Mom Talk

The Chicago Bears, Breast Cancer Awareness, and Early Detection

October 25, 2013 by Sandra 2 Comments

This is part of a compensated campaign with Latina Mom Bloggers and P&G. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

Cancer is ugly.

It’s a horrible disease that wreaks havoc on families every single day. Unfortunately, cancer is a disease I’m getting up close and personal with because whenever my four-year-old son, David, is admitted to the hospital or has an appointment with his doctor, he goes to the same floors where, tragically, kids who have been diagnosed with cancer go. The same follows for David’s treatment, it’s very similar to the way certain cancers are treated.

Breast Cancer Awareness
While I won’t be talking about childhood cancer in detail today, I will be talking about breast cancer, which affects us, ladies.

I had the opportunity to visit The Chicago Bears’ Halas Hall this past week and find out things I never knew about breast cancer — in addition to ways that women can detect it early. I had the chance to sit in on a roundtable that included Corey Wootton, a Chicago Bears football player who has personally been affected by breast cancer, and Janelle Hail, a breast cancer survivor and founder of the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Here are a few key pieces of information I learned about breast cancer and early detection during the roundtable:

1 in 8 women will get breast cancer in her lifetime.

Breast cancer death rates are higher among latina women.

When breast cancer is detected during the early (localized) stage, the five year survival rate is 98%.

We can help save lives by spreading the message about early detection to those around us.

Creating your own early detection plan for breast cancer is easy. There’s even an app for it! Just search “NBCF” in the app store. 🙂

I also learned that there are free screening locations available across the country for women to get mammograms and other diagnostic services. If there isn’t a hospital on the list in your area, you can check with your local hospital.

The Bottom Line
We need to be informed about how early detection saves lives and helps beat breast cancer. I’ve already installed the app on my phone, and my reminder plan is in place. I’ll get an email 3 days before I should log a self-exam.

I love how technology makes life easier and even helps save lives.

Do you have an early detection plan in place? Do you know someone who has been affected by breast cancer?

A Healthy Option for Moms and Their Kids #TryFrusionFree

August 10, 2013 by Sandra 2 Comments

My kids loved the taste of Frusion smoothies – sponsored post.

Being a mom (or a dad) is tough.

And it can be stressful, so I make every effort possible to make mealtime and snack time an easy thing. But “easy” doesn’t have to mean “unhealthy.” Not at all. There are lots of quick and easy ways to feed your kids healthy snacks that don’t take a lot of time to prepare. A favorite healthy snack at our house is cucumber with a little lime and sea salt – delicious! We could literally eat cucumbers this way everyday.

Besides veggies, my kids also love fruit smoothies, and one of our favorites is the Frusion C-Charged smoothie.

Snack Time Outside
The kids like to spend time ~~being wild~~ unwinding outside, and while they’re at it, they enjoy a fruit smoothie to recharge their batteries. Isaac, my 6-year-old, loves to bike ride. He is just as wild on the bike as he is off the bike, so I have to keep my eye on him.

Frusion Taste
My kids love the taste of the Frusion C-Charged smoothies. So far we’ve tried Banana Berry & Peach Passion Fruit — they were equally liked. Ruben picked up three packs at the grocery store last night, and I know they won’t last long.

Perfect Snack for Picky Eaters
I live among picky eaters, and while I’m trying to slowly change that by feeding my kids a variety of fruits and vegetables, it isn’t always easy to get them to eat what I want them to eat so that they’ll be healthy. I love that Frusion smoothies contain a full days Vitamin C and no high fructose corn syrup.

For Moms
These smoothies are great for moms, too. 😉 I can tell you that they’re super convenient for grabbing in the morning before I head out the door. If you’re a regular reader, you know that I technically “work-from-home,” but for me, that “practically” means that I work from an office I check out at the local library 4-5 days a week.

I had a smoothie this morning while spending some time outside with the kids, and it kept me going after I left for the library and throughout the morning.

Try Frusion Free!
If you want to try Frusion C-Charged smoothies with your family, you can, and you can do it for free after this mail-in-rebate on Frusion’s Facebook page.

What kinds of snacks do your kids love the most? What’s your favorite fruit smoothie flavor?

Mom Talk: Update on the Family Mobile Plan (and my search to find the best wireless provider)

June 10, 2013 by Sandra 2 Comments

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and their client. #FamilyMobileSaves #cbias

Well, its been about a month since I started using the Walmart Family Mobile cell phone plan.

And I have only good things to say about it. I’m truly impressed, and I think I may have found the best wireless plan for my family.

You may remember how in my last Mom Talk post, I shared my dislike for my current cell phone service provider. I’m through with their shenanigans of promising something and not following through. This goes all the way up to their supervisors. I have stories, trust me. Just thinking about my past experiences stirs up negative feelings towards my current provider. When that happens, you know you have to end the relationship.

No Turning Back

With 100% certainty, I will be switching to a new cell phone service provider once my contract is up at the beginning of 2014. I may switch even sooner because my husband was doing the math, and we may actually save money by canceling our current contract and going with the Family Mobile Plan, which will literally cut our monthly cell phone bill in half.

The Bottom Line

Honestly, I can’t tell you how many times my husband and I have talked to others about this plan, but it’s been quite a few. And just yesterday, I found out that someone in our extended family has the Family Mobile plan.

After using the plan for the past month, I can report that we’ve had a completely positive experience. I didn’t experience any problems with the signal, dropped calls, internet service not working, nothing. It was all good here in the Chicagoland area. 🙂

International Calls

I wanted to mention that the Family Mobile plan handles international calling fabulously! My dad is visiting from Mexico, and he makes calls to Mexico just about every night. He has no issues with calls being dropped, and best of all, the price per minute to call Mexico can’t be beat. Seriously. It’s only $0.05 per minute to call Mexico.

I simply logged into My Family Mobile account and added $10-$25 onto my Prepaid Extras Pack. This is separate from the monthly plan, which I think makes it even more convenient. Once there’s money in the Extras Pack, my dad calls Mexico and enjoys hours of talk time…for days. When the money has been used up on international calls, I can simply add more. Oh, and if the money runs out during the middle of a conversation…that conversation is over. 🙂 And you don’t have to worry about overages.

Lastly, My Experience with the Actual Phone

The phone I’m using with the Family Mobile service is the T-Mobile Concord Smartphone. It’s a nice budget-friendly smartphone, and while it doesn’t look as cool as my current Android phone, it gets the job done. I like it, but if I do make the switch to the Family Mobile plan, I know I’ll probably upgrade to another phone.

Who’s Using the Phone Now?

For right now, I’ve passed the phone onto my dad. He’s currently staying with my brother and had thought it would be fine to make international calls from my brother’s phone. Um, no. It’s WAY too expensive to make those calls to Mexico with my brother’s current provider. So my dad called me up and asked it he could use my Concord Smartphone while he’s here in the United States. Of course, I said, “Yes.” 🙂

Are you shopping around for a new wireless plan? Would you be willing to switch to a new cell phone provider if it cut your monthly bill in half?

You can see my experience and how I got started with the Concord Smartphone and the Family Mobile plan here in my Google+ story.

Mom Talk: Why I want to try a new cell phone service (or searching for the best wireless plan)

May 13, 2013 by Sandra 10 Comments

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and their client. #FamilyMobileSaves

First things first, I don’t like being negative here on The Sensible Mom.

But today, I’m going to share a little negativity followed by some positive thoughts (as I search for the best wireless plan).

The reason being is that I’m going to be talking about cell phone service, and I’m going to share with you my real feelings about my current cell phone service provider, which will remain anonymous to those who don’t know me in real life. 😉

Because the people who know me in real life know who my current provider is, and they know that I have not so warm and fuzzy feelings about them.

Why I want to switch providers
It’s a little crazy really. I’ve been with my current provider for 12 years, and each and every year (or every two years…since contracts are longer now), they manage to keep me as a customer.

Why? Well, I guess I can only blame myself. Every time my contract is up, I’m wooed to stay in this dead end relationship. I’m offered “new” discounts (that don’t end up getting properly applied to my account and I end up having to waste 2+ hours of my life on the phone trying to get them applied after I’ve been sucked into another contract).

Stopping the madness
This type of thing happens every time my contract is up, and for some reason (maybe it’s the passing of time), I think THIS TIME, THIS YEAR things will be different. Maybe after I’ve agreed to remain a customer with them, I won’t have to waste my time afterwards trying to go up the chain of command to get applied to my account whatever new discounts or perks I was reeled back in with.

But I’m wrong. It’s exactly the same. And I’m tired of it. I finally gave up after the last fight, and I will be changing providers when my contract is up.

Here’s one of my actual Facebook updates from last year — after I decided that our relationship was over when my contracts ends.

The only thing now is…I don’t know exactly which provider I’ll choose when I’m finally free next year. My husband and I have Smartphones, and I’d love a plan similar to my current plan which includes unlimited data and unlimited messaging.

It would also be great to have a plan that doesn’t come with a contract.

I’d like to know ahead of time which company I want to switch to in order to make the change from my current provider to a new provider easier, so I’m researching and talking to people now.

Walmart’s Family Mobile Plan
To get the ball rolling and start getting a feel for new service providers, I’ve decided to try out the new Walmart Family Mobile plan. Essentially, it’s a cheap wireless plan that’s $40 per month for unlimited talk, text, and web. There’s no contract.

The phone I’m using with the Family Mobile service is the T-Mobile Concord Smartphone. It’s a nice budget-friendly smartphone, for sure.

Getting Started
When my phone arrived in the mail, I went to Walmart to purchase the Family Mobile Starter Kit to begin service. The Walmart employee helped me to set up my new account and walked me through the entire process along with telling me what I needed to know about the Family Mobile plan.

That made getting started easy. I actually left the store with my account number and new phone number. (You can see my experience here in a Google+ story.)

All I needed to do when I got home was go to the My Family Mobile website to finish the process, and that was it. Done.

I’m looking forward to seeing how this plan works for me over the next month, and I’ll be sharing my experience with you in an update post next month.

Are you shopping around for a new wireless plan? What are your must-haves when it comes to cell phone plans?

Mom Talk

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