This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Softball Rampage. All opinions are 100% mine.
Softball season in the Roxiticus Valley is almost over for London's third and fourth grade Yankee team and Maddie's first and second grade Mets team.... Maddie's team has a round robin end to their season this Saturday, and London's team has playoffs next week and a potential battle for the championship the following weekend. Rex and I agree that we're the parents who seem to be having the most fun at our daughters' softball games... since our girls just started softball this year, we don't have a three-year history of tee ball and coach pitch instructional league, so everything about softball is all new and exciting to us, while our friends all have a bit of the "been there, done that" look.
Once the season is over, we'll have to find ways of keeping softball in our lives during the off-season. London and Maddie's teenage babysitters for this summer are three softball-playing teenage sisters, so my girls may get some backyard training in the art of fast pitch. Meanwhile, Softball Rampage is looking for the funniest, most clever softball team names to win their contest. The Yankees and the Mets are hardly original, so Rex, London, Maddie and I will have to come up with some doozies... London's coach, who was born to be a softball coach, has both a great coaching style and a fun writing style in his game recaps... I'm still laughing to myself over "sleep well little Dodgers" (maybe you had to be there). So winning the Softball Rampage contest may be easy for our coach, and for you: go to the blog post for the contest and list your best offbeat softball team names in the comments section for a chance to win $200 in RampageBucks Rewards which can be spent on the Softball Rampage web site to buy softball bats, gloves, and other gear for your real-life team. I'm going with a long one: Butchers, Bakers, and Candlestickmakers... the girls on London's team can explain it to you.
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of 20th Century Fox. All opinions are 100% mine.
Over on my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives blog, I've been lamenting that it has been over nine years since Rex and I have been out to the movies on our own for "date night." It always seems like there's something better to do... this weekend is London and Maddie's Little League softball opening day, followed by dinner at our house for a couple of families... the next weekend, depending on the weather, we might head down to Bay Head to open our beach house, and we'd always prefer to go out to dinner with friends and talk and talk and talk instead of spending a couple of hours in front of the big screen without our kids.
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hormel Foods. All opinions are 100% mine.
Loyal readers of Roxiticus Desperate Housewives and Roxy's Bay Head Blog know that Rex does all the cooking in our family, and Roxy does all the spreadsheets. When it comes to cooking, my bestest pal correctly pointed out years and years ago, "What you do isn't called cooking, Roxy... it's called heating up." For those of us who don't have Rex's extraordinary talents in the kitchen, Dinty Moore® products and hormel® chili enable us to replicate childhood favorites like Chili-mac and Easy Shepherd's Pie and create (heat up?) classic hearty meal recipes like Chili Cheese Dip and Chili and 3-Cheese Fondue. London and Maddie and all of their friends know that if it's chips and cheese and chili (my all-time favorite way to eat Hormel® chili), Roxy is probably doing the "cooking." Apparently, Roxy is not alone...Hormel, the nation’s leading chili brand, has topped nachos and filled the bowls of American families for generations, celebrating their 75th anniversary this year.
Heading into the Easter weekend, the weather is supposed to be warm and sunny, so we're planning the traditional Easter egg hunt in our Roxiticus Valley backyard on Sunday, followed by one of Rex's delicious ham dinners for Grammy (and maybe Grandmom, if she's home from rehab after her hip surgery). But Saturday is game day and Roxy's day in the kitchen (danger, beware!)....even though our brackets are busted, with both Villanova and Syracuse out of the NCAA tournament, we're still celebrating March Madness and cheering on great college basketball... and enjoying nostaligic comfort foods from Hormel® chili and Dinty Moore®. For a great collection of game time recipes, visit http://www.hormelrecipes.com/.
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of wellnessdaily.com. All opinions are 100% mine.
Roxiticus Roxy, our groundhog up north, has spoken, and even though the snow is melting, there are still another six to eight weeks before we open up our beach house in Bay Head, New Jersey. Just the right amount of time to start asking the question, what are YOU doing to increase the wellness factor in your life? So far this year, this new decade, I haven't followed through on any of my diet and exercise plans or New Year's wellness resolutions. Maybe there's help for me. http://socialspark.com/metrics/click/post?slot_id=191732&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wellnessdaily.com is a new online community that collects all of the latest news, plus healthy living blogs, expert opinions, easy and nutritious recipes, with videos on a variety of topics ranging from weight loss to healthier eating to exercise to stress relief and mental health.
This year certainly wouldn't be the first year that I've set a 50-day goal to lose 10 pounds ahead of bikini season, but this may be the first year that I've had the proper tools and motivation... I'm going use the site to create my own customized personal health and wellness news feed so that I'll receive the most relevant news possible....and I'm going to clip the photo of the Ed Hardy bikini from Venus swimsuits and tape it onto Roxy's refrigerator.
Come along with Roxy and join wellnessdaily.com... if you're one of the first 25,000 visitors, you can claim a $5 product rebate. Sign up and enter the wellnessdaily.com Twitter contest for a chance to win a WellnessDaily.com prize package valued at $1,250, including coupons for a year-long supply of Jennie-O Turkey Store products and a one-year gym membership. Enter the Twitter promotion through March 10th by tweeting: “Enter to win $ towards a gym membership & JENNIE-O turkey products. Just follow @wellness_daily & RT this! http://bit.ly/tbd123."
Good luck to all... in the contest and with your 2010 wellness goals.
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Citi. All opinions are 100% mine.
So... Apple launched the iPad today, and the best headline I found came from fellow blogger Ken Armstrong's incessant Twittering: "iPad Softly to the Fridge In Search Of Beer." Runner up was "iBored." Although my husband, Rex, remains hopeful that the iPad could be a cross between his beloved Blackberry and the notebook computer he refuses to carry with him to and from the office, I'm skeptical... of course, I'm the one Rex turns to when technology goes wrong. He dumped his iPhone after a week because he couldn't stand the touch screen, and has been disappointed about being able to open and read client files (in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) on his Blackberry. So we'll see.
There is some good news for the iPhone and iPad: millions of Citi® credit card customers in the United States can now manage their card accounts via the downloadable Citi Mobile(SM) application for the iPhone® device, and I'm guessing Rex would be able to use his shiny new iPad to access our Citi credit card accounts, since the iPad runs on the same operating system. According to Citi's Head of North America Consumer Internet & Mobile, Liza Landsman, "This application now provides our customers with anywhere, anytime access to their credit card account information, which is important for people on the go. It will help more customers to stay connected in real-time to their finances and to make informed spending decisions." If you're like Rex and me, Existing Citibank members click here to download Citi's Mobile App for the iPhone; if you don't have a Citi credit card, you can also Click here to apply for Citibank and then get started with all the benefits of mobile access to your account information: manage spending more wisely, quickly check account balances and available credit at any time with just a tap of the screen, and get details on recent transactions and the date on which your next payment is due, which can help prevent the accrual of fees from inadvertently late or missed payments.
I'll let you know if Rex gets the iPad... and speaking of Citi, I'd better make my monthly payment right now!
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Coldwell Banker. All opinions are 100% mine.
Even though it is a balmy 40 degrees during the "January thaw" here in the Roxiticus Valley, New Jersey, it's not even close to warm enough to think about opening our beach house. It is, however, warm enough to dream about sunny summer afternoons playing in the waves and relaxing on the beach in Bay Head with Rex, London, and Maddie... heading back to the house for my six o'clock beer, while Rex grills a steak or steams 100 clams for dinner, and London and Maddie paint seashells that they gathered during the day.
There's not a day that goes by that I'm not thankful for all that I have... good health, a loving family, and a house at the beach in Bay Head, New Jersey. Last summer, as we all struggled through the miserable economy, it was discouraging to see so many classic beach houses for sale (and not selling, and not selling, and not selling) all around town. I hope that when we open our beach house in April, we'll see signs that other families are taking advantage of the 2010 Homebuyer Tax Credits to find a home at the beach in Bay Head.
The best deal is for first-time homebuyers, or those who have not owned a home in the last three years, who can receive up to an $8,000 tax credit. Rex's son, PostBoy, and his new bride, MathGirl, took advantage of the 2009 credit to buy their dream home in Connecticut last Fall.
The first-time homebuyer tax credit was working towards economic recovery, but what the housing market and our national economy needed was an incentive for the "move-up" buyer. According to the 2009 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, the number of first-time home buyers rose from 41% to 47% of all home sales last year, and was the highest on record dating back to 1981. So this year, existing homeowners can benefit when they buy a new home, too: homeowners who have lived in their current home consecutively for 5 of the past 8 years can receive up to a $6,500 tax credit when purchasing a home. There may be no future extensions, so all qualified homebuyers are encouraged to act now (even though it's too cold for the beach) and have a written, binding contract by April 30, 2010 (close by June 30, 2010). The income limits are $125,000 for singles and $225,000 for married couples, with a $20,000 phase-out of the credit for both.
Visit Coldwell Banker to do your own research... you can even start a new Home Search on the site for your own house in Bay Head, NJ... hope to see you on the beach this summer!
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of iCoke.ca. All opinions are 100% mine.
Way back when, the wild single Roxy traveled to Vancouver... for skiing and well, the type of thing wild single women usually travel to do. It involved a long running bet with a Vancouver lawyer over the New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Now that I'm married with children, however, the closest I'll get to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics will probably be on TV and a FREE Coca-Cola Collectible Medallion, available exclusively at Mac's Stores. Roxy (and each of you loyal Bay Head Blog readers out there) can receive one of three different (but all free, free, free) Coca-Cola Collectible Medallions with the purchase of two (2) Coca-Cola 591mL products at Mac's stores.
While I've told London and Maddie that they aren't allowed to drink soda (and ruin their teeth) until they're seventeen years old, I love all of the Coca-Cola products. Back in my college days when I didn't have to worry about my girlish figure, I drank Coke Classic. More recently, I'm a Coke Zero fan, and for a little variety Rex and I both drink Diet Coke with Lime or Diet Cherry Coke. So we won't have any trouble going back to Mac's Stores again and again to score each of the unique Olympic Medallions. This giveaway is subject to availability, so drink Coke and get yours right away.
