Bloggers

Blogger’s Nightmare

January 9, 2018 2 Comments

Hi there. It’s me, Kate.

I know, I know I haven’t been around for a while. Why you ask? Well, It was a total blogger’s nightmare!

Each year I pay fees associated with keeping my blog running. It was closing in on time to renew everything and I decided to shop around to see if I could get a better price. I wasn’t dissatisfied with my current service but I figured why not shop around.

After asking some blog friends I checked out a company that would save me about $15 per year. I know, it’s not much, but it all adds up right? And the transition seemed easy enough so why not?

I paid the new fees, provided the company with user names and passwords so they could do the transfer and I was set. And after about a week and a half everything was still good. Service was cancelled with the original company and all was good. But then it was time to get working on my next blog post, which happened to be a sponsored post. I went to log into my blog and it wasn’t there.

I’m sure you can imagine my panic. Or maybe you can’t. I mean, after all, it was 7 years of blogging about my life that was no where to be found.

I contacted the new company who told me I missed something, I checked, I hadn’t missed anything, one thing after another of being told the issue was on my end, I had to upload files, didn’t upload them correctly, etc, it was a TOTAL joke! I was getting no where. They would say, “All you have to do is ‘such and such’ and it’ll take 24-48 hours to update then your site will work.” So I would, and it wouldn’t…. I would go back and they’d say, “oh because you are still missing ‘such and such’. Do that and it’ll update within 24 hours and then will work.” But then it wouldn’t…. You see a pattern happening here?

I contacted the original company to see if they could help and they walked me through everything they could. But unfortunately at this point my “files” aka my entire 7 years worth of blogging had been archived and to get it transferred I had to pay a fee to restore it. I had a big decision to make. Pay the $150 restoration fee or bag my blog. I thought hard about it and decided I just couldn’t drop the past sever years of blogging and I paid for it.

After a few more days I decided that this was too insane to deal with any more. I contacted the original company, spent the money and switched back to them. Insane, right? But I knew that things were not going to get resolved any other way. So after making the switch back, my little piece of the internet was back up and running within just a few days. And working correctly.

So the moral of this story? Really check into things before you switch. I wanted to switch to save $15 per year but after all was said and done I have put over $400 into switching companies and switching back to right where I began. Yeah, I am over here sobbing in my pillow….

Fun Fall Activities with Pepperidge Farm Goldfish

September 30, 2016 Leave a Comment

It is no secret that we are Goldfish cracker eaters in this house. So when I have a chance to combine them with Fun Fall Activities for the kids it makes for a happy family.

Because of the time of the year it felt obvious that we should make something geared toward Halloween. There are so many Fun Fall Activities that we could have made. I thought about making many different crafts. Maybe a spider out of an egg carton and pipe cleaners, or handprint Frankensteins, Tin can ghosts, but we decided on these fun popsicle stick spider webs.

I ran to the store and grabbed our favorite snacks! Who doesn’t love Pepperidge Farm Goldfish? I actually don’t know anyone who doesn’t love them! And my kids will pick Goldfish crackers over just about any other option! And I love the new Goldfish Baked with Whole Grain.

A few things I love about Goldfish crackers:

Always Baked with Real Cheese
No Artificial Flavors or Preservatives
Colors Sourced from Plants, such annatto extracted from the reddish seeds of the Achiote Tree
Baked with Whole Grain Cheddar has 12 g of WG per serving
And ultimately, it is a snack I feel comfortable giving to my kids

Then we got to work on our fun fall activities, which was making a popsicle spider web.

Of course, before hand I used my hot glue gun and put together the popsicle sticks because I didn’t want little hands touching the hot glue! But then it was all up to them. I made one and showed them how I was doing it then it was up to them how they wanted to make a spider web!

All I used was some yarn, popsicle sticks and hot glue (not shown). Then if you want to add a spider to make it a little more fun, you’ll need one of those too!

Check out Tyler making his awesome spider web!

We had a fun time full of smiles making our fun fall crafts and snacking on Goldfish Colors while we were at it!

I went and dug into our Halloween decorations and found these plastic spiders that were the perfect touch for our new creative spider webs!

What do you think? Is this a craft your kids would love?

Visit the campaign landing page to get inspired and learn how to enter the Goldfish Tales promotion for a chance to win $1000 plus lots of other fun prizes!

JORD Wood Watches

September 20, 2016 Leave a Comment

Recently I was approached about doing a review for JORD Wood Watches. I didn’t immediately say yes because I don’t typically wear a watch, but after looking at their website and all the watches, I realized that I needed one of these beauties in my life.

But believe me, I was so excited to get the cool watch I chose in the mail.

I received a women’s watch from the Cora Series and got the Zebrawood and turquoise wooden watch.

When it first came the box was so light that I was wondering if there was actually anything in it. Because these unique watches are so light weight it really did feel like I was holding an empty box, but when I opened it I found this amazing watch.

It might seem silly, but I love the way the watch opens and closes. There is a spot on each side that you press and it opens right up.

I really wasn’t sure how I would feel once I actually had the watch on, because like I said earlier, I don’t typically wear a watch. I haven’t worn one in years- But I love it. Because it is so light weight I don’t realize it is there most of the time. (No pun intended)

Luxury Wood Watch

Want your very own JORD Wood Watch? Check out this contest where you can get a $75 e-voucher to shop!! All other entrants will get a $20 e-voucher just for entering! So whether you are looking for a men’s watch or a women’s watch, you can get the one that is perfect for you!

Click here to enter!!!

I was provided with a JORD Wood Watch for free to review, however, all opinions expressed are that of TheColbertClan alone. And a HUGE Thank You to JORD for letting me share this unique watch.

Summer’s Tea Party

September 19, 2016 2 Comments

This past weekend my baby girl turned 4 years old. Yep, Summer is four years old and that called for a Tea Party with her friends.

So we rounded up the best girlfriends a girl can have, and had some snacks, drinks and played some games.

Months ago I decided to have a Tea Party for Summer’s birthday. Of course, I turned to Pinterest because, obviously you can find everything there. And several weeks ago I started collecting things here and there to complete her party. Then I made her invites and got them into the mail.

Then this last week I was in Party mode to get things done and make it happen!

Thank goodness for my Cricut because I was able to make so much of my decorations with it! I made doily’s, a banner, photo booth props, tea hats, pieces for Pin the tea cup on the tea pot, it was awesome, I made so much of it myself and that always feels great!

I am going to be sharing some individual posts on a few of the things I made over the next few days, so keep your eyes out for those too!

In the past I always attempt making my own cakes, and it never works as good as I hope for it to so this year I just bought a cake from a local box store. I struggled to find a teapot or something similar so I ended up going with this princess cake since it was gardeny and flowery and I went with it! Plus Summer loved it and that is really what matters.

I love my chalkboard wall. We never get tired of drawing on it!

Using the Home Made Sand from the other day we put it to good use and made fun sand bottles. I used a coffee bottle that I washing to fill with sand. The kids all loved it!

Then finally we did the photo booth all through out the party. It sort of got messed up because I planned to do the photo booth in my back yard with this beautiful wire chair my friend Kara lent me but it was pouring buckets and I had to set it up in my entry way instead! But it all worked out!

We really had the best day and Summer had so much fun! She loved seeing her friends, playing games, eating cake and getting some super fun gifts!

Thank you to all of our friends that made this day possible for her! We love you!

Give Extra, Get Extra

July 11, 2016 1 Comment

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #GIVEEXTRAGETEXTRA #Walgreens #CollectiveBias

Who likes to get things? I do! I love when a friend sees something that reminds them of me, or something we’ve done and grabs it for me. But you know what I love even more than that? Giving!

I love finding little things that remind me of a friend of family member and grabbing it for them. Maybe it is something simple like a Daryl Dixon t-shirt for my sister, or making coffee mugs for my friends, I am always on the lookout for something fun to give.

So I decided that I wanted to Give Extra, Get Extra!

I ran down to Walgreens and got some gum for me and one to giveaway. I grabbed two kinds:

Extra® Gum Spearmint
Extra® Gum Polar Ice®

Both are kinds I already love and are classics, so I know my giveaway winner will feel the same! And I grabbed Extra because of the new Extra® 35-Stick pack. Who doesn’t love a bigger pack of gum? Another thing is that it now comes in a super durable recycled package which makes it easier to carry and share with a friend, keep in the car, or in your desk at work.

I also wanted to make something that my winner will love too!

So I ran to the fabric store and grabbed a couple of fat quarters. I felt like I had this genius idea to make a carrying case for my gum.

I started out grabbing some lining and cutting my fabric to fit the lining.

And make sure the “good sides” of your fabric are facing each other. So you are looking at both of the “outsides” of the material.

Then I pinned some ribbon on the inside that will make a handle on the outside. Does that even make sense?

Then I sewed a line all the way around the edge of my material/liner.

Make sure you leave a small space to push the material through so it is right facing.

Then I folded up the bottom to make a pocket. I pinned it and then again sewed all the way around the edge to hold it together.

Now it is all together!

Give it a nice little iron to straighten it all out. I also used a piece of iron on Velcro to give it a way to latch together.

And Voila! You have yourself a fun little gum holder that can slide right on to the strap of your purse, or your gym bag, or your summer tote!

The possibilities are endless what you can do with your Extra® Gum Spearmint! So who are you going to share yours with?

Batman vs. Superman

February 23, 2016 1 Comment

If you have a husband or a boy in your house, I’m sure you already know all about the Super Hero Allegiance!

We like Superman™ and all, but Batman™ is where it is at! And with the new movie: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice coming out in just over a month, it is all the rage in my house.

When we checked the mail and found this amazing cape along with a comic book and new cereal Tyler was on cloud 9! He was so excited and couldn’t wait to dig in! But I had to make him promise to wait at least until I could take a few pictures!

We got the Superman™ Caramel Crunch and the Batman™ Chocolate Strawberry, both of which are available as of March 7th, 2016 in specially marked boxes. You can also find Honey Nut Cheerios in specially marked comic book edition and Lucky Charms – specially marked comic book edition too!

Superman™ Caramel Crunch
•No colors from artificial sources • No artificial flavors • No high fructose corn syrup
•Only 9 grams of sugar per serving • A good source of Calcium and Vitamin D
•12g of whole grain per serving • Glossy, embossed Superman emblem

Batman™ Chocolate Strawberry
•No colors from artificial sources • No artificial flavors • No high fructose corn syrup
• Only 9 grams of sugar per serving • A good source of Calcium and Vitamin D
• 12g of whole grain per serving • Glossy, embossed Batman emblem

It didn’t take us long to dig and we poured bowls of both kinds so we could try them out and see which was our favorite. Summer and I both liked the Superman™ Caramel Crunch while Tyler loved the Batman™ Chocolate Strawberry better!