Stuff Parents Need - Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Walgreens Highlights New Care Options for Stunning Hair

February 5, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Special thanks to Walgreens and Resourceful Mommy Media for making this post on hair innovations possible. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

My hair is STRUGGLING through this rough winter season. It is dry, frizzy, and a bit on the dull side. Anyone else out there having similar issues?

I’ve actually been trying a few different products that I had on hand under my bathroom sink (recovering beauty/style product junkie, right here). But I just wasn’t getting the results I wanted.

And then I got a little package in the mail from Walgreens. They sent me some things they thought might help my hair beat the winter blues, and I’m excited to tell you about them in case they might help you!

The first product wasn’t the right fit for me, personally (I have thick hair), but if your hair is on the thin side, you might really like Dove^® Advanced Hair Series with Oxygen moisture. I’ve had great results with other Dove products, so I feel comfortable recommending it as something worth trying out.

I also tried the TRESemmé® Keratin Smooth 7 Day Smooth line. So this isn’t something I would want to use every single week because it takes a bit of time, but I would definitely use it again if I had a week with several meetings or outings scheduled, as it is designed to keep your hair looking nice and smooth for up to 3 washes. I wash my hair every other day, so it lasted a week, and while I found that I still needed to straighten my hair after each wash, my hair did seem to cooperate faster, which mean less time spent working with the flat iron. This is also a great way to get to try out the look of Keratin treated hair without going through all that time and expense at a salon.

But the product I totally fell head-over-heels in love with is the Suave Moroccan Oil. I only had a few samples to try, and I actually used up my last one today, which means that I’ll be headed to Walgreens in the next 48 hours to replenish my supply! It smoothed my hair out beautifully and gave it LOTS of shine (healthy, not greasy!). It only lasts until you shampoo your hair again, so that is one of the key differences in the end effect from the Tresemme product I tried.

Maybe you’d like to try some of these products to help lift the spirits of your hair this winter? Walgreens has a great pomotion going on right now, where you can earn 2,000 rewards points (that’s $2 worth) when you purchase 2 of these products. And they are also 25% off on top of that balance rewards offer. I’m all over this deal, friends!

And once you have tried them, be sure to share your opinions about them on Facebook and Twitter and tag it with #tryandtell so the brands can hear what you thought!

Have you tried any of these products yet? And is your hair begging for signs of spring like mine is???

Hiring a Professional Organizer is Expensive, But This App is FREE!!!

February 4, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Thanks to HomeZada for partnering with me on this post. I only write about products and services that make life less hectic, and this app is a MAJOR winner!

Approximately 5 weeks from now, Tim and I will be forking over far more than we earn per hour to have a professional organizer come to our house and help us make some good strategic decisions. We are in the midst of de-cluttering right now, as I don’t want to pay somebody to help me decide whether or not to donate some junk.

What we DO need help with is figuring out where the things we really want to keep should live in our home. A disturbingly large number of items in our house don’t have anywhere to live, and so they find themselves in various piles the grow and grow, and then occasionally get moved around to go live in other piles.

I spend an ridiculously large amount of time moving piles of stuff from one spot to another. Anyone else out there doing that? And every time I start to try to figure out the “where” for all the stuff, I get overwhelmed. And then I throw everything in a pile. It’s a vicious cycle, people.

So I’m willing to spend some money to make some headway in this area and to stop pretending that “piles” are the next hottest home decor trend (I’ve honestly told myself that in a desperate moment. And yes, it did temporarily console me….). Once the house is finally organized (I get almost weepy at the mere thought of it!), that’s when I’m turning my attention to all those house projects I want to do but can’t justify beginning until the house is reasonably organized.

And that’s where everything gets beautifully, wonderfully FREE.

photo credit: blavandmaster via photopin cc

HomeZada

I’ve just started messing around with this app, and I’m totally swooning over it. HomeZada offers many more services than I can even explain in this post , but I want to highlight my absolute favorites:

1.Project list organization. Keep a running list of your “wish list” projects, your projects currently underway, and your completed projects. If you own a home, those completed projects lists will be SUPER helpful at tax time, when you can claim deductions for home improvements you made. That’s money right back in your pocket, thanks to HomeZada! For me, I would be using this to start making a list of all the things I want to do in our house, and then ranking them in order of importance and/or viability due to costs.

2. Budgeting. The app also helps you with budgeting your projects so that you don’t lose control over what you planned to spend in the midst of your project (a very common occurrence, as I understand it!). The premium version of the app ($5.95/month) will help you with real-time price and review comparisons. I’m sticking with the free version for now, but if I were doing something like a kitchen renovation and I was buying new appliances, spending that $6 to find out if the fridge I’m standing in front of at Home Depot gets great reviews, and if the price it is being offered at is the best is money REALLY well spent.

3. Home Inventory. Not only can you keep your receipts in HomeZada (very important for taxes and for insurance), but you can also keep photos of rooms in your home and any important contents that you want to document. If something tragic happens to your home (fire, earthquake, tornado, flood, burglary), but you’ve got your receipts on file with HomeZada, or at the very least photo documentation of the contents of your house, it will make insurance claims MUCH easier to file because you can very easily prove that you did in fact own the things you are claiming you owned.

4. Maintenance Contacts and Calendar. I can’t remember when I’m supposed to change out the air filters in our unit. Nor can I remember the name of the plumbing company we have used in the past. I actually had to dig through piles of paperwork in the midst of the polar vortex most of the country experienced a few weeks back to find the company that we use for our HVAC because ours stopped working during the deep freeze. Now I can store that information in HomeZada and pull it up with no hassle. I can also rely on the app to tell me when it is time for certain maintenance procedures (like the annual sealing of the granite countertops). See how awesome that is?!

HomeZada isn’t going to magically transform your starter house into a mansion, but it is going to help you feel much less overwhelmed by all the stuff that goes along with owning a house, or heck, even just inhabiting one. We don’t own the home we currently live in, and I still see LOTS of uses for HomeZada.

Between us, I think the folks who make this app are just a wee bit foolish for offering so many great features in the free version of the app. But that’s their choice, right? And who are were to judge? 😉 This is an app that I VERY STRONGLY recommend for all the grown ups out there. Taking care of a home is hard, but not as hard as it used to be, thanks to HomeZada.

Miniature Ice Cream Cupcakes: Even I Can Make These!

February 4, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 4 Comments

So last week when we had 3 snow days in a row, the kids and I got a little bored. And boredom is great fuel for creativity! We decided to do a little baking, but we also wanted to pay tribute to the freezing temps outside, so we knew we wanted to use ice cream. As we were digging around in the pantry for inspiration, we found some of our beautiful Reynolds Baking Cups, and an idea came to me: let’s make ice cream cakes in baking cups! And so, friends, I present to you, ice cream cupcakes!

Why not let cake and ice cream join forces for your next birthday party, or for any upcoming celebration (like Valentine’s Day!). They make for a tasty hand-held treat. And they are easy (if I can do you, you can do it!).

Ingredients:

Cake mix of choice, mixed according to package directions
Reynolds Stay-Brite Baking Cups
Ice cream of choice
Whip cream
Sprinkles, or other topping of choice (we love chocolate shavings)

Preheat your oven according to the package directions for your cake mix. Line your muffin tin with Reynolds Baking Cups, and add 1 Tbsp of the combined mix to each baking cup. Bake for 10 minutes and then remove from the oven to cool completely.

Once your cupcakes have cooled completely, add a scoop of ice cream to each baking cup. Be sure to pat it down a bit to ensure that theice cream is taking up all the remaining space inside the baking cup. Then return the ice cream cupcakes to the freezer until you are ready to serve.

Just before serving, add whip cream and the toppings of your choice. Enjoy immediately!
example of ice cream cupcake or miniature ice cream cake

Affiliate links may be included at no cost to you. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

A Step By Step Guide for Packing Boxes for a Move

February 4, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 2 Comments

Friends, please enjoy this partnered post on preparing for a move. If you aren’t moving soon, pin for the next time you do move. This will keep you from having those random boxes filled with underwear, toilet paper, random canned goods, a bicycle pump, and mulch. Not that I’ve ever packed a box like that…

Written By Alyssa Howard, Moveboxer.com

photo credit: clevercupcakes via photopin cc

So, you may be thinking, “It’s just moving. How hard could it be?” But we all know that that question is oft invoked in famous last words. Luckily for you, though, we’re bringing you some steps that will help you pack all your life’s belongings with as little hassle as possible.

Survey Each Room

First, you’ll need to go from room to room to figure out exactly the best way to pack everything. Note especially big or unwieldy items for which you’ll need to make specific preparations or possibly get help from professional movers.

Get Organized

Second of all, you should go through and organize the things you’ll be packing. This is important for a few reasons. Packing things in boxes before you get an idea of how many boxes you’ll need for each room and what each group will contain will mean a major headache when you’re unpacking. Also, before you start getting things in boxes, you should make sure you want to move everything you’re packing. If you find stuff you won’t use in the new place, donate them!

Pack an Overnight Bag

Once these two steps are done, you’ll want to get together the things you’ll need immediately upon arriving to the new house, like a toothbrush, toiletries and a few outfits. You will thank yourself for this later.

Get Your Packing Supplies Together

The great thing about packing boxes – and frankly there aren’t many – is that you can get creative when it comes to what you’ll use to protect your breakables. Don’t be fooled into thinking that you need to buy expensive packing paper and bubble wrap to load up your vases, plates and glasses. Instead, you can use clean socks, sweatshirts and other soft materials. When it comes to boxes, you can be creative with your packing materials.

Ready, Set, Pack!

Lastly, get to packing! Remember that it will be important for you to pack like items together to ensure minimal breakage of your items as well as minimal stress when you go to figure out where everything will go in the next place. Additionally, make sure you pack the heaviest items at the bottom of the box, and then put in progressively lighter things. When you’re labeling the boxes after they’re all packed, be as specific as possible. For example, don’t just write “bedroom;” instead note that a box is for bedroom linens or Mom’s clothes.

Alyssa Howard is a writer for Moveboxer.com. Moveboxer makes moving easier. Moveboxer matches people up with reputable movers, provides a utility cancellation tool, helps people change their address, and connects people with mortgage, storage, boxes, supplies, and car transport.

Chat With a Pharmacist Anytime At the Corner of Happy and Healthy

February 3, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 4 Comments

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop for #WalgreensRX has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for #CollectiveBias and its advertiser.

Isn’t it pretty much ALWAYS the case that when you need to chat with a pharmacist, it’s in the middle of the night? We had such a situation arise a few weeks ago when my sister-in-law and niece were visiting us and my SIL realized, after much crying on the part of her daughter, that her daughter had contracted pin worms.

WORMS, PEOPLE!

Here’s a fun little factoid for you: humans can get worms! I’m sure there’s more than one kind that we can get, but the pin worm is very painful, is found through your stool (no need to go into more details there), and is VERY VERY contagious.

I learned all of these things at 1:00 AM on a Sunday. It was overwhelming, and very disconcerting to everyone in the house as we scrambled to research and to find an open pharmacy in town. And all the while, my poor niece was in pain. Pin worms are at their most active at night, which is what caused her to wake up screaming. 🙁

Walgreens To The Rescue

In the midst of all of that turmoil, I didn’t think to go to my Walgreens app and go to the pharmacy chat. I wish I had, as you can reach a pharmacist 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, totally free of charge. It is such a fantastic service!

Once I cleared my head a bit about the whole endeavor (and bleached and otherwise disinfected pretty much every surface in my home), I started to wonder if my kids needed to take the same medicine that my niece was taking, just as a preventative measure. And that’s when I remembered the pharmacy chat and hopped on my phone. I was counseled not to give the medicine to my kids unless it became clear that they had also contracted the pin worms. I was very grateful for the advice! And FYI, it’s been about 4 weeks now, and we have no sign of pin worms, so I think we’re in the clear! 🙂

Family Prescription Management At Your Fingertips

Have you downloaded the Walgreens app, yet? It is such a great (and FREE) way to manage prescription information (and talk to pharmacists, because hey, you never know when your house will be afflicted with pin worms…). Additionally, Walgreens offers a complete family prescription management service online, where you can keep up with your immunization history, transfer prescriptions, print your prescriptions records and get refill reminders. If you are keeping up with prescriptions for your family members in your head, hand it over to Walgreens and let them take care of it for you

At the Corner of Happy and Healthy

Between the app and the online offerings, Walgreens really goes the distance to help you keep your family and your medical and health needs on track. But I still like head to the brick and mortar store to do a little shopping (it’s actually one of my favorite places to go, either for a quick milk run or to get to do a little kid-free browsing!). Just last week I popped over to get some Vitamin D, because I’ve been reading about the benefits of this supplement to promoting healthy teeth (possible post in the works on that topic!). I was planning to just pick up whatever they had on hand, and was delighted to see this:

Walgreens is NOT afraid of a good sale, and that’s just one more reason why I love to shop there. I was hoping to find some Vitamin D supplements for maybe 20 or 25% off, but I got them almost 50% off…no coupon, no hassle! LOVE IT!!!

And now, in addition to helping me keep track of my family’s medical information with ease, Walgreens is also helping me keep my pearly whites in good working order. Yes, indeed, you can find me at the corner of Happy and Healthy!

How do you keep up with your family’s medical information? Have you tried the Walgreens app?

What’s In Your Mattress? Naturepedic 3″ Essentials Pillowtop Review (Giveaway!)

February 1, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 247 Comments

Do you realize that you spend 1/3 of your life in a bed, sleeping? That percentage dips a bit for the parents of young ones, I know (I promise they will sleep through the night one day!). But the point of that statistic is to remind us all that we spend a heck of a lot of time laying on our mattresses.

So selecting a quality mattress is actually REALLY important. Tim and I bought a really high quality mattress for ourselves a long time ago and I have never regretted that purchase. And we are about 2 years out from needing to buy another one. This time, I’m thinking about something that I hadn’t considered before when mattress shopping: what chemicals are in this product that I lay on night after night?

Naturepedic, a company that has become known as the standard setter for safe and healthy organic baby and children’s mattresses, recently reached out to me to do a review of one of their products, and to learn more about why chemical issues really need to be considered. I’m so glad they reached out, because now that I’ve done the research, I realize that I will be changing my criteria for mattress and bedding selection from here on out.

I think we’ve all been hearing the growing concern about chemicals and the possible effects that they are having on people, and in particular, on children. There are many researchers who see a connection between the dramatic increase in childhood disorders and toxic chemical exposures. But you don’t need to live near a toxic waste facility to be exposed to such dangerous chemicals. In fact, you are probably sleeping on them every night.

Babies and toddlers are spending 10-14 hours a day in their cribs, which is far more than the 8 that their parents are getting (if they are lucky!). Naturepedic knows that a child’s crib mattress is the object in their environment that they interact with the very most, and as such, it is absolutely critical to make sure it is safe. They have created organic mattresses and related accessories, such as mattress pads and mattress toppers. They are extremely comfortable, and extremely safe. You and your child can certainly rest easy knowing that health and safety have not been put on the line.

Features and benefits that you would look for in a mattress for your baby or child such as waterproofing and hypoallergenic design are still present, even without all those nasty chemicals. Naturepedic is the perfect marriage of practical design, comfort, and safety. Naturepedic carries the most awards and endorsements of any children’s mattress company, as well as the best warranty in the industry. Furthermore, Naturepedic products are proudly made in the USA. You are supporting the U.S. economy and U.S. jobs with your purchase!

We have really enjoyed having the 3″ Essentials Pillowtop sent to us for review. I have noticed a very sharp incline in mom and dad climbing up into Darah’s bed to read a story with her. She has the most comfortable mattress in the entire house, now! We also love the fact that if we ever have company over, we can pull off the pillowtop to temporarily use as a mattress for someone else. That makes the addition of the pillowtop all the more practical for us, as we do have regular out-of-town visitors.

The 3″ Essentials Pillowtop is made of organic cotton, organic wool, and PLA batting. It even has premium encased coils, which are wrapped in a lightweight yet durable polyester fabric. Most pillowtops are full of latex and polyurethane, but not this one!

I’m actually strongly considering purchasing the queen size for our bed in the event that an organic mattress just isn’t in the cards for us the next time we buy. This would provide a great, organic barrier between us and our mattress. And bonus: it would make any mattress SOOO comfy! 🙂

Win it!: Ready for your chance to win the twin size 3″ Essentials Pillowtop from Naurepedic? Let’s do this!

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

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The Build-A-Bear Experience (Giveaway!!!)

January 28, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 80 Comments

Since my oldest is just shy of 4 1/2, and since she absolutely adores stuffed animals (which we call loveys), I’ve been thinking that the time has arrived for us to get our first introduction to Build-a-Bear. The folks there treated us to the Build-a-Bear experience, and I wanted to show those of you who have never been exactly what it is like (because if you are like me, you are curious!).

When you arrive at Build-a-Bear, you are greeted with an entire wall of plush figures, just waiting to be stuffed. They come in a variety of price points, which I noticed ran from $16-$25. They do also have smaller plush animals that are already stuffed for $10, just fyi.

Darah picked a pink elephant and Layah chose a lion. Then we headed over to the stuffing section, and Darah got to press on the peddle while the sales associate stuffed each creature and chatted with the girls. I couldn’t help but notice how great the associates at the Chattanooga location were with kids!

After you get your animal stuffed, and before it is sewn up, you get to place a heart inside of it. This was a very sweet moment, and Layah really got into it!

Once the stuffed animals are all sewn up, it is time to take a bath (which is really just blasts of air). There are brushes available for making your lovey look nice and clean.

And now that your stuffed animal is created and clean, it is time to get dressed! This is a VERY fun part of the experience, but let me give a gentle warning to parents that this is also the part of the experience that can get quite pricey. You don’t have to pick out an outfit at all if you don’t want, but the choices are really hard to resist.

We took Layah’s lovey, which she named Rawr, over to the “dressing room” and tried out an outrageous number. It was a hit!

Darah found a Valentine outfit for her elephant (which she also named Valentine). And she also carefully selected a pair of shoes. High heels! 🙂

And no outfit is complete without some adorable hair bows. Valentine even got a hair bow on her tail! Rawr couldn’t be left out of the hair bow fest, either.

Build-A-Bear strikes me as an absolutely PERFECT place for a grandparent to take a grandchild for an extra special date, or for any other special occasion that warrants a celebration. What I really liked about the concept, though, is that children are encouraged to bring their loveys back into the store. They are welcome to give them baths again, and to check out all the great new accessories. They can even play dress up with their animals there, and they aren’t under any obligation to make another purchase. After all, we go to the mall and try on clothes, why shouldn’t our Build-A-Bears? 🙂

And while dressing your animal from head to toe can add up, you can also spread out those purchases over time. Perhaps you buy a tutu on one visit, and a pair of shoes on the next, and build up a wardrobe slowly. The creatures are so lovely on their own that even without their costumes, they are completely lovable.

But then again, this really is pretty cute, huh?

Win it!: I’ve got a $25 gift certificate to Build-A-Bear for one lucky reader! Woo hoo!

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

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