Is one of your New Year’s Resolutions to eat more healthfully, to eat less meals out, to save money on groceries? Thanks to Family Review Network, I had the opportunity to review an eBook that will guide you through doing all of that and more! Jamie Ussher wrote the eBook “A Month of Meals-Save Money This Month While Making Dinner Simpler!”, and it is jam-packed with recipes, shopping lists, menus, even printable charts for you to use to keep track of your daily servings of healthy foods.

In A Month of Meals, you receive…

Meals – a month of easy to fix and healthy meals your whole family will enjoy. Using the premise that we need more vegetables and whole grains, you end up saving money and there are great health benefits!

Recipes – quick and easy recipes put into a weekly schedule. There are even 6 meals that you can make ahead of time to freeze for your extra busy days when you don’t want to think about cooking at all!

Ingredients & Shopping Lists – these will make going to the grocery store a breeze (maybe even a fun trip)!

Jamie’s recipes are meant to serve four people, and include meals to freeze to eat later in the month or on days when you are crunched for time. She includes recipes for homemade convenience foods like baking mix and taco seasoning, and emphasizes the importance of drinking water, eating fruits and veggies, and limiting sweets. I think Jamie thought of everything with this eBook!

You can download this eBook at A Month of Meals and start saving money and time in the kitchen right now, for the super-low price of $19.95! She even offers an 8 week, 100% satisfaction guarantee!  I don’t think you’ll be asking for your money back though, I can pretty much guarantee that you will make back your $19.95 purchase price by purchasing less food that goes to waste within the first month you follow Jamie’s tips!

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When I was in better shape (meaning, about 40 pounds ago), I spent about 3 days a week working on my core strength. If you aren’t familiar with the term, “core” refers to the band of muscles that run from your sides under your ribcage to the front on either side of your belly button. It’s these muscles that support your body and help you stay upright. When they are weak, you don’t stand up straight, which leads to backaches. If you stand sideways in front of a mirror and notice that you are leaning forward slightly, it’s more than likely because you have a weak “core”.

Mine is so weak right now after three children and all this weight gain, I’m practically falling on my face. And believe me, I’m not happy about it. There are several different ways to strengthen your core muscles, and one way is by using a small inflated ball under your back. Laying on a ball forces your muscles to automatically engage to keep you from rolling off.  Also, instead of just lifting yourself up off the floor like with a traditional “crunch” exercise, laying on an exercise ball means you work your muscles while lifting up, and also while laying back.

I got a Bender Ball kit to review from Family Review Network, it’s sold on TV infomercials. It comes with a little straw thing that you insert into a hole in the ball and then use to blow it up. I did a Google search of “Bender Ball” to see what consumer reviews were saying about it, and one thing I noticed was many complaints that the ball “didn’t blow up all the way”. It’s NOT SUPPOSED TO. It’s supposed to be squishy so that it gives with your weight as you lay on it. If it was blown up all the way, you would bounce off of it!!

To be honest, I’m too overweight and too weak for this to work. I could get the ball under my lower back, but I couldn’t move. At ALL. Which just motivates me that much more to burn off some of this dang fat so that I can FIND my core muscles so I can strengthen them!

The basic Bender Method Kit is $9.99 on VHS and $12.98 for DVD, and includes a manual that explains the method, the Core Training DVD, and a bonus Buns & Thighs DVD. The Bender Ball site also has a Total Core Training Kit that comes with more DVDs.  I know from experience that core training works, you’ll feel like you are standing up straighter and your stomach will pull in.  I hope to be able to have that experience again soon!

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This giveaway is closed. Congratulations to the winner, Ginny from Mom of 2 Dancers!

Thanks to The Game Factory, I have a copy of Bratz Kids: Slumber Party for the Wii to give away.

Yasmin is hosting a sleepover. As our 4 girls look through Yasmin’s photo album, they remember all their craziest times together and embark on an adventure based on each of the memories in the album! The game features:
*13 mini-games and activities involving fashion magazines, cooking, memory-games and photo-sessions.
*Customize your character with tons of accessories, clothing and styling options including hairstyle, make-up, manicure, clothes, shoes and jewelry.
*Customize your character’s bedroom – pick everything from wallpaper, curtains and carpets to furniture, plants and more!
*Save up to 4 personalized Bratz Kidz profiles and bedrooms, and play with up to three friends in the multiplayer setting.

WIN IT: For one entry, visit The Game Factory site and browse the games, then come back here and leave a comment on this post with your real first name or blog alias, valid email address, and the answer to this question- what is one other game you saw on the site that you think would be fun to play? Open to U.S. 18+, one entry per email address. Enter by December 16th at 6:00 PM ET.

EXTRA ENTRIES: I’ll give you one extra entry for each of the following that you do. Please leave the extra entry in a separate comment.

1.Post this button on your blog and get one entry into every giveaway! Let me know in a comment so I can keep a list of everyone posting the button.

Copy and paste to link to me using this badge:

<a href=”http://table4five.net” mce_href=”http://table4five.net”><img src=”http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s197/table4five/holidaybadget45.jpg” mce_src=”http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s197/table4five/holidaybadget45.jpg” alt=”Table for Five Holiday Gift Guide” width=”125″ height=”125″ /></a>

2. Link to http://table4five.net on your blogroll.

3. Use social media to spread the word about this giveaway, by posting the link to StumbleUpon, Digg, Kirtsy, Twitter, or posting it on a Forum. You must leave your username for that site in your comment so I can check. This is a great way for non bloggers to earn an extra entry! Links are at the end of the post.

4. For FIVE EXTRA ENTRIES, mention this giveaway on your blog with a link back to this post and to www.landsend.com. Please include that it ends Tuesday, Dec. 16th at 6:00 PM ET.

For more chances to win, stop by Family Review Network for a list of other members giving away this cool game!

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I recently received new cleaning products from the Weiman company to review, from Family Review Network. My kitchen has never been so sparkling clean! And the best part is, I get to give away a prize pack containing Weiman cleaning products and the very awesome DirtTamer wet/dry vac, prize value is $100!

Weiman Stainless Steel Wipes clean, polish, and protect all kinds of stainless steel surfaces, including my kitchen sink and faucet. I recommended them to my friend Kellie who has a stainless steel refrigerator. You just pull a wipe out of the container, wipe the surface, then buff it dry with a clean cloth, and you get sparkle and shine instead of smudges and smears! The suggested price is $5.49 and the wipes are available at Ace Hardware, Kmart, Target, True Value, and Wal-Mart.

Weiman Glass Cook Top Cleaner has turned out to be the answer to my prayers as far as keeping the top of my glass cooktop stove clean. It’s the nation’s top rated brand of glass cook top cleaner according to AC Nielsen! It’s a creamy white liquid that you squirt on to the surface, rub in gently with a lightly damp cloth, then wipe off with a clean damp cloth. The first time I used it, I could not believe how much brown greasey gook came off the top of my stove. I could actually SEE myself in the top of my stove when I was done! The suggested price for a 10-ounce bottle is $4.99, and it’s sold at Home Depot.

Perfect Planet Squeeze and Clean Floor Cleaner has an all-natural, plant-based formula with no petrochemicals, ammonia, alcohol, bleach, or phosphates. It’s biodegradable and can be used regularly on most floor surfaces including finished hardwood, laminate, linoleum, vinyl, ceramic tile, and marble. You squirt a little out onto your floor then go over it with a damp mop, no rinsing required. The smell is fresh, and on my laminate hallway floor, it left a nice shine. The suggested retail price for a 27-ounce bottle is $3.99, and can be purchased at www.weiman.com, and at select retailers such as Jewel-Osco and Menards.

Immediately following this post, I’ll be reviewing the FilterStream Dirt Tamer and then announcing the giveaway for a prize pack worth $100.00, so check back again!

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The Refresh’n Dryer Towel is a brilliant new product that you wet with tap water and toss in the dryer. That’s it! But it has so many possibilities, you wonder why you didn’t think of it!

• Getting your dry clean only wool sweaters out for the winter and they are a little musty? Throw them in the dryer with a damp Refresh’n Dryer Towel and run it on low for a few minutes to refresh the sweater and bring it back to life!
• Do you have stretchy jeans that you have to wash even when they aren’t dirty because they get baggy and out of shape? Toss them in the dryer with a damp Refresh’n Dryer Towel and they will come out ready to wear and fresh!
• Have a delicate blouse or sweater that is hard to hand wash and too expensive to dry clean? Refresh’n Dryer Towel to the rescue!
• Ever put a load of laundry in the dryer and then, um, forget it’s there for a few days? (raises hand guiltily) Toss in a damp Refresh’n Dryer Towel instead of rewashing the whole load!
• Want a chemical free alternative to dry cleaning? One Refresh’n Dryer Towel lasts for approximately 25 uses and takes just 10 minutes to work!

Besides all of those amazing uses, the Refresh’n Dryer Towel has environmental benefits as well. An average load of laundry uses 40 to 50 gallons, and I know that I often wash things that really aren’t “dirty”, they just need to be freshened up.

I really appreciated Family Review Network sending me a Refresh’n Dryer Towel to try on our family’s laundry. It was perfect for my husband’s wool sweaters that I just brought up from the basement for him to start wearing. They weren’t dirty but they had that sort of musty smell that clothes get after storage. In the past I would have soaked them in a tub full of cool water and Woolite, then rinsed and rinsed and rinsed, then wrung out the water and attempted to get the sweaters dry. It’s a pain. Ten minutes with the Dryer Towel and the sweaters were fresh and ready for him to wear with no stretching or shrinking! Awesome.

Click the Order link on the Refresh’n Dryer Towel site to buy one towel for $9.95 or two for $17.95. There’s also an email address and a mailing address for questions and returns. This is a great product that really works based on my review that I am confident in recommending to my readers!

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