To help celebrate the April release of the book, Today’s Moms: Essentials for Surviving Baby’s First Year, the producers (of  The Today Show & Authors) are holding a live “Ask the Author” session on Twitter! The event will take place on Tuesday, March 24th between 2-4 pm EST. For the actual event, they’ll be using the tag #todaysmoms to keep up with the tweets.

If you can’t make it for the actual Twitter event, you can ask questions ahead of time, in fact, you are encouraged to do so. MaryAnn and Alicia (@todaysmoms), ask that you use the hashtag #asktodaysmoms to ask questions ahead of time or leave a question on their facebook page.

Some burning questions on my mind include:

• *)What snacks are provided for them during the work day, if any.
• *)What is there favorite kid friendly dish to prepare.
• *)Do they eat the food that is cooked by a chef, that was on air that day.

I’m excited to hear their answers and hope you join us for the session on Twitter.  Remember to ask ahead of time if you think you won’t be able to make it!

Feel free to share your questions here with me as well and I’ll do my best to pass them on!

P.S.  You can ask them whatever you like;)

P.P.S.  My good friend Wendy was recently on the Today Show, check her out!  She’s a brilliant gal who’s come a long way and is very deserving of all the media attention she gets!

It’s that time again, time for the quarterly bloggy giveaways!  I’ll keep this short and simple…it’s midnight here and I’m tired.

Up for grabs is a PINK Flip Video Camera.  They are so cool.  2 members of my foodie community won one and they are having a blast with them!

HOW TO ENTER

Leave a comment telling me what some of your favorite things are.

You can enter DAILY!!! Yep, come back and enter every single day for even more chances.  And if you really want to triple those entries, you can do the following:

• Stumble this post
• Twitter this post
• Share it via facebook, social networking site, or something like that.
• Join my foodie community.
• Subscribe to my blog via reader or by email.

Leave each one you do in a separate comment please for it to count.

This giveaway ends on Feb. 1st!  Good luck:)

Did you know that French fries are the most commonly consumed vegetable by toddlers age 15-24 months? (Not surprising to me at all actually.) Or that soda is being served to infants as young as 8 months? These are the  findings from Gerber’s Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (FITS), a groundbreaking study of the dietary patterns and nutrient intakes of 3,000 infants and toddlers from 4-24 months, which revealed inappropriate foods entering the diet at a shockingly young age and that as many as 25% of children did not consume a single fruit or vegetable serving on a given day.

I am a firm believer of having at least 2 vegetables with every meal and always have fruit in the house.   All three of my boys eat both and while my oldest would rather do without, he still eats them because he knows the benefits of them.  I can’t stress it enough that it almost always takes more than 2 or 3 times to get your child to really get a hold of the taste.  Keep trying!

Gerber is dedicated to improving the nutrition and eating habits of your growing children from birth to preschool through the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy campaign. Create your own Start Healthy Stay Healthy pledge and don’t forget to check out the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy YouTube channel!

WIN IT!

Share your pledge with me in the comments section below, and you’ll be entered to win a Gerber diaper bag  filled with a recipe tin and teddy bear!

Additional ways to enter:

• Blog it
• Twitter it
• Stumble it

This ends on February 1st!  Read complete rules on how I work my giveaways.

In my quest to lose weight this year, I’m on the prowl for TASTY GOOD snacks that I can indulge in–Snacks that are going to soothe the craving.  I’ve tried another brand (WW) that were so horrible that even my kids wouldn’t eat them and they eat everything!  But these Little Debbie Snacks?  These are sooooo good.  You would have no clue that they are only 100 calories.  Not to mention they are cheaper than that other brand.  AND, there is currently a coupon for .55cents off!!!  Feast your eyes on these goodies…..

These are only 5 of the 8 that I tried out.  The other ones didn’t even last one day because of the boys aka hogs.

These are not large portions but they are not meant to be….the whole point of them being 100 calories is to provide a healthier alternative in a portion control size.   Yes fruit is healthier but sometimes you just need to indulge in something like this so that you don’t fall off the diet wagon, you know?

Anyways, Little Debbie snacks have been around for years so I found it to be a breath of fresh air to bring in a lighter version of their snacks. OH, and if you don’t give a rat’s butt for lower calories, then check out this Strawberry Shortcake Roll recipe!!!  It includes one of my most favorite debbie snacks ever.

So guess what?  You can WIN IT!

Oh yeah!  3 winners will get this HUGE box of 100 calorie Little Debbie Snacks.  The same box that I received in fact.  And my favorite part about their box?  It has their twitter handle on it!!  So cool that they are also trying to stay in the cutting edge of social media.

This is what you will get…..

Which ones did I fall in love with?  The Snow Puffs were my absolute faves.  Then the rest are all tied…seriously.  They are THAT good.

HOW TO ENTER:

Go check out the Little Debbie Website and tell me which one is your favorite snack! It doesn’t have to be a 100 calorie one either…..Come back here to this post and leave a comment.

Additional ways to enter include & should be done in a separate comment:

• Twittering this

100 calorie @LittleDebbie snacks giveaway over at @acowboyswife ‘s food blog! http://tinyurl.com/9tgbc3

• Blog it
• Stumble it

This giveaway ends on January 16th.  Rules

I only label a post food porn when it is so utterly delicious that it makes my eyes roll into the back of my head and this English Toffee does just that!  I’m serious folks and had it not been for 5 of us in the family eating it in about 3 seconds, I would have a picture of me devouring it to prove it’s worthiness of the title.

Now I’ve had toffee in the past, hard-plain toffee that is okay but this?…….this is exceptional.  Not only is the toffee not near as hard as what you would buy in the store but it’s surrounded by more pieces of heaven like milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or white satin which was the one that made my toes curl and truly are life’s essential indulgence for this gal!

You want to know the “in-a-nutshell” version of how this toffee came about?  This gal, a regular gal like me, was making this in her home as a way to create gifts for family and friends.  She was encouraged to sell her toffee on the Internet and well, the rest is history.  Just goes to show you that great things can happen if you set your mind.

Did you think I would tease you and not give you a way to WIN IT?  HA! Thanks to the generous folks at English Toffee Anytime, there will be 7 total winners in this tasty giveaway!

WHAT YOU WIN

• *1st prize – one pound box of toffee, their choice of flavor (milk, dark or white)
• *2nd prize – half pound box of toffee, their choice of flavor (milk, dark or white)
• *3rd prizes – 5 third prizes of the Triple Taste-The-Toffee sampler

I don’t know about you but 3rd place to me won’t be so bad eh?

HOW TO ENTER

Main Entry-- Visit English Toffee Anytime, come back here leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite flavor that you would like to try AND one other fact from the website.  This is just so I know that you actually visited this fine sponsor;) Visiting a sponsor is the least we can do for such wonderful prizes right?

Earn additional entries by completely the following.  Each one earns you one entry.

• Twitter this giveaway by copying and pasting the paragraph here

Enter to win one of life’s essential indulgences aka Food Porn from @ACowboysWife  http://tinyurl.com/6u3hrd #toffee

• Stumble this giveaway leaving me your username
• Blog it with a link back to this giveaway

PLEASE LEAVE EACH ENTRY YOU DO IN A SEPARATE COMMENT!

If you can’t stand it and have $3 bucks, you can actually try the English Toffee sampler!!  The $3 covers shipping and the sampler is free:) Gift certificates are offered as well!

ONE MORE THING: If you decide you want to make a purchase, contact English Toffee Anytime and tell them you entered my giveaway (you must enter my giveaway of course;) and they will give you a discount coupon code to use on that purchase!!

Giveaway ends on January 10th, is only open to the US (sorry) and as always, read the “fine print“.

Christmas is almost here but as for most, it won’t be much.  We went with quality of quantity this year so one kid only has 2 gifts to open.  Of course little man will make out this year but he’s two and was actually in need of some fun toys!  A couple of things that he doesn’t have are boots and jeans but we’ll probably hit the stores after the holiday to get that stuff and any other hot deals.

Speaking of shopping after Christmas, are you planning on doing any?  Would it help if you had a $100 Walmart Gift Card?  heehee

Okay, so to enter, all you need to do is leave a comment telling me how you would spend it at Walmart.   That’s it!  If you want additional ways to enter, stumble–twitter–and/or blog this giveaway.

As you can see, I’m writing this in regular format instead of giveaway format just to see how many of you actually read my posts;)  This giveaway ends on December 28th and for details on how my giveaways work, read the fine print.

Happy Holidays!

I have been trying really hard to work on my weight here lately.  I’ve cut out sodas a LOT and for those days that I can’t live without it, I bought the mini cans of soda.   You know, for a fix.  Yes, I truly am addicted to soda and have withdrawals and need fixes.

So, I also have been doing Tony Horton’s 10 Minute Trainer.  Now you would think that you can really do much for your entire body in that 10 minutes but GOOD GAWD, it kicks my butt!  I have this  great video of me working out to it but my windows movie maker apparently doesn’t like the how it’s formatted and won’t import it.  Arrrrgghhhh…..so I can show you my fat butt doing push ups and such.  Anyways, I love the workout and my body is sore everyday…still have not gotten through the soreness but I will…hopefully.

I’m also eating better.  Cutting out sugars, salts, and carbs….well, not completely cutting them out but trying to be smarter about it.  It’s all about baby steps for me.  Since we live a good ways from town, we always ending up eating in town.  Something I’ve been trying to do is pick smarter choices from the heart attack filled menus at fast food but what has been really great are those beautiful half white-half yellow words called, SUBWAY.  Man, these people did it right!  Delicious, healthy choices with options.  Since I rarely step outside the box to try something new, I always get the 6incher….Roast Beef, NO cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, mustard on whole wheat.  Is it still healthy if you ask for extra roast beef?  Just curious………

WIN IT

So to celebrate my upcoming New Year’s Resolution (weight loss & being healthy), I have a giveaway!

There will be 2 winners.

1st place winner will win the Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer bundle..valued at well of $100.

2nd place winner will win a $15 Subway Gift Card!

HOW TO ENTER:  READ THE RULES!

Leave a comment telling me some ways that you try to stay healthy during the holidays AND what your favorite Subway sub is!

For additional entries:

• Blog it
• Twitter it, including @acowboyswife and link to this post. (can be done daily)
• Stumble this post (leave your stumbleupon username in comment)

Please leave each additional entry in separate comment.  Giveaway ends on Dec. 18th.

Update: Giveaway is over.

Have you seen the Mario Batali Lunchbags line? OMG, they are THE most stylish, functional lunch bags ever! I recently received the Mario Batali Lunch Bag (The Crew Tote) in this expresso color and I absolutely LOVE IT!!!!  Not only is it THE most stylish lunch bag I’ve had, it’s also the most functional one. Some quick features about this one that you’re gonna love.

• * Two compartments – insulated and non insulated
• * Insulated lining has an insulated lining and keeps food and drinks warm or cool.
• * Easy to wipe lining
• * Back sleeve slides over rolling luggage handle for easy travel
• * Top compartment is non-insulated and secures all carry on items

So I tested this out first when I sent my little man to his wello’s house for a stay.  I was able to pack his pajamas, diapers, baby wipes, toys in the top compartment and his milk, bananas, jello, and other snacks in the bottom insulated part.  It was AWESOME!  I looked cool to…..heehee.

Everyone is trying to save money, become more healthy and more eco-friendly these days & these lunch bags are a simple way to help you go forward on that path.  You can not only save yourself the dough from eating non-stop at fastfood but you can also give yourself more healthier options by choosing healthy foods from your grocery store and packing those in our lunch bag.  And how is eco-friendly?  Well heeeellllloooo, you are reusing your bag of course and you are bringing your own food in hopefully reuseable storage containers.

I give these bags 2 thumbs….4 if I had the extra ones and I think you will love them too.  So with all that said, I’ve got a nice surprise for you! Today, I’ve got a chance for 3 winners today to receive a Mario Batali Lunch bag but the 1st place winner will also get more goodies!  Here’s how it will go down:

1st place will get the following:
We will add to the book and the lunch bag for your first prize winner, the items in the attached – a Mario Batali salt cellar for storage of salt, pinch bowls, a measuring bowl set and 2 MB silicone pot holders.  This is a fabulous package that anyone would love so remember you can enter to win and keep for yourself or give it away as a gift!!  I’m so jealous of the winner here!

2nd place winner will get to choose one bag from the following bags in my cool little widget below!!  So many great lunch bags for men and women!  There are several styles in several colors and no matter which one you pick, you’re going to turn heads and be the “cool” one!

3rd place winner will get to choose one bag from these..including one that is in floral not shown!

********************************************

HOW TO WIN PEOPLE

Simply leave a comment on this post telling me your creative ideas for meals to pack in your lunch bag. This earns you 1 entry and can be done daily as long as you have a different lunch bag meal idea each time….and I will check;)

Additional ways to enter. Each extra entry must be in a separate comment please.

• **Twitter the giveaway and include @ACowboysWife in your tweet please. If you can fit it, include the hashtag #lunchbags (1 entry) can be done per day.

• **Blogging about the giveaway, including a link back to this post or my homepage. (10 entries)

This giveaway ends on Dec. 14th at midnight CST. Please know that the winners will need to claim their prize within 48hrs. If not claimed, prize is forfeited and a new winner will be drawn..FIRM. Please allow up to 2 weeks for delivery.

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