Progresso "Souper You" giveaway!

I'm a huge fan of The Biggest Loser (especially, Bob!) so the idea of winning two tickets to the finale of this season's show has a lot of appeal. 

But, wait. I'm getting ahead of myself, huh? What does the Biggest Loser have to do with a Progresso soup giveaway? Well, Progresso soup is running a Souper You contest where three winners will get a trip for two to Los Angeles, a head-to-toe makeover, a guided shopping spree with a $1,000 gift card, $1,000 spending money and two tickets to the live finale of the Biggest Loser!

Cool right?


Yeah, cool.


So, in support of this contest, Progresso has invited me (along with many other bloggers!) to try out Progresso soups and spread the word about the contest. I got a prize pack like this to try out:

My family and I enjoyed trying out the Progresso soups, especially the Light Chicken Noodle and the Chicken and Rice. Winter is the perfect time for soup and with a little grilled cheese on the side, it makes an easy, quick dinner. Anything that is easy and quick is always a bonus in this house!


You can learn more about Progresso soups HERE. 


OK, so here's what I have for you.


Souper You Contest


First, you can go to www.SouperYou.com to enter the big makeover contest. Just be sure to enter by February 22nd. 


Progresso Prize Pack Giveaway


Second, one lucky reader of this here blog will win a prize pack of Progresso soups and a Biggest Loser workout DVD. To enter, just leave me a comment and let me know you want to win!


As always, you can gain extra entries. Remember, though, you must complete the required entry first! (Leave one comment per entry for the additional ones to count):

• Follow this blog, or let me know that you already do (leave a comment)
• Follow my main blog, or let me know that you already do (leave a comment)
• Link to this giveaway from Facebook or Twitter (do as often as you'd like, just leave a comment each time)
• Link to this giveaway from your blog (leave a comment)

This giveaway will run through Wednesday, February 1 at 11:59pm EST and the winner will be announced on Thursday.

Good luck!

Want to read more from The Happy Runner? Stop over HERE for more giveaways, reviews, and running- and parenting-related posts. 

Disclosure: The Progresso^® Souper You^® prize pack, information, coupon, and giveaway have been provided by Progresso through MyBlogSpark.

Goal For It! (review)

If you have kids, you've probably had to deal with a tantrum or two, and you've probably done your fair share of asking -- repeatedly -- for something to be done. You know, it's the whole, "Time to get dressed!" "OK, you'd really better get dressed now." "It doesn't look to me like you're getting dressed, better hurry!" "If you don't get dressed right now . . . " that kind of thing.

(Please tell me I'm not the only one who goes through this with a 4 year old . . . )

Anyway, getting kids to do their chores or whatever it is you ask of them is capital-I Important and I know that. So, I work hard to be consistent and to get my little guy to listen and do as he's told. And that includes doing the little "chores" and "good behavior" things that my husband and I have decided he needs to do.

For the most part, my son is pretty good with it all. He asks to be excused when he's done with dinner, he clears his dishes. But, he's 4. So he has his moments.

So when I was invited to review the Goal For It Chore Chart I was interested to check it out.

I popped on to the Goal For It site and was able to create a chart very quickly and easily. There are many cute themes for the chart -- I went with baseball -- and several chores and behavior goals to choose from. For my son's chart, I chose:

• ready for school on time
• good manners at the table
• help clear table
• put clothes in hamper
• go to bed on time
• no tantrums

Each goal has a cute image with it to make it fun for kids.

I printed out the chart and put it on the fridge. My son and I talked about it and I told him how, at the end of every day, if he met a goal, we'd put a smiley face next to it.

You'd think I told him I'd buy him a puppy. The kid was that excited.

Having the goals on paper made him accountable. He wanted to earn his smiley face so he worked for it. One day, he started to have a tantrum over who-knows-what and I simply said, "Hey, that's a tantrum" and he stopped. Immediately. And then said, "I didn't really have a tantrum, Mommy. Can I still get a smiley face?"

Call me a wimpy mom, but I let him have the smiley face.

Here's how the week ended up (we forgot to start on Sunday):

Since he had rows of smiley faces, I let him put stickers on the chart. He loved it. Overall, the chart was a hit -- and a keeper! The site really is easy to use so if you are looking for a chore or behavior or some other goal chart for your kids, check it out!

Review disclosure: I was compensated for my review but the opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers winner!

We have a winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered my quick giveaway of the Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers. I think this was the perfect time for a giveaway like this because who couldn't use some free veggies around the holidays? I know I could. So, I hope our winner enjoys them, too!

Yes, I used random.org to pick the winner of this giveaway and it is . . .

Tami from Velvet Races!

Congratulations, Tami! Email me with your address and I'll get your prize pack sent off right away (felicehalf at yahoo dot com).

Thanks to General Mills and MyBlogSpark for this giveaway!

Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers review and giveaway.

The vegetable growing season is pretty short here in upstate New York so I tend to rely on frozen vegetables a lot during the late fall, winter and early spring. Tossing some frozen broccoli, peas & carrots, or spinach into soup, pasta or stir fry is easy and helps me make relatively healthy meals.

So, when I was invited to review Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers, I jumped at the chance. I use frozen veggies anyway, why not try something new?

I received this prize pack:

Steamers, two placemats, a broccoli stress toy, spoon, and bowl.

The Valley Fresh Steamers are a "steam in the bag" product that you pop in your microwave to cook. I went for the broccoli option on the steamers and served them as a side dish one night for dinner. They were tasty. But here's the thing: I didn't love cooking them in the microwave.

Now, I have nothing against the microwave. In fact, I love my microwave and use it often. Several times a day. But, for these veggies, it just didn't work for me. See, you have to put the bag in the microwave to cook and almost guess that you are putting them in for the right amount of time. I didn't like that. I felt like I had no control and I worried that I would not steam the veggies for long enough. Turns out that wasn't an issue because I actually ended up steaming them for a little too long. 

But, as I said, they were tasty and I enjoyed trying them out. And, I admit, having one less pot to clean wasn't a bad thing ;-)

Check out their web site HERE for more information.

Would you like to try the Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers for free? I have one prize pack (identical to the one pictured above) to give away. To enter, leave me a comment letting me know if you enjoy frozen veggies in your diet during the cold months.

Additional entries:

As always, you can gain extra entries. Remember, though, you must complete the required entry first! (Leave one comment per entry for the additional ones to count):

• Follow this blog, or let me know that you already do (leave a comment)
• Follow my main blog, or let me know that you already do (leave a comment)
• Become a fan of The Happy Runner on Facebook, or let me know that you already are (leave a comment)
• Link to this giveaway from Facebook or Twitter (do as often as you'd like, just leave a comment each time)
• Link to this giveaway from your blog (leave a comment)

This giveaway will run through Tuesday, December 27th at 11:59pm EST and the winner will be announced on Wednesday.


Good luck!

Want to read more from The Happy Runner? Stop over HERE for more giveaways, reviews, and running- and parenting-related posts. 

Disclosure: Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers with Pasta, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark

New women's sports company.

I recently found out about Bia, a new sports company. They are just started and it looks like they are going to begin with a fitness tracking site. You can sign up to get their email newsletter and if you do, and you also get some other people to sign up, they'll send you a bag of goodies! So, go HERE and check it out!