Every year, I order a new set of business cards. If I were cool enough to need my own notepad with a logo or letterhead, I imagine I’d order those new, too.

For those of you who, like me, want a fresh start, consider Day to Day printing. As a comprehensive online printing company, Day to Day Printing offers a wide variety and selection of products from business card printing and flyers to menus and placemats. And if you can’t find the exact product you’re looking for, there’s no need to worry – Day to Day Printing can help create your custom design and meet your other printing requirements.

You can also visit Day2Day Printing on their blog, Twitter, and Facebook page. By visiting them here, you can stay in the loop on great deals and freebies that they might be offering.

Enter to win

3 readers will get their chance to win 1,000 business cards. To enter simply take a minute to visit the Day to Day Printing website and peruse their products, then come back here and leave us a comment letting us know what you would choose from their products.

This contest ends February 20th and 3 winners will be chosen by random.org and announced in our weekly Around the Blogosphere post.

 
This post is written by Kelli Stuart.

http://twitter.com/day2dayprinting

I’ve been battling the weight ever since.

So when I was offered a chance to try out the T-Tapp program I jumped at the chance. It was something I hadn’t tried yet. Naturally, I was skeptical. Any workout program that makes any promises of loss of weight or inches makes me wonder if it would actually work.

I received the T-Tapp Basic Workout Plus DVD.

Great as a warm up or as a stand alone workout, Basic Workout Plus delivers inch loss as well as improved health/wellness.  Basic Workout Plus is the first half of the Total Workout plus the exercise Hoe Downs, which is the 3-minute sugar blasting move that drops glucose 62-85 points. Basic Workout Plus proves that less is more with T-Tapp.  Learn the basic T-Tapp techniques that make any workout more effective! ~ T-Tapp Product Description

I have to admit I was a little nervous. I mean I do not workout. My idea of a workout is chasing after my son trying to clean his face after eating pudding. But I jumped right in and gave it my all. I’ve been doing it for two weeks now.

The first thing I did was measure myself. Not weigh, but measure. Because as we all know you don’t necessarily lose weight as your body becomes more fit. I’ve kept a little sheet of paper with my initial measurements and then measured once a week.

The workout itself is pretty simple. That is not to say that it’s super easy. It gets easier as you do it though. It lasts for about 15 minutes and I did them every other day. Well, actually after the first day I waited two days. Can you say out of shape? One thing I really liked though was how I felt after each workout — my body felt alive and it was nice. I was really very proud of myself.

Now, you’re probably wondering did it actually do anything? It did! I lost about a half inch in all areas measured. Some areas a little more others a little less. But I can tell!

T-Tapp offers a variety of other services that assist in helping you stay on track and achieving your goal of becoming healthier. They have forums, personal T-Tapp trainers available such as Kayla Howard, and you can try T-Tapp for FREE. Yep, I said free. They have articles and downloads available on their website.

If you are looking for a program to help you become healthier and loss some weight, I would highly recommend you try T-Tapp.

You can follow T-Tapp on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Enter to win

One 5 Minutes for Mom Reader is going to get her very own copy of the T-Tapp Program. To enter, just leave a comment here letting us know how you think the T-Tapp program will help you.

This giveaway ends February 17th and a winner will be chosen by random.org and announced on the weekly Around the Blogosphere.

Disclosure: This product was provided for review. All opinions stated are my own and were in no way influenced. 

I’ll be honest, I never thought anybody outside the artsy graphic design crowd would ever use a Mac.

Good thing I never placed any bets.

When Apple products starting spreading outside of the graphics folks, I started to wonder. But I still never thought I’d own any myself. Then the iPhone came out. And I made my first step into the other camp. Then a couple years later, curiosity took me a step further and I bought a MacBook Pro.

But I never would have bought a MacBook if it weren’t so easy to collaborate with the PC world. These two camps aren’t separated by the same walls that we had in the 90′s.

I honestly barely notice any issues having one MacBook within our office and remote network of PCs. Janice uses PCs 100% of the time and I divide my time between different PCs and my one MacBook Pro. We have assistants and writers using both PCs and Macs. And we ALL get along.

It’s so easy now. And with Office Web Apps, it’s even easier for us all to collaborate and work together whether we’re side by side, or across the world and whether we’re on PCs or Macs.

Using Windows Live and Office Web Apps, we can share files on SkyDrive, collaborate in real-time on proposals in Word, manage budgets in Excel, prepare presentations in Powerpoint and our newest favorite – research projects and take notes about everything in OneNote.

I’d love to tell the Susan from 1993 — as she programmed her Windows computer, laughed at her Mac-using, artist boyfriend and saved files to a floppy disk — that one day we’d really all get along and we’d send Gigabytes of data through the Cloud.

Enter to Win!

Microsoft is giving away a copy of Office to one 5 Minutes for Mom reader. To enter the giveaway, let us know how Microsoft Web Apps helps you.

This giveaway will end February 17th and a winner will be chosen by random.org and announced in our weekly Around the Blogosphere post.

This post is part of a promotional campaign with Microsoft. All opinions are our own.

Written by Susan Carraretto, co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom
I answer to the name Mommy Blogger, but prefer the term Mom Blogger.
Talk with me: @5minutesformom and Facebook.com/5minutesformom
Pin with me at http://pinterest.com/5minutesformom/

I would imagine that everyone out there has heard of The Hunger Games, in some fashion. At least “I sure hear a lot about this, but I don’t know what it is.” You might know that the Hunger Games movie releases March 23. You might not know that it’s a wildly popular Young Adult series by Suzanne Collins, that has fans from tweens up through adults. You might not know that it’s dystopian literature. If you don’t know any of this, I’d suggest you brush up, because I think that this movie and these books are going to continue down their path of wild success, and you don’t want to be the last one in the know.

It’s a popular book, and it’s a book that begs to be discussed, or at least thought about. The book The Girl Who Was on Fire (Movie Edition): Your Favorite Authors on Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games Series gives you the chance to do just that.

• Are you Team Gale or Team Peeta (or perhaps even Team Katniss?) — you’ll find agreement here no matter what side you are on.
• Did you like the final installment Mockingjay or hate it? That is explored as well.
• Want to explore the political side of the story? Read on.
• Feel like comparing the trilogy to other dystopian plots? You can do it here.
• Ever wonder the subtext in the amazing costumes created for the Games? Terri Clark can tell you.

 
Dawn reviewed The Girl Who Was on Fire at 5 Minutes for Books last Spring, so check out her review for more thoughts on the book. This The Girl Who Was on Fire (Movie Edition) contains 3 additional essays, and if you buy the ebook version or the booster pack (containing only the 3 new essays, and the soon-to-be-released thoughts on the movie), you will also receive each of the essayist’s thoughts on the movie right after it releases on March 23.

I’m happy that we have a copy to give away to one of you. Just leave a comment if you’d like to win, and we’ll announce the winner in our 5 Minutes for Books column here at 5 Minutes for Mom on February 20.

• The winner of The Perfect Name for You is #34 Staci A.

 
Want more YA? The Dystopian Romance prize pack is still open for another week!

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

What’s been going on at 5 Minutes for Mom?

• Checking in with the Sisters-10 Tips for a Green Wedding
• Second Child, Second Rate?
• Welcome to Playdate Planet
• Kid Friendly Dipped and Decorated Pretzels for Valentine’s Day
• Pet Flow Helps You Save Time and Money
• Kyle Needs You Will You Help?
• 5 Winter Activities for Kids All Moms Should Know About
• Windows Live Essentials Helps You Organize Your Online Life
• Drew Barrymore and John Krasinksi really are adorable as they look
• Blogger Confession: 7 Things I Should Do That I Don’t
• Cuties California Clementines Wants to Show Off Your Cuties
• Have you checked out the current deals featured at 5 Minutes for Deals?

Giveaways at 5 Minutes for Mom

•  The Perfect Name For You (2/6)
•  Pear Tree Greetings $50 gift certificate (2/7)
•  The Perfect Gene Diet (2/8)
• NEW! PF Chang’s Red Envelope – 15 winners (2/9)
• NEW! Digiorno Pizza Pack (2/10)
• NEW! PCI Education Reading 1 Program (2/10)
• NEW! Union Springs Giveaway (2/10)
• NEW! Sleep Sense Giveaway – 3 winners (2/11)
• NEW! Hank Player USA (2/11)
• NEW! Bible 360 Review and Giveaway (2/14)

Giveaway Winners Announced!

Giveaways galore! We’ve got more winners to announce for giveaways that ended this past week. Congratulations to all our winners! Emails have been sent…

The winner of the Ultra Immune Giveaway is Benita.

The winner of the Viva Book App Giveaway is Shannon Baas.

The winner of the Bosom Buddy Giveaway is Brittany.

The winner of the Zumba Fitness Giveaway is Cali.

The winner of the Sears Converse Giveaway is Leigh.

Please note: all giveaway winners were selected using random.org.

Giveaways Around the Blogosphere

Would you like to share a fun giveaway? Please add it to the Linky below. You can come here any time this week to add in your link. Don’t miss out on the fun. Be sure to visit throughout the week as the linky grows, and more sites are added.

Or if you prefer the traditional linky….

Written by 5 Minutes for Mom Advertising and Communications contact, Jennifer. You can find me blogging at For Such a Time as This and tweeting at @jennifer_sikora.

Digiorno and Wal Mart are going to help me out and make my “take out” pizza run a success!

DIGIORNO pizzas give you fresh-baked taste, without the need for a tip. So don’t be caught waiting for the pizza delivery guy on game day. Go to your local Walmart and look for the DIGIORNO Guide to Greatness for your Winning Lineup and great savings. Learn more and save big at www.walmart.com/nestle.

Here are a couple of helpful and fun activities that you can do this year at your game day party!

• Add some fun to your next game-day party with the DIGIORNO Quarter-by-Quarter trivia found at www.walmart.com/nestle.

• Printable shopping list to use at Wal-Mart

• Watch the Not Delivery Guys Video

Enter to win

One reader will win a $15 Wal Mart Gift card to use to purchase their own Digiorno pizzas! To enter, leave a comment here sharing your favorite Digiorno Pizza flavor.

This giveaway will end February 10th and a winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced in our Around the Blogosphere post.

Dsclosure: I was sent a gift card to purchase pizza in order to write my review. All opinions are my own.

We’ve gone over an overview of the Sleep Sense Program, had Dana answer some of our reader’s own sleep questions, and discussed resources for child sleep issues.

Like so many other things (cute maternity clothes, fashionable diaper bags, and baby food that mom doesn’t have to spoon-feed to baby to name a few), I so wish that I’d had the Sleep Sense Program when my kids were babies and toddlers.

In addition to the entire Sleep Sense Program with answers to your most pressing questions about getting your child to go to sleep and stay asleep, Dana has included a 49-page workbook, the video resource library, the “Sleep Sense Hotline” access, and the Sleep Tracker. It really is a wealth of knowledge all about your child’s sleep habits.

And guess what?

We’re giving away THREE Sleep Sense Programs!

All you have to do to be entered to win is to leave a comment below with a question OR tip related to children and sleep.

This giveaway will end February 11th and 3 winners will be chosen using random.org and announced on Sunday in Around The Blogosphere. Please see our site’s terms and conditions for more information.

Everyone is a winner

Free customized sleep assessment: Dana Obleman has offered all 5 Minutes for Mom readers a free sleep assessment for their children. All you have to do is go to www.sleepsense.net/5m4m-quiz.

Written by 5 Minutes for Mom managing editor, Lolli. You can find me blogging at Better in Bulk and tweeting at @1momof5.

This post is part of a paid campaign with the Sleep Sense Program. All thoughts are my own.

Immersion Digital, the makers of the Bible 360 app is hosting a giveaway for a premium version! Be sure and scroll to the bottom to enter.

We are a church-going family and as such, there are occasions when we are called on to give a talk or teach a Sunday School lesson. Because I am not always as organized as I would like to be, I sometimes find myself staying up late the night before I have to teach to finish my lesson. I used to try to keep my HUGE bible in the car, so that when I found myself waiting somewhere (school parking lot, Dr.’s office) I could take advantage of the time to work on my presentations. But carrying that thick tome around became cumbersome and awkward and my bible was getting kind of beat up during the transit. I had looked at different scripture apps and even downloaded a few to my phone. Some were better than others, but most pretty much limited functionality to reading and maybe highlighting and that was it. Lucky for us, there’s a new Bible app in town. And let me just say, this isn’t your Grandma’s bible!

Bible 360 is a new app that brings the text of Scripture to life through video, interactive technology and social media. Created by Immersion Digital, Bible360 can be downloaded to iPhones and iPads, as well as PCs or Macs. It’s a full-service app that serves as a state of the art, portable study guide for anyone wanting to have a more in-depth understanding of the Old and New Testaments.

The first things I noticed when I opened the program were the amazing graphics. The design is beautiful and easy to navigate. Sometimes designers cram so much into their apps that it’s almost overwhelming to look at, let alone find what you’re actually looking for. Not so with Bible360. The application is set up so that everything is accessed through “lenses”. Each lens houses a variety of easily accessible information.

Click on the “Bible” lens and the entire bible will open up on a very easy-to-read screen so that you can go directly to the chapter you want to read. Verses are linked to relevant resources, including media.

The “Atlas” lens allows the user access to over 130 satellite images of the various biblical locations, which are linked to scriptures and media, so the reader can quickly identify the area in which events they read about have taken place.

The “Me” lens gives readers personal tools to use during study sessions, such as an online journal, reading plans to help keep you on track with your reading goals and the ability to connect with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, so friends/family can share verses and media links from the Bible.

My boys love the “Media” lens that opens up a host of videos, photos and virtual tours that help bring the bible stories they read about to life. The visuals they get, along with the information in the virtual tours, helps reinforce what they already know and gives them new insights and information about subjects that may not be as familiar. This particular feature has done wonders to eliminate the fights over family scripture reading, as the boys now have something to help hold their attention while we read. Another by-product of the Media lens is the increased communication we have with our boys. They are much more inquisitive about what we are studying than they were in the past and it has been great to sit at the dinner table and have family discussions about how people lived in biblical times.

Things we like about Bible360:

• Beautifully designed – lots of great visuals that help bring the Bible to life
• The ability to journal and create presentations/lessons within the application
• Maps that help the kids identify the locations of events we read about
• Portable scriptures allow me read and prepare for lessons while waiting in places like school parking lot or Dr.’s offices.

Things we wished were different:

• Not yet available on the android market for people without iPhones or iPads.

As far as Bible applications go, Bible360 really is the most comprehensive, functional scripture app available on the market right now. Immersion Studios has done a fantastic job of integrating “The Word” with various other functions to make this application a useful addition to your digital library. Bible360 is fun, interactive and offers tons of resources that make reading the scriptures much more interesting and thought provoking.

There are two versions of the application: The “Lite” version is absolutely free and offers the full NIV Bible text, along with select media samples. The Premium version (available as an in-app upgrade for $34.99) gives you full access to 5 different Bible translations, over 3500 pieces of media, as well as other amazing features and resources not available in the Lite version . Plus, an upgrade allows you to put the app on up to 5 devices including Mac, PC, iPhone and iPad!

Enter to win

One reader will get a premium version of Bible 360. To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment letting us know how you would use the Bible 360 program.

This giveaway will end on February 14th and announced in our weekly Around the Blogosphere post.

Disclosure:  I received the Premium version of the Bible360 application in order to facilitate this review.  I was also compensated for this post, however my opinions are always my own.

Geri Chase is a freelance writer, blogger and mom/wife to two fantastic boys and a humorous husband.  She is currently sifting through her new app to figure out exactly how many colors were in Joseph’s coat.  When she’s not obsessing over new software, Geri blogs about her life and family adventures over at I Am Boymom.

PCI Education products are used to support students in public schools and home schools, by teachers and parents alike. Key facts about PCI Education:

• PCI Education products are highly visual, with a clean and uncluttered layout to assist struggling learners.
• Lesson plans include many tactile and kinesthetic activities to foster increased motivation and retention.
• Game formats allow students to interact with the subject.
• The company’s products serve five diverse markets: secondary special education, secondary at-risk, elementary special education, intellectual disabilities, and English language learners.

PCI Education is giving away a set of their Level 1 Reading progam.

About Reading Progam Level 1

The PCI Reading Program is primarily print-based and includes a variety of lessons, manipulatives, and activity sheets. Each kit also includes a software version of the initial visual discrimination lesson for each word and all of the assessments. Teachers may choose to use either the print or software version of these components, or use both for additional review.

Enter to win

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment here letting us know your favorite product on the PCI Education website. This giveaway will end February 10th and a winner will be announced in our weekly Around the Blogosphere post.

This post is part of a promotional campaign with PCI Education. All opinions are our own.

Be sure and scroll to the bottom of the post to find out how you can enter the giveaway package valued at over $169!

Cold and flu season. I’ve talked about this before. Spring can not come fast enough right now.

My kids have now been sick on and off for an entire month. We’ve been at the pediatrician more times than I can count. While they have missed a few days of school each they are mostly OK enough to go… it’s just those coughs and runny noses that are lingering for far too long.

I am in no way a germaphobe. A bit of a hypochondriac at times maybe… but germs? I want my kids healthy but at the same time I always felt like a little bit of germs now will help them build up an immunity somewhere, right?

A couple of weeks ago I was introduced to Union Springs Wellness.  This is a company who is dedicated to helping you rid your home of hidden dangers lurking in the form of bacteria and viruses.

Four of the six most dangerous, medically resistant germs are found in your home, according to a recent study by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Viruses, bacteria, fungi and other pathogens cause human illnesses. They may be spread by direct or indirect contact with an infected person, by eating contaminated food or by contact with contaminated surfaces in public places or even at home.*

Not only that, but these germs have mutated over the years. Household and even professional cleaners have not kept pace. They’re only effective at keeping a surface clean for minutes to a couple hours.

Union Springs Wellness sent me a box of MyClyns products from their exclusive 360-degree Germ Protection System.

Inside the box I found

• Germ Response Spray
• Moisturizing Hand Sanitizer
• Food Wash
• Surface Cleaner & Treatment Spray
• Surface Cleaner & Treatment Wipes
• Floor Wipes
• Fabric Refresher
• Laundry Protectant Additive
• NEW for 2012! Laundry Detergent
• NEW for 2012! Dishwashing Pacs
• NEW for 2012! Dishwashing Liquid

I am not the best at cleaning house. I always get it done eventually, but it doesn’t take all that long for the kids to throw it right back into chaos. Dirty floors, bathroom sinks they have wrecked… and so much more. In fact the top thing on my list for when I become totally famous someday? (After a new house that is…) Someone to come in and clean my house FOR ME.

Opening this big box of stuff last week had me thinking about everything that needed to be cleaned –  along with when I would possibly have time to do it all. The first thing I did was pull out the laundry detergent, the laundry protectant additive, and the dishwashing pacs. I ran a load of laundry, the dishwasher, and then I sat down to read the 360 degrees of wellness catalog that came with the products.

It was not only interesting, but incredibly informative. Union Springs Wellness is the only company to provide 360 degree germ protection across the 3 primary modes of infection transmission:

1. Exposure to an infected person

2. Contact with contaminated surfaces

3. Consumption of contaminated foods

You know what really got me to thinking –the food wash. This is something I never thought was necessary. I wash all the fruits and veggies I bring into the house with water and that’s that. I thought that was enough. Union Springs has a video you can watch that shows the difference between washing with just water and soaking in the food wash.

This made such a difference that I was horrified. I tried it at home myself with apples. I washed one apple with just water and it seemed ok to me. Then I did another in the food wash. Th apple that I washed in the food wash was brighter, visibly cleaner, while the other was not as bright and I noticed it felt waxy in comparison. To think, I have been giving that to my kids!  Did I mention you can even use the food wash on meats, poultry and fish? It’s certified Kosher and even maintains organic and vegan distinctions.

Over the next few days I used the surface cleaner and treatment spray, treatment wipes, floor wipes and fabric refresher. These products smell good. I liked that the house didn’t have the heavy chemical smell that is left behind after cleaning with my usual products.

I am now a big fan of these products. And my kids love the moisturizing hand sanitizer because it does not sting their hands like so many others we have used. (Word to the wise though, because it is alcohol free you probably shouldn’t leave it in your car if you live somewhere cold. I froze mine one day, but it did thaw right out and still works just fine!)

My favorite part of the Union Springs catalog is The Weekly Wellness Strategy where they outline a quick and easy way to clean your house little by little each day of the week – rather than trying to cram it all into one day like I do. Its actually been a big help to me as a busy mom on the go to refer to that. And it takes less time.

Enter to Win

5 Minutes for Mom has paired with Union Springs Wellness and we are giving away a package valued at over $169 for one of our readers! To enter, simply leave a comment telling us how Union Spring Products can help you out around the house.

This giveaway will end February 10th and a winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced in our weekly Around the Blogosphere post.

In addition to the website, you can also follow Union Springs on their facebook page.

We received two shirts to review. Right off the bat I was impressed with the softness of the shirts. They are true to size and not too short, an issue that I can run into with my super tall boy.

Oscar did complain that the tag was bothering him, but he is 3 and in a very anti-tag place. And since I grew out of size 4T a couple years ago, I can’t really vouch one way or the other on the scratch factor. I will say that after a while he either got used to it or he forgot that it was supposed to be bothering him because he stopped mentioning it.

The graphics look great too. According to Hank Player, their shirts are “vintage washed and will have a hip, weathered and worn-in look, with slight variations in color and graphic.” We love our shirts and plan to wear them well into spring and summer!

Hank Player USA t-shirts are made from 100% prima cotton and made in the USA.

Enter to win

One winner will be chose to receive two t-shirts from Hank Player USA for their sweet child. To enter the giveaway, visit the site and let us know what your favorite style is.

This giveaway will end February 11th and a winner will be chosen by random.org and announced in our weekly Around the Blogosphere post.

Disclosure: I was sent 2 t-shirts in order to write this review. All opinions are my own.

Written by 5 Minutes for Mom Contributor, Andrea Updyke. You can find me blogging at Lil-Kid-Things and tweeting at @AndreaUpdyke.

This year, PF Chang’s Home Menu would love to help 15 families to celebrate their very own Chinese New Year.

Prosperity, peace, happiness and longevity all symbolize the Chinese New Year, one of the most important and festive Chinese holidays. In this “Year of the Dragon” beginning January 23, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro and P.F. Chang’s Home Menu want to ignite your good fortune and share the spirit of this holiday with you.

Red Envelope Giveaway

The Red Envelope itself represents another significant tradition in Chinese culture. Red Envelopes, filled with gifts, are presented to family and friends during the Chinese New Year. The color red symbolizes good luck and PF Chang’s Home Menu’s wants to help you celebrate and share the good fortune.

There are a wide variety of P.F. Chang’s Home Menu noodles for you to enjoy!  The flavors of Home Menu noodle entrees include Pepper Steak with Chow Fun Noodles, Grilled Chicken Teriyaki with Lo Mein Noodles, Garlic Chicken with Dan Dan Noodles, and Firecracker Shrimp with Yakisoba Noodles.

Enter to Win!

The Red Envelope Giveaway prizes will go to 15 our readers who nominate a dragon in their lives – someone who embodies characteristics like confidence, generosity, honesty etc. To enter, simply nominate your dragon (friend, spouse, family member) and tell what characteristic they portray.

Prizes

The prizes to be given away include:

ONE Grand prize, consisting of:

• A night out at the Bistro with their Dragon ($100 gift card to P.F. Chang’s Bistro)
• A night in enjoying Home Menu with their favorite dragon (5 Full Value P.F. Chang’s Home Menu coupons)
• Two co-branded t-shirts

14 Red Envelope surprises for 14 readers.

• 7 readers will win a P.F. Chang’s Bistro Bistro gift card ($10 value)
• 7 readers will win a P.F. Chang’s Home Menu Full Value coupon (1 Full Value P.F. Chang’s Home Menu coupon)

This giveaway will end on February 9th and winners will be announced in our weekly Around the Blogosphere post.

How will you celebrate the Chinese New Year this year?

Disclosure: I was sent a PF Chang’s Red Envelope Kit in order to write the review. All opinions are my own.

My daughter, Ilsa, who’s 14, loves dystopian fiction, and is not averse to a little romance mixed in. For me, someone who grew up in the 70s and 80s worrying about communist invasions and gulags (I had a very vivid imagination), this mystifies me—at her age, I hated the thought of creepy Societies watching my every move, or a world without enough food or fresh water and with no opportunity for advancement.

Ilsa persuaded me to check out Scholastic’s Dystopian Romance pack** and then, ironically, had so much homework that she hasn’t had a chance to read them yet. This is unusual, as my daughter tends to devour books and has been longing to read Matched. I had to read them for her, and tell her how good they were while strictly informing her she’d better finish her homework and get good grades on her exams! So it’s been a fun week at our house as she waits for her opportunity.

If you, like me, are a little mystified by your daughter’s taste in worlds governed by faceless Big Brother-like societies, I would encourage you to check out these two books. Both feature strong heroines who decide things for themselves, who have to think and imagine worlds unlike what they’ve experienced – and yet are ready to meet a guy who’ll help them along the way. You just might finally get what your own daughter finds so attractive about this genre.

Matched

Cassia lives in a world governed by The Society, which decides where you’ll work, what you’ll wear, what and how much you’ll eat, who you’ll marry and when you’ll die. It does this under the guise of caring about people; they’ve worked out optimal caloric intake, for example, and the clothes are utilitarian which cuts down on people feeling envious of other’s fashion choices. Art and Literature are made easy—only the top 100 poems and paintings of all time have been preserved, and the rest destroyed. No one really creates any more, just manages things. And at 17, people are “matched” by personality, genes, and other criteria to their perfect mate; at 21 they marry, and they are allowed to have children until the age of 32, after which “optimal” child-rearing age is past.

The novel opens with Cassia on her way to her matching banquet on the night of her 17th birthday. She has been allowed to choose a dress to wear and later will receive a snippet of the fabric in a frame to keep as a memento. She is amazed when she is matched to her close friend Xander, whom she’s known since childhood—it’s rare to know to your match ahead of time.

However, when she puts her flashcard in later to read more about her match, another face and name flash on the screen. Oddly, it’s another person she knows in real life—Ky, who came originally from the Outer Provinces and was adopted by a family in the neighbourhood when they were all about 12. Cassia has never thought much about Ky before, but she’s intrigued—which boy is her true match? She begins to spend time with Ky, and to learn about him.

Her grandfather is also dying. That is, he is approaching his 80th birthday, at which point he will die, because The Society has determined that 80 is the optimal age to die—before health really deteriorates, while the mind is still sharp. Before he dies, he gives Cassia a present, not to mention an example, to not just blindly follow all that The Society says is good.

I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Cassia is a believable and likable heroine, and I enjoyed the development of her character from mindless obedience to something a bit braver. I am dying to read the next in the series, Crossed (recently reviewed by my colleague Jennifer at 5 Minutes for Books). I especially loved the use of the poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night to give Cassia the beginnings of the courage she needed to go against the flow.

Restoring Harmony:

The year is 2041, which means that we could all still be alive. Molly has grown up on a farm on a small island just off Vancouver Island in Canada. The world has changed—there’s no more oil, food is scarce, bridges are collapsing and organized crime has pretty much taken over from a weak government. Molly’s family, worried about her grandfather, send her to pick him up in Portland, Oregon, and persuade him to come home with her.

I live in Portland, so the setting of this novel was fun for me. Molly has to be smuggled across the border, since she’s only 16. She’s faced with one obstacle after another, from losing her shoes and having to hike barefoot, to being cheated out of her money by a con man and having to busk for spare change, but she uses her native wit and ingenuity to figure out solutions. When she reaches Portland, she’s helped by a handsome young man who calls himself “Spill.” He proves to have some interesting connections, ones that Molly doesn’t want to think about. Spill helps Molly, her grandparents, and their young neighbours to figure out how to navigate life in this brave new world. Molly’s running out of time to persuade her grandfather to return home with her. With the mob breathing down her back, and her mother desperately ill back in Canada, will she manage to make it home in time?

**The 5 Minutes for Books team are happy to a part of Scholastic’s Parent Circle. Each month, one of our reviewers will select a book from that month’s Scholastic Book Club flyers. Ilsa and I selected this Dystopian Romance pack from February’s TAB flyer.

We are happy to offer one of you (U.S. shipping only) both of these books, as featured in the Scholastic book club flyer. Leave a comment to enter. We’ll announce the winner in our book column on February 13.

• The winner of How to be a Best Friend Forever is #9 tennille.

Elizabeth read 1984 at an impressionable age which has forever tinged her view of dystopian fiction. That didn’t stop her from enjoying these two, however. Read more at her blog Planet Nomad.

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

What’s been going on at 5 Minutes for Mom?

• Dermot Mulroney and Ted Danson/Good Guy-Bad Guy in Big Miracle
• Hygloss Craft Products Help Beat those Winter Boredom Moments
• #ashamed-Bloggers Fight Back Against Georgia’s Fat Shaming Ad Campaign
• Healthy Family Dinners Making an Important Comeback
• Checking in With the Sisters-Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
• Sons of Grace-An Inspiring Store from Men
• Resources for Child Sleep Problems
• Brylane Home Helps You Throw the Best Super Bowl Party
• Instantly Share Baby Photos with Family and Friends with Zang Zing
• Have you checked out the current deals featured at 5 Minutes for Deals?

Giveaways at 5 Minutes for Mom

• How to Be a Best Friend Forever Book Giveaway (1/30)
• Ultra Immune Giveaway (1/30)
• Viva Book App Giveaway (1/31)
• Bosom Buddy Giveaway (2/1)
•  Zumba Fitness Giveaway (2/3)
• Sears Converse Giveaway (2/4)
•  NEW! The Perfect Name For You (2/6)
• NEW! Pear Tree Greetings $50 gift certificate (2/7)
• NEW! The Perfect Gene Diet (2/8)

Giveaway Winners Announced!

Giveaways galore! We’ve got more winners to announce for giveaways that ended this past week. Congratulations to all our winners! Emails have been sent…

The winner of the Tyson and Hungry Girl Giveaway is Cassandra.

The winner of the Health and Wellness Target Gift Basket is Melissa N.

The winners of the Microsoft Touch Mouse- 2 winners are Beth Jackson and Terry C.

Please note: all giveaway winners were selected using random.org.

Giveaways Around the Blogosphere

Would you like to share a fun giveaway? Please add it to the Linky below. You can come here any time this week to add in your link. Don’t miss out on the fun. Be sure to visit throughout the week as the linky grows, and more sites are added.

Or if you prefer the traditional linky….

Written by 5 Minutes for Mom Advertising and Communications contact, Jennifer. You can find me blogging at For Such a Time as This and tweeting at @jennifer_sikora.

Pear Tree Greetings is sharing with us today about some of their most popular Valentine’s Day Cards. Be sure and enter the giveaway at the bottom!

We love Valentine’s Day, and we think it shows! These Valentine’s Day photo cards and Valentine gift tags represent the best of our Valentine’s Day collection for 2012—hugs and kisses for all.

It’s not just a Valentine, it’s a puppet; it’s a plane; it’s a lollipop holder! Our designers were channeling their inner child when they came up with these interactive kids Valentine’s day cards that kids are going to love to give to their friends.

It doesn’t cost you one extra penny to choose a Valentine’s Day card with a darling design printed on the back, but it does double the fun. Take a peek at the flip side of these Valentines with designs on back.

When you see a little Golden Pear™ next to one of our cards, you’ll know you found something special. Unique shapes, fabulous folds, ribbons and cut-outs make our Golden Pear™ Valentines one-of-a-kind—and that’s before you put your adorable photos on it.

When you have a lot of photos to share, consider our Valentine’s Day photo cards that unfold like a story. It’s like giving friends and family a little photo album they’ll love to keep.

Brighten a mail carrier’s day. Just think how much fun it would be to find one of these Valentine’s Day postcards in your mailbox. Postage is more affordable, too!

February 14th dilemma: moms love cards, kids love treats. An affordable alternative to doing both is creating Valentine’s Day personalized stickers or gift tags that you can put on classroom treats—with your child’s name already on them. Sweet!

Enter to win

2 readers will be chosen randomly for one of two $50 vouchers at Pear Tree Greetings. To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment with your favorite Valentine’s Day card we have on site.

This giveaway will end February 7th and the winners will be announced in our weekly Around the Blogosphere post.