Blogger of the Week: Onward Hoe!

Today's Blogger of the Week is Beth from Onward Hoe! 

How old is your blog or long have you been blogging?

I've been blogging since the spring of 2004. My early posts were mostly thoughts on spirituality, Scripture, and community league hockey. Then I backpacked around Europe and used the blog as a means of mass communication, and after that, it became largely about funny things that happened to me. Now it sort of encapsulates all of those things (minus the hockey).

What made you choose the name of your blog?

Onward Hoe! has had many names and faces. I can’t remember any of them at the moment, but I know the name was changed several times before “Onward Hoe!” was settled upon for its insinuation that forward motion was to be ever a priority, and for the word “hoe.” (For more information about that, see my FAQ page.)

The tag line, “Moving on and settling down…all at once,” means that whether I’m moving on from one location to another, or from one immature mindset to one better suited to adult life, or from one giddy crush to another giddy crush, I am always settling down more and more into who I truly am. And perhaps some day, I’ll actually settle down in a place and make it my home. But not yet.

Why do you blog and what do you love about blogging?

Basically, I blog for three reasons:

1. If I don't, my mom starts to worry (even though I generally talk to her several times a week).
2. I'm pretty narcissistic and like to listen to myself talk.
3. My life is funny. It just is.

What are a few of your favorite posts on your blog

Dude, I have no idea. There are so many of them. But these are pretty good:
http://www.onwardhoe.com/2007/08/25/here-we-go-again/
http://www.onwardhoe.com/2008/08/25/black-monday/
http://www.onwardhoe.com/2009/10/07/why-im-converting/
http://www.onwardhoe.com/2005/10/14/there-are-no-wordswell-i-guess-there-are/

Are you married?  If so, how long?

Not yet, but if you know anybody, I'm open to set-ups. Here's my list of requirements. 

Do you have children?  If so, how many?

Step 1: Date.
Step 2: Boyfriend.
Step 3: Fiance.
Step 4: Husband.
Step 5: Baby.
I am currently on Step 0.

What is your favorite movie?

I have several. A Mighty Wind, Once, The Sound of Music, Everything Is Illuminated. Those are just a few.

What is your favorite band or musician?

This is tough. I've been listening lately to a lot of Adele, Sara Bareilles, Giorgia, Rachael Yamagata, Thad Cockrell and Roman Candle.

What is your favorite food?

They seem like such simple questions, don't they? Ok, so I'm mostly vegan, so that narrows down my options significantly, and yet there are STILL so many delicious things out there! Singapore Mei Fun, pizza marinara (crust, sauce, oregano, basil, garlic, olive oil), burritos, maple-walnut cupcakes, etc.

What is your favorite candy?

I don't discriminate.

What else should readers know about you?

I probably want to give you a hug. Whoever you are. Probably.

The B Keeps Us Honest will feature a new Blogger of The Week each Saturday. 

If you would like to be featured please contact me. 

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Swept Away

As the mother of a 17 month old I'm amazed at how often I sweep the floor. I probably shouldn't be so surprised since many mothers have previously been through the toddler phase of parenting. But the amount of crumbs and bits of things that fall to the floor still astonishes me.


I generally sweep the floor at least once a day, sometimes more. How often do most mothers sweep? Is this standard? I might need to invest in a hard wood floor vacuum.


Luckily I think someone is taking an interest in my recent hobby.

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HeavenScent Organics Black Friday Sale

If you didn't win the HeavenScent Organics giveaway don't be sad because they are having a great sale this friday!

November 26 & 27


Specials
Natural Remedies Encyclopedia
Sale for $49.95 (Regularly $59.95)


ALL Body Wash, Bar Soaps & Lip Therapy Products
Buy Two, Get One FREE

Visit their new and improved site today at www.hs-organics.com.

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Winners!

We have 2 winners today!


1. HeavenScent Organics Winner is #51 Sidni

2. Snorg Tee Winner is #83 ReggieMann

Both winners have been emailed and have 48 hours to respond.


Congratulations Sidni and Reggie Mann!

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Holiday Gift Guide

Holiday shopping season is here again and the Global Influence network has some great gift ideas for you, tried and tested by real moms. Click on the links to check out what our team of reviewers had to say about each of these gift ideas, and then take a moment to enter our fun giveaway and take a chance at winning some of these fabulous products.


Featured Reviews Pouchees -

Busy moms need all the help they can get to stay organized and keep life as simple as possible. The Pouchee is the perfect solution to keeping all those little things together, putting everything you need, right at your fingertips.

Duck Hunter -
Duck Hunter turns the excitement of the hunt into an activity the whole family can enjoy. Launch the duck in the air and try to hunt it down with the toy shooter as it flies freely in the air. A fun choice for those who love outdoor sporting.

CardStore cards
-Personalized holiday cards are an important item on everyone's to-do list and often a hassle to create and print. Cardstore.com has everything from family photo cards to invitations for your big holiday party, simplifying your holiday season.

Great Holiday Gift Ideas
Things Remembered Custom Couture Jewelry
Just Elfin' Around
Card Cubby
Harumika By Bandai
Harumika Runway Showstopper
Harumika Style Starter
Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo 
Strawberry Shortcake Playset 
Kota Monty Rex 
Wall to Wall Basketball
Nerf Pocket Vortex 
Busy Ball Popper 
Talking Chuck Truck 
Leapfrog My Pal Scout 
Leapfrog Tag Jr 
Leapfrog Scribble and Write 
Animal Planet Polar Land Playset 
Animal Planet Dinosaur Playmat 
Onionhead Adult/Teen Feelings Pack 
OnionHead Children's Feelings Pack
Onionhead A-Z Feelings Magnet Set 
FotoboxPlus
MeTime Tees 


Fun Holiday Giveaway! For this holiday guide, we want to share the love with the blogosphere! Some of our generous sponsors have donated prizes to be given away to lucky readers! To enter to win one of the following fabulous prizes, simply fill out the form here: http://tinyurl.com/y8t92rw


Prizes include: Things Remembered Custom Couture Jewelry Pouchee Elfing Around Harumika Onionhead Feelings Pack Nerf Wall to Wall Basketball Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo MeTime T-shirt Entries will close on December 6, 2009 at 11:59 PM EST. Winners will be contacted by email after the close of the contest.


Global Influence Member Guides Need more ideas for this holiday season? Check out the guides that some of our Global Influence members have put together on their own sites!

Thrifty Jinxy, Happy Healthy Hip , And Twins Make Five , Because Two People Fell In Love, Mommy Musings , Lipstick to Crayons , Bargain Briana , Mommy PR , Shop With Me Mama, Santa Picks, Rave and Review, Connected 2 Christ , 3 Boys and a Dog, The Classy Closet , Contest Corner, Lisa Reviews , A Giveaway Every Day, HulaHoopinMom, Spalibrations, High Impact Mom, From Cribs to Car Keys

All reviews listed in the Global Influence gift guide were product provided. Featured positions were purchased by sponsors. Member gift guides are not affiliated with Global Influence.

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Golden Moon Tea Discount Code

Golden Moon Tea wants to offer the readers of The B Keeps Us Honest a special discount.


Save 10% on your order by using the code: "Honest"

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Golden Moon Tea Review

I love tea. Especially in the cooler months. I'm partial to black teas. Irish breakfast tea is my all time favorite but over the recent years I've branched out and tried almost every type of tea out there. I love flavored teas and green teas. I'm not a huge Chai fan but when Golden Moon Tea sent me their Kashmiri Chai to review I thought I'd give it a second chance and to my surprise I actually liked it. I think what I really liked was that the cloves weren't overbearing. I don't care for cloves and most chai teas have too much clove for my liking.  


If anything Golden Moon Tea's website is reason enough to buy their products. Most tea companies simply break up their teas into categories like green, black, oolong, white, etc. But GMT offers a variety of ways to browse their extensive collection from tea origins to mood. 

About Golden Moon Tea

Golden Moon Tea offers the finest selection of teas and winner of the Best Green Tea award at the World Tea Expo. They offer a variety of teas like classic black, green, oolong and chai. They also carry tea accessories such as teapots, kettles, cups and more. 


Buy: You can buy Golden Moon Tea online.


Gift: Golden Moon Teas make for a great gifts. If you know a tea lover I suggest getting them a Tea of the Month Club membership for Christmas. That way they will get the great gift of a new tea every month. 

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Sitting in a Bucket Watching Wow Wow

On cold rainy tuesday morning this is fun.

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5 favorite things to do with Jude during the holidays

I love the holiday season. There so much to do and so much fun and love floating around.
Twittermoms is holding a contest to win a $25 gift card and a Dora Christmas Carol DVD if you blog about your 5 favorite things to do with your kid during the holidays. So here's what we like to do.


Since it's Judes 2nd Christmas we don't have any hard and fast traditions developed but here are a few things I think we'll stick with for awhile.


1. We go to a lot of parties. We love hanging out with our friends and while we aren't cocktail people we love going to family friendly parties. Christmas is just another excuse to hang out with friends. And Jude is quite the party animal.


2.  Visit our family. No matter what's going on we always make time to visit both sets of grandparents. The holidays are about family and we like to emphasize that.


3. Watch Holiday movies. We always watch the Claymation Christmas special on DVD.


4. Buy a special ornament for each year. Jude gets a new ornament each year to add to the tree. Something that represents that stage in his life.


5. Bake. While Jude isn't old enough to bake cookies just yet he most certainly helps me eat them.


What are your favorite things to do with your kids during the holidays?


Join in the Fun at Twittermoms you can join Here.

Watch Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure Dec. 6 on NickelodeonFavorite Holiday Activities with Kids

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Friendship Stone Winner

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Friendship Stone giveaway.


The winner is #8 - Sidni

Congratulations Sidni!

The winner has been emailed and has 48 hours to claim their prize.

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Purple Trail Winner

Thanks to everyone who entered the Purple Trail membership giveaway.


The winner is #8 - Lynn

Congratulations Lynn!

The winner has been emailed and has 48 hours to claim their prize.

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Spinbrush Winner

Thanks to everyone who entered the Spinbrush Pro Giveaway!


The winner is # 4 - Angela

Congratulations Angela!


The winner has been emailed and has 48 hours to claim their prize.

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Christmas Books Winner

Thank you to everyone who entered the Christmas Books giveaway.

The winner is: #20 - Dawn S.

Congratulations Dawn S! You've won a copy of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King and The Christmas Magic books.

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Ultimate Cloth Winner + BONUS!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Ultimate Cloth giveaway!
The winner is : #16 -  katklaw777

Congratulations!
The winner has been emailed and has 48 hours to respond to claim their prize.


BONUS!
If you didn't win don't worry Ultimate Cloth is offering a FREE Ultimate Cloth to anyone that follows them on Twitter or becomes a Facebook Fan. (see sites for details.)


Win for everyone!

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Blogger of the Week: Woven by Words

Today's Blogger of the week is Mimi from Woven by Words

How old is your blog or long have you been blogging? I’ve been blogging since Feb ‘08

What made you choose the name of your blog? I initially wanted to use the name of our book club, Bound Together, but after checking with our club leader, she asked me to choose something else. She said it nicely ;o) After thinking for a while, this is just what popped into my mind.

Why do you blog and what do you love about blogging? I blog because I love sharing about the books I read. I enjoy supporting authors who put their heart and souls into their books! It’s also cathartic sharing about family life. Since I don’t have family that is into the whole blogging thing, I don’t do much about the family. I just don’t think other people would be that interested in reading about that stuff. I guess I really don’t know.

What are a few of your favorite posts on your blog? Some of my favorite posts are my reviews of music videos from YouTube. Most recently it was one that is important to me as a mom Words I Would Say by Sidewalk Prophets I also had my oldest daughter who graduated from high school this past year. It was a hard transition for me as I blogged about the day I Dropped My Daughter Off At College

Do you have children?  I have 4 children: 2 girls 16 & 18 and 2 boys 10 & 6

What is your favorite movie? ACK! I have several favorites so I’m already going to break the rules and list more than one: So I Married An Axe Murderer (comedy), Sliding Doors (a movie about “what if”), and What About Bob? (comedy)

Who is your favorite actor? Grrr, yet again, a nearly unfair question! I absolutely adore Sandra Bullock for actresses. I suppose for actor I love Will Smith. Is there something that man can NOT do?

What is your favorite band or musician? Now this is an easy one, although this is a tie as well! My favorite musician is Jeremy Camp. His music has such an awesome message! My favorite band is Casting Crowns. If I could pick a concert, it would be these 2! Shoot, now I’m thinking of all these other bands I love. LOL

What is your favorite food? Um, all of it? For a meal, Italian. For dessert, cheesecake!

What is your favorite candy? Almond Roca. Look, just one answer!

What else should readers know about you? We’re Twins fans. I wish I had more time to scrapbook, but life has been taken over by reading. If I could be on the Amazing Race life would be complete! 

Be sure to stop by Woven by Word and comment on one of Mim's most recent book reviews.

The B Keeps Us Honest will feature a new Blogger of The Week each Saturday. 

If you would like to be featured please contact me. 

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Target's Super Thanksgiving Sale

I did the Super Target Thanksgiving deal today. We made out pretty well. (I bought a whole Thanksgiving meal that our Community Group is donating to the Salvation Army)

Here's what I got:
1 whole turkey
4 cans green beans
2 cans peas
2 cans corn
2 box stuffing
2 cans yams
1 can frenches fried onions
1 bag mini marshmallows
1 frozen pumpkin pie
1 can mushroom soup
1 can cranberries
2 sweet potatoes
1 box honey nut cheerios
4 cans swansons broth
2 boxes of wipes
1 long sleeve shirt for Jude
Mega Blocks Truck
Munchkin Snack cup
Reach Floss

Total: $41.14

(I still have to get some brown sugar because Target was out.)

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Prayers for a blogger.

A fellow blogger, Anissa from Aiming Low, suffered a stroke this week and is need of our prayers. She is a 35 years old mother of three. Please spread the word. Andrea also blogged about this at Lilkidthings.


You can donate to her family by clicking on the button below:





Keep updated on how she is doing from her husband here.

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Favorite Things Winner

Thank you everyone who entered "My Favorite Things" giveaway.


Today's winner is #7 - The McDougles

This is the second win for Heather!

Completely random and completely cool!

Congratulations Heather!

Winners are contacted via email and have 48 hours to respond.

Quick note about entering giveaways... Make sure you check the End Date for the giveaway before you enter. If you enter after the giveaway has officially ended, even if I haven't drawn a winner, you are not eligible. Thanks!

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Free Shipping for Blurb + Upcoming Review

This is so cool. 
Blurb. 
It's not just a funny word but a great company that lets your design, print, share and even sell your own book.

What kind of book would you make? If you're not sure Blurb offers a variety of book ideas from blog,photo and wedding books to business, portfolio, and more.  There are so many great things you can do with Blurb. You can design your own book or implore the assistance of an experienced book designer. After you've designed your book you can print it or even sell it in the Blurb bookstore.

I'm currently working on a book which I will tell you about later. Hush. Hush. 


So until then head over to Blurb and design your book today.
But hurry because Blurb is offering FREE shipping only until 11/24. Simply use this code: blogholiday-freeship

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Free $15 Credit at CSN Stores.com

CSN Stores.com is offering $15 credit to anyone who signs up for their new Referral Program.You get an online promotion code for $15 off your order.


Sign up here.

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Your Friend shops easy and thinks you should too!

CSN Stores offers the largest selection of items for your home and office, at the lowest prices! As a rewards member you get $15 toward your first order and 3% back on every purchase. Plus, earn $15 for every friend you refer who makes a purchase!

View >>

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When Daddy Feeds Me

It's all or nothing.

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Lucky Accessories Giveaway

Visit the Lucky Accessories blog to enter for a chance to win a pair of peapod earrings. All you have to do is answer a few questions.

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Shop CyberMonday.com

Black Friday and Cyber-Monday are just around the corner and it's important that you Shop Safely. 

CyberMonday.org has teamed up with AVG to help you as a consumer ensure you get the best deals and don't compromise your identity. Here are a few helpful tips from CyberMonday.com and AVG:

Be Safe Online

• Be sure to shop on reputable, trust-worthy sites such as CyberMonday.com and its retail partners.
• Just as you’re more careful when shopping in busy malls during the holiday, be more careful online as well
• AVG offers free downloads of virus scan and link scan here: www.shop.org/shopsafely  and Free Anti Virus Software.

Tips to keep your identity safe this holiday season.

1. Look for the “S” for Security: Make sure the sites you are shopping from are secure and have “HTTPS” in the URL.  The “S” ensures security.  Also, look for the padlock symbol and research shopping sites at locations such as shopzilla.com andpricegrabber.com.
2. Stay Current on Security Software: Make sure you have the latest virus protection software updates from your provider before you start your holiday shopping.
3. Think Before You Link: Employ a URL scanning tool to ensure you’re not clicking on links that lead to infected websites.  Free URL scanning tool
4. Keep Your Private Information Private: Make sure you keep your personal information private.  Create a separate e-mail account just for shopping and use a unique password.  Keep records of your online shopping by printing confirmation pages and e-mail confirmations.
5. Mix Up Your Passwords: Each e-mail, bank, credit card account should have a unique password.  Write them down and store them in a secure location. 

Benefits of shopping online:

42% of Americans will buy at least one gift online this holiday season.  Online sales are expected to increase about eight percent this holiday season while overall retail sales are expected to fall one percent. 

Why people spend online:

• the ability to shop at all hours of the day
• easier to compare prices
• free shipping
• convenience
• avoiding crowds
• easier to find items

What makes CyberMonday.com special?

CyberMonday.com has some of the best deals this year from their 600 retail partners, all on ONE site. 

• deals of the hour on Black Friday and Cyber Monday can be found at CyberMonday.com
• you can find sites offering free shipping by choosing “free shipping offers” on the top right of the site
• the site also contains a “Deal of the Week,” special offers, and coupons

Giveaways:

From today through Cyber Monday (11/30), $250 in gift cards from Shop.org’s retail partners will be given away daily at on Cyber Monday Twitter and Facebook accounts. 

Stay up-to-date on new information regarding online shopping safety and deals this holiday season please invite them to:

Find safe shopping tips w/ links to AVG downloads at Shop Safely 

Shop CyberMonday.com for the best deals online

Download AVG free virus scanning software

Follow AVG on Twitter 

Follow CyberMonday.com on Twitter

Become a fan of AVG on Facebook

Become a fan of CyberMonday.com in Facebook

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