My time in San Diego for BlogHer was an absolute blast!  I met some amazing people, ate some amazing food, spent much needed time with the most amazing man and got interviewed by the Jimmy Dean Sun.

Could you tell I was nervous?  I didn’t know where to look, didn’t know if I should smile or not, and just felt a little out of my comfort zone.  Regardless, it was such an honor hanging out with the Jimmy Dean team.

Thank you so much for this experience.

That was the question Louise and I were asked while in San Diego for BlogHer.

Hillshire Farm had a booth set up and they wanted to know what gave us motivation to cook.  If you know me at all, you know that I’m a really shy person.  Not only am I shy, I get terrified and it’s like my mind shuts down.  So, getting anything to come out of my mouth is a huge chore.  I wasn’t going to share this, but since Louise already did, what the heck — here you go!

{No laughing though, you hear?}

There are so many reasons that I love to cook and just recently I have really learned to enjoy the time I have in the kitchen.  I love trying different ingredients and trying to create something that is healthy for my family and that tastes absolutely delicious.

So, tell me, why do you cook?

A huge thank you to the Hillshire Farm team for providing me with this fun opportunity.

My two boys are just a little obsessed with Spongebob, well  maybe more than just a little.  I was recently given the opportunity to work with HP on one of their newest projects, Nick Walls by HP.  After careful consideration of whether I was going to do a wall for my daughter or one for the boys, I decided it would be best to do one for the boys.  And wouldn’t y’all know, I chose a Spongebob wall.

The first step in designing your Nick Wall is to input your wall dimensions in the ‘Wall Layout’ tab.  This is also when you’ll need to add any doors, window, electrical outlets, etc. that are on your wall.  I forgot about the electrical outlet and light switch when designing our wall.  It’s a good thing there weren’t any important characters or design where the outlets were.  Once you have put in all the dimensions, you can then choose the theme.  You can choose from Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go!, SpongeBob and Nick Teen, just to name a few. Choose carefully because the theme you select will dictate the available backgrounds and foreground design elements.

Now you can start designing your wall either by choosing ‘Backgrounds’ or ‘Templates’.  If you’re creative, I’d suggest you choose the ‘Backgrounds’ option and if you’re missing that gene like I am, you should choose ‘Templates’ which will enable you to jump-start your design with a pre-made template that can be modified by moving, resizing or adding characters.  I chose the easy option and just added extra characters so that almost all the Spongebob characters would be on the wall.

We received our wall about a week after ordering and finally had the opportunity to put it up this weekend.  I should let you know that neither my husband or I are very DIY type people, so we invited my dad over to help.  If you’re like us and not very handy, I’d definitely get someone to help.  I thought it was a very difficult task and didn’t really understand the directions, but my dad knew exactly what to do.  Oh, and this is definitely not a one person job. You’ll need an extra set of hands or two.

So after 2.5 hours this what the boys wall looks like.

What do you think?  The boys absolutely love it.  It looks fabulous in their room.

We are incredibly happy with how the wall turned out.  We were a little worried with how it would look since our walls have a ton of texture on them, but even with the texture it looks fabulous.  I’m guessing that it’s similar to wallpaper but I’m not positive since I’ve never put up wallpaper before.

The colors are so vibrant and bold and really brighten up the boys room.  The characters are right about the same size as the boys and they really like that. Sometimes they talk to Patrick and Spongebob which I think is absolutely adorable.

We did a little video as we were putting up the wall to show the progress as we went along and I’d like to share it with y’all.  We had a blast with this project and owe a very special thank you to my daddy who helped us and to HP for supplying us with the wall.

Buy:

You can design and purchase your own wall starting at $3.99 sq. ft.  Just to give you an idea, my wall would have cost us about $375.

The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely that of the blog owners. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. I received a free Nick Walls by HP in order to facilitate this review.

Over the last couple of months, I’ve been using the new Wisk with Stain Spectrum Technology detergent and I’ve also been doing little experiments like my recent Wisk vs. The Protein Stain post.  I was thoroughly impressed last month and this month was no different when Wisk went head to head with a carbohydrate.

As mommies, we know there hundreds of different kinds of stains, but most of them fall into just a few basic groups.  My children helped me out this month by painting with ketchup (carbohydrate) on a white t-shirt.  Watch this little video with the results.

As you can see from the video, this isn’t something I would normally allow my children to do.  I can  not tell you how many clothes they’ve ruined with a ketchup stain. I’m so excited and thrilled about this new detergent and can’t wait until my next laundry experiment. Please continue to follow my Wisk experiments by following me on Twitter, Facebook or even by subscribing to my blog. You can also keep tabs on Wisk by “like”-ing them on Facebook.

This is one of a series of posts sponsored by Wisk Detergent. I will receive compensation as well as product for my participation in this campaign.

I’d be lying if I said I knew anything mechanical about my vehicle.  In fact, I can pretty much guarantee you that I know absolutely nothing about anything underneath the hood.  I take my vehicle to the dealership for all the scheduled tune-ups and oil changes because I know that if I take care of my vehicle, it will be around for years to come.

I was recently given the opportunity to try out Additech, a cleaner that is added into the fuel tank when you are pumping your gas. Dirty engines are known to reduce gas mileage, decrease engine performance, and increase harmful emissions and Additech engine cleaners clean your engine as you drive. With the regular use of Additech you can increase gas mileage, improve performance and reduce harmful emissions.  This was my first time using Additech, so I did a video to show you how easy it is.

I know in the video I said I had a SUV, which is incorrect.  We actually have a minivan, but since my husband is opposed to driving a minivan, he renamed it an FUV (Family Utility Vehicle) and because of the pressure of the video camera staring at me I totally messed up.

I can’t say that I noticed any noticeable differences after using Additech only once, but that could be because my vehicle is only two years old.  I think it’s very critical to keep your vehicle properly maintained and using Additech will help improve the engine life.

Buy:

You can purchase Additech at select Murphy USA, Kroger and H-E-B gas stations.

Giveaway:

Five (5) winners will receive a $50 Gift Card to Murphy USA, Kroger or H-E-B to try out Additech for themselves.  Because Additech is not available in every state, you must be a resident of these states to enter: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, or Texas!

How to Enter:

Simply visit Additech and leave me a comment below letting me know which location is nearest to you (store name & street address).

Extra Entries Available:

After you have completed the first entry, you are eligible for additional entries. Make sure you leave a separate comment for EACH entry. Each counts as one extra entry unless noted otherwise.

• Blog about this giveaway with a link back to Simply Being Mommy (www.simplybeingmommy.com). Leave the URL to your blog post in the comment. {5 extra entries}
• Subscribe to Simply Being Mommy by reader or email.
• Leave me a new comment on a non-giveaway post and then let me know where you commented. {up to 10 extra entries; 1 entry per comment}
• “Like” Simply Being Mommy on Facebook.
• “Like” Additech on Facebook and leave a comment on their wall that Simply Being Mommy sent you.
• Follow Simply Being Mommy and Additech on Twitter AND Tweet about the giveaway. Leave the URL to the Tweet in your comment. You can tweet once a day, but remember to leave the URL to each tweet. You must have at least 50 followers for this extra entry. You can tweet ” Enter to win a $50 GC for a free tank of gas plus Additech from @simplybeingmom and @Additech 5 Winners! http://bit.ly/clKCRh #giveaway “
• Stumble this post (not the site) and leave me your StumbleUpon Name in your comment.
• Add the Simply Being Mommy button to your sidebar. (Let me know where I can find it in your comment.)

This giveaway will end on October 25th at 10:00 PM Central time. Winner will be chosen via a random number generator. Giveaway is open to US entries. The winner must contact me in 48 hours to claim their prize. Good luck to everyone!

The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely that of the blog owners. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. I received a gift card to cover my gas and Additech.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been given the opportunity to do my own in-home experiments with the new Wisk with Stain Spectrum Technology. I have recruited my daughter to be my junior scientist and to help with the research.

We received our first assignment; the new Wisk with Stain Spectrum Technology versus the Protein Stain.  Protein stains come in a variety of forms, such as eggs, baby formula and the one that ruins your children’s pants…the infamous grass stain.

To help us with our experiment we have a protein-stained swatch, plastic beaker, lab coat, dropping pipette, googles and a bottle of Wisk.  You can watch our little video to find out the results.

There are hundreds of different types of stains but the  majority fall into a few basic categories such as protein (as seen in the video), carbohydrates and oils.  The folks over at Wisk have been working behind the scenes to bring moms a new red-hot bottle that will change the way we look at stains forever.

I’m so excited and thrilled about this new detergent and can’t wait until my next laundry experiment.  Please continue to follow my Wisk experiments by following me on Twitter, Facebook or even by subscribing to my blog.  You can also keep tabs on Wisk by “like”-ing them on Facebook.

This is one of a series of posts sponsored by Wisk Detergent. I will receive compensation as well as product for my participation in this campaign.

I’m here in sunny California! I faced a big fear today by flying and I’m so proud of myself. I did have a small little meltdown when I had to leave my husband and children, but I’m okay now. I miss them though…

I’ll tell you more about my trip when I get back home, but here is a quick little video I did from my hotel room. Isn’t it amazing?!?

I’m headed to bed…I’m totally drained and exhausted.