Bday Event: Franklin Goose giveaway

**CLOSED**
**WINNER: random.org #54, congrats Jason! Winner has been emailed and has 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen. Thanks to all who entered and thanks again to Franklin Goose!**

Franklin Goose provides quality, safe, organic and natural products. They hand pick each item on their website and promise to offer only the best products available. Their “Safe Baby Promise” certainly made me more interested in their shop!

They have SO MUCH that I’d love to have for Ryan. I can’t even begin to list favorites… they have clothes, toys, bath items, furniture, feeding products, cloth diapers and more. Because Ryan will be 6 months old soon and my husband is into organic foods, I requested their cookbook!

“So Easy Baby Food: a personalized guide to making baby food at home.” This book is awesome. Part of it is a workbook – like a keepsake journal! What mom doesn’t love that?! The rest is a step-by-step guide for buying and preparing food. It’s PERFECT if you have no idea what you’re doing, haha. It tells you how to pick out the good fruits and veggies at the store (what to look for) and then exactly how to prepare it and store it. AND it shows you how to do it in less than 30 minutes per week. It has recipes for over 40 fruits, veggies and protein sources. One part we found especially helpful was about what NOT to feed your baby or at what ages it’s appropriate to introduce certain foods.

Definitely recommended. You can buy it at Franklin Goose for $19.95 or WIN here! One lucky reader is going to win their own copy of the So Easy Baby Food cookbook!

Mandatory first entry: Tell me another product from Franklin Goose that you love!

Extra Entries: Please leave a separate comment for each additional entry.

1 entry – follow me on twitter
1 entry – tweet about this giveaway: “Win a “So Easy Baby Food” cookbook from @franklingoose! Enter at @babydickey: http://bit.ly/9RxncB #giveaway” (can tweet once a day)
1 entry – follow Franklin Goose on twitter
1 entry – subscribe to this blog by RSS (top right of site)
1 entry – subscribe to this blog by email (top right of site)
1 entry — “like” Franklin Goose on facebook
1 entry - subscribe to the Franklin Goose blog RSS feed
1 entry – follow publicly with google friend connect
1 entry – vote for us on Top Baby Blogs by clicking this link (& then click the top link to add your vote; can be done once a day)
2 entries (leave 2 separate comments) – put my blog button on your site (AND, if you already have my button, please update the code so it directs to my new domain name!)
2 entries (leave 2 separate comments) - blog about this giveaway, leave a link to it (the post must link here and to Franklin Goose)
1 entry – enter any of my other current giveaways (1 comment per giveaway)

**Giveaway ends June 9^th 2010, at 11:59 pm CST. Random.org will be used to choose the winner who will have 48 hours to respond to my email before a new winner is chosen. Good luck!**

The improbable achievement of Mitt Romney.(News)

Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) January 13, 2012 It is commonly argued that Mitt Romney has benefited from a weak Republican field, which is true. And that the attacks of his opponents have been late and diffuse. True, and true.

But the political accomplishment of Willard Mitt Romney should not be underestimated. The moderate, technocratic former governor of a liberal state is poised to secure the nomination of the most monolithically conservative Republican Party of modern history.

Some of this improbable achievement can be attributed to Romney’s skills as a candidate. In 14 debates, he delivered one gaffe (the $10,000 bet) and once lost his temper (with Rick Perry) — neither lapse particularly damaging. The slickest network anchor could not have done better.

Romney is the varsity — a far better candidate than, say, Bob Dole or John McCain. A Republican nominating process that swerved again and again toward silliness — alternately elevating for consideration Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain — seems ready to settle on a serious, accomplished, credible candidate. Republicans, it turns out, are choleric and fractious — but not suicidal. see here mitt romney news

The nominating process has also revealed Romney’s limitations. It would be awkward for anyone this stiff to pose as a working-class stiff, and Romney should not try. But if he gains the nomination, Romney’s rival in connecting with average voters will not be Bill Clinton. It will be professor Barack Obama. Again, Romney benefits from the luck of the draw.

Romney has paired his skills with a sophisticated political strategy. His campaign team learned something from the failures of four years ago. Last time, Romney flooded the early states with money and personal attention. In Iowa, his limited return on investment made him a political punch line. This time, Romney rationed both his money and his presence — lowering expectations and generating genuine enthusiasm when he finally arrived to campaign. When a late political opportunity presented itself — in the form of a persistently divided Republican field — the Romney campaign skillfully ramped up for a narrow win. Adding a victory in New Hampshire is an achievement that Ronald Reagan never managed as a challenger.

Ideology has always been Romney’s main vulnerability. Running and winning in Massachusetts before running twice for the presidential nomination is a process best described by biologists — a story of adaptation and evolution.

Other candidates have naturally carried more vivid ideological messages. I come down on the empowerment side of the divide. But maybe, at this moment, the Republican Party doesn’t need a clear decision on its identity (which might not be possible anyway). Romney has this advantage: In supporting him, no Republican is called upon to surrender his or her deepest ideological convictions. Romney is temperamentally conservative but not particularly ideological. He seems to view the cultural and philosophic debates that drive others as distractions from the real task of governing — making systems work. here mitt romney news

His competitors have attempted to portray Romney’s ideological inconsistency over time as a character failure. It hasn’t worked, mainly because Romney is a man of exemplary character — deeply loyal to his faith, his family and his country. In political matters, he is empirical and pragmatic. He studies problems, assesses risks, calculates likely outcomes. Those expecting Romney to be a philosophic leader will be disappointed. He is a management consultant, and a good one.

Has the moment of the management consultant arrived in American politics? In our desperate drought of public competence, Romney has a strong case to make.