Made of Awesome

I was asked to take a look at the Hanes Pink Tee from their Pink Collection and post an honest review.

Hanes Pink Hope Tee

I like the Tee. It’s substantial, so no worries about see-throughness. It washed and dried great without shrinking, which is always a plus. The negatives for me, personally, were the cap sleeves and girly cut. Since I’ve lost weight, I now wear a size Medium, but I’m much more comfortable in a men’s Medium. Girly tees show too much flabby arm for me. And they tend to be too short with my *ahem* rack. I would prefer the shirt in a size Large, I think.

Hanes also has a Design and Buy section. I spent a good hour playing around and designing shirts. (Here’s my final design, if you’d like to purchase one for the low, low prize of $18.)

I have one size Medium Pink Tee to give away. If you win, might I suggest accessorizing it with Hello Kitty socks?

Accessorize

Also, my husband enjoys the message of “Hope” scrawled across The Girls. He says “Darn skippy I’m hoping!”

I gotcher hope right here.

To enter to win your very own Hanes Pink Tee, please leave a comment below. You earn an extra entry for tweeting the contest. Just leave a separate comment to let me know you’ve done it. See how generous I am?

Contest ends 11:59pm CDST Sunday 10/24/10 so get to entering and tweeting!

I know this post is a WEEK late, but Shutterfly and I had some issues with getting the codes to give to you. It’s all straightened out now, and I actually have EXTRA codes to give away as an apology. This means that you ALL WIN!!

I’ll email you each your codes today and thank you so much for entering!

When Maddie’s second Christmas came around, we decided to make calendars for the family as gifts. I took 13 of my favorite pictures of her and started Googling sites to make my calendar. After checking out a couple of sites, I decided on Shutterfly. They had a coupon for free shipping AND the best layouts. I was thrilled with my finished calendars and the family loved them. I’m planning on making them again this year featuring both Maddie and Sam. I’m really excited!

I’ve also decided to order Christmas cards from Shutterfly this year. Since this is Sam’s first Christmas, the family is going to love to see his chubby little face on their card this year. And not to mention my gorgeous girl and husband. Right now, Shutterfly is offering 20% off cards or free shipping on orders of $30 or more. That’s a heck of a deal for something you were probably going to order anyway, right?

If you’re not a holiday card sending kind of person, did you know that you can make custom party invites or custom thank you cards? Imagine how good your recipient will feel when they get not only a thank you card, but a custom card with a photo of a much-loved person?

Shutterfly would like you give them a try. They’re giving me THREE codes  for 10 free 5×7 flat stationery cards. You can get some adorable Halloween cards!

To enter, please leave a comment and let me know what your favorite Shutterfly item is. Offer ends 12/31/2010.  Please note, only 1 set of 10 cards is redeemable per Shutterfly account.

Since I am, indeed, made of awesome, I’m going to give you more chances to win! You get one extra entry for each of the following:
Follow me on twitter! @madeofawesomeco
Link to the contest on twitter!
Subscribe to this here blog via RSS!

Just leave me a separate comment for each entry so I know how many chances to give ya. Three winners will be chosen via random number generator on 10.8.10 at 11:59 pm CDST.

Good luck!

*I received a complimentary set of 10 free 5×7 flat stationery cards for my post. As always, all opinions are my own and honest.

I had the opportunity to review a new preschool show called Meet Pocoyo! Pocoyo is currently airing on Nick, Jr., and the DVD Meet Pocoyo! was released on September 7th.

Of course, Maddie reviewed the DVD with me. She was entranced in the first five minutes. It took me a little bit longer. When I first heard the British narrator, I was afraid Pocoyo was going to be another Maisy. Maddie loves Maisy, but it drives me insane. However, Pocoyo is narrated by none other than the fabulous Stephen Fry. Instead of the “parent figure” being annoying, it’s awesome. There’s plenty of gentle, dry wit as he guides Pocoyo through the exploration of his world.

Pocoyo (which means “little me,” in Spanish) is a sweet character. Along with his friends Elly the elephant, Pato the duck, and Loula the dog he learns through laughter. They make music, blow bubbles, solve puzzles and watch an egg hatch. Maddie’s favorite story is about Pocoyo, Pato and Elly building a tower of blocks. Elly has a cold and keeps sneezing the blocks down. Anyone with a 3 year old knows there’s nothing funnier to them than building something only to knock it down and do it all over again.

Maddie has asked to watch Pocoyo every single day since we got the DVD to review. We play pretend Pocoyo and Elly about 50 times a day, too. We even signed up with Pocoyo.com and play games in Pocoyo’s world. I’ll definitely be getting more DVDs for her and perhaps some Pocoyo merchandise for Christmas.

Final Verdict: Pocoyo is Made of Awesome.

If you’d like a copy of Meet Pocoyo! for the awesome price of $6.99, please visit www.ncircleentertainment.com or www.amazon.com. And check out pocoyo.com for child-friendly games and Pocoyo videos.

*I was not compensated in any way for this review. As always, all opinions expressed are 100% mine and honest.

Before I started this blog I was getting lots of requests to host giveaways and write reviews from PR agents, authors and company marketing reps. Now that I’ve got a specific place for those things? THERE ARE NO EMAILS. What gives?!

Anyhow, in order to keep this place alive, let’s talk about Things That Are Awesome.

1. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers – Holy moly! These things are invaluable. I use them to clean bathrooms, walls, tile grout, my stainless steel sinks, doors, stains on my counter tops, you name it.

2. Olay Regenerist Detoxifying Pore Scrub – This keeps my skin flake-free and smooth. It doesn’t dry me out or irritate my skin. I’m of “a certain age,” so I appreciate the anti-aging properties as well.

3. International Delight Dark Chocolate Cream – This is one of the breve creme creamers that’s made with real milk and cream. It’s rich and creamy and so, so delicious.

4. Jolly Rancher Cinnamon Fire Candies – I’m a huge fan of cinnamon candy. Hot Tamales, Atomic Fireballs, Red Hots, etc. However, these are my absolute favorite. They’re cinnamony but sweet; not painfully hot.

What about you? What are you finding that’s made of awesome lately?

I haven’t done our grocery shopping yet, so I don’t have my dinners planned for this week. I figured we could talk instead about our Go-To Dishes. You know, the thing you’re famous for making. Or the thing you’ve made so many times that you can do it while simultaneously holding a baby on your hip, sweeping the kitchen and answering a thousand and four “why?” questions from your preschooler.

Until recently, I’ve always been more of a baker than a cook so my Go-To Dishes are mostly of the dessert variety. I make a wicked awesome Sugar-Almost-Free peanut butter pie and I can make the hell outta some Tollhouse chocolate chip and walnut cookies. However, I do make a bacon and cheese quiche fairly regularly for dinner. My daughter loves eggs and cheese and it’s a pretty good post-gastric bypass meal since it’s chock full of protein. I used to make Parmesan and pea risotto a lot, but got burnt out on it, so it’s been a while.

How about you? What are your Go-To Dishes?

P.S. Since I’m cooking much more than I ever have before, I actually rearranged all my bottom kitchen cabinets. I realized that for six years pans and bakeware had been arranged counter-intuitively. Now, things are were they’re supposed to be for maximum work flow efficiency in my kitchen. Also? I’m running the dishwasher WAY more than I used to. Not that it’s important or anything. Just something interesting I noticed.

P.P.S. Last week’s dinner’s were fantastic. The gyros were better than I’d ever hoped. The lettuce wraps were gone in one dinner. I actually made the chicken part again last night and we had it over brown rice. It’s fabulous both ways.

Last week’s dinners were a big hit and went off without a hitch. I feel like I might be getting the hang of this “dinner” thingamajig. I find that it’s SO! MUCH! EASIER! to take 10 minutes and plan my meals before grocery shopping than it was to panic every day around 3:30 because I had absolutely no idea what we were going to have for dinner. I fed my kid (and my husband) too many fish sticks and chicken nuggets.

Week Three’s recipes all came from Tasty Kitchen. If you’re unfamiliar with the site, please take a few minutes and scope it out. It’s my first stop when I’m looking for a specific recipe and I’ve always been happy with the ones I’ve used. This week, I simply sat down and browsed the Main Course section. I had ground beef and chicken breasts already in my freezer, so I hit the Beef and Poultry sections.

Moday – Greek Gyros made in the crockpot. Gyros are my absolute favorite food on the planet. I’ve attempted to make them at home once or twice (once was even with a recipe from one of Gerald’s employees who’s from Greece!) and have never been satisfied with the results. I pretty much resigned myself to the fact that Gyros are simply a food that’s made to be eaten in a restaurant, not made in my kitchen. However, I saw this recipe and figured why not try it. It’s in the crockpot right now and all I can say is that it SMELLS right. Hopefully the taste will follow. Oh, and the Greek seasoning was in my local middle-of-nowhere-Texas grocery store, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding it.

Tuesday – Cold Peanut Noodles with Chicken and Cucumber
Wednesday – Leftover Gyros and Peanut Noodles
Thursday – Chicken Cashew Lettuce Wraps with edamame tossed in Kosher salt
Friday – Leftover Lettuce Wraps
Saturday – Chicken and Dumplings with a steamed veggie (Probably broccoli since that’s Maddie’s favorite)

As always, I’ll letcha know how it turns out!

The winner of the Dinosaur Train “Get Ready for Kindergarten” Giveaway is:

Kristi says:

Kailee likes the brontosaurus from the Flintstones but since she is a little old and if we were chosen as winners, the prize would go to another precious little girl we know, we would venture to guess the little girls would like the “Allosauras”? Though I may be incorrect…Personally, I like the Teradactyl =)

Thank you all for participating!

RANDOM NUMBERS – (click ‘More random numbers‘ for more!)

My little girl loves dinosaurs, so when the Jim Henson Company launched Dinosaur Train on PBS Kids, we were THRILLED. (Our favorite episode? S1E10 Dinosaur Poop!) When I was given the opportunity to review shows for Dinosaur Train and host a giveaway, I jumped at the chance. If you have a preschooler or elementary schooler, do yourselves a favor and tune in to Dinosaur Train on PBS Kids. It’s fun AND educational. You can’t beat that one-two punch, now can ya?

Did you know that August is the official “Get Ready for Kindergarten” month? The Jim Henson Company and Dinosaur Train knew and are prepared to help you help your kindergartner get ready for the big day.

From The Jim Henson Company:

School is right around the corner, and it’s time for parents to jump aboard the DINOSAUR TRAIN to celebrate “Get Ready for Kindergarten” month in August.

There are many things that can be done to help prepare children for kindergarten, including working with your child on basic academic skills such as writing his/her name and reading letters; teaching critical thinking skills by encouraging them to ask “Why” questions; working on arts-and-crafts projects to get your child more comfortable using scissors, markers and other supplies he/she will see plenty of in kindergarten; and making shopping for school supplies a fun experience by letting your child make some choices of their own, like the color of his/her backpack or pencil case.

DINOSAUR TRAIN embraces and celebrates the fascination that preschoolers have with both dinosaurs and trains. This top-rated, award-winning series, which airs on PBS KIDS®, encourages basic scientific thinking skills as the audience learns about life science, natural history and paleontology. The stars of DINOSAUR TRAIN are Buddy, an adorable preschool age Tyrannosaurus rex, and his adoptive Pteranodon family who board the DINOSAUR TRAIN to embark on whimsical journeys to prehistoric jungles, swamps, volcanoes and oceans.

The good folks at the Jim Henson Company would like to help your kindergartner start off on the right foot this year with a Dinosaur Train backpack filled with items that foster learning and fun.

DINOSAUR TRAIN I AM A T-REX FROM GROSSETT & DUNLAP: Buddy has spent his whole life in a pteranodon nest. He knows he’s not a pteranodon, but he’s not sure what he is. When his family decides to visit a new stop on the DINOSAUR TRAIN, Buddy finally learns the truth. He’s a T-rex! This simple storybook is the perfect introduction to the world of DINOSAUR TRAIN! Ages 3 and up. MSRP $3.99; available now.

TRICERATOPS FOR LUNCH BY GOLDEN BOOKS; ILLUSTRATED BY CALEB MEURER
A Little Golden Book about Dinosaur Train! The Triceratops are coming over for lunch. Do you serve them plants or fish? That’s what Buddy and his dinosaur siblings need to figure out before Tank and Trudie Triceratops arrive at the train station. This Little Golden Book retells an episode of the new PBS Kids animated series Dinosaur Train. It explains to young readers the difference between herbivores and carnivores—so that the next time you’re dining with a dino, you’ll know what to expect! Ages 2-5; MSRP $3.99/$4.99 Can; on sale August 10, 2010

DINOSAUR TRAIN TAKE ‘N’ PLAY ANYWHERE™ GO FISHING™ MAGNETIC ACTIVITY FROM PATCH PRODUCTS: Now kids can help Buddy and his family catch fish! They’ll practice hand-eye coordination and matching skills as they use the magnetic fishing pole to grab fish and try to land them in just the right spot. DINOSAUR TRAIN Go Fishing teaches cooperation, trial and error, or listening to and following instructions. Take ‘N’ Play Anywhere activities feature big magnetic pieces that are easy for kids to use and hard for kids to lose! Ages 4 and up; MSRP $9.99; available August at specialty stores, amazon.com or patchproducts.com.

DINOSAUR TRAIN ALL ABOARD GAME FROM PRESSMAN TOY CORP: Join Buddy and his friends on the DINOSAUR TRAIN!  Choose a character – Buddy, Tiny, Shiny, Don, Cory, Tank or Mr. Conductor – and try to move the fastest along the tracks.  Speed through the three dinosaur eras: Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous along the beautiful scenery.  Special Stopwatch spaces will help you get closer to the nest, while Dinosaur Crossing spaces will send you back.  The first player to reach the nest area in the center of the board wins.  For 2 to 6 players; Ages 4 and up; MSRP $12.00; available now at Target and Amazon.com.

DINOSAUR TRAIN DINOSAUR COLLECTIBLE 3-PACKS FROM LEARNING CURVE: Perfect for hours of imaginative dinosaur play, these 3-packs feature three detailed DINOSAUR TRAIN character figures and a special collector card. The 3-pack figures can be enjoyed separately or can fit inside train cars (sold separately) for more role play fun.  The 3-packs are currently available in the following sets:  Mrs. Pteranodon, Shiny & Derek; Mr. Pteranodon, Don & Velma; Boris, Annie & Pete; Dolores, Ollie & Oren. Ages 3 and up; MSRP $7.99; available now.

(The winner’s backpack filled with AWESOME will be sent directly to you from the folks over at Henson.)

TO ENTER: Please leave a comment telling me your child’s favorite dinosaur. I’ll go first: Maddie’s favorite to pretend to be is Tyrannosaurus. Her favorite to read about is Tylosaurus. See? Easy Peasy.

CONTEST RULES: Open to U.S. Residents only. Contest ends Sunday, August 22, 2010 at 11:59pm CDST. Winner will be chosen by random number generator. One entry per comment. Earn an additional entry for following me on twitter! (@madeofawesomeco) Just comment a second time to let me know you’re following.

This contest is sponsored by The Jim Henson Company and I have not been compensated in any way.