatest team spirits in the leagues, doing the impossible at every turn.

While the thin air in Coors Field makes for long hits for both the Rockies and the Red Sox, it’s the seasoned Colorado pitcher who knows that his ball won’t get the same break who will most benefit in the next three games. And then I keep hearing about the spacious outfield - apparently it’s big? So, maybe lots of running for those non-acclimatized Red Sox who will be huffing and puffing.

And, oh, just to be home! I quoted another stanza of John Denver’s Rocky Mountain High in my previous post, but this time, the first four lines seem most appropriate:

He was born in the summer of his 27th year
Comin’ home to a place he’d never been before
He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again
You might say he found a key for every door

Let’s watch the Colorado Rockies be born again, and while I wrote earlier about the spiritual sense of that, I believe a new team will emerge back at Coors Field. The Rockies surely are coming home to a place they know well, but have absolutely never been before. I just read an article by Howard Bryant at ESPN, and I got another giant boost of optimism when I came across this bit of history about the Pittsburgh Pirates:

In 1960, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost World Series games to the Yankees by 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0 but won the Series in seven games, the last 10-9 on Bill Mazeroski’s famous Series-ending home run.

Oh, yes, it can be done! Stay tuned for Game 3 of the 2007 World Series on Saturday night.

*****

Do I have any Rockies fans out there?? For you bloggers who can’t get enough of the Colorado Rockies, here’s a free giveaway for you!

I have a gorgeous (free) Colorado Rockies stainless steel coffee mug for you! Here is how you can enter this Blog Give Away:

You must have a blog or website and write a piece (doesn’t have to be long) about the Colorado Rockies. Anything - funny, serious, satirical, or how you think I’m a nut to believe the Rockies have a chance in this Series. Be sure to include a link to this blog post, as well as a link to the Colorado Rockies stainless steel coffee mug at TeamMASCOT.com. This is our family business and I’ll pack it up myself for you! Leave me a comment here as well so I don’t miss your post, and so I can reply to you when you win.

I’ll keep this contest open until Friday, November 2, by which point the Colorado Rockies will have won the 2007 World Series! I’ll do a drawing for the winning entry on that date.

UPDATE: CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BOSTON RED SOX - IF YOU WOULD INSTEAD LIKE A BOSTON RED SOX STAINLESS STEEL COFFEE MUG, I’M HAPPY TO OFFER THAT AS WELL!

It’s Colorado Rocky Mountain High…I’ve seen it rainin’ fire in the sky…

Humidifying Secrets From Coors Field