If you’re into fast paced and realistic cop drama, then you’ve probably heard, and maybe even watched, the great series known as Southland.  Just when you were getting into it, the corporate network moguls pulled the show off the network out of nowhere.  Luckily for all of us, the show has been picked up by TNT and is coming back on Tuesday March 2nd.  If you’ve never watched the show, you might be wondering what it’s about.

One thing that I really like about this show, is that it keeps things real.  It’s rude, crude, and has gripping story lines that grab you by the throat, and it jerks you to the edge of your seat.   I haven’t seen anything like this since the movie “Colors“  back in 1988.  You don’t believe me?  Why not check out the sneak peek for yourself?

If you’re still wanting more, I don’t blame you.  Here is a behind the scenes look into the show.

If you’re as hooked as I am, you might want to head on over to the Southland Facebook page and become a fan.  If the page gets 75,000 fans, the crew will be doing a live chat!  Don’t miss Tuesday’s episode – the action is so real and gritty, it can only be on TNT.  So, watch Tuesday at 10/9c.

The kind folks at Southland were kind enough to send me a great Southland package which contained a lot of this awesome info that i’m sharing with you right now.  The views I express are my own, because I really am a fan of the show, but that package helped.

If you’re a busy mom like me, you really only want two things for this New Year: Extra time and extra cash!Now while With Hasbro toys starting at $14.99, you can invest a little bit of money for a whole lot of fun.

Personally, I am also planning on meeting my “me-time” goal by kid-swapping with a few girlfriends. Along with my kids’ special snacks, I’ll pack a game (or two!) from Hasbro’s Elefun and Friends collection. The kid trade will save me babysitting money, and my friends will be thrilled knowing that all kids will be kept busy and entertained.

Hasbro’s preschool games are focused on laughter. They don’t require turn-taking but do require lots of physical activity. Four kids at once can play:

• Hungry Hungry Hippos: Children 4 and up will delight in feeding marbles to hippos on a munching frenzy.
• Elefun: Watch tykes squeal with delight as they catch rainbow colored butterflies in light, easy to hold nets.
• Gator Golf: Who says kids can’t golf like pros and have fun doing it? It’s good old fashioned fun as they putt balls into a friendly alligator’s munching mouth.
• GIRAFFALAFF Limbo: Youngsters everywhere will love stretching and bending in a silly game of giraffe limbo.

For under a hundred dollars, I plan on having four new games, at least eight hours of babysitting and memories my kids will remember for a lifetime. Thanks to Hasbro’s Elefun and Friends collection, that’s about the best gift there is for this New Year so far!

Brought to You by Hasbro

Do your kids have a case of the post-holiday blues? Last year I remember Emma being frustrated that her doll’s head kept breaking. Max complained that his puzzle was too difficult.

If you’ve been waiting patiently to avoid the hectic post-holiday sales, now is the time to make good use of those unused toy store gift cards you received. Take a trip to the nearest retailer and pick up a game from Hasbro’s Elefun and Friends collection.

These giggle-inducing kid pleasers are designed specifically for preschoolers on up. They were made for little people with big ideas! Just some of the features entail:

* No turn taking: With Hungry Hungry Hippos , siblings and friends alike can feed marbles to colorful munching hippos named after healthy foods. It’s good old fashioned/noisy kid fun!

* Laughter, not fighting: Kids will love catching butterflies in a net with Elefun. There’s way more butterflies than busy hands, so there’s plenty to go around, keeping arguing to a minimum and laughter to a maximum.

* Physical activity – All of these games require movement. Whether happily patting hippo heads (Hungry Hungry Hippos), jumping and stretching next to blue elephants (Elefun), bending over backwards for silly giraffes (GIRAFFALAFF Limbo) or putting balls into silly alligators’ mouths with Gator Golf, all pent up energy can be released (along with laughter!)

With this much activity, smiles and pure entertainment, the kids will have plenty to play with long after the winter chill wears away! And with games starting at $14.99, those gift cards should be enough!

Brought to You by Hasbro

My gift to my children this year (as well as my own sanity) is to be a positive parent. This means wording things in a way that says “Yes to good choices” rather than focusing on the dire “No because I said so” alternative.

One such area I plan on implementing my new attitude is with visiting cousins this upcoming spring break. Every year my children cry as their clumsier, younger cousin unknowingly roughly handles their prized possession. While my kids do need to share, why make them do it with their favorite car or baby doll? Why not ask them to discreetly put it away before Noah’s arrival and bring out some new games for everyone to enjoy?

Lest you think I’m going to go broke prepping for a preschooler’s visit, Hasbro’s Elefun and Friends collection has activity oriented games starting at $14.99. With most of them allowing up to four players at once, my kids don’t have to cry when Noah cuts in front of their turn because everyone plays at once! Noah doesn’t have to whine in frustration, because there are no real rules to any of the games. All that these games require is giggles and up off your feet enthusiasm.

• With Hungry Hungry Hippos the kids can feed animals hungrier than they are by pounding on keys – forcing marbles into the hippos’ mouths.
• With Elefun, the kids can take a break from the cold outside and catch rainbow colored butterflies in light, easy to hold nets.
• With Gator Golf they can pick up their clubs and putt like pros – sending balls into a friendly alligator’s munching jaws.
• With GIRAFFALAFF Limbo all the cousins will bend over backwards in fits of laughter as they limbo like a rockstar.

I want my kids to have memories of laughter with their baby cousin, not tears of anger as he unknowingly grabs what doesn’t belong to him. With Hasbro’s Elefun and Friends collection, I’m one step closer to a happy family portrait.

Brought to You by Hasbro

If you’re a hectic mom like me, your biggest concern when it’s almost time to pick up the kids from preschool isn’t what to cook for dinner or cleaning up the house. It’s what to do with the kids after they’re finished with their homework?!

Many of my friends don’t worry about the older children. “They’ll get on the computer, or hang out with classmates… maybe even read a book,” one of my girlfriends said. “It’s my preschoolers that I’m freaking out about! How will I accomplish my household duties and errands with them constantly under foot?”

Thanks to Hasbro’s Elefun and Friends collection, the answer is simple. With four games designed specifically for preschoolers (and up), I have found an easy solution to the “I’m bored” dilemma. None of the games in the collection have complicated rules, allowing kids to concentrate on giggling, not arguing. They are so easy to set up, that you’ll be having fun in no time. Up to four kids can play at once, which means no fights over turn-taking. And even better, many of the games can be played solo.

And with these games starting at $14.99, I don’t have to break the bank to guarantee the giggles. They can catch butterflies in nets with Elefun, shoot a ball into a friendly alligator’s mouth with Gator Golf, feed hippos marbles with Hungry Hungry Hippos and limbo like their Uncle Ted at a wedding reception with GIRAFFALAFF Limbo.

While my kids and their friends will only see the “fun”, I will be thrilled knowing they will burn off energy with these action oriented kid pleasers. I might even manage to do some paperwork and other tasks while the kids play.

For under twenty dollars each, it is indeed possible to keep kids occupied between homework time and suppertime!

Brought to You by Hasbro

It’s the start of a new year—a clean slate, filled with new resolutions. The children are back in school, the holiday sales are over. But Mama remains the same. She’s a mess. Can you blame me? I’ve got work at the office and work at home. I’ve got to drop off the kids and the dry cleaning, pick up the children and the neighbor’s dog, pay some bills and on and on.

But those are grown-up worries, not kid worries. They deserve all the joys of the New Year. And frankly, I deserve to experience their smiles before it’s too late. And so, before the year gets too underway, I plan on shifting my attitude… with help from a blue elephant!

Yup, you heard that right. Thanks to Elefun – one of four laughter inspired Preschool games from Hasbro’s Elefun and Friends collection starting at $14.99, I’m setting up a blue elephant in my family room.

Armed with colorful nets, we’ll circle around a happy blue elephant who cheerfully blows butterflies out his trunk. This beats scrambling around the grocery store with the kids in tow. Plus, with all the energy Elefun burns off, I’ll be feeling more relaxed. Relaxation and quality family time—that’s already two of my new resolutions fulfilled!

In the years to come, my kids might not remember that I got an extra account at work or that my paycheck afforded them a new set of school clothes, but they’ll likely remember their mother laughing hysterically at the rainbow colored butterflies landing in her hair. Now that’s a memory to cherish.

Brought to You by Hasbro

They say that the “Family Who Plays Together Stays Together.” I’ve always wanted to make that plan a reality, but I wanted to change it to: “The Family that Plays Golf Together Stays Together.” There’s something about those green rolling hills, the golf carts and the tacky plaid pants that just makes me happy.

I can’t afford my little PGA Family Tour dream yet, but I can happily get started with Hasbro’s Gator Golf this year.

This mini-golf game is one of four movement oriented preschool games from Hasbro’s Elefun and Friends collection. With two putters ideal for my six and five year olds’ little hands, and a ball that’s light enough to pick up with ease (translation: no broken windows) there’s no limit to the amount of fun this game will produce.

I am predicting tons of surprised giggles when the friendly alligator munches up the ball and then returns it with a wag of his tail. That’s cheaper than real golf balls getting lost in country club ponds, not to mention a whole lot sillier.

Like the easy-to-use/no frustrations Gator Golf, carving out time for some good old fashioned family fun doesn’t have to be difficult. I’m going to follow these simple steps to ensure a good time is had by all:

1. Pick a weekend night when we’re all home

2. Let the kids alternate who gets to set the game up

3. Throw on some music and put on those tacky pants

Perhaps #3 is optional, but the other two are not. With other games in the Elefun and Friends collection starting at $14.99, finding lots of alternatives, we can all agree that this will ensure great fun for years and years to come.

Brought to You by Hasbro

Some of my best memories as a kid are sitting around the table playing games with my parents and brother.

Now I have kids of my own, I am excited about Hasbro’s Elefun and Friends collection so I can start building new memories with my kids!

There’s only one problem: Time. With both my husband and I working, along with endless drop-off and pick-up routines, how are we ever going to fit nostalgic ideals into our hectic reality?

I was speaking to a co-worker who came up with the brilliant suggestion of scheduling. “We write work into our calendar. Why not schedule our down time, too?”

Of course that makes perfect sense, and I see no better opportunity than on Sundays when my family gathers for an early dinner anyway. We’ll feed those hungry, hungry kids and then pull out our tried and true Hungry Hungry Hippos game. Designed for preschoolers on up, my kids can laugh at happy hippos munching marbles. My husband and I can chomp away at our work-week stress, assigning a personal frustration to each marble. “Traffic has just been eaten! Good bye overtime! See ya later, economic worries!”

What will make this family play date particularly stress-free is that Hungry Hungry Hippos, like its cousins’ Elefun, Gator Golf and GIRAFFALAFF Limbo, were made for preschoolers. There are no complicated rules, and all of us can play at once. This also means no frustrating turn taking. Sure, my kids are a bit older than preschoolers now, but the fun keeps them coming back. There’s simply no room for tears when hippos have the munchies.

Brought to You by Hasbro

Until recently, my friends and I would get together for dinner once a month at one of our favorite local restaurants. But now we’re all trying to save money, so rather than eating out, we’re cooking for each other. Each month one of us hosts, making the entrée while everyone else brings appetizers, sides, or desserts. It’s working out great, but with all of us working full-time, we’re always on the hunt for recipes that don’t take days or even hours to prepare.

I can’t wait for our next girls’ night in, because I know I want to make these Asiago Toasted Cheese Puffs from the 15-Minute Recipes section I found on Safeway.com. I love that I can prepare the puffs in advance and just put them under the broiler when I get to my friend’s house. And, they make a perfect appetizer to serve while the rest of the group is arriving or adding the finishing touches to their dishes.

There are also lots of main dishes that can be made in 30 minutes or less, I think I may drop a hint to next month’s hostess about the Good Easy Garlic Chicken or the Cajun Chicken Pasta, they both sound so good! And while she’s browsing the rest of the 30-Minute Recipes, I’ll make sure she takes advantage of the coupons as well.

Being able to spend quality time with my friends without having to break the bank is great, and eating at each other’s homes rather than restaurants means I get to taste a bunch of new recipes while adding to my savings account—what could be better than that?

*Brought to you by Safeway

The holiday season is filled with parties, presents, shopping and of course, lots of great food. Once the holiday season is over, I want to get back to my regular routine by going to the gym and cooking healthy meals at home. This year I’ll also be keeping to one of my New Year’s resolutions – to save money while eating healthier.

Luckily, Safeway’s website is filled with ways to save money and eat well when I cook at home. They have lots of coupons and health minded recipes online (and even vegan recipes for my vegan friends). Eating delicious healthy meals really helps keep me motivated and wanting to work out. I always feel better when I’m eating better; so it’s a win-win situation!

I’m planning on making the Baked French Fries, and the Best Vegetarian Chili in the World so I can invite my family over for a delicious homemade meal that everyone is sure to love, while keeping up with my New Year’s resolutions. Plus, there’s always a way to get everyone, even kids, involved in the process, whether it be by cleaning vegetables, sprinkling cheese on the potatoes, or even just setting the table.

I feel great knowing that I’m saving money while eating healthier, and I can’t wait to try out lots of healthy and family friendly recipes from Safeway.See you at the gym!

*Brought to you by Safeway