Happy 10 Year Anniversary

To us! It is kind of amazing that ten years ago today I was marrying my husband. On one hand it feels like it was just yesterday, while on the other it feels like it was forever ago. I quickly scanned photobucket to see f I had and wedding photos I could share here and luckily I found a few.

It is somewhat depressing looking at my much thinner self before four kids utterly destroyed my body. One of these days I'll get back down to that weight... or at least pretty close.

Our wedding ceremony took place outside, overlooking a lake in Western Connecticut. The day started off with some overcast, but we were lucky it turned into a perfect, sunny day.

Cheers to our first 10 years together and here's to many more yet to come!

I Love Black Friday Shopping

I am not ashamed to admit that I am addicted to Black Friday shopping. After the total bust that was Black Friday 2011, I was determined to get in a good shop this time around. My sister-in-law (and partner in crime) and I had a good game plan set once again. For weeks we went over (and over) the adscans on BFads.net and yes, we both have the mobile app on our iPhones. Let me tell you, that app is great for making your list and being able to carry it with you on your phone.

So we started off at our local Walmart at about 7:45 PM Thanksgiving evening. It was pretty peaceful compared to the hell that was the other Walmart in 2011 that is just a few towns away. We grabbed the stuff we wanted, said hi to  my neighbor and were on our way by 8:30. Next stop? Target. I was thrilled that we made it with time to spare for their 9"00 opening. we waited outside in the cold for 20 minutes, let a stranger take our annual Black Friday photo and then made our way inside. Target by far has the most organized black Friday shopping experience and it makes me love them even more. Once again, we were out done and back in my van within 30 minutes.

It is at this point where we made a critical error. We needed to hit Walmart again for their 10:00 PM deals. But instead of driving back to the one in our town, we decided to go to the one next door to target. The hell one that I mentioned earlier. Biggest. Mistake. Ever. It was pure and utter chaos. It took us about an hour to get out with the one item that we needed. It would have taken far less time to drive back to the first store. Lesson learned. We vowed never to go there on Black Friday again.

Our next store was Kohl's for their midnight opening. There is a brand spanking new Kohl's in our town and for whatever reason, hardly anyone was their for the Black Friday doorbusters. We enjoyed a nice leisurely stroll through the store while I grabbed Imaginext toys for $50 off plus Star Wars Angry Birds underwear. And since Kohl's is so awesome, I even got to use two coupons on my order, saving me even more.

Our last stop was Game Stop which ended up being kind of a bust. I bought a few pre-owned games in the buy 2 get 1 free deal, but ended up returning them the next day since i was able to get them cheaper online and brand new.

At the end of the night, we had my minivan pretty full of loot. I was rater impressed with our haul. But most importantly, I had an awesome time with one of my dearest friends.

I got back home around 1:30 AM, which is pretty early considering. I'd like to say I went to sleep at this point, but I didn't. Instead I shopped online deals for the next 90 minutes. But I got all but one thing on my list and for that, I was a happy shopper.

Of course we are now suffering from the post-Black Friday blues. The letdown after the adrenaline rush is such a bummer.

How did you make out this Black Friday? Is it an addiction for you like it is for me?

My Playlists

I like to listen to a variety of music throughout the day. My taste is somewhat eclectic and you will find a little bit of everything on my iPod. Even a little Phantom of the Opera. The current blog hop over on MomDot asks "What is on your Playlist?" This is what I am currently listening to on my iPhone.

My Pandora stations:

Current Hits playlist on my Amazon MP3 Cloud Player (love this app by the way and I prefer buying music on Amazon over iTunes).

What is on your playlist?

An Interview With Myself

Another fun blog hop from Trisha over at MomDot. This time the topic is An Interview with Myself with a few questions that will help you get to know me better.

What advice would you give your 16 year old self? 
The first thing that comes to mind is related to college. Do not let anyone pressure you into choosing a major just for the sake of having one. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but pressure from my school guidance counselor and others led me to choose accounting as my major.  I hated it and after two years ended up switching to what I really wanted to do. If you aren't sure what you want, pick something general like liberal arts or communications that way you can get all of your core classes done.

If you had a plane ticket in your hand right now to go anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Hawaii because I have never been and I desperately want to go. I know it will be breathtaking.

What did you want to be when you grew up and did you follow your dreams?
I always gravitated towards art and design in school and for a while I wanted to be an Interior Designer. By the time I graduated high school though I had no idea. I did end up going to school for web and graphic design and have an Associates Degree in Multimedia Development and Management. So yes, I still ended up choosing something design related!

How many pets do you own?
None, and I am quite happy that way. I grew up with lots of pets: dog, cats, birds. But right now I am very content not having any. Four kids is enough to take care of for now. When the kids are all grown and I have an empty nest, I may get a dog. A girl dog so that that I can finally dress someone in purple tutus. 

What was your first car? 
My first car was a teal Ford Tempo. I don't remember the year, maybe a 1993 or 1994? Sadly I do not have any pictures of it. It wasn't very pretty, but it lasted me 4 years so I can't complain.

What about you? How would you answer some of these questions?

Five Things I Could Not Live Without Daily

This week I am participating in a fun blog prompt / carnival over on MomDot asking what are five things you could not live without. As you can see, mine mostly include technology.

What are five things you could not live without? Here are mine:

Kindle 
I love to read. LOVE. I have over 250 books on my Kindle and I am slowly making my way through them all. Lately I have been reading one book per day. When I first got it I wasn't sure how I would like reading on something digital, but it is awesome. I have a library of books to choose from at any time that I can carry around in my purse.

Coffee
I start and end my day with a cup of organic coffee brewed in my Keurig. Even though it is deaf, I still couldn't live without it.

Music
Whether it is on my very ancient iPod or just listening to a local radio station, I need music to get through my day. It makes the tedious tasks like after meal cleanup more bearable.

Water Bottles
Other than my coffee, I only drink iced water. But if I don't fill up a large bottle and leave it out on the counter, I am usually so busy that I forget to drink. So it is important that I keep one filled and ready. I probably have at least a dozen various water bottles shoved in my cabinets.

iPhone
I could not, would not live without my iPhone. Seriously, probably the most important thing and I don't know what I did before I had it. I love having my social media networks easily accessible to me whenever I want. And email. And the MomDot forums. And...you get the point.

I May Need to Rethink this Tooth Fairy Business

Our oldest son, W, is seven. A little over a year ago he lost his first tooth and I thought I was a darn genius for the Tooth Fairy gift I left him. I had read stories and statuses of children getting like $5 and $10 bills from the tooth fairy and that just wasn't going to happen in our house. Especially not with four kids and four mouths full of teeth. So I came up with the oh so brilliant idea of a re-gifting tooth fairy. You see, I have two big boxes in my attic full of my "vintage" LEGO Star Wars sets. And by vintage, I mean about 12 years old and no longer made. That night when he lost his first tooth, the tooth fairy left him a shiny new $1 coin and one of my LEGO kits. He was thrilled and that made me happy.

Two nights ago he lost his sixth tooth. And by lost, I mean my husband yanked it out because it was dangling. For every one of the six teeth that have come out, he has received one of my LEGO Star Wars sets and a $1 coin. Because once you start something, you can't stop. Now in theory, this is not a bad idea. It reuses old toys in the attic, costs me nothing (except the $1 coin) and makes the child very happy.  I still think it is a good idea... if you have just one child. Maybe two.

After the tooth fairy placed the recent prize under his pillow is when it hit me. I don't have one or two kids, I have four. I know I have enough LEGO kits to get through all of W's baby teeth - but then what do I do with the next three kids? I am not running out and buying new LEGO sets for all of them, but if they don't get the same things their big brother got, they will be devastated. I have completely set myself up for disaster. I wish I had started off with just the $1 coin and no toys at all. Me and my big ideas.

So now I am rethinking this and trying to come up with a better game plan. What do your kids get from the tooth fairy?

Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh

Because if you don't laugh, you will cry. Loud, big huge sobbing type of crying. Or just lose your darn mind. Or both. This is what happens in my house when you take 10 minutes to get the five year old twins ready for the bus and are not watching the two year old like a hawk.

Yes, my two year old did this. All on his own. He's lucky he is cute.

Do your kids ever do things that are so outrageous that you resort to giggles as a coping mechanism?

Disappointed with Nintendo Repair Service

My son's Nintendo DSi XL stopped reading games last week. He takes excellent care of his DS so I was surprised that we were having issues with it. So I called tech support.  I was informed that my warranty was still good and I could send it in to be repaired. The only way the repair would not be covered is if the issue was due to physical damage, like a liquid being spilled on or in it. I knew that something like that never happened, so I sent it in expecting to fall under the warranty.

This morning I received an email from Nintendo to let me know the status of my repair had been updated. I was pretty shocked to see this:

"Our repair technician has evaluated your system and determined that the cause of the problem is not covered by our warranty because it was not caused by a manufacturer's defect. Our technicians found that the game slot connector pins are bent, broken, or misaligned. This damage is the cause of the problem with your system."

Wait, what? First of all, which is it? Is the pin bent, broke or misaligned? Apparently they cannot be that specific. Once they were open, I called up Nintendo customer service again to see if I could get some clarification on this. I asked how in the world could my seven year old have damaged a pin inside the game card slot? The representative from Nintendo said he couldn't be sure, but that usually it is caused by a game card being forced in the wrong way or being shoved in too hard. I can assure you that my son did not do that because I supervise all my kids when they play video games. I explained as much to the representative - oh well for me though.

Does Nintendo really make such low quality products that they can't even last a year? My son takes excellent care of his DS system and all of the games. When they are not in use, they are neatly put away in his carrying case. I don't for a minute believe that this issue was due to "physical damage" caused by the user. I searched around on the Nintendo technical support forums and found other threads where people were having the same issue. So it seems like it is pretty common to me and therefor a manufacturing defect. The systems should be made better so that pins cannot break so easily.

So how much is this little pin (or perhaps several pins) going to set me back you ask? Well just the repair alone is $80. Once you add in shipping and tax, the total is $95. Oh but they try convincing me this is a good deal because it is 53% cheaper then buying a new system for $170. Well currently, Target and K-Mart both have the DSi XL on sale for $130 - so really not so much of a great deal then. I don't have the money just laying around, and I am beyond angry and disappointed that I have to repair such a young system. But my son is a good kid who works hard at school and doesn't deserve to lose his gaming system just because it is made poorly. So now I have to decide if I want to pay $80 to fix a used system or pay $130 for a completely new system. A K-Mart gift card I have will bring my out of pocket expense for a new one down to $80. With shipping and tax it is about 50 cents cheaper to get the new one rather than fix the old one.

So yes, I am disappointed. And angry. This is a win-win situation for Nintendo because one way or the other, they are getting $95 of my money. And I can't help but feeling like they are taking advantage of me and countless others. What happened to making quality products that would last for years?

I Am Kindle Obsessed

I have always been a big reader ever since grade school. In my young adult days I enjoyed mystery and romance books. In my twenties I moved onto Star Wars novellas, which probably sounds odd for a young woman to be reading. But once I became a mom, I had less time to read. By the time I had our fourth son, I just flat out stopped reading. With four children under five, um yeah there was not enough time for me to go to the bathroom, let alone read a book. It was not until I got my Kindle Touch this past November that my love for reading was reignited. I forgot how much fun it was to get completely lost in a good book. I immediately got caught up on the latest Star Wars series and read 8 books in 5 months to finish it out.

In between there I read The Hunger Games Trilogy, which only took me four days to get through. See when the book is that good, I have a hard time putting it down. And having it on the Kindle makes it that much easier for me to tote around with me. My husband quickly started to dislike said Kindle because my spare time was being devoted to reading and not him. And then Fifty Shades of Grey came along and all of my time period was devoted to reading. I couldn't put that series down and finished it in three days.

Currently I am in a vicious reading cycle alternating between the A Game of Thrones series, which is incredible, and the Fifty Shades of Grey series. It has been going something like this:

A Game of Thrones
Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy
Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy
A Clash of Kings
Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy
A Storm of Swords
Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy
A Storm of Swords (continued)

These are my two favorite book series right now, even though they are so different from each other. A Game of Thrones is intense and so well written and the character development is unbelievable. Those books usually take me at least a week to read. And when I finish one, I find I need a break from the intensity and need a little Christian Grey to lift my spirits. Yes, I have read the Fifty Shades series four times. And each time I read all three books in three days. (Obsessed much?)

And now my Kindle obsession has grown to downloading tons and tons of free books. Often, Amazon has promotions to download select eBooks for free. I started following Pixel of Ink blog where you can find at least two postings a day of free Amazon eBooks. I usually download several books a day thanks to this site. I have no idea when I am going to read them as I now have hundreds of books, but they are free so why not? I will get to them eventually.

Who else out there is obsessed with their eReader? How has an eReader made reading easier or better for you?  What are you reading right now?

What a Difference A Deck Can Make

One of the features that we loved about our house when we bought it almost nine years ago was the screened in deck off the back. How nice it was going to be to sit outside without the bugs bothering us! In the beginning we did enjoy it and when our first son was born, he had fun in his baby and water table out there. As our family grew, we realized a lot of inconvenience about our deck. It was on the smaller side and we instantly went from a family of three to a family of five, so all of being out there together did not work out very well. But more importantly is the placement of this deck. Instead of being off the main living areas of the kitchen or family room, it is off of a side room down the hall from the kitchen.

So we decided to build a larger deck directly off of the kitchen. We went to Home Depot to start researching the different options that were available. We looked at pressure treated wood, composite railing and decking and PVC decking. After pricing it all out and weighing the pros and cons, we decided to go with composite. The extra cost was worth it to us since composite does not need to be painted or stained. With the help of friends and family, my husband built a large deck on the back of the house for us. The he took out the bay window in the kitchen and replaced it with a sliding glass door.

Building the new deck was such a smart investment for us. Yes it increases the value of your home, but more importantly it gave us additional space for our family. Now the kids can run and play on the deck with plenty of room while I make their lunch inside. Since the deck is directly off the kitchen, I can see every move they make. And the deck was a life saver for me when my fourth son was  born. Having a six month old baby to care for all day meant there was barely any time for me to go outside in the yard with the older three. They were too young to be outside in the yard without an adult, but they could go on the deck while I stayed on the deck with the little one.

Of course our old deck is all but abandoned now. The room it is off of is the playroom and no one goes out there anymore. I don't think you could get the door opened with all of the toys in there, even if you did want to go out on that deck. But it is a shame for it to go unused. I may clean it up for the summer and make it a little outdoor office so I can watch the boys play from there and not be attacked by insects. Or I could just put a single lounge chair in there and it could be a quiet, shaded, bug-free place for me to read all of my Kindle books. That actually sounds fantastic.

Do you have a deck on your house? Does your family spend a lot of time out there.

Popular Themes for a Boys Birthday Party

It appears as though the busy party season is upon us. We already have two First Communions to attend in May, not to mention our twins 5th birthday. Plus with three kids in elementary school, the chances of one of them bringing home a birthday part invitation is pretty good. I'm exhausted just thinking about it all. I am fearful of when my boys hit their tween and teen years and they start getting invited to big parties like a 16th birthday or Bar or Bat Mitzvah as well. As they get older, the parties and the gifts get more expensive. Luckily, I have a few years still til wee get to that stage.

As I looked over our upcoming busy May calendar to pick a day for our twins' party, I got to wondering about what type of party to have. Typically we do a very low key family party at home. Since they are in preschool, I'm not doing a school friends party just yet. In fact I am avoiding those for as long as I can! But since it is their 5th birthday, I thought that it would be nice to do a theme form them this year. So I started browsing through popular boy party ideas.

The Avengers. With The Avengers movie hitting theaters on May 4th, this will probably be one of the most popular themes for a boy's party this Spring. I've even spotted some pretty cool Avengers party supplies. All of our boys love Marvel super heroes and since the older three already have a Captain America, Thor and Iron Man costume, there is a good chance we may go this route. I just need to pick up a Hulk costume for the two year old. Trust me, it is a very fitting character for him.

LEGO. Anything LEGO themed always seems to be popular with boys. And Star Wars LEGOs are an obsession in this house. I have a huge box of LEGOs that I bought on Black Friday, so the kids could have fun building with the blocks during the party. We could even do Minifigure party favors for the kids to take home with them. Pinterest also has a slew of crafty ideas for a LEGO themed party, but I stink at crafts and making things myself.

Angry Birds. It seems everywhere I turn these days I see Angry birds. Ironically my boys love this game too, even though I never let them touch my iPhone. It is off limits. But twice a week when Grammy visits, they corner her and she gives them her iPhone for them to take turns on. You can imagine the carrying on we here then as they argue over who's goes first and who has the next turn. (Thanks Grammy). An Angry Birds party could be a lot of fun and there are a ton of party game ideas out there for the guests to have fun with.

As of now I think I am leaning towards The Avengers theme since I  know they will love it and their birthday is less than two weeks after the movie comes out.  One thing I do know for sure is that regardless of what theme we go with, we will once again be renting a bounce house. We have rented one for the past few years and it is great for keeping the kids outside and out of the house and ensuring a good night's sleep. This is the Justice League bounce house that we rented last year and it was a huge hit. I suppose we could always turn it into a The Avengers vs. The Justice League party.

What is your favorite theme for a young boy's birthday party?

This post has been brought to you by eInvite.com.

The Problem With the News Industry

So just a short while ago I was on Facebook, chatting with my cousin's wife while she is at the hospital getting ready to have a baby (and that is why I love Facebook!) when I saw something somewhat disturbing. I am not really big on watching the news because so much of it is sad and upsetting. I avoid it most of the time. When I do turn on the news every now and then, I watch NBC Connecticut, so I also follow them on Facebook. Anyway, this is what I just saw:

So a car slams into a house, and the first thing they are posting is if any fans have photos? Really? I think that is in incredibly poor taste. How about letting us know that everyone is OK or showing some kind of concern for the living beings that were involved? No instead let's put a request out for photos of what might be a bad accident. Are they hoping that someone on that street sees their request and runs out to take a picture? All the while people may be suffering and receiving medical attention. Awful. Just awful.

Thank you NBC Connecticut for reminding my I dislike the news industry.

I'm Enjoying the Spring Weather

Spring is by far my favorite season. I don't like Winter because I hate the cold and the snow. I'm not crazy about summer because I don't handle heat well and our piddly window A/C units cost too much to run regularly. Autumn isn't so bad. I enjoy the cooler weather, but I don't like seeing the plants and trees turning brown and blah. But Spring is nearly perfect. I love the cooler mornings with the mildly warm afternoons. I love seeing flowers blooming and trees budding and green returning to the world. OK, I am not a fan of the allergies that accompany all that green. That I could do without.

We have had a beautiful week of weather in Connecticut this week to coincide with the kids' Spring Break. Monday the temperature inched very close to 90 degrees and well, that did not make me happy at all. However, every day since then has been gorgeous, perfect Spring weather. On Tuesday while my 2 year old napped, I moved my office outside on the deck so I could enjoy it while the rest of the boys played in the yard. It was awesome.

My perfect, outdoor office.

I spent about 2.5 hours out here getting some work done on my blog while listening to my kids run around. Often times I would see one run by with a lightsaber. Because where every my kids are, Star Wars follows. Having an outdoor office for just a few hours was pretty amazing and even relaxing. This is definitely something I need to keep on doing while the weather is still nice.

 Do you ever move your office outside to do some work?
 

Kindergarten, Here They Come!

Next month our twin boys will be turning five, and well, I can't believe it. It feels like just yesterday they were little infants in my arms but yet it also feels like it was so long ago. It has been a long five years as we worked through speech delays and developmental delay and now finally, this August they will be heading off to kindergarten. I am nervous, but not like I was for my oldest. It is not like sending off your first born to school for the first time. I am nervous about how well they will transition from 2.5 hours of preschool to 6 hours of kindergarten. Nervous about moving from a preschool class specifically for preschoolers with needs and delays, to a traditional classroom. I know they are going to do great, but it is my job as a mom to worry.

Then there is a part of me that is insanely excited.  It has been almost five year since they were born, and that means it is also been almost five years since I stopped working outside of the house. We had all of our children close together (four under four = CRAZY) and so while I enjoy being home with them and wouldn't change a thing, it is a lot of hard work. All moms know that our job title doesn't come with sick days, holidays, nights and weekends off, or vacation time. Being a mom is a 24 hour a day job, 365 days a year. So yes, I welcome the fact that in a few months from now, I will have three children in school full time. Leaving me with just one little monkey for most of the day.

I look forward to doing so many things with him. We are going to go to the library for story time, to the park for play time and anything else free that I can find for us to do. Things I never did with my oldest because he was in daycare all day while I worked. Things I never did once I stopped working because as crazy as I am, I am not quite crazy enough to bring four kids to the park alone.

And I must admit, I am looking forward to the quiet. Six hours of no fighting over LEGOs or Star Wars figures. Six hours of no whining about who did what to who. Six hours without constantly hearing "mommy. mommy. mommy. mommy." Six hours of just one child, which is a piece of cake when compared to three or four. I am excited for it. I can't wait for it. I probably should feel guilty about it. But I don't. Not even the slightest. I think I've earned it.

How did you feel once all of your kids started school?

Motorcycles Scare Me

I have never been a big fan of motorcycles. And I had never been on one until I started dating my now husband twelve years ago. On our third date, he picked me up on his Yamaha motorcycle. I was a little taken aback since I had never rode on a motorcycle before then and he hadn't even told me about it. A heads up sure would have been nice. Reluctantly, I climbed on the back and held on for dear life. I was only slightly terrified. OK very terrified.

photo source: morguefile.com

What scares me about motorcycles is how prone you are on one. You are driving on the highway, at least doing 55mph with nothing at all between you and the other vehicles on the road.  Of course there are also the reckless motorcycle drivers that make the roads dangerous for everyone. You know the ones I am talking about. They drive way too fast and weave in and out of cars on the highway.

Fortunately, my husband was never one for those drivers. At least not during our time together. I can't speak for what he was like pre-Marianna. He was always very careful, especially whenever I was on the bike with him. So thankfully he never needed a motorcycle accident lawyer or a serious accident attorney. But sadly, you always hear about or read about horrific motorcycle accidents. Often they are fatal motorcycle accidents. And not all are the fault of the motorcycle driver. I have seen my fair share of car drivers cut off motorcycles or simply not see them and pull out in front of them.

What is even scarier is that in Connecticut, there is no motorcycle helmet law. I think this is absolutely absurd. We have bicycle helmet laws, but we allow people driving at high speeds on motorcycles the option of wearing helmet or not. And so many riders here choose not to wear one. I don't get it.

My husband ended up selling the Yamaha and getting a Harley Davidson back around 2004. I will admit it was a beautiful, chromed out bike. But I never rode it much. Once I had children, I really had no desire to get on it. He has since sold that bike as well, which while hard for him, is good in way because now our boys are not fascinated with it. I dread the day that they come home and say they want a motorcycle. My heart will break a little if that ever happens.

How do you feel about motorcycles? Do you hate them or love them? Would you let your teenager drive one?

It Is Good To Be Home

So I have been MIA for well over a week now and I had to quickly pop on to say that I am alive and well. Barely. Two Friday's ago we packed the kids in the car and made the long drive from Connecticut to Florida. We then spent 6 days in an amazing house, courtesy of Global Resort Homes, and visited Walt Disney World on 5 of those days. We got back home on Sunday night, and I am still recovering. I had these grand plans of blogging every night while in Florida, but the days at Disney were just too exhausting. So now its time to play catch up and get things rolling again. Keep your eyes open for my Global Resort Homes review plus some tips I learned while traveling cross country with kids.

Wordless Wednesday: I Love a Man in Uniform #StarWars3D

My son and I had amazing time this weekend out in San Francisco for the Star Wars Episode 1: Phantom Menace in 3D press event. While I couldn't coax him into taking a picture with these members of the local 501st Legion, there was no way I was passing it up myself.

I have so much to share from our weekend now that I have recovered from my jet lag. Please check back for all of the details!

My Voice is MY Voice #FordNAIAS

I know I have been talking a lot about Ford and cars lately, so if you hate cars than I am sorry. But this is more about blogging and bloggers in general, it just so happens this topic was sparked by the 150 bloggers that Ford brought to Detroit. Apparently, since Ford paid to bring me out, paid for my hotel and fed me an obscene amount of food (which I gladly ate a ton of), that means they are buying my voice. Buying my opinions on their vehicles. That could not be further from the truth.

While we were all enjoying the Ford press conference and reveal of the Ford Fusion, we were also all tweeting like mad. It was fun and engaging. Then a Twitter argument started. I don't do drama, I don't have time for it. But while I didn't participate in the debate, I did follow it and read a long. All the time becoming more and more aggravated. Aggravated that people don't consider bloggers to be true journalists. That they think we can so easily be bought.

@Nock4Six @scottmonty journalists will give you a bad review (a good critique) when deserved, unpaid (directly) bloggers won't = waste of $

— The Sparkle Agency (@Sparkle_Agency) January 9, 2012

Just because I receive a product for "free" does not mean I will automatically praise it with a stellar review. First of all, I put a lot of time and energy into my reviews, so its not free. Instead of paying with money I pay with my time. I am picky when it comes to review items. I will only review something that I know my family will enjoy and use. So generally you won't see an all out negative review, but I will indicate any negatives of a product within my review.

And just because Ford flew me out to Detroit and pampered me does not mean they bought my voice. I had a blast out in Detroit. I met some new people who I plan to keep chatting with and engaged with a brand that clearly values social media. Ford did not give me talking points. Ford did not give me expectations of what they wanted me to tweet about or blog about. In fact, I wasn't given ANY expectations. We were able to walk freely around the auto show to look at other brands. We weren't held hostage in the Ford area. In my mind I went their to learn about their vehicles, their green initiatives and if I found it interesting, I would share it with my readers and followers. And that is what I did.

Of course a question was also raised about why Ford chose to bring mom bloggers to the show. Its not bad enough that Bloggers in general can get a bad rap, but then within the blogging community, mom bloggers get even less respect it seems. Why would a mom be an important person to show new cars too? Hmmm. Well, as a mom of 4 children I am the parent who does 90% of the transporting of said children. So myself, and other moms, play a HUGE part in the purchase of family automobiles. Mom bloggers as a whole have large followings and reach, so to me bringing out a few mom bloggers makes complete sense.

So anyway, my point is that my voice is just that: MY voice. No one can buy it. No amount of food and chocolate covered potato chips can change how I feel or influence what I say.

My 2012 Resolutions and Goals

Well it is that time again. Time to set up my resolutions and goals for the year,  most of which I will probably not complete. As you can see I am already off to a bad start since we are already 5 days into the New Year and I am just NOW writing these down. If you looked up procrastinator in the dictionary, you'd find my picture next to it for sure.

Without further ado, here is my New Year's resolution list:

• Get organized. Most of my house is a disaster zone and this has a lot to do with lack of organization. The biggest problem areas are the office, which you can barely move in, followed by the playroom. I need to purge and get rid of stuff, which I already started doing, plus get some organizational tools to help with storage.
• Get fit and lose weight. Yeah, this is a resolution I have every year. I need to eat better and exercise more. I already have some help lined up and will be trying out the Shaklee Cinch Inch Loss Program as well as exercising with Zumba Fitness 2 for my Wii.
• Go to bed earlier. I am up way too late at night because it is the only free time I have to blog. But the late night's are leaving me absolutely exhausted so I need to find a better way to manage my time. I'd love to be in bed between 10 and 11 each  night. (There are a few 10pm shows I watch).

I think I am going to stick with those three as to not overwhelm myself. Putting togther a long list is just setting myself up for failure. Last year I set about seven Green Goals and I only completed three of them. Not a very good ratio. I am really hoping to do better this year.

What are some of your New Year's resolutions and how do you plan on achieving them?

My New Look is Here!

I was planning on waiting till the end of next week do change everything, but I was too excited and couldn't wait!  Welcome to my new design! While overall the layout and color scheme is the same, the header and all of the graphic elements are new. I spent the last two weeks slaving on my laptop in Photoshop and Fireworks to design everything and I am really happy with the result.

In other big news, you will see that the name of the blog is different as well. While Green Mama's Pad will always hold a special place in my heart, I wanted to expand to a blog name which encompasses everything about me and not just my green side. So I thought what would be a better way to do that than using my name and only my name? Marianna.

I'm like Madonna now.

Well, except for all that money and stuff.

You can still find me at www.greenmamaspad.com, that will never change. I did want to buy Marianna.com to redirect to here but someone is sitting on it and asking $12,000 for it. Yeah, I don't think so.  I mean I like my name and all, but it certainly isn't worth that much.

I would love to hear what you think about the new look and name. Does it suite me better?