Friday, February 18, 2011

Bright Starts Giveaway over at Mom to bed by 8!

Mom to bed by 8 is hosting a fantastic giveaway on her blog! It's a Bright Starts Ingenuity Sleep Easy play yard. They are great to have when you have a small baby or very young toddler- for sleep and play! Ends 3/18, enter here.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Yay! Having a good day :)

Today I am assembling a new floor steamer I purchased from Amazon. With two little boys, I worry about using harsh chemicals, let alone the time consuming nature of a bucket and mop and allowing the floor to dry.

A little over a year ago, we purchased our first steam mom, the Shark mop. It worked fairly well, but I really dislike dealing with velcro on the pads, and the staining not coming out of the microfiber in the wash. It was working fine until recently, when I slightly overfilled it, figured it was ok, because I've done it a time or two. This time, not so much. I plugged it in for the preheat, and I heard a big crack and boom noise, and steam started escaping around the water chamber. Ooops. The Shark is now dead.

I didn't do any research before buying the Shark, I just happened to be looking for a new vacuum cleaner at Wal-Mart and saw the shark for around $60, so I decided to give it a go. This time around, I did a little more research and checked reviews and ratings. I decided to go with the Eureka EnviroSteamer this time around, because it had great reviews and features (high steam temp, non microfiber cleaning pads) that I loved. I'm hoping this holds up longer and works well for us. I really don't enjoy mopping the floor, but filling a steam mop with water and plugging it in is so much easier for us.

Along with the new steam mop, I ordered Toy Story 3 on DVD for my boys (paid only $8.99!!) to complete our collection with all 3 of the series. Several months back, we cut back from our "economy" cable package that was around $30 a month to a very basic package with local channels only. So with tv, we have very limited options when it comes to tv programming. We've been using Netflix for over a year with our Xbox360, and it's the only reason we were able to comfortable cut down our cable bill. Lately though, I've been really tired from staying up late (10:30 pm and later) just to catch our "shows" on tv as they air opposed to trying to watch it on a small laptop screen at a later date.

With all of that in mind, today we decided to take the plunge and order a Roku XD. It's the midline model, but it's capable of streaming Hulu Plus to your tv (yipee!!) so we can now catch up on our shows without having to stay up late just to catch them. We had it sent overnight through Amazon, so it will be here tomorrow. I was thinking we'd go out to buy it opposed to wait for shipping, but I actually SAVED $16 dollars by ordering it online. What a crock! lol.

Either way, I am excited to wash the floors today, watch Toy Story 3 with my children this weekend, and catch up on some tv with the Roku with my husband this weekend. It feels like a great day- did I mention it was 48 degrees out??? It's February! I am just in a great mood today.

***This is an opinion post, a regular posting as any of my others. This was not a review post, I was not compensated or hired in any way by any company. The opinions expressed are 100% my own, and not prompted or compensated.***

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day & Update

It's been a little over a month since I last posted. I've been a little scattered lately, and not feeling too well, so my posts have been declining. Hopefully that will start to get better soon! I now have 10 followers, and that is exciting! I remember having just my husband and 1 other follower. 10 is a good start!

Saturday was a crazy day for us. While we were getting the tires on our car replaced, we decided to take the boys for their very first haircut (19 months old!) They did amazing! No crying, not even a whole lot of wiggling. I was so proud of them yet very sad to see their beautiful soft hair get cut off. I did save a lock of each of their hair so that I could put it into their baby books. I'm so proud of my big boys!

Today I am 13 weeks pregnant with our third child! We're really excited about this baby. I heard the heartbeat a week ago and it was AMAZING. I can't wait to meet the little guy or gal growing in there! As excited as I am though, I feel really sluggish and not so good. Tired, but happy. 

With Valentine's Day being today, I decided to make a special treat for the kids and my hubby. Red velvet cake from scratch (icing too!), along with cooking a nice dinner and cleaning the house up nicely. Also working on a Valentine for Daddy from his boys. 

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Funny thing is I started this post at probably about 10 am. It's now 6:40 pm, and I'm really not surprised that it's taken this long, lol. Between household chores, child care, and trying to bake a cake, I'm amazed I've gotten this much of the post written. Have a great Valentine's Day night all!