How would you like to make your life better?  How would you like to feel good, look good, and get more out of your life?  If that sounds like something you’d like to do, you definitely need to check out the Making Life Better website.  There are a ton of recipes, tips, and advice on there to help you make changes in your life.  I like the recipes on budget series, since most of us are looking to save money where we can in this economy.  There’s a lot of great articles ranging from how to bond better with your family, what to get for Father’s Day, and how to get ready for summer.  Definitely things we all can relate too and can use in our busy lives.  I really liked the 10 everyday beauty tips that are things that you can do quickly and easily at home.  There’s no going out and having to buy expensive treatments.  Instead, they listed things like using a light wash of color will make you look fresh-faced all day — use your fingers to swirl creamy blush directly on the apples of your cheeks.

If you’d like to make good changes for you and your family, check out Making Life Better.  (plus they have some great coupons and contests and who can’t use those?)

This contest is over. The winner is flared0ne. Congrats!

Do you have stubborn children like myself? If so, the ParentSmart Kid Happy Review series of books from free spirit publishing is something you need in your house. I know that my kids are enjoying these books, and that my sister’s kids will too! Each of the books in this series tackles the battle of wills that we all encounter in our homes.  This is one of the first series of books I’ve ever seen that actually color code some of the words, so you know what you are teaching your children.  Green means you are validating their feelings, blue is about offering choices for them, and red words are for encouragement.  There is even a section in the back of the book explaining to us parents why we want to do these things!

Ready For Bed! is about getting ready for bed.  I love the tagline for the book “A Tale of Cleaning Up, Tucking In, and Hardly Any Complaining”.  Who wouldn’t want that in their house?  When you are struggling to get your kids to bed, that is a perfect time to whip this book out.   The illustrations in this book are awesome.  They take up the entire page and catch even the littlest ones’ attention.  It is a fairly short book that will actually hold even the shortest attention span.  The story also shows some parenting techniques that we can all try to use when putting our little ones to bed.  I know I don’t mind one less tantrum.

Ready For The Day! is book about getting up in the morning.  Nothing like finally getting our little ones to bed to have to drag them out in the morning.  Again, this book has an excellent tagline “A tale of teamwork and Toast, and Hardly Any Foot Dragging”.  Who wouldn’t want this either?  The illustrations in this book also are excellent and take up the entire page.  They engage your child.  The book is short enough to keep their attention span.  Again, there are some parenting techniques that definitely work like letting your kids choose what to eat for breakfast and what they are going to wear for the day.

Ready To Play! is the newest book in this series  This book is “A Tale of Toys and Friends, and Barely Any Bickering”.  Now, the color coded words in this book are slightly different.  Green words still validate feelings and red are for encouraging.  However, the purple words are to invite solutions and outcomes.  This book is about a playdate that could have been very bad, and how the mom handled it.  It’s about taking turns and sharing.  There is some behavior in here you definitely want your kids to model.  It definitely gives them ways to solve their problems.  Again, the illustrations are wonderful, and you wouldn’t even need the words to tell the story.  It is also short, so the shortest attention spans can enjoy it!

Now, I have arranged for one of my lucky readers to get all three of these books!  Here’s what you need to do if you’d like this:

Leave a comment on this entry.  Check out the Free Spirit site (books linked above) and tell me which of these books would be most helpful in your house and why!

Each of these gives you one additional entry:

1. Twitter about this contest. Please leave me your username so I can verify. Or use something like this:

RT @blm03 is giving away ParentSmart Kid Happy books! http://urlbrief.com/fd85ec

2. Stumble this post. If you don’t know what Stumble Upon is, please read Lori’s post at Blogging Cents. She explains it extremely well.

3. Add this post to other social media sites like Digg, Kirtsy, Blogging Zoom, Reddit, Propeller, Etc. (1 entry for each social network).

Each of these gives you 5 additional entries,

1. Blog about this on your blog. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.

2. Add this to any forums you belong too. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.

3. Subscribe to this blog using either my email or RSS feed

4. Add my badge to your sidebar:

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This contest is for US residents and will end at April 1st at noon CST and is for everyone! Good Luck!!!

Some always good presents for the Christmas season has to be any of the Chicken Soup For The Soul books.  They are an awesome read for anyone, and I want to pass along some new ones you may not have seen yet.

Chicken Soup for the Soul 101 Best: Christmas Cheer is inspiration stories that help you keep everything in perspective (like you shouldn’t be checking out diet pill reviews already. Those few extra pounds you put on at Christmas does not make you a bad person.)  This book is part of the 101 Best Stories series.  Books in the 101 Best Stories series are some the editor’s most favorite tales and poems.

Chicken Soup for the Soul 101 Best: On Being a Parent is about doing the hardest job in the world that comes with no handbook. These are the best stories to appeal to both moms and dads.

For the men in your life, Chicken Soup for the Soul 101 Best: Tales of Golf and Sport would be the book for them. They are offered insight from both golf and sports enthusiasts for all sports in this book.

These books all offer many hours of enjoyment and fun.  You will laugh, you will cry, and you will enjoy what life has to offer.

Want to be the coolest parent ever this Christmas? The zOrb microscope is that cool gift.  I’ve had my 4 year old using it, so it is good for little kids all the way up to teenagers.  It easily hooks up to your computer; all you need to do is hook it up to your USB port on your laptop or desktop.  The really cool thing is that you can magnify it anywhere from 35 times on a 14″ monitor all the way up to 53 times on a 21″ monitor.  Want to see it in action?  Watch this video:

The microscope has a built in illuminator too.  The coolest part is that you can make your own video with it too (and no, I won’t subject you to the videos my daughter made).  The zOrb comes in three colors:  Surf Blue, Safari Green, and Lava orange.

A gift all ages will love is this zOrb microscope, so make sure it is on your shopping list.

Even though we are heading into winter in the United States, you really need to think about sunscreen.  My husband would not listen to me yesterday when I told him to put on sunscreen before the Chicago Bears football game, and guess what?  He came home with a sunburn.  Once there is snow on the ground, it is even easier to get a sunburn even in the middle of winter. You always need to wear sunscreen no matter what the season is.

Now, my husband has a lotion issue.  He cannot stand touch lotion, having it on his skin, or applying it to our children.  No, he is not trying to get out of sunlotioning our children — it just really grosses him out.  That is why when I came across Kinesys I knew we had to try it.  What I found is that this is a winner in our house.  The microspray formula is super easy to apply.  You just spray it on your arm (or whatever body part you are applying it to), and that’s it!  You don’t have to rub it in at all.  However, it was easier for us to apply to our kids faces (since my kids are little) by spraying it on our hands first and then applying it.  It is super awesome for applying to their scalps, because it didn’t make their hair greasy (and I personally think that is the worst sunburn ever, because until that sunburn goes away, it hurt to even comb your hair).  It is free of four important things – oil, alcohol, preservatives, and PABA.  This won’t irritate your skin — even if you have sensitive skin.  It also is water and sweat resistant which is great for kids too!  It is also non-comedogenic (meaning it won’t clog your pores, so you don’t have to worry about acne breakouts).  It also gives you broad spectrum protection against both UVA and UVB rays.

I found that my kids could handle the few seconds it took to apply this.  There was no fighting, because it was so easy to apply.  It was on before they ever even knew it, and it recently won the Parent Tested, Parent Approved Award.  It was also chosen as the #1 spray sunscreen for high efficacy and low hazard ingredients by the watchdog group Environmental Working Group.  The bottles also come in awesome bright colors that make it much easier to find in your house and the kids love.  Make sure you check out Kinesys for your sunscreen needs!