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Monday, April 11, 2011

How Do You Keep Your Family Healthy? Tell Me and Be Entered to Win a $100 Visa Gift Card

This is a sponsored post from BlogHer and Tropicana.



Eat your peas!

But I HATE peas!

Too bad, you have to eat your peas!

But why? They taste so gross!

BECAUSE I SAID SO!

That was a conversation I had with my mother over and over again at the dinner table when I was a child. "Eat your peas! Because I said so!" was pretty much the only conversation we ever had about vegetables. I was forced to eat peas, but I was never told why I should eat them or how they benefited my body, my well being. I knew when I had children that I would do it differently.

Keeping my family healthy is important to me, especially considering my family's history with heart disease and diabetes.

I always have explained to my children why it's important that they eat fruits and vegetables. I make them try things at least once, if they absolutely hate them, they don't have to eat them again. However, they do have to have servings of fruit, veggies daily. Whether it be a salad with dinner, a banana with milk before bed, or a nice tall glass of orange juice in the morning. I don't care- so long as they have balanced meals and meaningful snacks. This does not mean I don't allow them to have desserts or a cookie for a snack or cereal for breakfast. (Everything in moderation.)

In addition to making sure that my children have a healthy variety of food each day, I make sure that they are active. They're enrolled in sports, they ride bikes, we take walks or go on runs together. We shoot hoops in the front yard or at the park. Getting in exercise every day is just as important as eating a healthy amount of fruit and veggies each day.

How do you keep your family healthy? Leave a comment on this post and you'll be entered to win a $100 gift card! YOU MUST LEAVE A VALID EMAIL IN YOUR COMMENT.


How do you keep your family healthy? Leave a comment below and you will be entered to win a $100 Visa gift card! Visit BlogHer's Exclusive Offer's page for more chances to win! Sweepstakes runs from 4/11-5/9

Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry
methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment
on this post

c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on
this post

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about
an alternate form of entry.


This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older

Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.

You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be
selected.

The Official Rules are available here

Want to learn more about Tropicana orange juice? Please visit Tropicana's official site. You can also visit the official Facebook page or follow them on Twitter

I wrote this post while participating in the Tropicana Pure Premium/BlogHer program on behalf of Tropicana Pure Premium. I received product information to facilitate my post and monetary compensation for the time to write my post

92 comments:

  1. I always make sure dinner comes with a side of healthy veggies and make smoothies for breakfast
    tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

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  2. tweet
    http://twitter.com/#!/ChelleB36/status/57670162844880896
    tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

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  3. My girls love fruits & veggies. We have salad (They luv it!) and I like to add broccoli to their pasta!

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  4. Joining a CSA has really helped a lot - having prepaid veggies show up weekly (and that are fresh and actually taste good) is mega motivation.

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  5. My comment disappeared! I am not trying to comment twice.

    My girls love fruits & veggies already. I just try to find more ways for them to have them. We eat salads and they love broccoli in their pasta!

    gab UNDERSCORE lyn AT msn DOT com

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  6. Oops! Now I see that is says my comment will be visible after approval. Sorry. Disregard one of them. However, I tweeted too!

    @Naya2000

    gab UNDERSCORE lyn AT msn DOT com

    http://twitter.com/#!/Naya2000/status/57966314781802496

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  7. We started subscribing to a CSA and that does a lot to help us eat more veggies. Kale chips are a surprisingly good snack!

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  8. I keep my family healthy by walking our dog and having a fruit or veggie at each meal. scg00387 at yahoo dot com

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  9. http://twitter.com/#!/DesMoinesDealin/status/58000179915272192 scg00387 at yahoo dot com

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  10. We love smoothies, so I put all veggies and fruit in, kids love it too much to care what’s in there. This trick works great with my picky eaters.
    tcarolinep at gmail dot com

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  11. tweet.http://twitter.com/tcarolinep/status/58039628120330240

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  12. I keep them healthy by adding fruits and veggies in my casseroles.

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  13. http://twitter.com/#!/SCMOMOF2BOYS/status/58074082121486336

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  14. I always keep fresh fruits, vegetables and yogurt for snacking. My children don't like peas but they do like salads, corn and carrots so I serve those with cassaroles and on the side.

    s2s2 at comcast dot net

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  15. http://twitter.com/#!/susan1215/status/58534418276560896

    s2s2 at comcast dot net

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  16. Well, I don't have kids yet, but I'm very concerned with keeping my boyfriend and I healthy. Especially since I'm a triathlete -- you just can't fuel those kinds of workouts on processed junk food! We started getting a weekly CSA box from a local farm a few months ago, and that's really helped us get more fruit and veggies in our diet. We love the surprise of opening the box each week to see what we got and then figuring out what to do with that stuff. Turns out, I LOVE roasted parsnips and carrots (even though I'd never eaten a parsnip in my life until January and I would have told you before I hated cooked carrots, because I'd only ever had them boiled - ick!)

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  17. We have healthy meals, exercise, and get plenty of sleep.
    MCantu1019 at aol dot com

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  18. Dancing. It's great exercise!

    ~SuzyQ


    sumarel@gmail.com

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  19. I keep myself healthy by eating well, drinking plenty of water, getting enough sleep and swimming 3 times a week.
    Thanks for the contest.

    ReplyDelete
  20. blogged: http://slehan.blogspot.com/2011/04/win-100-from-blogher-and-tropicana-part.html

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  21. I always keep in my mind for change of dishes in my family. More over I prefer fruits.
    dean graziosi

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  22. She gets fruit instead of chips in her lunchbox and we traded out milkshakes for smoothies

    bscotchkisses at aol dot com

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  23. To keep the family healthy, I try to provide plenty of vegetables at meals and fruit to snack on. LPoser1 [AT] gmail [DOT] com

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  24. I try to keep my family healthy, by serving vegetable and/or fruit, with every meal. I also try to cook with less fat and more complex carbs.

    Thank you so much for this fantastic giveaway.

    libneas[at]aol[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  25. Thankfully we love fresh fruits, and most fresh veggies - so I make sure we get a good serving or two of each every day.
    adrianecoros(at)gmail(dot)com

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  26. Tweet! http://twitter.com/LAMusing/status/60119731448975360
    adrianecoros(at)gmail(dot)com

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  27. We keep healthy snacks around instead of junk food. We mostly eat at home to avoid fast foods.
    bingomamanorma(at)gmail(dot)com

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  28. We make smoothies and add veggies into pasta sauce.

    oldnavyash@aol.com

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  29. I tweeted it http://twitter.com/smash906/status/60481901777006592

    oldnavyash@aol.com

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  30. I limit the amount of sugar and processed foods consumed in this house and try to eat vegetables and fruit with every meal.

    pinchmysalt@gmail.com

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  31. Vegetables still don't go over too well here, but I encourage fruit as the most available snacks in the house.
    chainmail (at) iwon(dot) com

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  32. I tweeted
    http://twitter.com/#!/The_Sunshyn/status/61106294353956865
    chainmail (at) iwon(dot) com

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  33. My son is a teenager, so I have very little influence over what he eats. If I make him a “healthy” meal, he just buys his own out! He loves orange juice though, so that wouldn’t be a problem!
    thanks!
    kmassmanATgmailDOTcom

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  34. I keep my family healthy by preparing wholesome nutritious meals (most of the time!). We live on a farm/ranch so we all get lots of exercise!
    sharonjo at gwtc dot net

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  35. Tweet: http://twitter.com/#!/sharonjo2/status/61235936054358016

    sharonjo at gwtc dot net

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  36. I like to give my boys choices - and I did this by offering a "dip" for their fresh vegetables - now they love to dip anything -- and love vegetables (esp. raw).
    OJ is great for baking into cookies, cakes and is great for homemade pie crust!

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  37. I sneak veggies in the casseroles that I make and the grandchildren love it :-)

    deb55106{at}gmail{dot}com

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  38. Tweet!
    http://twitter.com/#!/EverydayVibrant/status/61856493317787648

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  39. I try to keep my fmaily healthy by cooking at home, and then I get to control the ingredients.

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  40. All in my family enjoy eating fruits & vegetables. Fruits are great in snacks or breakfast. Vegetables are always nice at dinnertime, especially when cooked up tastily. {If needed, my email address is in my profile.}

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  41. When the kids were little, just not having a bunch of junk in the house worked along with fruit on the counters.

    gmissycat at yahoo dot com

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  42. Tweeted here too

    http://twitter.com/#!/gmissycat/status/63022680802197504

    gmissycat at yahoo dot com

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  43. I try to include a couple different kinds of vegetables every time I make a meal so I don't get bored of one certain kind and I get different nutrients.

    ReplyDelete
  44. It is a battle every single day. Yes we battle over food, not so much exercise yet, because my son is 5 and has endless energy. But the main thing I'd say we're doing is teaching him to WASH HIS HANDS! Yes, every time. Yes, even if you just had to pee. Yes, even if you did not touch it.

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  45. Pure veggies to mix into tomato sauce to serve over spaghetti!
    reasek at gmail dot com.

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  46. We have salad night once a week, which luckily the kids love. We try to make certain 'fun foods' homemade instead of buying frozen - fish sticks (tilapia and bread crumbs), chicken nuggets, french fries, etc. Occasionally we present fruit or yogurt as dessert, so they think of those foods in a, "Yay, dessert!" frame of mind just like they do with ice cream.

    Also, we allow them to have candy/junk food on a regular basis - we feel like making sweets a part of life is a better approach then outlawing them or even making them a 'special occasion' thing. Seeing as how we just dumped their Easter candy in with their leftover Halloween and Valentine candy, I think we're doing okay on that front.

    jenn at trainwithjenn dot net

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  47. Tweeted!

    http://twitter.com/#!/virginiamadness/status/63969038090506240

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  48. My husband is a total believer in the power of orange juice! He says a glass a day is the perfect natural antibiotic to keep from getting sick. When the kids are starting to feel sick, he boosts up the dosage and makes them drink a lot of OJ. It works, with five kids still at home very seldom (like almost never) is anyone sick!
    mmare39@comcast.net

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  49. I keep us healthy by always having fresh fruit in the house, yogurt in the fridge and preparing non-processed foods in my house!
    wbailey113@hotmail.com

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  50. tweeted: http://twitter.com/myfolly/status/64893953371160576
    wbailey113@hotmail.com

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  51. I try weekly to shop local, and only buy fresh ingredients from local farms. Living in Portland, I'm blessed with a bounty of farmers markets (especially in the spring and summer), so thankfully it's not too tricky if I can just get there.

    (kladish(at)gmail(dot)com)

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  52. we eat fruit, veggies, drink lots of h2o, get enough sleep and plenty of exercise
    rmartinclarke @ gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  53. http://twitter.com/#!/rsmc1/status/65250696626311168

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  54. WE ACTUALLY TOOK THE EFFORT TO CUT OUT POP & NOW DRINK ONLY JUICE - BELIEVE IT OR NOT! THAT HELPS DRAMATICALLY ALONE WITH OUR HEALTH IF YOU ASK ME. kytah00@yahoo.com

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  55. 2ND ENTRY TWEET @ http://twitter.com/#!/kytah00/status/65271598688645120 kytah00@yahoo.com

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  56. We drink a lot of fruit smoothies & eat a lot of fresh salads & stir fries.

    gevin13{at}gmail{dot}com

    ReplyDelete
  57. tweeted
    https://twitter.com/#!/pixie13sweeps/status/65810356131479552

    gevin13{at}gmail{dot}com

    ReplyDelete
  58. my son refuses veggies so i grate carrots and put them in muffins and i buy fruit/veggie blend drinks to sneak them into him
    nannypanpan at gmail.com

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  59. I like to sneak healthy bonuses in meals my family already loves! Spinach in smoothies, fresh veggies (or sauteed/roasted) in their pizza, spaghetti squash instead of noodles. It's great and broadens their edible horizons!

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  60. We try to keep a very active lifestyle and get outside as much as possible in combination with eating healthy.

    gina.m.maddox AT gmail DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  61. http://twitter.com/#!/CrazyItalian0/status/66301042538717184

    gina.m.maddox (at) gmail (dot) com

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  62. We have a veggie garden. The kids are excited about eating the veggies they've grown themselves.

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  63. Tweeted.

    http://twitter.com/#!/Jayne_Martin/status/66669596131860480

    jvmwordsmith@comcast.net

    ReplyDelete
  64. I cook most of our meals from scratch and keep only healthy snacks in the house.

    rogsdock[at]gmail[dot]com

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  65. I am very lucky. My kids love love love fruit. Never any problems getting them to eat fruit. They also like quite a few veggies, so I don't push it and force them to eat what they don't like. I do introduce and reintroduce new and seasonal veggies all the time and my oldest especially will try more and more.

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  66. tweeted
    http://twitter.com/#!/fairydancer35/status/66993486318145538

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  67. I make sure to pack fruits and veggies in my kid's lunches everyday - no unhealthy school lunches for them!
    nuthouse(at)centurytel(dot)net

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  68. tweeted: http://twitter.com/#!/KerryBishop/status/67055173209559041
    nuthouse(at)centurytel(dot)net

    ReplyDelete
  69. We stick to basics, plenty of sleep, exercise and a healthy diet.

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  70. Lots of variety, lots of fresh. Two or three veg at lunch and dinner, and even known to serve veg for breakfast! [Sweet potato hash browns? MMMmmmm]

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  71. we put fruits in yogurt, eat fruits for breakfast, and cook with lots of veggies, we use lots of seasoning to make the veggies taste good, and when all fails we turn to supplements.
    songyueyu at gmail

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  72. tweet http://twitter.com/#!/syytta/status/67153295470379008

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  73. I make sure we eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables and I keep plenty of healthy snack options on hand. I also limit sweets, sodas, fried foods and other junk food. My son has always loved all fruits and veggies so getting him to eat a healthy, varied diet has never been an issue.

    ReplyDelete
  74. trying to get my family to eat healthy has always been a struggle. i try to keep things mixed up so that they don't complain that they are getting to many veg., fruits etc. i make great smoothies and put a pkg. of 'greens to go' that supplies an entire day's worth of fruits and veg. It has no detectable flavor once it has been put into the smoothie, whereas if put into water and drank as the intended method, it has a nasty taste. Also, I use MANY of the tips given in the fabulous book by Jessica Seinfeld(jerry's wife)"Deceptively Delicious". It is a must-have book for the mom of fussy eaters. Thank you for entering me into our contest.

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  75. This is my 2nd post about how to keep my family healthy. As well as the first suggestions i had, a very important one that i forgot to include would be, don't be too pleased w/yourself at having accomplished sliding healthy foods into their diet w/o them knowing about it. I learned this the hard way, if too pleased w/myself, i tended to smirk or have a smile that they thought was to sly. then they start being suspicious and watch my preparations to carefully. better to just smile inside and know you are doing good lol.

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  76. I am so thankful that I have never had to hide the healthy foods in something my family likes better. Fresh fruit and veggies have always been a part of our meals and there are very few things my children didn't like (my daughter didn't like liver). In fact keeping fresh fruit available was sometimes a problem because they ate so much of it I kept running out.

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  77. Tweet - https://twitter.com/willitara/status/67499450368655360

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  78. I try to set a good example! I just serve healthy foods and figure that sooner or later the kids will eat them. We keep little junk food in the house, which helps because they do get hungry. My oldest daughter commented just yesterday that she loves black beans now, and can’t believe it took her so long to try them.

    ajolly1456 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  79. I blogged
    http://lunaj14568.blogspot.com/2011/05/tropicana-giveaways.html

    ajolly1456 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  80. I leave a veggie tray out with their favorite dips so that my family will snack on healthy food between meals.

    runningmatey at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  81. http://twitter.com/LuckyDuckyToo/status/67645594902073344

    runningmatey at hotmail dot com

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  82. http://twitter.com/#!/rteezgirl On my twitter page :)

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  83. My vegetarian daughter has helped us all out tremendously! She has cut out all soda and it has a way of rubbing off on the rest of us. So my son and Hubby both eat better as a result of her food choices.

    ReplyDelete
  84. I keep my family healthy by having them eat LOTS of Fruits and Vegetables. I get them to eat their Vegetables by seasoning them with good seasonings and herbs. Sometimes I will add a light cheese sauce to their vegetables. They LOVE Fruit, so it is never a problem to get them to eat it. I also buy Organic and Whole Grain Foods.

    aliaskys (at) yahoo . com
    Thank You! :)

    ReplyDelete
  85. When my kids were little, I always had juice to drink, pop was not allowed.

    marybug2@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  86. Tweeted here too

    http://twitter.com/#!/marybug2/status/67682667801489409

    marybug2 @ yahoo . com

    ReplyDelete
  87. We have a lot of variety in fruits and veggies in the house.
    Sometimes it’s easier to serve foods in a different way if your family doesn’t like them the way they are normally prepared. Cooked spinach- yuk, cooked spinach in cream sauce – double yuk! But put spinach leaves in a salad and that’s ok!
    Thanks for the giveaway!
    email in blogger profile.

    ReplyDelete
  88. tweet: http://twitter.com/js22222222/status/67702570998697984
    email in blogger profile.

    ReplyDelete
  89. I try to hide the veggies in the sauce.
    donna444444@yahoo.com

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  90. We grow our own veggies and the kids LOVE to make Super Duper Veggialious Soup! tracietrump@yahoo.cvom

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  91. We drink fruit smoothies and grill or roast veggies!

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  92. Tweet

    http://twitter.com/jillyrh/status/67838439202099202

    ReplyDelete