Green Giveaway Friday 6/29

Happy almost-July! Please add both your green and non-green giveaways and contests into Mr. Linky below so we can do some giveaway hopping! Be sure to include the expiration date. Thanks!

You can also submit your green giveaways to me during the week for me to feature on Fridays.

Make sure you enter my current giveaways that are listed in the top right sidebar!

Sweepstakes Advantage
Macbook Air

AP Codes
Amazon Kindle 6/30

Creative Designs
Amazon Kindle 6/30

Crunchy Beach Mama
Eco Vessel Water Bottles  7/3
LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics ~ Sugar Scrub 7/5
Ahmelie Handmade Organic Hooded Towel 7/6
Water Wrap Carriers.com 7/9
3 Loving Naturals Sunscreens 7/10

Family Focus Blog
Water Bottles 7/2

A Hen's Nest
Eclos Skincare set 6/30
$25 PayPal Cash 6/30
$100 iTunes gift card 7/1


Leslie Loves Veggies
The Vegetarian Kitchen Table Cookbook 7/11
Santa Cruz Organic Lemonade 7/15

Wee Share
Honey Stinger Pure Natural Energy Products 7/9

Wordless Wednesday: Ford Field #GoFurther

Standing on (literally, ON) Ford Field - home to the NFL Detroit Lions, at the Ford #GoFurther event!

Ford Field 50 Yard Line

I'm About to Go Further with Ford

Today I am heading out to Dearborn, Michigan to spend some more time with Ford! The last time I was there was back in January for the 2012 North American International Auto Show where Ford debuted the 2013 Ford Fusion. In addition to seeing all of the awesome electric and hybrid cars, I was able to learn about Ford's sustainability initiatives.  This time around I will be there for Ford's "Go Further" Trend Conference.

During this conference, we will explore global consumer trends, what's in store for the future and test drive Ford's latest vehicles. I get to get behind the wheel of a Ford and I can't wait! I am also really looking forward to the "Eco Psychology" trend session. Not only will be discussing green trends, but one of the keynote speakers is Adrian Grenier, whom you probably know from the hit HBO series "Entourage."

So for the next 3 days I will be live tweeting, Facebook-ing and Instagram-ing from the event (What? Those are real words!) If you want to check in on what's going on, be sure to follow me!

Twitter: @GreenMamasPad
Facebook: facebook.com/greenmamaspad
Instagram: @GreenMamasPad

Literary Addicts Kindle Fire #Giveaway

I talk about my Kindle and love for reading way too much, I know. So I won't talk about that yet again today. Instead, I am excited to share this giveaway with you for a chance to win your very own Kindle Fire! Then you can become as obsessed with eBooks as I am! Be sure to check out some of these great books and authors as well. I already have purchased some of these and they are on my to-read list.

 

Welcome to the Literary Addicts Kindle Fire Event where we have teamed up with 10 Amazing Authors and lots of awesome bloggers to celebrate the Grand Opening of Literary Addicts,a Community for Book Lovers! Please check out the awesome authors bringing the Kindle Fire Giveaway to you! Don't miss out on these great reads even if you don't have a kindle yet. You can download the kindle app for you phone, desktop, or ipad HERE. All of these books are less than a Starbucks Coffee!


 Immortal Voyage Before the time of the great pyramids, there was a place like none other, a city of glass and metal rising from the depths of the ocean. Shrouded in mist, the island of Hy-Brasil and its capital Atlantis lay hidden from the rest of the world by its people, a race of long lived, interstellar nomads. Read more and purchase for only $2.99





 
 Give Me - A Tale of Wyrd and Fae All she wanted was a vacation - but Dumnos offered a new life. Lilith Evergreen has always lived in the California desert, but when she receives an antique ring as a gift, she dreams of a castle by the sea, a magnificent tree at cliff's edge, and a mysterious woman who bids Lilith to come to Dumnos, a land of mist and rain. Read more and purchase for only $3.99 | Paperback




 
Slow Boat to Purgatory (Slow Boat to Purgatory #1) Gaspar De Rouse, an immortal Knight Templar, a man murdered by his brothers for the secret he possessed, resurrected and given a second chance at redemption. Dominicus Bureau, a renegade priest, torn between his vows and the secret he pursues, a secret protected by an immortal. Alex Donovan, a modern day warrior thrust into an ages old war, a war between good and evil, heaven and hell.Read more and purchase for only $2.99 Paperback




Mark of the Witch (Boston Witches Book 1) Magic flows through Jillian Proctor's veins as surely as blood, but so far her life outside Boston has been peaceful. William Morgan blows into Jilly's life like a hurricane, unleashing her magic and sending her out of control. Unknowingly, William brings an enemy who only wants to posses the power of the witch. Jilly must learn to harness her magic before she loses it - and everything in her life is destroyed. Purchase for only $2.99 | Paperback



 
The Marriage Bargain Camille Chandler is a tabloid journalist whose career is right on track--until her boss sees a curious ad in the L.A. Trades. Wanted: Single actress for an extended gig abroad. France's mega-rich playboy Julian de Laurent is up to something and Camille's boss expects her to find out what. Who knew the eccentric gazillionaire was looking to hire a temporary wife? Read more and purchase for only $2.99

 


 
Descended by Blood (Vampire Born #1) Brooke Keller is a high school junior who has never spent much time living in one place. She is finally in a town long enough to almost snag the boy of her dreams, until her life is threatened after killing a fanged man in his attempt to kidnap her. Brooke begins a dangerous journey in an effort to find out who is after her and how to stop them. In a world with powerful and prejudiced vampires, Read more and purchase for only $2.99 | Paperback  


 

Dirty Blood I killed a girl last night. I did it with my bare hands and an old piece of pipe I found lying next to the dumpster. But that’s not the part that got me. The part that scared me, the part I can’t seem to wrap my head around and still has me reeling, was that when she charged me, her body shifted – and then she was a wolf. All snapping teeth and extended claws. But by the time I stood over her lifeless body, she was a girl again. Read more and purchase for only $2.99 Paperback




 Taming the wolf (anna avery series, #1) Attacked by a wolf while hiking in the mountains, Anna Avery's life just got a little hairier. Living in the Big Horn mountains in Wyoming, with a group of werewolves who are more animal than human, Anna must try to hold onto her human side. It's not easy when the alpha continues to persuade her into his bed, while another wolf is chomping at the bit to become her mate. To top it all off, dead bodies are showing up and... Read more and purchase for only $2.99  




Fearless (Kings Series) Tasmyn Vaughn didn't expect much when her dad’s job moved them to a small town in Florida; it was just another new school. But there is more to King than meets the eye, and soon Tasmyn’s ability to hear other’s thoughts is the least of her worries. Entangled in a web of first love, quirky and secretive townsfolk, magic and blood rituals, she discovers the town’s secrets aren’t just bizarre, they’re deadly. Purchase for only $3.99 | Paperback




 Secrets (Guardian Trilogy) While Olivia Martin observed life through her camera, the Abyss gazed back at her. She discovers mysterious men follow her around, people close to her are dying, and her dreams are no longer her own as she falls head over heels for a perfect stranger. A chance encounter leads to an obsession that could destroy everything she has ever known or loved. Olivia is about to find out there is a lot she doesn't know and sometimes what you don't know can kill you. Read more and purchase for only $2.99





These fine authors are bringing you this Kindle Fire Event via Promotional Book Tours and Literary Addicts This contest is open Internationally! Please fill out the form below to enter. Giveaway ends July 13. Good luck!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thunderstorms Are My Best Summer Memories

As a child summer was always magical for me. I loved those hot summer days playing in the backyard with my neighbors and cousins, eating snowballs and running through the sprinkler on the hose. Days without school seemed marvelously endless. But I especially loved the late summer thunderstorms that would kick up in evenings. They would come on unexpectedly, with only the heat lightning to give warning of their arrival.

We didn’t have central air conditioning when I was young, as a matter of fact my parents still don’t have it, and although we had window AC units we usually didn’t turn them on unless it was “hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk”. So we usually slept with our windows open to the still summer air. That was probably the best part.

My father would always run our big window fan in hopes of creating a much sought after breeze, and I could easily hear the trains at night; they would blow their whistles as they passed. And there was always traffic on the nearby highway. These were the sounds of summer.

I loved to lay in bed at night with the window open and listen to the thunder storms as the approached. The wind would begin and the trees would start to rustle. Then the cicadas would sing in the approaching storm, and pink lightning would ignite the sky. And then the rain would come; straight down, in warm showers. I would smell the rain; so warm and fresh. It made everything different, clean somehow.

My parent’s house had a metal roof and the sound of the summer rain on that roof will always mean home to me. I would lie in my bed staring out my bedroom window, feeling the storm induced breeze and think about all those important things children think about. I would be comforted by the sound and sleep would come.

To this day I love to see the summer sky light up with a heat storm. I’ll sit at our sliding glass door watching the thunder storm roll in. Although some storms can be scary, never do I feel frightened of a summer thunder storm. They are always beautiful and calming. And they always take me home again.

Maryann is the mom behind Matthew’s Puzzle, her blog about autism recovery, green living and everything in between.

Stonyfield Food Superhero Campaign Giveaway plus Pinterest Sweepstakes

Who doesn't love a superhero? The Avengers, Wonder Woman, Batman...they are all pretty awesome. If you are a regular reader here, then you know how much my boys and I enjoy all things superhero. Well, how would YOU like to be a superhero? A Food Superhero, that is.

As part of their "Know Your Food" campaign, Stonyfield has launched the Stonyfield Food Superheroes, an interactive campaign inviting food lovers to transform themselves into Food Superheroes by showing off their superpowers to support a healthy, sustainable food system through their every day actions. For every Food Superhero profile created, Stonyfield will donate $1.00 to FoodCorps. FoodCorps is a national nonprofit organization that addresses childhood health through food by working directly in schools in limited-resource communities.

So this is me as my Food Superhero alter ego: The Green Cultivator! My power is the ability to see right through food labels! It took me just a few minutes, it was fun and it helps a good cause. Visit www.iWillKnowMyFood.com to create your own Food Superhero persona with superpowers and names to fit.

What do you think are some of your food superpowers?

Pinterest Sweepstakes
Stonyfield wants you to share what inspires you to be a food superhero for a chance to win one of five $200 gift cards to Whole Foods Market! Check out the Official Rules and then head over to Stonyfield's Be A Food Superhero Pinboard to get started.You can also visit my own Food Superhero Pinboard to see what I pinned. The Pinterest Sweepstakes end June 30, 2012, so get started today!

Giveaway
One (1) winner will receive a $50 Whole Foods Market gift card plus a "Food Superhero" cape, a coupon for a free 6oz Stonyfield Yogurt and a couple of temporary tattoos. Giveaway is open to US residents only and will end on July 6, 2012. Please use the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hyland's Baby Gift Basket #Giveaway

When it comes for choosing products for your little one for things like teething, colic, colds and diaper rash, parents want to know that they are selecting products that are safe and effective. That’s why I am a big fan Hyland’s and have been using their homeopathy products for 7 years now! I absolutely love their kids Cold & Cough medicine and keep my cabinet stocked with it during the winter months. Hyland’s products work naturally by stimulating the body’s own ability to heal. Parents everywhere have been trusting Hyland’s products for more than 85 years!

The best natural help for teething!

Hyland’s Teething Tablets effectively relieve the irritability and restlessness associated with teething and is benzocaine-free, This #1 parent favorite is formulated for safety, effectiveness and quality, and contains no synthetic ingredients, artificial flavors, dyes, or parabens. Best of all, it works quickly to relieve irritability, redness, inflammation and discomfort on a child’s gums so that everyone can get back to sleep.

Earache relief

One of the worse feelings is watching your child tug on his or her ears when they have an earache. Hyland’s Earache can stop the pain; even the kind that antibiotics won’t take away. The medicines in Hyland's Earache remedy have been clinically shown to reduce earache symptoms during the first 48 hours of the episode and without any side effects. Perfect to have handy for those late nights when your child is up with an earache and has trouble sleeping!

Vitamin C

Getting your child to eat enough Vitamin C can be a real challenge. Sometimes more nutritious food ends up on you than actually in their mouth! That is why it’s important to take steps to ensure that your child gets the Vitamin C that he or she needs. With Hyland’s Vitamin C Tablets, their immune system is better equipped to ward off colds and flu. Tablets dissolve quickly and deliver 71% of the daily value for babies under a year, and 63% for kids between 1-3 years.

Giveaway

One (1) winner will receive a gift basket of Hyland’s Baby products. The gift basket is valued at more than $70 and includes:

• Teething Tablets
• Teething Gel
• Cough Syrup
• Colic Tablets
• Diaper Ointment
• Tiny Cold Tablets
• Vitamin C Tablets
• Infant Earache Drops

Please use the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This contest is in no way affiliated with Facebook or Twitter. Open to all US Residents 18 years and older. Giveaway will run June 22, 2012 starting at 10 am est and will end on July 7, 2012 at 12:01 am est. Winner will be notified by email on July 7, 2012 and will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen. Prize will be shipped directly to the winner by Hyland's. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery after winner is confirmed.

Connecticut Flash Giveaway: Flamig Farm Family 4-Pack

One of my favorite daily deals website is, Plum District. I love that it is for moms by moms. The deals you find on there are for things moms want and need and there are always family friendly activities as well. Today in the Connecticut area, there is a great offer for Flamig Farm in Simsbury, CT. For just $12 you can get a Family 4-pack and spend some great quality family time feeding farm animals!

Don't forget to bring your camera to this enchanting place where your kiddos can come and be up close and personal with their favorite farm animals. From cuddly bunnies and chicks to goats and pigs, they will be in awe at this working farm. Everyone in the family will also get a cup of grain so you can feed your new farm friends! You'll also get one dozen eggs during your visit to enjoy at home.

If you are not in Connecticut, that is OK! Plum District has plenty of offers In the New York City and Boston areas as well as other cities across the country.Sign up today at PlumDistrict.com to see what deals are available near you.

Flash Giveaway 
Plum District is giving one Connecticut area reader a Flamig Farm Family 4-Pack! This includes 4 Cups of Grain to Feed the Animals and 1 Dozen Eggs - a $24 Value. This giveaway ends tonight at midnight, so hurry up and enter! Please use the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Green Giveaway Friday 6/22

I hope those of you in the North East like me are surviving the heat OK. I am not a fan of this hot and humid weather! Please add both your green and non-green giveaways and contests into Mr. Linky below so we can do some giveaway hopping! Be sure to include the expiration date. Thanks!

You can also submit your green giveaways to me during the week for me to feature on Fridays.

Make sure you enter my current giveaways that are listed in the top right sidebar!

Sweepstakes Advantage
Macbook Air

AP Codes
Amazon Kindle 6/30

Creative Designs
Amazon Kindle 6/30

Crunchy Beach Mama
AppleCheeks Swim Diaper & Storage Sac 6/29
Eco Vessel Water Bottles  7/3
LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics ~ Sugar Scrub 7/5


Family Focus Blog
Organic Honey Lotion 6/25
Havaianas Sandals 6/28

A Hen's Nest
Eclos Skincare set 6/30
$25 PayPal Cash 6/30

Shak'in & Bak'in
6 Bottles of It Tastes RAAW Fruit & Veggie Juice Blends 6/28
2 FREE Rudi's Organic Bakery Products 6/28

Two Classy Chics
Insulated Filter Water Bottle from Eco Vessel 6/26

Where's Mommy At?
Natural Notes 6/29

Wordless Wednesday: Beautiful Peacocks

At Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo, they have a good amount of Indian Blue Peafowl roaming the grounds, The males, called peacocks, are the ones with the bright, iridescent colors. On our visit there back in April, I was able to snap quite a few photos. Since they  let them roam freely around the zoo, you will encounter them anywhere and everywhere.

This next one was hanging out with me in the garden area while I waited for my boys. I followed this poor guy around for a good 30 minutes taking an obscene amount of photos.

Seriously, I am lucky he didn't attack me with how in his face I was. He looks pretty annoyed with me.

$25 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway at Codes911

I have mentioned one or two times before (OK, maybe more like 100 times) that I am addicted to my Kindle. I am a huge eBook junkie now and so Amazon is my best friend. I have downloaded an insane amount of eBooks, both freebies and paid, over the past few months. In taking a quick inventory, I have 149 eBooks. And I usually download at least two new ones every day. It is a sickness. Don't ask me when I am going to read all of these, because I have no idea.

Recently I discovered something else on Amazon - MP3 downloads! Now I knew they sold digital music, but I never really paid attention to it. What I didn't know is that most of their prices are better than iTunes, plus they have lots of deals and there are free credit codes to be found out there. So yes, now I am obsessed with downloading their music. This week alone I downloaded a Maroon 5 and Madonna album and I am anxiously awaiting Maroon 5's new album release next week.

So yeah, I spend way too much time on Amazon these days. Luckily I have gift cards built up, but at this rate, that will dwindle quickly. Codes911 is currently running a $25 Amazon Gift Card giveaway, which is a great way to feed my addiction! I've already entered myself, along with most other Amazon giveaways going on in the blog world. If you are an Amazon junkie like me, head on over and enter. Good luck!

This post has been brought to you by Codes911.com. All thoughts an opinions are my own.

2012 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce

While buying organic produce and foods is important to me and definitely a priority, buying everything organic is just not financially possible for us at this time.I wish organic produce wasn't so expensive!  The Environmental Working Group's Shoppers Guide to Pesticides in Produce has been a great help for me in showing me which items I should buy organic and which it is OK to skip on

The guide is broken up into two lists: Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen. The Dirty Dozen list shows the twelve produce items that contain the highest amount of pesticides, like apples and bell peppers. At the other end of the spectrum, the Clean Fifteen list has the produce items that contain the least amount of pesticides. For these, it is OK to buy conventional rather than organic.

The 2012 guide was recently released and I highly recommend that you check it out and download it for your reference. You can print the PDF to keep in your purse or wallet or even better, download the free apps that are available for iPhone/iPad, Android and windows phones. Visit www.ewg.org/foodnews/guide to download today.

Get the Most Cash for Your Old Cell Phone with SellCell.com

What happens to old cell phones in your house when you upgrade? I'll tell you what happens around here: we give them to our kids to play with and now we have multiple cell phones scattered throughout the house. See at first they like to play with them, but only if they are charged and they can play games or press buttons. Then eventually I get sick of charging them and I stop, so they stop playing with them. I just spent some time this morning trying to collect them all. I only found four, but I know we have at least two more somewhere in this house.

A much smarter thing to do would be to sell them. Right now all they are doing is collecting dust but I could easily make some money from them instead. But what is the best way to do that? Who is going to give me the best price for my husband's old Blackberry? SellCell.com helps you easily recycle and sell your cell phone by finding you the best prices available. Not only do you get a little bit of cash but your phone gets recycled which is so much better for the environment. Why should you recycle your cell phone?  Cell phones contain a variety of precious metals, copper, and plastics and almost all of the materials can be recovered and used in new products. Plus, cell phones contain hazardous materials such as lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic, none of which should be sitting in a landfill because they will contaminate the air, soil and groundwater.

SellCell.com is very easy to use: simply type in your cell phone make and model it will pull up what the top phone buyers are currently paying for it. If you are unsure of the model of your phone and you no longer have the information booklets, simply open up the battery area and take the battery out and the model number is printed there. So what IS my husband's Blackberry going for? Well it turns out, only $7.00. The other 3 phones in my picture I can get $2.00 each for a grand total of $13.00 for all four phones. I know it doesn't seem like much, but these are really, really old phones. Plus $13 is like 3 Frappuccinos at Starbucks!

Now, my current AT&T agreement will be up this December and I will be eligible for an iPhone upgrade. I love my iPhone 4 to death but if Apple should release the iPhone 5 by then, I will definitely be upgrading. And while part of me is tempted to give it to my kids so they can play Angry Birds and not try to grab the new phone, I know I am better off selling it. When I ran a search on SellCell.com for my 16 GB iPhone 4, I learned that I could get up to $194 for it. It even tells me which phone buyers will pay me via PayPal, which is pretty awesome.

If you are looking to sell old mobile phones, SellCell.com is definitely a website to check out. They take the hassle out of visiting multiple sites to get a quote on your phone by listing the top buyers all in one place for you. So go ahead, hunt down all of the old cell phones you handed down to your kids and see how much you can get for them all. The longer you wait, the less value you will get so do it sooner rather than later.

How many old cell phones do you have laying around your house?

This post has been brought to you by SellCell.com. All thoughts and opinions are my own.