FiberOne Giveaway Winner

Congrats to mami2jcn! She's the lucky winner of our FiberOne Weight Management prize pack giveaway! 


Thanks to all who entered!

Yoplait Smoothie Giveaway Winner

Congrats to KarenMed409! This lucky lady won her very own Yoplait Smoothie Prize Pack provided by Yoplait and MyBlogSpark!

Thanks to all who entered! My Fiber One giveaway ends tonight! Good luck!

Cleveland is the Most Miserable City in the US

I woke up to a news flash this morning: Forbes Magazine had announce the country's most miserable cities and my hometown had grabbed the number 1 spot. The criteria for becoming the most miserable city were high unemployment rates, crime, corruption in local government, sports teams, and weather, among a few others.

Ok, yes, we have high unemployment. My family has experienced this firsthand. In the past two years, my husband has been laid off twice. The first time was only two months after our son was born. The second was just recently. The good news is that he's starting a new job on March 1st!

Anyway, our winters aren't terrible. Yes, they're cold, we get a lot of snow, ice, etc. But we do live in the northern hemisphere, so why is that a shock? Another thing that's not surprising is the corruption of government officials. I think it's just that these county officials got caught, and officials in other cities haven't... Yet...

Cleveland.com posted a great rebuttal to the miserable rating bringing up the fact that just last year Cleveland was named a top city for dating. In just one year we suddenly manage to go bipolar and switch from hot and sexy to miserable and depressed.

There are plenty of fun things to do in  Cleveland. We have the Rock Hall, the Warehouse District has lots of food and bars, nationally recognized world class health care, Playhouse Square, and a slew of great museums  just to name just a few.

While we do have high unemployment, foreclosure, and corruption rates, does that really classify a city as miserable?

Kelly's Cake Off For a Cause

You don't need to say much more than the word 'cake' to get me on board for something - especially when it's to support such a great cause. When it comes to supporting ovarian cancer research, Electrolux and Kelly Ripa have proved to be an awesome combination! Whenever they get together, they bring us fantastic campaigns that are not only fun to participate in, but allow us to contribute to an extremely worthy cause. Their latest campaign,"Kelly's Cake Off For a Cause", is no exception.

Kelly and accomplished master baker and cake decorator Buddy Valastro, from TLC's "Cake Boss," recently joined forces at a fun event to bake lavishly decorated cakes in support of The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF). To add to the excitement, five teams of baking enthusiasts were invited to take part in Kelly's Cake Off, where they used what they learned from Kelly and the Cake Boss, to decorate their own cakes.

Although you might not get to taste these virtual masterpieces, you can still weigh in on the results! By visiting Kelly-Confidential.com, you can cast a vote for your favorite cake from Kelly's Cake Off.  

For every vote cast, Electrolux will donate $1 to OCRF as part of its $500,000 commitment to help fight ovarian cancer! And since love is on everyone's mind these days right after Valentine's Day, you can even decorate and send a special virtual cake to a friend, family member or someone you love.  For every cake sent, Electrolux will donate another $1 to OCRF.  Plus, Buddy's top cake decorating tips are available -- sure to inspire baking enthusiasts and novices alike.

If that's not enough to get you to click over, everyone who logs on to the site and sends a virtual cake will be automatically entered for a chance to win every baker's dream: a stylish new Induction Range from Electrolux. So click on over to Kelly-Confidential.com to vote for your favorite cake and to support this great cause!

Quarter-Life Crisis

Today is my birthday. Twenty-six years ago today, I was born. My parents started their family. A couple weeks ago I began to reflect on my forthcoming birthday. I'll still technically fall into the mid-twenties category, but I'm feeling so awkward. I actually think turning 30 may be a little better than turning 26.

I have been calling it my quarter-life crisis, because, well, I'm just not mid-life yet! I cried when I turned 23. I don't know why. I had a nice apartment, nice car, been married for six months, looking for houses, still in college, good job. What did I have to be upset about? 24 was fine, even 25 was ok (just ok, not fine), but 23 made me realize that I can't blame anything I do on my youth anymore. I'd always been a pretty responsible and mature person, but even if I wanted to do something stupid, I couldn't just say "well, I was young and stupid" anymore.

Now that I'm 26, I've accomplished quite a lot. I've been married for 3 and a half years, have a cute little starter home, graduated from college, landed a great job, and am even a mommy! I think the Urban Dictionary summed up my quarter life crisis the best:

"Usually occurs sometime in your twenties, a few years out of school and still feel as though you're waiting for you're life to begin.

For most people it will be around twenty five years of age (give or take a year or two) as this tends to be when you're way of thinking is starting to change beyond that of a high school or college student. Most people realize they've reached this age if they're starting to refer to teens as 'kids'.

It's an age where a lot people start developing a more realistic outlook in life and start feeling that if they haven't accomplished certain things in life they thought they would by then that they may never (Even though this isn't true and they still have a long time to attain their goals and dreams).

This tends to be the age where regrets about decisions made in High School, College etc start becoming more apparent. The classes one didn't take, or could have tried harder in, the teams one didn't try out for, and wished they had and so forth can sometimes cause a lot of regret and even resentment of those that are doing things one wishes they'd done.

Some people will respond to a quarter life crisis by rushing into various landmark type goals in life (ie, getting married, moving out from your parents house, getting your first house, getting your first real job, having kids)."

 Ok, even though I have the house, the job, the kid, and the marriage part down, I still feel as though my life is waiting to really take course and these are all of the things that just happened along the way. I always thought I'd be in my "real" house by now, not just my starter. I always thought I'd be more financially free, but now I'm paying student loans (I have no idea why I though that because I knew the whole time that I'd have to pay 'em back).

Fiber One 90 Calorie Fiber Bars Giveaway

With my busy schedule, it's hard to find time to eat right. I often find my diet void of any real nutritional value, which usually ends up leaving me hungry just a short time after I've eaten. Luckily, there’s a new solution for you! New Fiber One® 90 Calorie Chewy Bars can help you satisfy your sweet tooth without sabotaging your diet or your daily routine.

Available in flavors you’ll love, including chocolate and chocolate peanut butter, Fiber One 90 Calorie Chewy Bars contain 2.5 grams of fat. In addition, each serving is packed with five grams of fiber (20 percent of the daily recommended fiber intake, according to the Institute of Medicine), which can help keep you full, making sticking to a diet easier.

These new 90 calories fiber bars may not sound enticing - but just think of the Fiber One commercials - "There's no cardboard in this." They actually do taste great! My Blog Spark sent me one package of the new 90 calorie treats. They are enough to satisfy my sweet tooth (which believe me, is a tough feat!) and I didn't feel guilty after eating it! Even though they're just 90 calories, these tasty fiber bars are filling enough to keep me full until mealtime! perfect mid-morning snack! 


These bars definitely help me stay "on the wagon" when it comes to my weight management. I'm a constant offender of visiting the vending machine and grabbing the most high calorie/low nutrition snack in it! 

My Blog Spark would like to pass the excitement on to you! Enter for your chance to win a Fiber One 90 Calorie Chewy Bars gift pack that includes a sample of the new Fiber One 90 Calorie Chocolate Chewy Bars and some great items to help you stick to your weight management plan (including a water bottle, tips book, pedometer, and more)! 


Initial Entry:
Leave a comment here - Share one tip for managing your weight - losing and maintaining!

1 Extra Entry:
Follow my blog or subscribe to the RSS feed. Please leave a separate comment that you did!

1 Extra Entry:
Follow @MadMomMission on Twitter (comment here with your Twitter ID)

1 Extra Entry:
Tweet this giveaway, include @MadMomMission and a link to this giveaway, and post a link to the Tweet here. (limit once per day)

2 Extra Entries:
Become a Fan of The Mad Mom on Facebook. Leave a comment that you did so.

 2 Extra Entries:
Blog about this contest with a link back to this Giveaway! Don't forget to put a link to your post here!

Giveaway ends February 19, 2010 at 7:00 pm EST. Thanks for entering and good luck! 

*Fiber One 90 Calorie Chewy Bars, information, prize pack, and giveaway have been provided by Fiber One and MyBlogSpark*

Yoplait Smoothie Review and Giveaway

Did you know seven out of 10 Americans do not consume the daily recommended amount of fruit? I know I definitely fall into that statistic! I was very excited when asked to try Yoplait's new frozen smoothies! Each Yoplait Smoothie contains a full serving of fruit as well as real Yoplait yogurt pieces with live & active cultures. Yoplait Smoothies are a good source of calcium when prepared with milk according to directions, and an excellent source of antioxidant vitamin C. Yoplait’s new Frozen Smoothies go from freezer to fabulous in minutes!

Simply add milk to a Yoplait freezer package, blend, and in less than two minutes you can enjoy a nutritious and delicious smoothie guilt free! At 110 calories per serving, Yoplait Frozen Smoothies make creating the at-home smoothie convenient, simple and worry free. 

Theses frozen treats come in three flavors and are refreshing even during these cold winter months! Sometimes I steer away from smoothies because some of them are bitter, some of them are too icy, but not Yoplait's! They're perfectly blended with chunks of real fruit and yogurt! I even gave some to my little guy to sneak in some extra fruit without making him sit down for a snack!

If you'd like to give this a try, click here for a coupon to save $1.25 off one package of Yoplait Frozen Smoothies today!

Enter for your chance to win Yoplait Frozen Smoothie gift pack, which includes a coupon for FREE Yoplait Smoothies and a single-serving blender to make your fruit smoothies. The blender is a steal in itself! It's small enough to make one serving and not have to lug out the big blender!

Initial Entry:
Leave a comment here - What is your favorite smoothie??

1 Extra Entry:
Follow my blog or subscribe to the RSS feed. Please leave a separate comment that you did!

1 Extra Entry:
Follow @MadMomMission on Twitter (comment here with your Twitter ID)

1 Extra Entry:
Tweet this giveaway, include @MadMomMission and a link to this giveaway, and post a link to the Tweet here. (limit once per day)

2 Extra Entries:
Become a Fan of The Mad Mom on Facebook. Leave a comment that you did so.

 2 Extra Entries:
Blog about this contest with a link back to this Giveaway! Don't forget to put a link to your post here!

Giveaway ends February 18, 2010 at 7:00 pm EST. Thanks for entering and good luck! 

*VIP coupon, prize pack, coupon link, information, and giveaway have been provided by Yoplait and MyBlogSpark.*

Formula Follow Up

Someone sent me a couple videos in response to the Formula Case. I thought I'd share :)

Crack is a Tough Habit to Kick

You may remember a post back in September about my reluctant decision to turn off my beloved Brackberry and face the world with a "regular" cell phone. Well, they don't call it a Crackberry for nothing. Two and a half seemingly endless months later, the Blackberry was reconnected! I was so excited! I really did become way less connected with Twitter and Facebook once I didn't have it at my fingertips.

I've met (well virtually met) a ton of really great people through Twitter and blogging and it's just so hard to sit in front of the computer after working all day. So, I usually tweet when I'm relaxing at home. Then I hear, "are you still twittering?" That's what my husband calls tweeting. Cute, isn't it?

I will be the first to admit that the addiction was back in full force but now I have it under control. I leave my phone in my purse at work, put it out of my peripheral view when I'm sitting on the couch. Out of site, out of mind, right? I'm trying. Although with work being incredibly busy and the little guy really keeping me on my toes lately I really haven't had the energy to be social. Even if it's just with my phone.

Soft Scrub Total Bath & Bowl Review

If you haven't noticed the large Soft Scrub logo to the right of this post by now, I'll be the first to let you know that I've recently been chosen as a Soft Scrub Club Captain. This means that I'll get to test products (even ones that haven't hit the shelves yet) and let you know how I like them. This is not a paid opportunit and all of the opinions in the Soft Scrub reviews are 100% my own. The first product I had the opportunity to try as a part of this program was the new Soft Scrub Total Bath & Bowl.

Soft Scrub Total's unique nozzle is fun to use! It delivers a full-coverage spray or just flip the screen closed for a deep-cleaning foam. It's even easy to use to get all those weird angles inside the toilet and tub because it works upside down!

If you know me personally, you know that I'm not one to get excited about cleaning. I actually dislike trying new cleaning products because they rarely do the trick of shortening the time I spend scrubbing out the bathtub. That's why I thought the Soft Scrub Captain opportunity sounded like a perfect opportunity to try new cleaning products and give a totally honest review. Soft Scrub's new Total Bath & Bowl is just what the doctor ordered. My sister heard me literally yelling from the bathroom, "OMG this actually does work!"

I need not look far for a dirty bathroom to clean. Ok, start with the tub - that's usually the toughest. All I had to do was wipe away the soap scum. It was amazing. This product actually makes it fun to clean. My husband had to jump in on the fun, too. He was really going to town! Who knew?

So here are the results. You can see my sparkling clean shower wall on the right. And on the left, yes, that's soap scum being eaten away by Soft Scrub Total.

I am totally excited about this product and can't wait for more fun and powerful cleaning products from Soft Scrub! Give it a try and save $1.50 with a coupon here.