Who doesn’t love a road trip? I sure do! I’m not just talking about piling the family and their luggage in the car and heading on vacation either. We all take road trips every day. Some of us get to drive by unique sites and others of us drive unique vehicles. Maybe you have a story of a particular road trip where something exciting happened. Well, Cooper Tire wants to hear all about it!

I love that Copper Tires says, “We make tires for people…not just cars.” Let’s face it, we need those tires to get us where we are going and they need to do their job every day so that we can do ours. Cooper Tire’s My Every Day Road Trip Contest was created to highlight your most unique road trip story. “Cooper tires are crafted for life’s every day road trips and we’ve long heard from dedicated fans about their daily journeys. We’re excited to create an open forum for people to share their stories.” said Hal Gardner, Cooper Tires Vice President of Marketing Communications and Market Intelligence.

You can enter the contest with a video, photo or written story. Entries are being accepted via the Cooper Tires Facebook page through March 29, 2013. The top written story will receive a $100 gift card to use for gas for a week. The top photo post will win a $500 gift card to be used for gas for a month. The top 5 video submissions will each win a set of four Cooper tires and advance to the final phase of the competition. In the final phase, which begins April 15, 2013, Cooper Tires Facebook Fans can vote for their favorite video once per day. Everytime a fan votes they are put into a drawing for a Road trip kit valued at over $200! The grand prize winner will receive a $5,000 gift card to use toward gas for one year!

Make sure you like Cooper Tires on Facebook so you can take part in this fun contest.

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Three lucky winners will receive a grand prize of two SpringHill Suites rooms at a location of their choice for four nights during the Thanksgiving holiday plus a $150 Amex gift card (total approximate retail value of $1,350).

Those interested in having a peaceful and enjoyable Thanksgiving should visit www.springhillsuites.com. Registration is simple as applicants upload a YouTube video of themselves explaining why they need the extra space this holiday. The contest is open for entries between October 6 and October 31.

The public will vote on the best videos from November 1 – November 7 and a panel of judges will choose the final three winners out of 10 finalists determined by the voting public. SpringHill Suites will announce the lucky winners on November 10. All videos will be judged on originality, technical execution, persuasiveness and creativity.

“With airline prices 10% higher this Thanksgiving over last, it’s going to be more expensive for families to gather this November,” said Callette Nielsen, vice president and global brand manager for SpringHill Suites. “This is a fun way for us to give travelers a chance to win a great and stylish place to relax near their families so they can truly enjoy their holidays.”

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I know there has been a lot of negative press about chicken nuggets this year but I believe you just need to choose your chicken nuggets wisely.

The PERDUE® Whole Grain product line includes breaded chicken breast nuggets, tenders and strips. These products are made of PERDUE® Premium All White Chicken with Whole Grain Breading.

PERDUE® Whole Grain chicken products are packaged in easy-open and close zipper bags so you can use what you need and save the rest for later. These products are a convenient meal or snack option that are both nutritious and delicious.  The USDA Dietary Guidelines recommend that all Americans make half or more of their grains, whole grains. Each Whole Grain PERDUE® product features the Whole Grains Council’s Stamp indicating that each serving provides at least one half-serving (8g) of whole grains.

Now that back-to-school time is here and every mom’s schedule is getting filled up with after school activities taking time for family meals has never been more important. To encourage families to make meal time fun, Perdue and Crayola are hosting a national contest encouraging families to enter an original picture of how they bring fun to the dinner table for a chance to win valuable prizes including a cruise package, a year’s supply of PERDUE® Frozen Fully Cooked Chicken and a prize pack of Crayola and PERDUE® products. To enter the contest go to PerdueFamilyFun.com.

For even more fun, join us at a #Perdue Twitter Party tomorrow night, Friday, September 10th at 9:00pm EDT. To RSVP for the party click here. I’ll see you at the party!

Disclaimer: I received a full value coupon so my family could sample the chicken nuggets for the purpose of this review.

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Keep checking back-soon I’ll be giving away some Friendly’s gift cards!

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For nearly 40 years, NASA astronauts have designed patches to symbolize their individual space missions and flight accomplishments. Carrying on this tradition, Disney Parks and NASA have launched a search for the most creative mission patch design to honor Buzz Lightyear as America’s first and longest serving space ranger.

Beginning  Oct. 2, through Nov. 6, children and parents can go online and download materials to design a custom Buzz mission patch. Kids can choose design templates and art work inspired by previous NASA badges as well as NASA and Disney Parks creative elements and other fun add-ons. Along with their patch, children must also submit a brief essay (up to 100 words) discussing the inspiration for their design. The winner, parent and two guests will receive a three day, two night vacation to Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. as well as a VIP tour of the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

The Mission Patch Design Challenge commemorates Buzz Lightyear’s achievement and builds on NASA’s educational goals of encouraging students to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. As part of the Buzz Lightyear Mission Patch Design Challenge, children will get the opportunity to learn about the requirements of space flight and the science surrounding NASA programs, helping to create a strong understanding about the importance of space exploration.

October 2nd , Disney Parks celebrated Buzz’s momentous feat with a “Welcome Home” ticker-tape parade down Main Street USA in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort. Buzz was joined by International Space Station Expedition 18 crewmate Michael Fincke as well as former Apollo 11 moonwalker, Buzz Aldrin.

“Now that Buzz Lightyear is back home, we are truly excited for the next phase – designing a real NASA mission patch to recognize his historic accomplishment,” said Disney’s Duncan Wardle, Vice President, Disney Destinations. “Disney Parks and NASA feel it’s only fitting that Buzz’s biggest and true fans are given the opportunity to design a one-of-a-kind mission patch to celebrate his dream-come-true. We have no doubt the submissions will be unique and creative – if anything, a very hard decision to make!”

How to Enter:

Children and parents can visit www.DisneyParks.com/Buzz for official Mission Patch Design Challenge rules, templates, examples of elements required for each design as well as judging criteria. Entrants shall:

• Download and print mission patch templates (with the help of parents)
• Using various elements, design a Mission Patch to commemorate Buzz Lightyear’s time in space aboard the ISS
• Write a brief description of the design (up to 100 words)
• Submit artwork and design description (with the help of parents)
• Entries may be submitted via e-mail or mail to specific address

Entries will be judged based on originality, creative execution, appropriateness of theme and clarity of expression of idea. For additional information on the Disney Parks and NASA Mission Patch Design Challenge or to enter, guests may visit www.DisneyParks.com/Buzz.

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Basically, you need to make a 12 second video of your child’s best “I wanna got to Friendly’s” pitch.

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Chicken Soup for the Soul recently published “Extraordinary Teens” which is filled with stories from over 50 amazing teenagers and young adults. Some of them are famous like Brenda Song, Donald Trump, Jr. and Anna Kournikova. Many are names you have never heard of like Desiree Amadeo, Margaret Lewis and Trevor Schulte. Each story is inspiring in its own way and no two stories are the same. There is even the story on page 221 of someone I follow on Twitter @PencilBugs. He is an amazing young entrepreneur who started his business at age 9!

I am thinking about requiring my teenaged sons to read this book. I’m sure it will challenge them to overcome obstacles, think outside of the box and take a stand for what they feel is important.  If you would like a copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Extraordinary Teens you can click on the link to order or you can enter to win a copy! I will be giving away 2 copies of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Extraordinary Teens.

Mandatory 1st Entry Leave me a comment telling me about an inspirational teen that you know.

Bonus Entries

• Leave a comment on another (non-giveaway) post on my blog and tell me where you commented. You can do this up to 5 times on 5 different posts.
• Tweet this “@MomMaven is giving away Chicken Soup For the Soul:Extraordinary Teens. You can enter to win it too! http://bit.ly/hsr9g #giveaway” you can do this 3 times a day. Leave the tweet URL in the comment.
• If you haven’t done so already check out the new Purex 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets, and leave me a comment that you did this. This link is trackable so I will know if you really did it or not.

Good Luck! This giveaway is open to US residents only and will end 9/2/09 at 10:15pm.

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Now Cozi has offered a contest for the #notatblogher bloggers and this post is my contest entry. If you don’t know what Cozi is, it is a FREE, easy to use, family organization website. You can create calendars for all of the family members, and create a desktop widget so you can keep track of your schedules! You can also organize shopping lists (and send them via test to your phone so you have it with you when you’re shopping. Cozi helps me keep my family’s busy lives organized and it will help you too.

The Top 10 Reasons I am Excited to Stay Home with My Family this Coming Weekend are…

1. I will be able to attend my nephew’s birthday party on Saturday.
2. I will get to sleep in on Friday and Saturday!
3. I will be able to finish editing my ebook on chores!
4. I will be able to spend Friday home with Aaron-and try to beat him on Madden ’09 All Play on the Wii.
5. I will be able to set up the homeschool software on Jordan’s computer while he is still visiting my parents.
6. I will be able to update my Cozi calendar with our fall schedule, that is filling up fast.
7. I will be able to worship in my home church with my family.
8. I will get to hug Jordan when we go pick him up on Saturday.
9. I will be able to watch all of the Tampa Bay Rays games on TV this weekend! Go Rays!
10. I will get to watch the Brickyard 400 on Sunday.

Now, I need your help. PRETTY PLEASE Will you leave a comment on this post? The 15 bloggers with the most comments will receive a $100 blog sponsorship from Cozi. This would come in very handy right now as I prepare to launch my 1st e-book. If you really want to help me, use the “share this” and “retweet” buttons below and share this post with your friends. Thanks for your help and support!

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