About me...

First, let me introduce myself.  My name is Marianne Sandling.

I am, first and foremost, a mom and a wife. 

I have 2 sons... my quiet, sweet and kind 14yr old Jamal, who lives with his father, and my silly, funny & loud Special Needs 7yr old L.S.  (he has chosen to go by his first & middle initials, just like his grandfather)

And a wonderful husband, Ray...

my 2 boys :)

I am Filipino and Italian (mostly) as well as Native American (Cherokee), 

and have a little Dutch, Swedish, German and Spanish in me.

My family is from Seattle.  My Grandfather comes from the Phillipines, (family name, Ramos) and my Grandmother's family is from Italy (not sure where...) with a family name of Broccoli (I know, huh!!)

I was in the news several times as a child, and am even in the National Pinoy Archives (they keep ALL news articles written about ALL Filipinos!!) because I was one of several authors of a book when I was younger.  Yes...At 15, I was a published author.

We wrote: 

KaRaNaSan: A Filipino Anthology. 

 It was written at Filipino Youth Activities in Seattle, under Fred & Dorothy Cordova.

This is something that I'll never forget... 

I love to talk... that's really why I started blogging in the first place.  Sometimes, I talk to myself, when there's no one around, so blogging gave me the opportunity to pretend like there were people listening to me... Eventually, there were!!

I love spending time with my family, especially my kid.  Whether it's playing his newest video game, helping him with his homework, or reading him a book, I enjoy it all

We have a themed family time every night of the week.. (doesn't everyone?)

We just have science night, where we do a science project.

For Christmas, I got him one of those crystal making kits, so that was our most recent project.

We have a craft night.  I usually find some DIY project online, that we can do together.  One Christmas, we made Santa faces using a paper plate, some cotton balls & felt.  That was fun!

Our last project was making pinwheels.

We have a game night, where we play a board or card game.  Our latest one was actually this really cool card game, S'mores, that I'd gotten for a review.  It turned out to be one of his favorite games!

We have a movie night and a videogame night also.

For the weekend, it's anything goes, as long as we spend time together.

I found out the hard way, how difficult it is to maintiain real relationships with your kids, when you have more than one...
The secret, is to spend one on one time with them!  Seems really simple, but it's not.

I don't know how the Duggars do it!!

So this blog of mine, this particular one, started from entering giveaways.

I won one, then another, and another still... and they just kept coming.

Then I realized, well, why can't I do it?

So I started reading all the giveaway and review blogs I could find, 

and contacted the companies they recommended, or had links & logo's to.

 I try not to blog when my kid is awake, or when my husband doesn't have a dvd to watch (we N*Flix it, and use the laptop, so we have to share)

My intent, in all of this, is to inspire, to help and to learn.

To inspire, even just one, person to start blogging or one blogger to continue.

To help someone wanting to blog, learning to blog, or continuing to blog.

To learn how to be the best blogger I can be, to learn how to compete in this industry

Finally, I want people to have fun reading my reviews, perhaps find something they like 

and to enjoy entering (and winning) my giveaways!!

Thanks for reading!!!