How cool is that? I think they were nuts to go back, but it is so neat that Christian still loves them!

Back in April I posted about my husband’s car accident in a post titled: A man and his truck…..

Well, it turns out that the insurance did total it out and gave us a nice amount for it, although we were not thrilled with having to buy another truck. We bought that truck brand new and it really didn’t have too many problems.

At one point, we did explore the possibility of buying the truck back from them and paying to have it repaired from the insurance money but we were concerned that it may never run quite right and cause additional problems down the road.

I didn’t realize it, but apparently you can get additional money in the case of a car accident, especially where you are not at fault under something called “diminished value.” The fact that a vehicle has been damaged and repaired has a negative effect on its value and you can re-coup this difference in all 50 states. I don’t need this info now but it is certainly good to know in case it ever happens again.

There is a new site especially for mom bloggers that is launching on August 1st with almost $4,000 worth of prizes. The site is MomDot.com and is seriously going to be THE place for mom bloggers to network and list their blogs.

I strongly urge all the mom bloggers out there to get your listing up at MomDot, and register for the forum too, to network, chat with and learn from other mom bloggers.

Go check out MomDot and what they have to offer, enter whatever giveaway they currently have running and post on your own blog about the grand opening on August 1st. Seriously, this is ground floor. Like buying Microsoft stock in the 80’s.

Plus, their button is fantastic!

A couple of weeks ago I posted about an emergency kit I won from Energizer at Lille Punkin’ Reviews. You can read the post here: I’ve Gone and Done it Again.

I received my kit and it was filled with a bunch of wonderful safety goodies! They sent enough for one person, but the backpack is big enough that I can go out and get the duplicate items I need for every member of the family and they will all fit in the bag.

Here are a couple photos of the emergency kit:

Every family really should consider making their own emergency kit and include additional things like water and the other items listed in the original contest post at Lille Punkin’ Reviews.

I’ve only ever rented a car a few times in my life but recently I stumbled across Advantage car rental and I think next time we have to drive anywhere far like on vacation we might consider renting a car rather than putting miles on our own. I never realized how reasonable car rental actually is, and if you happen to be driving one-way from Florida to Chicago, you can rent a car for next to nothing. Literally.

Advantage Car Rental has all kinds of specials and discounts including a $1/day one-way rate from Florida to O’Hare Airport in Chicago. Plus there are no mileage charges. They must have a TON of cars in Florida and none at O’Hare and need someone to drive them there! What a great deal! Advantage also has others discounts including up to 50% off on luxury and convertible vehicles.

If you need to rent a car, check out Advantage. Their site is simple to navigate and it is easy to check rates and availability.

Have you ever had a question about something regarding your new baby and wished someone could show you how to do whatever it is you need help with?

Are you a first time expectant mom with about a billion questions?

Are you a mom of an infant, toddler or preschooler looking for parenting resources and information?

Do you like to interact with other moms?

Do you like the word FREE?

Newbaby.com does and is all that and much more.
Continue Reading……

I broke down and ordered myself a laptop. Being a blogging addict, I want to be able to stay connected but not stuck at my desk so a laptop was the natural way to go, especially considering we have a wireless network.

I always thought that laptops were ultra-expensive even now-a-days with the prices of computers dropping way down, laptops still seemed costly.

On a whim, however, I went to Dell.com to see what they had and I discovered happiness….

The Dell Vostro 1000 starts at $399! Yup, only $399. And for that $399 you actually get a lot. That is, unless you want to run the Space Station off it, but for everyday tasks, it is more than enough. I did make a few upgrades since I was forced to get Windows Vista (memory hog I’ve heard so I upgraded to 2GB RAM) and want to make sure I have enough range on my wireless network to cover inside and outside of the house (so I got wireless-N instead of wireless-G). I also upgraded the battery to double the run time ($15 more). My final price with tax was $516 and that included free shipping.

I can’t wait to get it and sit outside on my deck and blog, blog, blog (I think I just invented a new verb)!

BTW, I had to order the Vostro 1000 through the “Small Business” division of Dell because they do not sell it in the “Home” division and the “Home” ones didn’t start nearly as low priced.

The last few days I have been so focused on the new site design I have neglected (alas, I am NOT a supermom…) some of my other blogging activities. Now is the time to address a few things!

First, we have received an award.
Well, we have actually received the same award TWICE - 2 different bloggers have awarded us with the “Arte y Pico Blog” Award!

We’re quite honored to receive this award from our fellow bloggers, at Moomette’s Mama Mentor Blog and Life in The Lapadula house even if we have no idea what the title of it means!

We will display it proudly despite it being the ugliest thing I’ve seen in awhile!
Read the rest of this entry »

When I was working out of the house (those were the days….) my desk at work was always covered with stuff from family photos, to weird chachkies to those promotional products that you get free from companies like letter openers, pens and stress balls.

One thing I never had was a fish tank on my desk, and now you can get a USB powered fish tank, that you put real fish in, and that you can control from your PC (I’m pretty sure you control the settings for the tank, not the fish themselves…we’re not talking Sea Monkeys or Planet of the Apes or anything like that).

What will they think of next? Who added this to their Christmas list? C’mon, you can admit it!

How to lose 192 pounds in 7 seconds: Viral video prize giveaway and super secret bonus content!

The other day, I wrote this post:
Wanna Stand Next to Me?

Today I got this email:

Hi Kim,

CONGRATULATIONS!

Thank you for participating in our survey last week! You have been randomly selected to win the smashbox cosmetics valued at $50!

Again, thank you for participating. Your feedback has been invaluable to the growth of the company and the Hybrid Mom mission.

Have a great weekend.

Best,
Stacey

Stacey Smith
Co-founder, CEO
Hybrid Mom Consulting and Media Group

So now I’m just waiting for a building to fall on me….(no wicked witch analogies please…) Something bad is bound to follow this run of luck!

Oh, and what in the world am I going to do with $50 worth of cosmetics? I don’t think I’ve spent that much in my life on makeup!

Lately, and it is very unusual, I’ve been quite lucky.

I won a few things.

First I won a Cappuccino maker.

Then I won a playset for my son.

Then I won another playset.

Then I won an iPod.

Now I’ve won a $30 gift certificate to Sweetie Pie Baby Boutique.
Continue Reading……