Thursday, February 20, 2014

Kindle Fire HDX, Amazon, or Paypal Giveaway

Kindle Fire HDX, Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash ($229) Giveaway

Win a Kindle Fire HDX, Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash ($229 value)

This is a joint AUTHOR & BLOGGER GIVEAWAY EVENT!

Bloggers & Authors have joined together and each chipped in a little money towards a Kindle Fire HDX 7″ (or $229 Amazon Gift Card or $229 in Paypal Cash).

All New Kindle Fire HDX 7″ Giveaway

The winner will have the option of receiving a 7″ Kindle Fire HDX (US Only – $229 Value)

Or $229 Amazon.com Gift Card (International)

Or $229 in Paypal Cash (International)

Giveaway Sponsors

http://www.iamareader.com/category/kindle-giveaway-sign-ups

Giveaway Details

1 winner will receive their choice of an all new Kindle Fire 7″ HDX (US Only – $229 value), $229 Amazon Gift Card or $229 in Paypal Cash (International).

There is a second separate giveaway for bloggers who post this giveaway on their blog. See details in the rafflecopter on how to enter to win the 2nd Kindle Fire HDX 7″.

Ends 3/16/14

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the participating authors & bloggers. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Cleaning Schedule

I have been following Angela at A Typical English Home for a while now. She recently posted here, a suggested schedule for cleaning.

As you can see, her schedule is good in general, but for my household, I needed more. So, I tweaked it a bit and came up with this:

	CLEANING SCHEDULE
	Repeat every four weeks
	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
WEEK 1	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning
	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.
	Day	Day	Day	Day	Day
	Clean bathrooms. Wash my sheets. Clean out purse.	Dust, also cobwebs Clean air filters Clean one drawer	Vacuum and sweep Wash rugs. Clean tables/counters	Mop floors Do filing Wash shower curtain	Clean Oven. Clean Microwave. Clean Refrigerator.
	Night	Night	Night	Night	Night
	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.

WEEK 2	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning
	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.
	Day	Day	Day	Day	Day
	Clean bathrooms Wash K's Sheets Wash trash cans	Dust, also cobwebs Clean air filters Clean one drawer	Vacuum and sweep Clean fan blades Do some mending	Mop floors Sweep porch Do filing	Wipe down walls, baseboards, doors Clean out truck
	Night	Night	Night	Night	Night
	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.

WEEK 3	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning
	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.
	Day	Day	Day	Day	Day
	Clean bathrooms Wash J's sheets Clean out purse	Dust, also cobwebs Clean air filters Clean one drawer	Vacuum and sweep Clean out closet Destash	Mop floors Sweep porch Do filing	Clean window/blinds Wash truck Clean upholstery
	Night	Night	Night	Night	Night
	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.

WEEK 4	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning	Morning
	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.	Make up beds. Wash dishes. Wash 1 load.
	Day	Day	Day	Day	Day
	Clean bathrooms Wash kids sheets Clean under sink	Dust, also cobwebs Clean air filters Clean one drawer	Vacuum and sweep Clean stash closet Wash curtains	Mop floors Do filing Destash	Wipe down cabinets Clean under sink Clean inside washer
	Night	Night	Night	Night	Night
	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.	Fold/put up laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep kitchen floor.

Of course this looks pretty intense, but if you look close, you will see that every morning and night is the same. They are just basic routines. It's the day parts that are different. Some things are repeated each week, and some things every 2 weeks. After 4 weeks, you should have taken care of the entire house. At that time, you just start back at week 1.

I have this schedule in an excel format that you could make changes to if anyone is interested in a copy. I've done all the work. You can leave it as is, or tweak it to fit your household. Just leave a comment with a contact email and I'll be sure to get it to you.

UPDATE: I was able to upload the chart into googledoc, so anyone who wants it can go here and download it. One thing though...the preview that you will see shows it on 2 pages, but when you print or download it, it will be correctly on one page. I hope that helps.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

It's Almost Here!

Well hello all. I hope you're getting excited about the Boost Your Blog in 100 Days Challenge that starts tomorrow. I know I am. I'm looking forward to meeting new blogging friends and socializing, along with a bit of learning. It should be loads of fun.

Why Thaleia chose 100 Days? Well, to be honest I am a very, very busy mom of 4 children 11 years and under. I do not have extra time to spend laboring over by blog and Social Media. I want results and habits that can transform the limited time I have into something incredible. Spreading out 10 challenges over 10 days each just sounds better to me. Spending just 10-15 minutes a day versus an hour or two makes more sense to me. Easing into each new challenge should help create a habit a little easier. This will also give you a better understanding of why a particular challenge should be done daily or weekly and how it has helped you. Quick clarification- anyone with a blog CAN participate. I did seek out an initial 100 bloggers to help promote this series in exchange I am using their blogs to direct people to during the 10 days of Comments Challenge. Hope I have not confused anyone. You may do one or all 10 challenges at your own pace or join in daily.

Meet the Hostesses:

Honey Rowland blogs at Honeys Life about homeschooling, family life and green living. With a passion for self sufficiency and natural, special needs parenting you'll learn about everything from natural, local foods to essential oils and homeopathy to gardening and farm life. Honey has also turned the constant 'talks too much' report card comments into a home business. She runs social media while obtaining new sponsors and advertisers for herself and other bloggers. So whether you're curious about chickens or children, ask...'cause she's dabbled and babbled in just about everything.

Michelle Marine blogs at Simplify, Live, Love where she shares down to earth tips for the thoughtful mama. Michelle. along with her husband, 4 kids and a bunch of animals, lives sustainably in a barn on 5 acres in rural Eastern Iowa. Michelle is an avid gardener and from-scratch cook of real food; she cans produce, homeschools, and teaches community college classes in addition to blogging. Her husband is building their forever home to the German Passive House standards and they plan to live off grid, yet still enjoy modern conveniences. Simplify, Live, Love chronicles their attempts to live sustainably and strives to remind people to live simply and frugally, yet still enjoy life.

Martiel Beatty from Amazing Success Academy specializes in helping artists build online businesses and blogs. She is a fiber artist, expert blogger, author of Blog Notes, and GIMP Wizard. She is also the founder of Sewmantra and started the Academy because she couldn't find an affordable, knowledgeable and effective program that supported handmade, indie-artists. Find out how she can help you build your business today. Learn More Now!

Lisa Nelson from The Squishable Baby focuses on creating positive learning experiences through everyday life. I believe that learning about – and respecting diversity, different religions, other cultures, charity, and our environment – through play, through crafts, through lessons, through giving – will not only produce more empathetic children and adults – but will put a child on a path to a love of lifelong learning.

Thaleia Maher blogs at Something 2 Offer where she is generous in giving advice and helping others find free resources that meet their needs; be it for homeschool or life! She is a BIG researcher who wants to encourage families on their homeschool journey. Wife to high school sweetheart. Mother of four (including 2 little reds!), Sister, Daughter, Christ-Follower, Talkative, Creative. Hoping to figure this whole life, blogger, social media thing out! So be sure to keep tabs on her journey of life.

Days 1-10: Leave 100 Comments with Thaleia begins Feb 15.
Days 11-20: Grammar Mistakes Bloggers Make with Michelle
Days 21-30: Using Twitter with Honey
Days 31-40: Topics for 100 Blog Posts with Martiel

Will reveal more soon! So stay tuned! Want an email reminder when a new Boost Your Blog challenge goes live ? Sign-up!

Don't just sit there: tell your friends, tweet about it, share on Facebook, pin this post, add it to your !

An InLinkz Link-up

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Boost Your Blog in 100 Days

This posting is for all you bloggers out there. Yea, you. Would you like some exposure for your blog? A few more followers? More traffic? Well, my new friend Thaleia from Something2offer.com has come up with a brilliant idea to help out in this area. Here's what she has to say:

Who doesn't need a fun way to Boost Your Blog in 2014? I’m a social kinda gal who would love to get to know more bloggers and cheer each other along in the process. That’s where Boost Your Blog in 100 Days comes into play. This series will be conducted in 10 day challenges covering topics such as Twitter, SEO, Blog Post Topics, Pinterest, and getting more blog traffic.

I need all sorts of bloggers that want to promote the “boost your blog” series. The initial 10 day challenge (begins February 15) will be to comment on 10 blogs for 10 days. I will be sharing 10 blogs each day for 10 days FROM THE LIST of bloggers who sign up to be promoted! In turn those 100 bloggers agree to promote the series via blog post OR twitter (tweets for each part of the series) OR Facebook share OR blog button. Are you interested in traffic coming to YOUR BLOG and leaving comments? Then sign-up to promote the Boost Your Blog Series and YOU will be on the 100 blogs list! Space is limited to 100 bloggers.

Once the series launches on February 15, then the fun really begins. We will work together over 100 days to improve our blogs and social media. We will learn from all sorts of experienced bloggers who are making blogging work! I’m super excited how about you.

Don’t just sit there: tell your friends, tweet about it, share on Facebook, pin this post, add it to your !

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Fringe Bikini

Are you like me, ready for some warm weather? I don't mind the cold. I just don't want the extreme to continue. I'm trying to have warm thoughts to get me through until pretty weather returns.

So with that thought in mind, I came across this deal that I wanted to share. No, I'm not an affiliate, or getting any compensation. I just like to share great deals when I come across them.

$15 for a Fringe Bikini - Tax Included! ($30 Value)

I love the blue, don't you? I wish it came in my favorite lime green. Alas, no, only the four colors shown.

Now, where else can you get swimwear for $15? And it's only $5 shipping, making it a total of $20. You can find the info here. But hurry, there's only one more day to catch this deal.

You're welcome.