Stuff Parents Need

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

Rock ‘N Learn Colors, Shapes & Counting DVD Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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We’ve got another really great DVD added to our collection that I think you guys are going to love. It’s from Rock ‘N Learn (a company whose products are REALLY impressing me) and it is called Colors,  Shapes & Counting.

Just like our other Rock ‘N Learn DVD, Darah isn’t quite old enough to watch the entire thing in one sitting, but she’ll watch about 15 minutes of it, and I know she likes it, because she requests it.

What I like about the DVD is that new colors and shapes are getting introduced. They don’t just stick with 5 or 6 colors, and they don’t just stick with squares, triangles and circles, either! Colors like turquoise are introduce, as are more complex shapes like members of the polygon family. I know I haven’t been as good about introducing these shapes, and I can see the little wheels in Darah’s mind spinning rapidly as she learns about them! We’ve even spent some time drawing the new shapes and looking for the new colors in her basket of crayons.

If your child is getting ready for pre-school or kindergarten, or is already enrolled in either and in need of a bit of reinforcement, Colors, Shapes & Counting is an excellent choice. It is available online for $19.99. Be sure to check out the other wonderful titles they offer for children of all ages. I think you’ll be impressed! Additionally, I have a coupon code for 25% off your entire purchase at www.RockNLearn.com! Use code JQ7711 and save a bundle!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will winn the DVD or CD of your choice from Rock ‘N Learn!

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MiYim: Organic Dolls and Plush Toys Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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As you know, my child LOVES dolls and stuffed animals. If it is soft and squishy, she’s all about it. If she REALLY loves it, she will put the animal or doll’s nose, arm, foot or ears in her mouth. A LOT. Strange? Yes. But that’s how she rolls. It is her greatest gesture of love to chew on her toys.

This is just one of the reasons why I am very drawn to chemical-free toys. Finding BPA-free plastic is becoming much easier, but I still struggle to find organic plush toys. But no longer! Today I’m featuring a company called miYim and they carry a FANTASTIC line of organic dolls and plush toys.

We received the ballerina doll a few weeks ago, and Darah was with me when I opened the package. I let her peek inside to see what was in the box, and when she saw what it was, she said, “Oh! It’s a dolly!” She handed me her bunny to hold so that she could use both hands to get her out of the package. Then she asked for help getting her out of the box.

One thing I immediately noticed was that there was NO plastic in the packaging. Not even to hold the doll in the box! Very impressive! The doll was tied into the box using ribbon. Because the doll box didn’t have a plastic face and because we didn’t have to tear into the box to get the doll out, it was left in perfect condition for play. The box was really beautiful, and fit the doll perfectly, so it is now being used as a doll bed by Darah (it was her idea, actually!).

We have named the doll Bonnie. Bonnie is now best friends with her other dolls and gets played with every single day. And yes, she also gets chewed on throughout the day. And I don’t break out into a sweat when I see her do it! 🙂 I know that Bonnie made with all natural cotton fabric, colored only with plants and minerals and has been certified as non-toxic and 100% chemical free. Chew away, my love!

Buy it!: miYim products are available online through various sites, or you can use the store locator to find your nearest retailer.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win the plush or doll or your choice from miYim!
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AMMO Books Modern Art Memory Game Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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Parents, have you had the experience yet where your child’s toys actually teach you something? I actually had that experience when Darah was just an infant, as she had these animal flashcards that had all the great facts on the back of them about each animal. I definitely picked up some knowledge with those!

Now I am be re-schooled about popular pieces of modern art, thanks to AMMO Books and their fantastic Modern Art Memory Game. It’s just what you think it is: the game of memory, but instead of having farm animals or something like that, the tiles have pieces of modern art on them. The set comes with information about each piece of work, so that as your child gets older, you can make the game more difficult by requiring that the person name a fact about the piece before earning the match. It is so fun to have a game in the house that actually look beautiful, even when it is strewn all over the living room!

In addition to checking out this great game, I was also sent two board books. I will tell you, without hesitation, that these are the two most visually stunning board books I have EVER seen (and I’ve seen my fair share!). First, we have Colors by Charley Harper. Page after page is filled with vibrant color and drawings that will certainly catch the eye of babies, toddlers, and really people of all ages. You simply don’t want to put the book down once you pick it up.

Second, we have Counting in the  Garden by Emily Hruby and this book is all about growing your own garden, and includes the numbers 1 through 12. It’s another book that draws you in with its beautiful imagery. Both books are WONDERFUL gift options for babies and toddlers. I can confidently say that these books will become instant favorites in any young child’s library.

I was pretty much blown away by the quality of AMMO Books products, and I think you will be, too, if you ever pick up any of their works! You can find an impressive array of products for purchase through the AMMO Books website. While you are there, be sure to pop over to the other categories of books!

 

Win it!: Here’s your chance to win the Modern Art Memory Game! Woo hoo! New to Rafflecopter? Click here for a quick tutorial on how to enter this and all future giveaways. You are going to love it! [Read more…]

How to use Rafflecopter

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I am very excited to announce that I will soon be working with Rafflecopter for giveaways! I think you will find that it makes the entry process much simpler. Let me quickly break it down for you so you will be ready to use it when it goes live!

The top of the form gives you the following information:

  • Prize up for grabs (i.e. Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVD).
  • Number of winners (on my site it is usually just one, but every so often I will have multiple winners).
  • Number of entries to date (this gives you an idea for your odds of winning!).
  • How much time is left to enter.

The middle of the form has a list of tasks that you can accomplish to earn entries into the giveaway.  It will show you which of the entries are mandatory and which are optional.  If the entry is mandatory, the “I Did This” button will be in green and the others will be grayed out until you perform the mandatory entry.

For some entry options, you can complete the task directly on the form, such as the Facebook Likes, by clicking the Do It: Click Here.  On others, such as “Follow Stuff Parents Need via GFC”, you will need to Click for Instructions to get the exact details of what you need to do for this entry.

At the bottom of the form, you’ll see the TERMS and CONDITIONS of the Giveaway. These are rarely changed for my giveaways, but it is always good to give them a quick glance.

If you run into any problems with Rafflecopter please don’t hesitate to let me know.  My goal is to make sure that entering giveaways is as easy as possible on Stuff Parents Need. If you are not finding that to be the case, I need to hear from you! Send me an email at stuffparentsneed@gmail.com with any questions or feedback.

Special thanks to Lindsey at So Easy Being Green for her Rafflecopter tutorial that inspired this one! 

Farm Rich snacks review and giveaway

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We are BIG on cheese in my house. So big, that we buy our cheese in monster-sized bags from Costco. We do stick it in the freezer to keep it fresh longer, but honestly, we eat it fast enough that it isn’t necessary!

One guilty pleasure that we have is cheese sticks. I think we all know that that this is an indulgence food, and not something to have on the menu three times each week. We usually get them on rare occasions when we go out to eat. But now we have some in our freezer that are actually good! I haven’t been impressed with the cheese sticks I’ve purchased in the past in the frozen food section, but these crisp quite nicely and taste absolutely sinful, just as cheese sticks should!

They are from Farm Rich and they are part of a great line of products that are great for occasional treats, though I wouldn’t suggest them as daily snacks. If you’d like to treat your family to something extra yummy, I do think the Farm Rich cheese sticks are a good choice. I’m also interested in trying their quesadillas, which would be so nice to accompany a soup. Preparing these foods is an absolute cinch. We use our toaster oven and get excellent results.

Buy it!: you can find Farm Rich products in the frozen food aisle of your favorite supermarket.

Win it!: Two lucky Stuff Parents Need readers will each receive a coupon for a free Farm Rich product! The contest will run until September 10th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

 Mandatory entry: Tell me which Farm Rich product looks the most appetizing to you!

Additional entries:

1. Sponsor love: Like Farm Rich on Facebook

2. Blogger love: Follow Stuff Parents Need on Google Friend Connect (found on the sidebar)

Disclosure: I received a coupon for a free Farm Rich snack product in exchange for my honest opinions, which I have provided.

Bover Bag: A Better Way to Travel with a Portable Crib

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To say that we have gotten a lot of use out of Darah’s portable crib would be a big understatement. She slept in the bassinet portion of it for the first 3 months of her life. And every single time we have traveled anywhere overnight, it has come with us. In fact, it still comes with us, even though Darah is 2.

Our portable crib came with its own carrying case. But here’s the thing about it…you have to be Houdini to get everything to fit in there. I swear it’s like folding up a big map; get one elements just slightly wrong, and you won’t be successful. Tim seems to have it down, but I still, after 2 years, cannot figure out how to do it. It’s very frustrating.

The other thing that is frustrating about the carrier it comes with is that it only has short handles. So if you are carrying the portable crib, you can’t really be carrying much else. This might be ok for trips in the car, but it totally stinks at the airport (trust me, I know).

I’m not the only one who has picked up on these problems. A fellow mom named Erica who was also frustrated by this inadequate carrier came up with a solution. They are called Bover Bags, and they are a much better way to carry portable cribs. Here are the things I really like about Bover Bags.

1. They are roomier. While your crib is still kept secure, there’s a bit more room so that people like me who might not have the crib 100% exactly right when packing it won’t find themselves stressed out because they can’t fit the crib in the bag.This is HUGE for me. Previously I just relied on Tim to take care of packing the crib. I can now take care of it myself.

2. The bag has a strap! Yes! Both hands are totally free now to carry other things when loading or unloading your car, or when navigating the airport.

3. The bags stand out. They have some cute  patterns, and just look so much nicer than the dark brown case we had before.

4. They can grow with your family. These bags can be used for bulky items that are otherwise a bit difficult to pack. They can also hold laundry and toys.

The inside lining of the bag is a lovely soft satin and the bag is washable. I do wish that there was a bit more variety in the fabric choices, but perhaps that is in the works for down the road.  Bover Bags retail for $75, which I know sounds a bit steep, but I can tell you from experience that these bags are built to last, and they can hold quite a bit of weight in them. This will be a bag that will literally take your child from crib to college.  I highly recommend it!

 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
 

Long Distance Moving Made Easy: It is Possible!

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Tim and I have been married for 9 1/2 years. We have been together for 12 years. Since we have been a couple, we moved a grand total of 10 times. TEN TIMES!!!! The first 3 times we were in college, hauling our stuff from dorm room to dorm room. It was a pain, but we helped each other, and we each only had a room full of stuff.

Once we got married, Our collection grew immensely. But we lived in Boston in an apartment the size of a shoe box (seriously, it was like 400 square feet). I remember getting a quote from a moving company to move our stuff from Boston to Memphis for us. It was over $3,000 dollars! For 400 square feet of stuff! The entire contents of our home weren’t worth that much at that time, so we opted to sell most of our furniture (particle board stuff, not really worth moving, anyway). We packed everything we owned into a trailer that hitched behind our car. I believe that was one of Tim’s proudest moments in life, because it required that he pack with the precision of a Tetris master. In some places, it was so tight that you couldn’t slip a piece of paper between the boxes. But we did it!

The next time we were ready for a move, we did hire some college students to help us with the loading and unloading of boxes. That helped a bit, but the bulk of the work was left to us, and even in our mid twenties, we were starting to feel too old for it! 🙂

When we moved last year, we were in a completely different position for moving in that we were going to have to figure out how to do it with a baby. We realized that the complete DIY move was no longer going to work for us, but hiring a moving company was still not something we could afford. We opted for one of those portable storage devices, and that was a really great solution for us as a family.

First and foremost, we could load up the storage shed at our own pace. This meant that we could work on moving for a little bit of time after work each night, and as much as we could on the weekends, while also being able to take breaks when we needed to spend time with the baby.

Second, we could exercise the same slowed-down pace when it was time to move into our new place. Since we didn’t have any family or friends in town to help us, it was WONDERFUL to be able to unpack over the course of a week. That saved our sanity, for sure.

Third, not having to drive a moving truck was REALLY nice. It is a 6 hour drive from Memphis to Chattanooga, and at the time we moved, we had a little one who had just turned 1. She was no longer quiet and happy on long car rides, and she required a great deal of attention. There was NO WAY that I was going to be able to make that drive by myself in the car with a brand new toddler while Tim drove the truck. We were SO glad to not have to do that.

While we really enjoyed moving this was as opposed to the total DIY way we had done it in the past, we have heard from many different friends that actually hiring a moving company is the best money they have ever spent. One of my friends just completed a move, and said that the movers got all the stuff off the truck and into her new place in 2 hours. That’s pretty incredible, I have to say!

Long distance moving is a real pain, and hopefully you don’t have to do it too many times in your life. I know we are hoping to be done with it for at least the next 18 years! 🙂 But whether you are moving across the nation or across town, know that there are some flexible options that might take a bit of the sting out of the moving process. If you can’t afford to hire a moving company for the entire trip, you can even hire one set of movers to load the truck in one city, and another set of movers to unload the truck in the other city. If we move long distance again, I think that’s exactly what we will do!

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

My Top 3 Mistakes as a Small Business Owner

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I mentioned a few weeks ago that Tim and I started our own small business together. I already considered the running of our household to make us business partners, in a sense, so I didn’t think this was going to be any real challenge, at least not in terms of communication.

Uh, yeah. I was wrong on that one! We have butted heads repeatedly over the last month as we try to get our business to take wing and fly. So far all we seem to be doing is sitting on the launchpad, going pretty much nowhere. I think we will get there, but after reflecting on how we got started, I think that there are a few things that I would do differently. If you are thinking about starting a business, perhaps our rookie mistakes can save you from repeating them!

1. It’s “on your mark, get set, go!” not, “on your mark, go, get set!” Launching our business (which is a daily deal site for Chattanooga, by the way) has been time sensitive. We’ve given ourselves a deadline by which to get 500 people signed up. That is the tail wagging the dog, for sure! As a result, we are putting pretty much all of our energy into trying to get folks signed up before we have even written a business plan, created goals for the business, or talked about who is in charge of doing what. That is NOT a recipe for success, my friends. I know why we launched right into getting those sign ups, but I wish that we hadn’t done that, and that we had taken a few weeks to put together a solid plan for the business.

2. LLC? Individual Proprietor? Huh???? One other thing we haven’t yet done is figure out how to explain our business to the IRS. If you just start a business and don’t register it anywhere, then you are an individual proprietor. Depending on your business, this could be just fine, or it could be illegal. It’s not illegal for what we do, but we are missing out on some additional protection by not being an LLC. If someone were to sue our businesses at this point, our personal assets are not protected. That is NOT GOOD, my friends. Before you launch a business, really take the time to figure out what makes sense for you. Becoming an LLC requires paperwork and several hundred dollars each year (boo), but it may be worth it to protect everything else you’ve worked so hard to build.

3. You need a marketing budget. One of the things that we loved about the business we started was that it required lots of time, but no financial investment on our part. Oh, how naive we were! It’s true, no additional money is REQUIRED to be spent, but that doesn’t mean that it SHOULDN’T be spent. As a blogger, I really understand the power of marketing. Getting your message to the right audience is absolutely critical to the success of a business. It is often the case that you need help from other businesses who are already engaging the audience you are looking for. And you aren’t entitled to their email lists or to any sort of free publicity. You have to pay to play! As Tim and I have watched our efforts at recruiting individual sign ups produce abysmal results, we’re realized that we must get some  help. It’s going to cost us some money, for sure. I think it will be worth it, but we were pretty much clueless about this when we got started.

So those are my top 3 tips after trying to run a business for a month. We are still excited about our business, but now are a little bit wiser about what you should not do when getting started. What about you? Do you have a small business? Any tips for those of us just getting started?

The Best Price on Chicken Ever! Zaycon Foods

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Do you eat chicken? It’s the most popular meat in the United States, so unless you are a vegetarian, the odds are REALLY good that you do! What’s the very best price that you can find for chicken in your community? Around here, it’s $1.99/pound, and it happens not all that often (maybe once every 2 months). When I see it at that price, I try to stock up.

Have you ever thought about how long it took for your chicken to go from living and breathing to being in the store ready for purchase? Most of us don’t like to think about that, but it’s a truth that chicken was once alive! The average time it takes for the chicken to be available to you after being killed is 13 days. So if you pick up something that the supermarket just put out that day, it’s probably been dead for about 13 days. Which is kind of gross.

Have you ever had fresh chicken? I have no idea if I have before, but I recently got to prepare some chicken that had been alive just 3 days prior. I was told that I would be able to taste a difference, which I thought was unlikely. But I have to tell you, this chicken was AWESOME! It was juicier and more flavorful!

This chicken I had was not only fresher, but also significantly cheaper than my “rock-bottom” price I look for in the grocery store. It came in around $1.67/pound.

I’m here to tell you the secret to fresher, cheaper chicken. It’s called Zaycon Foods and you have GOT to check them out!

This is the basic idea of  how Zaycon Foods works:

1) COMBINED    
     BUYING
     POWER
2) DIRECT      
     FARM-TO-      
     CONSUMER
3) SOLD BY
     THE CASE
4) SELECT
     PRODUCTS
5) SALES EVENT
     MODEL
We combine the buying power of many families together, enabling us to negotiate huge savings on food purchases for your family
We bring products direct from the farm / processor (or as nearly as direct as possible). The products are as fresh as if you had your own farm, but without all the chores
We sell food products only by the case. No extra costs for handling. And no more empty shelves in your pantry
We sell only what we eat ourselves—high quality, healthy food. Our focus is on a select number of commonly consumed food items such as fresh meats like chicken, beef, turkey, pork and fish
Our unique sales event approach turns traditional food purchasing on its ear. Convenient, quick, organized—about 2 minutes and you never even need to get out of your car

Zaycon Foods is already scheduling events all over the country, so you should definitely log on and see if your nearest city is on their radar. If it isn’t, you can change that! Seriously! Sign up and let them know where you live and where you are willing to go to pick up an order (for example, maybe you live 45 minutes outside of a significantly larger city and you would be willing to go to that city for a pick up). In addition to having special sales on chicken, they also sell other meats such as bacon and ground beef. They are also testing different markets for fresh produce!

In addition to getting yourself signed up, spread the word to your friends. If Zaycon Foods sees that there is a critical mass of people in a city that want to get a great deal, then it will happen! That’s the beauty of a business that has a truck as a store front…it can go ANYWHERE!

We recently got a 40 lb box of chicken. That was 52 chicken breasts. Yes, that IS a lot of chicken. But we had been eating out of our freezer for a few weeks to make room. The next time we order from them, I think we might find another family to split the package with so that someone else can enjoy the great savings, as well. Let me show you what we got!

The chicken comes in a big box, and the chicken is split into 4 packages. So you could even go in with 3 other people and still be able to easily split up a box. There is a little bit of work involved in getting the chicken ready to store, but if you have a pair of kitchen shears, it doesn’t take all that long. You are basically doing the work that the folks in the back of the supermarket do for you and then charge you for. You just need to trim a bit of fat off the chicken and split the breasts. Then you’ll want to put them in storage bags. We opted to put between 5 and 6 breasts in each storage bag.

We found that getting the chicken into these storage bags resulted in the chicken not taking up nearly as much space as it would have if we had left it in the big box. If you have a deep freeze, I think buying from Zaycon Foods is a no-brainer. Even if you don’t (we don’t), I promise you that you can fit 40 lbs of chicken in your freezer and still have room for other stuff.

I’ve had the Zaycon Foods experience, and I can say with confidence that it is one I want to have again! The quality of meat is outstanding, the work required to store the food is not overwhelming, and the price is most definitely right. I really hope we can get the word out in Chattanooga so that the truck will make a stop here in the future!

Does Zaycon Foods come to your neck of the woods? Ever tried it?

Disclosure: I received a complimentary box of chicken in exchange for my honest opinion, which I have provided. This post contains a referral link. I firmly believe in this company and am proud to recommend them for your business!