A Love Letter to Blogging

ONE MOTHERFUCKING THOUSAND blog posts.

On this blog.

Well, not exactly. This blog used to be a blog called Dirty Little Secret. Because it was 2007, okay?

I didn't know any better.

Which is also why I called myself "Jerseygirl89".

This was taken right around when I started "Dirty Little Secret". 

This was taken a few months after I started blogging. 

I was on this group writing site, and it was dying, and everyone moved to Blogger so I did too. I had no idea what the hell I was doing. I just knew that suddenly I was home with a toddler and an infant and that all my friends were at work during the day. I was lonely, dammit.

Also, anything to avoid vacuuming.

To further establish my clueless bona fides, I did not prepare a ginormous giveaway in honor of my ONE THOUSANDTH* post. Mainly because I didn't notice until about 5 days ago and it's not like brands are dying to have me host awesome giveaways. Unfortunately.

I guess my swearing, ranting, randomness, lack of editing and inability to choose a niche don't scream, "Brand Ambassador."

Oh fucking well.

• I started blogging because I love writing. 
• I started blogging because the idea of people reading anything I wrote used to scare the fuck out of me. 
• I started blogging because I didn't know how to make mom friends. 
• I started blogging because I didn't know what else to do. 

And I am so glad I did. This blog is like my fourth kid, if I had a kid who never threw up on me or talked back.

• Because of blogging, I have no fear of letting people read what I have written. 
• Because of blogging, I have "met" so many people I consider friends. 
• Because of blogging, I have been able to take my kids places we otherwise couldn't have afforded to go. 
• Because of blogging, I have (occasionally) earned money that we really needed. 
• Because of blogging, I have gotten so much love, support and advice when I really needed it. 
• Because of blogging, I didn't lose my mind when I became a full-time stay-at-home mom to two toddlers.

I feel honored that you are reading this post. I appreciate everyone who has stumbled here, even those people from Russia who stayed for .5 seconds. Thank you. Thank you all for letting me call myself a blogger.

I know it's not much, but I've got an Amazon Gift Card for one of my readers. It's only $25, but it's just to let you know that I really do appreciate you guys. Hopefully after my next thousand posts I'll be able to give away a car or something. :) 

Entry-Form

*Look, I don't accomplish much anymore, other than folding laundry and keeping tiny smallish humans alive. So 1000 posts means a lot to me, even though it's not a cure for cancer or the development of comfortable Spanx. My point is, I'm gonna spend the day bragging. Please excuse. 

Hot Wheels Nitro Speeder Giveaway

It's very rare that I get a pitch email or sponsored post offer where I'm all like, "Squee! I want to review THAT!" But a few weeks ago I got an email from Mom Select that said "Hot Wheels" at the top. My house is filled with Hot Wheels cars, as is my purse. We have tracks and loops and stuff that makes the cars go flying. Even Ironflower plays with Hot Wheels, though she'd prefer it if you didn't mention that to the girls in her first grade class. My boys are the real fans though.

Hot Guy often bribes them with promises of watching Hot Wheels videos on YouTube*. And then there are all the cars we own. I think what's really cool is that they are just as excited about a new car as they are about getting considerably more expensive toys. Which may explain why we have so many cars.

Anyway, I was pretty much filling out the "please-let-me-do-this-review" survey before I even knew what kind of Hot Wheels product they were launching. When I realized that "Nitro Speeders" were mini-RC cars, I'm pretty sure I cheered. Or squee-d. Or something most 40 year old women don't do about remote control cars. Lovebug has been dying for an RC car but I wasn't sure if he could handle one without getting frustrated. So this would be just perfect.

Lovebug and Hugmonkey could barely contain themselves as we took the Nitro Speeder out of the box. Then there was the charging,
so even Ironflower was pretty hyper by the time we got the Nitro Speeder going. Man, they are fast. I mean like so fast that I had serious trouble controlling it, but in a totally fun way. Lovebug didn't get frustrated at all. They suggest the toy for kids 5 - 8 and while I think older kids could have fun with them too, the toy is not great for kids younger. Hugmonkey at not quite 3 did not have the finger strength or dexterity to make it go himself.

The car itself is very small, but quite sturdy considering all the abuse it's already been through. It's a lot like the typical indestructible Hot Wheels car, but slightly smaller. And, you know, remote controlled. There's a cute case that holds the car and charger, so it's a very portable toy. My only concern would be that because it's so small and so fast, I wouldn't bring it anywhere it could get lost too easily. Like the woods behind our house, which Lovebug suggested. Fortunately I nixed that idea before our beloved Nitro Speeder disappeared. So now I only have to buy 2. I think they'll have a lot more fun (and considerably less fighting) when they each have one.

So yeah, I highly recommend the Nitro Speeder and I'll be buying more soon. You, however, can win one. On this very blog. I know - 2 giveaways within a few weeks of each other. It's totally crazy. Check out the form below for ways to enter. The contest closes Sunday and the winner will get 1 awesome Hot Wheels Nitro Speeder.







*They have real life stunt drivers perform tricks. It's kind of awesome.

Irene Recap and Giveaway Winner Announced!

Congrats to DavisMusic, winner of the giveaway! This was kind of fun. I may have to do more of these in the future. 

So, you know, Irene. Not as big of a bitch as I'd expected, but still nasty enough to appear on any Real Housewives franchise. We have not lost power yet, which is wild. We lost it several times during storms last winter, so I'm pretty shocked. We have had a lull:

And there is much flooding:

But I feel damn lucky. Even if I can't leave my town because roads are blocked with water and/or trees and I only got 3 hours of sleep and the news keeps harassing me with dire predictions* and the wind is picking up again and we spent way too much money on water, batteries, light sources and muffins.** The kids seem to be handling things well, except they somehow conned their father into putting up his tent in the living room. And they're going to sleep there tonight. Which really means 2 nights with no sleep for mommy. But that's all okay.

Hoping everyone gets to go back home, gets their power back and gets their houses fixed quickly. 

*BTW, is there anything else happening the world right now? Or are you all just sitting around watching Irene reports and eating potato chips? 

**Muffins protect you from hurricanes. Obviously. 

A Giveaway, For Reals

I have tried every kind of bathroom soap there is. Bars, foams, gels, you name it. Invariably it turns into a big mess on the bathroom sink. I mean, I suppose I could follow the kids into the bathroom each time they use it, or supervise all hand washing or something. But that sounds like a lot of effort, especially considering that Lysol has come up with something better.

A NO TOUCH dispenser. As Ironflower said, "It makes me feel like we're someplace fancy". I'm pretty sure she's confusing "fancy" with "clean", but whatever. There's no mess. Even Hugmonkey can get his own soap without making a huge mess and knocking 20 things to the floor. Plus, fewer opportunities for them to get germs from each other.

It's refillable and it works much, much, much better than the one at my local movie theater. I am so pleased. You just wave your hand and boom, the perfect amount of soap. 

I also got Lysol Wipes in my fun package from Mom Select, which gave me one less thing to buy at the grocery store last week. I don't usually even sign up for most of the sponsored review/giveaway opportunities that I learn about, because writing reviews is not my thing. Plus, I'm usually leery about the products I'm offered. It's not like I'm Scary Mommy getting outfitted by Target, after all. So I was all excited about this opp, because I buy Lysol products anyway. I already wanted the No Touch dispenser, but hadn't actually bought it yet. Some weeks our grocery budget is bigger than other weeks, you know? 

Anyway, now you too can get a No Touch dispenser and Lysol wipes. That's right. . .I'm actually having a GIVEAWAY. Can you believe it? 

So, you can leave a comment here for 1 entry. You can get more entries for subscribing to my feed, following me on Twitter and joining this site on Google Friend Connect. Just leave a comment letting me know who you are. You have until midnight on August 26th to enter. Winner will be announced sometime on August 27th. Probably in the evening when the children aren't distracting me. 

If you really like giveaways,  you can also go over to the Lysol Facebook page  and enter their kitchen sweepstakes and win a new refrigerator, stove and dishwasher. Sure, their prize is better, but I guarantee their self-esteem will not be as boosted as mine will when you leave a comment.