Stuff Parents Need

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

Wanna Win $1,000 to shop at LOFT? Details Below!!!

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When I worked outside of the home, my very favorite place to shop for business-casual attire was LOFT (I still think of it as Ann Taylor LOFT…anyone else do the same?). My build is petite and a bit curvy, and I found their clothing to hug where other brands droop, and give me a bit of breathing room where other brands cling to me. By far, their jeans are my favorite brand, as well.

Also, they know how to have a smokin’ good sale! 🙂

Even though I’m no longer logging hours in an office that requires a certain style of dress, LOFT still has many great pieces for the summer that I’d love to see hanging in my closet, and that I could put to great use! I think this might be my top pick from their shop at the moment. This super cute dress can go from the grocery store to the office to the beach, even. I think it needs a bit of splashy color added to it by way of accessories, but other than that, it is ready to go!

For those of you who are like me and would love to doing some serious shopping at LOFT this summer, but then remember the status of your bank account and have to hold that thought, I’ve got some great news! LOFT and WhoWhatWear.com have joined forces to create a Summer Wardrobe Sweepstakes.

Here’s what you need to do:
1. “Like” LOFT on Facebook.
2. Enter your email address when prompted on the LOFT Facebook site.
3. Wait for your winning email! 🙂

They are giving away a $1,000 LOFT gift card every week in June, so you still have a few chances left to win!

PLUS, on June 21st (this Tuesday!) from 4-5pm EST the WhoWhatWear.com founders Hillary Kerr and Katherine Power will be answering all of your summer style questions in their first-ever live chat. If you tune in to the chat, you’ll get an exclusive discount code to shop at LOFT!!!! During the chat, the focus will be on the hot summer trends, and how to wear them.

So what summer trends are you looking forward to trying? I’m a bit behind on what is trendy right now…anyone care to fill me in???

I received a gift card to LOFT as a thank you for posting about this awesome giveaway. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Working Moms: Meet WorkingMums!

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One of the things I love about the internet is that it can connect you to most any place in the world. While I spend most of my time on websites geared toward Americans, it can be a really fun adventure to check out some resources where I’m not necessarily the primary customer or client.

I’ve just spent a bit of time this morning perusing a website called Workingmums, and I found it to be really fascinating! It is an online community for moms (or “mums” as they are called in England) looking to work from home. I know that so many of my readers are seeking out such opportunities here in the states (including me!). I really liked looking through their list of opportunities. It was nicely organized, and the vast majority of their job postings looked VERY legitimate, which is a big difference I noticed between this site and most work at home sites in the United States. I think we have a lot more “too good to be true” opportunities to wade through.

I wanted to share this site with you because I think that there are two areas that can be quite useful to those of us in America. First, be sure to check out their franchise opportunities section. Notice the quick links section over to the right. There you will find some great information about how starting a franchise actually works, and what you need to think about when deciding if you’d like to be the person to open the chain establishment that you wish was in your town.

Workingmums also has a career toolkit section that offers several articles about how to get yourself ready to apply for work. Anyone out there who is trying to snag a position could benefit from reviewing some of their helpful tips!

Hop on over and give Workingmums a look. It’s not only fascinating, but also really useful!

This post is in association with Workingmums.co.uk. As always, all opinions expressed here are strictly my own

Sandra Boynton and Beatrix Potter Apps (GIVEAWAY!!!)

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I think it is fair to say that I have seen my fair share of apps for children. At last count, I think we had around 25 apps on the iPad that were just for Darah. I’ve seen a few bad apps (poor design, not much fun, etc.) and I’ve seen LOTS of high quality apps that engage the reader and help little ones learn while they play.

But I’ve NEVER seen apps like what is being put out by Loud Crow Interactive. They have put out 2 Sandra Boynton classics (The Going to Bed Book and Moo Baa La La La). They also have The Tail of Peter Rabbit and The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter.

I’m almost at a loss for words for how to describe the technology used to bring these books to life. For the Beatrix Potter books, you should know that they are quite long (which is a good thing for little ones who are ready for a longer story). And page after page has the gorgeous illustrations we’ve come to expect from a Beatrix Potter tale. Only these apps have other features you might not be expecting. For example, the characters on many pages can be touched and dragged to make the slide, tilt or spring. Additionally, there are objects that pop out of the page to give a 3-D effect (no glasses needed!). When Tim and I first read through one of these books, we both erupted in applause when we got to the end. DEAD SERIOUS. Has a children’s app ever made to cheer out loud? Didn’t think so…

Here’s a video that shows you what the app is like:

The Sandra Boynton books also have the ability to click and drag some of the characters. And they have other really precious features. One of my favorites is a moment when lots of animals are crowded around a sink, brushing teeth. You can turn on the hot water and watch the page fill up with steam, which you can then wipe off. Ha! One thing I appreciate about these apps is that they bring a new life to the Boynton books, which most parents really love, but grow tired of after time (not because they aren’t wonderful, but after reading a board book 200 times, you get a little bored, yourself!).

Buy it!: All of these books are available through iTunes. Start at the Loud Crow site to learn more about each option. Pricing starts at just $1.99 for the iPhone, and goes up to $4.99 for the PopOut books on the iPad (SO worth it, by the way).

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win one Beatrix Potter app and one Sandra Boynton app of your choice! Woo hoo! The contest will run until June 29th 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 two apps you would like to win, and choose wisely, as you will get what you select!

Additional entries:
1. Sponsor love: Like Loud Crow Interactive on Facebook
2. Blogger love: Follow Stuff Parents Need on Google Friend Connect

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

Disclosure: I received complimentary apps for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Remote Control Vehicles Designed for Preschoolers (GIVEAWAY!!!)

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Is it a universal truth that all children love to play with cars? This has certainly been our experience, so far. They are a huge hit with kids young and old. I’ll be the first to admit that I like playing with cars, too. They are fun! Darah and I will line them up and see how far we can push each one down the hallway. Tim especially enjoys breaking out his old “Mighty Mo” dump truck that was his favorite as a child. He says that it brings him a lot of joy to see it being played with by his daughter.

Cars and other wheeled machines are an obvious toy option for little boys, but I want to encourage all the parents of little girls to not overlook them. They are great fun and do seem to keep most kids entertained for long stretches of time. Hands, down, Darah’s favorite gift in her Easter basket this year was her new Hot Wheels car.

We recently got to welcome another little dump truck into our family, and also introduce Darah to her first remote control machine. It is the Cat E-Z Machines Radio Control and it is awesome because it is designed for little ones, ages 2 and up.

I wasn’t sure how a radio control vehicle would be simple enough for such a young child, but it really is. You see, it only has one button! The machine goes forward when you push the button, and when you release it, the machine will spin until you push the button again (this is especially handy when it hits a wall or a piece of furniture).

At this point, Darah is a little bit afraid of a machine that seems to move on its own. She’s happy to play with it without using the remote control, though. As for the grownups, we TOTALLY use the remote control feature. I was never very good at using remote control toys of any sort when I was younger, so this simple toy doesn’t stress me out. Officially, I’m just trying to show Darah that she doesn’t have to be scared and that it is actually the person holding the controller who is moving the car. Unofficially, I’m trying to become the grand master champion of the Cat E-Z Machine. Everyone’s got a dream, right?

The Cat E-Z Machine Remote Control is made by a great company called Toy State. They have a really nice selection of pre-school construction toys, as well as many other toys for the car enthusiast. Their site is most definitely worth a look around! The car we reviewed can be purchased for $12 and is available at Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R Us.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to with the Cat E-Z Machine Remote Control! The contest will run until June 28th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to 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 any other toy vehicle made by Toy State that you’d love to bring home to your kid(s)!

Additional entries:
1. Sponsor love: Follow Toy State on Twitter
2. Blogger love: Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter

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

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

CLR Bathroom & Kitchen Cleaner: Good Stuff! (GIVEAWAY!!!)

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I find it interesting that I can make such rapid decisions about a cleaning product just based on its container. Isn’t that silly? But it is true. For example, when you look at this product, just in passing, do you assume that it is “green”?I know I didn’t. Why? I guess because it doesn’t say any of the buzz words like, “ECO, GREEN, NATURAL, etc.” in 60 point font. But CLR Bathroom and Kitchen Cleaner is made by the company Jelmar, and they have partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency to bring about its environmentally-friendly formulation. You’ll find that information on the bottle, but it is tucked away in the corner. I think the message it is sending is that being environmentally-friendly should just be a given with our cleaning products, and not the one thing that will make you want to buy them.

I have been using this product, which is designed for both kitchens and bathrooms for a few weeks. I LOVE having a spray that is eco-friendly, and that is designed to work on grease, hard water deposits, soap scum, film and dirt all at once. I spray it on the surface, let it sit for just a few seconds, and wipe it up. The mess and the grime comes with it!

Buy it!: CLR Bathroom and Kitchen Cleaner is available nationwide. You’ve probably overlooked it at a store you frequent! See all the places it is sold here.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a bottle of CLR Bath & Kitchen Cleaner for your home! The contest will run until June 27th 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: Jelmar has an excellent resource center with really helpful cleaning tips. Check it out and tell me something you learned there!

Additional entries:

1. Sponsor love: Like CLR Cleaners on Facebook

2. Blogger love: Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter

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

 

Disclosure: I was given CLR Bath & Kitchenby Jelmar Inc. for my review. I was allowed to keep the product, but the opinion I am sharing remains my own.

Just for Fun: Maternity Clothes Shopping

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Are you thinking that I have a secret to share by talking about maternity clothes????

Well…….

Drum roll please……

Sorry to disappoint! There’s no big announcement coming from me today. But even though I’m not pregnant, it recently occurred to me that many of my readers are (or might be soon!). So just for fun today, I thought I’d do a bit of browsing for quality maternity clothes. And I thought I’d go hunting somewhere you probably aren’t looking….across the pond! Let’s see what the expecting ladies in England are sporting, shall we?

First, I spy some CUTE maternity maxi dresses. Isn’t this adorable? And black is such a slimming shade (said half in jest, as we all know there comes a point in pregnancy where no color will help!).

My next pick is for for this cutout back top (though I wish it was available in something other than horizontal stripes). What an excellent way for a woman to still show a bit of skin without doing that whole show-your-belly business (more power to you if that’s your thing, but it was definitely NOT a good look for yours truly).

Finally, I do love to see pregnant women rockin’ a print (don’t settle for all solids, ladies!). Look at this gorgeous top. So perfect for summer, and it can be dressed up or down with ease. Cute!

And now for the bad news. It doesn’t appear to me that those of us in the U.S. can make an online purchase from Very, the store that sells these cute clothes. How very unfortunate, and what a missed opportunity for them! Perhaps they can be persuaded to change their minds on that one, because one thing I do remember about being pregnant (2 years ago…feel like 2 decades ago, sometimes) is that I craved more variety and more options for affordable and cute clothes. I know maternity fashion has come a long way in recent years, but I was still pretty disappointed with the selection, at least in my price range.

So, all my pregnant readers….what are your must-have fashion items for the summer? Get me up to speed on what’s in style!

This post is in association with Very.co.uk. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

S’mores: Capture the Fun and Win an Awesome Prize Pack!

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Do you love S’mores? Maybe I should be asking if anyone out there DOESN’T love S’mores? They are pretty close to impossible not to love, I think. They always make me think of summer, and camp bonfires.

My favorite way to eat a S’more is by putting a lightly toasted marshmallow (none of that burnt stuff, thanks) on top and letting that just start to melt the chocolate. I bite into it before the center of the chocolate piece has melted, so I get this awesome combination of flavors AND textures. YUM!!!

This summer, there’s a great promotion going on at Hershey’s Facebook page. Starting today, you can capture and share your favorite S’mores moments for a chance to win a variety of S’mores-themed prizes. Wanna hear about the grand prize? It includes the following:

  • Canon Rebel Camera
  • Slate marble outdoor firebowl
  • $250 SnapFish gift card
  • roasting skewers set
  • all of the ingredients needed to make S’mores!

Are you in? Yeah, me too! I’ve got graham crackers, jumbo marshmallows and Hershey chocolate bars on my grocery list this week so we can participate! If you want to do the same, don’t miss out on the $1 coupon on the Facebook page that you can put toward a 6-pack of Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars! Get on it and take some awesome pictures of the family fun. Just make sure your pics aren’t quite as good as mine ;-).

Later this summer I’ll be giving away a S’mores prize pack, as well. So stay tuned!

Disclosure: This post is part of my participation in the Hershey’s “Say S’mores” Promotion. All opinions expressed are mine.

Celebrate Men’s Health Month with GNC ($100 Gift Card GIVEAWAY!!!)

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Did you know that June is Men’s Health Month? It is! What a great idea to take the same time that we celebrate father’s and all that they bring to our lives, and combine it with an opportunity to promote and encourage men to take care of themselves.

When you are younger, you feel invincible. At least I used to, and I think Tim did, as well. But just last July, Tim had to be hospitalized for a blood clot in his arm (it was related to an accident he had a few weeks prior). While it didn’t point to any other major health problems, a blood clot is SERIOUS business. He had gone to the doctor for a checkup and just casually mentioned that his arm felt a little weird. A few hours later, he was in the hospital. Just like that. It was a scary moment for us both and gave us a lot of pause.

Turns out we aren’t immune to health problems, after all. That was a real wake up call for Tim to start taking better care of himself. He is (in my opinion) fortunate to have very fast metabolism. I know that I have always made the assumption that since Tim wasn’t overweight, that he was in excellent health. But that’s not necessarily the case. Whether you have some extra weight or not, your body still needs plenty of exercise and the right fuel to keep it performing at its best.

GNC is a store that you can find all over the nation, as well as online, and it is their primary aim to help you meet your goals for optimal health. If you are like me, then walking into a store like GNC can be pretty intimidating. There are SO many different products…how do you figure out what you actually need? One of the things I really like about the GNC website is that you can shop by condition or goal. This can help you quickly narrow down your search to the products that will best help you. For example, I just searched for allergy remedies, and saw some very cool products that I have heard work wonders (bee pollen!). Even though I had heard this was a good way to reduce seasonal allergies, it wasn’t something I was remembering to look for in the stores. I’ve just been heading straight for the Claritin! I’m excited to see some natural alternatives.

Tim has always been interested in finding ways to add a bit of mass (what’s that problem like?!), and when I searched for the term muscle, LOTS of stuff came up. So much so, that I’d think this is one product it might be good to purchase in the store, because then you can talk to an expert! They also have reviews of their products online, so if you don’t live near a GNC or just would rather place an online order, you can read what other people who have tried the products have to say about them.

Win it!: GNC is celebrating Men’s Health Month by offering one Stuff Parents Need reader a $100 gift card! WOAH! The contest will run until June 26th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please. If you won a gift card from GNC in 2011, you are not eligible for this giveaway.

Mandatory entry: You have two choices for your mandatory entry. Just pick A or B!
a. Follow GNC on Twitter and Stuff Parents Need on Twitter and leave a comment here.
b. Like GNC on Facebook and Stuff Parents Need on Facebook and leave a comment here.

Additional entries:
1. If you did A for your mandatory entry, do B and leave a comment. If you did B, do A and leave a comment.
2. Subscribe to Stuff Parents Need by RSS or email.

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

Disclosure: I received a gift certificate in exchange for my honest opinion about GNC, which I have provided.

How I Shape My Eyebrows

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I have naturally thick and full eyebrows. My mom actually has the opposite problem and longs for thicker eyebrows. I distinctly remember her telling me when I was a teenager not to pluck my eyebrows because she over-plucked hers as a teen and they never came back.

I have no idea if that’s really possible to do, but it scared me enough not to touch my eyebrows at all until college.

In college, I realized that most women got their eyebrows waxed. That sounded painful, although that wasn’t my primary concern. I just knew that I would get someone who would accidentally wax off my entire eyebrow. I just didn’t understand how waxing could be so precise. Even at 30, I have never had my eyebrows waxed.

But I have realized that my brows do need shaping. For years, I only plucked. It really hurt, but I didn’t know what else to do! I’ll never forget the first time I had my brows professionally done. I found a fancy pants salon in Boston that did tweezing (I think I paid $40!). But my eyebrows looked so beautiful! I realized then that what I was doing (plucking random stray hairs) wasn’t sufficient.

And then I heard about eyebrow threading. I’m not quite sure how to explain it…but it involves using a piece of string to very quickly and precisely remove hair. It hurts like tweezing, but it goes so much faster!

I’d heard of threading but couldn’t find a place to get it done. Then in early 2009, I took a trip to Minneapolis with Tim. I found a shop at the Mall of America that did threading. I waddled up to the chair (I was 5 months pregnant) and said, “Let’s do this!”

The results were awesome! Later that summer, a threading shop opened in Memphis (in the mall) and I got my eyebrows done there that fall. I will say, some threading experts are much better than others. The lady in Minneapolis was like a dream. The lady in Memphis actually made me cry from the pain. But even her work was good, so ultimately, it was worth it.

Even Chattanooga now has a threading shop (also in the mall…I guess that’s where you should look for them!). I went two weeks ago, and the lady was so nice, but said, “It has been a REALLY long time since you had your brows done, no?” She was right…I hadn’t been in 1o months! Shame!

Here in Chattanooga, I pay $12 to get my eyebrows done, and that includes a tip. It takes about 5 minutes (maybe less!). I want to strongly encourage you to take a look around your area and see if you can find anyone who offers threading. I bet you’ll love it!

How do you shape your eyebrows? I’d love to hear what works for you!

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