I can’t believe I’m admitting this…

But my tackle had two phases…

Yes, as you might guess, my tackle tonight includes PACKING to go to the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration in Orlando.

But the embarrassing part is that before I could pack, I had to finish UNPACKING from my last trip to San Diego in OCTOBER!!!

Yes, I am that bad at unpacking my bags after a trip. You see, San Diego was summer weather and when I arrived home to Vancouver in October, I certainly did not need my summer clothes. And my suitcase sat half-full… waiting for me to require that suitcase again.

I do not like to pack. (And as is quite apparent, I also do not like to unpack.)

But I will try to not complain about packing, since it does mean I’m headed off for a fabulous trip to hang out with blogging friends — new and old — and have a blast at Disney World.

The one thing (besides packing) that does put a little damper on my enthusiasm is that I’m not bringing my 2 and 4 year old girls with me on the trip.

And I feel VERY GUILTY.

But it costs a bundle to fly everyone to Orlando from Vancouver, BC, Canada and we just can’t afford it.

Janice is bringing her family. Her kids are 2 and 8 years old and her husband LOVES Disney World almost as much as her kids. So, they are driving down to Seattle and catching the plane from there and are staying a full week at Disney World.

So please don’t tell my girls where I’m going… ugh… I feel even more guilty as I type this. (To ease my guilt, I’m reminding myself that they did get to go last year when we did a video shoot for Disney. You can watch them loving it in this fun video.)

Anyway…

So what have you been tackling?

Tell me what you’re up to with all your other tackles… housework and otherwise… add your link to your tackle in the Mck Linky below!

Click here to visit other Tacklers and add your link.

Have you ever vlogged before?

Monday Mingle is a vlogging carnival created by Eighty MPH Mom and it is a great way to get started vlogging.

You can join in Monday Mingle by recording a video answering the weekly questions and publish it on your own blog and/or even just as a response on Say It Face To Face. Then link up at EightyMPHMom.com.

My Monday Mingle response is at our video conversation site Say It Face To Face.

This week’s questions were:

1. What would Super Nanny say if she came to your house?

2. On the show Wife Swap/Trading Spouses, they typically pick opposites – what type of spouse would they send to you? (meaning what type of spouse would you really hate having around!)

3. If your spouse (or if someone were to propose to you) what would your ideal proposal be (ie setting, creative)

And again in February, we’re running the same contest with cash prizes as we did in January.

1st Prize – $150 – User who starts the conversation that receives the most video responses.

2nd Prize – $100 – User who adds the largest total number of conversation starters and replies.

3rd Prize – $50 – Random user who adds a reply or starts a conversation in the month of January.

Join the vlogging fun… turn on your video camera or your webcam, start mingling with Monday Mingle and join some great conversations at Say It Face To Face.

Talk soon,
Susan

Staying Married is Not About Staying in Love is the title of Chapter One in John Piper’s This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence. Very different from the world has to say on the subject of marriage, isn’t it? In fact, the entire book is very contrary to society’s take on the bonds of matrimony. To the world, they are bonds easily broken without a second thought. To which Piper responds, “Staying married, therefore, is not mainly about staying in love. It is about keeping covenant” (p. 25).

This Momentary Marriage is a work that flies in the face of conventional thought on marriage, specifically its purpose. Piper delves into the Scripture to uncover what marriage portrays to the world around us.

The ultimate thing we can say about marriage is that it exists for God’s glory. That is, it exists to display God. Now we see how: Marriage is patterned after Christ’s covenant relationship to his redeemed people, the church. And therefore, the highest meaning and the most ultimate purpose of marriage is to put the covenant relationship of Christ and his church on display. That is why marriage exists. If you are married, that is why you are married. If you hope to be, that should be your dream. (p. 25)

Piper points out, through Scripture, the roles a husband and wife must assume in order to achieve a covenant-keeping marriage. He doesn’t say it will be easy. He does say that it will be worth the effort. (By the way, Piper and his wife have been married 40 years.)

Whether you’re still single, a newlywed, or even if you’ve just celebrated your silver anniversary, This Momentary Marriage is a book that will change the way you feel about marriage. It will cause you to strive for something more meaningful than the love that chick flicks and romance novels sell us. It will open your eyes to the greatest love ever found.

At 5 Minutes for Books, we rate our best of the best books as 5 Star Reads. This book has been added to that list. Check out the others.

If you’d like to win one of THREE copies (U.S. residents) please leave a comment here if you’d like to win. We’ll announce the winners in next Monday’s book review column right here.

The winners of Chicken Soup for the Soul’s True Love are #29 Lavonne, #7 Linda Kish, #36 Cindi.

Disclosure: Thanks to Crossway for allowing me to review this book.

5 Minutes for Books contributor Melissa & her husband are nearing their 17th anniversary, but she still has much to learn about marriage. She resides in Virginia and blogs at Breath of Life.

This week we are closing the Sesame Street Live: When Elmo Grows Up giveaway.
Please remember to add contests5m4m(AT)gmail(DOT)com to your “Safe Senders” list or address book, to ensure that your notification is not marked as SPAM.

My four year old loves talking about what she wants to be when she grows up. Of course each day it is something different, but it is fun nonetheless! And your family will have fun as you watch Elmo and his Sesame Street Live friends as they explore what it is they want to be when they grow up!!!

As the musical show-and-tell unfolds, Bert dreams of being a forest ranger, Telly longs to be a cowboy, and Abby Cadabby, fittingly, wants to be a fairy godmother just like her mommy. But what will Elmo want to be?

Comment Number 32 – cindy, will receive a Family Four Pack of tickets to the February 13th performance!

Congratulations! You should have received an email about claiming your prize.

If you haven’t received an email, please send your FULL NAME, SHIPPING ADDRESS, and TELEPHONE NUMBER to contests5m4m(AT)gmail(DOT)com by Wednesday, February 10th in order to claim your prize. Any prizes unclaimed will be forfeited and a new winner or winners will be selected.

Welcome to our weekly roundup here at “5 Minutes Around the Blogosphere”.

As you know, you can come back all week and add a post or giveaway to our Mister Linky. Be sure to check back often, as new links will be added daily. You don’t want to miss out on something fun.

Click Here to Finish Reading and get to the Giveaways

*** Monthly Feature Column ***

Positively Speaking
Building Assets in your Kids

by Kelly Curtis, M.S., author of Empowering Youth: How to Encourage Young Leaders to Do Great Things.

We see many rites of passage as our children grow: first playdate, first day of school, first slumber party away from home. I think you get the picture. In our family, our most recent transition has been first Facebook account and much discussion and planning occurred before our 13-year-old finally gained access to the wonderful world of Facebook, including a written contract.

You can read our Facebook contract for parents of teenagers here.

Search Institute has identified Family Boundaries as one of the 40 Developmental Assets. Research shows these are characteristics of healthy, caring, resilient kids. The more assets youth have, the more likely they’ll resist risky behaviors in the future.

As our children get older, we believe we will use written contracts quite often – our kids want something, and parents want a certain behavior. It’s a perfect combination, and facilitates communication.

While preteens and teenagers may nod their heads respectfully when we communicate expectations verbally, a written contract eliminates any misunderstandings. Confusing language can be addressed and changed prior to signing the contract, so both parties start from the same point.

TIPS FOR WRITING CONTRACTS

Use positive language – focusing on what to do, rather than what not to do is a more effective way of communicating in general. Our minds naturally focus on the action word, so we often ignore the “no” or “not” that’s in front of it.

Decide what you really want – trying to meet too many goals in a contract will doom it to fail. For our contract, the overall goal was “safety”, so we tried to focus most of our language toward that end.

Collaborate with your child – asking your child to help write the contract will make it more feasible for him or her to be successful, while still maintaining the integrity of it.

Establish consequences – make it clear that if your child doesn’t uphold the contract, the consequences will be enforced. Typically the consequence is simply removing the privilege the contract allows.

Provide feedback while the contract is in force – ongoing conversation about responsibility related to the privilege is key in helping kids to maintain excellent behavior. Mention it, when you notice they’re making good choices, and gently refer to the contract if you see something that makes you think they might be struggling with it.

My daughter has been using her new Facebook account for more than two months now, enjoys it a lot and stays within the boundaries we set together. Her ability to show us responsibility in the realm of Facebook gives us confidence that she’ll also be successful with the next contract we create with her – for whatever reason we need one.

How will you use written contracts with your kids? What works for you?

Thanks for joining in to build assets in your kids! I look forward to seeing you again next month for Positively Speaking.

Kelly Curtis is a Wisconsin school counselor and author of Empowering Youth: How to Encourage Young Leaders to Do Great Things. To read more about Kelly, please visit her Weblog, Pass the Torch or follow her on Twitter.

Shannon from The Mommy-Files posted a great question over at Say It Face to Face…

What’s The Name Of Your Blog? How Did You Come Up With It?

Click over to Say It Face To Face and post a short video reply to Shannon and tell us all how you came up with your blog name.

You can leave just a text reply without a video, but it is so much more fun for us to see your face and hear your voice and then we’ll never forget your blog name.

It’s like you’re actually AT Blissdom…

Also right now at Say It Face To Face, you can connect with many of the bloggers at Blissdom. Jendi is cruising around Blissdom with a video camera and uploading attendees questions and replies.

So you may not be physically at Blissdom right now, but you can still talk face to face to those who are!

If you haven’t yet started talking with us at Say It Face To Face, come on over now.

And in case you missed our earlier announcement, we’re having a February contest over at Say It Face To Face and we’re handing out 3 cash prizes.

Details here.

1st Prize – $150 – User who starts the conversation that receives the most video responses in February.

2nd Prize – $100 – User who adds the largest total number of conversation starters and replies in February.

3rd Prize – $50 – Random user who adds a reply or starts a conversation in the month of February.

Hop over now. We want to hear what you have to say.

Talk soon,
Susan

It is the mom blogging conference month!
And Blissdom is kicking it off!

Today, I am honored to be on the Community Chest panel “Learning from Community Powerhouse Sites”.

Our panel moderator:
Holly Hamann (Blog Frog)

Fellow panelists:
Debba Haupert (Girlfriendology),
Rachael Herscher (Today’s Mama),
Jennifer James (Mom Bloggers Club), and
Erin (Manic Mommies).

I know! What a line up, right???

BUT, if you are sad that you are missing out, no worries! All the ladies on my panel are posting our Top 5 Lists, that we are sharing today at Blissdom, on our own sites. (Plus some of us have a bonus tip too!)

My Top 5 List is below and make sure you visit Debba Haupert – (Girlfriendology), Rachael Herscher (Today’s Mama), Jennifer James – (Mom Bloggers Club), Erin (Manic Mommies) to read THEIR Top 5 Lists!

Top 5 Tips to be Purposeful in Building Your Community

1. Be Intentional:
   Decide what you want. Before you begin building a community, I recommend setting out with a clear vision of what you want to achieve. What kind of a community do you want?
   If you have clear direction, not only will your readers feel satisfied, but you will feel the rewards of a community that reflects what you set out to create.
    
2. Be a Leader:
   Your community will reflect you! Model the values, standards and purposes you want for your community and it will help guide your community in the direction you want it to go.
    
3. Be Consistent:
   Readers want to know what to expect. If you are a “family-friendly” community, be consistent with your decisions, posts and attitudes. Maintain those values, standards and purposes.
    
4. Be Authentic:
   Don’t try to be someone else – that never works! Be yourself.
   Sometimes though, that may mean being the person you strive to be. I will make mistakes, both online and offline. But online, I have more time to be purposeful and careful, holding to the values and vision with which I set out.
    
5. Be Flexible:
   The online world is evolving and none of us can predict the future. Being purposeful and setting out with a vision and a plan doesn’t mean that we aren’t flexible and fluid. To succeed online, we have to evolve and embrace change and growth.


BONUS TIP:

6. Be Supportive:
   Support your community! Give back and help the community. Supporting your community makes a stronger, more responsive community and encourages the community to support one another as well.

Now, check out the tips from my fellow panelists…

1. Erin Martin Kane: www.manicmommies.com (Top 5 Ways a Community Can Grow Your Brand or Business)
2. Rachael Herrscher: www.todaysmama.com (Top 5 Tips for Engaging With Your Community IRL)
3. Jennifer James: www.mombloggersclub.com (Top 5 Community Rules I Live By)
4. Debba Haupert: www.girlfriendology.com (Top 5 Community Mistakes to Avoid)

Thanks to my Sponsor!

Thanks so much to Gettington.com for covering my travel costs for Blissdom ‘10. I am honored to introduce our readers to this fantastic new shopping site.

Your favorite brands—the names you know and trust— covering everything you need and want from home, apparel, jewelry, electronics and fitness and much more. Over 20,000 products and growing!

Thanks Gettington!

Written by Janice, co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom. You get our feed, right?

Tweet with me at @5minutesformom and/or @janicecroze.

Say It Forward – Carnival of Loyal Commenters is a weekly carnival at 5 Minutes for Mom.com where bloggers feature their loyal commenters!

To read more about how to participate in Say It Forward and to get the button codes, click here.

And make sure you visit the links in the Mr. Linky here every Friday. These are the FUN blogging folk YOU want to be friends with. Go to THEIR sites. Read THEIR blogs. And of course, leave COMMENTS.

Oh, we can see the friendships forming already. It’s a beautiful thing!

Say It Forward – Week 47: Today’s loyal commentor award goes to Tisha of Crazy Working Mom.

Tisha, a working mother of three young children, maintains a very fun, very informative blog. Writing about everything from family life to work, Tisha’s blog has something for everyone. Who can’t identify with a gal who is spread too thin but knows and understands that ’tis the season of life and you might as well enjoy it?Whether she is being awakened at the crack of dawn by her son who has an…unusal request, or using her Wii to lose that last little bit of baby weight, Tisha will keep you smiling and help you to remember that life is a balance and that balance, though challenging at times, can be fun.

Tisha describes herself this way: Mother of 3 from central Arkansas, USA. Married to my high school sweetheart for 10 years. I blog about my family, work, and everything in between. If you don’t like the first post you see, scroll a bit and you’re sure to find something that tickles your fancy!

Thank you, Tisha, for your great attitude and for sharing your life and your family with us, your readers.

And, of course, thank you for being such a loyal commenter here at 5 Minutes for Mom! Please display this Loyal Commenter badge with pride.

Click here to Add your Say It Forward Link and To Read Others

Hey Girls, it Susan here… I’m sitting on my living room floor, watching tweets from the lucky folks at Blissdom.

And I admit I’m a bit jealous.

Although I’m not so jealous of Janice, who had massive plane delays yesterday and after 24 hours in transit, finally arrived exhausted.

So if you’re sad you’re not at Blissdom, enjoy the fact that you are comfortably seated at home and not sitting on a runway in a broken plane watching your watch tick as you miss the photography session at Blissdom.

But… I know that image isn’t likely enough to take away the Blissdom-Envy-Blues… sooooo here’s a treat we saved for you…

Barbara Jones, co-host of Blissdom and founder of One2One Network, shares the secrets of awesome product reviews.

We shot two interview segments with Barbara Jones last year at Mom 2.0 Summit 2009. Shortly after the conference last year, we published the first interview where Barbara shares how she created the successful company One2One Network, but we saved this interview where she reveals the secrets of powerful product reviews until now.

Here’s Barbara Jones…

Watch our first video interview with Barbara Jones here.

Also, make sure you’re following @barbarajones on Twitter.

Watch more video interviews from the 2009 Mom 2.0 Summit.

And if you missed Blissdom this year, you may want to look for a sponsor to help you attend next year.

Blissdom is a great conference to get a sponsor to help cover your costs, because the Blissdom founders are very supportive and even offer a page for you to advertise YOUR sponsor on the official Blissdom website. How cool is that???

Janice is thankful to have Gettington help cover some of her costs of attending the conference.

Talk soon,
Susan, co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom.

Don’t miss posts, subscribe to our our feed and please tweet with us — @5minutesformom.

Hey, did you know Janice and I also own two online stores… a pedal car store and a rocking horse store.

Last week was tough. The weather was bitter cold. We were all sick and confined to the house. On the rare occasion we left, it was to stock up on cough syrup, soup, tissues, and grapefruits. Needless to say, cooking was not at the top of my to do list.

Instead, I dreamed of driving south to the Florida coast. I could almost hear the ocean waves, smell the salt air, and feel myself drift off to sleep beneath the glistening sun. It was an impossible dream, but one that got me through the week along with a few grapefruits that became the inspiration for this recipe.

Grapefruit is not a fruit that I usually crave in winter, however broiled grapefruit dusted with granules of vanilla sugar is an entirely different story. It’s lip puckering sour flavors soften beneath a caramelized vanilla sugar top, it’s like a sparkling sun ray in your mouth. Better still, this recipe is as easy as turning on the oven, cutting the fruit, and sprinkling sugar and berries on top.

Broiled grapefruit is a no-fuss kind recipe and it can be eaten any time of day, but it’s especially good anytime you need a little winter pick-me-up. Now I can start planning that much needed vacation.

Broiled Grapefruit
adapted from Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker

Yield 4 servings

2 grapefruits (pink or red)
¼ cup of sugar (1 tablespoon for each grapefruit half)
½ vanilla bean (seeds only, scraped from bean)
¼ cup of berries (blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries)

Cut one vanilla bean in half, lengthwise. With the flat side of a knife, gently scrape the vanilla seeds from the pod. Add the seeds to the sugar and whisk until well blended.

Place broiler rack about 4 inches below the heating element. Preheat the broiler.

Cut grapefruits in half, horizontally. Remove any large seeds along with the white centers. Cut along the membranes and skin with a serrated knife to loosen each section.

Cover a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and add the grapefruits. Sprinkle each half with 1 tablespoon of the vanilla sugar mixture.

Broil the grapefruit about 5 minutes or until the tops begin to brown and the sugar caramelizes with a thin crust on top. Garnish with 4 berries for each half and serve at once.

Nikki writes about food, art, and story at art and lemons.

The Mom Blogging Conference season has started and Janice is flying to Nashville for Blissdom 2010.

She’s thrilled to be part of a panel discussing how we can all learn from Community Powerhouse Sites.

We’re all excited to have Gettington sponsor Janice’s trip to Blissdom and they have graciously offered to give something to you as well.

More Great Brands

Gettington is a one stop online shop where you can find everything from electronics to cosmetics. But unlike other shopping sites out there, Gettington was created with family in mind. Let’s admit it, we are busier than ever these days. As we juggle family life, Gettington wants to help simplify things a bit by offering over 20,000 brands. They also want to help us manage those pesky family budgets of ours.

More Ways to Pay

Every product at Gettington is offered with three ways to pay so you can decide what works best for you. You can pay in full using your own credit card. Or you can pay over just four months with their FAST Option.

If you need a bit more time to pay your balance in full, you can select the EASY option for low monthly payments. Their options are designed to help you pay off your balance much faster than typical credit cards.

A Bag Full of Surprises

And because everyone loves surprises, Gettington provides all users with their very own goodie bag. When you create your account online you will automatically receive a virtual goodie bag.

At any time there will be special items placed in your goodie bag – from secret sales, limited-edition merchandise, special discounts, to freebies. It’s their little way of sprinkling some sunshine into our lives.

A Giveaway for You

We are delighted to have the opportunity to introduce you to Gettington and to also provide you with a chance to win a great prize.

One lucky reader will win their choice of one of the 3 below items:

• Paula Deen Signature 12pc Porcelain Cookware Set, retail value $149.99.
• Skechers WM Shape Up Mesh Shoe, retail value $109.95.
• RCA HD Camcorder, retail value $99.95.

To enter, please leave a comment below. You may earn additional entries for the following:

• Subscribe to our Feed
• Sign up for our Newsletter
• Spread the word to your friends via your blog, twitter, etc. One blog link and tweet daily per giveaway.
• **NEW** Start or Reply to any video conversation at
  Say It Face To Face. Then leave a comment here with the link to your conversation or reply on Say It Face To Face.
  Your video conversation or reply can be about ANY topic.

If you are already subscribed and are on our newsletter list, you qualify for those two additional entries. Go ahead and leave your additional comments below.

This giveaway is open to US shipping addresses only and will close on Friday, February 19th. We will announce our winner on Saturday, February 20th.

Due to legal restrictions, this promotion is void where prohibited. Please see our site’s Terms and Conditions of Use for a complete list of our Contest and Giveaway Rules.

More Chances to Win

During the Blissdom conference, keep your eye on our Twitter account. We have some additional Gettington giveaways coming your way Twitter style. You will have a chance to win one of three $100 gift cards along with a Gettington-branded Freeset goodie bag.

Thank you again to Gettington for sponsoring Janice and for offering some incredible prizes to our readers.

Written by Susan, co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom
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