Giveaway, Dinner, and a Blogger Question

Happy Sunday!

While I wait for the Pats to start, I am multitasking - reading and commenting on my fellow bloggers posts, making Crock Pot beef stroganoff, creating TpT products (Valentine's Theme!), and lesson planning. Don't worry, I do this all the time, and usually everything turns out fine.

Amidst my multi-tasking, I found a fab giveaway from Teaching with Love and Laughter! Lori is hosting a giveaway in which Learning Resources is giving away a fun, educational game on parts of speech. Maybe you could use something like this in your class - I know I could use this in my classroom. For sure.

I also found a newbie giveaway-er (yes, it is a thing), Michelle, from The Lightbulb Lab. I just recently found her blog and immediately became a follower! I love it :) Check out her fun giveaway, and make sure to say "Happy Birthday" and "Thank you!" Also, Sister Teachers is hosting a wonderful giveaway full of awesome products and gear to celebrate the fab accomplishment of reaching 300 followers! Congrats!

Super easy entries...do it NOW!

And, another 300 Follower Giveaway, courtesy of Fourth Grade Flipper! Make sure you check out giveaway because there are 2 different giveaways (K-2 resources, and 3-5 resources) and you can enter for both! Oh, and there are 2 winners which means more chance of a win!

Another awesome giveaway comes to us, courtesy of The Picture Book Teacher's Edition! A unique giveaway for sure! The prize is a picture book with a packet included to use with the book. Love it and I sure hope I win :)

In other news - If you are looking for an easy, slow cooker dinner recipe for the whole family, look no further! I stumbled across this recipe a couple of months ago and have been making it for Sunday dinner nearly every week! While my family is small (only us 2), it makes 6 servings. The fiancé adores this meal and always look forward to Sunday. What is better than spending the day watching the Pats in the playoffs and eating a warm, home-cooked meal that tastes like heaven! The only changes I make are using low-fat cream cheese, and omit the button mushrooms. I also add cooked egg noodles to the Crock Pot for the last 1/2 hour or so to allow the flavors to simmer and infuse the noodles. Delish! Before:

Not appetizing

After:

Appetizing

Prior to the cooking, I realized I did not have the necessary beef broth, so had to make a quick Stop & Shop run. Little did I know (or little did I think...because clearly I wasn't thinking), it would be jam-packed with people. Not only was it a Sunday, but the store opened only two days ago, and they were celebrating the Grand Opening by having balloon animals, free samples, and all-around shenanigans. It was a mad house, but I needed my beef broth... so alas, I succumbed to the chaos and waited in line for 25 minutes for a 79 cent can of beef broth...

Teaches me to plan ahead...

I have this recipe saved on my Yum Yum board (see what I did there...) on my Pinterest. Check it out for other delicious recipes to try and add to your usual dinner rotation. This one certainly won a spot! :) Question time: I would like to host a 100 Follower Giveaway in the near future. While I am not there yet, I may be there shortly. I have some questions for my fellow bloggers:

• How do other people go about hosting a giveaway?
• How do you choose what to giveaway?
• What program do you typically use to host this?
• Does Rafflecopter always cost money? Can I use it one time? Is it worth purchasing a blogging license to use?
• How do you recruit others to join in on your giveaway (offer their time, designs, products, etc.)?
• What is the best way to market my giveaway if I have limited followers?
• Any other tips for hosting a giveaway would be helpful..

I would appreciate any answers you may have about this. I would really love to host a giveaway. Leave comments below!

Thanks so much :)

Cheers,