March Giveaways and Promos From Robin Leedy & Associates, INC

MARCH GIVEAWAYS AND PROMO NEWS! Fantastic Facebook Giveaways & News for You and Your Readers!   Conair’s “Lucky Green” Giveaway In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, Conair’s feeling lucky and wants to spread the luck and green cheer! Enter the Conair's "Lucky Green" giveaway, and on Friday, March 16, at 12 p.m. ET, 10 entrants will be randomly selected to win an Infiniti Pro by Conair Model 270 1875-Watt Salon-Performance AC Motor Styling Tool, Conair’s own “green machine!” Visit www.facebook.com/conairhair to enter by 3/16 and learn more about the giveaway.   Baby Anti Monkey Butt “Cutest Little Monkey” Photo Sweeps Think your little monkey has cuteness cornered? Then enter the “Cutest Little Monkey" Photo Sweeps on the Anti Monkey Butt Facebook page until March 29 for a chance at great prizes, including a Babies R US shopping spree, fun monkey-themed baby gear and Baby Anti Monkey Butt product. Give your little monkey some tender loving derriere care with Baby Anti Monkey Butt Diaper Rash Powder and Cream, both boast the power of calamine for comfort and healing! Learn about the full line of Anti Monkey Butt products at www.antimonkeybutt.com. Winners randomly selected each Thursday in March, grand prize will be randomly awarded on March 29. Enter here: http://promoshq.wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/191582.   Oscillo 10K Fan Celebration Giveaway Flu season isn’t quite behind us…yet. If you’re ready to nip flu-like symptoms in the bud, then head over to the Oscillococcinum Facebook page (www.facebook.com/oscillo) to help them reach the 10K fan milestone so they can launch a new product giveaway!Like the page and share it with your friends; once they reach 10,000 fans, they’ll launch the 10K Fan Celebration Giveaway. Oscillococcinum, or Oscillo for short, helps you feel like yourself again by working safely and naturally with the body to relieve flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue, headache, body aches, chills and fever. Learn more at www.oscillo.com.   Cystex PLUS You Sweeps Cystex PLUS You = ?  Do you have a story to tell about how Cystex® PLUS Urinary Pain Relief Tablets or Cystex® Cranberry Urinary Health Complex have been a PLUS in your life? Or do you have thoughts about how they could be a potential PLUS in your life?  On the Cystex Facebook page, we want to hear your stories about how the tablets and/or the liquid have helped in the past or could be helpful in the future, whether it’s the tablets helping to keep you to afloat by managing painful symptoms until you can make it to the doctor, or the Cystex Cranberry Complex liquid helping to boost overall Urinary Health, we want to hear about it! By entering the Cystex PLUS You Sweeps and telling us your story about how a particular Cystex product has been or could be  helpful to you, have the chance to be featured on the Cystex Facebook page as our “story of the month,” and could also win yourself a Cranberry red Coach Wristlet too! Check out the Cystex PLUS You Sweeps today, and enter for your chance to win: www.facebook.com/cystex   The Natural Dentist “Lucky Gums” Giveaway Is there “pink in your sink?”  You aren’t alone!  Every day, millions of people see the signs of bleeding gums when they brush or floss their teeth.  Bleeding gums (even just a little bleeding) is a sign of gingivitis, the early stage of gum disease.  The Natural Dentist Healthy Gums Rinse can help stop bleeding gums naturally to reduce this problem and help prevent future health issues.  Head over to The Natural Dentist Facebook page (www.facebook.com/thenaturaldentist) to celebrate their 7K fan milestone by entering the Lucky Gums giveaway. Seven lucky fans will win The Natural Dentist Healthy Gums Rinse along with other gum-loving natural oral care products from The Natural Dentist! The seven winners will be selected and announced on March 16.   Looking For An Alternative to Liquid Acetaminophen? Calling all mom bloggers! We’d love to hear from bloggers (U.S. only) who are interested in informing their readers about an alternative to liquid acetaminophen for times when infants and children become unexpectedly ill and liquid acetaminophen won’t go or stay down. FeverAll® is the top national brand of acetaminophen in suppository form. Experienced parents know – especially those with infants -  it’s great to have FeverAll® on hand in the medicine cabinet for times when children are vomiting and dosing with liquid acetaminophen is not an option. With FeverAll®, parents can be confident that their infant or child has received the exact dosage of acetaminophen required for their age every single time. If you’re interested in doing a review or informational post (along with a giveaway), please email Nicole at negan@rlapr.com.   Udderly Smooth 10,000 Fan Milestone Giveaway Get ready for spring by telling your greasy, thick moisturizer to MOOve on over and like the Udderly Smooth Facebook page (www.facebook.com/udderlysmoothusa)! Help Udderly Smooth reach the 10,000 fan milestone, and they’ll launch a new Facebook giveaway for a cow charm Pandora bracelet and Udderly Smooth product. Look to the power of the cow spots to relieve your dry spots. Share and like the Udderly Smooth Facebook page and learn more at www.udderlysmooth.com.   New Replens Facebook Page Offers Big Product Sample Giveaway It’s time to reconnect and rediscover today…and everyday…with Replens Long-Lasting Feminine Moisturizer. To celebrate the launch of the new Replens Facebook page, Replens is giving away free samples while supplies last. Connect with Replens on Facebook to get your free sample now!   “Bring Sexy Back” Giveaway from SpermCheck Fertility According to fertility advocate, educator and SpermCheck Fertility expert, Pamela Madsen, so many times couples get lost in the “baby making” process and forget to actually have fun!  SpermCheck Fertility wants to “Bring Sexy Back” to the baby making process with a special giveaway offer. Starting March 16th through April 13th enter the “Bring Sexy Back” SpermCheck Fertility Giveaway for a chance to win one of four prize packages which includes: a $50 gift certificate to Victoria’s Secret, a copy of Pamela Madsen’s Shameless: How to Make Making a Baby Fun CD, a sexy cinnamon scented candle and room spray, $50 iTunes gift card and a $50 gift card to Walgreens. Connect with SpermCheck Fertility on Facebook – www.facebook.com/spermcheck -  to enter the giveaway and learn more about the product!

Recipe Corner: Bulgogi

Bulgogi is a Korean dish that your family will love! Enjoy!

Ingredients
• 1 1/2 pounds beef top sirloin, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons white cooking wine
• 1 cup pear juice
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 2 tablespoons Asian (toasted) sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons chopped green onion
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1/2 onion, chopped (optional)


Directions
1. Place the beef in a bowl, and pour in the cooking wine, pear juice, and black pepper. Stir to combine, and allow to marinate for 30 minutes. Stir in the soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, green onion, and sesame seeds, and marinate in refrigerator at least 2 hours or overnight.
2. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat or a stovetop grill pan.
3. Remove the beef from the marinade, and discard the marinade. Place a sheet of aluminum foil on the heated grill, and lay the beef slices separately on the foil. Place the onions on another part of the foil. Cook the beef slices until they are evenly brown, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Serve over rice or noodles with cooked onion.

Chronic Pain and Me

I don't normally use my blog as a place to vent problems that I face in my life.  I like to keep it as light and cheery as I can.   But lately I've been struggling and I figured I should reach out and see if anyone has any advice.  Chronic Pain has been plaguing me for the past 2-3 years.  Before that I was achy for another 7-8 years, but not enough to slow me down.  I had originally chalked it up to the abuse my body had taken during my 20 years as a gymnast.  However, as the pain worsened, I eventually had to seek out medical advice. 

After coming to the realization that I needed help, I spent the next two years feeling like a guinea pig.  Have any of you out there heard of the Fox TV show, House, M.D?   It is about a brilliant doctor with horrid bedside manners.  Despite being brilliant, Dr. House can never identify the patient's problem right away.  He spends the entire episode trying out different methods of treatments.  If treatment A works, then the patient have one disease.  If treatment B works, then the patients has this disease.  If one of the treatments doesn't work, then the patient gets sicker because the disease they do have doesn't like the treatment plan.

So basically that has been my life.  I presented with symptoms related to Lupus.  Everything was there except the blood work came back negative.   My doctors inform me that it a progressive disease and that it is possible that I have Lupus, but it won't show up on the blood work until I'm in my late 50's.  So I won't be treated for Lupus, but will be monitored and retested each year. Then they suspected that perhaps it wasn't Lupus, but Rheumatoid Arthritis because of all the swollen painful joints.   Again, the scans and blood work came back negative.  It went on like this for months and months. 

Finally, the doctors gave up and said that since they can't figure it out, it must be Fibromyalgia.  There is no test for FM only specific points on the body called tender points.  FM brings widespread pain and is related to malfunctions of the nervous system.  There are very few treatment options for FM and the side effects of the meds are just as painful as the symptoms.  The more I research FM, the more I doubt the diagnosis.  But since I don't have a medical degree, I am at a loss.

All I do know is that I have come full circle in life.  At the age of 3, I needed help climbing the stairs.  It was just too difficult to make it all the way up on my own.  At the age of 13, I could flip across the balance beam, skinnier than a single stair, effortlessly.  At the age of 23, flips on small pieces of wood were a thing of the pass.  But thankfully, the stairs were never given a second thought. Now at the age of 33, I need help climbing the stairs.  It IS too difficult to make it all the way up on my own.

Do you have Chronic pain? Do you have FM?  What advice do you have?  How do you manage the pain and continue living life to the fullest? 

Disney's The Lone Ranger

From producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski comes Disney/Bruckheimer Films' THE LONE RANGER. Tonto (Johnny Depp), a spirit warrior on a personal quest, joins forces in a fight for justice with John Reid (Armie Hammer), a lawman who has become a masked avenger.

THE LONE RANGER will be released in May 2013.

Learning Resources Review and Giveaway

Do your kids love learning as much as mine?  Do you have trouble finding toys and games that are educational, yet fun at the same time?   Learning resources "is a leading manufacturer of innovative, hands-on educational materials for classrooms and learning toys for the home. For more than 25 years, the company has been a trusted source for educators and parents for quality, award-winning educational products."  Just visit their easy to navigate website and you will be amazed at how many wonderful products that your child would be interested in and benefit from.

 For 2012, Learning Resources has released a huge variety of new educational toys.  Amongst them is the Sentence Buildings.  These nine buildings contain various parts of speech to help children build sentence cities with over 300, double sided, color coded, durable cards. The parts of speech include: noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, conjunction, article, preposition, adverb, and punctuation.  Use as many or as few buildings as needed depending on the lesson your child is working on. These buildings are great for teaching or enforcing sentence structure and parts of speech. 

My girls, ages 5 and 7, both love this activity.  My five year old gets to work on creating complete sentences, including the correct punctuation and my seven year old gets to practice identifying the correct parts of speech.  She also helps her sister work on including the correct tense of a verb.  For example, one side of the card may say walk and the other will say walked.  They also love to play mad-lib style.  They will randomly select a card from each building and try to make a silly sentence out of it. Regardless of how they choose to play, the learning factor is always there.  This is a wonderful game/activity for elementary kids and I would recommend it as a mother and a teacher.

Would you like your own Sentence Buildings?  Simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below for a chance to win!