and losers….

Ok, my three contests are officially over. Time to announce the winners and get back to packing and cleaning!

First up, the winner of my homemade flannel wipes is Jen from The Things You Didn’t Do.

Second, the winner of the Skeeda bag is Amanda from Blessings All Mine.

Third, the winner of the BioKleen gift pack is Holly (no blog).

Congratulations to everyone!!

And, I told everyone up front, that if you didn’t answer the question posed in each contest, then you wouldn’t be eligible. It worked out to both Jen’s and Amanda’s advantage because they were not the first ones to come up on random.org. Nope, comments like “love this bag” and “what cute wipes” were disqualified.

Ok, seriously, back to packing and cleaning.

6 Comments »

We have somewhat of a “pre-vacation tradition” I want to share it with you. Yes, it may reveal exactly how freaky our family is. Yes, it may give you material to blackmail me with for a long time. Yes, it may come back and haunt me. But I’m willing to take that chance.

See, one evening several years ago, we tucked our little babies into bed and then we attempted to finish up packing. We were leaving early the next morning and everything had to be ready to go before we were able to get a wink of sleep. Well, as it turns out, the children (who were sleeping in the same bed together) weren’t closing their eyes and trying to sleep. Instead, they were watching Mike and I walking back and forth collecting things to pack.

And they wanted to know what in the world we were doing! Why were we “pacing?”

Well, one thing led to another, and we ended up doing silly things every time we passed their open bedroom doorway. The giggling commenced. And a tradition was born….

So now, every time we go on vacation, we have to do pacing. It’s usually the night before we leave, but in this case, we did a preview show a day early so we could tape some. And share it with you. As much as I might regret it.

By the way, this is post #500 for me! Well, it gets a little confusing. This is the 500th post that I’ve written, but it will not be the 500th post that will show up on the blog. Because I have pre-written some posts and set them to auto-post in the future, the count is all messed up. Suffice it to say, we will celebrate when I return home!

18 Comments »

I know you guys have probably all been going through terrible withdrawal symptoms. I haven’t posted since 11:45 on Sunday night! And here we are almost 72 hours later! 72? I was thinking about this post in my head and was putting the number 48 on it. Surely I haven’t gone almost 72 hours without posting. I had to check to make sure. And it’s true. Almost 72 hours! Wow!

I totally lost an entire day of my life.

If you find it, would you email it to me?

So what’s been going on? Well, I’ve cleaned half of my house. And packed half of the suitcases. And lost half of my mind. Just kidding. But am I kidding about the cleaning, the suitcases, or my mind? Hmmmmm…..

Another number that’s interesting. 24. That’s about how much time I have left to get ready. We leave at the crack of Dawn (I know you love that phrase, Dawn) which means we have to be ready to pull out by Thursday night. I hope I can pull it off. Somehow I will. Errr, I mean we will.

Because my brain is so frazzled, I’ll leave you with pictures. The fruit of our last Ikea trip.

Here’s what Nick’s desk was like pre-Ikea. Notice my parent’s dog stalking it. That’s because there was a small mirror in the desk and she thought it was another dog. But this post isn’t about the dog. It’s about the desk. Look at the desk.

And after Ikea, in all of its scarlet glory….


It almost makes Nick want to do more school. On the right side….that is a magnetic board. And he has three little magnetic containers stuck to it. One has Sour Patch Kids. One has Starburst. One has cat treats. That’s Nick.

As if I’m not busy enough, Dr. Mike and I recorded another Pediacast together. So all of you wonderful readers who wanted more of me on the podcast, you’ll be getting your wish soon!

One more note….Thanks to everyone who has donated to my March of Dimes fundraiser for my friend Cathy. I know the total looks daunting and you’re afraid you’ll have no chance of winning one of the prizes. But so far I’ve only received confirmation for about $150 worth of donations. So even though the total is over $1200, only a small part of that is Pediascribe readers. If you were holding back because you figured you wouldn’t win, you may want to rethink that. Here’s the link. And remember to forward your confirmation email to me.

13 Comments »

COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS CONTEST

It’s time again for Bloggy Giveaways! This time, I’m giving away more than one thing! That’s right, you heard me correctly.

But first….a note about my giveaways. These are only running from right now until Thursday, April 24th at 12:00 noon Ohio time. I leave for vacation early on Friday and I really don’t want to be randomly choosing winners from 30,000 feet in the air! If you win, you will be notified by email (make sure you leave your correct address), but your prize will not ship until after I get back home! If you have a problem waiting a couple of weeks, please do not enter. Also, read carefully who each specific contest is open to. Some will be international, some will be US and Canada, some will be US only. Part of this is because some of the items will be shipped directly to you from the company and some places have shipping restrictions beyond my control.

And one more thing. If you are new to my blog, and you are a parent (or know someone who is a parent) make sure you check out Pediacast. It’s a pediatric podcast for parents that discusses topics about children’s health issues. You can even call or write in questions you have! So, please, check it out.

This contest is open to US residents only.

Have I ever told you how much I love Biokleen products? Oh, I have. Remember here and here and here??

I have somewhat of a love affair with Biokleen. So much so I have a 5 gallon container of Biokleen Bac-Out, a 5 gallon container of Biokleen Liquid Laundry Detergent, and a 50 pound box of Biokleen Dishwashing Powder in my basement!

What’s so great about Biokleen products? Well, besides the fact that it works great and smells wonderfully, how about this….

It:
-is non-toxic
-contains no carcinogens
-is not corrosive to skin or eyes
-doesn’t contain any respiratory irritants
-is biodegradable
-is safe for aquatic life
-is packaged in recyclable containers
-is super concentrated so you use very little

The great people over at Biokleen have put together an awesome gift pack for one of you! This is an item you cannot buy anywhere in stores! It’s only available as a contest giveaway or promotion! It’ll give you a chance to test out several of the Biokleen products!

Here’s what’s included in the prize:

1 Biokleen bag made from 100% recycled natural cotton fibers
5 lb All Temperature Laundry Powder (50 loads worth!)
32 oz All Purpose Spray & Wipe Cleaner
32 oz Soy Cream Cleaner
32 oz Lemon Thyme Dishwash Liquid
16 oz Produce Wash

That’s a $40 value!

But I’m going to up the prize just a bit because there is no sense in using green cleaners with disposable paper towels! So included in this prize will be SIX of my homemade flannel wipes! You can see all of the great things they do here. These will be shipped separately from the Biokleen products. And the colors of the wipes will vary depending on what I can get sewn up! Trying to juggle homeschooling, prepping for vacation, and Bloggy Giveaways has been a challenge.

So, to enter….
Remember, you must live in the US to win this prize (Biokleen shipping restrictions)
Comment on this post making sure you leave a valid email address.
I never like comments that just say “Pick me” or “I’d love it” so to be eligible, in your comment please tell me the grossest thing you ever found at the back of your refrigerator and estimate how long it had been there.
And, as always, please enter only once.

And please, don’t forget to check out my other contest RIGHT HERE. There will be up to $150 up for grabs!

217 Comments »

COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS CONTEST

It’s time again for Bloggy Giveaways! This time, I’m giving away more than one thing! That’s right, you heard me correctly.

But first….a note about my giveaways. These are only running from right now until Thursday, April 24th at 12:00 noon Ohio time. I leave for vacation early on Friday and I really don’t want to be randomly choosing winners from 30,000 feet in the air! If you win, you will be notified by email (make sure you leave your correct address), but your prize will not ship until after I get back home! If you have a problem waiting a couple of weeks, please do not enter. Also, read carefully who each specific contest is open to. Some will be international, some will be US and Canada, some will be US only. Part of this is because some of the items will be shipped directly to you from the company and some places have shipping restrictions beyond my control.

And one more thing. If you are new to my blog, and you are a parent (or know someone who is a parent) make sure you check out Pediacast. It’s a pediatric podcast for parents that discusses topics about children’s health issues. You can even call or write in questions you have! So, please, check it out.

So let’s get to it. This prize will be open to everyone in the US and Canada!

This contest is for a Skeeda bag!! I’ve given these away here and here and they are well loved by my readers! So now it’s your chance to own one of your own! Your Skeeda will be Olive as pictured here, but yours will be brand new and will not have hauled groceries around.

To enter, leave a comment.
Make sure your email is correct or I’ll have no way to contact you.
I never like comments that just say “Pick me” or “I’d love it” so to be eligible, please answer this in your comment….If you could only have one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? (don’t worry about nutritional deficiencies)
And please enter only once.

And please, don’t forget to check out my other contest RIGHT HERE. There will be up to $150 up for grabs!

377 Comments »