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Care4hire.com Review & Giveaway For Two

Published on May 11, 2009 by brandyellen in giveaways, Product Reviews, Work At Home Support

I recently reviewed the website Care4hire.com, if you have never heard of them before, please read their story featured on my site in April.

You can use care4hire.com to find a babysitter, housekeeper, tutor, companion/elder care, pet care and even miscellaneous help. Their website is easy to navigate, and for a low monthly fee you will have access to email as well as phone numbers.

Care4hire.com was created to make finding a caregiver as easy as possible and you can search their database by zip code. There are helpful tools such as questions to ask a new caregiver, and a sample contract.

I was surprised to find many caregivers in my local area while reviewing their website and was amazed at the ease of reading each members bio prior to contacting them. Being a mom of three I am often very picky about who babysits my children, now adays you never know who to trust. This is a scary thought, so a service like care4hire.com that allows you to get a gimpse of multiple caregivers in one place is great! I can browse profiles and select whomever I wish to approach without feeling bad that I didn’t choose the first one listed, because they will never know I browsed their profile.

When interviewing caregivers in person you may be put on the spot when meeting in person, care4hire.com allows you to get a “sneak peek” before comitting to the interview process.

Now for some exciting news! Candi, the president of care4hire.com has allowed me to give away TWO 30 day FREE gift certificates to TWO lucky readers!

Getting a babysitter will help you work from home at ease, no longer wondering if you are paying enough attention to your children or if their needs are being met. At care4hire.com you can find a mommy’s helper to babysit your children while you work in your home office!

Giveaway starts TODAY and runs through May 18, 2009

Open to USA and Canada

First ENTRY: Visit care4hire.com and come back here to this post leaving a comment of what service you would use if you won the free 30 day gift certificate.

Additional Entries: Leave a comment for EACH additional entry completed.

Blog about this giveaway linking to Happily Blended {www.happilyblended.com} and Care4hire.com {www.care4hire.com}.
Join my Google Friend Connect on sidebar.
Subscribe to my RSS Feed or via Email on sidebar.
Add Happily Blended to your technorati favorites.
Grab my button and place on your site {found on bottom of sidebar}.

Good luck! Make it a Happy Day!

Tags: babysitters4hire.com, Babysitting, Canada, care, care4hire.com, Caregiver, children, father, Google, Google Friend Connect, mommy helper, mother, parents, pet care, RSS, Technorati, Telephone number, United States, Website

13 Comments

The Teashop Girls Book Review

Published on May 10, 2009 by brandyellen in Featured, Product Reviews

I recently completed reading The Teashop Girls written by Laura Schaefer with my daughter. We enjoyed this book so much that we must highly recommend you read this. The book is geared towards 8-14 year old girls, however, at age 6 my oldest enjoyed reading along with me.

Summary:
Lifelong friends Annie, Zoe, and Genna do everything together … or at least they used to. With eighth grade drawing to a close, the best friends are growing up and beginning to grow apart. When Annie takes a job at her grandmother’s teashop, she’s hopeful that her new job will bond The Teashop Girls back together. But with increased competition from the new coffee chain across the street, the Steeping Leaf is in danger of closing forever. It’s up to Annie to rally her friends to save the shop and their friendship, all while dealing with the hazards of middle-school life, crazy family and boys.

My Review:

While reading The Teashop Girls I found myself anxiously awaiting the next page, the next chapter and finally when I reached the end I was ready to read it all over again! This novel is a fantastic read, great to have some mother/daughter time with your child while you read along together and travel with Annie and The Teashop Girls during their journey. The Teashop Girls really takes you back to the days of a young girl, and Laura Schaefer did a fantastic job of writing in a way that captures your interest every moment, every word, every page of this novel.

About The Author:

“Laura Schaefer has been writing almost as long as she’s been making tea. She go her start as a contributor to the University of Wisconsin’s student paper the Daily Cardinal and went on to write regularyly for the Princeton Review and Match.com.” Recap from The Teashop Girls back cover.

Learn More:

Teashop Girls Website

Follow @teashopgirl on Twitter.

Read The Teshop Girl Blog

Flickr and Myspace

Tags: Annie, Daily Cardinal, Laura Schaefer, Match.com, Princeton Review, Teashop Girls, twitter, University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin-Madison

3 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day To All

Published on May 10, 2009 by brandyellen in Brandy's Life

: Image by Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton via Flickr

Whether you are a mother who is chasing her little ones around, a mother who has adult children or a mother who no longer has their child with them on this Earth … I say Happy Mother’s Day To You All.

Mothers truly are amazing, and until I became one myself I never really understand the struggles that a Mom can go through. From trying to figure out how to feed your little first born to mastering a teenagers schedule of sports & events, being a Mom has it’s challenges. I have yet to reach those teenage years as a Mom but can only imagine the struggles I will have if my oldest is anything like I was during those “know it all” years.

Mom’s are masters of all things to do with children:

Masters of finding something quick to clean up baby spit up.
Masters of using your shirt as your child’s rag.
Masters of cooking one child food while holding the other.
Masters of unconditional love.

Gosh, Moms do so much for their children, it’s amazing the things we gain and plans we put on hold to raise our little ones. Moms take so much on, and so this Mothers Day I hope you all will get a much needed “Mommy Break” because whether you are like me running around after three young ones, have older children or children no longer on this Earth … you are a MOM and you deserve a bit of YOU TIME.

Go get some you time … this post was schedule so I am off having some “me” time {I HOPE} .. I will see you on Monday and hope to read all of the wonderful things you did on your special day!

Make it a happy Day!

6 Treats To Pamper Your Mom (health.yahoo.com)
military mom mother’s day ecards! (booksforbrats.com)
Being a Mom Takes a Village (firstbook.org)

Tags: family, Happy Mother's Day, holidays, home, mother, mothers day, parenting, Weblogs

5 Comments

Let’s Organize That Clutter

Published on May 9, 2009 by brandyellen in Featured, Work At Home Support

: Image via Wikipedia

Do you have papers laying everywhere? Does your desk look like a tornado hit it? Well then you need to read on!

The best way to start getting organized is to STOP stressing over that huge pile of paperwork and just DO IT. One of the biggest reasons I have fallen behind in my organization efforts in the past is because I let paperwork get beyond control and then was too stressed about where to start, how to organize and what to do with the mess.

Where do you start first? With that thing you call a filing cabinet, or whatever else you use to keep your documents organized. Don’t have a file cabinet or something to keep your documents in? Read this post.

Make sure you have a paper shredder or properly dispose of your personal documents, to keep yourself safe from the risk of identity theft. Start with the first file folder, and move slowly towards the back. I personally keep most documents for 1 year, however, some documents must be kept longer such as your tax returns. Anything that is within the file folder that is NOT necessary to have on file; SHRED IT, TOSS IT, and MOVE ON.

Continue with the process of shredding it, tossing it and moving on until you have completely gone through your whole file cabinet. Once complete with this task, move onto that pile of paperwork that sits on your desk or maybe even kitchen counter top.

Sort the documents into piles based on where they will go in your filing cabinet.
Take one pile at a time and place within the appropriate file folder or create a new folder with label as necessary.
Be sure to keep a pile of follow up documents to place on your desk within a folder titled “To-Do” or “Follow Up” so you can easily access them.

This system is very efficient and simple to keep up with, even for the most unorganized professionals.

Keep your eyes out for more Time Management & Organization Tips as well as great products & giveaways highly recommended to help you have more time, increase productivity and in turn create more family time.

Make it a Happy Day!

Tags: File folder, File Management, Filing cabinet, Identity theft, organization, Paper shredder, SHRED, Theft

14 Comments

The Silent Type Speaks: Daddy Knows All

Published on May 9, 2009 by brandyellen in Brandy's Life

For those who didn’t see my announcement on Twitter, we now have a Daddy Blog as part of our fantastic Brandy Ellen family of websites. I know, I know; “How many sites is this girl going to make?“. {LOL} Lucky for me this new site is all Daddy Justin’s job to maintain and post to!

Since I have had such fun writing and expressing myself through blogging the hubby decided he should start his own blog, and so we now have Daddy Knows All as part of the Brandy Ellen family of websites. Daddy Justin will be writing about what he knows and sharing his knowledge with all. He is an avid computer techi “geek”, a music lover, and of course father to my two sons.

I am not sure what exactly his posts will include but I am sure they will be a great read for anyone interested in those type of Daddy topics. Moms are welcomed to read his blog, because I know Dad’s aren’t the only ones with knowledge about music, computers and parenting boys!

So I invite you all to check out the hubby’s blog when you have a moment and maybe even drop him a comment, he had about 44 visitors his first day live and 5+ comments. It’s funny he was as excited as me to get those comments

The reason I named this “The Silent Type Speaks: Daddy Knows All” is because my husband is not a big talker, he is actually quite silent. It could be that I talk enough for four people combined or that he just doesn’t talk unless he has a point to make, whatever the reasoning behind his silent type attitude he is coming out to write and talk to you all virtually through his blog. I hope you will read Daddy Knows All and subscribe if interested!

Make it a Happy Day!

Tags: blog, family, Justin, LOL, On the Web, Talker, twitter, Website

1 Comment

Organized Home, Inc Giveaway

Published on May 8, 2009 by brandyellen in giveaways, Work At Home Support

As part of my Time Management and Organization series here at Happily Blended, I am honored to be hosting this fantastic giveaway for one lucky reader!

Organized Home, Inc has offered one lucky entry a chance to receive Coach Chat 1 for FREE. This is exciting, because as you may or may not know keeping your home and yourself organized is another way to help you achieve your work at home goals. If you can organize your home & your life then you can manage your business better.

I am so excited that one lucky winner will receive this Coach Chat 1 package from Organized Home, Inc. I have corresponded with Julie, the founder of Organized Home, Inc, via email and she sounds like a great person to work with. I am absolutely positive you will enjoy working one on one with Julie while she helps you get organized.

Just what is Organized Home, Inc?

Home Organizing: From bedroom to attic and in between they will help you declutter your space so that you can be less stressed and be comfortable in your home knowing everything is where it is suppose to be.
Office Organizing: Whether you work in your home or outside of the home they will help you declutter, create a file system that works, streamline bill pay and much more.
Staging: If you are in the market to sell your home, Organized Home, Inc can help declutter your home so that a potential buyer will be wowed when they visit your home.
Virtual and Phone Coaching: This is a new service that Organized Home, Inc offers that can help you with your life and your office at a schedule you can keep.

If you can’t wait to see if you won the giveaway and need help right now, make an appointment with Organized Home, Inc today!

Now for the giveaway which runs from today through May 15th 12am EST

One lucky person will win the following:

Coach Chat 1: This package is our get started and go group. It includes 2 coaching calls, endless support from your organizing guru (that’s Julie) and an easy to follow step by step plan created just for you and your space.

FIRST ENTRY: Visit Organized Home, Inc and look around their website, then come back here to this post and leave a comment with what service you really like that they offer. This must be done before any additional entries are completed!

ADDITIONAL ENTRIES {1 each & 1 comment for each completed}:

Follow @organizedhome on Twitter.
Subscribe to my blog via Email or RSS feed.
Follow me through Google Friend Connect {upper right hand side of sidebar}.
Tweet {no more than once per day} the following:
@brandyellen is helping u get organized with an @organizedhome giveaway http://tinyurl.com/c4xv3d
Use any of the social media buttons below to stumble, digg, share on Facebook. Leave one comment for each submission.