Bunnys Bows Review&GIVEAWAY

My quest to find some really unique, "Funky Loopy," over the top style hair bows came to a hault when I discovered BunnysBows on Etsy! I made my decision to place an order for a surprise 6 pack within a few short minutes of looking at the photos and reading a couple customer reviews. Some of which said 

-"  Soooooo cute! Deb is so talented and her bows are georgous !"

-" Deb is unbelievably talented! They far exceeded my expectations! More than a bow, they are a work of art! Plan to buy many more...absolutely LOVE them! Thanks so much!"

- "AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!!! GEORGOUS GEORGOUS GEORGOUS!!!!! THESE ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOWS I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!! THEY ARE AMAZING AND TOTALLY AWESOME! DEB IS THE SWEETEST PERSON EVER SHE MADE ALL THE BOWS PERFECTLY AND WORKED WITH ME THE WHOLE TIME! THIS IS THE BEST SHOP ON ETSY! BEST EVER! I WILL ALWAYS ORDER FROM HER!!! AND THANKS SOOOOOO MUCH FOR THE EXTRAS!"

Deb truly is something special. What a treasure to find on etsy. I put in my notes to seller a request for one of the bows in the sample photos ( the cupcake one seen above!) and also for a Christmas bow and fall themed bow. She QUICKLY replied back telling me she would be able to do so! Her turn around time is FAST, about 2-3 business days but she waited a couple extra days for a really cute fall themed ribbon to come in and then paid the extra money to get it delivered to me faster since she wanted to use that ribbon. Service and communication are top notch with Deb at bunny bows! 

Her bows arrived to me quickly! Upon opening the box I was blown away by the detail, beauty and uniqueness. My little girl was in love with them! There was so much for her to look at and talk about! Deb does not skimp on stuffing her funky loopy bows! These bad boys are jam packed with all sorts of flat backs and ostrich feathers, korker ribbon, gems & jewels and all sorts of doodads! All 7 of the bows I received are made with high quality ribbon and secured with wire & attached to a barrette style clip to be sure to last! My favorite is probably the Barbie bow! 

Deb was generous enough to offer one of my wonderful readers the chance to WIN one of her beautiful bows! A Christmas themed funky loopy bow! But before we get to that, let me please share with you the mini interview I had with her. 

What got you interested in making hairbows & how long have you been doing so?

- I have been makeing hairbows for about 3 years now. I Love to make them. I kept on seing  the same hairbows around and I thought let me spice it up! Its like art to me.

I know bow making starts as a hobby. Is it just a hobby to have a little extra income or has it become full-time?

- It started as extra money but now it has become fulltime and I love it. I love to make a hairbow from start to finish.

What is your favorite thing to craft? 

My favorite thing to craft is handmade gift tags. i Love all the colors and to Punch them out to see what i can come up with.

Where do you get your inspiration? 

My inspiration comes from colors and from when I was a child ..I just think of alll the pink and sparkly things I had growing up. I love colors, I also try to think of it as what would I liked in a hairbow when i was a child.

Tell us a little about yourself!! 

 My Name is Deb, I love the color Pink,I collect hello Kitty stuff and  I Love to Bake! Iam a person with a big love for pets. I try to help with them as much as I can in my spare time! 

Thank you Deb! I've had so much fun getting to know you. You're a wonderful friend! :)  As long as my little girl is letting me put bows in her hair, I'll be your customer!

Now... on to the giveaway! Like I said Deb generously provided a Christmas themed Funky loopy bow! It's super detailed and nice a big! Secured on a French Clip! 

 To enter- You must be a MMR follower & have an Etsy account (Free and easy to  sign up) 

Entries- 

Go to Bunnys Bows & in the lower left hand column click "Like" then leave your permalink (right after you "like" it, on your facebook wall you will see it. click the timestamp below and it will bring up a page copy and paste the url in the search box and paste it here!) Easier than it sounds! ( 1 entry- leave comment)

Go to Bunnys Bows, take a look around then come back here and tell me what your favorite item is! (1 entry- leave comment)

For additional entries (5) - place an order and leave me your order number! 
Share this giveaway however you wish (can be done once daily) Just share the link to your, status update, tweet or whatever! (3 entries!)

Giveaway will run for 2 weeks and a winner will be chosen by random.org. Good-luck! 

Get ready....

"Little girls are precious gifts like birds and brooks and streams...their hair is tied up with ribbons and bows...their hearts are tied up with dreams."

Layla's turning 3!! Where oh where has the time gone? I can remember writing THIS & now she's a "pre-schooler!" Whatt?!
While searching around on Pinterest for some Minnie Mouse themed ideas, the wheels got turning. I got in planning mode and started checking around on http://www.etsy.com/, where I usually order invitations and other doodads. I found some really cute tutu&bow sets and remembered how easy it was to make the tu-tus like I did for her first christmas (7 weeks) and her first birthday! Tutorial anyone? So I just needed a matching bow!  I found some super cute ones...among other bows. I haven't ordered any in so long and one of my favorites, Tosweetpeafromme was having a flash 40% sale. I needed just a few more & ordered from some  new sellers & got chatting with them about helping me out with a little "showcase" for little girl hair accessories!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BunnysBows

Sooo... Get ready, get set, because there's a lot to happen next month! Just a couple of the sellers being featured and giving items away are...

BunnysBows - Etsy
Sugar and Spice Boutique -Etsy
SkinnyMinnieBowtique-Etsy
Cute-E-Shop - Esty
ReiLynn Designs- Etsy

& moreee!

Expectant Mothers Parking

I so need to rant about this. It's something that really really bugs me! I can' t count the number of times I've pulled into the grocery store or shopping mall and as I'm walking past the "Expectant Mothers" parking spot, I see an elderly woman, whose well past her child bearing years climb out of the car and gracefully walk up to the entrance  Sometimes it's a teenage boy, an elderly man who are not shopping with an expectant Mom & clearing they're not expecting either!

When I was pregnant I loved this space. It was a nice little thing that grocery store and shopping plazas did just to honor us as a courtesy during our nine months. After my Daughter was born (a Winter baby,) I stopped using them unless it was clearly very icy and I was alone. Otherwise, my new favorite spot is next to the cart corral.

Some might think, well if she's got enough energy to walk around the mall, then why does she need to park so close? Well, for starters, She's pregnant! The spot was made for people like her. Just because you're an elderly person doesn't give you the right to take it. If you weren't given a handicap sticker & can't park there you are also capable then of walking. Or, maybe it's the middle of winter and while the inside of the shopping mall is dry and ice-free, the parking lot is covered in ice and slush! Maybe she's not at the mall and at the grocery store, in which case she might actually need to put food in her house and has no other choice but to be there! 

Today, I had enough of this! While I was loading two children under three in the car, I watched a man in his 60s-70s sit in not one, but BOTH "Stork Parking" spots while his wife walked into the mall, you guessed it, not pregnant!  I got into my seat, and phoned the mall just to ask what they can do to enforce such behavior. I KNOW they can't issue a ticket or call the Police and I totally get that but it's flat out rude and disrespectful to think it's owed to you just because you are elderly. Even more rude when you're a male who isn't helping your pregnant partner by parking there & only doing so because it's the closest available spot! Ugh! 

I was told by both security people at the mall how much it also aggravates them & that they wish something could be done but obviously, since you don't need a special tag to park there that they couldn't do anything but attempt to talk to the person and hope they understand (COMMON COURTESY) and move. I absolutely understood, and knew before hand they wouldn't be able to issue tickets but inside I was just hoping to witness somebody make this Man look like the fool he was being! 

Rant ended. :)

How many of you are also bothered by this? My mom is needs a handicap sticker when she goes places, that doesn't mean that just since she's going to the mall, she should be considered lazy as I read somewhere about these spots. When it comes to the handicap spots, I have been known to call people out on using them ILLEGALLY. I once watched a late teen-early 20-something  squeal his tires into the spot, park crooked and RUN in with a red-box movie in hand. I asked him if the Dr. denied his sticker for the space because he could run just fine. 

Almost farewell to summer.. Freezing comfort foods!

I'm a huge lover of comfort foods. My only problem is that I love them all year long and I am a failure at only cooking enough to feed our family of three for one night. In stead, we tend to eat chili or scalloped potatoes & ham for lunch for 3 days following. Portion control is not one of my strong suits either. My eyes are bigger than my stomach 9 times out of 10. This leaves a lot more to be saved than planned. Until recently I never froze anything because every time I freeze something as simple as hamburgers, they get freezer burn.

So with Fall quickly approaching, our money being tight & Chris having weird schedules while in nursing school, I decided I'm not going to waste a single thing anymore. Lunches wont be leftover meals, they will be regular lunches & everything leftover will be frozen. As I mentioned, I cook large amounts. I don't know why, but I do. Last weekend I bought a 6.5 pound package of ground round with the intentions to make my version of Speedy Spaghetti (recipe to follow) & Chili! I also pulled 8 boneless skinless chicken breasts out of the freezer and made my version of Auto Parts Chicken .(recipe to follow)

I spent an entire day devoted to cooking these meals from scratch so they could be frozen for our busy days. I did a little research so I was sure I would freeze them correctly. Aside from making sure it's cool enough to not melt through a freezer bag, I was unaware of if it should be completely cooled or if slightly warm was OK. It SHOULD be completely cooled. I found the fasted, easiest way was to fill a large bowl with ice water and set your freezer bag in to rest for 20 minutes or so. Make sure all the air is pressed out and try to avoid making the bag when laid flat more than 3/4- 1 inches thick. Remember that food expands when frozen, so don't overfill. Lay them flat in the freezer, let freeze for at least 2 hours before rearranging.

I found the whole process to be very easy! One day of cooking (1 crock pot meal & two quick , easy electric skillet meals!) For a few nights  to have a home cooked meal that would have felt like such a chore to complete after a long day of work (home daycare!) & running my own household. It's sure to feel like a treat when I can just grab, quick defrost and heat!! :) 

Showing my love for EdenFantasys . . . again :)

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Zuvo Water Filtration System (Under the Sink) Review

FedEx dropped off a wonderful package this morning from the great people at Zuvo! I've been lucky enough to receive this amazing under the sink water filtration system to review for you all.

We all know how tainted our unfiltered water has become over the years! Chlorine, lead, parasites and so much more are in our everyday tap water. So, we think that the plastic bottled water is so much safer, but that's not true at all. Chemicals from the plastic seep into the water that sits inside them. I cannot begin to say how much bottled water we drink here. My 2 and a half year old Daughter wont drink anything but, and has recently figured out that her Father is drinking her favorite icey drink in those plastic bottles he always has to have. Now, I can't get her to drink from her beloved sippy cups that she used to do so well with! Needless to say, we go through a 36 pack of water each week. Blehhh! And, although we do our best to recycle, I still hate spending our money on them knowing how dangerous they could potentially be.  I just hate thinking of what is going into my families body everytime we sip the tap water or bottled water, so I'm glad to have the opportunity to use this system and share it's benefits! 

President's anti-cancer panel recommends home filtered water systems as a way of reducing ones risk of harmful carcinogens.  

Zuvo filtration system offers something unique, biomimicry to purify tap water!
 "UV/Ozone filtration system reproduces nature’s photo-oxidation cleansing process, filtering impurities and reduces microorganisms to filter out harmful contaminates while preserving waters healthy mineral content and adding fresh oxygen, giving it a delicious pop".

     

We were sent the under the counter system due to the type of sink we have! It installed easily, in just under 10 minutes. The instructions were simple enough that I *could* have done it, but my husband was sweet enough to do it for me! :) There is the option of having the above the sink system, which I have heard is just as easy if not easier!

What's really neat about this, is that you can actually WATCH your water be filtered. Basically the same enjoyment I get out of watching my clothes wash & dry in a front loading machine! ;) The water tastes amazing, much better than tap, or bottled water. It's just pure, clean water!

Here's the 5 part process breakdown from the website! The Zuvo^® Water Filtration System uses a patented five-step process to produce clean, healthy, great-tasting water just the way nature intended!

Step 1: Ozonation

In nature, ozone is generated by lightning and cleans the air where rainwater forms. The Zuvo Water Filtration System mixes ozone with incoming tap water to treat taste and odor contaminants and improve taste. Like chlorine, ozone is a powerful oxidizer. Unlike chlorine, ozone leaves no chemical residue.

Step 2: Ultraviolet Light

The ozone saturated water is flooded with high-intensity UV light - the same as the solar energy that cleans water in the upper atmosphere.

Step 3: Photo-oxidation

The Zuvo Water Filtration System combines UV and ozone in a patented process known as photo-oxidation which releases powerful oxidizers to further treat the water.

Step 4: filtration with lead removal

Pure spring water is created by passing through fine particles in the earth. Zuvo uses the same principle by passing water through a Class 1 Particulate Reduction Filter, reducing chlorine taste and odor, lead, and tiny particulates.

Step 5: post-filtration UV

The filtered water is again exposed to high-intensity UV light as it leaves the Zuvo Water Filtration System, ensuring that you get clean, healthy, great tasting water...just the way nature intended!

* Above is taken directly from the ZUVO website* 

This filtration system retails for $179.99 on Amazonbut can be found at these other retailers! There are other styles to fit your needs! :) Head over to their facebook & show them some love for this review and for all the latest updates on Zuvo products!

Overall- I LOVE our new Zuvo system! I can now offer my family SAFE, CLEAN water. My daughter loves watching the filter turn on when I fill her cup and my Husband was blown away by the taste of the water. It's amazing! I, myself am not a water drinker, but now, I just might be! It's THAT good!

Big backyard playground set

SANDY COVE WOODEN GYMSET!

Our Daughter is two and a half now and last summer we spent a lot of our time heading to playgrounds at various schools and parks so this year we decided we were going to put a playground in our own backyard and headed to Toys R Us for a swingset she would love.

When I was little we had a metal set that was a bees nest magnet and rusted very quickly. The plastic in certain parts cracked and I remember getting numerous cuts from it. So we agreed to get a wooden set.

 Sandy Cove from Big Backyard is what we landed on! It retails for 699.99 but we got it for a little over $500! Would I spend that kind of money on this set again? Definitely not full price and probably not on sale either. Putting this set together was seriously a pain in the butt. While it wasn't really difficult, the directions were confusing, parts were labeled funny and the wood isn't the best quality. I'm sure we could have waited a little longer to get a little nicer of a set for about the same price. Although, it probably would have had to wait till the end of the season.

Now, for the one who uses it ALL THE TIME... Our little girl loves this set. She spends most of the time playing in the sand box or climbing up to the play fort on top! She's still too little for the monkey bars, though even if she wasn't they don't look like they offer much fun! Three rails and the bottom step is much too low for a child that would be small enough to use it without their feet touching the ground! The flower box is precious. We filled it with faux flower foam and glued moss to the top and stuck in small flowers from the Dollar store!

Overall, the swingset does exactly what we wanted it to, entertain our Daughter. I only wish the wood was more durable and that the swingset was as large as it appears to be in the photo!

This can be purchased at ToysRus or ToysRus.com