What would you do if a hotel just GAVE you 100 rooms for 2 nights for you to invite all of your friends?  Can you think of friends or family that you’d like to invite?  Could you imagine how cool of a reunion or “bloggy” meetup that would be?

Well, Hampton IS!  Right now, they’re having a grand giveaway with the following prizes:

• GRAND PRIZE:  Entire hotel for a weekend (100 rooms for 2 nights)
• 100 FIRST PRIZES:  Weekend stays given away daily to winner and 3 of their friends

Could you imagine how awesome that would be?  I think I could easily fill those rooms with blogging friends to have one HUGE FREE conference of sorts!  Heck yeah!  Vacations are important – but to think about meeting up again (and some for the first time) with some of my favorite online people to just relax, grow friendships, and learn from each other?

I could also imagine an entire hotel FILLED with military husbands and wives…getting to take a “break” for free.  –Something that doesn’t always get to happen with “no strings attached.”

The grand prize is out of this world, but I’d even love to win one of the 100 first prizes – How much I’d love to just be able to get away with my husband for one weekend…just us.  With all of the military training and upcoming obstacles we’ve been planning for (and still are), it’d be a NICE distraction and period of R&R (Rest and Relaxation).

So, now it’s your turn.  Use your imagination.  What would you do?  Have a cool party?  Reunion?  Travel somewhere new?  Wedding?  Anniversary Party?  Surprise party?  Craft-a-long!!!  Scrapbook!?  Heck, it doesn’t matter…I’m sure you’ll figure it out (and if you can’t, let me go!)  Go, enter here!

Hampton Chain of Friends Sweepstakes

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hampton Hotels. All opinions are 100% mine.

Welcome back!

It’s a well-known fact that we learn best by immersion.  When we’re studying a foreign language, it’s recommended that at some point, we fully immerse ourselves into the language and culture to learn and absorb more.  But, when it’s time to study history, learning by immersion can be a little tricky.  We don’t always have the resources to re-create a version of the past to immerse ourselves in and most history textbooks leave much to be desired.

So, what’s a family to do?

Recreating the past has just gotten easier with Hands and Hearts.  Recently, they sent me one of their Early American History Kits.  As I sifted through the contents of the box, my excitement increased as I thought about the many different activities we would be able to do to help Lorelei better grasp concepts from our lessons.

When I stumbled across Hands and Hearts History Kits, I was sold after reading what came in the kits.  Each kit is jam-packed with everything you’d need to do projects from the past as well as a CD with printable instructions and background history – making learning so much fun!

For example, the Early American History Kit included everything I needed for the following activities:

(as stated on the website…)

Dip candles: This kit contains 100% pure beeswax and natural wicking.  Your child is sure to enjoy creating his own hand-dipped candles, then eating or studying by candlelight.
Craft an apple pomander: After reading about the importance of fragrant herbs in early America, your child will enjoy creating a spicy-smelling apple pomander.
Make and play the Bowl Game: The Bowl Game was a favorite game for many Indian tribes, and it was a favorite for our testers as well!.  Your child will paint the wooden playing pieces, then enjoy playing the game with others.  Comprehensive math tie-in projects are included.
Prepare and drink black brick tea: Think you know about the Boston Tea Party?  Think again!  We don’t want to ruin the surprise, but you may never look at tea the same way after trying a cup of this brew!
Create a talking feather: No, this feather isn’t going to start chatting with you.  A talking feather was a decorated ceremonial feather used by Indians during gatherings.  Only the person holding the feather was allowed to talk.  Your child will be delighted to create his own talking feather using an imitation eagle feather, real buffalo bone beads, genuine rabbit fur, leather, artificial sinew, and more.  You will be delighted with the lessons he will learn about social graces!
Stitch a lavender sachet: Your child be so proud of making this fragrant and beautiful sachet made with lovely dried lavender and attractive calico fabric.  The time spent stitching it will give him or her a glimpse of the work that went into creating clothing and linens long ago.
String a bone cross necklace: This amazing necklace is made from a hand-carved bone cross and authentic glass tile beads.
Decorate and play a bamboo flute: This simple toy was enjoyed by many children long ago, and your child will enjoy decorating his own bamboo flute with leather and genuine glass crow beads.  He will enjoy playing it even more!
Learn about the importance of beads in early American history: You and your child will be fascinated by our section on beads.  We include a bag of genuine imported lampwork beads, trading and valuing information, and several bead projects from which to choose.
Create a wonderful keepsake notebook: We include a packet of reproducible notebook pages, information on notebooking, and specific notebooking suggestions.
Learn timeless language lessons: Our copywork section draws from classic sources such as The New England Primer, the founding fathers, and more.
Study the geography of early America: Our Early American History Discovery Kit includes maps from Knowledge Quest, Inc., and comprehensive, easy-to-implement lesson plans co-authored by Terri Johnson of Knowledge Quest, Inc. and Kate Estes of Hands and Hearts.
Hide God’s Word in his heart: Our exclusive Bible Truths Cards will help your child discern important Bible truths drawn from the KJV and the New England Primer.
This kit includes a comprehensive instruction manual containing full background information for every project, and clear step-by-step illustrated instructions.  Everything you need to do all of these projects is right in the box – *you need only to provide an apple and two empty metal cans (like soup cans).  All materials are of the very highest quality and are extremely historically accurate.  Your child won’t just be learning about history – he will be living it!

Each kit – whether you want to learn about Ancient Egypt or Ancient Greece and Rome – are full of learning possibilities and everything you would need for the activities.  Most kits are between $39.95 and $69.95, which is well worth it when you consider the contents are provided as are the CDs with instructions and history lessons – and, the gas you didn’t have to waste while trying to find similar items.

These kits are awesome!  (Can you tell that I really really like them?)  They’re great for homeschoolers – or, parents who just want to add a little extra learning and discovery into their child’s life.  They’d be great for a school classroom, too (add-ons for extra students are available)!

In fact, I believe in this product so much that Hands and Hearts and I have teamed together and are offering ONE lucky reader a FREE KIT of their choice.

How To Enter To Win

To enter, you can do any of the following (please use a separate “comment” for each “chance” to win):

• Leave a comment telling us which kit you’d like to try (visit this page to seem them all).
• Follow Hands and Hearts on twitter (<—follow this link) and leave a comment telling me you did!
• Subscribe to BossSanders.com (you can use this link or you can look at the top of the page and put your email address there) and leave a comment telling me you did!

Other Details

• This giveaway will end on May 31, 2010 at midnight CST.
• You have up to 3 chances (see details above) – making your chances of winning even better!
  
• Winner will be announced on Bosssanders.com and will receive an email.

Best of luck to you all!!

I recently found out about a local charity in our area that provides care to women in need, specifically pregnant women. Although Hope Unlimited Pregnancy Crisis Center has been around for several years, I’d never really known MUCH about it. As a pregnant mother now, I know how bittersweet a pregnancy can be. I know how fears about money and life situations can creep into even the strongest of minds, and I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be confronted with doubts that other women have to face every day. For me, this charity is an important one that tugs at my heart. It is a place that women can go and learn about their choices (although this center does not perform abortions), and should she choose to keep her baby, she is given access to medical care – regardless of whether she can afford it or not. The charity provides not only medical care and counseling, but also classes and other programs to help get women (and men, too) back on their feet.

There’s so much more, so much that it’d take a good hour for me to just TELL you, much less write it in a blog post…

Steven and I felt called to raise money for this awesome source of hope for so many, and we’re hoping our friends and family from across the world will join in. We’re stepping out on faith and offering $100 as a giveaway to one lucky person who chooses to donate $10 or more (to be drawn at random). Of course, we completely understand if you find yourself unable to donate or give – and that’s okay. We really hope that whether you can give or not, you’ll visit the original post and leave a comment to help cheer us on. Every voice counts and we want to hear from all of you…we need to hear from you.

(If you DO wish to donate, you can use the widget below.)

Love,
Ashley

I’m super excited to make an announcement this morning – in fact, I’m SO excited that I actually got up at 7am this morning which should really mean something because that never happens. Ever. Whole Foods Market has just released the beginning of their series of podcasts this month, and their focus?

Pregnancy and Baby (oh, heck yes!)

From now until March 30th, they’re offering MY READERS an incentive to listen and provide feedback to their Whole Baby Podcasts covering: Natural Baby Body Care, Pregnancy – A Time to Go Natural, and Organics for Baby, Beyond Food.

So, why am I so excited? Because I have recently teamed up with them to offer one awesome reader (because you are all so awesome) a bag full of goodies just for participating!

Hylands – Teething Tablets, and Teething Gel

HOW TO ENTER (please read carefully as this is not like other giveaways):

                        Natural Baby Body Care  (March 10) 

                        Pregnancy – A Time to Go Natural   (March 17)

                        Organics for Baby, Beyond Food   (March 24)

(PS – Thanks Nis for the heads up!)

I just finished uploading a photo and ordering a box of 6 Valentines. Usually…we don’t really send these out, but I couldn’t help myself. These are cute!
And, they’re free. Like, REAL free. Even the shipping is covered.

Check it out:  https://stories.scrapbooksetc.com/shop/cards/valentines/

Use the coupon code (at checkout): VALENTINE

This probably won’t last long so HURRY!

As a child, I remember being captivated by dollhouses of all sorts – and, it’s really no surprise that I still love them. I remember sitting on the floor, with my dolls and house and their accessories all laid out – then, “Vroooooom!” *CRASH!* *BANG*

My little brother and his army of camo-ed out Ken dolls and dump trucks had apparently heard of a bomb threat and had orders to destroy my little village. Occasionally, my dolls would make it out with more than one arm stuck to their torso. But, rarely.

Back then, there was no Mrs Goodbee Talking Dollhouse…

This dollhouse is the bomb-diggity. I don’t know if they’d actually put that term in their press-releases and commercials, but they really could…because this thing seriously rocks! This is one of those dollhouses that EVERYONE’s going to be talking about because… IT TALKS!

Mrs. Goodbee (the talking dollhouse) has these little buttons all throughout her, and when pushed they each do different things. I really have no clue what she’d say if kid brother (or sister) wrecks into her with a dump truck, but I’m sure whatever it is would be a slight scolding in a very polite way. I do know, however, that the doorbell rings and Mrs. Goodbee welcomes you inside, the toilet flushes, the refrigerator opens and Mrs. Goodbee encourages you to eat your fruits and vegetables…and she even has a turkey and a pie in the oven (Um, when can *I* move in?).

The compactly folded-up house (PERFECT for stowing away under a bed or in a closet when not in use) looks like this (from one side) when you fold it out…

And…that’s just ONE side. Seriously…You have rooms galore with tons of different activities, so there’s no shortage on things to do.

And, my favorite part (Okay, second favorite part)? It comes ASSEMBLED and WITH BATTERIES!!!!

Do you know what this means? (I’ll tell you…) It means no unwrapping and then your child realizing it’ll take YOU 5 hours to put it together AND you forgot the batteries. Nope, none of that with Caring Corners, they’ve totally got your back.

And, in case you still don’t believe me about the awesome factor for this cool little house, check out some of the other features:

• Developed in conjunction with Child Development Expert and Author Dr. Michele Borba
• 400 activities, songs, words and sounds
• Eight “hot spots” where Mrs. Goodbee’s voice gently guides children and responds to what they do
• Twelve large rooms – six on each side — perfect for two children to share
• Comes with Girl doll and Boy doll, dog, reward stickers and online games
• Extends the acts of caring, sharing and preparing for responsibilities from the pretend world into their real world
• Online games at CaringCorners.com that reinforce the dollhouse lessons of caring and sharing
• A “Parent’s Corner” at CaringCorners.com offers helpful advice and ideas for additional ways to help children learn about caring, sharing and preparing for responsibilities
• The Carton of Caring Donation Program partnership with Goodwill Industries
• For children ages 3 and up
• Can be purchased at retailers nationwide, including Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R’ Us

What’s more is we’ve teamed up with Caring Corners and we’re giving one away!

To enter, simply leave a comment here with the following information:
-Who you’d be winning it for and why you MUST win and
-Where in the world are you? (State or Territory if not in the US – We’re curious about how far we’re reaching!)
-(And, as always…be sure you leave a working email in the correct field so we can reach you if you win)

For extra opportunities to win, you can do the following (please let me know in comments if you do any of these so I can award you the extra entries):

-Write a blog post about this giveaway and link back here for 5 extra entries
-Tweet this contest on twitter saying “check out #bosssanders awesome giveaway at http://www.bosssanders.com/2008/12/21/caring-corners-mrs-goodbee-talking-dollhouse/” for 2 extra entries
-Come back and leave a comment a day (one comment per day until contest closing) for 1 extra entry (per comment/per day)

Contest ENDS January 4, 2009 and a winner will be chosen.

The contest has been extended until the end of January, so be sure to sign up!!

If you can’t wait until January 4 of next year to possibly win your own dollhouse, click HERE to buy it now!

This is the announcement where I announce one winner…and, then draw out another contest – mostly because I can.

So here goes:

The winner of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book is: Red Lotus Mama –You totally worked your butt off to get this (thank you!)

Congratulations! – And thanks to everyone for your support in that. Also, I’ve decided to extend the Mrs. Goodbee Caring Corners Dollhouse until the END OF THIS MONTH.

So…go, now and sign up if you haven’t already – okay?

Here’s the link (IT’S MAJOR AWESOMENESS)

This giveaway is sponsored, and unlike my other giveaways, anyone who meets the criteria for this giveaway automatically “wins” $100.

A few months ago, my husband and I had new windows put in our home by a company called Windows USA – I could tell you how awesome they are and how much I love them and what I love about them, but I won’t (unless you ask me to, of course) as I’m not in the business of selling windows.

However, Windows USA has this awesome affiliate program where their customers can refer their products to other consumers – and, instead of paying for extensive advertising, Windows USA pays both the referrer (ME) and the prospective consumer (YOU) just for listening to their one-hour window presentation.

So, get that?  $100 to simply LISTEN to a presentation about windows and with NO STRINGS ATTACHED.  Meaning after your one hour presentation, you can collect your money and simply walk away – windows or not.

To get in on this, just leave me a comment letting me know you’re interested and I’ll contact you and get you signed up – but, first you need to make sure you’re eligible:

-You MUST live in the United States
-You MUST own your own home

So, what would you do with an extra one-hundred dollars?

*picture from Amazon

Steven and I have went on some small adventures this year, stepping out of our comfort zone to try and do something more for our family, to BE something more. He began a blog shortly after www.bosssanders.com went up, and then decided the parenting blog just wasn’t his niche. So, it came down. I began writing more, and then opened up my own store: First Impressions. I recently had to close the store, as it was spending more money (even slightly) than it was making at the moment, and quite frankly, I lost the drive to keep it going. I still have a lot of goodies though, so if any of you need any maternity/baby stuff for gifts just give me a shout via email – it’s like a virtual yard sale over here or something. Then, he decided to open a new blog up, but this time about blogging to make money and he’s seriously flown. He’s now getting offers and free tickets to places and some other good things, as well as being one of the few hand chosen by a major company to be on their “team” of sorts. I finally decided to shoot a modeling application in to a pregnancy focused agency and was denied on account of my shortness – which is probably for the better since I might have been able to barely cover the travel to get there and back for assignments with what they’d pay. Oh well. I did try. I also began writing more and more, opening my heart up beyond little stories and crafts about the trivial things or about Lorelei and all the funny things she does. I decided to be real, even when it stung. And, that brought me more visitors, more friends. I also decided to begin writing a novel, something I never thought I could do – and, while it’s kind of at a standstill right now, it will get finished because I’m determined to say I DID IT. With all of the extra writing, I’ve felt this…RELEASE…I guess you could say. Besides painting, it’s one of my deepest pleasures for my soul.

Speaking of…I was just published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Resolution book. It’s one of their latest to be published, and I’m in there. Well, one of my stories is anyhow. And, in the spirit of Christmas, I’m giving one book away. This is a personal giveaway and not backed like some of the other giveaways have been, so I’m going to make this giveaway last until the beginning of the New Year.

To sign up, simply do one or all of the following:

1 . Be a Twit and tweet a message (on twitter.com) that contains both the link for this giveaway and either @bosssanders or #bosssanders.
Example 1: @bosssanders Send me the book or I’ll die!   http://www.bosssanders.com/2008/12/17/resolutions
Example 2: Stalk #bosssanders better with this book   http://www.bosssanders.com/2008/12/17/resolutions/
…You can use those, but I didn’t want to limit your creativity or undying love for me, so I’m leaving it open. Plus, I’m looking forward to the laughs.

10 POINTS

2. Write a blog post about this giveaway with a link back to this specific post (http://www.bosssanders.com/2008/12/17/resolutions/). 15 POINTS

3. Leave a comment here. 5 POINTS

4. Whore my link in whatever way you see fit (please let me know what you do so I can give you proper points though). Ranges from 5 POINTS to 50 POINTS depending on your pimpin’ skills.

This contest is open til January 1st…um, maybe January 3rd, depending on festivities or lack thereof. You can do as much or as little as you want – which means if you want to leave 10 bonafide comments below, go for it (just make them worthy comments, no one word crap, or I’ll come post my links in all of your blog post comments…and no, you won’t get points for me doing that). At the end, I’ll count up the points and Ta DA. Winner. Like magic. Now, go my little pimps and pimpettes…

Just to recap, I had a giveaway for a couple of great Chicken Soup for the Soul books.

The winners are

Jessi L who said “I would love to win the Like Mother, Like Daughter one because my mom is going through a really hard time in her life and the only person she has to rely on is me and I think this book would bring us closer.”

herrinfamily who said “Copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Moms & Sons: Stories by Mothers and Sons, in Appreciation of Each Other by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Amy Newmark, because i have a son.”

Please email me by Wednesday, the 5th (November), or I’ll have to choose another winner.

*Winners were chosen randomly.