Introducing the Goblins - Kayla Lorraine

I thought I should introduce the kiddos since I'll be writing about them all the time.  My husband Joe and I were married 6 years ago, January 19th.  The second marriage for both of us.  We were married at the Mall of America - LOL. I guess it's similar to being married in Vegas.

Kayla, who was 6 when we met, is now 14, and is from my 1st marriage.  She's interested in all the usual things-clothes, music, movies, etc.  She is kind and very outgoing. I always joke that she came out of the womb talking-she can talk forever!  She does not look like me at all - but she does look like my sister, Heather.  Her brain is the opposite of mine, artistic in all ways. She can draw and dance and create - I cannot.  I'm loving the person she is turning out to be.  She's in 9th grade and just made the Varsity Basketball Cheerleading team. Very exciting.  We've decided that she is going to do "teenager" reviews and blog posts here and see what comes of that as I never see any on blogs that I follow.  Here are a couple pics. I'll introduce the other munchkins in coming days!

Alpine Touch – Montana’s Special Spice Review

A few months back, before I discovered the world of blogs, I was entering a lot of contests at Online Sweepstakes. One contest I entered was for Alpine Touch-Montana’s Special Spice and I won (hooray!).


We are a big fan of spices, sauces and marinades in our house. I am always concocting some new marinade or spice combination for almost every meal. I am famous for my meatloaf combos. Usually, it’s just whatever is in the house. I’ll put ketchup, mustard, BBQ Sauce, French Dressing, Soy Sauce, Worshestire Sauce, and any or all of whatever spices I think will be good. That’s right-I add a little of each of these to my meatloaf. It’s yummy!


I had forgotten that I received the 4-Spice Family Gift Pack. It included a wooden spice rack with one bottle each of All-Purpose, Lite All-Purpose, Pepper Blend and Lemon Pepper Seasoning. I cracked it open this week and added the All-Purpose and Pepper Blend to my spaghetti sauce with no other spices-no garlic or any other type of Italian Spice. It was delicious! I was very surprised at the distinct and unique taste it added. I have not tried the Lemon Pepper Seasoning yet, but I’m looking forward to adding it to a Chicken Dish! I’m anticipating adding it to a lot of other recipes and grilling marinades too!

The price of the Gift Pack is $18.95 which is very reasonable. They also sell them all individually. There is also a Jerky Seasoning which sounds yummy too!


Check out there website HERE to check it all out!  They have a great Recipe Section too!

Inexpensive Watches Review

Over the month of December I entered many giveaway contests on various blogs and was blessed with many wins. 2 of my wins were watches from Inexpensive Watches (One was from “A Mom’s Balancing Act” and the other “Barefoot Mommies"). I chose one for my husband Joe and gave it to him for his Birthday on December 12th. The other I chose for my 14-yr old daughter Kayla for Christmas. I was impressed with the Quality of the watches.

My husband’s watch was quite heavy and seemed quite sturdy. The only issue we had with his watch was that it was too big-easily fixed by taking out a link at our local jewelry store.

The watch I gave my daughter was a bracelet style and was dainty and perfect for her age. It even matched a headband she got for Christmas.

The prices at this on-line watch store are VERY reasonable ranging from around $15-$50. I would definitely purchases a watch from this on-line store. They have a large selection of watches in styles and colors-perfect for matching to special outfits or for everyday wear. You can check out their website here.

Here are a few pictures of their other styles:

A HUGE THANK YOU!

I have to give a HUGE shout out to my new Friend and MENTOR Brandi Best at Life with 5 Monkies and 1 Ape who taken me under my wing.  She created this blog for free for me.  I knew I wanted an Irish Theme but was going a little overboard with the bling and making it easy for me to work with.  She has referred me to many companies already to start my reviews and giveaways.  She is so generous with her time in helping me get going with all the ins and outs of running a blog.  I wish we lived closer but, we'll have to share virtual cups of coffee as she is in New Jersey and I'm in Minnesota.  Thanks so much Brandi - Let's Have Some Fun!!!

Bridgette

Labyrinth Balance Board Review

Labyrinth Balance Board Review

I first became aware of the Labyrinth Balance Board from Challenge & Fun from the blog "Things Mom Likes" where one was being reviewed and given away. I immediately thought of my 10-year old daughter Samantha. My first thought was that she loved the little hand-held games where you put the little marble in the hole by moving it around. Samantha has a disease called Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (herein after referred to as NF1, as 1 of my other 4 children also has this disease and I’ll probably refer to it often) Part of the complications that can go with this disease are gross and fine motor skill disabilities/delays, Learning Disabilities and ADHD. So, I entered the contest but put Grandma on the case as a possible Christmas Gift for Samantha in case I did not win. I did not win but Grandma came thru big time.


I was thrilled when she opened it on Christmas Day and saw the excitement on her face. We immediately took it out and put it to the test. This toy works on all of her issues AND holds her attention-anything that does that is 5 stars in my book. It works on her leg muscles and works on coordination. Her brother Ben loves it too. Our youngest daughter Gracie, also with NF1, loves to try it too. We got the regular size Balance Board, but they do make a Jr. Size for the smaller tikes.

Overall thoughts are 1) Perfect for ALL Children, 2) Excellent for Children with Gross/Fine Motor Skills and Attention issues. 3) Gets the kids active-perfect for winter! Here’s some pics of my kiddos playing on it.

Ficklets Review

Ficklets – Eyewear Charm Huggers Review

What are Ficklets? Ficklets are Eyewear Charms that adorn to the arms of Children’s Glasses. (Actually, I think grown-ups could have fun with them on their glasses as well). My youngest daughter Gracie has worn glasses since she was 5 months old. She was born with Glaucoma in her left eye which was caused by a Plexiform Neurofibroma Tumor on her brain. Long story short, we had to make the difficult decision to remove her eye because it was causing her a lot of pain and she did not have any vision in the eye. She was prescribed eyeglasses for “safety” purposes. We need to protect that eye. Since her remaining eye has perfect vision it was a long long long difficult process to get her to wear her glasses. To her, they were just an annoyance on her face that had no purpose. In fact, it was not until she started preschool at age 4 that she would at least keep them during school. She’s in Kindergarten now and still does the same thing-they come off as soon as she gets home.

I was lucky enough to win 2 pairs of these adorable charms in a giveaway contest on another blog. I love them. They are extremely easy to attach with a small rubber band (similar to rubber bands worn on braces). I love that they are easily changeable and that there is a huge variety of charms in color and type-from Animals to Flowers in all the colors! You can match them to outfits just like barrettes or ponytails. There are charms for boys and girls! They could also be used on sunglasses for some fashion fun! Ficklets give tired, old eyeglasses a quick, affordable update. Only $5.98 per pair..Here’s Gracie with her new Ficklets on:

Check out Ficklets Here

Contest Closed - Winners Announced!
Stay Posted for more giveaways to come!
Ready or Not….

Hi! My name is Bridgette Groschen and this is my blog “The Groschen Goblins”. Some of you may know me because of my relentless entering of your giveaways! I appreciate that so much. So much that I decided that I wanted to join in the fun! I don’t have any grand idea or goal for my blog. I want to review and giveaway new products of any kind and products that I already love. I’d love to share my life’s journey, including raising children in a blended family, as well as, raising children with special needs.


I wasn’t quite ready to launch my blog, it is still quite raw, but my very good friend and mentor, Brandi, at 5 Monkies and 1 Ape hooked me up with a great giveaway. So, here we are, Ready or Not, for my very 1st Giveaway…


iCaughtSanta.com! – Giveaway

Capturing the magic of Christmas for as long as you can is so fun and important and iCaughtSanta.com is a wonderful way to really capture that magic and create a keepsake of that memory. Imagine the joy and wonder your kiddos would have if they wake up on Christmas and find a picture of Santa putting toys under their own Christmas Tree. iCaughtSanta.com allows you to upload a picture of your Christmas Tree and add a picture of Santa to that picture in 3 easy steps:


How to catch Santa in three easy steps!


1. Capture the scene in a digital photo and upload it to ICaughtSanta.com.


2. Select one of the many Santa images and add it to your photo along with a  fun holiday border.


3. Share your photo. You can print it, download it, or choose print-to-store and pick it up. (One is $9.99, add 3 more for just another $10!)


Here’s the photo I made

And now the giveaway…the wonderful people at iCaughtSanta.com! are allowing me to giveaway nine (9) e-codes so you can catch Santa in your house this year!!


Required Entry: Leave a comment telling me how old you were when you stopped believing in Santa (if you have) (Please include your email address if not in your profile or you will not be eligible to win.)


Optional extra entries: (Once you've done the required entry, you may do as many of these extra entry options as you'd like!) Leave separate comments for each entry.


• Become a follower of my blog – Hooray!!!
• Refer friends to follow my blog (unlimited entries)
• Subscribe to my blog by email or reader
• Follow me on Twitter
• Become a Facebook Friend
• Tweet my giveaway (unlimited entries)
• Enter any of the giveaways at 5 Monkies and 1 Ape

You have until 10pm CST on December 22, 2009 to enter. Nine (9) lucky winners will be randomly selected. Winner will only have 24 hours to respond to the notification email or a new winner will be chosen. Open to US residents. Good luck!

If you are interested in having a product featured on The Groschen Goblins, please read through this, and then email me with any questions or requests. Thank you so much.

Review guidelines:
All reviews are done in exchange for a sample product shipped directly to me. I will have your review up in a timely manner, usually between 2-4 weeks, and will email you the link to the review once it is live. If you prefer to have a website review done, there is a $20 post charge. You will receive minimum 2 links and 200 words. If you require a longer post please let me know and we will work out pricing.

Giveaway guidelines:
I would be honored to share your product with my readers by way of a giveaway. You will receive more hits for a giveaway, due to the entrants visiting your site as an entry into the giveaway. I require one sample to be shipped to me for the review, and one to be shipped directly to the winner. Giveaways on products that costs less than $200 run for 2 weeks, unless you need a longer/shorter time frame. Giveaways for products over $200 will run for 30 days. If you have a giveaway you would like to sponsor on my site without a review please email me so that I can determine if it is something that my readers might be interested in, and if it will benefit both your company and myself.

Press Releases:
If you have a press release that you would like to have posted onto my site, please know there is a $20 charge.

Please email me at groschengoblins@ymail.com for any further information or to let me know you would like to have your product featured.