Product Reviews

Just Say No {Gabby Moms}

by jen.

I thought I had the intentional living thing down as far as my schedule was concerned. I don’t have my 4 year old in any regular activities. The only thing we have scheduled is my Monday mom’s group because it helps keep me sane. We don’t run all over on play dates — there is PLENTY of unstructured free time.

So this month, I decided to undergo a self-imposed no-spend challenge. Between Christmas, our vacation & lack of good record keeping, I wanted to have a better idea of where we were financially. It’s hard to catch up when you are adding to the problem . As a result, we haven’t gone out much. I mean, why bother? I can’t spend anything anyway.

Whilst, and at the same time this started (Muppets anyone?), I got an MP3 of Just Say No as part of the Gabby Mom’s program. Can you say brick? She said something that really struck me. She said that her husband told her to cut one of the co-ops, something she wouldn’t have even thought of being unnecessary. And it really got me thinking.

I realized that I’m not as good about being intentional with my time as I thought. In addition to spending money, I’ve been spending tons of time. Now that I’m not spending my time at a store, the house is clean & neat. As clean and neat as it can be with a one year old, anyway . I don’t yell as much. I guide more. I’ve done homeschool work or fun projects with my daughter almost everyday. I’ve even been to the gym and we are getting rid of the cable AGAIN on Monday.

I seem to have found a natural rhythm to my days. I get up, eat, clean & shower (yes, usually in that order). We eat lunch. Itty bitty goes down for a nap. Lil’ Bit does school. Baby gets up and a little while later they are playing quietly together. I say my Rosary and then get a 10 minute cat nap. Then we read and play together until daddy gets home. It’s truly peaceful.

Do you crave more peace in your day? Check out Eternal Encouragement for resources like “Just Say No.”

Disclaimer: This post was written as part of the Gabby Mom Blogger program. I received a copy of the MP3 recording in exchange for an honest post. As always, all opinions are my own.

Resolutions 2012 Update & Inspiration

Jan 30th, 2012

by jen.

5 comments

So as you might remember, I had several New Year’s resolutions. All good things and I even broke it down to 3 a month so I didn’t get overwhelmed.

Well, this month my goals were:

Use my hubby’s love languages more.
Say a morning offering every single day.
Set a budget.

I’ve done better in my hubby’s love languages, though I still have room for improvement. I said a morning offering every day even if I didn’t remember until 6pm (ahem). Setting the budget didn’t go quite as well, but I made significant strides toward getting that back under control. Our finances are a confusing mess of transfers between accounts, automatic payments, recurring saving for big ticket expenses (like insurance) and so despite my extreme distaste for Intuit (long story), I bought the newest version of Quicken.

I continue to struggle with wanting to do it all at once — I even signed up for a Titus 2 class that runs for 9 months. I find, though, that since it wasn’t part of my baby steps plan, it kind of sits at the wayside. I need my encouragement in small bite-sized god-puffs. They are kind of like God-Breezes (a la Flylady), except super small and quick. But they stick in my craw.

I get them in various places — random blog posts, tweets, facebook posts, priests sermons, and talks at my mom’s group. One of my favorite inspirations comes from a newsletter I get from Eternal Encouragement. Every week I get something new. One week it was about being the best whatever I’m doing. Right now, I’m being the best blogger I can be. When I’m with my kids, I need to be the best mom. When I’m cooking, I need to be the best cook. Another week, it was about listening to God — I think it made the point about listening for God’s whisper so you don’t get hit with a brick. I’m always getting hit with bricks . And once it was about interruptions and I’m always frustrated with interruptions so that really helped, too. If you are in need of some bite-sized inspiration, visit Eternal Encouragement and sign up for their newsletter.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Disclaimer: This post was written as a part of the Gabby Mom’s review program by Eternal Encouragement magazine.

Dr. Seuss eBook Apps {Product Review}

Jul 20th, 2011

by admin.

No comments yet

We seem to spend a fair amount of time waiting. Waiting to see the doctor. Waiting for dad to run up to his office to get or drop off something. Waiting for mom to run into a store. And sometimes the girls just aren’t in the mood.

It’s nice to have an iPhone that Lil’ Bit can play games on, but playing too many games has an effect on her behavior–and not a good one! I’ve often considered children’s e-books but could never find ones I liked for a good price.

Then I discovered Oceanhouse Media’s omBooks(tm). Oceanhouse Media is a publisher of children’s ebook apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad & Android. They have tons of children’s omBooks and release new ones all the time.

I was sent codes to test out 3 Dr.Seuss titles: Fox in Sox, ABC & Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? The omBooks each had 3 options for reading — AutoPlay, Read To Me & Read It Myself. I used the AutoPlay feature on Mr. Brown with my (almost) 10 month old and she even she likes them! With parental interaction, of course . My other daughter is almost to the point where we are going to start learning to read and I’m sure that seeing the words highlighted in the Read To Me feature will help with that.

Each book was exactly as Dr. Seuss wrote it with the original pictures and illustrations. Not only are they authentic (I hate cheap knock offs) but you can tap word or pictures and it will show AND say the word. I believe that they were even READ how Dr. Seuss would have liked. The only thing that I didn’t like about the apps is that they were a little slow on my smaller, older iPhone 3GS.

Oceanhouse Media has many Dr. Seuss & Berenstein Bears titles, as well as Little Critter, Five Monkeys and more! I will be buying more titles (probably on my husband’s phone, too, so we both have some). When we get our iPad, we will be adding titles to that for schoolwork to mix it up a bit. These would be a great help for using technology to help strengthen reading skills.

Buy It!

Check out all their titles at www.oceanhousemedia.com. If you have an Apple product, you can purchase omBooks from the AppStore. if you have an Android, you can go to the Amazon AppStore. Most books are around $3.99 and you can get free samples of several books for free to try them out. Check them out today!

{CLOSED} Review & Giveaway – Baby Bond Nursing Cover

May 28th, 2011

by admin.

86 comments

BabyBond(TM) is the maker of nursing covers that cover mom, not her baby, while maintaining modesty. The baby remains in view and is able to make eye contact, interact and communicate with mom and others nearby. Knowing how important these interactions are to cognitive and language development, Missy, the creator, designed these to make the nursing lifestyle discrete and easy.

I am a fairly comfortable nurser. I have always whipped it out wherever & whenever to nurse . I’m also fairly good at keeping pretty well covered. While I have a few items of nursing clothing now, in the beginning I tried to get by with normal clothing. It worked okay and certain dresses would allow me to nurse, but would expose a little more than I prefer (i.e. The whole breast). The BabyBond(TM) Couture is the perfect solution to the problem!

The other problem I have is that when I pull up my normal (non-nursing) shirt to nurse, my belly is exposed. The baby covers most of it from the view of others but sometimes it’s cold. Besides, no one needs to see my pasty white post-baby pudge. Ahem. The BabyBond(TM) Couture solves both these issues; it acts as a nursing “cover” and a belly-band like cover.

PROS:

It is light-weight.
It folds neatly into it’s own compact pouch.
It also has a large tag on the cover itself with illustrations of how to wear both ways.
It has no size & is big enough to fit most. It was plenty big on me & I wear a 10.
Comes in all the neutral colors plus teal so that it will come in a flattering color to everyone.
It makes all clothing discrete for nursing anywhere you wish.
It’s made in the USA!!!

CONS:

It is not going to be quick for putting on to feed a crying baby–you almost need two hands to properly adjust the fabric for good coverage.
It has the same ‘gaping around the breast’ problem that nursing tops have.
Though they bill it as acting as a belly band, I don’t think it will keep your pants up.

Buy It

You can buy BabyBond nursing covers at their website http://www.babybondnursing.com or at . Use code HLH at checkout to get 25% off.

Win It

BabyBond has graciously agreed to give a BabyBond nursing cover to one of my readers. You can choose from any in stock BabyBond nursing cover and they will even ship worldwide!! To win, simply leave a comment telling me if you use nursing clothes, regular clothes or both. The giveaway is open to and ends at midnight Saturday, June 11, 2011.

You can also earn bonus entries for the following:

Subscribe to my feed via RSS or email (leave a comment telling me you are a subscriber)
Subscribe to my other website Happy Homemaker Reviews via RSS and find out about other tips, deals & reviews to save you time, money & sanity. (Leave a comment here letting me know you’ve done so.)
Follow @BabyBond on twitter (leave a comment with your twitter handle)
Follow me (@HappyLHomemaker) on Twitter (leave another comment with your twitter handle)
Like BabyBond on Facebook (leave a comment telling me you’ve done so)
Blog about this contest (leave a comment with link)
Tweet about this contest (limit one tweet per day – leave comment with link to the tweet)

Win a BabyBond Nursing cover from @HappyLHomemaker and @BabyBond. Nurse. Converse. Bond. Ends 6/11/11! http://bit.ly/lTPIfS

Good luck!

Disclaimer: I received this product from the sponsor in order to write a review & giveaway. I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com created by WebBizIdeas.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

{Closed} Mind Organization for Moms Review & Giveaway!

Mar 26th, 2011

by jen.

38 comments

Back in the day before I was “just a mom,” I was a career woman like most others. In addition to doing my normal duties at work, I was obsessed with personal productivity and doing the best I could do at everything. I fell in love with David Allen’s Getting Things Done and used it to be able to deal with the massive volume of tasks that my bosses kept adding to my workload. I loved it!

When I made the career switch to mom, I was devastated. I couldn’t get it together. I couldn’t figure out how to do stuff and care for an infant who was ALWAYS on my breast. So I didn’t do much of anything. Once she got older and I learned more about her and babies in general, it got better, but I missed my days of Getting Things Done! I tried Flylady and SHE and other systems but none of them really worked for me.

That is, until I found Mind Organization for Moms. I read about it on a blog and was ecstatic to find someone who had taken the beauty that is Getting Things Done ™ and created a how-to guide for mom’s! It had been so long since I used GTD that I just didn’t have the energy or brain power to figure out how to do it myself. The ladies at The Power of Moms have laid out every step of the GTD system to work for busy moms, from having a single inbox, to managing your paper & even how to work on projects, which has changed. My. Life. Seriously. In fact, I was so blown away by what seems like a simple idea, that my husband laughed at me. It never occurred to me to handle projects the way she suggested. That one tip alone was well worth the $40 program cost. Especially since I can’t have my projects out all over the place while trying to sell the house!

She says that setting aside a few days to make it a priority works best, but with a 4 month old & a 3 year old, that wasn’t going to happen. I took a little over a week, slowly working through each section to make it work for me. I made one $90 investment on drawers because it fixed the most broken part of my existing system and I wanted something functional AND pretty for a change. Technically speaking, I really already had EVERYTHING I needed, I just wasn’t using it to the best of its ability.

The full Mind Organization for Moms program includes:

1. The Short N Sweet overview – a short, 20+ page ebook that shows you the whole plan–start to finish, complete with diagrams, checklists, a shopping list, and the basic instructions.

2. The Complete Everything-You-Wanted-To-Know ebook – over 80 detailed pages that walk you through putting the system together.

3. An expandable online version of the full program – in case you want quicker access to the pieces that most matter to you.

4. Access to the Mind Organization for Moms Sharing Center – where moms share how THEY have put together the system & resources for using it.

5. Complete Access to the Q&A system

6. Email Support

7. A monthly e-newsletter.

8. Discounts on future M.O.M. products.

This is a fabulous program that has given me more control AND peace over my many projects and we are giving one away! To enter, just leave a comment letting me know why you need to be organized. This entry is REQUIRED before doing any extra entries!

Extra Entries:

Follow @PowerOfMoms on twitter (leave a comment with your twitter handle)
Follow me (@HappyLHomemaker) on Twitter (leave another comment with your twitter handle)
Subscribe to my feed via RSS or email (leave a comment telling me you are a subscriber)
Like Power of Moms on Facebook (leave a comment telling me you’ve done so)
Join the Power of Moms site (3 entries – leave 3 comments please)
Blog about this contest (leave a comment with link)
Tweet about this contest (limit one tweet per day – leave comment with link to the tweet)

“Enter to win access to Mind Organization for Moms from @HappyLHomemaker and @PowerOfMoms! http://bit.ly/fRmNvs #giveaway”

This giveaway will end at midnight on Saturday, April 9, 2011. Please be sure you include an email address either in your entry or profile so I have a way to contact you if you win.

Good luck!