Do you have a great invention, business or service idea that just hasn´t come to fruitation yet? Or are you an expert at whipping up unique last minute meals? Then have I got a couple of great contests for you!

Contest #1: The Mother of Invention

Whirlpool is looking for moms with great ideas. If you haven´t been able to get your business or invention off the ground because you just don´t have the cash, this could be an excellent opportunity for you. Prizes include the following:

• A $20,000 grant for the winner
• $24,000 for the 4 runners up
• Whirlpool appliances
• An invitation to a boot camp where you will receive guidance from Whirlpool and industry experts

To make things even better, Whirlpool has added a special category for green inventions or businesses this year, so jump on in if you have an environmentally friendly idea! You can learn more about this contest here.

Contest #2: Let´s Eat In

Whirlpool has also teamed up with Newman´s Own to create this fun recipe contest, which is sponsored by the Food Network. What mom doesn´t have a few quick recipes up her sleeve? Well, now you can put them to good use and maybe even get a full Whirlpool brand kitchen of appliances out of the deal, plus a year´s worth of Newman´s Own products.

Even if you aren´t interested in entering the contest, I would encourage you to check out the Let´s Eat In website, as it features some great tips on speeding up dinner, as well as some recipes. You will also find the details of the contest at that site.

Both contests end on July 31st, so you have just over a month to enter your ideas. If you win, be sure to let me know and we can organize an interview! Good luck, moms!

Thank you to all participants, this contest is now closed.

Whether you work at home or not, safety should be a major concern and fire is definitely one of the most common reasons homes are destroyed. Not only that, but carbon monoxide, a virtually undetectable gas can pose a threat to your family. This is especially true if you live in a well-sealed home that doesn´t have much fresh air creeping in.

I recently had a chance to try out the new HomeHero 2-in-1 Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm. This really interested me because it doesn´t look like the average alarm and it also talks.

When I received the alarm, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it comes packaged with batteries . . . novel idea, right? And it´s sleek look would blend in with any normal ceiling. I happen to have a tin roof at the moment, but it still makes the place look nicer.

We tested the alarm when my husband decided to cook. He always has clouds of smoke going up as he cooks steaks on the gas stove. So, it wasn´t really a surprise when I heard the ear-piercing squeal of the fire alarm! But the HomeHero has something else that makes it different from regular fire alarms . . . it tells you what to do. It will also let you know what the threat is, fire or carbon monoxide. And, my favorite part . . . it offers these instructions in English and Spanish, which is very handy since I live in Guatemala and my husband speaks only Spanish!

To tell you the truth, we didn´t have a fire alarm before this, which is a very bad idea. Too many people leave their homes unprotected and it can take a major disaster or even death to get them to start using smoke alarms. So, if you don´t have smoke alarms or yours aren´t working, please consider protecting your home and family.

You can find HomeHero fire/carbon monoxide alarms at your local Home Depot. HomeHero also makes a handy kitchen-size fire extinguisher for when your hubby burns the roast.

Interested in getting a free alarm? Well, I just happen to have one to give away! Leave a comment on this post and next Wednesday, the 11th, I´ll be randomly selecting one commenter to receive a free HomeHero 2-in-1 alarm. The contest is open to anyone in North or South America.

Congrats to Dede of dmx Ready, she´s won the second copy of the FruitfulTime Organizational Software. If you´re interested in picking up your very own copy, you can still stop by the FruitfulTime website and buy it yourself.

For anyone who missed it, you can read my review of this time management software here.

First of all, congrats to Kelly for winning the first round of the Organize Your To Do List Contest! She gets a free full copy of the FruitfulTime Task Management software!

But . . . I have TWO copies to give away, so that means I still have one left. So, since we didn´t have many participants this time around (I´m blaming Easter and Lent), I´m extending this contest for another two weeks.

It´s very simple to enter. All you need to do is go to the FruitfulTime website and download the free trial. Try it out for a few days and then post a review on your blog about your experience, linking to both the contest page and the FruitfulTime website. Post a comment below to let me know that you´ve entered and two weeks from now, I´ll draw a name for the second round.

I make lots of lists. In fact, I´m an expert list maker. But something always happens and they don´t get finished or I lose the list (or my son rips it to shreds) and in the end, my lists aren´t much use at all.

Recently, I had the chance to try out a relatively new task management software. To tell you the truth, I´ve tried this type of thing before and it is either WAY too complicated or just hard to figure out, so most task management programs get deleted pretty quickly from my hard drive. Not like a busy work at home mom needs yet another thing to take up time!

The FruitfulTime Task Management software is basically a to do list program. It´s very easy to use, which actually surprised me. But though it´s fairly simple to figure out, there are still a lot of features available that make your to do lists more organized.

Features I Liked

• Tags. You can select one of three pre-existing tags (Work, Personal, or Leisure) or add your own. This lets you filter your to do list by type. For example, if you want, you can have only the work-related tasks appear.

•  Subtasks. In the upper half of the screen, you have your tasks, such as “Write Blogs”. In the lower half, you can add subtasks, like “Las Vegas blog, At Home Mom”, etc. Very nice to break things down.

• Priority by color. Though this takes a minute to get the hang of, you can prioritize your tasks and subtasks as high, medium or low and they are assigned the appropriate color, making it easy to see at a glance what you need to finish first.

• Progress bar. Have a task that is going to take you all day long? Split it into subtasks and then mark your progress on the progress bar, where a green line tells you how far along you are. This could be very encouraging if you are stuck on one job all day.

• Due dates and alerts. This is a VERY handy feature for freelancers or anyone who works under a deadline. Let´s say an article assignment comes in, but it´s not due for another couple of weeks. You put it in your FruitfulTime to do list and set an alert . . . then forget about it. You´ll be reminded a day, three days or whenever you set the alert for. You can work on other projects and not have to worry that you´ll accidentally forget your assignment.

There are plenty of other features in this to do list software, but you´ll be surprised at it´s simplicity. The format isn´t especially pretty, but it definitely gets the job done and since this is on your desktop, it can really be a handy way to keep track of your complicated to do lists.

Now for the best part . . .

How YOU Can Win Your Very Own Copy!

All you need to do is go to the FruitfulTime website and download the free trial. Try it out for a week or so and then post a review on your blog about your experience, linking to both this contest page and the FruitfulTime website. Post a comment below to let me know that you´ve entered and two weeks from now on March 20th, TWO names will be drawn randomly to receive a free copy of the FruitfulTime task management software.

If you don´t have a blog, not a problem, just write your review in the comments . . . but don´t forget to leave a way to contact you!