There’s still time to win!

A few weeks ago, I posted three separate giveaways / contests that have not yet ended. If you’d like to register to win, there’s still time!

• Head over to read about the Bundle Up Joy luxury wearable baby blankets and enter to win your very own! Ends October 30th.
• Check out the awesome Big Combo Pack from Mabel’s Labels and you could win your very own, personalized, set! Ends October 9th.
• Let us know which game sounds the most exciting from the Nintendo Wii’s Family Party game and you could win a copy of this brand new release! Ends October 16th.

Stay tuned for more great giveaways over the coming months! We don’t do them often, but we do have some pretty fabulous items coming your way.

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
Peace Begins in the Home

Where I’ve been…

The funny thing about not posting on my blog for over a week is that no one really noticed, except me. I didn’t get any emails  from anyone wondering where I was or why I wasn’t writing. I didn’t get phone calls from people concerned about my overall well-being. Obviously, you follow me on Twitter or Facebook and know that I was taking a much needed vacation and spent several of those days – not writing – in a secluded cabin up in the Northern Minnesota woods getting spoiled by Mr. Right and focusing on our long-distance relationship.

Peace and sunshine. That’s what that weekend was all about and it lasted an entire week where I didn’t put any pressure on myself to do anything other than sit back and enjoy it. I encourage you to try it if you can. If you’re able. If you’re not one of those people who can’t ever unwind.

If you are one of those people, then you’re in the right place. I also spent a few of those days finishing up my training to become a Life Coach with the You Consulting Group. Our focus is on helping people create perfect relationships in their lives, whether it’s personal or business relationships they’re looking to enhance. Along with my role as a Certified Parent Educator, I feel the two of these, combined, will allow me to help even more people. I’m excited to share the Knowledge with those open to it and I invite you to explore Y.O.U. (your own understanding) in more depth and experience The Ultimate Life Tool.

Feel free to contact me directly if you’re interested in receiving an Operating Manual – the one you didn’t receive when you were born!

If you’re a San Diego parent, come say hello at this weekend’s 2nd Annual It Takes a Village Parenting Conference. I’ll be moderating a session entitled, Staying (Safely) Connected Online, discussing safety tips and resources for parents to help them connect with their kids a well as introducing many online communities where moms and dads can be found and friends can be made.

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
Peace Begins in the Home

Family Party: 30 Great Games Outdoor Fun

Family Party: 30 Great Games Outdoor Fun

Enter to win this great game, exclusively for the Nintendo Wii! Family Party: 30 Great Games Outdoor Fun has a little something for everyone. On September 22nd, this game will be released and one lucky reader will win their very own! (Contest ends on October 16th, at midnight, PST.)

Family Party is a collection of games, including team sports and brain challenges. Players can choose from over a dozen adorable characters, participate in up to four player competitive action, and unlock games and challenges to achieve the highest score and even win medals!

Games include:
Athletic Games: climb ropes, test your reflexes, tackle obstacle courses, race on a unicycle, or test your balance on a board.
Sports Games: race on a boat, compete in a home run derby, score a touchdown, kick a goal, or race for a flag.
Muscle Games: train as a boxer, test your strength at hammer toss, or compete in a marathon.
Martial Arts Games: act as a ninja, break tiles with a karate chop, or slash with your sword as a nimble samurai.
Brain Challenges: make your way out of mazes, test your wit at memory games, or challenge your friends to board games that attack back.

Priced at only $19.99 (and Rated E10+), this is a great value for hours of endless in-home family entertainment. Enter to win by leaving a comment which includes the game you’re most looking forward to playing from the above selections.

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
Peace Begins in the Home

Twenty Questions

I’m really having a good time getting to know Mr. Right all over again and there are so many questions I want to ask.

Here are just a few. And yes, I plan on sharing my answers with him to.

1. What has been one of your biggest accomplishments?
2. If you could excel at any competitive sport which would you choose?
3. How would your last girlfriend or boyfriend describe you?
4. What traits are most important to you in a future partner?
5. What are you passionate enough about to fight for?
6. Has your heart ever been broken?
7. What was the craziest thing you ever did when you were a kid?
8. Who has the most influence over you?
9. What have you learned from your biggest challenge in life?
10. What’s the worst mistake you ever made in a relationship?
11. Are you a spiritual person?
12. What’s your favorite scent? Least favorite?
13. What do you want to be doing in 10 years?
14. Would you like to live somewhere else?
15. What’s the most unusual thing you know how to do?
16. What do you have a hard time saying “no” to?
17. How do you act when you’re angry?
18. Who are you closest to in your family?
19. What do you want to make sure you do before you die?
20. What’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen?

There are several companies that make discussion starter queue cards like these Table Topics that come in a variety of themes, to spark discussions among Couples, Teens, and Family.

I want to get to know you as well, so if you are reading this, please take a moment to select one (or more)  of the above questions to answer. I’ll post my responses next week (when I return from my romantic weekend with my significant other).

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
Peace Begins in the Home

Mabel’s Labels

Mabel's Labels

The women behind Mabel’s Labels are so much fun and I’m excited to share this awesome giveaway that they’re sponsoring in honor of our 2nd blogoversary!

If you’re not already familiar with the amazing products that Mabel’s Labels provide, head over to their website to check them out! They’ll be giving away the BIG COMBO to one lucky reader! The Big Combo includes: a pack of 45 Sticky Labels, 50 Iron-Ons or 75 Tag-MatesT, 24 Shoe Labels, 2 Bag Tags (Dishwasher/microwave-safe and UV resistant.  Clothing labels are laundry safe.) That’s over $60.00 worth of labels!

Check out all the labels they provide, including household labels and clothing labels.

In Chicago, during the BlogHer conference, I kept running into the behind-the-scene team who have created such a strong presence and established their brand online. I’m pleased to know them!

To enter this giveaway, leave a comment with the color pattern you’d like to receive if you’re the chosen winner! You can select Standard, Princess or Ocean colors. Contest ends October 9th, when I’ll select, at random, one lucky winner.

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
Peace Begins in the Home

For Closeness: TRAVEL

You’ve probably heard the saying, “You don’t really know someone until you travel with them,” or something of that nature. Well, since I am in a long-distance relationship, every time we’re together it feels like we’re on vacation. We spend a long weekend together, not really having a moment to ourselves, so this is a true test of whether the relationship can survive, in my opinion.

Steve Goodier, who writes over at Life Support System, has this to say about travel and getting close to someone:

If you want a deeper connection with someone your care about, if you want relationships that are more intimate, more meaningful and longer-lasting, then try this simple technique:  Just remember the word “TRAVEL.”

T is for TRUST.  If we’re seeking a glue to cement us to another, then trust is that bond.  A relationship will go nowhere without it.

R is for RESPECT.  Some people talk about how much they have always respected their cherished friends and family at a funeral.  But why wait?  People want to know that we hold them in high regard.  It’s about valuing others and letting them know you respect them.

A is for AFFECTION.  Sometimes affection means love.  Sometimes it means a touch.  Or a hug.  Always it means kindness.

V is for VULNERABILITY.  Though we may feel afraid to let another too close, no relationship will go anywhere without taking a risk.  Like entrepreneur Jim Rohn says, “The walls we build around us to keep out the sadness also keep out the joy.” And the love.

E is for EMOTIONAL INTIMACY.  It about learning to be open.  Learning to communicate freely.  The quality of relationships we make are largely determined by how openly we communicate.

L is for LAUGHTER.  Victor Borge got it right when he said, “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.”  It’s also the most enjoyable.

So for a relationship that can really go somewhere, just remember the word “TRAVEL.”  Then enjoy the trip.

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
Peace Begins in the Home

Bundle up baby

With Fall officially around the corner (September 22), it’s time to start thinking about pulling out your winter gear. If you’re expecting a baby in the next few months, or know of someone who is welcoming a little one into the world, you’ll want to enter this giveaway!

Bundle Up Joy, founded by Terry Chi of Los Angeles, is giving away a luxury wearable blanket from their signature “Chinois” line in honor of our 2 year blogovesary! Simply email Terry directly or leave a comment below!  Giveaway ends October 30th, when she’ll select, at random, one winner who will receive the Blue Blossom design (up to 6 months).  All Happy Healthy Hip Parenting readers also receive a private sale price of $39 (Plus Free Shipping within the continental US) on any design!  Just email Terry with your design preference.

Bundle Up Joy's "Blue Blossom" piece

I met Terry, and learned about Bundle Up Joy, last year at the ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas. She’s been supporting Happy Healthy Hip Parenting ever since and I hope you go check out the other designs available on her site. My personal favorite is the Chocolate Floral pattern in the sleeveless style.  Become a Fan of Bundle Up Joy on Facebook!

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
Peace Begins in the Home

Heaping Spoonful (Where I rave about Shauna Glenn)

I met Shauna Glenn at BlogHer a few months back and we ended up spending the majority of the weekend together.

I had been following her on Twitter and Facebook for some time, but just recently started reading her blog on a regular basis. She’s hilarious in real life and in her writing. She’s sweet, honest, and vulgar, the perfect combination required for me to want to return each and every day to discover her latest adventure.

While we were in Chicago, I took a picture of Shauna in the BlogHer bookstore, holding her book, Heaping Spoonful, but for some reason I didn’t buy a copy. I think I figured I’d convince her to sleep with me somehow and she’d end up sending me a signed copy (or dedicating her next book to me). We did sleep together while we were in Chicago, but I never got up the nerve to ask her to send me a copy of her book. So, I finally purchased one online and it showed up yesterday.

Actually, before I get into the details of her book, I have to share this story – which Shauna will appreciate (it’s really all about her right now, anyway!). So, yesterday, I dropped off my son at school and came home to work on some blog posts for next week. I finally decided to take a shower around two o’clock in the afternoon. I really didn’t think too much about it and got dressed rather quickly before heading out to meet another friend for drinks (a story for another day).

I did notice as I was leaving the house that both doors were slightly ajar. The main door wasn’t closed all the way and the outside screen door was wide open. Not unusual for me to leave that one open but I did sort of hesitate as I thought about being in the shower and having someone walk into my house. Embarrassing and kinda scary, right?

Well, it wasn’t until I got home later that night, about 10pm, that I noticed two boxes inside my house that I did not put there! One was clearly a book and immediately I knew it was Heaping Spoonful but before I could get comfortable and start reading it, I was trying to play back in my mind the afternoon and how my Mailman could have convinced himself that it was OK to leave my packages INSIDE my condo. I mean, really? He’s left things on my patio hundreds of times before or outside the front door. Why, oh why would he think it was alright to step inside my place to set down the packages?

So, now I’m afraid for my life and if anything should happen to me, you’ll know to contact the Post Office right away, right?

Moving on to the whole point of this rambling post, I did manage to (lock the doors and) get comfy enough to start reading Shauna’s book. I knew that it was about a woman who lost her husband (it says so on the back of the book) but I also knew, from reading Shauna’s blog and following her Twitter stream that she is a riot.  So her book was going to be funny! A funny book about a widow dealing with the loss of her husband, right?

I had NO IDEA her book was going to bring me to tears over and over again.

Heaping Spoonful (recipes included)

I fell in love with Claire immediately. And then I couldn’t put the book down. Actually, I did, in between chapters, to wipe away my tears – and to send a Direct Message (DM) to Shauna – every few minutes – on Twitter, expressing my pure delight in the fact that her book was affecting me in such a way. I haven’t read a book from start to finish like that in a long time!

Usually, when I’m reading late at night, my eyes get tired and at some point the words start running into each other and I finally decide to close the book for the night. Other times, I get to a point in the story where I’m just not as invested as I would hope to be and I close the book, for good. I don’t like reading books that I can’t finish, but let’s face it, not every story appeals to every reader.

Shauna Glenn’s book appealed to me on so many levels that at some point I had to stop and think  about how she had gotten inside my brain to steal my stories. Not like I lived Claire’s life, or vice versa, but the way she experienced grief and loss reminded me of the emotions I felt (and continue to feel) over the end of my marriage. Being a single mom, I get that too.

Dating and making a fool of yourself – Yep, been there!

For those of you who don’t want to know what happens in Heaping Spoonful, don’t read this next section…

I felt the pain and shock all over again of miscarriage along with Claire and the slap-in-the-face of being abandoned by the person she needed the most – at that time.

The part of the story that made me literally sit up and cry out was when Claire heard the story of how Henry met his fiance, Rebecca. Those who follow me will know my story and how I recently connected with my college crush, how we dated other people and set our feelings for each other aside until just last month (much like the story of Henry and Rebecca).

All of these little coincidences between the characters in Shauna’s book and my own life left me feeling even more convinced that people, books and relationships come into our lives for a reason – and at the perfect time.

I’m so pleased that Shauna Glenn – and her writing – came into my life. She has reached me in such a way that I know I have become a better writer, a more honest, forgiving, and a loving partner and friend and she has inspired me to put my own bittersweet experiences down on paper, finally.

If her writing could be summed up in one word it would be this – perfection.

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
Peace Begins in the Home

Two years young

Only because I recently had to renew my business license did I realize that two years have gone by since I first began blogging. I’ve made some honest-to-goodness real-life friends through this experience. I’m honored to be a part of this amazing community.

I’m excited to announce some awesome giveaways starting next week from a few companies that have been supporting Happy Healthy Hip Parenting, such as Mabel’s Labels and Bundle Up Joy.

Be sure to bookmark this site, subscribe or follow along so you don’t miss out!

Time flies when you’re having fun!

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
Peace Begins in the Home

Domestic Reject

When I separated from my ex-husband three years ago, we were making the same amount of money. Now that I’m relying only on unemployment, I thought it was time to request that  the child support be modified. I asked the court for a fee waiver when filing the paperwork since my monthly expenses exceed my income. I had to declare my income (unemployment benefits and child support) and wouldn’t you know it? I “make” too much money to qualify.

The paperwork that came back was titled “Domestic Reject Notice.” I have a good sense of humor and wanted to  laugh, but instead, those words only reminded me of how divorce is viewed – by many – as a failure. Yep, in that case, I would be considered a Domestic Reject.

Explaining to my son why his dad and I are no longer married is not easy, but he has asked that question recently. When I sat down to discuss it with him, the word “fail” never came to mind.  Did my ex and I fail each other? Definitely. But to understand where we were when we were married and to see where we are now only validates (at least in my opinion) that our marriage was not a failure. Our marriage was pretty successful, especially considering the fact that it ended when it did.

We have succeeded at bringing our beautiful son into the world, we continue to succeed at raising him – together, but separately – and our son is healthy and happy.  We’re both very much involved in our son’s life and actively present in the classroom.

I may feel like a Domestic Reject on some occasions, but today is not one of them. Our son started his first day of Kindergarten today and I enjoyed watching him play with the other kids, explore his new classroom and say goodbye  (with little hesitation).

I’ll remember this day for a long time and no matter what happens, my son will always know that he has a loving family that continues to succeed by supporting one another.

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
Peace Begins in the Home