Look Good Feel Better

The big “C” word that no one wants to hear in their lifetime, is one of those things that I hold close to me.  Cancer is one of those diseases that carries a lot of heartache with it and no family should have to go through it.  I lost a family member to cancer and it all happened so fast.  There are many resources available to families to help people cope and to help lift their spirits.  I think that good resources like Look Good…Feel Better are so important in aiding families in the healing process and can even make a difference in recovery and survival.

Look Good Feel Better is a free, national public service program that helps women cope with the appearance-related changes of cancer treatment through workshops across the country, self-help materials, and other free information.  Look Good…Feel Better is a collaboration of the Personal Care Products Council Foundation, the American Cancer Society, Inc. and the National Cosmetology Association.  I cannot think of anything more wonderful since cancer can change a woman’s appearance so drastically with things like the loss of  hair and just how much the illness can wear on your body.  It is hard to feel pretty when you don’t feel good and are dealing with so many things.

In honor of its 20th anniversary, Look Good…Feel Better is asking women cancer survivors to submit their stories of how the program helped them cope with cancer as a way to inspire others who may currently be undergoing cancer treatment.  Entries will be featured on the Women of Hope is Beautiful blog to help educate others.  Anyone can visit the site to view entries, make comments and show their support.  In August, Look Good…Feel Better will choose five women with the most-compelling stories to receive a trip to New York City for a makeover and a trip to the DreamBall, a black-tie gala and the program’s largest annual fundraiser, held each year in New York City.

This is a great way to support a good cause and to give someone who has made it through cancer with courage, the chance of a lifetime to win a really awesome trip. Thank you Mom Central for making me aware of such a wonderful organization!

Electrolux Virtual Lemonade Stands For A Good Cause

Summer is a great time of the year for me.  I love being able to get outside and enjoy the sunshine and warmer weather.  The warm weather brings back memories of childhood and all the fun things associated with Summertime.  I can remember setting up lemonade stands on the corner with the ambitious hopes of making money to buy something.

Electrolux has created virtual way to give hope in the fight against Ovarian Cancer with their Virtual Lemonade Stand contest.  They are helping to raise funds for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, and everyone who logs on to the site and participates in the campaign will be automatically entered for a chance to win a new Electrolux French Door Refrigerator.

For every stand opened, Electrolux will donate $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF). In addition, you canhelp the cause even more by buying and sending virtual glasses of lemonade to your friends and family, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting OCRF. This is a great way to celebrate the beginning of summer.  Even better, just for opening your stand, and then again every day that you log in and visit your stand, you will be entered to win a new French Door Refrigerator from Electrolux – perfect for storing your own pitchers of lemonade. When others donate to your stand, they will also have a chance to win! I created a stand and it was quick and easy to do and if you want you can visit my stand and donate to a great cause!

The new French Door Refrigerator is part of Electrolux’s full line of stylish appliances, featuring sleek designs and top-of-the-line performance. The French Door Refrigerator is loaded with unique features that make it ideal for entertaining at a moment’s notice. I was taking a look at this new fridge and I was drooling over all the space it appears to have.  We currently have a side by side one half freezer and other half fridge and the space seems so limited.   This new refrigerator is to die for with all the features.

Features Include

Wendy’s Father’s Day Frosty Weekend

 

Father’s Day is right around the corner and it is a time to celebrate families.  I know it will be a day to remember Dad but I think it is a day that encourages families to celebrate each other.  On the flip side of that, there are many children who don’t even have a family to celebrate with, and are in need of a place to be. 

For the past three years, Wendy’s has made it a Father’s Day Frosty Weekend tradition to donate 50 cents from the sale of each Frosty to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. The money raised goes to the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program, which funds full-time adoption recruiters at local agencies across the U.S., who  pair up parents with foster care children needing homes. So, you and your family can enjoy a Frosty and help out a child find a loving home.  Frosties are one of our favorites in this house, so we will have no problem helping out!

You can also involve your own children in this great cause  by having them create a fun Father’s Day eCard on FrostyCard.com. For every card they send, Wendy’s will donate an additional 25 cents to the Dave Thomas Foundation. Kids can attach coupons for “taking out the trash” or “washing the car” onto the cards for Dad.  I think this is a terrific way to teach your child appreciation for the things they have in life and be able to help out a child that is less fortunate.  It involves them, teaches them the value of giving, and they get to remember Dad.

I cant think of a better way to spend time with your family while helping to create a permanent place to call home for a child in need of a family.  A frosty is a great way to have a fun day out for Father’s Day while helping make a difference.  Thank you Mom Central and Wendy’s for telling me about such a good cause!

Skinny Cow Ice Cream Pure Indulgence Without The Guilt

With the weather warming up we spend a lot of time outdoors as a family.  One thing that I love about summer and remember as a child was the local ice cream truck that came through the neighborhood.  So, I have always associated the warmer weather with ice cream and who doesn’t love ice cream?

Nowadays when I have ice cream, I always feel like I am over indulging, and most ice cream is high in sugars and fat, so if you just look at the container it seems like you can gain five pounds.  Until recently, I had never tried any low fat ice cream, simply because I figured that it would be rather tasteless as most fat free things can be.  They either taste horrible or have no taste at all.  Thanks to Mom Central, I got the chance to try Skinny Cow ice cream.   I had always seen it in the store but just assumed it wouldn’t taste that great.

Skinny Cow’s low-fat ice cream sandwiches are a great way to enjoy ice cream as part of a healthy lifestyle. Each ice cream sandwich only has 150 calories and 2 grams of fat,so you don’t have to feel guilty about when reaching into the freezer for a snack. The light and creamy frozen treats come in seven different flavors, including cookies ‘n cream, chocolate peanut butter, and mint.   These sandwiches taste anything but low fat, and I love them!

So if you are looking to enjoy an ice cream with your kids without feeling like you have to skimp, Skinny Cow is definitely a healthier alternative and it tastes like you are getting a real treat.  I tried out the Truffle Bars as well, and I wound up hiding the box in the freezer so I could have them all to myself!  Thank you Mom Central for this wonderful opportunity!

Allergy Protection With 3M Filtrete

Both my husband and one of my boys have extreme allergies. I love Spring and all the flowers blooming but along with all these wonderful things comes the sniffling, sneezing and breathing issues.  One of my sons is always rubbing at his little nose, and nose drops have become a nightly routine just to keep him from sneezing so much.

Because of his allergy issues, it is imperative that I keep up with cleaning the house and taking measures to prevent allergens in our home.  We have the pillows and mattresses coveres, and air purifier running at all times in the room, we keep the dog out of the bedrooms, and I am vacuuming sometimes twice a day.

One important factor that many people forget is to change their furnace filters.  For us, it is one of those things that is out of sight and out of mind until you realize that you are way past due for a filter change.  But since we have allergies running rampent in this house, I put a reminder to change the filter on our calendar.

Studies indicate that indoor levels of many pollutants may be two to five times higher than outdoor levels, making it one of the top five urgent environmental risks to public health.  In fact, many seasonal activities such as cooking, spring cleaning and redecorating can spread indoor pollutants.

Dr. Neil Schachter, M.D., past president of the American Lung Association of the City of New York, suggests a “home health check-up” to help make your home a healthier place to live.  He recommends avoiding cleaning products that contain ammonia or chlorine, and limiting your pet’s access to certain areas of the home, including the bedroom. A high performance air filter, such as a Filtrete filter, may also help improve indoor air quality.

It is currently recommended that you change you air filter at least once per season.  This is about every three months. This may be the last thing on your mind especially when you are busy with life in general.  3M, makers of Filtrete filters recognizes that this is often neglected, so they offer the Clean Air Club.  You can receive a season e-newsletter featuring special offers, better home living tips, and filter change reminders.  Plus the first people to sign up each week will receive a free bamboo plant.  Plants act as a natural air purifier in your home!

If you or anyone in your house suffers from seasonal allergies or allergies in general, this is a great resource to help you get on your way to a cleaner, more allergy free home.  Thank you to Mom Central and Filtrete for helping to understand the importance of how to help better your home for allergen protection.

Disney’s Baby Einstein: World Music DVD Review

Both of my boys are music lovers.  They love to pound on their drum sets, grab their play guitars and love to dance and sing to the music on their favorite shows.  I loved music so much as a child and I want my boys to have the same appreciation for music that both me and my husband have.  There are all sorts of music styles all over the world and especially here in the United States since we are considered a melting pot.  Music is a great way to teach children about this diversity and to teach them a love of other cultures.

The Baby Einstein World Music DVD, which comes out March 31, 2009, encourages live interaction and introduces children to the world’s distinctive sights and sounds with fun-loving puppet host Jane the Monkey and her toy drum as she travels across the globe to play music with her puppet friends. It features real-world images of global musical instruments, regional toys and animals, and takes an extraordinary look at the universal language of music, encouraging viewers to join in the fun by blowing on a flute, strumming on a harp and singing along to songs from all seven continents. And for a more customized experience for each family’s stage and needs, the World Music DVD provides two settings- Grow with Me and Select-a-Segment. The “grow with me” setting offers a second viewing mode containing spoken words and additional content that grows with babies, while “select-a-segment” gives parents the choice of viewing shorter segments, such as five or ten minutes, as opposed to longer programming.  This is just right for my boys as they tend to watch for short periods of time and then come back to something.
We received a copy of the Baby Einstein World Music DVD big thanks to Mom Central for this opportunity and the boys simple loved watching it.  The music is very fun and has a very lively tempo which just drew my two to the television.  Both of them went to get their drums and guitar and played along.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching the DVD just as much as I enjoyed seeing their little faces light up.  This is such a great DVD and you can introduce a whole new world of music to your children while incorporating cultural differences.  So cool!  Available from www.babyeinstein.com starting March 31, 2009!

Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes Earn Your Stripes Program

I just recently learned about a really cool program to help rebuild some of the playing fields around the United States. So many of them are in disrepair, and even more are going by the waste side due to the lack of funds and our failing economy. These are the things that get neglected and sometimes are often an important part of communities. As a child, I can remember families gathering to cheer on their children, hanging out with my cousins, running to and from the concession stand, and just having fun. Sports are fun to watch, but also have a way of bringing people together. Often time the things that get cut or go missing are often times one of the most important and are what feed the human spirit.

Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes Earn Your Stripes program has initiated a call-to-action for a national field renovation program that kicks off this coming Super Bowl Sunday with a commercial entitled “Plant a Seed.“

This ad focuses on the role we all play in building stronger communities and making a difference in kids’ lives. Because the Earn Your Stripes  program is about inspiring kids to be their very best, “Plant a Seed” shows that before anyone can earn a single stripe, someone has to plant a seed and help give kids places to realize their promise and potential.

The field renovation kick off will make over approximately 50 fields across the United States to help provide better places for families to stay active. Through this program, fields will once again become central and spirited places of activity and community in cities and towns across the country.

Sports aren’t just something to watch, they help build determination in young people, build self esteem and confidence, and encourage the growth of friendships. These are thing that help to build a well rounded confident individual. Visit Kellogg’s Plant A Seed program and nominate one of your local fields, it is such a wonderful program.

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