Baby Registry Must Have | Mombo nursing pillow | Sponsored

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Comfort and Harmony for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

So.

 

Not three months ago,
I was on a baby stuff buying bender.

 

I was just settling in to this life changing experience before me
and I had finally let down my guard and stepped foot into a Babies R Us to complete a registry.

 

As I was walking through the giant store of all things baby,
there were three products that completely baffled me.

 

Likely, I was baffled because most of these products 
require actual baby in tow
to know what REALLY works or not.

 

So when Comfort & Harmony (makers of mombo™)
reached out and asked me if I wanted to try a mombo™nursing pillow
I was totally all "yes" and "please"
because kindness is a good thing.

 

Fast forward a little bit and we all know how best laid plans
often don't work out.

 

So this will be a bit different kind of review.
I want to be up front with you that you will not get a review from my
bouncing bundle of joy on this product.

 

Instead, you will get a review from a mom-to-be
who is overwhelmed by all the registry choices on the market
who is willing to fork over the funds for "the best"
but really just wants some clue as to what "the best"
really is.
 

And who totally goes out and buys baby stuff
like nursing pillows
before baby is here
because I like to be prepared like that.

 

In short, this is a review for all of you Type A gals
who want a way to buy practical items
when you don't have all the pertinent facts in front of you.

I'll speak from a place of having bought
(via Craigslist and the Just Between Friends local sales)
my own versions of some of the other options on the market.
I'll tell you why I do (and don't) like the mombo™ I was sent
compared to the other  contenders
out on the market.

So here we go!

Here is the mombo™ that I received

 

Right off the bat,
all things considered,
I loved that it came
in a sturdy plastic cover
so that you can store it away
for next baby.

Love those velcro snaps.

Also,
I really liked the two sided design
that offered super support on one side
and could be flipped to be super soft on the other side.

That thee is the firm side.

Also, while baby may or may not love vibratory massage
I know *I* sure as heck loved inserting the removable massage "button"
and going to sleepy town with my mombo™.

It was soothing and helped me to get into the "relax, relate, release" zone
that I've panicked myself into while trying to figure out the nursing gig.

What didn't I like?
Well.

How do I say this?

I don't think I am huge.
Frankly, everyone says I'm looking mighty fine lately.

But the thing is that this infant nursing pillow
isn't for you to NURSE with 
(as in sit it on your lap comfortably and anchor it to your body)
if you have larger tatas OR a slightly larger girth.

I'm 5'11
(on a short day)
and wear a size 18.
Which, for a shorter girl would TOTALLY
zap the dual functionality of this pillow.
But at 5'11
with plenty of torso to spare,
it really felt kind of awkward
to try to adequately wrap the pillow and set up 
a proper "shelf" for baby to nurse on.

It would still work GREAT as a baby support 
(ie on the floor)
and the vibratory function still works great
even if you cannot wrap it totally around you.
And because the vibration unit is removable,
I'd honestly be happy getting this as a gift
for the baby support and vibration unit alone.

But if you need a nursing pillow specifically
and you're just a touch larger than me
an adjustable version would be awesome.

Just my "what's best for  mommy" opinion.

Be sure to like Comfort & Harmony on Facebook
and to follow Comfort & Harmony on Twitter.

Do you have a favorite nursing pillow?
What did you register for?

 

Oh Sweet Sleepy Time | ZzzQuil | Sponsored

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of ZzzQuil for SocialSpark. 

All opinions are 100% mine.

today
I am awake and alive

Yesterday
(and many days before)
I was not.

Awake that is.
Alive, I was.

Recently, the makers of Vicks NyQuil sent me a sample
of the liquid version of ZzzQuil.

I was down to try it
because not so long ago
I actually bought my better half
the pill version of ZzzQuil.

I was apprehensive about buying him sleeping pills
so I was looking for something a bit more natural
or at least something that was a known entity to me
in the scary "pill for everything" aisle at the grocery store.

That was when I first stumbled on ZzzQuil.
And when I started struggling to get a good night's sleep
it took everything in me to get one of those pills down.

Not because ZzzQuil is bad (I'm getting to that)
but because me and pills are bad.

I just psyche myself out and I can't get them down my throat.

So here comes liquid ZzzQuil to the rescue!

What I love about ZzzQuil is that it works. Fast.
Evidently, it's active ingredient diphenhydramine HCI
has something to do with that.

I'm no chemist (though I did get into Cornell as a wannabe geneticist)
so you'll have to look that up.

I also love love LOVE that it is in liquid form for me
and in pill form for him (LiquiCap® to be specific).

And of course I bought it because it said right on the package
that it is non-habit forming.
Heck, even 12 year olds can use it.
Which, of course, made me skeptical
that it would do the deed on my 6'6 better half.

And it did!

Which of course made me less skeptical about it working on me.

And it did!

There are about a million and one other things I loved as well.
For instance, nothing is more frustrating
than fighting your tamper proof med packaging
when you are sleep deprived.

The packaging was SUPER easy to hack into.
which is a good thing for me in my no-kid house.

It has the standard kid proof stuff too,
but not the Ft. Knox packaging I've experienced lately with, say,
my chewy prenatals
(that don't have enough iron in them because people who want to be moms
are not responsible enough to keep chewy iron filled candy looking meds away from their kids.
I digress...)

Just. Saying

ZzzQuil saved my butt.
I woke up refreshed
and a lot less angry
about the prenatal thing.

And a lot more ready for hot yoga.

Check out (and like) ZzzQuil on Facebook
and in real life
and tweet about your #ZzzQuilNight once you wake well rested.

Staining Made Simple & Backyard Sweepstakes | Sponsored

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Flood® Wood Care for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

 

Tis the time of year
where backyard prep is in full swing.

When we were looking for our next step up home,
one of the things I would have loved to have found
was a home with a wood deck.

My husband tried to talk me out of that
because of how difficult he figured it would be to stain said deck
year, after year.

Come to find out,
the Flood® Wood Care Staining Made Simple interactive selection guide
would have taken all of our worries away.

Check that.
It would have made it easy enough
for me to select,
pick up
and use products
that would have made the wood deck
no maintenance at all.

For him at least.

Which would have meant a wood deck for me.

Alas.
No wood deck.

But we DO have some awesome adirondack chairs
that we need to assemble.

Let me tell you.

Last year,
I got some Freecycle chairs
that I took apart
and painted
and then couldn't
FOR. THE. LIFE. of ME
put back together again.

So we went ahead and bought some
unfinished Adirondack chairs from Home Depot
(for a great price, google them)
and now I want to stain and finish those.

I love that the Flood® Wood Care Staining Made Simple guide
makes it super easy to plan out everything you need to stain a huge deck
or a simple set of adirondack chairs.

I walked through the guide and it's so easy to use.

Even in my severely sleep deprived state,
in a few simple steps,
I could pick out a lovely shade of Petwer Gray Solid Finish stain.
My walkthrough also suggested a cleaner for my project
and made it super easy to find my retailer of choice close to home.

Which means, in our case, we can get more chairs
and the stain all in one stop.

The best part of the widget though,
was the videos.

They are super quick snapshots
that show you how to use what you just bought.

Now THAT is awesome.

Right now,
they are running a 
Flood Better Backyard Sweepstakes.

You can enter for a chance to win
a $1,500 gift card or one of 12 $10 gift cards given away daily.

All you need to do is like Flood® Wood Care
on Facebook and share the sweepstakes for more entries.

Enter the Better Backyard Sweepstakes
and remember, the sweepstakes ends May 17, 2013.

Almost as good as winning the funds,
there are plenty of free tidbits from the goodlife
if you follow Flood Wood® Care on Twitter.

Just so you know, here's the lowdown on the legalese.

*NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.  Legal residents of the 50 United States (D.C.) 18 years and older.  Ends 5/17/2013.  To enter and for Official Rules, including odds, and prize descriptions visit http://goo.gl/CFN2U. Void where prohibited. This Sweepstakes is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to Sponsor and not to Facebook.     
 

Once I finish those chairs,
I think I might need to finally tackle my 
Woody Love Pinterest Board

 Here's a simple project from my Woody Love Board
I pinned via Centsational Girl
You will actually have to click through my Pinterest Board to get to the post.

And we actually need to tear up our carpet downstairs
and we're thinking of putting in hardwood floors.

Flood® Wood Care might actually make a project like this doable

I pinned that to my woody board via Houzz and 
it is by a+b kasha designs.

Just. Saying.

If you need inspiration for stainable projects, 
there are over 250 MOSTLY stainable
projects just on that one board alone.

That should keep you busy for a while.

Happy Summer!

 

10 Years New - Why Owning a New Home Has Rocked Our Boat | Sponsored

So.

Some of you know that 

when we purchased our home

we bought a Bank Owned property.

What some of you might have assumed

was that it was a used home and 

that we would be inheriting "issues"

from previous owners.

You know...things like paint choices, 

add ons that were super neat (but not built to code)

garden choices that didn't flow with our sustainable living choices.

Thing is.

Though we bought a Bank Owned home,

NO ONE had ever lived in our home.

It was brand new construction built to semi-custom specs.

And the home we sold to move in to our current home?

That one was new NEW construction.  

The kind where you get to tell the builder what color tile or carpet you want

and where to put the stairs.

Given a choice, here are two things I would always choose:

Buying a home over renting a home (more on that in a second)

Building a new home over buying a pre-owned home.

I know you might tend to think that in this market of freely available homes

(which is actually NOT the case in my neighborhood, there is actually a lack of supply)

that building yet another home isn't environmentally friendly.

But here are three ways in which going newly built IS more green than you might have thought:

1. Newly built homes are more energy efficient.

     Here in the PNW, that really matters.
From what I've seen,
newly built homes give you the option to do the obvious
(like choose specific products you want used in construction)
 AND it gives you the option to think outside of the box
for instance, choosing your window size and placement
really matters for energy efficiency.  

2. Newly built homes can be personalized to fit your needs.

Rather than bringing in heavy machinery after the fact
(and impacting your neighborhood vegetation)
to add on additions or replace/repair aspects
of your pre-owned home to fit your needs,
you can be thoughtful about your needs and build to suit.
When you are building it all at once, budget, size and scope
often get people to scale back their wants
to a realistic set of needs and that is totally green.

3. Newly built homes save you time and money...

And they save on world resources.
Usually, for home ownership, when we spend money on our homes,
it is on products for home improvement.
Especially when you live in a house that NEEDS improvement
vs a house that you WANT to just tweak a bit.
All to say that there is a big difference in the supply chain involved
for products like bolts screws and studs (more likely to come from other countries)
than for products like paint and garden plants (which might even be locally available).
It is green to put less of a drain on diesel and oil
and all of the other resources necessary
to get you the home improvement products
you might need to make your already almost perfect house
your own with a newly built home.

These are just some of my own ideas about why I love owning a new home.

Overall, I love owning a home instead of renting a place to stay because,

well,

because I love having a piece of this world that I can share that is all me.

Homeownership was daunting at first.
Actual home purchasing even moreso.

If you want to know more about Buying New,
Check out Start Fresh, Buy New's website.

Even if you don't want to know more about Buying New,

I bet you want to test your knowledge about
Buying New with a shot at winning $10,000.
So get on that already.

But almost 5 years removed from my most recent home purchase
(but not that many months removed from a refinance)
I can say homeownership
of a new home
has been the best adult decision of my life.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Things I miss | Dollar General Shopping Sprees (Sponsored)

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Dollar General for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

 

You know it is rough times
when your thoughts about "going home"
primarily revolve around
the stores you would shop in
and the restaurants you would eat at.

So is it a problem that when I think about
going home to El Paso, TX
most of my thoughts revolve around
eating at Chicos Tacos
and shopping at the Dollar General?

Back in the day,
the Dollar General
was where I would go
to stock up for the annual house move.

What? You didn't move apartments/homes
every year at tax time?
Overshare much?

In any event,
with $20 in your pocket,
you could set up your kitchen and your bathroom
and pick up a few really cool other things too.

What I never DID know
was that you could also get 
styled pretty there.

I mean, I knew you could buy toiletries and even makeup.
But I didn't know you could buy some of the hottest fashion trends around.

I think I did create a baby basket
full of goods from Dollar General
so I think I knew that they had
cute baby goods.

But as summer comes around
and I find myself dressing in really simple
shifts and the like, I really don't feel like
I need to pay $50 for a jersey knit maxi dress.

And I definitely don't need to pay $90 for the cute bracelets and earrings
that would take that simple dress to simply stunning.

This, my friends, is where the Dollar General Apparel Book comes in.

(HInt, if you don't have a DG in your neck of the woods,
get a peek at the book by typing in 79924).

Leaving the short dress and the hat behind,
I'd totally buy everything else on this page.
I even have the perfect sweater to make that maxi dress work ready.
Those cute socks are to die for.

The rest of it would be great
for yoga class
or gardening.

Speaking of yoga class
(Hatha Hot Yoga and Yin Hot Yoga...that's a post for another time)

$8 Yoga capri pants
and $6 - $8 performance bras and tees
are prices I could layer on with abandon.

Yes.
I have to layer my performance bras and tees.
TMI?
Not.

But even those super cute
jean looking knit capris in fun colors.

Those would work with my curves AND the colors can not be beat.

I could stop there.
But why?

Before Yoga, I thought I was going to take up swimming again.
With a $16 swimsuit, I could totally afford some flippers and goggles.

And do you spy what I spy?
That $5 Missoni-ish iphone case?
It, alone, would ALMOST be worth 
spending the points to get home and buy it.

Just. Saying.

You should totally like Dollar General on Facebook and follow Dollar General on Twitter.

Clearly, they are splashing out with pops of color
and awesomeness
that can't be missed.