If you had been listening to my original podcast show, then you herd me interview Kathy Kinney, who’s website MrsP.com is an amazing website for kids! If you didn’t hear my podcast, or you don’t know who Mrs. P is, Check it out here! MrsP.com was developed to promote a lifetime love of reading and help spark young imaginations.

I am honored to announce that Mrs. P is holding a ” Be A Famous Writer” Contest, open to all children ages 4 to 13. Aspiring Writers can write a story, on any topic, no less than 250 words, and no more than 1,000 words. Submissions may be fiction of non-fiction. The two Grand Prize winners ‘ stories will be read by Mrs. P and become part of Mrs. P’s Magic Library. Original illustrations will be created and a hardcover book of their story will be given to the winners to make a part of their own library!

Submissions will be accepted from September 1st – October 15, 2009.

Mrs. P has some awesome judges lined up for this contest too! Dave Barry, Andre Bormanis, Craig Ferguson and Diana Leszczynski are all amazing writers and entertainers.

“One of Mrs. P’s goals is to encourage kids to use their imaginations.  Hosting a national writing contest and giving kids the chance for their stories to be read by the best and most famous writers around seemed like the perfect way to do this,” said MrsP.com co-creator Clay Graham, who was head writer and an executive producer of “The Drew Carey Show.”

Kids, grab your pencil and paper, computer and keyboard, or whatever you want to use to write  your story. Add a dash of imagination and get to writing!

It’s time for back to school, and packing up lunches for your kids. When you shop for their lunches, you’re thinking healthy, wholesome, good for them kinda stuff. They’re thinking cool, fun, great tasting and easy to grab and run! Oscar Meyer makes it easy for both of you to get what you want out of lunch! Lunchables!

They sent us a couple of their newest Lunchables to try out, and we loved them! My girls have been eating the smaller Lunchables for a while now, and these newer, cooler ones just made the top of their list!

You have to check out the new varieties! They include Turkey (100% turkey breast) + Cheddar Sub, Ham + American Sub, even Deep Dish Pizza! They all have healthy snacks, like applesauce, and spring water included to complete the meal! Not only are they good for your kids, but they’re very reasonably priced!

Thanks Oscar Meyer for giving us the chance to try them out!

A couple more of my BlogHer ’09 sponsors sent me some really neat Hair Accessories!

Buttercup Headbands sent me a bunch of really cool, super comfortable headbands. They are washable and very comfortable, no headband headache that you get from the “usual” headbands out on the market. I love headbands, but my hair is so slick that they just didn’t stay on my head for long. Now, had they actually stayed for more than 5 minutes, you’d have seen them in all sorts of fashions! I decided to give them all away in my swag bags, and have received some really good feedback about them. Thank you to Cindy for sending the headbands to me! My girls still love theirs and the lucky ones that got them as swag at BlogHer do too!

If you saw me at BlogHer ’09, or look at any of my photos… You’ll see my hair is pulled back just a bit… I loved putting my hair up this way, and was able to do it quickly, easily and super “cute-ly” thanks to Taryn Dwyer, an Independent Consultant for Lilla Rose.. She sent me a few of her Flexi Hair Clips to try out and give away at BlogHer ’09.

There are several different sizes to make different hair styles, and each size has several different colors and designs. The mini is the one that I used to pull my hair back while at BlogHer ’09. I tried the Small and the Medium beforehand, and loved those as well. The Small was great for putting my hair up into a ponytail and the Medium was just large enough for a partial twist. I would need a large in order to put my hair up in a full twist though. I love that they’re so convenient, easy to use, and they can be used with any outfit! They can be casual or they can be dressed up! I’ve worn mine so many times since BlogHer ’09 that it’s just sitting with my hair brushes on my vanity now. Thank you to Taryn for your awesome Lilla Rose Hair Clips!

If you are looking for some super cute hair accessories, you have to check out both of these ladies’ web stores!!!

I was recently given the chance to check out a mom owned web store called Sweet Baby Cakes n’ More. They have such cute products that I really loved looking around their store! Their gifts are all very affordable, and very useful!

Sweet Baby Cakes n’ More is a Mom & Daughter team, and they create diaper cakes, “bags on the go”, and Mommy Gift baskets! Their passion is to not only light up mother’s hearts, but also to spread love to others by giving back to several charities focused on children.

Since I don’t have any little ones in diapers, they offered to send me their “Soon to bee busy” gift basket to review.  It was so cute! I love the items they chose to put in it as well. A magnetic list for the fridge, perfect for shopping lists! A journal, surely for keeping track of baby’s first moments… that or where you last saw your car keys.. because you KNOW that when you have a baby, your brain is just gone… There’s also a couple of sticky pads so you can post little notes around the house telling you where you left your journal, where your baby’s pacifier is, why you need to go to the store for the 3rd time since you still forgot the milk.. You know.. things like that…

There’s also some great relaxing things. Body wash and a bath pouf, body cream, and a 4 scented tea light candles… For those moments when you give daddy the baby, and tell him you just want 15 minutes of quiet.

OR  you could use all of this to organize and relax BEFORE baby arrives! Either way… It would make a great gift for yourself, or for someone you know that is having a baby!

Check out Sweet Baby Cakes n’ More! In fact… The Soon to Bee Busy basket is on sale now! They have also given me a coupon code for my readers!!!
Use code MBR for any purchases before 12-31-2009 and get 10% off your order!!!

Everyone has something that they absolutely hate about cleaning up. I absolutely hate doing laundry and I hate doing dishes. Something about dealing with dirty clothes, and then rescrubbing and washing dishes over again since the first run didn’t quite clean them. ICK!

Well, Kenmore is launching a new community with their Crazy Cleaning Confessions YouTube contest!  They want to know what your Crazy Cleaning Confession is.

THREE contest winners will win Kenmore appliances (oh how I wish I could win a new washer/dryer set)… While you’re entering for your chance to win, you’re also helping the environment! Kenmore is donating $5 for every video submitted and 50 cents for every vote cast!

Hurry though! The contest ends on 6 September 2009!

For more information check out Amy Clark’s video below or go straight over to Kenmore Crazy Cleaning Confessions contest!

Since getting a new dog last Christmas, we’ve been coming across some of the coolest pet products. It’s been fun having a pet in the house again, but a lot of work… Constantly cleaning up spilled food/water… It’s definitely a lot of work…

Well, thanks to ChicExecs, I found PetProjekt! PetProjekt makes some really neat products, and the one that really caught my eye was their Dogmat and Dogbols… They sent me a set to check out, and I really like them!

The Dogmat is a flexible rubber mat that has two perfectly sized circles that fit their dogbols! The non-slip surface keeps my dog from pushing his dog bowl around, and keeps him from spilling his food and water everywhere! Anything that he does manage to spill is very easy to clean up now! I just have to pick up the mat, and shake the spillage off in the sink. The dogbols have rubber feet that prevent them from slipping and sliding around, which is awesome! Oh, and did I mention both of these products are BPA & phthalate free?? So they’re safe for your dog!

A couple of other pluses… They’re dishwasher safe… so cleanup is a breeze… and you can pick from a bunch of colors to customize a set for your pampered pooch!

Prices are reasonable at $20 for a small mat, $24 for a large mat, $14 for a small bowl and $18 for a large. They’re very durable and are going to last a long time.

Check them out for yourself!!!