Accent Furniture Giveaway (ends Aug. 7th)

Where do you go to find discounted home accents like dining chairs, rugs, kitchen furniture, shelving and bathroom decor?

Check out AccentFurnitureDirect.com - I just did.

They have a lot of items I see in some of my favorite cataloges but the prices seem smaller while the selection is much larger!

The people of CSN stores have even offered a $20 gift certificate to one TwoferMom reader to use toward a purchase on the AccentFurnitureDirect.com site.

Check out the notNeutral collection including this swanky dinnerware.

How to enter the giveaway

Entries must be made by 11:59 August 7, 2009.

Remember to leave a separate comment with link for each entry!

1. Leave a comment

2. Grab my button for your blog's sidebar

3. Subscribe to the TwoferMom RSS feed

That's it - easy peasy!

Winner will be chosen by Random.org

What would you buy?

Janine

Cross Post & Giveaway - Where I go for last minute baby gifts

This is a cross-post and giveaway from over at my Twofer Thumbs Up blog but I wanted to highlight it here because it's for my friend and neighbor.
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Everyone say Hi to my neighbor Sharina. (((waving)))
Sharina has got a sewing machine and isn’t afraid to use it.
Sharina, owner of BlankiesBurpsandBibs.com, is where I turn for last-minute baby gifts. And because I’m a last-minute kind of gal, I’m at Sharina’s house...a lot.

BlankiesBurpsandBibs.com has all kids of great things for mom, baby, and little kids including bibs, blankets, clothing, stroller tags, even hair bows!

The matching bibs and burp clothes have been a huge hit with my friends.

These little dresses are so cute!



You can even get matching dresses for your big and little girl!

This Snacker Packer is ingenious.

Tuck a small bowl inside for easy snacking without all the mess. Little hands can reach in and you can tie it up easily. A clip keeps the snacks from flying off the stroller and onto the floor. The bag is reusable, better for the environment than plastic baggies, and washable!

Do you need last minute gifts? The good news is that you don’t have to drive to Sharina's house to shop. You can shop online at www.blankiesburpsandbibs.com .

Enter to Win a Snacker Packer!


I have in my hot little hands THIS Snacker Packer (see above photo) to give away to one lucky reader. Here’s what you need to do:

{Go To Twofer Thumbs Up to enter}

Contest open to US residents in the 48 contiguous states, and ends June 10, 2009 at 11:59pm. Winner will be chosen using Random.org and notified via email or Twitter and will have 3 days to claim the prize.

Good luck!
Janine

Product supplied by
Blankies, Burps & Bibs

Try Care.com FREE this weekend!

If you haven't yet signed up for Care.com this is the weekend to do it!

What is Care.com?

Care.com is a membership site where you can review profiles, references AND background checks done for all kinds of caregivers including:
Child care
Special needs
Pet sitters
Senior care
Housekeeping

Care.com FREE Weekend

Next weekend (April 24-26 2009) Care.com will be offering you the benefits of a paid, premium membership FREE.

Starting midnight (PST) on Friday, April 24 and running through Sunday, April 26 you can post jobs, review profiles, contact care providers that match your experience and hourly rate requirements and even run a background check!

Click on the Care.com button at the top left of this blog to check it out then come back and let me know who you found to help out on your next date night.

I can't wait to see who is available in my area!
Janine

Cross Post - Win an Electrolux "Kelly Green" washer and dryer

Want to know how you can get your hands on a set of really cool, eco-friendly, and efficient Electrolux washer and dryer like this.....

Go to Twofer Thumbs Up and find out TWO places where you can enter to win!

But get in line...I'm all over this giveaway. Green is definitely MY color!
Janine

The Ultimate Blog Party 09 - My first!

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

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

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

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

My Twofer: L on left , M on right

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

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

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

Me in Nashville at Blissdom 09

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Janine

Yoplait Yo-Plus Yogurt Review and Giveaway! {CONTEST CLOSED}

{Congratulations to the WINNERS!}
Random.org picked the following winners:
So congratulations to: 1) quitecontrary1977 2) Spooky and 3) Jenn
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Yogurt is the go-to snack in our house. It's good for you, and more importantly, with 2 bottomless pits called L and M, it fills you up.

I've recently started back at the gym after taking a few months off because I was... just too busy - is that the lamest excuse or what? Anyway, along with working out regularly, I'm really trying to watch what I eat because frankly, that twin tummy is starting to creep back into existence.

That's why I was thrilled to find out my first MyBlogSpark review would be the new Yo-Plus Blueberry Acaí yogurt from Yoplait. At only 110 calories, Yo-Plus is the perfect snack to take the edge off that 3:00 hunger. Yo-Plus has only 1.5 grams of fat and is a good source of fiber, calcium,and vitamin A and D.And the taste? I loved it and The Twofer loved it!

Right now Yo-Plus is now offering a $1.50 off downloadable coupon for a
4-pack of yogurt so there's no excuse not to try it.

What's more, Yoplait is giving me 3 Gift Bags to giveaway to my readers that include:

• a sweet cooler tote bag (Great for packing healthy snacks on those long car rides)

• a 36 oz water bottle (to last all day and it's BPA-Free)
  

• and mini journal to track what you eat, and when you exercise (I always do better when I write down what I eat and this little journal is small enough to fit in your purse or back pocket so you really can take it everywhere.)

• a coupon for a FREE 4-pack of Yo-Plus yogurt (Try the Blueberry Acai, I swear you'll love it.)
  

How can you win one of these great Yoplait Gift Bags?
You can enter up to four times leaving a separate comment for each:

1. Leave a comment and share with me one of your tips for staying healthy.
2. Tweet this contest on Twitter and leave a separate comment with the tweet url.
3. NEW! I have a new Twofer button! Grab the code and add it to your own blog then leave yet another comment with a link (I'm happy to return the favor too!)
4. Email your friends a link to this contest and cc me (scarytwins [at] yahoo [dot] com)

Contest ends Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 10pm
Three winners will be chosen by Random.org and announced Monday, March 2nd.

Good luck!
Now, back to my stomach crunches....502, 503, 504...

Janine

UPDATE: Pacific Shaving- Twofer Thumbs Up for giving and giving

**12/13/09 UPDATE**
WINNER is...MommaDJane! Congrats and your going to change the way you shave forever!
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If you hate shaving, you will love this post and the giveaway. And this one isn't just for the ladies - GUYS, you are in for a treat too! As I've mentioned before, I am a huge fan of Pacific Shaving Company's all natural shaving oil.It's all natural. It's powerful - just a few drops is all you need. It's packaged in a travel-friendly and eco-friendly little bottle. And, it's works better than any 'skin sensitive' shaving cream I have ever tried.

As the Mr. said recently, "I should be the poster-boy for this company! I haven't shaved in a month and I don't even have a rash!"
As my friend described it, "It's the Tivo of shaving. Once you try it, you wonder how you ever lived without it."

And so I am giving away not one, but two bottles of Pacific Shaving Company All Natural Shaving Oil (1/2 ounce bottle gives you up to 100 shaves) to celebrate the fact that my husband now might shave more frequently!

What's more, this post is also in honor of Bloggers Give, a new website devoted to the mission of collecting extra blog giveaways for the purpose of donating them to needy causes. Pacific Shaving Company has pledged a Twofer - they are giving me two bottles to give away, and 2 bottles to Bloggers Give!

Here's how to enter and note: the more you do, the more entries you have:

1. Leave a comment with your thoughts on shaving...(I hate it, I love it, I've moved on to waxing..) and remember this is mostly a family show.
2. Tweet this contest and leave link in separate comment
3. Follow my blog (in right column just under Kajeet) and mention that in comment
4. Here's a new one, friend me at Wishpot and add Pacific Shaving Company All Natural Shaving Oil to your list (then leave another comment here)

Contest ends Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 11:59pm.
Winner will be chosen by Random.org an announced on Friday, February 13, 2009.

Happy shaving!
(for more great giveaways visit: 5 Minutes for Mom)
Janine

Milkshake- the band that keeps on giving! **WINNER**

***WINNER announced 2/3***
Thanks everyone for entering! Debbie N. has won the Milkshake prize pack.
Enjoy the music Debbie!
Janine

Original Post
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For parents like me who dislike most kids music, there are a few bands that have pulled me, along with my twins, into their fold.

For this post I'm going to focus exclusively on Milkshake for several reasons:

1. They are a 'local' band based in Baltimore (but travel so check their tour dates) and they passed the "dance test"
2. They 'get' the power of mom blogs and are generous enough to provide a most excellent Prize Package.
3. Vocalist Lisa Mathews has tapped into my inner ballerina with her fabulous selection of tutus. I heart tutus.

So let's begin with the dance test.
If the Twofer are not dancing within the first 3 minutes of hearing a new CD or DVD, the music has not passed the test.
With the Milkshake Screen Play
DVD the girls were up and dancing (curse me for not having the Flip video going at the time) in 1 minute, 43 seconds. They immediately recognized the songs from years of listening to Sirius Kids radio, and were mesmerized by the video of the band. I take for granted that I grew up watching music videos on MTV and well, where have all the videos gone?

Click Here to listen to Milkshake songs and give your kid their own "dance test".

Moving on to the GIVEAWAY:
Milkshake is so hip, so cool, and so supportive that they have given bloggers like me a chance to reward our wonderful readers. Here's the Prize Package:

• 1 copy of the CD "Play!" that has tracks made famous by ToddWorld and DiscoveryKids

• 1 copy of the new DVD "SCREEN PLAY!" that has all kids of music videos, clips of the band backstage, and lots of really fun music

• 1 copy of the Milkshake comic book (which I've discovered is a great way to encourage reading!)

Here's how you enter to win:
Leave a comment with your favorite Milkshake song/video OR tell me who you will be giving this fabulous prize pack to, should you win.

Extra entries:

• Follow this blog (in right column just under Kajeet button click follow then leave me note in comment)
  
• Blog about this contest and link back to this post (leave link in a separate comment)
• Tweet about this contest (leave link to tweet in a separate comment)
• Email your friends and cc me: scarytwins [at] yahoo [dot] com (great for all my non-blogging friends to get an extra entry)

Deadline to enter: Tuesday, February 3 at 12 Noon, ET.
Winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced Tuesday before I go to the fake ABBA concert (more on that later).

Good luck! And Thanks Milkshake!
Janine

PARENTise = Parent + Wise

Compare and contrast - we all do it. Especially when it comes to things relating to our kids. It helps us make wise choices.
"What music class did you like?"
"Which swim instructor is the best?"
"Did you like the soccer program?"

Thanks to a new site, PARENTise, you can view and submit ratings for all kinds of services including classes, schools, sitting services, pediatricians, and lots more. It's free and shows local services based on your zip code.

Plus - to celebrate the beta release of the PARENTise site, they are having a 14 Days of Giveaways blog tour! Each day there is a new giveaway announced on a new blog and today I have the honor of celebrating with Ellie Bellie Kids!

Go to the PARENTise blog for details on how to enter to win either an
EBK reversible lavender/lime tutu
or an
EBK mini messenger bag

Then join PARENTise and let me know if you leave a review - or if you win a giveaway!

Janine