The Ultimate Blog Party 09 - My first!

WELCOME Partiers!
Can I offer you some coffee? No? Well that's all I drink these days so it's that or water, or wine so you choose.

This is my first evah Ultimate Party Blog and with 5 Minutes for Mom and I can't wait to meet new bloggers and add to my blog roll. (Check out my UPB Prize too!)

For those of you stopping by, here's just a little about me.

My name is Janine and I have 5 year old twins (actually they are now closer to 6 than to 5 but I'm holding on to 5 as long as I can) and last Halloween my husband and I celebrated our 10th anniversary.
Yes, Halloween. No, it was not a costume wedding...until much later when the silly masks came out. And oh by the way, I fit into my wedding dress this year!

My Twofer: L on left , M on right

We live outside of Washington, DC and we try to take advantage of the free museums as much as possible and as much as we can stand getting around the, um, tourists. Honestly, I consider myself a New Yorker at heart having grown up outside what I will always refer to as The City. Washington is a great city and does have a lot of life....but c'mon. It's not NYC. It's not The City. It's DC.

I can be a little snarky (no! really?) and silly, and a little bit rock-and-roll (shhh, don't tell anyone but I have a tatoo). But most of I'll I'm just me.

I often blog here about the silly things that come with raising twins, who are girls, and the neuroses I suffer trying to make decisions that hopefully won't screw them up too much (like the time I told them no matter what they should not pee in the port-o-potty on the farm field trip and they should hold it until they get back to school - yeah, that kind of stuff).

Me in Nashville at Blissdom 09

I have been blogging for not quite a year and found it has given me a great place to be creative, keep memories alive for my children, and make new friends...yes, friends. As strange as this blog world is, I've been able to meet some online friends in real life (IRL - new term for me) and have yet to be disappointed.

Remember to check out UBP Prize #USC 71
Enter to win the adorable North Country Lamb Print from Golly Bard. This print is perfect for the nursery, a bathroom, or even a quiet little corner of your room.

And here are the prizes I'm hoping to win:
#89 — $100 gift card to HomeGoods
Provided by: HG Openhouse

#113 — $25 gift certificate to Office Max (two winners)
Provided by: Multi-Tasking Mama http://www.multitaskingmama.com/

INTL 1 — Available to English speaking bloggers. Custom Basic Blog Design
Provided by: Sweet ‘n Simple Design

If those are gone I'd be more than happy with any of these: #s 16, 22, 31, 37, 69, 118, INTL 28, and, um I'll be adding to this list!

Thanks for stopping by and let me know you did so I can visit your party too!

Janine

Kajeet Giveaway! The kids cell phone that parents love. {Contest CLOSED}

***UPDATE 3/4/09****
This contest is now closed. The winners are:

The three participating blogs eached picked a winner using Random.org. Then I took those three names and used the List Randomizer from Random. org to come up with the grand prize winner and runners up.

The Grand Prize winner of the Samsung M300 Kajeet Phone goes to....

@auntiethesis from http://auntiethesis.blogspot.com

The runners up and winners of the Kajeet prize packs are....

@minnemom from http://minnemom.com/
Maybe Mama from http://juryreview.blogspot.com/

Congratulations!!!

Thanks for participating and don't forget, if you didn't win you can still get 15% off the cost of a Kajeet phone by using promo code: JANINE when you visit www.kajeet.com!
____________________original post_____________________

Lord knows when the Twofer hit their tween years they will want a cell phone, and frankly, I'm not completely opposed to it. The world can be big and scary and a little crazy, and as a responsible parent with a tendency to be a little neurotic, I'm thinking a cell phone offers some security.

Which is why I'm so happy to have already found Kajeet!

When I first read about Kajeet and explored the website I was really impressed with the level of parental control, and the flexibility of the program. Here's what I liked:

Affordable

With Kajeet no contract is needed and you can pay-as-you go for $.10 a minute.
But for less than $5 a month you can have 10 minutes of call/text time and if you go over, it's just $.10 a minute as opposed to $.32 a minute most "family plans" charge for overages. See the comparison:

Compare Kajeet's Basic Plan ($4.99/month) to most Family Plans

Parental Controls

Parental controls mean that you can work with your tween/teen to manage when the phone is used (Time Manager), decide what numbers and texts to allow (Contact Manager), and even decide who pays for which phone calls. So calls to Grandma can come out of the parent wallet encouraging more calls to Grandma!
The GPS Phone Locator allows you to find the phone at any time. And all of these controls are easy to manage online.

Giveaway

You can enter to win a Samsung M300 Kajeet phone that will come with a $5.00 credit!

This phone does everything kids want it to do (text, photos, games, etc.) and the Kajeet service has everything you as a parent will love.

What's more, I have 2 Kajeet Gift Sets that will go to two runners up!

Here's how to enter:
Choose 1 of these or do all 4 for 4 chances to win!
1. Leave a comment with your favorite Kajeet feature.
2. Subscribe to this blog (click on the RSS button for posts just above the Kajeet image in the right column)
3. Email this contest to 5 of your friends and cc me: scarytwins at yahoo dot com
4. Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter (and leave comment here with link)

**Special Note***
For another view of Kajeet visit my new blog friend Toni's blog, The Happy Housewife, on Thursday (2/26) where you can double your chances of winning and then stop by MommaDJane's Blog on Saturday (2/28) where you can enter AGAIN!

Contest ends Tuesday, March 3rd at 11:59pm. Winners will be chosen by Random.org and announced Wednesday, March 4th.

If you don't win the free phone, you can still get 15% off the cost of a Kajeet phone by using this special code at checkout: JN0005

Good luck, and happy phone shopping!
Janine

Another book, an extra hug, a photo and a reminder of what I have

Just because they looked cute

Yesterday I was checking in with a blog hero, Anissa to see how her daughter Peyton was doing after a horrific day getting blood drawn. You see Peyton has cancer. Peyton also recently had her port removed and the family celebrated a Cancer Free day. So this bloodwork would determine whether the party could continue, or if the family would get back on that roller coaster of fear, pain, sadness, worry, and general suckiness. (The results, after a loooong 2 days were good...silent cheer!)

I then caught a tweet by local blog star Jessica about a little angel named Vivi. Of course I went to Jessica's blog and read the post and then HAD to go to Vivi's own blog. And then the tears started.

But I wasn't done. From Vivi's blog there were several other links to blogs about children who are battling cancer, and the parents who are putting on brave faces, celebrating milestones, or in some cases, learning how to say goodbye.

By the time I was done it was after midnight, my eyes were puffy and red, and my heart ached and ached. I think there were a few hiccupy-breaths in there too - you the kind you used to get when you were little and just wailing? Yea, I had that.

But today I woke up a little different.

• I actually read not one, but two books to the girls this morning (I never read before school as we're usually late from the minute we're up!).
• I took extra time to sit with the girls when they got dressed (instead of yelling to them to hurry up as I make lunch).
• Then something unusual happened - they both asked me to put their hair up in a ponytail, my fave! So I took the time to do that too.
• They were so cute in their little skirts with their hair up that we took extra time to take some pictures.
• We were definitely late to school, but I gave them each an extra long hug and kiss before they went into the building.
• I then kept my promise (the same promise I have broken 3 days in a row now) of making chocolate covered strawberries today after school

Today I was a different mom...a better mom - I'm not afraid to say that. I'm improved. I give thanks to those parents who reminded me to appreciate what I have and to take that extra time. I will hug, and kiss, and squeeze, and help, and read to, and cook with, and tickle, and tuck in and everything else more now to honor the parents who can't.

What will you do?

Janine

Welcome Blissful Buzz readers!

If you have found my little piece of the blogosphere through Blissful Buzz than welcome! I hope you come back and visit again soon.

For my regulars (you know who you are...mom, cousin Jess), my roommate from Blissdom 09 asked me to be a contributing writer to her Blissful Buzz column on Blissfully Domestic.

Feeling Blissful myself I said sure!
Check out my first article and leave a comment there so they know I'm one of the cool kids.

Thanks!
Janine

A Sassy little shop with a Twofer discount

Welcome to Day 4 of A Little 2 Sassy's Blog Tour!

My bloggy friend MommaDJane just introduced me to a rock star twin mom named Kristina. Not only does Kristina have her own business, A Little 2 Sassy, but she makes much of the merchandise herself!

Kristina gets a Twofer Thumbs Up for finding the balance between being a wife, mom to 3 kids including twins, crafter, and business owner. PLUS - she's giving all Twofer readers a 15% discount when you shop and use code: 0809mamma15

I'm loving these Croc bows

They make Crocs acceptable as party shoes!

And the headbands...



But for me?

This Giraffe print wallet for only $19.99 is a must-have.

My belt collection could benefit from some bling...

Be sure to stop by A Little 2 Sassy and check out all the goodies. Read the Sassy Story and then tell me how you are going to use your 15% discount!

Janine