I’ve always been a fan of Betty Crocker, mainly because she makes me look like a rock star in front of my kids. I can whip up cakes and cookies so fast when they come home from school that they think I have been baking all day. Now I’m a fan of Betty Crocker for another reason, the Betty Crocker Stirring Up Wishes program. I’m participating, and you can, too.

Betty Crocker is helping grant wishes through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. You can help in two ways. First, you can donate $5 on the Stirring Up Wishes website and be able to then download $5 in Betty Crocker Coupons. You can also purchase specially marked Betty Crocker products and 10 cents will be donated for each package purchased. Products include cakes, cookie mixes, muffin mixes, frosting, Bisquick, and more.

Thanks to Betty Crocker and MyBlogSpark, I also have a Stirring Up Wishes Prize Pack to give out to one lucky reader. It includes a Betty Crocker mixing spoon, a Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix, and a Betty Crocker Brownie Mix. In addition, they will make a $25 d0nation to the Make-A-Wish foundation on your behalf.

To enter:

1) Leave a comment below with your favorite Betty Crocker product (one entry).

2) Twitter about the contest and leave a comment below with your Tweet (one entry).

3) Sign up for our newsletter on the right and leave a comment below (e-mail will be verified) (one entry).

4) Blog about this contest and leave your link to the post below (two entries).

Drawing will take place March 24 at noon Eastern. Must be a US Resident, age 18 or older to enter. Winner will be notified via e-mail and have 24 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected.

Thanks to Betty Crocker and MyBlogSpark for this opportunity!

There are hundreds of moms out there with great blog contests that aren’t getting a lot of entries. This means that your odds of winning some of them are really good! We’re going to start listing some of our favorites each week courtesy of Twitter Moms. Here are a few ending soon:

Win a General Mills Grains of Goodness Gift Pack (2 VIP coupons for Big G cereal products, a breakfast chiller, a large cereal mug, and a tote bag–only 20 entries so far!)

Sing Along with Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy (Personalized Music CD–only 28 entries so far!)

Dr. Seuss Books and Plush Toys (Five winners will receive Dr. Seuss books and coordinating plus toys from Kohl’s)

Looking for a tip to help your family stay connected in this fast-paced world?  Start a parent-child book club to simply and economically make connections with your children through a community of books.  Busy moms will appreciate how this activity will easily blend into their already full lives.

To get started, find a few like-minded friends and their children who are interested in joining you on this adventure.  Agree on the goals and ground rules for your family book club.  Choose a first book that will be challenging and engaging to read.  The host adult for each meeting can draft open-ended discussion questions that will ideally stimulate a rewarding and meaningful book discussion.  You can share your values and thoughts about situations that arise in the books, and your children can share their feelings and ideas through discussing situations that the book’s characters faced.  Also, the host can create enrichment activities such as book-inspired art or science projects, snacks, field trips, movement or sports activities, and games or puzzles.  These types of experiences truly enhance the book discussion and provide a hands-on experience that everyone will remember.  Enjoy reading the books that your group has selected, and bonding with your family through discussions and related activities.  It works for me!

Melissa Stoller

Co-author, The Parent-Child Book Club: Connecting With Your Kids Through Reading (Melissa Stoller & Marcy Winkler, HorizonLine Publishing, 2009, www.parentchildbookclub.com).  This is a comprehensive resource book with step-by-step instructions for organizing and conducting your family book club.  The 20 Book Club Model Guides provide everything families need to get started!

I have read articles in two different magazines in the last week about the benefits of Resveratrol. It’s one of those topics that is a little beyond my ability to write about, so I found a terrific article from Solanova.com about Resveratrol and its benefits. They have a product that I am going to start trying out. Any other moms out there taking a Resveratrol supplement?

Red, Red Wine!

Who doesn’t enjoy a good glass of 1966 Chateau Margaux Bordeaux with dinner once in a while? Okay, maybe just the latest Shiraz screw-cap selection from Trader Joe’s? Either way, you’re doing something healthy for your body (if not for your pocket book.) But did you know how many glasses of red wine it would take to reap all the potential health benefits that oeniphiles everywhere tout? Numerous, countless — it is estimated upwards of 40. Glasses. A day. Wine is wonderful, but that seems to be the classic example of way too much of a good thing. Red wine is chock full of these wonderful, unparalleled antioxidants called Polyphenols, which are found in the skin and seeds of grapes. Red wines tend to contain more of these antioxidants than white, because white wines have the skins removed before fermentation.

Another strong antioxidant, Resveratrol, a type of Polyphenols, is created as a by-product of a plant’s defense mechanism against disease and red wine, grapes, and even raspberries contain high levels of it. Scientists believe that Resveratrol could offer tangible hope in the fight against certain diseases like cancer and many studies have shown Resveratrol to offer anti-inflammatory properties as well as reducing tumor incidences in animals and/or inhibiting cancer growth in cells.1

Obviously it is impractical to have to consume an inordinate amount of wine, berries and other foods with high antioxidant properties every day. This is why a nutritional supplement like Solanova’s Rubi QNol® is so vital to continued good health. Containing Resveratrol, Polyphenols and the highly absorbable, reduced form of CoQ10 Ubiquinol, Rubi QNol® has all the main ingredients to potentially help stave off the aging process. In fact, it has been discovered that Resveratrol works positively on a gene called Sirtuin (SIR), which is responsible for aging. In addition, this connection with SIR suggests Resveratrol may have a beneficial effect on diabetes.2 And, as if that isn’t enough, Resveratrol has been touted for its ability to help strengthen the heart and possibly help cells live longer and increase the stability of DNA.3 Then, of course, CoQ10 has received significant press as of late for its potential role in slowing the aging process and supplying the body with ample enzymes for better cellular health.

With all these potential benefits in a fortified, high absorption formula, thanks to Rubi QNol®, the fountain of youth may just have found you.

(article by Solanova.com)

Susan and Nick

Children don’t always come into the world perfect. My youngest of four children certainly didn’t. Nick was born with a horribly malformed heart. After a heart surgery at five days old, another at three months, another at one year old, he received a heart transplant just before turning two. Today, he is twenty one and attending college. Living with Nick’s chronic illness hasn’t always been easy. Though the years I’ve learned ways of cope during tough times.

Make the most of every day

Worry doesn’t add a minute to life. In fact, it takes minutes away that could be used to make precious memories. Don’t miss out on those memories by being stymied by worry. Live for today, not for what might happen down the road. Vacations are an excellent way to build shared memories.

Be united as a family

First and foremost be a family. Parents need to support each other, especially in front of the children. They feed off their parent’s actions and attitudes. Make sure each child knows they are important to making the family complete. Siblings should be shown they are just as important as the sick child. Share meals together as much as possible. That time builds family bonds.

Life shouldn’t revolve around the ill child

An ill child should be taught to mind, have chores, and be a functioning member of the family as much as they can be. It is important that siblings don’t become resentful. Standards of behavior should be the same for everyone. The whole family should support a child when they are participating in a sporting event, a program, band concert, etc. Attend the event in force whenever possible.

Understand that everyone handles stress differently

Recognize that not everyone in the family will react to a negative situation the same way. I talk a lot and fast when I’m scared. My husband paces and goes into his own world when he is worried. We have to respect each other’s method of coping.

Look for ways to have control

Volunteer, have a hobby, exercise. Do something positive for yourself every day. It takes a good sound body and mind to deal with an ill child. It is important for the caregiver to take care of his or her self.

A chronically ill child in the family adds special challenges to life, but they also add love and laugher. Nick has certainly brought that to our family.

By Susan May

Nick’s New Heart

www.susanCmay.com

Every Monday in March, Nabisco will be giving away coupons for free cookies. You will need to first become a fan on their Facebook Fan page. Because the contest is “Always Great Together,” you will have to buy one package of cookies and a gallon of milk to get the second package of cookies free. Still not a bad deal! They will be giving out 500,000 coupons, and it is limited to one per household.

Become a Facebook Fan of Nabisco’s today so that you can get your free cookies on Monday!

I love to cook in my crockpot (I think we’re supposed to call them “slow cookers” now). The hard part is that not a lot of crockpot meals fit my Weight Watchers points. One of my favorite cookbooks, however, is nothing but healthy and low fat recipes that you can make in your crockpot. It’s called Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly. They have a whole line of slow cooker cookbooks, but this is the one with the great low fat recipes.

What I do is go through and pick out a handful of recipes and run them through the Weight Watchers point counter. Then I write the point totals into the book so that the next time I cook, I don’t have to look them up again. I also write in any alterations that I have made.

Tonight we are having Taco Soup. It’s a lot like chili except a little more soup-like in consistency and includes a ranch dressing packet, which gives it an extra kick. It’s 5 points a serving and everyone in my family loves it. We also make the Chicken Soft Tacos regularly as well as the Chicken and Dumplings. The key is just testing things out and then leaving notes in your margins so you know what to go back to later. With hundreds of recipes, you will be cooking new healthy and light recipes in your crockpot for your family for months to come!

You can pick up Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly at Amazon or most book sellers.

It can be hard for moms to make time for everything–the kids, the house, work, friends, exercise. Why not combine a couple of those to save yourself some time? I’ve recently started going to Zumba classes with some of my girlfriends and am having a great time while I get fit!

Zumba is a combination of dance and exercise. You can have fun while you cha-cha but also work your muscles while you do squats. The class that I attend is a combination of Latin music and hip hop, but each class will vary depending on the instructors. Classes are approximately an hour. Although it has meant a change in my family’s schedule because I take an hour out in the middle of the evening two nights a week for ME, it has absolutely been worth it. It almost feels like an evening out with my friends when we all meet up and dance for an hour.

You can buy Zumba music and do some of the dance routines at home, but part of what makes it fun and makes you want to keep doing it is to go with friends and immerse yourself in the experience. You can visit www.zumba.com for a list of classes in your area. Mine are at a Montessori school for $5 each, but I know that they also offer them at YMCAs and several gyms. Below is a video of a class doing a routine very similar to one that we have done. YouTube is full of Zumba videos, but I liked this one because I actually know this dance! It’s set to “Hey You Girl.”

I’ve been seeing so many reports lately about Percy Jackson being the next Harry Potter. I’ve now completed both series and am ready to answer that question…not really.

Aside from the obvious similarities between the two books (young boy find out that he has special powers, enters a magical world, finds out he is part of a big prophecy, makes friends, battles monsters, learns more about “family” and “friendship” as a result), what else to Percy Jackson and Harry Potter have in common? They are both book series, and they were both made into movies. So we’ve established some similarities that they also have with many, many other book characters and series. Beyond that?

When I think of Harry Potter and why it was so big, I think of two things. The first is that it known as one of the best selling book series of all time and is a favorite of both young and old. It’s a phenomenon that will not be repeated soon. Percy Jackson will not be THAT Harry Potter.

But the other thing that Harry Potter was Percy Jackson COULD be. They are both a reason to get kids reading again. They are both a series that appeals to a demographic that can sometimes be hard to motivate to read (10-15 year olds, especially boys). It’s not only one book but an entire series that can get somehow hooked and into reading for the first time or back into reading if they have not been interested in awhile. It’s not fluffy like Diary of a Wimpy Kid but actually has some real social value (as least in my opinion) when you take to heart the lessons about life, love, and perseverance.

For me, Percy Jackson is not the next Harry Potter because there will never be another Harry Potter. It’s a one of a kind experience that crosses generations and media. But does that mean I wouldn’t suggest Percy Jackson to my friends and their kids? Not at all. Just take it for what it is–another fantasy series about teens growing up and learning life lessons while fighting monsters.

We have a terrific opportunity on one of our other sites for someone to win Bella’s Engagement ring from Twilight. We’ve partnered with Emitations.com for this promotion. All that you need to do to enter is leave a comment on the contest post that we have set up on Buy Twilight Stuff. You can get bonus entries for posting the contest on your own blog or Tweeting about it. We would love it if you would help us spread the word! The contest will end February 28.