Tiffany Merritt - Stuff Parents Need

10 Foods that Make Me Happy

April 30, 2010 · by Tiffany Merritt · 4 Comments

Special thanks to Mary Allison, blogger at The Makeshift Revolution (which happens to be the best new blog of the year, in my humble opinion) for giving me the Happy 101 Award. The rules are simple…I need to tell you about 10 things that make me happy. I’ve decided to make it all food-related, since that’s a large percentage of the things that make me happy in life, anyway!

1. Sticky rice with mango. My mother-in-law introduced me to this out-of-this-world Thai dessert. We used to make it ourselves at home, but then we ran out of sticky rice and have yet to find more in Memphis. Until last night. We got to go out on our first date in months (thanks, Crissy and Stash!) and we went to Jasmine, a fabulous jewel of a restaurant that we somehow missed until now. And we had sticky rice with mango. And I just about died from the joy of it.

2. French onion soup. But it has to be done right. I want it in a beautiful dish with loads of yummy cheese on top and the onions cooked just so. This is something that I have never been successful at creating at home, but on occasion I can find it at a restaurant and I love it!

3. Big fat yeast rolls, smothered in honey butter. I used to eat these at a restaurant named Quincy’s in the area where I grew up. It isn’t there anymore, but oh man I remember those big fat yeast rolls. Their commercials had dancing yeast rolls (at least that’s how I’m remembering it).

4. Ben’s cookies. When I studied in Oxford for a summer I would go every single day after classes and get a cookie. I remember that they were pricey. I also remember that I gained 10 pounds that summer. Totally worth it. If I could order them and have them shipped to the states, I would. And I’m cheap, so that should tell you something.

5. Boiled peanuts. I can understand why anyone who wasn’t raised on these would think that they are slimy and gross, but I could eat my weight in boiled peanuts in one sitting.

6. Peanut M&M’s. Leslie and I ate an entire bag of these in one sitting once in college. The big bag.

7. Macaroni Grill. Hands down the best Italian food chain restaurant out there!

8. Dairy Queen chicken sandwich. It’s been a few years since I’ve had one of these, but holy crap they are delicious! So are DQ fries, by the way.

9. Andes mints. The perfect size. The perfect flavor. If you ever visit my house, leave one on my pillow and you will make my week!

10. Lane cake. This was the specialty of my mother’s mother, and it is still the cake of choice for me on my birthday. Whiskey in the frosting? Yes, please!

What about you? What do you like to eat???

Who Knew Going Green Could Be So Lovely? (Reusable Bag GIVEAWAY!)

April 29, 2010 · by Tiffany Merritt · 122 Comments

EDIT: Giveaway CLOSED!

I consider myself to be an eco-friendly gal. I’ve greened my cleaning products, many of my personal care items, and even some of the food choices I make. But there’s one area where I have failed. I bring my lunch to work almost every single day. While bringing my lunch is very wallet-friendly and arguably good for the environment since I’m not motoring all over town to find some fast food, I make a crucial error when it comes to how I transport the food.

Almost every single day, I use plastic sandwich bags. And I don’t wash them and re-use them. I just throw them away. Frankly, I didn’t give that habit much thought at all until recently. But I realize now that I’m being totally inconsistent by breaking out my reusable totes for every grocery trip, where I proceed to buy more plastic bags to use and throw away.

There is another option, I am pleased to say. Did you know that reusable snack and sandwich bags are available? And even better, they are really cute! Bleu Roo is a shop that has the cutest reusable snack bags that you’ve ever seen!

Amanda is the brains behind Bleu Roo, where she combines a love of the environment with her crafty skills and her embroidery techniques! She sent me a reusable snack bag to try out, and I’ve been toting it with me to work every day since. The outside is a cotton and the inside is a waterproof and stain resistant nylon. The bag secures with velcro. I have already washed the bag after using it for my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and it held up beautifully in the wash. It also line-dried very quickly. The bags are large at 8×8, so they can hold enough food for kids and adults, alike. Overall, I found these snack bags to be excellent, and I only wish I had tried them out sooner!

Bleu Roo offers so many beautiful items. I’ve put the hand embroidered snack bag on my wish list for Mother’s Day, birthday or Christmas, and I also love the personalized totes that Amanda offers.

Buy It!: If you use ziploc bags for your own lunches or for your kids lunches, consider making the switch to reusable bags. They are so much more attractive than plastic, and they will pay for themselves in just a few months. Bleu Roo has a beautiful selection with prices starting at just $5.50!

Win It!: Bleu Roo is spreading the love by offering one lucky Stuff Parents Need reader one plain snack bag AND one embroidered snack bag of your choice so that you can go green in style! The contest will run until Sunday, May 9th at 7:59pm CST. A winner will be randomly selected and emailed, and will have 48 hours to claim their prize. Open to residents of the United States. Be sure to leave your email address in your comments or have it in your profile or else I can’t contact you to tell you that you won!

How to Enter:

Mandatory entry: Tell me the embroidered snack bag you want if you win (choose wisely, as this will be your bag if your number is drawn!)

Additional entries:

current giveaways: Hen and Chicks cloth diaper (ends 4/30), Sugar Free Allstars children’s cd (ends 5/4), MAM pacifiers (ends 05/07)
Disclosure: I received a product sample for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Do We Like Pacifiers? Yes MAM! (GIVEAWAY!!!)

April 27, 2010 · by Tiffany Merritt · 108 Comments

EDIT: Giveaway CLOSED!

Before Darah was born I didn’t think we would use a pacifier very much. I didn’t want to risk nipple confusion when she was a newborn, and I also didn’t want to have to deal with taking it away from her later.

BUT…..
My little one had a strong need to suck on something from the onset. Here you will see our solution for the first two weeks of her life…our fingers! That was cute for a minute, but then got old. After her 2 week checkup, we were given the green light for pacifiers. We had a couple of different brands for her to try out, but there was one very clear winner: MAM.

Darah has been loyal to MAM pacifiers since the first day she tried one. She spits out every other binky out there, even the one that I thought might have almost identical shapes. They must not, because Darah can clearly tell the difference. Can I tell you how awesome it is that the MAM website has a store locator on its site? We’ve used that during an emergency missing pacifier crisis!

So what makes MAM pacifiers so great? From their literature, “MAM pacifiers have been developed in partnership with internationally known pediatricians, orthodontists and pediatric dentists. The exclusive MAM shield has a unique system of large ventilation holes and a patented raised pattern of dimples that reduce skin irritation by not allowing saliva to be trapped against the skin. MAM nipples are extra soft and ventilated to adapt naturally to your baby’s sucking action. MAM nipples are symmetrical so there’s no danger of them being used upside down. The concave shield is contoured to conform to your baby’s face. It pulls gently inwards as your baby sucks to encourage the healthy development of teeth and jaw.”

In short, there are many different things that make MAM pacifiers a great choice, not the least of which, for me, is that my child absolutely adores them and can spot an imposter a mile away!

MAM has an amazing selection of pacifiers for different ages, stages /fashion needs! Darah likes their 2+ month pacifiers, and even as an 8 month old, she prefers them to the 6+ month models, although she’s slowly warming up to the larger ones now. She has every MAM Pearl that we have been able to find in the stores. MAM Pearls are a great option because they have really pretty colors and designs on them, so it is easy to make sure the pacifier coordinates with the outfit, if that is something that matters to you (check her out, here, at 3 months old rockin’ the head-to-toe pink and white look!).
After contacting MAM to tell them that we had their biggest fan living at our house, I learned that they had some options that we had never even seen. I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit how thrilled I was to learn about this. What can I say, pacifiers have become really important in my house, and to learn that the only brand my daughter will accept has some models that we don’t have was awesome news, and I wanted to get my hands on them ASAP! MAM sent me those models, and no surprise, they are much loved.
First, let me tell you about the MAM Night. It glows in the dark! I cannot tell you in strong enough terms how much we love this pacifier. The glow holds for several hours, so that when she wakes up in the middle of the night and can’t find her binky, we can easily locate it for her! I was worried, at first, that it would be so bright that it would keep her awake. But that has not been the case. At this point, she doesn’t seem very curious about the fact that it glows, and goes right to sleep with it just as she does with her other pacifiers. This is a huge hit at our house, and I have no idea why our local stores aren’t carrying it!
The second model we got was the MAM Soft. The outside edges of the pacifier are made of silicone, which makes it good for the skin. More importantly, however, it makes for a terrific chew toy for teething babies! Darah absolutely loves to take her MAM Soft out of her mouth, chew on the edges, and then go back to sucking on the binky. We don’t give her this one at night time because she plays with it so much, but it gets used frequently during the day.

Buy It!: MAM products are available nationwide at places like Target and Rite Aid, just to name a few. Give MAM a try…the odds are good that what they offer will be a huge hit with both you and your baby!

Win It!: MAM would like to offer one lucky Stuff Parents Need reader 3 sets of pacifiers in your choice of size and style! Awesome! The contest will run until Friday, May 7th at 7:59pm CST. A winner will be randomly selected and emailed, and will have 48 hours to claim their prize. Open to residents of the United States. Be sure to leave your email address in your comments or have it in your profile or else I can’t contact you to tell you that you won!

How to Enter:

Mandatory entry: Tell me one thing you learned about MAM when checking out their website!

Additional entries:

1. Subscribe to my blog via RSS or email (one extra entry total, even if you subscribe both ways)
2. Follow me through Google Friend Connect
3. Put my button on your blog (leave blog url)
4. Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter (leave your Twitter ID)
5. Follow MAM on Twitter (leave your Twitter ID)
6. Become a fan of MAM on Facebook
7. Enter any other currently open giveaway on my site (one extra entry per giveaway that you enter) and even

Current giveaways: Ranky Tanky children’s cd (ends 4/27), Hen and Chicks cloth diaper (ends 4/30), Sugar Free Allstars children’s cd (ends 5/4)

disclosure: MAM sent me a few sets of pacifiers for review purposes. The opinions expressed above are strictly my own (and my daughter’s!)

Easy Mexican Chicken Marinade Recipe

April 25, 2010 · by Tiffany Merritt · 3 Comments

We made this easy Mexican chicken marinade and really loved the tangy flavor it gave to the chicken.

Use the chicken for any type of Mexican fare that you like (burritos, chimichangas, tostadas, tacos, you name it!). We cut the chicken into small pieces so that the flavors could really seep into the meat.

1/2 cup lime juice
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil (we used slightly less with good results)
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp chili powder

Let the chicken marinade for 5-6 hours (or more!) in the Mexican chicken marinade before cooking on the stove, oven or grill. Enjoy!

Funky Fresh and Sugar Free! (Music Giveaway!)

April 24, 2010 · by Tiffany Merritt · 42 Comments

I just received a copy of a new children’s album called Funky Fresh and Sugar Free by the Sugar Free Allstars. Funky Fresh and Sugar Free presents a rock-solid sound that parents will love and kids will groove to. From the initial call-and-response strains of “Rock Awesome” to the rousing choruses of “In My Pocket” and “SFA Disco Dance Party” and “Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da” (a new arrangement of the Beatles’ classic), these tunes will get any party started. “Hey Now, It’s Your Birthday” invites kids to “run and jump and play on this wonderful day.” The songs “Little Red Wagon” and “Cars and Trucks” and “The Train Beat Song” are perfect for family road trips, too. The brassy song “6th Grade Band” will inspire young musicians to “learn how to rock” while they’re still in school!

Sugar Free Allstars is Chris (Boom!) Wiser (lead vocals, keyboards, saxophones and bass clarinet) and Rob (Dr. Rock) Martin (vocals, percussion) a duo that has been making funky-fresh music for families for five years. Their 2007 debut family music releaseDos Niños(their fourth CD release overall) brought them national attention and acclaim, including selection as one of the best CDs of the year by the Fids and Kamily critics’ poll and heavy rotation on Sirius XM Satellite Radio’s Kids Place Live, where the song “Bathtub Boy” topped their playlists for many weeks.

Listen to a few of the songs from the album here or check them out on YouTube! The album will be available for purchase on April 27th.

EDIT: Giveaway closed!

Win It!: Now is your chance to snag your very own copy of Funky Fresh and Sugar Free! The contest will run until Tuesday, May 4th at 7:59pm CST. A winner will be randomly selected and emailed, and will have 48 hours to claim their prize. Open to residents of the United States. Be sure to leave your email address in your comments or have it in your profile or else I can’t contact you to tell you that you won!

How to Enter:

Mandatory entry: Tell me your favorite song of of the 5 you can preview!

Additional entries:

1. Subscribe to my blog via RSS or email (one extra entry total, even if you subscribe both ways)
2. Follow me through Google connect
3. Put my button on your blog (leave blog url)
4. Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter (leave your TwitterID)
5. Become a fan of Sugar Free Allstars on Facebook
5. Enter any other currently open giveaway on my site (one extra entry per giveaway that you enter)

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this album for review purposes. No form of compensation was received in exchange for this post.

Get Ready: Memphis in May Review and Giveaway Series!!!

April 23, 2010 · by Tiffany Merritt · 18 Comments

May is the month when my city is absolutely glorious. Everything is green and lush. The weather is delightful and invites you to come outside and play in the sunshine. Memphis is dressed in her finest, and can be compared to no other in May, no doubt about it.

The city is alive with festivals, barbecue contests, graduations and all sorts of fun. I’m happy to be adding my own little piece of joy to the mix this year by hosting my own personal Memphis in May review and giveaway series. I will be featuring 8 amazing local artists who have whipped up some finery for you all to check out. I’m so excited to have the opportunity to introduce you all to some Memphis talent (yes, we have more going on than Elvis!). Get ready, because you are not going to want to miss this! The fun starts May 3rd! Stay tuned!!!

AND...if you leave a comment on this post with something you know or love about Memphis by 8pm CST on May 2nd, you’ll get an extra entry for the giveaways! Show me your Memphis love!

Save Trees with Rain Tees Rainforest Animals Shirts

April 22, 2010 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

It is very common these days to use your clothing as a means to make a statement of some sort. Most of the time the statement comes in the form of having a designer’s logo across your chest, all over your handbag, or in the case of Victoria’s Secret Pink collection, square on your bum (this still baffles me, people)!

But what if you wanted to make a statement that wasn’t about your own wealth or your favorite designer labels? What if you wanted to inspire conversation about social and environmental issues, and even create some positive change by the very act of making your purchase?

Rain Tees is an apparel line that gives you the opportunity to do just that. Every shirt you buy gives back to the rain forests in a myriad of ways, including reforestation and green job creation, just to name a few.

Rain Tees contain original drawings of rainforest animals made by children who live in tropical forests in Central and South America. Art supplies are donated to these children, and they are asked to draw what they see in their environments. Rain Tees provide a way to share these stories with the world. Any child whose drawing is selected for a Rain Tee design is also supported by the company to continue their education. I think that’s an amazing way to have a positive impact on the artist!

Additionally, for every Rain Tee that is sold, one tree will be planted in Costa Rica’s most threatened tropical rainforest in an effort to bring it back to life.

Rain Tees come in a fantastic variety of prints, and they are all made on 100% eco friendly fabrics. The shirts are put together in a family owned factory in Peru where the workers are paid 25% above the average wage of the area. This is clearly a company who prioritizes sustainability not only environmentally, but also economically. This is such a rare thing to find in a business, my friends.

So let’s review: If you buy a shirt from Rain Tees, you not only get a really cute shirt, but you also support the following:
1. A child’s education
2. Tree planting in an endangered tropical forest
3. Fair wages
4. Environmental awareness

If that’s not fashion-forward, I’m not sure what is. It beats having a label across your butt any day, in my book!

Buy It!: Women’s shirts from Rain Tees start at $34.00 and shirts for little ones are $32.00. Go ahead and make your statement. Change the world one shirt at a time!

Special thanks so Rain Tees for sending a tee for Darah and a tee for me to try out! The opinions expressed in this post are strictly my own.

Hen and Chick Cloth Diapers

April 20, 2010 · by Tiffany Merritt · 134 Comments

If you are following along with my journey figuring out how to use cloth diapers, then you’ll know that I’ve discovered that there is a bit of a learning curve to using these diapers. It just isn’t the case that you can just whip out a cloth diaper that is always ready to go (as long as it has been washed!) and that fastens on as quickly as a disposable diaper, and that is as thin as a disposable diaper.

Well, that’s what I thought, at least.

I t turns out that there are cloth diapers that are remarkably similar in their ease of use and thin design to disposables. They are called All in One diapers (often referred to as AIO). Let me introduce you to Hen and Chick Cloth, a fabulous Etsy store run by a delightful mom named Heather. She makes super cute AIO diapers! If you want to try out cloth, but you want it to be as close to your disposable diaper experience as possible, in terms of ease of use, I think giving AIO diapers a try is a good idea!

Here’s what I loved about my Hen and Chick Cloth AIO diaper that Heather sent me:
1. Bumblebees?! I almost can’t stand how precious this is. I mean, look at that!!!
2. The diaper couldn’t be easier to get on and off. There’s nothing to stuff or snap.
3. Velcro ensures a really nice and snug fit.
4. This diaper is almost as thin as a disposable diaper. This makes it really easy to use in conjunction with any outfit she has (you may recall that I stated earlier that cloth diapering requires sizing up your baby’s pants, but in the case of the Hen and Chick AIO, there’s no need!).

Here are the things that I found to be not as awesome:
1. Darah is just about to outgrow the diaper already. It is meant to be for sizes 10-20 pounds. I’m guessing that Darah is around 16.5-17 pounds, but she won’t be able to wear this diaper much longer at all, so either they run small, or Darah’s thighs are on the roly poly side! This brings me to an important point: cloth diapers, just like disposables, are going to fit each baby differently, depending on their build. So for Hen and Chick Cloth, in my opinion, I would err on the larger side when purchasing these diapers unless your little one has thin legs.

2. AIO diapers take much longer than any other cloth diaper I own to dry. Because the inserts are sewn in, as opposed to being detachable, there are just more layers on hand to dry. This is a problem you are going to run into with all your AIO diapers and is not unique to Hen and Chick Cloth diapers. Heather has a suggestion for this problem, though. She keeps a few towels in her laundry room to throw in with her AIO diapers. She says it really helps cut down on the drying time!

3. Because the diapers are thin, they just aren’t as absorbent. However, this is easy to solve by simply adding an insert. Heather sells inserts that fit beautifully into her diapers for just $1.00 each! So that problem is very easy to fix, I’m pleased to say.

Overall, I think Hen and Chick Cloth offers very cute diapers that are very easy to use! Two thumbs up, Heather!

Buy It!: If you are on the lookout for a slim AIO diaper in a really cute pattern, Hen and Chick Cloth has what you need. Prices start at $10 for small diapers, and go up to $16 for large diapers. The shop also carries cloth wipes and wetbags!

Win It!: Heather wants Hen and Chick Cloth diapers to be on your baby’s bottom! One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win an AIO diaper of their choice from the available listings! The contest will run until Friday, April 30th at 7:59pm CST. A winner will be randomly selected and emailed, and will have 48 hours to claim their prize. Open to residents of the United States. Be sure to leave your email address in your comments or have it in your profile or else I can’t contact you to tell you that you won!

How to Enter:

Mandatory entry: Tell me the diaper you would choose if you won (choose wisely, as you will win what you select if your number is drawn!).

Additional entries:

1. Subscribe to my blog via RSS or email (one extra entry total, even if you subscribe both ways)
2. Follow me through Google connect
3. Put my button on your blog (leave blog url)
4. Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter (leave your TwitterID)
5. Subscribe to Heather’s blog
6. Add Hen and Chick Cloth to your favorites on Etsy (leave your etsy username)
7. Make a purchase from Hen and Chick cloth (worth 5 extra entries!!!)
8. Make a comment that contributes to the conversation at this post (“I like cloth” would not be a good comment, for example) and come back here to tell me you did.
9. Enter any other currently open giveaway on my site (one extra entry per giveaway that you enter)

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. The opinions expressed above are strictly my own.

Time for Some Respectable PJ’s, Ladies! (Eden Home Review)

April 19, 2010 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Let me tell you a little bit about my pajamas. My “go-to” attire for bedtime or lounging around the house consists of a mismatched top and bottom. The top is a t-shirt from my graduate school that seriously needed to be thrown out 2 years ago. It has permanent stains in the armpits for all those times when I was sweating it out over a paper, holes dotted throughout the shirt such that it would be indecent to be seen in public wearing it for that reason if no other, and despite my best efforts to soak the shirt and wash it with the most scented stuff I can find, it still has a slightly funky smell that just won’t go away. The bottoms are very loose fitting Capri-style pajama bottoms. Yup…CAPRI pajama bottoms. Oh, and I wore them all throughout my pregnancy so they are good and stretched! I’m one hot mama in this outfit, as you can imagine.
I’m embarrassed just typing out a description of what I wear, but I’m doing it for a reason. I bet many of you are wearing things around the house that aren’t too much better (please don’t tell me that what you wear is any worse!). Why do we neglect ourselves? Here’s my list of excuses: 1. Money can sometimes be tight, and pajamas for myself just don’t make the priority list for spending; 2. Sometimes I don’t feel cute, so why bother looking cute?; 3. Aren’t pajamas supposed to be comfortable, and therefore, sort of ugly, anyway? All of these reasons are ridiculous, my friends! First, let me just say that we all deserve to feel as though we look nice at any given time. That doesn’t have to come at the expense of comfort, either. You also don’t have to spend $100 dollars to get something really nice for yourself (I mean, you COULD, but it isn’t necessary!).

As I type this, I am wearing a new lounge set. Let me just be completely honest, I’m wearing this set any chance I can get these days. It is the perfect balance of comfort and style. I feel pampered and pretty when I wear it, and the price tag is palatable, especially considering how comfortable it is! Introducing the lounge set from Under the Canopy, offered by Eden Home. From the website, “This 3 piece organic loungewear set includes organic pants, an organic shirt and an organic eye mask. The stretch jersey, roll waist, organic women’s pants offer a very flattering fit. Made from 95% organic cotton and 5% spandex.” The very first time I tried on this set, I was a bit surprised by how fitted the top is. I thought for a moment that perhaps the size was too small for me. Then I realized that I’m just so used to wearing extremely loose garments around the house, and that something can be fitted and still fit! Now I absolutely love the look and feel of this set. I also wouldn’t be too embarrassed to go to a yoga class or sign for a package at the front door wearing these, and that’s definitely not something I could say in my old jammies (I have actually missed the delivery of a package before in my old pj’s! How ridiculous is that?!). I also love that it is made of organic cotton. I have been increasingly on the lookout for organic cotton clothes for Darah, but I’ve never even thought about trying to find some for myself. I just assumed that it would be cost-prohibitive. This set retails for just $48.00. If you’ve priced matching pajama sets lately, you know that this is right in line with what you’ll find in department stores for cotton sets that AREN’T organic!

In addition to selling wonderful organic clothing, Eden Home is also a great resource for finding a wonderful selection of items for your home, your baby and for gifts. From Eden Home, “On our website you will find a complete selection of the best organic, all-natural and eco-friendly products for your home and life that won’t have you compromising your sense of style. Plus we know it’s important to you to understand which products are truly organic and how and where they are made so, in addition to including the product story, ingredients and care instructions, we’ve developed the Eden Home Seal of Assurance labeling system to describe the virtues of each product: (O) organic, (N) natural, (E) eco-friendly, (FT) Fair Trade and (USA) made in the USA.” I love this labeling system. It really helps you shop with confidence and know that your purchase is going to tread lightly on the planet. A few of the items they sell that I’m currently coveting are the organic towels in every color (their selection has every color I want in my home!), the organic blue duvet cover and the ducky pajamas for Darah!

Buy It!: Eden Home has something for everyone! Check them out and see what earth-friendly treasures you can find. If your pajamas sound anything like my old pajamas, take my advice and get an upgrade that will look and feel terrific. This set is available in sizes S-XL. If you sign up for their newsletter, you can get a 15% off coupon for any baby purchase, as well! Woo hoo!

Also, right now Eden Home has a contest to win an organic baby registry! Woot! There will be one grand prize winner who will receive $1,000 in baby merchandise, and there will be weekly winners who will each receive $85 gift certificates to Eden Home. What are you waiting for, go create your registry!!! If you are a weekly or the grand prize winner, please come back and let me know so that I can be jealous of you! 🙂

Special thanks to Eden Home for providing a complimentary lounge set in order to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.