The Sensible Mom

Sprint’s Creative New Framily Plan and a Giveaway for an HTC One max Smartphone!

May 2, 2014 by Sandra 29 Comments

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting (#MC) for Sprint. I will receive product samples to facilitate reviews and to thank me for participating. #SprintMom

Oh, you guys.

I have some fun news and an exciting giveaway to share today. 🙂

First, I’m incredibly humbled to have been chosen to be a Sprint Ambassador for the next year or so. This means that I’ll get to test various Sprint devices and service options and then share my experience with you here on The Sensible Mom.

I promise to create fun and engaging posts!

This is the first post in this series. And I love that it includes an amazing giveaway!

But wait — let’s talk about Sprint’s Framily Plan

Before I get into the details of the fantastic giveaway Sprint’s offering one of my readers, I want to talk a little about Sprint’s Framily plan. And, yes, that’s “Framily” not “family,” because the people on your plan don’t have to be family members or even live in the same household.

In fact, your Framily can include you and up to 9 other friends, family members, co-workers, virtual assistants, neighbors, or just about anyone else in your life.

You’ll all get unlimited talk, text and 1GB of data each, while on the Sprint network. Each of the members on the Framily plan receives a separate bill with no annual service contracts or early termination fees (hello!), all for as little as $25 a month per line when you have 7 – 10 members in the Framily group.

At the moment, only my husband and I are on a plan together, and we pay way more than $25 each month (or $50 for the both of us if we were on a Framily plan) on our current phone bill. It would be great if we could put a Framily together and enjoy the benefits of this plan while paying less for reliable Sprint service.

Who would you consider teaming up with for a Sprint Framily plan?

Okay, It’s Giveaway Time!

Now that you know more about the Framily plan, let’s talk about this fabulous giveaway! Sprint has generously offered to give one of my readers an HTC One max Smartphone! 🙂

The HTC One max smartphone offers users a massive screen with a 5.9-inch display and amped speakers for watching videos or viewing pictures on the go. The feature-rich camera offers users the ability to take photos with a fun, artistic flair, and much more!

How to Enter the Giveaway

Simply enter this giveaway using the Rafflecopter below. I’ve included options for extra entries, too!

This giveaway will run from now until – May 5th at 12:00am. The giveaway is open to US Residents only, ages 18 years old and above. The winner will be randomly chosen. I will promptly send the winner an email notifying them that they’ve won, and the winner must respond within 48hrs. of the giveaway’s end, otherwise I will have to draw a new winner.

Enter Below
a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Great Deal for You:

For a limited time, new customers who bring their number to Sprint and sign up for a Sprint Framily Plan can receive up to $300 in credit for their current phone and a Visa Prepaid Card worth up to $350 to cover switching fees! This offer will be available exclusively at Sprint stores and online at Sprint.com from April 4 through May 8.

Losing the Baby Fat Weight Loss Update: I lost .6 pounds!

April 30, 2014 by Sandra 5 Comments

It’s time for a weight loss update.

Last week, I weighed in at 189.4 lbs, which means that I lost less than a pound. My previous weight was 190 lbs. But I still had a loss, so I’m going to happy about that even though I totally wish that I’d lost more.

Side note: The scale that I use to weigh myself right now weighs me at around 1 to 1.5 pounds MORE than my old scale did.

I regret getting rid of my old scale. But what can I do now?

Oh well! The small difference in my weight from scale to scale shouldn’t matter, but for some reason to me…it does. I’m not sure why. It’s a mental thing, and I just have to let it go.

Maybe it’s because I feel like every single ounce of weight that I have to lose is a struggle to get off. I’m not sure if I mentioned this before or not, but I have hypothyroidism. And while I don’t use that as an excuse to not lose weight, I do feel like it makes getting the pounds off so much more difficult.

Gaining weight, on the other hand, that’s easy! 😉

On the Plus Side

One thing that I’ve noticed as we’ve switched our diet to a whole foods plant-based diet is that I have tons of energy. Gone are the days where I’d wake up and feel “out of it” or still exhausted until early afternoon. Gone are the days when I’d walk up the stairs and then feel completely drained of energy.

I have energy that lasts all day long. I love it.

On several occasions, I’ve stopped after being on my feet and go-go-going for hours and thought, “I have so much energy. I feel good.”

It’s amazing. I haven’t felt this good in a long time, and I’m a better wife and mom because of it. We’re definitely going to continue with this new way of eating. Even though I’m not seeing the pounds come off as quickly as I’d like them to, I am seeing and feeling the benefits of eating meatless, dairy-free meals on a daily basis.

Here’s what my weight loss progress looks like so far:

Beginning weight: 193 lbs.

Current Weight: 189.4 lbs.

Goal Weight for 2014: 168 lbs.

# of total pounds I want to lose in 2014: 25 lbs.

# of pounds to go until I reach my goal: 21.4 lbs.

Total # of pounds lost to date: 3.6 lbs.

How is your weight loss progress coming along?

10 Goals for the Week

April 29, 2014 by Sandra 3 Comments

A little late, but here’s an update on how I did with last week’s goals along with what I’m going to try to accomplish this week.

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Play outside with the kids at least 3x and get some much needed vitamin D from the sunshine – I don’t leave the house much right now, so I want to make an effort to get outside with the kids (and get some vitamin D in the process 🙂 ) instead of simply watching them play from inside.

2. ~~Plan a Family Night~~

Personal Goals:

3. “Eat that Frog” Tuesday through Saturday of this week! — I’m going to work on doing the most difficult task that needs to be done FIRST in my day before focusing on the endless smaller tasks that take up my time. — I failed at this most days and some days I wasn’t even sure what my “frog” was. I could say more, but really, I just need to rethink this. 😉

4. Walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes 3x — I only jumped on the treadmill once last week, but I did spend a ton of time on my feet while cooking and cleaning. That counts for something, right?

5. ~~Read 20 pages of Balanced: Finding Center as a Work-at-Home Mom by Tricia Goyer~~

Home Management Goals:

6. ~~Fill one bag with items to donate~~

7. ~~Unpack one box sitting in the basement~~

Business Goals:

8. Get caught up on work

9. Return emails

10. ~~Write 4 blog posts~~

Here are my goals for this week:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Work on memorizing two verses of scripture as a family — Ephesians 4:29 and Exodus 20:4

2. Go out for Family Day

Personal Goals:

3. Shampoo and clean my makeup brushes

4. Drink water with lemon (or lime) and cayenne pepper 5x

5. Read 20 pages of Balanced: Finding Center as a Work-at-Home Mom by Tricia Goyer

Home Management Goals:

6. Fill one bag with items to donate — I need to keep this on my list for ongoing de-cluttering purposes!

7. Unpack one box sitting in the basement

Business Goals:

8. Get caught up on work

9. Return emails

10. Write 4 blog posts

What are your goals for this week?

A Simple Way to Help Kids in Your Community (and a Twitter Party!)

April 23, 2014 by Sandra 4 Comments

This is a sponsored collaboration with Champions for Kids and The Motherhood.

We enjoyed a little family outing today.

We can get out as a family now that David has the okay from his doctor to be able to go into public places — so long as he isn’t in a crowd of people or around anyone who is sick. He was pretty happy to be out and about today. 🙂

We made a trip to Walmart to pick up some groceries and purchase items to donate to the latest Champions for Kids program called SIMPLE Giving.

SIMPLE Giving is a Champions for Kids program that makes it simple for you to help kids in your community. For this latest program, you can purchase healthy breakfast foods at your local Walmart and then drop them in the bin at the front of the store. These items will then be given to school children in that local community.

Ideas for What to Donate

We ended up buying cereal and granola mix to donate. There was a display in one area of the store that had suggested items to donate, but you could also choose items from other aisles in the store.

I think cereal, oatmeal, granola, and granola bars are all non-perishable food items that are great to give, and they make a healthy breakfast for the children who’ll receive them.

Donation Time

Once we were finished shopping, we headed for the checkout lane, and then to the donation bins where the kids excitedly dropped off the breakfast items!

I love that we went out and made the SIMPLE Giving donation as a family. In doing so, we created a lasting memory and made a difference for someone else.

How great is that? 😉

DID YOU KNOW? You can participate in the SIMPLE Giving program by simply purchasing and donating breakfast food items at your local participating Walmart from April 21st through May 5th. If your Walmart store is participating, simply purchase breakfast foods and place them in the purple donation bins at the front of the store after checkout. To see a list of participating stores, click here.

All of the donations go to children in the school district where the Walmart store is located.

A #SIMPLEGiving Twitter Party!

I love Twitter parties, so I’m excited to share that there’s going to be a #SIMPLEGiving Twitter party on April 24, 2014 at 1:00PM Eastern!

Here’s more relevant information for the party:

When: Thursday, April 24, at 1p ET / 12p CT / 10a PT

Where: We’ll be on Twitter – follow the #SIMPLEGiving hashtag to track the conversation. You can see the details and RSVP right HERE: http://twtvite.com/simplegiving

Hashtag: #SIMPLEGiving

Prizes: Five prizes will be given to randomly selected participants who answer the trivia questions correctly. Each prize includes a $50 Walmart gift card!

Hosts: @theMotherhood, @theMotherhood25, @CooperMunroe, @EmilyMcKhann

Sponsor: @Champions4Kids

So, what are some ways you give back to your community? I’d love to hear how you do this as a family or how you get your kids involved. 🙂