Honea Express

Posts Tagged ‘Contest’

People often ask me how I pick the items that I review. Easy, I don’t. Well, that’s not entirely true. Sometimes I’ll review an item based upon my own decision, but often I turn to the family and let them decide.  Why? Because this blog, while written by me, is usually about them, and I figure they ought to get a little something out of it.

That doesn’t change my policy regarding reviews (read more in “The Biz” tab above), it just means that there are likely to be items that find their way into these pages that seem like an odd choice for me, and now you know why.

Also, Wii game giveaways!

The Reviews

Toque Blanche was kind enough to send me a black clay La Chamba cooking pot because they believe that “the home chef who is serious about preparing food deserves the best.” I’m more of the home chef who is serious about eating food that someone else was serious about preparing. And drinking.  My wife, however, is a fantastic cook.  She picked the cookware.

And Toque Blanche only carries the best, so that’s why they were the company to send said La Chamba. Makes a lot of sense when you think about it. The clay cookware can be used in the oven, microwave or on the stove, and it is incredibly easy to clean.  As an added bonus it does not contain any toxins (unless I’m cooking). Plus, La Chamba is from Columbia, which means Columbia is now two for two in my book:

See? Columbia is alright.

Thanks, Toque Blanche! We love the La Chamba clay cookware. Also, Modern Family on ABC!

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You may recall Didi Pop from a previous review. My boys enjoy her music so much we made a video to one of her songs, which Didi Pop featured on her website FOREVER! Except it’s not there now, but still, pretty cool.

Her new disc is called Didi Pop Goes to Hawaii and is, as you may have guessed, heavy on the Hawaiian influence. Think Jack Johnson, but safer.

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Speaking of pop, have you tried popchips™ brand chips? They aren’t fried. They aren’t baked. They’re popped and they’re good (hurray)! And healthy (gasp)! I’m eating some right now. Pretty weird, right?

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Now for a mustache break: Read the rest of this entry »

I have two kids. They like to take baths. Granted, they don’t like the idea of taking a bath, but once they are in said bath they seem to enjoy themselves.

They also like to get out of the bath and run around the house naked. Hey, who doesn’t?

My main complaint with the running around the house naked part is that the boys are wet, and until that moment the rest of the house wasn’t.  Suddenly it’s raining in the hallway, and I know where that water has been. I’m not a fan.

What I needed was a step between the tub and the carpet that would cause the boys to pause and dry themselves off a bit — maybe something involving robots and/or a towel, like a hitchhiker’s guide to the bathroom.

Enter Company Kids and their line of hooded towels, namely the robot version. They were kind enough to send me one to review and they also allowed me to hold a giveaway, hence all of these other words around the sentence you are currently reading.  Suddenly my children are drier and a little less naked, albeit briefly with regard to the latter.  They’ve also developed some sweet new dance moves.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because I want you to have a hooded towel of your very own. We’ll pretend it’s for your kid.

Fill out the form below by 5 p.m. PST on 10/15/2010, and I’ll choose a winner at random to win the hooded towel of their choice (robot, duckie, kitty — subject to availability).

I’m also giving away a Company Kids towel at DadCentric, not to mention a bunch of other cool stuff.

In fact, while I’m at it, allow me to share all of the other giveaways that I’m hosting on this series of tubes and internets (please note, some of these giveaways have an entry deadline of 10/8):

Two (2) Blurb Gift Certificates at Holidash.com

Two (2) sets of  Picaboo Madison Photo Albums at Aisledash.com

Two (2) Teleflora Rosy Birthday Present Bouquets at Lemondrop.com

Two (2) It’s Kind of a Funny Story Gift Packs including an iPod Nano at Lemondrop.com

Wow, that’s a lot of giveaways. I’m pretty freaking generous.

In fact, I’m so generous that I’ll also be giving away a new CD by Caspar Babypants aka Chris Ballew starting tomorrow on DadCentric and BabyCenter, respectively.

When you speak of me, speak well.

Here’s the form to win the hooded towel from Company Kids (this is only for the one hooded towel discussed above, all other giveaways must be entered individually per the links listed):

Good luck!

Sponsored By

Cheerios® is giving you the chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, your ultimate family vacation. As part of a paid promotion for their “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, Cheerios® is sponsoring my post today about what my ultimate family vacation would be. Read mine, Enter the Sweepstakes for a chance to actually win your own fantasy family trip or one of a bunch of other great prizes.

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I knew a man in the military. He was an Admiral. His name was Hills. He loved a good tune. You might say that Admiral Hills was alive with the sound of music. He loved art and he worked mostly in oils and Garfunkle. His presence was a thousand glasses toasted and his absence whispered in the sounds of silence. He rose above the world like a bridge over troubled water. Some people loved him like a rock.

I haven’t seen the man in over 40 years. I thought about sending him a message in a bottle — an SOS, but my bottles are full of ships and beer and sink heavy when empty. I’ve thought about taking a trip to wherever he lives — an ultimate vacation of old friends and their families. But where would I go? What would I do? What family members would I bring along?

I don’t know.

I could climb every mountain, search high and low. Would I find him in Belize, floating in a warm sea and sipping drinks made with exotic fruit and sweat-laced liquor? Would I search for him in Switzerland, skiing the Alps and being more or less neutral about all of it? They are so many silver white winters and so much melting into spring.

I could follow every highway, every path I know.

Any of these places would be perfect for a man and his wife, two boys and their dogs. Admiral Hills was a man of good cheer, and he always said that a family vacation is in the dreams and the plans, and the journey of maybe getting there. We should all pack accordingly.

We’ll get there someday.

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Don’t forget to enter the “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, for a chance to win your own ultimate family vacation. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

As I mentioned before, I have a stack of things to review and frankly, I’m tired of looking at it. In fact, I think I’m done reviewing stuff unless someone sends me more stuff.

In the meantime, humor me as I keep my word while spreading it at the same time. I know, it’s awesome.

STUFF:

Hasbro was kind enough to send me a new spin on the classic game Mouse Trap. It’s part of their U-Build  series where the players actually build and customize the board. Yes, you read me.

The game has a bunch of U-Build bricks which are exactly like, but are not, another popular building brick that the kids love. It also has a Space Boot(!), some small parts and the trap.  Sadly, the mouse is not included and that actually turned out to be the most difficult, yet most rewarding, part of the game. Do you know how hard it is to catch a mouse with a plastic trap and a bunch of building bricks?  Pretty hard. The sense of accomplishment that my children achieved was worth all of the rabies shots in the world.

The U-Build spin on an already fun game pays off. It’s like two games in one: the building game where my kids fight and scream over how the board will look and the Mouse Trap game where my kids fight and scream over the first aid kit.  Of course, neither of those last two sentences are true. However, the part about it being two games in one is an actual fact based on my opinion as well as those of the people at Hasbro, and they’re right.

If U-Build it the fun will come. Also, rodents.

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The Idle Parent by  author Tom Hodgkinson looks like a nice book. It has a reddish-orange cover that I’m tempted to call a burnt sienna, but it could be the light in here — or the 4 months of dust that the book has accumulated. This is not the fault of the book or Mr. Hodgkinson, who also wrote How to Be Idle and The Freedom Manifesto.  No, it is the fault of time and my lack of it.

The book is subtitled, “Why Laid-back Parents Raise Happier and Healthier Kids,” which is a statement I’m inclined to agree with.  The kids on the cover look happy enough and their dad is totally napping on the couch. And he’s wearing Vans.  If that doesn’t scream laid-back then I don’t know what does.

I think the book weighs about a pound and a half. Give or take. It has 251 pages.

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I really dropped the ball on a review that I was supposed to write for All About Beer Magazine and my fellow DadCentricite, Greg, by losing a copy of a book they sent me called Beer Across Texas. Here’s the thing, Texas is huge and the book isn’t, which leads me to believe that the authors only discussed the good beers across Texas and not every crappy can of suds they came upon.  In the industry we call this attention to “quality” and we like it. My most sincere apologies to All About Beer, Greg and the authors of Beer Across Texas. Also, smaller books are apparently easier to lose.

Seriously, I can’t find it anywhere.

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Candlewick Press was kind enough to send a collection of summer reading over for my boys. The titles include:

It’s Vacation Time by Lerryn Korda, which is a really cute book that my 4-year-old loves. It’s about, wait for it, vacation time! The story is big on using your imagination and we’re big on that.

Maisy Goes to the Museum by Lucy Cousins is about Maisy the mouse and frankly, I can’t read it without hearing the narrators voice from the TV show. And what’s up with Charley?
But I digress. This book is for preschool kids and my preschool kid thinks it’s great and he doesn’t care how many times Charley has been dropped on his head.

Flanimals Pop-Up, which was written by Ricky Gervais, yes, that Ricky Gervais, and illustrated by Rob Steen. With a name like Flanimals Pop-Up, it’s exactly what you’d expect, but with a writer like Ricky Gervais it’s like nothing you could ever imagine. Within reason. It’s good fun.

Judy Moody’s Way Wacky Uber Awesome Book of More Fun Stuff to Do, The Oceanology Handbook – A Course For Underwater Explorers and Show Off – How to Do Absolutely Everything are big hits with my 7-year-old for all the reasons clearly stated in each book’s respective title. He likes wacky, uber, awesome, underwater exploring and doing absolutely everything. It’s like they were made for him.

Where’s Waldo? The Ultimate Travel Collection by Martin Handford is billed as the essential travel companion, and after it kept my kids quiet on an airplane for two hours I’m inclined to agree.

I still don’t know where Waldo is, but I think he stole my beer book.

All of the Candlewick Press books listed above have been big hits with my kids and for that I’m thankful. Thanks, Candlewick Press!

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And now for something completely different.

Scholastic sent me two new books, Max Spaniel: Funny Lunch and Firehouse! that my boys love.

They’re both about dogs and they are loads of fun. I’m supposed to write a review on them, but I don’t want to spoil the plot(s). Besides, this post is already longer than both books combined.

Here’s the fun part, I’m giving away 3 sets of the books! Yes, now you can own your very own copies of these entertaining books and all you have to do to win is leave a comment stating that you would like the books! I’ll send the books to three(3) random entries. The contest is only open to residents of the U.S. and P.O. boxes are not allowed. My apologies to other countries and anyone that rents a mailbox.

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And on that note, my pile of items to review is gone! Literally, I’ve been moving each item out of my office as I go and whoa, carpet!

Please note, I really do appreciate the items sent to me for review (which are all of the items listed in this post) and I wouldn’t include them here if I didn’t think people would enjoy them.  Stuff that sucks doesn’t make the page, man. Honea don’t play that.

Peace out.

Step off, Moms (and the people that love them). This contest is done. Not only that, this contest has a winner. And the winner is…

Sheliza! Sheliza blogs over at Mom Files and is the proud wife of internet sensation Dwayne. If you aren’t reading her you should be.  If you weren’t visiting her blog because it didn’t smell like Sun Dried Cotton, English Lavender, well, we’ve fixed that.  Besides, that’s kind of messed up. Scratch and sniff computers are so invasive. You do not want to smell what’s cooking up in here.

Um. Anyway, congrats, Sheliza. Don’t let Dwayne near the tassel.

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This is supposed to be a post for my mother. Or my wife. Or my grandmothers.  This is supposed to be a post for a contest called Moms Light Up Our Lives, which they do, but it’s late, I’m tired and I don’t know where to begin.

I could write about my mother and how she raised me and some other kid and how I grew into a wonderful young man, which is true, but then I’d have to go on and on about why I’m so wonderful and that would take forever and as I mentioned, it’s late. Plus, she’s modest.

I could write about my wife and how she married the wonderful young man that my mother raised and in turn is raising two wonderful young men of her own, which is true, but then I’d have to go on and on about why they’re so wonderful and how she’s responsible and there would need to be pie charts and graphs and seriously? I’m too tired for that sort of thing. Besides, who needs pie charts? The only proof anyone should need is in the boys, and of course the pudding.

I could write about my grandmothers. One passed away when I was a kid and one less than a year ago. I could write about what they mean and how I miss them, but those are posts for tears not tassels (see below), and I don’t know where to begin.  My feelings there are not contest fodder.

So what does a guy that has been up all night with crying kids, needy pets and an aging bladder do for a contest? He segues.

Did someone say contest? Not unless you read aloud, but yeah, it’s written there (a few times if you want to get technical).  Here’s the lowdown: share your story about the maternal figure of your choice and be entered in the Moms Light Up Our Lives contest. You can win a prize and that prize can be a gift and everyone wins and everyone is happy and across us all a little more light will fall. And it will be scented accordingly.

Moms Light Up Our Lives Contest Information

The prize is a Root Candles Scent Collection and it will be shipped in time for Mother’s Day (barring any surprises). The winner will choose from one of three fragrances: Sun Dried Cotton, English Lavender and for the Gilligan’s Island/Deadhead crowd, Ginger Patchouli (I’m sure it’s lovely). The collection includes a Large Veriglass Candle, a Reed Diffuser, and a Scented Tassel (in Alabaster, which is, apparently, a color). Yes, a tassel, which is a totally normal gift for your mother. What kind of tassel were you thinking of?

How to Enter

Leave a comment below about your own mother, grandmother, wife, partner, sister or the mother figure of your choice, and you will be entered into the drawing. Tell the world How Moms Light Up Your Life!

Extra Ways to Enter

Do you really, really want to make your home smell better? Of course you do! Here are some opportunities for extra entries, in addition to your comment (yes, you still have to comment, and it better be nice!) with your Moms Light Up Our Lives story:

1) Become a Root Candles Facebook fan and leave a comment on their page!

2) Tweet about this contest using the #rootcandles tag (you can Tweet daily and post the link in the comments below)!

3) Blog about why you want to win the My Mom Lights Up My Life with links back to this post, as well as to the Root Candles’ homepage and post the link to it in the comments below. Yes, again with the comments. Validate me!

Enter Now! Deadline for entries is midnight, PST, Friday, April 26th and the winner will be notified by email. This means you must leave your email IN THE COMMENTS (but not in the ACTUAL comment, rather in the box that says “email” — pure rocket science).

Good luck!

I am hosting this contest in conjunction with Clever Girls Collective despite the painfully obvious fact that I am not clever, a girl nor much of a collector.  I dabble.

Compensation: $50 Visa gift card
Products Received: One Root Candle Scent Collection. I chose Sun Dried Cotton. It smells nice.

For some reason Clever Girls Collective wants me to add this to what I just said:

DISCLOSURE:
Root Candles and the Clever Girls Collective provided me with a review sample of the Root Candles Scent Collection prize pack. I was also compensated for my time to manage the contest with a Visa gift card.

It’s like déjà vu all over again. It just smells better.

This contest is now closed. Thank you for participating.