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What The Heck Is a Menstrual Cup?! Lean In. I’m About to Tell You.

By: Stephanie18 Comments

If there happen to be any gentlemen who read my blog (besides my husband and my dad), WELCOME! Now go away. I have this lovely post about Lord of the Rings to offer a nice distraction. You’re welcome to come back later. Today is all about girl talk. Specifically, menstrual cups.

I’ve been doing some hard-hitting investigative journalism over the past week. Namely, I twisted the arm of the nice people at Diva Cup and convinced them to give me their product so that I could tell you all about it. This is not a sponsored post because I am not receiving any compensation other than the Diva Cup itself. I was just really curious about using a menstrual cup and I truly am a chronic over-sharer (see my biography over there in the sidebar?), so now you get to hear all about my experience. Lucky you.

What is a menstrual cup

Now, on to answer the questions that I’m sure are on your mind:

What the **** is a Menstrual Cup??

Um, it’s basically a silicone shot glass that you shove up your who-ha during that time of the month to catch all the yucky stuff. It’s an alternative to pads and tampons. [Read more…]

Get Skinny Saturday: Week 9

By: Stephanie2 Comments

Another Saturday is upon us.

I’m off at my BFF’s bridal shower with a certain sassy future flower girl.

flower girl collage

I would call this week “meh” in terms of the weight loss effort.  [Read more…]

How to Create Your Own Social Media Icons: A Video Tutorial

By: Stephanie5 Comments

How to create your own social media buttons

I learned how to do this from Ashton over at Something Swanky. I got the social media silhouettes I use from her. She offers them for free in her own post about how to create your own social media icons. 

I wanted to make a video because this was one of the most confusing things I ever learned how to do as a blogger. Once you get the hang of it, though, it is pretty easy.

These videos do not have sound, but I think it is pretty self-explanatory if you watch the screens.

First, use a program like PicMonkey to create your graphic. 

Here is the video for how to do that. The silhouette images I use in the video for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+ all came from Ashton’s post.

 

Then upload your image into a draft blog post.

You need somewhere to host your image. I prefer to do it on my own blog. I have a draft marked “Buttons and Stuff: DO NOT DELETE.”

Next, use an image mapping tool to link your image to your social media accounts.

The tool Ashton used in her tutorial is no longer offering their service for free. Now I like to use a website called http://www.html-map.com/

Copy the image location from your draft blog post and paste it into the line on the image mapping website.

Create boxes on the image mapping site around each icon and link it to the corresponding social media site.

Finally, create a text widget (or html gadget if you are on

Blogger) with the code for your image.

Put a new text widget (WordPress) or html/javascript gadget (Blogger) in your sidebar. Just copy and paste the code from the image mapping website.

You can see what I mean in this video.


 

 I hope this was helpful!

I’d love to have you join me on Facebook and share the social media love. 

Watch a quick video tutorial on how to create social media buttons for a wordpress or Blogger blog

The BlogU Radio Show

By: Stephaniecomment

How can I get featured on The Huffington Post?

What do I wear to a blog conference?

What will the bathroom situation be like?

What can a blog conference do for me?

I’d love to go, but…

If you are thinking any of those things, please listen to the recording below. I recorded my very first pod cast yesterday to tell everyone a little more about The BlogU Conference and answer some of our most frequently asked questions. You can listen to it here. If you are on the fence about buying your BlogU ticket, I hope you can take a few minutes to listen to it and see if I answered some of your questions. I hope to see you in June!

You can register for BlogU here!

 

Current Training Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with The Blog University on BlogTalkRadio
 
 

Creating a Family Meal Plan: How to Spend Less than $100 to Feed Your Family This Week

By: Stephanie5 Comments

Family Meal Planning

I have done meal planning posts before, but today I wanted to take some of the information and make it more organized and easier to follow. For several years our food budget was $75 a week to feed a family of four. I often still stay under the $100 mark, although I have since been able to raise our budget to around $125 per week.  [Read more…]

Curious George Themed Kid’s Birthday Party

By: Stephanie1 Comment

A Curious George themed birthday party

Nicholas’ birthday is in three weeks and I have ZERO ideas. But as I was thinking about birthday parties for boys, I remembered that I had never posted these photos from a friend’s party all the way back in 2012!

curious george birthday

Our friends, Tim and Nicole, threw this party for their son and at the time I asked her if I could blog about it, but I must have gotten distracted and just forgot. Since then, their whole family has relocated to Papua New Guinea, where they are serving as missionaries. Nicole now writes a blog about their adventures over there. 

This was seriously one of the cutest parties.

We were greeted at the door by the Man in the Yellow hat.

man in the yellow hat [Read more…]

The Top 5 Things That Make My Life as a Work at Home Mom Easier

By: Stephanie1 Comment

This post is sponsored by P&G. Save on NEW Gain Flings and Tide Pods at Target. Text CLEAN to Target (827438) for mobile coupons*.

*Message and data rates may apply. 1 message per request. http://m.target.com/spot/sms/coupon-alrts-terms for Terms, Conditions, and Privacy Policy. By texting the key word to us, you agree to receive an autodialed text message from Target at the mobile number from which you sent your request. Consent to receive messages is not a condition of purchase.

Top 5 Tricks for work at home moms

Something amazing happened last year. My professional dream came true and I became an author. A legitimate, real-life author who actually started making money for sitting in front of my computer, writing words and turning them into books.

That meant that I also needed to find more time in the day to sit in front of my computer and write words. I also founded the BlogU Conference, which is going to be an AMAZING event this summer, and is taking a lot of my energy right now to plan. 

If I was single or if my children were all in school full-time, maybe that would be easy. But right now I have three small kids and only one of them is in full-day school.

The thing about writing is that the income isn’t consistent enough for me to hire full-time childcare because I might not always need it, and, besides, I like being able to be home with my kids during the day. I also like my career and it is really hard some days to balance the mom job and the professional job.

Here are the Top 5 things that I have found that make my life as a work at home mom a little bit easier every day. I think they apply to all moms, though, regardless of whether you have a paying job (we all know that being a mom is a JOB in and of itself) or you work in a traditional office setting.

[Read more…]

Get Skinny Saturday: Week 8

By: Stephanie2 Comments

It’s Saturday again.

This week sure went by fast, didn’t it?

get skinny saturday

Man. It is rough to try to lose weight in the midst of the worst winter (weather-wise) in my entire life. Our schedule keeps getting thrown off for snow and we are left in the house with nothing to do but eat, read, and watch t.v. I’ve actually really enjoyed the slower pace and my introvert self does not mind several days in a row spent in pajamas, but that is not the stuff that of which weight loss is made.

Also, Valentine’s Day candy was 75% off at the beginning of this week. I’m sure you can see where I am going with this [Read more…]

Strider Balance Bike Giveaway with Productive Parenting

By: Stephanie1 Comment

I’m excited to be teaming up with a few other bloggers along with Productive Parenting and Strider Bikes to bring you an awesome (free!) app that you’re going love – and a chance to win one of five Strider Bikes!

What is Productive Parenting?

Thousands of Activities for Kids!

Productive Parenting has been around for years – offering fast and simple activities that you can do with your kids. The activities are created by a team of childhood education experts and categorized by age (0 – 5) and also by skills learned.
And now they’ve taken all of their amazing activities and created an app. You download it from the iTunes store, quickly enter in the names and ages of your children, and each day you’ll be given a new (simple) activity to do with your kids.
Simple Activities for Kids Free App
No props? No problem. Productive Parenting activities require little to no preparation or materials; but don’t let their simplicity fool you. They provide a solid foundation for Kindergarten and at the same time promote lasting parent-child relationships.
Productive Parenting App Screenshot

I cannot wait until this ridiculous snow leaves us alone so we can get out and ride our bikes.

For now, we will be riding in the garage and the unfinished basement.

I always had my eye on these Balance Bikes when Nick was little because it may have helped his coordination and balance while we were doing occupational therapy. Unfortunately, they were always out of our price range. I’m thrilled to be able to offer you the chance to win one!

Now, more about the app:
Free until March 5, 2014! Until March 5, 2014, the Productive Parenting app will be available for FREE in the iTunes store. After that, the price will be set at $1.99.Click here to download it now.

Download and Enter to Win

Download the free app, and use the Rafflecopter form below to enter to win one of FIVE Strider Bikes.
Productive Parenting Giveaway
Retailing for over $100, STRIDER balance bikes are perfect for children from 18 months to 5 years old. This no-pedal balance bike teaches your child balance and coordination while developing confidence.
There are multiple ways to enter each day, so be sure to check back to increase your chances of winning.
Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway is available to the Continental US and ends at midnight on March 4, 2014. Five winners will be able to choose from one of Strider’s ST-4 Strider branded bikes (12” bikes for the 18 month-5 year old crowd)
 

Binkies and Briefcases received no compensation for sponsoring this event, and is not responsible for the delivery of the prize. Prize delivery is the sold responsibility of Strider. Five winners will be drawn randomly and notified by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond in order to claim their prize. If they do not respond within the 48 hours, they will forfeit the prize and an alternate winner will be chosen. This post may contain affiliate links.

A Week of Easy Dutch Oven Recipes

By: Stephanie4 Comments

A whole week of dutch oven meals

Well, it’s the last day of Dutch Oven week. Have you been using your dutch oven along with us? This is the last day of my week of easy dutch oven recipes.

You can link up your own dutch oven recipe at the end of this post.

On Monday I shared my PA Dutch Chicken Corn Soup. Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Corn Soup Recipe

On Tuesday Tabatha shared her Beef Stew beefstew [Read more…]

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