A Modern Mother

The Watt Loss Challenge

Disclosure: I'm working with British Gas on a project to help educate families about engery savings.

No, that is not a typo!

We're running the Watt Loss Challenge competition on the Smart Mums site -- all you have to do is post a pic about how you save engery in your home.

My entry is above. We use energy saving light bulbs throughout the house, I've been told that they last up to 10 times longer than ordinary bulbs, and using one can save you around £40 over the lifetime of the bulb.

You can get a pack of 4 from Amazon for only £2.15

If you need some energy saving tips, you can pick some up here.

What are you doing to save energy?

 

Win a Haier MyZone Fridge Freezer

Haier, the World’s No. 1 major appliances brand, is growing in the UK and is focused on bringing innovative products that are designed around the way people actually live, grow and change.

They are giving one of my lucky readers a MyZone fridge freezer! This innovative applicance is gorgeous and has completely independent middle zone whose temperature can be freely set as a fridge or a freezer (from 5°C to -18°C). Cool!

All you need to do is answer the following question in a comment below before 23 October.

What appliance can you win on my fabulous blog? (hint -- the answer is in the headline!)

Go on, leave a comment below and enter to win.

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.

The winner is Sue Robinson. Congrats!

 

And to celebrate social media week ... I'm giving away a video camera!

To help celebrate social media week Kodak has given me a PLAYTOUCH video camera to go to one lucky reader! It's a fab camera that has a SHARE button to automatically tag footage and photos for social media sites like YouTube, Facebook and Flickr! Very trendy!

For a chance to win, all you need to do is leave a comment below by midnight 13 February with the answer to the following question:

What kind of button does the camera have that tags footage to social media sites (**hint -- the answer is above in BOLD)

Good luck everyone!

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.

The winner is Polly Bentley! Congrats!

Get fit competition: Win an Xbox Kinect and a copy of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved

Game maker Ubisoft is giving readers of this fabulous blog the chance to win an Xbox Kinect along with a copy of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved.
 
Here's the blurb: Your Shape's groundbreaking camera tracking technology completely changes the fitness experience, providing users with an unprecedented level of accuracy and efficiency. Unlike other games, Your Shape’s proprietary Player Projection technology puts your body into the game for the ultimate fitness experience. You will physically interact with virtual environments in ways you’ve never seen before and you’ll be captivated by unique and exciting visual effects that respond to your movements and impact. 
 
For a chance to win all you have to do is leave a comment below with the answer the following question: 
 
What does Your Shape put into the game? (hint, answer is above in the text in bold and italics)

Leave a comment by midnight 7 February for a chance to win.
 
Please note: The Xbox 360 console is not included in this prize bundle.

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.

 The winner is: smiley shazza

Giveaway: Chocolate and books!

Sponsored post

I love books and I love chocolate, so I jumped at the chance to support Galaxy's 1 Million Books To Be Won campaign.  To find out if you have won a book, all you have to do is acquire a bar of Galaxy chocolate, look for the special code and enter it here. Easy peasey.

Don't have a bar of Galaxy chocolate near you? Never fear, their marketing folks gave me a few books and bars to giveaway on A Modern Mother. I have in my hot little hands Jane Green's "The Beach House" and Jonathan Franzen's "Freedom " just waiting to give away. For a chance to win them, plus some chocolate, please just leave a comment below answering this question:

How many books are Galaxy giving away? (hint * the answer is in the first paragraph).

Good luck!

THE WINNER IS: cherishedbyme

A perfect stocking stuffer: 15 copies of Rabbids Wii game to give away

Ubisoft has given A Modern Mother 15 copies of their new Wii game Raving Rabbids Travel in Time to giveaway. Yippee!!!!!!

In case you didn't now, Rabbids are Ubisoft's inhouse mascots and are slightly manic rabbit-like creatures that always seem to get into adventures and mischief. I'm told the game is a really fun party game that can be played by both adults and children.

All you need to do to win is answer this question in the comment section below:

What is the name of the new game?

**Hint, the answer is in the first sentence, in bold.

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED. WINNERS ANNOUNCED LATER TODAY.

Giveaway: orange joy-stick Maxi Micro Scooter

The new orange joy-stick Maxi Micro Scooter is the inspiration of Anna Gibson and Philippa Gogarty, founding partners of Micro Scooters Ltd.  Having watched their growing children become more confident and able on their Maxi Micro T-Bar scooters they realized that, to safely keep pace with their kids emerging ‘tween’ aspirations, they needed to offer a more grown up scooting experience.

Win a break for two at the UK's first eco-spa

I'm all for big brands getting behind green projects. Procter & Gamble wrote in to tell me about their Future Friendly initiative, an education programme involving P&G brands including Ariel, Lenor, Fairy, Flash, Duracell Rechargeables and Iams. Supported by NGO partners the Energy Saving Trust, Waste Watch and Waterwise, the programme is designed to help and enable us to be more sustainable.

To be part of Future Friendly, P&G brands must have reduced energy, water or packaging use by at least 15 per cent; whether it’s in the way they’re manufactured or used. Meanwhile, they still deliver the performance and results that you’d expect – and some can even reward you by saving you money on your energy bill.

The amazing Pup-o-matic competition

This is a sponsored post

Andrex is running a special competition on their Facebook page next week: Pup-o-Matic!

There are £20,000 worth of prizes, including Nintendo Wii Consoles, X-Box 360s, Sony Cybershot Digital Cameras, Nintendo DSi consoles, Sony Playstation 3s, gift vouchers up to the value of £150 from a number of retailers including Next, M&S and Tesco and much much more. 

To enter, all fans have to do is play the new ‘Pup-o-matic’ game. It's like a slot machine, the fruit symbols have been replaced with the Andrex Puppy and his ‘Soft’, ‘Strong’ and ‘Long’ friends that feature in the new Andrex advertising campaign – a chihuahua, a bulldog and a sausage dog. Matching dogs means prizes. 

The competition runs from 15th June to 5th July 2010. 

Good luck!

 

I Heart Hannah Montana GIVEAWAY

I think y'all know that my girls are HUGE Hannah Montana fans. So am I. So shoot me.

The Disney Channel are dedicating a day of programming to the teen star on 31 May: I ♥  Hannah Montana. The day includes a bit of something for all her little loyal fans, including special programming and the announcement of the  Hannah Montana – Lights, Camera, Action! competition winner. Woo - hoo!

We're going to be in France and will unfortunately miss this extravaganza. I'd really appreciate it if you didn't mention this tragedy to my daughters. THEY will shoot me.

Mortgage schmortage

This is a sponsored post

Andrex wants to help you win your mortgage payments for a year!

For one week starting Monday (15th March) you can win your mortage, or rent, up to the value of £12,000!

Simply sign up at www.andrexpuppypoints.co.uk/asda, enter the code on the inside of pack and you will qualify for one free entry to the competition.

Step 1 - Buy your special promotional pack of Andrex from ASDA stores from the 15th of March (for one week only);
Step 2 - Go to www.andrexpuppypoints.co.uk/asda and sign up;
Step 3 - Enter the code on the inside of pack and you will qualify for one free entry into the competition.

Good luck!

Photo credit: Rev Dan Catt

Isn't that just the picture of motherhood?

I've been asked to help highlight some of the best photos for the Hallmark Picture of Motherhood Competition (I know, I know, stranger things HAVE happened.) I'm sooooo disappointed my entry didn't make it (it's the one to the right -- of me with the three kids velocroed to various parts of my body.) I love this photo so much, it is also my entry for Tara's gallery this week.

Anyhoos, the judging is Monday up in Bradford. I'm so bummed I can make it as I really wanted to meet fellow judge Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. I don't watch much television, but I think I have seen every episode of Changing Rooms (remember that show? The one where the designers were tasked with re-doing a room for under £500 ... as in OMG, I can't believe they actually used the cardboard from old packing boxes for flooring?!)

Are you a tired mummy?

Looking back, I think the biggest surprise about being a new mother was how much lack of sleep affected me. It's not surprising that depriving a person of sleep is a form of torture, because with a premature baby that didn't sleep for oh, until she was about a year old, I was on the verge of killing someone (probably my poor husband).

I'm holding a competition for all you sleep deprived mums on my review site, so if you are a tired mummy, please read on...

Photo credit: ponasniekas

Do you need some serious mummy pampering?

Andrex have just launched Puppy Points, and to celebrate they've given me some serious pampering vouchers to give away to one lucky person: A spa day for two at Bannatyne’s Sensory Spas, A fashionable makeover experience, and a treat yourself to a restyle at a Hair Group salon near you. The whole package is worth nearly £200!

To have a chance to win these fabulous vouchers, all you have to do is leave a comment below with the words "Andrex Puppy Points". Really, it's that easy.