Eco-friendly skin care without phthlates: K6 Skin Care

I'm super excited to tell you all about how I solved my conundrum when it comes to finding eco-friendly skin care without phthalates and toxins! I have been searching for a skin care line that does not contain phthalates, parabens, SLS, artificial colors, chemical fillers, etc., but also keeps my (aging) skin moisturized and blemish-free.

I'm sad to say that all the handmade products or kitchen recipes that I've tried in the past have been terrible for my skin. They have left my skin too dry, too oily, or caused me to break out. I've tried washing with oil, washing with honey, moisturizing with coconut oil, toning with hydrogen peroxide...all of it has been a terrible failure.

The products I've found that work best are, shall we say, usually less than ideal in their ingredients. I've been doing the best I could by at least buying from companies like The Body Shop and Whole Foods who have good fair trade and ethical practices and "probably" don't contain phthalates, but I've let a few other standards slip just to have nice skin.

Recently I met the wife of one of my husbands' coworkers who is a local naturopath. It is all I can do not to ask her 100 questions about that at the dinner parties we have attended! In fact, she has graciously offered to write a guest post for us soon to tell us all about naturopath practice and I can't wait! Aside from that fascinating fact (or perhaps because of it), she has also formulated her very own skin care line. I'll quote her here to explain why:

Early in my practice, I relied on "recipes" [for my clients skin care needs] I developed while working with herbs. I made recommendations to clients that had them in their kitchens throwing together various ingredients to make their own lotions and cleansers. Human error abounded, and the results were less than satisfactory

(sounds like my failed efforts!)

And here is my favorite part and, in my opinion, why K6 products work as well and BETTER than their non-green, non-natural conventional counterparts:

...As an ND, I am dedicated to practicing natural healing modalities, but I am not afraid to use technology safely where it will enhance the action of a natural element. I use this philosophy in every facet of my practice, and it permeates my skin care line as well.

This is a very good point. I don't think it's wrong to use technology to assist natural ingredients. The problem with a lot of the natural products I had been trying was the lack of preservatives, meaning that the containers became breeding grounds for bacteria. Sharon gave me a detailed ingredients sheet for each of the 3 products in the K6 line which explains, line by line, what each ingredient is and it's function in the product (including preservatives and why they were chosen). 

And did you catch that? Only 3 products in the line! Here they are:

Clean

For, um, cleaning. The best feature of this cleanser is that it also removes eye makeup! Yep, no more purchasing an additional product to clean your eyes. I find that it works best to rub a small amount on the closed eye, rinse, and then wash the entire face as usual.

Reveal

A powerful enzyme peel that leaves skin refreshed, not raw. It's extremely gentle but you'll also be amazed to see the amount of dead skin cells it removes (if you are fascinated by peeling things...this might be fun for you!). Never once made my skin raw or irritated. It is actually gentle enough to use on rosacea without exacerbating the condition.

Preserve

Anti-aging moisturizer that is extremely luxurious - you don't need much! Slows the breakdown of collagen, invigorates the production of more collagen, and inhibits the production of melanin.

Ever since I started using the K6 skin care line, I have actually felt guilty for not yet telling my readers about how much I love this skin care system. I wanted to be impartial because -- full disclosure -- they are also an advertiser on my blog. But I also do not advertise anything on this blog that I have not tried for myself or do not believe in. If I had tried this line and it hadn't worked, I wouldn't be writing this post.

A note on cost: you need very little of each of these products. For Clean, probably the size of a pencil eraser for eyes and the size of a dime for the whole face. For Reveal, you only use it once a day and maybe not even every day, I probably use about a quarter size squeeze for my entire face. For Preserve, less than dime size. So you can imagine how long each product will last. I'll probably buy Clean most frequently.

So, there you have it. It's what I am using right now, and I think I'll probably be using it for quite some time in the future. I hope that K6 helps you as much as it helps me. And remember, if you do choose to try the product line, you are supporting this blog!

Sponsors and new ad spaces open!

It's the weekend, which means it's time to do some blog business. If you haven't visited my #1 sponsor, Healthy Feet, Happy Body on Etsy for some locally made (but nationally shipped!) aromatherapy bath and body products made with high quality essential oils, please visit today! She has just added Himalayan Bath Salts in refillable bottles for as low as $4.

These therapeutic bath salts help tremendously with aches and pains, as well as soreness from working out. If you take classes at my studio, you need these! They make great gifts for that Cross Fit addict in your life as well.

As for the blog, I'm in the (slow) process of moving from the Blogger platform to Wordpress. If you aren't a blogger, this probably means nothing, but in the end it should provide a better usability experience for you, the reader. It will also mean some new design, which I'm excited about.

With this design will come new opportunities for advertising! Right now you can see in the right column where I have several large square spots. These are particularly eye-catching in their size and right in line with the middle of a typical post. If you have a business of any kind, or would like to advertise your own blog in that area, I have monthly rates for the Large Right Column in my ad shop right now!

If you are considering purchasing multiple months, I can give you a discount beyond the stated rates, please feel free to contact me directly.

Thanks for putting up with my housekeeping, and hope you've had a great weekend!

7 Quick Takes #47

--- 1 ---

This is going to be really fast because I need to go nap. I'm teaching at 6:30am 3 mornings a week now instead of only 2, and it's really hard for me to get up at 5am 3 days a week if I don't get enough sleep somehow. Naps have really been standing in lieu of going to bed early since we have so much going on most evenings.

--- 2 ---

Speaking of teaching Pilates, if you are in the Plano area and would like to try out our Megaformer Pilates classes, we are running a great special on VOICE Daily Deals here. I recommend the 3-pack deal. Come see us!

--- 3---

vIf you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, you know that I dyed my hair pink. Here's a quick pick I took just now wearing very little makeup.

I have discovered that this haircolor really looks better if I wear some kind of color on my lips but, oops, I wasn't doing that in this picture.

--- 4 ---

Hopefully this will be invisible to you, the readers, but I'll probably be migrating this blog to WordPress (it's on Blogger now) some time in the next few months. I am worried and reluctant to make this move, but there are reasons bigger than my personal preference that are involved. Some of the primary goals are to make the site much more usable for my readers, and make commenting easier.

--- 5 ---

Everyone here is freaked out about the flu, how about where you are? My friend EcoKaren did a great post today about natural ways to prevent the flu, aside from or in addition to vaccination. I highly recommend checking it out! As for handwashing, remember that last week I blogged about how to make your own antibacterial hand soap from essential oils and castille soap.

--- 6 ---

It's January 11 and I have already completed one of the items on my To Do List: making our family blog books for 2011 and 2012. They take about 2 weeks to arrive from the publisher. Can't wait to see how they turned out!

--- 7 ---

Have to give one last shout-out to my sponsor, Happy Feet, Healthy Body! Along the lines of flu prevention, remember that she has hand sanitizer pens made from essential oils. If you've just started a New Year's workout routine (or you take one of my classes, haha!), I highly recommend her Lavender bath salts - lavender soothes sore muscles and will help you sleep at night.


~~~
Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

To Do List 2012: How did I do?

Oh look, it's almost 2013! Time to look back at my To Do List from 2012 and see if I accomplished any of it.

1. Eat better.
To make this a little more measurable, I'll just say that I want to get back to eating at least 5-7 whole fruits and veggies per day.
Sort of done. I have been doing a lot better as far as cutting out the extra sugar and carbs but I'm probably still not up to 5-7 veggies a day. Mostly because I give all the fruits and veggies in the house to my kids, and there are rarely any left for me. Those things are expensive! But I am still drinking my NingXia Red, which is packed with antioxidants, so I think that helps.

2. Resume meal planning.
I did pretty good with this probably 6 months out of the year, off and on.  At one point, I got depressed about how much money we spend on groceries and stopped even trying. Then we found out that Little Sir is dairy and soy intolerant and that threw another wrench in the planning because I can't use Food On The Table or eMeals since they all contain dairy ingredients that I can't always substitute. I am currently off the wagon. This is going to show up on the 2013 list again, dang it.

3. Regular exercise.
I want to aim for 3 days a week.
Oh thank God, one that I can actually cross off the list. Thanks to becoming a Lagree Fitness instructor at Ultimate Pilates Plano, I am now in better shape than I was before the kids. I actually do have six-pack abs, not lying. I would love to take pictures but that seems really indecent for a family-friendly blog. OK, I did take pictures in the mirror once but I haven't shown anyone. However, this is not bragging because it is very hard work and continues to be very challenging. It's not like I am saying "oh look, I have magically great abs! Whee! Be jealous!". Nooooo, I write routines that are specifically heavy on moves targeting my transverse abdominal muscles and my obliques, and I do those routines for 50 minutes, at least 3 times a week. And I must mention, I teach these routines in my classes so if you want to work on your post-baby body like I did...you know where I am!

4. Attempt monetization of this blog
"Attempt monetization" is not a very measurable goal, but let's just say I'll research and apply for some ad networks and work on ways that I could increase my readership. Such as participating in blogger link-ups.
First of all, I would like to give yet another shout-out to my wonderful sponsor Tanya of Happy Feet, Healthy Body who has an Etsy shop selling handmade bath and health products that are completely free of toxins but also provide the natural healing powers of essential oils. Please consider supporting this blog by purchasing her products! She has an excellent headache remedy and an amazing lavender lip balm that I use every night. And if you are in the Dallas area, she can even arrange for local delivery rather than paying for shipping.

I feel like I have done some positive work in this direction. I have also joined up with a number of other green bloggers via The Green Sisterhood and some closed Facebook groups. I actually don't participate in a ton of link-ups, but that is because I am very picky about my topics and I don't do a lot of giveaways. I feel like I am heading in the right direction and I'm looking forward to 2013!

5. Start potty learning with my son
This is pretty much done! Now that we've addressed the stomach issues of dairy and soy intolerance and provided both negative and positive incentives (positive alone did not inspire him), he has very few pee or poop accidents. Well, thank goodness that only took about 7 months.

6. Decorate the kids' rooms
I think they look a lot less bare now. I put the animal and letter decals up in my son's room and hung his name picture and handprints, and he accumulated a number of additional toys and books to fill up some of the extra space. I put up a lovely tree decal in my daughter's room and bought some curtains. She also got a bookcase with bins like brother's and a bureau for her clothes. I am sure I could do more but there's not a ton of space. I like what we have right now!

7. Plant a garden
Hahaha, that was pretty much a failure except for the bell peppers, but there is a good reason that I didn't specify that it had to be a successful garden. I ended up getting enough bell peppers that, when chopped, fill up a plastic baggie (I know, PLASTIC, I lose my green cred yet again) in the freezer. That is a significant crop considering how small they were. But they died in the snow on Christmas Day, so that's done. Since we have such a nice raised bed setup now, I'll try again next year.

7 Quick Takes Friday #46

--- 1 ---

I am super, super excited to have a new sponsor for this blog, Happy Feet, Healthy Body -- a local reflexology business and essential oil products Etsy shop. If you are looking for local, handmade and safe soaps and essential oil remedies such as her popular Headache Relief or Pamper Pack, please support her and this blog by clicking and purchasing her products! Reflexology is also a great way to help boost your immune system and recover faster from respiratory issues at this time of year. She is a wonderful source of essential oils knowledge -- she has given me advice several times in the past!

--- 2 ---

We have 3 new chickens who have not been eaten by a bobcat yet. They are young and haven't started laying yet. Just this week they started "talking" to me, so I have hopes they'll start laying soon.

--- 3---

I spent an hour scanning anti-dandruff shampoos with my GoodGuide app yesterday to get my ridiculous scalp under control. I tried a natural/organic scalp shampoo for several weeks and my scalp has gotten so, so much worse. This area is still a great big Green Fail for me right now.

--- 4 ---

Speaking of selecting responsible personal care products for ourselves and our families, please head on over to my post about chemical safety in our personal products on Dallas Moms Blog. This month, the contributors are having a contest to see whose post gets the most views and I'd love to win one of the prizes!

--- 5 ---

I have found an amazing new product that is really going to reduce the waste we produce for the kids' lunch and I can't wait to tell you about this week!

--- 6 ---

I think I am finally on the end of this ridiculous respiratory whatever-it-is that I have had for a week. I did take some OTC meds but I never had to go to the doctor, so I am hopeful that I can go a full year without any kind of antibiotics. I really need to break that cycle.

--- 7 ---

I just have to leave you with this amazing and wonderful video that will make your eyes explode. It is 4 years old but I still think it is the best. Too bad the band broke up and we will never see anything this cool again.


brite futures (npsh) - sophisticated side ponytail from thatgo on Vimeo.


~~~
Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

Kidville Dallas: my fave indoor play spaces

As you probably know, I blog at Dallas Moms Blog and CottonBabies blog to empty my head of most kid-related posts, and I have my highly neglected family blog for random cute pictures of my kids.

But I do want to take a minute and tell all my local friends with kids (even nieces/nephews or grandchildren) about one of my very favorite kids' places: Kidville.

I learned about Kidville through my work with Dallas Moms Blog*. Kidville is an amazing place for kids where they can take classes (with a parent or caregiver or without), get a haircut, shop for toys and clothing, and even attend Kidville University (an alternative to traditional preschool).

I used my membership to sign Little Lady up for Run, Wiggle, Paint and Giggle, which is a once-a-week Mommy And Me class that offers songs and movement and art. She and I go to class at Kidville while Little Sir is in preschool on Tuesdays. It is a wonderful time for us to do an activity together, just she and I. This is something I feel like she really hadn't been able to experience as much as Little Sir did, since she is a second child and we always have him with us too.











Honestly, even if Little Lady didn't love the Kidville class so much, the membership would be more than worth it for access to the indoor play spaces at Kidville. My favorite is the Play Village, because it is open 9am-5:45pm every single day!



It's wonderful for days when it's too hot (all summer!) or too cold or rainy to play outside at a park.

The gym is also a huge hit, although the free play hours there are a little different each semester.

So there's my mom-related blog post and tip for the week/month: Kidville!
We love it!

*NOTE: As a contributor to Dallas Moms Blog, I did receive a free semester of classes which comes with access to all the play spaces. All opinions about Kidville are my own.

7 Quick Takes Friday #42

--- 1 ---

I've got a great deal to remind you about, a random product that I love, and a new idea to share, so if you don't mind, I'd like to do that in today's post instead of doing separate posts later.

--- 2 ---

A few months back, I did a post about Food On The Table meal planning system which includes an online app and an iPhone app. Just wanted to let you know that the Premium plan is still FREE if you use the code "SUMMERFREE" to sign up!

--- 3---

I really, really want to tell you all about this new type of Pilates I have discovered recently using LaGree fitness machines. Is anyone familiar with it? These machines allow you to pretty much work every single muscle in your entire body in a low-impact 50 minute session. Apparently I am the last to know about this, but it gives such a great workout. I did a class on Tuesday and I am still sore today. It is also SUPER EXPENSIVE. But, I am considering becoming an instructor. Am I crazy? I thought it might be a good way to work out and earn extra money. I really encourage you to check out the link to the machines and watch some of the videos. I am not getting paid to talk about this. I just value your feedback and wanted to share my discovery. Tell me if I am crazy to consider being an instructor??

--- 4 ---

I have one more random product mention that I'm not getting paid to promote but I just have to tell you about:

This clock has totally saved our mornings - Little Sir was getting up and coming into our room every morning at 5:30am-6:30am to crawl in bed and play with our iPhones or iPad or just bounce around being crazy. Gah! Now that we have this magical clock, we tell him "do not come into Mommy and Daddy's room until the clock is green" and he WAITS! It is amazing. We set it for 7am. He is actually sleeping past 7am some days because he wakes up at 6:30am, can't leave the room, and falls back asleep! I love this clock.

--- 5 ---

Little Sir is still potty learning but this week he started self-initiating! He TELLS me when he has to pee! He is still pooping in his undies, though :-( If you would love to hear all the sordid details of our potty learning journey, you can read my potty post on CottonBabies blog.

--- 6 ---

It's June already, but even more exciting - 4th of July is coming up! One of our very favorite things to do in this area is attend the Addison Kaboom Town fireworks display. I will be talking a lot more about this in the next month or so, but I just wanted to let all my local folks know so you can put it on your calendars - July 3rd!

--- 7 ---

I will be updating about my garden tomorrow, so check it out!



~~~

Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

Seeing the sights in Dallas...and in life

My Little Lady has a favorite word these days. It sounds like "aaaaaah" to everyone else, but I know what she is saying: "eyes". She loves to point at her own eyes or at my eyes and say that word over and over. She has the most beautiful blue eyes, just like her Daddy and her brother.

One thing that I love about my two little ones is seeing things through their eyes. After living in Dallas for so long, I tend to take for granted the lovely or fun things around me. But when we go anywhere together, my kids are so impressed. The colors of the stop lights! A flower growing on the sidewalk! A doggie! That sign is a triangle!

Our favorite outings are outside, anywhere that they can run around. We enjoy meeting our playgroup friends at the Dallas Arboretum when the weather is nice. Another friend is a member of the Dallas Zoo and takes us there for visits. Our favorite parks in Dallas are Caruth Park and the Scottish Rite Children's Hospital Park.

When the weather isn't so great, we head to NorthPark Mall to see the ducks and turtles.

We love to visit the Dallas Museum of Art on First Tuesdays when it's free, too. It was on one of these Tuesdays that we met David Chicken for the first time, and now the "Recycle Bin" song is in constant demand at our house!

All of these outings have one thing in common: so many things to see. I am so thankful that so far, neither of my children display any of the nearsightedness that my husband I have so severely. Their little eyes are currently still perfect (as far as we know) and can take in so much, from so far away, and so easily.

They can't always describe what they're seeing, but I know they're taking it all in. Little Lady will point and make babbling noises. Little Sir is more vocal - he tells me how he sees numbers and letters everywhere, and often shapes. He has been learning throughout his short life just by seeing what is around him.

Of course, one of my favorite things to see is how they're growing and learning just by experiencing. I may not be a teacher-type person (far from it!), but I don't need to be. All I have to do is provide the opportunities, and they take it all in. I wish I was better at documenting everything. Even when I do grab my camera, it never captures the true spirit of the moment. The best way for me to experience these fun times with my kids is to just see and remember. I hope that I can always do both of those things well.

~~~
Take the pledge
Our eyesight is so important to the way we experience life, and healthy eyesight is key. You can learn more about healthy eyesight and take the pledge, with me, to maintain healthy vision with regular vision screenings by visiting My Eye Promise. For each new promise submitted in 2012, Transitions Optical will donate a brand new book to mobile literacy initiative Bess the Book Bus, helping children nationwide become enthusiastic lifelong readers and reinforcing the important connection between healthy, quality vision and the ability to read and learn.

Get a free vision screening at Taste Addison
This weekend, Christian and I will be heading over to Taste Addison on a date night! While we're there, we'll stop by the Transitions lenses booth, in local partnership with Essilor and First Eye Care. They're presenting the Ultimate Sightseeing Experience with free vision screenings for the whole family, the opportunity to get your photo taken in front of a scenic backdrop and the chance to win prizes and giveaways! Learn more here.

Enter the photo contest online
Sight of the Day Photo Contest: Capturing everyday moments through photography gives you the opportunity to cherish memories for a lifetime. Enter the Official Sponsor of Sightseeing™ Sight of the Day Photo Contest for your chance to win the Ultimate Sightseeing Dream Vacation! Learn more here.

More info on Transitions lenses.
"Like" Transitions on Facebook or follow Transitions on Twitter to learn more!

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I received compensation to participate in SocialMoms and Transitions lenses blogging program. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own. To read more posts on this topic, click here.

A little trip and a reminder: Cottonwood Art Festival

I am excited to be taking a little 24-hour trip to visit my favorite friend Millie in Kansas City today and tomorrow! While I'm gone, Christian will be in charge of both the kids and the house and the cooking (well, actually, EcoMaids will be taking care of the house...).
I wanted to remind everyone that Cottonwood Art Festival is this weekend! Check out my previous post about Cottonwood Art Festival Kids ArtStop fun. My family and I will be there bright and early Saturday morning and I'll have photos of this year's fun up by the afternoon.

Little Sir at Cottonwood Art Festival when he was less than 1 year old! He's 2.5 now!

Will I see you there?

Old Navy Style Council

Being pregnant pretty much nonstop for 2 years and then the mysterious holes in my shirts debacle has pretty much decimated my tiny little wardrobe. I've put off restocking because I was afraid to take two small children into a clothing store and fitting room. But when Jennifer a.k.a. Real Posh Mom, who will be my roommate this year at BlogHer in NYC, told me about a CrowdTap event happening yesterday at Old Navy Park Lane in Dallas I packed both the kids and the double stroller and headed out anyway!

I wish I would have taken more pictures of their wonderful summery clothes. Unfortunately, I spent a lot of time corralling my kids and picking out my own clothing. I just had to take a shot of this rack of colorful skirts, though:

I really love their selection of affordable tops too, and will probably head back over there on one of my Mother's Day Out mornings in the next few weeks.

Check out their selection of shoes

Here are a few outfits I put together.

You can see the heads of my children in the dressing room mirror. They were surprisingly well behaved, considering that this also happened during their nap time.
Here's the outfit I finally ended up with:

For more shots of the clothes and my kids in the store, check out my #OldNavyStyleCouncil Google+ album.

I'm thinking perhaps I'll wear those shoes to a BlogHer party in NYC! Who's with me?

NOTE: I received a coupon from CrowdTap for a free Old Navy bottom (the shorts) and shoes. Opinions about Old Navy and their clothing and the insanity of taking children shopping in a large store are purely my own.

P.S. It's true that there's nothing "green" about this post. However, I spent the morning chasing chickens around my yard before heading to Old Navy. So, there's that.

Saturday promotion: RiceSelect reuse contest

It's the weekend and you know what that means: time for me to highlight some promotions I've seen from my affiliate networks this week. Shameless advertising: it's how I {try to} pay the bills. Please note, however, that I will never include an advertisement or link to something I wouldn't buy myself. And you know how picky I am!
~~




You might have noticed the giant banner at the top of my blog this past week. It's for a brand of rice called RiceSelect, which we happen to use all the time. I like this brand because it commonly carried by most grocery stores, so it's easy to find and also organic. We go through a lot of brown rice around here with our ridiculously expensive rice machine, which is also ridiculously easy to program so that perfect sticky rice is ready in an hour, even starting in the early morning (using the timer). So I love to buy rice in large containers.

This month, RiceSelect is running a contest to see how their customers use their empty RiceSelect containers! Do you buy rice in big containers? What do you do with your container? You can enter the contest today and win free RiceSelect products! I've noticed they're awarding prizes almost every day.

DISCLAIMER: By telling you about this contest, I might receive a free RiceSelect product myself! Woo hoo!

7 Quick Takes Friday #38

--- 1 ---

You might have seen me mention on my Facebook page that Ashleigh found me a bread machine for $5 last weekend from a garage sale. I have made 2 loaves of bread already this week! It's totally amazing. The first was a small loaf using the recipe in the book that came with the machine. I did not take a picture of it, and I ate it all within 48 hours (Christian helped).

The second loaf I made from Ashleigh's recipe:



This was a larger loaf and the bread is almost exactly like store-bought. I had a sandwich made from it today!

--- 2 ---

In other making-my-own-food news, some kind of animal has gained access to our back yard despite our 6 foot wooden fence enclosing the entire yard. When I went to check the plants after this week's storms, all of the sproutlings previously in this picture were gone completely. Even some of the larger plants looked like this:



I actually suspect our very own cat, who likes to roam a bit outside when the kids are out there playing. She enjoys eating green things and then barfing them up in unexpected places in the house. But, she is also very fat and sedentary. I can't see her climbing up into the raised bed just to chew on green things when she is typically perfectly content chewing on grass, which is more on her level.

What is eating my plants?!! I will kill it!!

--- 3---

If you are going to BlogHer 2012, I am SUPER EXCITED that my friend Jill from BabyRabies and Gina, TheFeministBreeder whom I cyber stalk will be leading a panel called "Pro Tips: Branding and Blogging Professionally". See all the Room Of Your Own topics here. I hope that I get to mic-wrangle at this session!

--- 4 ---

I am also excited (although not AS excited) about the session called "Celebrate Your Small Blog". I went to one similarly named at BlogHer 2010 and it was very encouraging. As wonderful as I truly believe my readers are, you guys are a small bunch compared to what most bloggers can report. I am very thankful for each and every one of you!

--- 5 ---

We are now on track to get two chickens and a chicken coup from some friends of my parents a week from Saturday! Little Sir is going to be so excited when he sees the chickens. We have talked about the chickens we are going to get a lot in the last few weeks. He just loves farm animals. I am excited to have fresh eggs from our back yard! Not as excited about chicken poop, but it kind of just comes with the territory.

--- 6 ---

The Schwann's man just knocked on my door and I didn't answer it. I am out of grocery money AGAIN. I always feel bad telling him "no" because he doesn't take it well. He isn't mean, he just seems so genuinely crushed.

--- 7 ---

I have heard that it is going to get up into the 90's later next week. I guess that means we missed our window for camping AGAIN. Our children are not going to know anything about camping until we drag them on trips as teenagers and they complain the whole time. Or was that just me as a teenager?!

~~~

Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

Starbucks, Morningstar, Cascadian Farms coupons

It's the weekend and you know what that means: time for me to highlight some promotions I've seen from my affiliate networks this week. Shameless advertising: it's how I {try to} pay the bills. Please note, however, that I will never include an advertisement or link to something I wouldn't buy myself. And you know how picky I am!
~~
Here is a random late-night post including a few conscientious-approved products that I actually buy!

Say what you will about Starbucks, I know that their coffee is fair trade and therefore conscientious to buy:



If you're vegetarian like half of our family, you probably buy Morningstar products at least occasionally, so 75 cents off can't hurt:



And we always enjoy Cascadian Farms cereals because they're organic and they don't use trans fats or high fructose corn syrup:


Have a great week, everyone!

Saturday promotions: wooden toys, killing trees, and saving money

It's the weekend and you know what that means: time for me to highlight some promotions I've seen from my affiliate networks this week. Shameless advertising: it's how I {try to} pay the bills. Please note, however, that I will never include an advertisement or link to something I wouldn't buy myself. And you know how picky I am!

This is an easy one - a sweepstakes entry form for a $500 Melissa &' Doug birthday party! We love Melissa &' Doug wooden toys for our kids because they are more durable and less toxic than plastic.



Next is something slightly less crunchy. In fact, this one probably kills trees but I have to tell you, I love these things. $1 off Color Wonder markers and paper by Crayola! While Little Sir is possibly old enough to know better, he would still color all over the entire house, including his sister, if I let him have real markers. So Color Wonder is still our friend. Fortunately, he can color the same pages over and over, so we don't use a ton of paper. Also, I hide the markers from him sometimes.



The next promotion is Totsy, which is kind of like a Daily Deals site for moms and kids. It has multiple categories and a lot of women's clothing too! I registered a while back and enjoy perusing it. I'd recommend it for anyone who wants higher quality items but doesn't want to pay the specialty or boutique prices.



That's all for today - thanks for supporting my network affliates, and thereby supporting this blog!

Review of Food On The Table

I'll be writing more later this week about my transition from Work-At-Home-Mom to Stay-At-Home-Mom after losing my part-time job, but suffice it to say that for some reason this change has thrown me off a bit. You'd think that having more time when the kids are napping or playing would mean that I get more blogging done, but the reverse has been true!

I feel like I'm really not organized when it comes to planning the household chores. OK, I don't plan at all, really. One thing I've been the most terrible at since having my second child (uh, 11 months ago) is meal planning. I did a post on how I've done my meal planning in the past. You might have noticed it was fairly labor-intensive. I have enjoyed E-Mealz in many ways and I've got some really good recipes from that site. However, they seem to focus mainly on Mexican food, salads, and white sauces for vegetarians. I like Mexican food as much as the next person, but vegetarians DO eat things other than Mexican, E-Mealz! And no one in my house will eat white sauce or salad of any kind except me. It also seemed that most of their recipes were actually meat recipes with fake-meat substitutes thrown in. Have you ever tasted fake meat products? They are disgusting. So we had to avoid most of those recipes too. Ultimately, I could only use about 1-2 recipes from each 5-day meal plan.

Through the new ad network I've signed up with, I have just learned about Food on the Table, another meal-planning program that also has a corresponding iPhone app. I think this might be what I am missing! Having a dedicated app saves me several steps in my previous process in migrating the meal plan to my iPhone so I can take the shopping list to the store.



I tried Food on the Table this week and here are the pros and cons:

Pros:

• When they say it's a 60-second signup, they're not kidding!
• The limited version of the service is free (I was paying $5/month for E-Mealz). To get access to more recipes, you can pay to upgrade to Premium which is $5/month for the first 3 months and $9.95/month for the future. Less if you pay quarterly or for a whole year.
• Online or iPhone app interface is convenient
• When you select the stores you shop at, it automatically finds the sales and you can pick recipes based on the items on sale at the store you are going to!
• You can restrict recipes by prep time, by what kind of meat or Meatless 
• You can add additional non-menu items to the grocery list in the iPhone app. It even has a voice recognition option so you can add items without typing. When I spoke "organic milk" it not only added it correctly, and in the correct category on the list, but also suggested the item was on sale at the Tom Thumb I selected as my favorite store. OMG LOVE!!

Cons:

• Side items are chosen separately from the main dish so it's up to you to figure out how to pair things. This is actually just fine with me, because I rarely used the side item recommendations with E-Mealz. (side note: vegetarians don't eat coleslaw for side-dishes at every meal, E-Mealz)

Yet to see whether the recipes this system provides are any good taste-wise. I will be making two of them this week and I'll let you know! So far I am in love with it and I am seriously considering purchasing the Premium version.

NOTE: As an ad network affiliate, I get something like $1 if you actually buy the Premium version by clicking one of my links.

Green living: swapping kids' clothes

You might remember that one of my 2012 To Do's was to move toward monetizing this blog. Of course, this can't happen without advertisers. I'd like to point you today toward an excellent service that several of my friends have tried and recommended to me, and who just happen to be advertising through one of the networks I've recently discovered! Please note that I do get something like $1 if you choose to use this service for your own family through my link. However, I would not feature any service on this blog that I do not feel that I could conscientiously recommend. Thanks for your support!

thredUP - Kids Clothing Swap

The thredUP community - where moms swap kids clothes and toys. It’s easier than ever to hand-down outgrown children’s items and earn cashback. Use FREE USPS boxes or Concierge bags to de-clutter without leaving the house. Earn up to $10 for each great box you sell and up to $20 for each bag you stuff and return to us. Pick new boxes that start at just $9 and come full of great kids stuff. The average thredUP box has more than 15 items. It’s the best kids clothing deal anywhere!

How does it work?

• Gather all the clothing or books your child no longer reads, and list them by the boxful on thredUP.
• Sign-up for free and thredUP will send you complimentary empty USPS boxes (if you don’t want to wait, go grab them for free at your local post office).
• When another mom picks your box, thredUP lets you know. thredUP generates the shipping label and scheduldes home pick-up, so you can send without leaving the house.

Green take: reuse

It’s even easier than Goodwill and you’ll send your family’s once loved clothing and books directly to another child who wants them, and you'll earn credits for boxes of gently used items that will be sent directly to you in the sizes and gender you specify.

What I've heard: several of my mom friends have done this and been very happy with the amount of clothing they get in exchange for sending theirs in. One mom said the box she received was "packed completely full" and that she was surprised how many clothes fit into it!

Sign up today!