Author: Melissa

world toilet day *giveaway*

Melissa 185 Comments

Today is World Toilet Day.

I know what you’re thinking. There’s officially a day for everything now. But why do we need a day for a toilet – something everyone obviously already knows about?

Because there is a huge population of the world who doesn’t have one. In the US, we tend to take our access to clean, running water for granted. But While the Western world grapples with ways to reduce the amount of water used in our clean, abundant and convenient bathrooms,  almost half the people in the world lack  a safe way to go to the bathroom. We have traveled many places where THIS was considered a nice bathroom:

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Across the world, over 1.5 billion people are living without access to sanitary water or a proper toilet. The open pit latrines common in these places increases the spread of disease through transmissions from flies and other insects. This isn’t a matter of indoor plumbing or giving people nicer bathrooms. This is a SERIOUS health issue across the globe.

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EVERY DAY 2,000 CHILDREN DIE FROM LACK OF PROPER SANITATION. Do you know what that means?

 

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One thing is abundantly clear: this is a serious issue.  American Standard saw this as a problem and created the Flush for Good campaign to try to help.

A team of American Standard engineers conducted field research in villages located in the Rajshahi region of Bangladesh in 2012. Based on their findings, the American Standard team invented a cost-effective, hygienic toilet pan called SanTo that  uses ingeniously simple mechanical and water seals to reduce disease transmission by closing off pit latrines from the open air, keeping flies out. Plus, they’ll help reduce the occurrence of odors, thus improving sanitation and quality of life for users.

For every Champion toilet purchased, American Standard will donate one sanitary toilet pan for a developing country.  You can also help on  Facebook, with a sanitary toilet pan being donated for every 100 likes and shares.

I am so pleased to be supporting this campaign. I love that American Standard has latched on to a cause that is related to their products and is doing what they can – not just to donate money – but to EDUCATE people about this important global health issue.

win it!

One lucky Girlymama reader will win a $200 Gift Card to Home Depot, courtesy of American Standard!! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One winner will be selected at random and will be notified by email. Winner must have a U.S. Mailing address. For other contest rules, see our giveaway policies page.

mission accomplished!

Melissa 17 Comments

For the last 2 months, I been sharing about how I joined Weight Watchers Online. My first month I lost 4 pounds. Go me! Month two, I lost 3 and was halfway to my goal of running a 5K. Now its month three. THE month. The month my name was down to actually run 5K. Which, if you don’t know, is pretty stinking far.

See, I don’t run. This is me:

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Oh And this is me, too:

running out of wine

 

So this whole couch to 5K was a challenge for me. I was taking baby steps, but I was slowly building up and running for longer and longer. Every milestone was a big deal – for someone who could barely run 2 minutes when I started, hitting one mile without stopping, then two was reason to celebrate.

Then yesterday, we did it! My daughter and I ran our first 5K!

GOTRri

I could barely keep up with Eliza – she runs like a cheetah! But we finished.

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So I did it. I reached my goals in just three months: I ran a 5K AND I lost 10 pounds in the process.

Most importantly, I FEEL different. I feel stronger. I feel great. My ‘skinny’ jeans are back in the rotation. And I didn’t do anything really drastic to my diet or have to give up favorite foods. I just exercised 3 times a week and stuck to my points goal.  I even could enjoy a glass of wine or dessert when I wanted to. I have found Weight Watchers very easy to stick to – without disrupting my families eating or costing a fortune for special food. I don’t have time to cook two meals a night, so I need a diet where I can eat what my family eats. This was perfect!

But now comes the real challenge… the holidays. Do you have any tips for not gaining weight over the holidays you’d like to share?

disclosure: i have received a complimentary membership to weight watchers online. unfortunately, they don’t lose the weight for me, so i have to do the work and share my progress myself ;-) people following the Weight Watchers plan can expect to lose 1-2 pounds per week.”

go pink with autotex pink!

Melissa 1 Comment

Since a good friend of ours is battling breast cancer, we are all about the pink support over here in our house!

How are we showing our support now? With our car! We recently installed AutoTex Pink wipers – and we supporting BCRF at the same time! For every wiper blade purchased, AutoTex PINK proudly makes a donation to the National Breast Cancer Foundation for sales made in the US and the Breast Cancer Society of Canada for sales made in Canada. The simple act of changing your wiper blades can change a life.

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The NBCF fulfills its mission to save lives through early detection and provide mammograms to those in need by increasing awareness through education, providing diagnostic breast care services for those in need, and providing nurturing support services. When breast cancer is detected early, the five year relative survival rate is 98 percent.

autotex pink

 

They work great – you have to buy wiper blades anyway… why not buy ones that support a cause!?!?

AutoTex Pink wiper blades are available for puchase at  www.TheCequentStore.com/pink-wiper-blades.

 

eMeals: making mama’s life a bit easier

Melissa

Meal planning is KEY to keeping my sanity these days. Our new town is very quaint and sweet – and has ZERO fast food restaurants. So if I don’t have something planned, I can’t swing by a drive thru – we’re having scrambled eggs!

eMeals sounded like a dream come true! It provides easy recipes with concise directions and a grocery list for budget minded and busy people. Get delicious eMeals weekly meal plans everyone will love – its a new way to organize and simplify the usual chaos of dinner at home. Its brilliant.

First –  just choose a meal plan based on your eating style, your family size and even your favorite grocery store. Then, your meal plan arrives in your inbox —complete with seven simple, creative, family–friendly dinner recipes (each includes an entrée and side dishes) AND you’ll receive a detailed grocery list organized by section and – here’s the amazing thing – its coordinated  with the weekly sales your selected stores. So you save money too!

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eMeals sounded like a dream come true!  You can search meal ideas by type or diet or whatever! I did the Slow Cooker Clean Eating plan, since we are SO CRAZY busy in the evenings and the slow cooker is perfect! But if we want to change our meal plan, we can do so. Maybe in spring or summer, I can try something else.

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So now, every week I get a menu plan AND a grocery list. ZERO work, all ready to go. BAM!

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ITS AMAZING, Y’ALL!

And the cost? $58. PER YEAR. That’s less than $5 a month for a little angel to take one tedious chore off your back! Totally worth it! I highly recommend eMeals!

disclosure: i’m an emeals blogger. i was given a complimentary membership, but was not compensated for this post.

lundby dollhouse: chic and tons of fun

Melissa

Our Lundby dollhouse has arrived… and we LOVE IT! Gracie is just loving this fun, stylish dollhouse and all of its fun accessories. Check it out:

Lundby doll houses are typical examples of modern dream homes – in miniature format: 1:18 scale. All of their houses are based on the same fundamental belief – that the urge to play lies in the details. And this conviction obviously applies to the interior design, fixtures and furniture too. They were the first in the world to install electric lighting in their doll’s houses. And when you look at their products, you see painstaking attention to detail and design. No detail is too small to be overlooked.

So far, we’ve furnished our sitting room, dining room and kitchen sets. And the attention to detail is all I can see, as I mentioned in the video. The sitting room is actually a 10-piece set includes an upholstered pink sofa and armchair, 2 contrasting cushions and a sleek white coffee table. PLUS a fluffy area rug, a soft white afghan, 2 books and 1 game box. The kitchen sets (there’s two) include things like chrome-look kitchen sink and countertop, glasses, food cartons, bowls, a bottle of dish detergent… And the hours of play ensue!

My daughters are completely in love with Lundby. They literally play with it every day – and so do their friends! They are dying for the rest of the furnishings for their house – for a bedroom set and bathroom set, as well as some kitchen furniture. Gracie really wants the twin babies and Eliza is asking for the dog family, so our Lundby home will have some pets.  Its truly a little dream home!

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disclosure: we will be partnering with lundby to highlight their products with our audience, so we will be receiving products to facilitate posts. as always, all opinions are my own.

new home tour: main floor

Melissa 1 Comment

People have been asking for a home tour of our new home, and we’re finally getting unpacked and able to share bits and pieces with you! I’m going to share in pieces, since otherwise we’d have a wayyyy too long post. First I shared the basement and now we’re on the main floor!

When you walk in our house, you come into the great room – we loved how open the family room, dining room and kitchen are. Its so bright and airy, we love the windows and skylights. And my kitchen… MY KITCHEN!! I fell in love instantly. There’s a bar for the kids to have breakfast, tons of storage, and its great for cooking. We spend a lot of time in here after school, as everyone has snacks and does homework and reading.

great room

And this is my office! (MY OWN OFFICE!) Its right off the kitchen and living room, so I can keep tabs on the kids when I’m working, but it has two doors so I can shut work away when my day is done. When I needed a new computer, my husband suggested a desktop so that I’d be even more inclined to leave work at work. And since I work from home now, so I spend a lot of time here in this little room.

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We have a little bathroom…

cute bathroom

And this is our living room. We love the fireplace and the built-ins. Elizabeth really wanted a window seat in our new house and we have two in our living room. The kids love to read books here (when the dog isn’t cozied up there first!)

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And in the hallway, we finally have a gallery wall! We’ve been wanting one for awhile. We followed Nicole’s tutorial on All Things Chic on how to make a gallery wall.

gallery wall inspiration

halfway to my goal!!

Melissa 3 Comments

Last month, I shared about how I joined Weight Watchers Online. My first month I lost 4 pounds. Go me!

This month, I lost 3. Its been going well! I’m eating better – including remembering to eat breakfast and making sure I eat healthy food for lunch instead of nibbling on whatever I can find. BUT here’s the cool part.

What I didn’t share with you was my workout plan. In September, I started a Couch to 5K program. I’m now here…

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I’m past the half way point! When I started this program, I could barely run the full one minute the program was prompting me to. It was ROUGH. I was dying.  Now I’m up to 8 minute stretches of running and I can go over 2 miles! I have about 3 weeks to go until I run my 5K and I’m so excited.

So I may have lost just 7 pounds on the scale so far, but I can FEEL the difference. Some of my jeans are too big. My ‘skinny’ jeans are back in the rotation. I FEEL great. And I haven’t had to do anything drastic to my diet or had to given up a favorite foods 🙂

Have you every trained for a 5K as a way to get in shape?

disclosure: i have received a complimentary membership to weight watchers online. unfortunately, they don’t lose the weight for me, so i have to do the work and share my progress myself 😉 people following the Weight Watchers plan can expect to lose 1-2 pounds per week.”

new toys from peppa pig!

Melissa
We are SO enjoying some new Peppa products from Fisher Price!!

Featured in this video:
  • Peppa Pig and the Busy Day at School book ($12.99) Follow the adventures of Peppa in school as she learns her numbers, letters and more!
  • Muddy Puddles Bathtime Peppa ($12.99) Make the bath more fun with Peppa and George! Watch Peppa’s muddy spots disappear in warm water. The set’s storage container adheres to the tub wall with suction cups for easy storage.
  • Bedtime Peppa ($26.99) Get ready for bedtime! This plush doll sings lullaby songs, oinks and even plays a counting sheep game.

All these toys are available at Toys R Us.

disclosure:  thank you to fisher price and candlewick press for sending these products to facilitate this post. as always, all opinions are my own.

almond joy baked oatmeal

Melissa

With our schedules these days, I need quick, easy breakfast ideas.

So I started making baked granola in muffin cups – they are super easy and freeze really well, so we can make a bunch and have them ready when we need them.  And you can make a lot of varieties, so everyone get’s their favorite. Some of the kids like peanut butter & chocolate in theirs. My son loves raisins. And my favorite – Almond Joy Baked Oatmeal.

Almond Joy Baked Oatmeal

 

baked oatmealALMOND JOY BAKED OATMEAL (makes 12)

1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup unsweetened applesause
1/2 of a mashed banana
1/4 cup honey
2 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup flax seed meal
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/3 cup whole milk
mix-ins (Add whatever tickles your fancy, but here’s my fav!)
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix eggs, vanilla, applesauce, banana and honey well. Mix in oats, flax meal,  salt and baking powder. Slowly mix in milk. (It will be a little runny – but that’s ok!)  Fold in coconut, almonds and chocolate chips.
2. Line muffin tin with liners, and scoop about 1/4 cup into each cup. (I add a few extra chocolate chips, because can you really have too many?)
3. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
4. If desired, freeze for another day. (Just defrost in the fridge overnight for when you want them.) Before eating, reheat in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.