Traffic pro

This post was sponsored by Kmart. All the opinions are mine. Last week I announced that Kmart was bringing back Bluelight Specials. Now Kmart has asked me to help them announce another Saturday Bluelight Special and I was happy to help out.

I think that Mr Bluelight is pretty cute. He brings a modern look to the old Bluelight Specials. Years ago people would make jokes about cheap clothes and ask people if it was a Bluelight Special. Now Kmart is getting recognized for having good quality products at good prices.

With the bad economy these days it is always nice to find a good sale. I have been watching sales ads whenever I can so I can start the back to school shopping. I have three girls that want all new wardrobes each year and they are very picky about what they wear. This means that I am always looking for a sale.

Kmart is having another more Bluelight Specials Saturday, August 1st on everything from patio furniture, to grills, to jewelry. Yes, hurry up and get ready for it! There will be over 40 great Kmart Bluelight Specials through the day at Kmart there will also be other great offers at kmart.com, but ONLY this Saturday.

I wonder what else will be on special this week. I want a new laptop. I need a new carpet shampooer. I would love some of the new Wii games. I have been putting all of them off until I am done with the back to school shopping. I have been looking though, because if I see a sale I will HAVE to buy them of course.

If you would like to keep up with the sales at Kmart you can follow them on Twitter @kmartdealsnnews for updates and more specials!

We recently took a day trip to Cave of the Mounds. We have been wanting to go for awhile but life is always so crazy. One of my girls had already gone there for a school field trip so she had been pushing for the trip.

Cave of the Mounds is an hour away from our house so the trip was an easy one. The cave is amazing. The tour lasts an hour and ends in the gift shop. Of course James could not pass up buying things for the girls. He spoils them rotten!

Along with other neat purchases the girls each got a bag of sand with treasures inside. They got to bring them over to a panning area and sift through their sand to see what they got. They loved that part.

So $50 later, we headed off on a trail above ground. During the tour we were told about two sink holes that were developing on the land. James, of course, just had to see them. One of them was still stable enough to walk over. The other was all roped off and collapsing.

The part of the hike that the girls liked most was walking through the flower gardens. The grounds are absolutely beautiful.

So everyone is getting a website and blog these days. Why do some fail and others take off right away? Yes content is very important and a clean look is important, but is there more?

I am sure that in your explorations around the internet you have seen some very ugly or very boring websites out there that have thousands of visitors. How do they do it?

You can have a great website or blog that has a great look and design yet have very little visitors. The internet is full of great websites that rarely get seen.

It is like the pretty girl who sits at home every night wondering why she does not have a date. You will not meet many people unless you get out there and be seen. The same applies to websites. You have to become your best fan and sell yourself all over the internet.

I do not mean beg for links! Everyday I get emails from people begging me to link to them and I ignore everyone of them. Maybe it is rude of me, but I find it rude of them to send me the email begging. There are many ways to do get links without begging. They range from joining groups and forums that are in the same subject matter as you to just submitting your sites to directories like DMOZ.

This can be a very fast and easy source of traffic for your site. I recommend creating a text document that has everything you want included in a web directory so you can easily copy and paste it to numerous sites without wasting time typing it over and over again.

Some web directories are better than others. Obviously you only benefit from the extra link if people see it. So look for higher traffic ones.

I would recommend submitting your site to every web directory you can find. If you have a few spare minutes in your day take the time to find some new places to add yourself. You could find a free web directory everyday and still not scratch the surface.

Many of the sites you already visit have a section to add your link so make sure to look around when you visit sites.

Well, I guess no one won the Powerball last night so the Saturday night draw is estimated at 120 million dollars. The only time I play is when it gets this high. With the economy as bad as it is I keep hearing people joke that the lottery is their new retirement plan.

The girls and I joke around about what we would spend the money on if we won. We talk about getting a ton of land and some farm animals to play with. We sometimes talk about moving back to Arizona. Some of our ideas consist of having two homes. One here and one in Arizona. Nicole just insists on having a limo.

The main common theme in all of our discussions is building a new home. Then designing and decorating it perfectly to our liking. There is a commercial that I think of when I think of winning big and having enough money to build whatever house I want.

It was a commercial for Direct Buy. It is a couple in a huge beautiful home talking about how they built their home with all of these expensive things that they would not have been able to afford without Direct Buy. The house is absolutely gorgeous!

I do not even remember who they were or where they lived I just remembered the house. It was so pretty and I wanted it. It has a California feel so I assume they were in California and they probably went to the Direct Buy Mountain View location. What matters to me is that in my dreams I am winning the lottery and building that house!

I have other dreams about winning the lottery too. I would not just blow all of the money. I would find a company to buy also. That way I could continue to rake in all of that money!

So what would you do if you won the lottery?

I just finished my second survey for the Betty Crocker Magazine. The last one was for a holiday cover. One of the cool things about working with General Mills is that I get to complete surveys and vote on the new Betty Crocker magazines.

This time I voted on the cover photo and name for a new Betty Crocker Casseroles & Slow Cooker magazine. The photos all looked delicious but I voted for a photo of an Italian Sausage Casserole. I also voted for the name to be Easy One Dish Meals instead of Casseroles & Slow Cooker. I just think that casseroles and slow cooker meals tend to bring out the thought of old fashioned meals that grandma would make.

I have really been enjoying working with General Mills. They have kept me going with a constant flow of things to try and review. The girls and I love trying out the new things they keep sending us. The gift baskets are great too. I have really appreciated the giveaways. They have been a blast. I have come across some really great blogs because of the giveaways.

Make sure to check out our new giveaway if you haven't...

Yoplait and Stationary Giveaway

In these tough economic times parents everywhere are trying to save money and make ends meet. Many parents have cut back on extras and some have even gone back to the old days of using cloth diapers to save money.

A big way for parents to save money is to breastfeed. This provides an endless supply of free and ready to serve food. This is not always possible for all families in today's economy though. Many mothers are forced to go back to work right away to help pay the bills. This means that most parents today have to buy baby formula. Baby formula is a big added expense.

Consumer Reports has been urging parents to save money on baby formula for over a year now. They recommend that parents buy store brand baby formula instead of name brand formula.

I really do not see the point in name brand formula. It is not like you show off the name brand of your formula. The FDA regulates all formula. This insures that all formula meets the nutrient needs of infants. So why pay more for a name brand?

I found this neat baby formula savings calculator online that shows how much money you could save by choosing a store brand formula over a name brand one.

I used the calculator to compare Similac Advance to the comparable formula made by Parent's Choice the Walmart store brand. The savings you get by choosing a store brand are incredible. You save $13.09 per can and $56.94 per month. That is a $683.30 savings after a year.

We have another great giveaway to announce! Who wants to try the new Yoplait Thick & Creamy? How about if it comes with some stationary and a stylish pen? This giveaway will give two lucky winners just that!

As soon as we got our gift basket we headed out to the store. The girls really love yogurt so we bought two extra yogurts. We picked out blackberry, raspberry, and cinnamon roll.

The new Yoplait Thick & Creamy is so thick that you can write in it and it will stay. Of course we just had to try it out! So we decided to write an I love you note to our readers. We used one of those pick things that comes with a nut cracker.

Okay, back to the giveaway... Thanks to My Blog Spark, two lucky winners will receive the gift basket. The gift basket includes a coupon so you can try one Yoplait Thick & Creamy yogurt for free. Also in the gift basket is a cute stationary set with pretty papers, note cards, envelopes, and a pretty pen.


HOW CAN YOU ENTER?

Your main entry will be to comment on this post about why you would like to win.

EXTRA ENTRIES

*Blog about the giveaway and include a link back to this post. Make a new comment here with the URL to your post.

*Follow this blog - It is on the left sidebar. If you are already a follower it still counts. Make a new comment here that includes your follower name.

*Subscribe to the RSS Feed (left side bar) and make a new comment.

*Add the Your Fun Family Blog to your blogroll. Make a new comment and be sure to use your URL when you post it.

*Fav the Your Fun Family Blog on Technorati and make a new comment.

*Follow us on Twitter and make a new comment.

*Share this giveaway post on Kirtsy, Digg, Twitter, Stumble, or anything else you can think of. Each one counts for one entry so each should have a separate comment. It must include the link where it can be found to count.


I will be deleting comments that do not follow the rules so others get a fair chance. Remember that two winners will be chosen so the odds are better. If the second random comment chosen is of the same person as the first another number will be chosen. The winners will have 48 hours to email me with their mailing address. If they fail to contact me a new winner will be chosen.

Goodluck!

Everyone knows that I love a good sale. Some of the best sales come towards the end of the season. Everyone wants to get going on Fall so Summer stuff is getting dirt cheap right now. This is when I like to go in and scoop up everything I have wanted for cheap.

There are some great sales going on right now. At the top of my list is Kmart. They have brought back the Kmart Bluelight Specials for one day. This Saturday, July 25th, they are doing bluelight specials all day long.

There will be over 40 incredible Bluelight Specials throughout the day at Kmart stores. You can get anything from patio furniture, grills, or jewelry. I think I could spend the day there. Most sell food right?

Our closest Kmart is a few towns over so I am may just have to take advantage of the fact that they are having some special sales online that day also. I am really good at online shopping too.

If you want to keep up on all of the great deals that will be going on at Kmart you can also follow them on Twitter @kmartdealsnnews.

I am new to Twitter but I am really liking being able to get all my notices in one place. With Summer Sales, Back To School Sales, Fall Sales, and then Holiday Sales all coming up I want to be sure that I do not miss a thing.

When was the last time you really took the time to smell the roses? How about the roses in your life? Our lives are filled with such wonderful things. We tend to pass them by when we are busy and not even notice them.

The other day I was talking to a man that I run into everyday. We always stop to say a few words and the conversation always ends in him saying, "See you tomorrow". On Tuesday I ran into the man like always but this time I told him that I was going away so I would not be around for a few days. We even had a conversation about where I was going. In the end guess what he said..."See you tomorrow".

It started me thinking about how busy our lives are. I often find myself doing something and not paying attention to what I am doing or what others are saying. Everyone that knows me has heard me say, "I am sorry, I was on autopilot for a minute".

We walk through much of our lives in a fog. Our minds are so full from our busy lives that we can barely concentrate on the here and now. This causes us to miss all the great things in life. Not to mention how unsafe it is to go through life not paying attention.

I have decided to consciously take time to relax and smell the roses.

The summer is going by so fast! I can not believe it is already time to start thinking about the new school year. A few of my friends have kids going off to college. I am in no hurry to do that. Can't I just keep my kids living with me forever? I do not want to send my kids off to college. I just hope that they will stay close to home and go to UW Madison.

Many kids are as stressed out and nervous as their parents. I found the perfect app to help with that. It is called CampusReady on Facebook. Facebook has everything these days. The app will be a great help to any kid going to college. I loved playing with the thing.

I love the Gift Getter. Kids can create a gift registry right on Facebook and then send it to family and friends. There is also a Dorm Room Designer that helps you figure out just what you can fit in your dorm room and how to set everything up.

I really like the Roommate Matchup! It has been all over the news that kids are meeting their new roommates on Facebook before they ever see them face to face. The matchup is a neat quiz that kids take and then invite their new roommate to take. The quiz shows them what they have in common. That would really help the two become friends and get to know each other more.

On Sears actual website you can find Sears CampusReady also. They have shopping check lists and more info for college kids and their parents.

If you go to a Sears or Kmart store you will be able to buy a reload-able gift card just for college kids. You can add money to them at a store or online anytime even though the kids are away from home. This keeps the kids from spending a ton of money before they actually need it and the parents are still able to help out when needed. The plus is that they can only spend it at Sears and not a liquor store.

There is always something that kids need. A friend of mine did not have a microwave for awhile so she lived off of whatever she could make with just an old coffee maker. She did become a very inventive cook. It is amazing how many things you can make with just a bowl and hot water.

I have recently had some extra time to try out new recipes. It helps to have the girls home over the summer! I made this recipe because I was busy cleaning and I did not want to shower, get all done up, and then drive to the next town to buy buns. That would take too much time out of my day.

I was going to make some Italian Beef Sandwiches for dinner but I forgot to get buns. I knew I had plenty of flour and yeast so I asked myself, "Why couldn't I make them myself?". Homemade bread is one of my downfalls. I love the smell of homemade bread. I am however lazy in the kitchen so my family gets to eat very tasty but ugly foods.



These are my very ugly but yummy homemade buns.

YOU WILL NEED

• 2 envelopes active dry yeast
• 3 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 8 cups all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add 1 tablespoon sugar; let stand for 5 minutes.
2. Add remaining warm water and sugar. Mix in oil, salt and 4 cups flour until smooth. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough.
   
3. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.
4. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. (I find that the perfect place is my above the stove microwave with the light under it turned on. It warms the microwave up perfectly)
5. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into equal pieces.
   
6. Shape each into an oval. Place 2" apart on greased baking sheets. (Mine are ugly because my lazy method was to flatten the dough and just cut into pieces with a pizza cutter)
7. With a knife, cut a 1/4" deep slash across the top of each. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 20 minutes.
   
8. Bake at 400F for 13-18 minutes or until golden brown.

Kids love playing with dough so this would be a great one to get the kids involved with. The kids can help knead the dough and shape the buns.

I love when my friends have babies. I get to go baby shopping again. Babies are just so adorable and I miss having babies around sometimes. Do not get me wrong. I have no interest in getting pregnant myself! I would however accept a baby if it was dropped at my doorstep.

Look at this adorable stuffed animal by Jellycat. It is a baby book and stuffed animal in one. I love adorable stuffed animals. Which is why our girls rooms are full of them.

It is so fun buying baby things for other people's kids. You find yourself buying little designer baby clothes that you would seldom get for your own kids. I love the little monkey logo on the Appaman shirts.

I also like the old traditional gifts like baby blankets. Pretty baby blankets like the pink bunny blanket by Barefoot Dreams. I always had a ton of pretty baby blankets and I do not think I ever bought even one. They were all gifts.

Lately we have had problems with one of our digital cable boxes. From time to time the picture screws up. It is usually the low number channels and it is usually when the DVR is recording something. We go back to watch a recording and find that we can not even watch it. It will have weird pixels or a message that says, "Channel will be available shortly".

I have called the cable company just to get a very long interactive troubleshooting message. That woman on the recording makes me want to wring her neck. It is like 30 minutes of "Please unplug your cable box and say continue when you are finished. If you do not understand what I am saying say help." A lot of the messages are much longer and if any noise is made while she talks she will then say, "I am sorry, maybe you did not understand. I will start again." She will then repeat the whole thing.

I have gone through that. I have gone through talking to two idiots, I mean techs. Everyone has the same answer. "I will attempt to connect to your cable box and see if there is a problem." Then the next response is always, "I have sent a message to your cable box to rest it but it will take sometimes more than an hour to finish so give it time before you call back." I am assuming that in moron, I mean tech terms this really means, "I have no idea what is wrong and I can not fix it. Please do not call back during my shift. Let someone else deal with it."

I figure that the digital cable box is bad and I will have to get a new one. This means that I will have to drive into Madison and swap it. I do not drive in downtown Madison. I also have around 20 movies on the DVR waiting to be watched so I just deal with a bad picture for a few days when it happens.

James looked into Direct TV Service since it is much cheaper than what we are paying. He checked out prices and what deals Direct TV had. He even got as far as picking a package and starting the sign up process.

He asked me to get my bank card and I started to get excited. They have some great deals and great channels. A lot of times the equipment is free as long as you contract to stay with them for awhile.

That is where the problem came in. As you all know we move a lot because of James work. This is the first time in years that we have lived somewhere more than a year. This means that if we want a Direct TV System we have to buy it ourselves. We would have to pay like $350 up front for the equipment and then get back $5 a month that we stayed with them.

So unless some company wants to give us the equipment for free to review and write about we will be sticking to our ever failing cable company.

Okay all of you stalkers out there. I just got a email announcing that all of the Corelle Dinnerware is 20% off at Cooking.com. As I looked through the email I found my set pictured. So I thought I would give you another look into my life.


James bought these dishes for me awhile ago. We had a plain cheap set for years. We never really had a theme to our kitchen so it did not matter that the plates were not very exciting.

Now my kitchen has a Coca Cola theme so it has lots of red and black. When he saw this dinnerware set he right away bought it. He really does have a good sense of style sometimes. I guess that is a big plus since he loves to shop. At least he buys nice looking things.

I love the red and black color of the dinnerware and the fact that they go against the norm and are square. When my parents came to visit from Arizona recently my mom actually asked if she was supposed to use these dishes.

My mom is still a "saver" as I like to call it. She saves everything pretty and special for "special" occasions. I find that special occasions just do not happen often enough and I like to use my nice things. What is the point in having things if you just keep them stored away?

Well these plates are not really expensive but they look and feel like they are. They are strong heavy duty stoneware. I was shocked the first time I picked one of the plates up. They really have some weight to them.

Long story short.... all Corelle Dinnerware including this one is on sale right now for 20% off.

Corelle Spice Alley Square Dinnerware Set - Save 20% at Cooking.com! (Just $94.99)


Corelle Spice Alley Square Dinnerware Set - New from Corelle, the Hearthstone dinnerware line is a collection inspired by the spice markets of distant lands. In exotic colors like Chili Red, these dinnerware pieces are oversized and heavier than the traditional Corelle - contemporary shapes in softened hues that exude character and warmth.

The winners have been picked for the Pillbury Doughboy and recipe book giveaway.
The two winners were...

Reeni from Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice
Stephanie from :: steph chows ::

Congrats to you both!

Life has been crazy this last week. My parents came for their once a year trip from Arizona. When they leave it really gets me missing living in Arizona by them. It does make for an extra crazy week though. As soon as they left the girls wanted to just sit and relax. So I made them their favorite goofy food... Fried Worm Sandwiches.

We have been making these for years. They can always get a giggle out of my girls and they are simple to make.

All you need to do is cut hot dogs into strips lengthwise and them cook them. Cooking them can be as simple as throwing them in the microwave or you can cook them in a frying pan. Either way the strips start to plump up and curl as they cook. This makes them into the silly looking worms.

I like to serve them in a big pile on a plate so the kids can pick up the "worms" themselves and make their own Fried Worm Sandwiches. This also makes a great fun and cheap meal for kids parties.

Who would not want this cute Pillsbury Doughboy and the collector's edition Pillsbury Bake Off prize winning recipes? Even Bridget could not wait! I think she liked that the Doughboy even giggles. Well, two of my lucky readers will win these great gifts too. You can also enter The Erickson Looney Bin giveaway on our other blog.


For sixty years Pillsbury has held the Bake Off but this is the first year that readers can help the judging by voting on the recipes. Every two weeks, from now until October 1st, there will be two recipes that will compete for votes. There have been some pretty interesting recipes so far. Some look very tasty and some make me curious. The one with crumbled bacon in a cookie made me very curious.



Now is your chance for more fun. Not only can you vote for the winners of the bake off, but thanks to MyBlogSpark you can win these great prizes too. I was excited to receive these in the mail and I am just as excited to give two prize packages away. The recipe book has some great recipes. I can not wait to try some of them. The Chocolate Chip Oats'n Caramel Cookie Squares on the front cover will be the first one I try.

To enter you have to have a U.S. mailing address because of shipping. I am sorry but I am not mailing them out myself.

The winner will be a randomly chosen number that will correspond with a comment number. For this reason each entry you make must be a separate comment or you will not get all the entries you deserve.

If you comment using the URL option I can contact you through your website to let you know if you win. If you do not have a website for me to contact you at you can leave your email address in your comment.


**HOW YOU CAN ENTER**

Your main entry will be to comment on this post about why you would like to win.

EXTRA ENTRIES

*Blog about the Bake Off and Giveaway and include a link back to this post. Make a new comment here with the URL to your post.

*Follow this blog - It is on the left sidebar. If you are already a follower it still counts. Make a new comment here that includes your follower name.

*Subscribe to the RSS Feed (left side bar) and make a new comment.

*Add the Your Fun Family Blog to your blogroll. Make a new comment and be sure to use your URL when you post it.

*Fav the Your Fun Family Blog on Technorati and make a new comment.

*Share this giveaway post on Kirtsy, Digg, Twitter, Stumble, or anything else you can think of. Each one counts for one entry so each should have a separate comment. It must include the link where it can be found to count.


I will be deleting comments that do not follow the rules so others get a fair chance. Remember that two winners will be chosen so the odds are better. If the second random comment chosen is of the same person as the first another number will be chosen. The winners will have 48 hours to email me with their mailing address. If they fail to contact me a new winner will be chosen.

Goodluck!