Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Pure Pearls Necklace Review and GIVEAWAY!!! (ARV $101!)

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I have to say, I have a pretty wonderful collection of pearl jewelry. I was gifted a long strand of gorgeous pearls from my mom when I earned my master’s degree. I have a short pearl necklace and matching bracelet that my sister-in-law brought back for me after a trip she took to China. And I have these really beautiful pearl studs from Pure Pearls (they are the PERFECT size…I wear them weekly!).

All of these pearl pieces are lovely. They are also all white. But did you know that you can get pearls in other colors, as well? It’s true! PurePearls.com has a great selection of pearl necklaces in white (of course), but you can also find pink pearls, lavender pearls, and even adorable multi-colored pearls. These are all colors of pearls that are found in nature.

You can also get black pearls, and these, my friends, are SPECTACULAR! I recently received a black pearl necklace. I was a little nervous about it…how does one pull off black pearls, exactly? Well, they happen to look AMAZING with purple, which is one of my very favorite colors to wear! This necklace is 18 inches long, which is known as Princess length. It is a very versatile size, and goes with most any cut top I pair it with! I also appreciate knowing that every pearl has been double-knotted on silk thread, so there’s no need to worry about re-stringing your pearls for several years. The clasp is 14K gold filigree, which you can get in white or yellow gold, whichever you prefer!

Now let’s talk about the price. This necklace (and the same necklace in the other colors mentioned) is offered for $101.00. It comes in a beautiful velvet necklace box, as well. Want to hear what it appraises for? $495.00! It comes with an official letter of appraisal (getting one of these costs you $40 at my local jewelry store, so it is AWESOME that it already comes with one!). This necklace is an excellent value, my friends!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win Freshwater Pearls in your choice of white, pink, lavender or multi-color! 

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Peter Rabbit Organics Introduces 5 New Flavors! GIVEAWAY!!!

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One company whose products are a HUGE hit with Darah is Peter Rabbit Organics. They make squeeze pouches of fruit and veggies that are organic and taste fantastic. I pick them up for Darah as the occasional special treat, or if we are about to go on a car trip. She usually empties one pouch in about 30 seconds!

Peter Rabbit Organics has just launched 5 new flavors, all designed to help parents squeeze (get it?) more fruits and veggies into your children’s diets. We don’t really have a problem getting Darah to eat her fruit, but getting her to eat vegetables can be a bit more hit or miss. Here’s the list of new flavors, and I’ll give you one guess about which ones are my favorites:

  •          Peach and Apple
  •          Banana and Apple
  •          Pear and Apple
  •          Pear and Pea
  •          Pumpkin, Carrot and Apple
Darah has eaten every single one of these, but the ones I’ll definitely be picking up again are Pear and Pea and Pumpkin, Carrot and Apple. I need some extra help getting Darah to have enough veggies, and these are the perfect solution. I watched her extra carefully when offering her the Pear and Pea, thinking that she might hesitate after giving it a taste. NOPE!

If you’ve never tried Peter Rabbit Organics, I want to encourage you to pick some up the next time you head to Target, or the next time you find yourself placing an order on Amazon. Their other flavors include the following:

  •          Apple and Grape
  •          Mango, Banana and Orange
  •          Strawberry and Banana
  •          Pea, Spinach and Apple
  •          Sweet Potato, Corn and Apple
  •          Carrot, Squash and Apple

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win the 5 new flavors of Peter Rabbit Organics squeeze pouches!

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Giving the Gift of an Xperience! GIVEAWAY!!!!

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I personally believe that the very best kinds of unique gifts are not material objects, but experiences, as these give the recipient memories to hold on to for life. My best friend has such fond memories, for example, of the time she got to spend with her grandparents out in Arizona every summer as a child. I don’t think she, even as a child, would have wanted to swap those great memories for all the toys in the world.

I can also remember, even more than 10 years later, times when Tim and I went and did really fun things together in college, such as taking road trips or going to really fancy and fun restaurants (that was a rare treat on our budgets, for sure!). Having special experiences with people you love is something that money might be able to buy, but its worth is priceless.

Today I’m highlighting a company that wants to help you give a unique and special experience to your loved one as a gift. It’s called Xperience Days, and it can radically change the way you shop for gifts from here on out! I think it is an especially fabulous shopping destination for the men in your life, who are likely much more difficult to shop for than the women (at least that’s my experience!).

Simply type in your zip code on the site and see what offers are available to you. While there currently aren’t any offers in Chattanooga, I found 4 activities in Nashville, just 2 hours away! They have a few different types of hot air balloon ride packages and even a woodworking class. Atlanta, just 2 1/2 hours away, has 18 different experiences. We are planning a trip there in July, so I’ll definitely be back to this site to purchase something super awesome for us to do together!  I’m so glad to have found this resource for getting gifts that will be really and truly special. Go check it out and see what you can find in your area!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a $50 gift certificate to Xperience Days!
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Growing an Organic Garden With a Little Extra Help from Nature: Whitney Farms

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This post brought to you by Whitney Farms. All opinions are 100% mine.

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We just moved right next door to a community garden, which is really exciting for Tim. He is very eager to rent one of the plots and see if he has a green thumb, or not. The garden has 10 or 11 raised beds in it and it looks as though a few are unclaimed. 

It's a good thing that the beds are all raised, because we recently got a knock on the door from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) telling us they had reason to believe that the soil in our neighborhood had dangerously high lead levels. Yikes. They have tested our soil for lead levels, and if it reaches a certain level, they will dig up the dirt in our yard down to a certain point and replace it with "clean" dirt. We've already heard that a neighbor 5 houses down is going to have their dirt replaced. Crazy! So if our dirt could have such high levels of lead, so could the community garden. The EPA rep made a point to tell us not to try to plant any food crops directly into the ground here. 

The community garden plots contain organic soil which is a good start. But how can we have any chance of actually growing some veggies and herbs without using fertilizers which contain some harmful chemicals? Whitney Farms® is a brand of organic plant food that can help your garden flourish without adding all that icky stuff. I didn't realize that such products even existed until recently, and to be honest, that has been one of my main reservations about even attempting to do organic gardening. It just sounds SO hard to be successful against various pests without the strong chemicals that commercial farmers use! But at the same time, seeing how such products and other pollutants can literally make the space in which you dwell too dangerous to live in also gives me pause. I'm so glad that this option exists so that we can have success with the garden this year and not do so at the cost of future gardeners! Be sure to check out the $3 coupon Whitney Farms is offering on its website so tyou can try it out for a discount! 

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What about you? Are you trying your had at growing any organic produce this year? 

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Easy Way to Help Pfister Rebuild Homes in New Orleans and Elsewhere

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August 28th, 2005 was quite a while ago. I had just turned 25 (now I’m rounding the corner to 32!). This was the day that Hurricane Katrina hit and forever changed hundreds of thousands of lives. I took a group of college students down the following May to do some rebuilding, and I remember being completely awestruck by just how awful things still looked down there after 9 months of constant work by volunteers and the people who lived there.

And guess what? There’s STILL a lot of rebuilding work that needs to be done, even 6 1/2 years later. The devastation was just that massive.

Pfister, a leading maker of beautiful kitchen and bath faucets, has teamed up with an organization that is helping to rebuild homes, not just in New Orleans, but all over the country where the need is present. For every Facebook “like” that Pfister receives, $1 of Pfister products will be donated to the organization Rebuilding Together (up to $20,000!). That can buy a lot of beautiful faucets!

So, please take a second to visit and “like” the Pfister Facebook page. If you are already a fan, you can also make a donation to Rebuilding Together through the Friends of Pfister campaign on Causes.com!  Pfister will even match your donation up to a total of $5,000.

KitchenAid GIVEAWAY!!! Happy Mother’s Day!

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WELCOME TO THE KITCHEN AID MANIA GIVEAWAY!
Lots of bloggers have gotten together to give away a white KitchenAid KSM150PSWH Artisan Series 5-Quart Mixer to one lucky reader! I would LOVE to see this on my counter this Mother’s Day! This was made possible by Bay Area Mommy, American Family and some of the most awesome bloggers!

KitchenAid KSM150PSWH Artisan Series 5-Quart Mixer
 Retail Value: $349.99
Color: White
325-watt mixer with 10 speeds; 5-quart stainless steel bowl
Tilt-back head for easy access to mixture
1 piece pouring shield with large chute for adding ingredients
Includes flat beater, dough hook, and wire whip
Dimensions 14 by 8-2/3 inches by 14 inches; 1-year warranty

This giveaway starts April 29 at 12AM EST and ends May 9 (my wedding anniversary!) at 11:59PM EST. Open to the US only. Must be at least 18 years old to be eligible.

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Darah’s Big Girl Room Gets Big, Bold Color from Gallery Direct (GIVEAWAY!!!!)

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We’ve already established that I absolutely loved Darah’s nursery. I never thought I would go all out with pink for my little one, but I did. And it was so sweet.

When we were getting ready for our recent move to a new house, I knew that it was the perfect opportunity to make some changes to Darah’s room. She had already been out of her crib for a while, but we just had her mattress on the floor (Montessori-style) while we waited to find a cool new bed for her. Changing rooms and moving to a house where we are allowed to paint opened up new possibilities, and I knew it was time to let all that pink go and explore some different colors.

Tim painted her walls a very pale gray so that we could experiment with bold colors with her accent pieces. I’m still trying to find some colorful drapes and perhaps an accent rug, but with help from Gallery Direct we have already found the statement piece of the room that is going to inspire everything else.

This print proudly hangs in Darah’s room, just above her gutter bookcases (thanks, Pinterest!). It is dramatic, it is fun, and it is full of beautiful colors. I absolutely love it! We have it in a size large, on canvas with no frame, and I have to tell you that from a distance it really does look like an original piece. You can see the texture of the painting and the brush strokes. You have to touch it to realize that it is a print! It looks magnificent!

It also brings such a vibrant pop of color to an otherwise very unassuming, very pale and neutral room. If you are working on making some changes to a room for your little one, carefully consider getting some great art. And MAKE IT BIG!! In the past, I’ve been very guilty of putting “art” on the wall that is no bigger than 8×10. Maybe the pieces are pretty, but they certainly don’t stand out at that size. Really go for it and make a splash with your art work. Gallery Direct is a site that can help you do this for a VERY reasonable rate. The piece we got for Darah retails for $249, but is on sale right now for just $125! AMAZING!!!

Gallery Direct also is a wonderful place to go if you want to turn photos into art. In fact, right now a 12 x 18 gallery wrap of your photo upload is just $49. That’s a PERFECT gift for Mother’s Day!

Win it!: Gallery Direct has a very special giveaway for 2 (yes, TWO!) of my readers: a 12 x 18 gallery wrap of your favorite photo! Woo hoo!

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Get Ready to Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with Chili’s and the #CoronaRita!

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This post brought to you by Chili’s Grill & Bar. All opinions are 100% mine.

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Cinco de Mayo has been on my mind for about 9 months. It's not so much that I'm a die hard fan of this holiday, but that my due date is May 4th…so I might have a Cinco de Mayo baby! 

Since there's a good chance I'll be in the hospital on May 5th, I may not be able to get out and celebrate the occasion in style. But for the rest of you, I've got a suggestion for where you need to go: Chili's! There are many great reasons to visit Chili's (great place to have fun with family and friends, excellent selection of entrees that will please every palette, value-priced), but here's the main reason I'm suggesting it for Cinco de Mayo:

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Do you know what this is? It's a CoronaRita at Chili's. If you are the type of person who loves margaritas AND beer, this is the drink for you! Please have one for me, since I won't be able to this year. I think the concept is fun; Corona is actually one of only a very few types of beer that I actually like, so I think this drink sounds awesome! 

If I were going to be at Chili's this May 5th, I would definitely be getting the CoronoRita. I'd also be taking advantage of the $20 dinner for 2. Tim and I would share the fire grilled corn guacamole and chips, and he'd probably get the babyback ribs while I'd go for classic bacon burger, which the mere thought of makes my mouth water! Not bad for $20, right? 

Now that I think about it, we went to Chili's on my due date with Darah and ate spicy food to try to jump start labor. We just may be back there on May 4th if we she's still in there! Ha! 

So, I'd love to hear what you've got planned for Cinco de Mayo, and also what you think about this fun new drink at Chili's! 

Disclaimer: You must be 21 years or older to drink alcoholic beverages, and as always, remember to drink responsibly. 

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Letter Construction Activity Set Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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One important concept of the Montessori philosophy of learning is that children require true hands-on experiences with everything. They need to be able to engage many different senses when learning a concept. When it comes to learning pre-writing skills, children not only look at letter, but they trace them and they touch them. This is critical to the mind mapping taking place in their heads!

Learning Resources has an excellent resource that can give children that hands on experience that they need as they prepare to learn to read. Check out the Letter Construction Activity Set! It comes with a variety of pieces that children can use to literally build the alphabet. There are instruction cards that show children the materials needed to make upper case and lower case versions of each letter. This product helps children with hand-eye coordination, problem solving, and of course, letter recognition. I absolutely love it. If you are a teacher, know that there are enough pieces included so that four children can build the exact same letter at the same time, so this also makes for a great small group lesson.

Learning Resources is a fantastic destination for play items that develop critical skills for children as they grow and learn. I very highly recommend this set for your pre-reader, and I highly recommend the site for all your educational needs!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a set of Letter Construction Activity Set from Learning Resources!
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