Rethinking Resolutions.

Every year there are several resolutions that go through my mind: Lose weight, quit smoking, eat healthier, excersize more, schedule my days. But none of that is really me. I don't need to lose weight. *I am 5' and a buck fifteen* I don't really smoke. I would call is social smoking, girls night out and someone lights a ciggerette, I have a couple drags. I could start to eat healthier, but damnit! I love my HoHo's! It's too cold right now to excersize, so can't that be my spring resolution? And with twinfants, it is impossible to schedule my days.

So maybe this is why I have always had trouble keeping my resolutions, they have not been worth keeping. Last year it was to cook more often. What kind of serious crap is that?! I am a Mama. I cook breakfast lunch and dinner. How in the  H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks can I cook more than that?! Make my own bread and noodles?! The year before that I was a chain smoker, that was my resolution and I went neurotic for a couple months trying to quit becvause it was my resolution DAMNIT! And now I realize that there should not be any real pressure. Why is there one day out of the whole year that we have to pick something and promise ourselves that we will do this one thing, forever. Why not have a July resolution. Or a birthday resolution *For me that would be a New Years resolution anyways, my birthday is on the 2nd*. 

So out of all the resolutions I could have this year, there will not be one. It is tempting though. How about living a no pressure lifestyle? No pressure to be the perfect mom, no pressure to cook the perfect dinner, no pressure to excersized daily and no pressure to eat right. How about just being myself this year, and not trying to live up to anyones bogus expectations? Especially my own?

And with that, re-think your resolutions. Are they truelly something that is you? Or are they going to be something that in the long run will hurt you because you could not up-hold your promise to yourself.

Holidays have been crazy!

This winter season has been hard on us all here at our household. So much has happened in the past few weeks that I do not know how to sum it up in to one short post, so this may be a long one. Earlier this month my twins came down with the flu, and that rocked our world in one direction and the other. Thankfully they are fine. It was passed around the house and back again. The rest of us are fine now too. Christmas was pretty stressful for us all too. Tis the season to spend, spend, spend and with little money to go around Christmas was sparse for us here. So we turned it into a positive and made the focus on family instead of gifts. that was incredibly time consuming and we may as well have bought presents for the children because we ended up spending entirely too much money on food that no one really ate much of *love the leftovers though!*

Thank goodness it is over. I miss my blog, dear bloggy blog.

The twins are now smiling and laughingm almost sitting up by themselves and have started some interesting games. K's favorite game is pretty obnoxious. When I change his diaper he likes to pull his legs up to stop me and smile, then he puts his legs down as soon as I stop trying and this continues for a while. Aaron is a peek-a-boo lover. He doesnt quite get it, but looks around in amazement as soon as the world apeers again.

God I love these kids. I am pretty sure in high school I was voted least likely to have children and most likely to get a boob job. Well I failed both of those. I have three kids of my own and am working on raising my sisters as well. I think I am doing fairly well. I am crazy. I think that comes pretty easily with children. But damnit I love it. I can't wait until things settle down and we can get back into a normal routine.

Well ok, so I guess all the chaos fits pretty well into a single blog post. This is minimal though... The past few weeks where not only filled with the flu, and the holidays, but family fued's, checks that could not be cashed, bad weather, forgotten bills, and to top it all off I lost my phone and pissed my Grandma off by not calling her to thank her for the Christmas gifts she sent.

Alright, well the babies are nodding off to sleep and I might as well catch some too. I promise there is more fun things to come soon. I have a 25$ gift card to give away, and a few good smelling and clean reviews.

SWAGG

There are very few things that I hate about christmas. One of them is gift cards. They are impersonal, and usually for the wrong thing. Example: I got a gift card to an ice-cream shop a few years ago, and I hate ice cream. This gift card spent four years circulating my group of friends as a re-gift until I got it back! Now someone has come up with a wonderful fix for that! Swagg is an iPhone app that allows you to buy, send or swap Swagg. Getting rid of your un-wanted cards, and trading them for one that is really more your style.

The other function is basically a version of a pre-paid phone. You can put say... 20 dollars into your Swagg account, then transfer 10 of it to one retailer, and 10 of it to another. I like that.  You are pre-paying through Swagg to get a gift card from another store? I am not sure the complete functionality of that, but if you want to only use your credit card on one sight, they make up "credit card" numbers to use on one of their affiliate sights.

Signing up online was fairly easy. Figuring out the iPhone app was a little more difficult. But once it was loaded, it was super easy to deal with, and a pretty fun way to shop. I do have a problem that none of my local-ish chains are listed on their site. It would be nice to have a function to put your own gift cards in and label them yourself.

I guess over-all I am not a fan of online shopping to begin with. I like seeing and feeling whta I am going to buy. So it makes it a little difficult to get into something that is just, well, not for me. But I know a lot of people who are into that, and have a lot of gift cards that are just sitting on the shelf wasting away to nothing that it would be perfect for.


SWAGG is a free mobile app (download here) that lets you shop smarter using your mobile phone. Buy, send or swap SWAGG GIFTS and organize your old school plastic gift cards.
For every download of the app between now and Dec. 31, 2010, SWAGG will donate $1 to Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) , up to $125,000.
Clever Girls Collective and SWAGG are sending a pair of movie fans to the Sundance Film Festival! Download the SWAGG app and then visit the Ultimate SWAGG Getaway Sweepstakes site to enter to win a trip for two to the Sundance Film Festival. Entry deadline is January 3, 2011, 11:59pm, PST.

Learn more about the coolest new app that revolutionizes the whole shopping, gifting, and gift card-organizing experience and Download the SWAGG app to your iPhone or Droid. I was selected for this sponsorship by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity.

I Dig - Rock Treasures Kit Review

Little D was terribly excited to receive a package in the mail just for him. Ebeanstalk had sent one of their 5 year old toys just for him! He was delighted to find a I Dig Rock Treasures Kit. And could only imagine the possibilities buried in this "treasure brick" *he re-named it*.

It took us a while to get set up for it, covering the kitchen table in our art-table cloth and getting our play clothes on.

Then we dug in.

And dug.

And dug.

It took him a while to get a technique the worked well for him *A kitchen spoon and water*. The tools provided worked well for me to help him out. His five year old fingers and the tools would not cooperate. My favorite thing about the I Dig Rock Treasures Kit  is that you can incorporate it easily in a home-schooling lesson, or it can just be a fun activity for  the budding geologist in your life.

Overall it was short lived fun, and the girls have plans for the treasures they found, it involves a long day with a dremmel and some string.

Ebeanstalk has a great selection of baby toys and kid toys for Christmas or any occasion. Check them out and tell me what you think!



Toy Story 3 Action Links Stunt Set

Today was playdate day, and we decided to have most of the kids in my son's class over for a Toy Story 3 Action Links Stunt Sets party.

Wow was my house wild and crazy for quite a while. They tore into those boxes and tried setting everything up on their own, only to get a little confused by it all. That's when the Dad's had to step in and work their building magic.

As soon as the stunt sets where made up, a couple of really cool chain reactions went off. But that fizzled out quickly and the kids lost interest. They spent most of the time playing with the action figures re-creating scenes from the movie.

We tried to intervene with crafts from the handbook that was sent, but couldn't quite catch the attention. I think it was too exciting to have a pile of new toys.


I want to say a HUGE thank you to all the woman over at MomSelect for the opportunity to host this party!

Jess

Yoohoo & Friends and Milly Review and Giveaway!

5" Small Lemmee Punk Rocker

Something my kids got from my crazy genes, is my love of plush toys. But who does not love them?  My bonus baby K's bed is overflowing with them, and little D has several "hammocks" full. But their are special places for special toys, and that is in the hands of the ones that love them. Little D was overflowing with excitement when I got a box of goodies from Aurora World Inc.. He immediately laid eye's on Lemmee Punk Rocker and fell in love. He demanded show and tell with his aunties and has drug him everywhere since incessantly pressing the button to make the "whistleing" noise. His new best friend has also stood up to Kiki our cat. He has gotten a hold of it several times, and it has yet to be torn apart. Although I do not recommend these as cat toys. They are also not recommended for children three and under as there are several small parts that could come off and cause a choking hazard.



5" YooHoo Love



The features of these toys are interesting. They are very soft and snugly, yet double as a sort of action figure. The Yoohoo Love & the Lemmee Punk Rocker that I was sent both have noise function's to them. Yoohoo Love has a smoochy-smooch sound that it makes and Lemmee Punk Rocker makes a cat call whistle noise. Neither are very loud *Mama's best friend = quite toys!* and the noise does not last for very long. There are also very few toys that can fit into the gender neutral zone that Yoohoo & Friends do.

The lovely people over at Aurora World Inc. also sent me two versions of Milly.



8" Wanna Be Frilly Milly Ballerina

 8" Pink Kitty With Strawberry Carrier

Milly is my favorite from them. I am a little dissapointed that the one with the strawberry carrier is supposed to smell, but really does not. I suppose that could be a good thing because if she was too potent, I would have a problem with that as well.

Aurora World Inc. offers a wide array of childrens plush toys, anything from everyday and baby, to holiday or custom made. You can find them at there easy to navigate website http://shop.auroragift.com/.

Here is what the people at Aurora World Inc. have to say:

"Aurora is the leading supplier of affordable, high quality gift products. Since its establishment in 1981, the company has ascended to become a respected leader in the character & contents industry.

Aurora is your “One Stop Solution”.  Value prices, high quality and large variety, as well as international manufacturing, R&D and distribution resources are hallmarks of Aurora’s success. Aurora offers products for a range of children and adults who represent nearly every walk of life.

The company sells its products via a wide variety of retailers including major zoos, department stores, high-end toy stores, top gift chains, as well as hospital gift shops, fine florists, candy stores and gift/stationary stores worldwide. Take a step into Aurora’s world and see what everyone is smiling about."

I like it. It is simple, sweet and honest. They make products to sell products, to make people happy.

The toy's made my son happy, and I am sure they will make your kid happy as well! Aurora World Inc. generously offered to give one of the plush toys in there "Yoohoo & Friends" line away to one of my readers.

Here is how to enter:

MANDATORY ENTRY:

Visit http://shop.auroragift.com/  and tell me which you YooHoo & Friends or Milly you would prefer. *You must also be a GFC follower to enter*

EXTRA ENTRIES:

Visit the  YooHoo & Friends Facebook FanPage and "Like" them

Follow YooHoo & Friends on Twitter

Visit the  Aurora World Facebook FanPage and "Like" them

Follow me on Twitter @vileramblings

Visit my fan page and "like" me

Comment on any other post of mine - Must be meaningful -

This contest will end December 16th 2010 *My Hub's Birthday* at 11:59 PM. The winner will be posted here and contacted by email. They will have 48 hours to respond before I am physically forced into picking another winner by the winner police. Good luck! 

I received no monetary compensation for this review. All opinions expressed are my own. 

Cradle Rock Winner

The winner of the Cradle Rock CD is comment #5

                                                  asl on November 28, 2010 11:02 PM said...

                                    i liked them on facebook. username audrey shay.

Congrats asl! I will be sending you an email shortly with more details.

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 5 

Eden Fantasys

Eden Fantasys

There are a lot of trashy "adult" type online stores and communities. Most of what I have come across in my escapades has made me feel sleazy, dirty for shopping there or like a piece of meat on the market. Eden Fantasys has a completely different feel. Unlike most online adult shop's Eden Fantasys is what only can be described as a "sex positive environment".

When I shop online for an adult toy, it can be fairly complicated. Half of me would like to get it done as quickly as possible so no one gets caught "doing the deed". The other half wants to browse, get a feel for the toys and learn what other people have to say about them. One of my pet peeves is that there are never enough reviews for sex toys! You can look and look until you find the one that looks right for your body type, or your various fantasys. But when you get home and take your glorious sex toy out of the package to play with, maybe it does not come with batteries or is not the texture you imagined. And lets face it, when a company describes the sex toy is it actually described by someone who has used it? Felt it? Taken it for a good test drive? Usually that is not the case.  Eden Fantasys has a community section that will take care of all of your questions for you.

To the left of the home page you will find a section labeled Community. Under that there are several links, reviews, forums & polls, community corner along with many more. My favorite being EdenTube. Now I know that your mind is going naughty places, mine did too when I first clicked. But these are real people. Doing real reviews. Honestly. Nothing dirty. Well... OK... Some of them get a little more dirty than text book. But that's to be expected. It's reality, and not many of us are writing text books when reviewing product.

Another section of Eden Fantasys that I like is The Naked Reader Book Club. When it comes to porn I am a bigger fan of what is better known as "literotica". I think most females are. It leaves more to the imagination than... Man enters room and fucks woman until he busts a nut... Not very clever. I can't think of a way to put it better than they, so here is what they have to say:

"Join venerated erotica publisher Cleis Press, EdenFantasys and SexIs in an ongoing online book club for inquiring minds who love to read about all things sexual—from the politics of pornography to the erotically evocative boundaries of desire."

I am going to have to read up and join the next discussion.

While shopping at Eden Fantasys you can find a wide selection of, well everything. They have a section for women, men, couples and gender play. They also have a variety of sexy lingerie everything from XS for petite girls like me up to 4X.

To close up this post, I have to say I am pretty impressed with the website. It has a little bit of everything for everyone. Some thing on the site made me blush and giggle. I had to poke fun at my hubby asking what kind of penis enlargement kit he would like for Christmas and which pocket pussy he would like for our anniversary. But when it comes down to it, these are real products used by real people and Eden Fantasys has done a fantastic job incorporating everyones needs and fantasys into one place that will make everyone feel comfortable shopping, browsing or just joining the community.

Jess

The sickness

Eww... My whole family has had the sickness and I was praising the Lord over thanksgiving break that I was the only one who did not catch it. Think again Mama! I did. And BAD. I was in bed for two day's in excruciating pain and wanting to die in the bottom of the shower **Six hot showers in one day. There goes my great green gas bill for the month** and I went through two bottles of Robitussin. My kids ate peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast lunch and dinner.

I felt great this morning, only to wake up to what looked like a group of ravenous teenagers had torn through my kitchen, and the living room had been inhabited by twenty five year olds. But do you know what is awesome about my amazing children? They let me sleep. And sleep, and sleep. So no, they will not get in trouble. I will whole heartily clean the house, and make them a gourmet dinner consisting of mac'n cheese and hot dogs.

Then I will jump back on my cozy leg warming laptop and write up a couple reviews that have been sitting on my desk, just waiting patiently for me to get to them. Milly, Yoohoo & Friends and an interesting book called Adopted Ed.

Loves,

Being selfish with twins.

This weekend was a LONG one. And it still is not over for a few hours. The longest part was Thanksgiving dinner after the real Thanksgiving with my hubster's family. Normally they do not bug me. Well, OK. They are not a normal family, and they do have their quirks. But who doesn't? Maybe it is just that I grew up with a different kind of quirky. I guess I should make a side note before I get into this, because honestly it is what it is about. I can not stand it when people touch my babies, call me selfish or paranoid. Whatever you want to call me, go ahead and call me it. But eww. Please do not touch them. And especially not without asking me first.

We get to his Aunt's house on the coast and everything is all well, grandma had driven big brother out and dinner was almost ready. Then his cousin asks if she could hold K. Not a problem. She asked. I understand that they are family and this is something that I have to do. But then she passes him off to her SO without asking. And then he is passed on to DAE *Drunk Aunt E.* and she is ogling and swaying with him everywhere. And then he is passed off AGAIN! AND AGAIN AND AGAIN! I don't even know who is holding baby K. Thank god I made it a point that A was sleeping and not to bug him. Because I would have gone fricking ballistic!

I survived all of the dinner chaos and then it was time to dump poor old Grandpa. Not my piece of pie. Eww... Dead person's ashes blowing in the wind *I do have to say I keep my Dad in a jar, still a little on the gross and creepy side* and of course, I got Hub's Gpa in my eyes. Double gross, but I wanted to crack up. Because it was fricking hilarious. Everyone in his family is as somber as can be, and their Gpa goes, blowing up everyone's skirts and into everyone's eyes. It was funny.

I survived that as well. Then we get home, eventually heading over to Gma's house to pick D up. And HOLY SHAT! SHE FRICKING LECTURES ME. Basically she said I was being a bitch and that my children are a piece of everyone their and that I should be a little more open with my babies. FUCK NO!
First off, I can be a bitch to who ever I want to be a fucking bitch to. Second, THEY ARE MY FUCKING BABIES TO DO WITH WHAT I FUCKING PLEASE! Being their Mama, I get to say who can and can not hold them, and who does and does not wash their hands before holding them! But I do not have the balls to tell her that because she is Hub's Mama. And damnit, she still has say whether I like it or not. And you know what I did like the little pussy ass bitch good girl that I am??? I smiled and nodded and just told her it makes me nervous and I understand that they are family and it's ok. But really. It's not.

Maybe I am neurotic.

And the WINNER is...

Alicia C. Congrats! Email me @ jdsmurf3 AT yahoo.com so I can forward your information on to our wonderful sponsor Collegien!

Thanks to everyone else for entering...  Lookout for my next review and giveaway for Milly and Yoohoo & Friends

Thanks
Jess

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 49 Powered by RANDOM.ORG



Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I have a lot to be thankful for this year...

I had a hard pregnancy and was very lucky to have two very healthy babies that decided to come a little too early. The Dr's thought they wherent going to make it but by god they are fighters!

I am thankful for my wonderful hubby who has stuck by my side for the past five years through thick and thin.

I am thankful for our beautiful five year old, who knows how to lift my spirits when they are down. And how to make my day's shine when they are bleak.

I am thankful for my wonderful sisters, who even though they have better things to do with their friends, decide to help with the twins so that I can get by a little easier.

I am thankful for my amazing mother, mother in law, and step-mother in law, who are always there with great adivice and to remind me what a super mom I am.

I am thankful that I have a beautiful family that if my shoulder to lean on, on the anniversery of my daddy's death while everyone else is celebrating.

I am thankful for roads that are clear enough so that we can truck around this thanksgiving to everyone's houses so that we can see family and friends.

I am thankful for my best friend who has always been their for me, no matter how ridiculous my panic attacks are.

I am thankful for cartoons!!!

I am thankful for my Gma and Papa.

I am thankful for the abundance of crap in my house, because it means that we have more than enough means to get by.

I am thankful for the food that will fill my belly tonight.

And I am thankful I have a computer to let me peak at the outside world, while I am stuck on the inside being a Mama.

I am thankful my hands arent hurting today, so that I can type a little bit without having to stretch my fingers.

Jess

**Warning** Adult Content **Warning**

Lets talk about sex *Plus* Groovy Chick – G-spot and Clitoral Vibrator Review 





















Sex. It is a hard thing to talk about with your partner whether you have been together five years or two days. There are the essentials of course, STD's, condom use and where to draw the line. But when it comes to toy's, how do you open that line of communication? I of course have my own secret stash, and I know my partner has porn. But is masturbation that private that we can not share with another?

I was giddy with excitement when I was given the opportunity to partner up with Eden Fantasys and become a product ambassador. I mean come on, a toy for a review, that's simple! After I finished ordering my sex toy, embarrassment washed over me. Usually I settle for a drunk trip to our local adult shop  and after I have made my careful but quick selection, I scurry away hiding the goods in a little black sack that just screams "LOOK AT ME AND MY PORN I JUST BOUGHT!!". And now here I am, having something so naughty delivered to my house! What if the mailman saw?! And even worse, what is one of my children checks the mail. Needless to say, I made sure I was the one checking the mail yesterday and was delighted to find a simple cardboard box with nothing more than a return address from "shipping department". PHEW! Dodged a bullet with the mailman.

But now, how do I tell my partner I am reviewing a sex toy?! He knows I have them, so he must know that I use them right?! After contemplating for several hours on how to break the news about my latest adventure, I decided that this is a wonderful way to open that line of communication. To tell him that yes, this is something that I will use, and you are welcome to use it on me.

**Now I do not want any of you to think that we are the missionary, no noise, nothing fun type. Because boy do we have fun!**

I decided to wait until he got home, and let him open it. Kind getting him something that's really for me, but he gets to enjoy it too scenario. At first he was really confused and thought that it was meant for him to use. No, I explained. It is definitely for me! Just something to spice up our already spice bedroom life. It worked! Open line of communication, and there was our conversation. We have our new bedroom ventures ahead of us, and yes, it may fizzle out. But it may not. The important thing is, we have found a new way to be more open with each other about sex. There should be no conversational boundaries. We should know each others fantasies, likes and dislikes. My old OB nurse put it the best way, "It's a game of red like green like, but with moans". Well I want to be able to talk about the red lights and green lights and not expect him to be able to interpret my moans even after five years.

Now on to my beautiful new sex toy! It is a Groovy Chick G-Spot and Clitoral Vibrator in Orange. It is this wonderful soft silicon material that is very bendable to your body shape, but rigid enough that is holds up to a beating. It has a very interesting U shape to it that helps hit the "g-spot", and curves upwards to hit the clitoris. There are actually two parts to this toy, something I like to call a "2 in 1". Sometimes I like the toy without the buzz, and this one fits that perfectly. The "buzz" comes from an insert able bullet. It is pretty noisy by itself, but when put to the table test, it "hops" pretty far. My favorite bonus is the wonderful re-use able box that it comes in. Pretty and purple, I can tuck it into my bookshelf and no one (Unless they where looking) would know what it is.

**A small warning about first use**
I was really confused when I opened it and there where no batteries! What sex toy does not come with batteries! I searched the box, read the contents, and it should have came with them. Begrudgingly I opened the bullet, and alas! There they where, tucked in and ready to use, just pull the tab and off we go!

And please, for the sake of your own body, always wash before the first use. If you do have silicon toys, most are dishwasher safe, but you can also purchase some non-allergenic toy cleansers.

Where to buy:

Eden Fantasy's is an excellent adult shop where you can find all the sex toys to fit your wildest *or most modest* fantasy's! If you visit the website at http://www.edenfantsys.com/ they currently have free express delivery on all purchases made by this weekend, and ALWAYS have free 3-5 day shipping on purchases over $59.

Now I am off to enjoy myself!

Jess

Crafting and Gifting

Oooo... Black friday starts my frantic crafting before christmas, and I found a GREAT gift!

SkipToMyLou has an amazing set of tutorials for bags, and all of mine will be up-cycled! I have been saving bits and peices of really cute cut-outs from my son's t-shirts for something as perfect as this!

My FAVORITE is the "reversable beach tote"

Can not wait to get these made, wrapped and under the tree!!

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme


TodaysMama and GameStop are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.


1. What is your holiday wish for your family?
I think I am wishing for what most people wish for their family, health, hapiness and for us to be able to be together for the day.

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition?
The kids wake up to hidden presents, santa's loot and warm milk and cookies.

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?
Completely decadent? Oh, the list would go on forever. A maid, a night nurse, a nanny, a professional organizer, an all expense trip to Las Vegas to get married "in style"

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?
We try to make gifts for eachother, with eachother and spend lots of time reading books together. We make it a point to volunteer for a different charity each year to help those in need when we are not.

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?

Monopaly! Lots and lots of monopaly.

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?

The hiding of the presents was something my mom would do for us. We loved it as kids and now mine do as well. It delays the frantic opening of the presents and makes christmas morning last a bit longer.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip?

My Grandma's in Arizona.
8. Check out Game Stop and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?

1. If it EVER comes out Grand Turismo 5
2. PS3 slim - our original overheated and no longer works properly
3. Nintendo DSi - my 5 yo has been begging for one since he was TWO!

Eeekk.... I wanna win this! SOOOOOO baD!

Give it to Me Monday Blog Hop and Linky

Soo... Have not quite figured out most of the HTML junk yet... I do the best I can though.

This blog hop is from:

Give It To Me Tara's beautiful blog

So go thank her!

Sunday Linky

While you are here don't forget to check out my current giveaways:

Cradle Rock Lullaby CD 12/2 - No entries yet!

Slipper Socks 11/26 - Low Entry
Leave a comment and follow me, I try my best to share the comment/follow love!

A thirfty shoppers dream.

One of my many favorite things to do is shop at thrift stores. The wide array of junk cool stuff is amazing! Oh the things that I could spend my money on! On a recent trip, we bought a Krups espresso machine for $10!

This trip was extra special. In Salem there is a Goodwill Surplus store. They charge by the pound, not by the item. **I like this especially because our local goodwill store is managed by a money hungry whore very nice lady who likes to charge a little more than what would be expected at a second hand store.** After an hour of playing in the bins, this is what we came up with...

18 brand name T-Shirts, 2 sweatshirts, 3 pairs of "jammie" pants, 1 purse, 1 pair pf slippers, countless yards of fabric, 9 spools of yarn, and a bunch of clothes pins! - Some of this is not in the picture because it is being worn by my beautiful bonus babies -

The fabric and some of the shirts will be used to make "up-cycled" grocery bags and purses, and the rest will be worn. Guess how much was spent here? $35 dollars!

I shouldnt have to recomend this to anyone, you all should be jumping out of your seats ready to race to your nearest Goodwill Surplus. But GO! See what you can come up with!

Jess

Cradle Rock CD Review & Giveaway





It has been really hard for me to find music appropriate for my babies, it is either too noisy or down right inappropriate. I am excited to say that I have found something that doesn't drive me to pull out my hair, or cover my children's ears. I would love to say that I am the type of mom who sings lullabies, but I am tone deaf and would rather have the CD player do it for me!



Cradle Rock has several mama friendly tunes made from the rhythms of hit songs. And because they are made from people like Kenny Chestney, Micheal Jackson and *My Favorite* Johnny Cash, they are not repetitive and childish like most of the lullaby CD's that I have found. And if you are not tone deaf like I am and you are familiar with the music you can make your own lyrics. They recently announced on their website that coming soon they will have titles including the Eagles, Black Eyed Peas, U2, Carrie Underwood, and Pink Floyd!

These also would be great stocking stuffers for Mama's to be, or the new Mama's & Babes in your life! Or maybe Pop-pop would enjoy some good tunes from Johnny Cash?

So the three CD's I got are not only fun for my kid's to listen to, but have adorable titles. Michael Jackson "Thrillaby" is a little too upbeat for my kids to nap to, but great lunchtime music. Johnny Cash "I Crawl The Line" is borderline. If you have heavy sleepers, go ahead and put it on. It is pretty relaxing, but some of the songs tend to be a little too "thunky" to sleep to. Kenny Chestney "No Shoes, No Diaper... Might be a problem." *My favorite title* is GREAT for nap time, and my sons favorite to listen to *Finally, GOODBYE KizBop!*

Too sample the music, simply go to the website http://www.cradlerockstore.com/ and click on one of the title's. It will bring you to a separate screen where you will get to choose any of the songs to listen to. Now be open minded when you start to listen, they are kind of new age-ish instrumentals and can take a minute for your ears to adjust.

How to buy - - -

Visit http://www.cradlerockstore.com/ and click on "Buy Now" under the title of your choice. They are $11.98 per CD.

Some useful links:

http://www.cradlerockstore.com/
http://www.facebook.com/treetoprecords
http://www.twitter.com/treetoprecords



And here is the most exciting part for you guys!

Drum Roll PLEASE.......

You can win one of  these for your very own!

Here is how to win!

MANDATORY ENTRY!

Follow me PUBLICLY on GFC and go to Cradle Rock website and tell me what album and what song is your favorite.  

-Extra Entries-

Follow TreeTopRecords on Twitter - 1 entry

Follow me on Twitter - 1 entry

"Like" Tree Top Records on Facebook  AND tell them Ramblings and Reviews sent you - 1 entry

Tweet about this giveaway - 1 entry per tweet per day
   Can cut and paste - Just entered to win a Cradle Rock CD courtesy of @treetoprecords over at http://tinyurl.com/2ac7epn @vileramblings #giveaway

Leave this on any giveaway linky, leave the link in your comment - 2 entries

Comment on my "Family Holiday Tradition" post with a great family tradition of your own **Must be more than "We eat pie"** - 1 entry

REMEMBER - leave one comment for every entry!

Giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Ends December 2nd at 11:59 PM (PST). A winner will be chosen using random.org and notified by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond after contacted by email. If winner does not respond, a new winner will be chosen.

Disclosure: For this review I received copies of the Cradle Rock cds featuring Kenny Chesney, Johnny Cash, and Michael Jackson. All opinions expressed are my own and no monetary compensation was involved,

Family Holiday Traditions

I have so many wonderful memories from the holiday's growing up. Grandma's house, making our own ornaments, and food. Oh the delicous food! Now that I have a family of my own, I want so bad to create our own traditions. But it seems that the holiday's are so busy with bouncing from one family to the next, that we don't have time to breath for a tradition. And as hard as I try every year, I can't seem to grasp one that will fit with my family!

At least the kids are young enough that they do not realise how traditionless our holiday's are.

Do any of you have suggestions on how to create your own family tradition? Or do you have traditions of your own to share?

Jess

Testing Button

Holiday Crafts

So this year, like every year, my family and I decided to try to spice up the same old tradition by making eachother gifts. Useful things like hand knitted scarf's or shopping bags made from old sheets. That inspired me to do a Holiday Craft Guide. Kind of my own personal journal through making these gifts for family and friends. Hopefully they it doesnt turn out like the rest of my projects. In the attic. You will see several things from kid's crafts and cookies to ornaments and stockings.

Excited to get a start on crafting, hopefully today!

Jess

Smile.ly—Be Heard. Be Happy.

Excited to be on my first Smile.ly mission, got a box of Love Box's from Durex and am happy to say all of my friends called dibs on them! Waiting to hear back from them by the end of the week. I can tell you my review will be a good one!! :-)

Smile.ly—Be Heard. Be Happy.

First of all.. Let's start with saying, I LOVE slippers. Any kind. I am a homemaker. A frumpy, spend all day in my pajamas, curl up with the babies and be comfortable, homemaker.

I wear slippers for a good part of the day, I can't stand my feet to be cold. Biggest problem I have with slippers? My heel is not covered! and if I am wearing those sock's with the grippies, I can't check the mail!

So when Collegien let me review a pair of there slippers, I got really excited.

These things are AWESOME! A little hard to describe in text, the pair that I picked out. It is a soft  black sock, with a cream colored non-slip bottom. Just basic. But there are so many to choose from:

·         Cotton

·         Wool 

·         Wool & Silk 

·         Wool & Cashmere

·         Lurex

·         Polar

·         Loops

·         BeCool

The ones I chose are:

I have worn these babies out in the past week, wearing them everywhere. The only downside is washing them. Oh wait! I forgot to mention! Un-like any other slippers that I own, they are machine washable!

Brilliant!

I DO NOT RECOMMEND WEARING THEM IN THE RAIN!!! I made that mistake, and well... My feet made funny noises the whole time I grocery Shopped! You can get all sweaty in them, because the sole is breathable.

The Europe to USA sizing was hard for me to figure out. I had to do a lot of research to find out what would fit me best, I am a 5 1/2 us and a 35.5 Europe. So I got the 36/37 choice, and they are a little roomy. So if you are a half size, step down a little.

Overall, they are great! And there are SO many to choose from that I spent a good half an hour of the site, drooling over the ones I did not choose.

And here is the surprise for you guys! Collegien is going to let me pick a lucky reader, who will get to pick out their own pair!

Mandatory entry: You MUST visit Collegien and comment below, telling me the pair you would pick and why and the size. Leave your email address so that I can contact you.

Bonus Entries!

Follow me on GFC - 1 entry

Follow @CollegienNL on Twitter - 1 entry

Follow me on Twitter @vileramblings - 1 entry

Comment on another post of mine *Has to be relevent to the post* - 1 entry

Blog about this giveaway leaving at least one link to www.collegien-shop.com/en/ and one to this blog post. Leave me the link in the comment. - 5 entries

Post this on any giveaway link-up site and leave the link - 3 entries

Purchase something from Collegien  - 10 entries

Tweet about this giveaway using @vileramblings and @CollegienNL and a link back to this post - 2 entries

***REMEMBER!***

Leave one comment per entry!!!

This giveaway will end on November 26th at 11:59 PM! Any comments left after that will be destroyed with my invisible comment destroying laser!

**CLOSED**

**other than receiving product I was not compensated for this review in any monetary form**

***The winner will be "drawn" using an online randomizer and will be notified by blog posting, and by email. They will have 48 hours to respond, at which time I will "draw" another winner**

Good luck!

Pooch-Pourri Winner!

Congratulations to #



I have sent out an email regarding your shipping information. Please get back to me as soon as possible!

-Jessica-

AboutOne Review

I was really excited, and still am, that I was chosen to do a review of the AboutOne website. So I immediately set it up. It was fairly easy, like any other website you would sign up for. Basic information, enter families information as well.

But here is the cool thing.. I have a "household" notebook at home that I use for family management. This is that, but online! And since I just had twinfants *OK. so they are almost three months old. But we are still catching up with the world* I have had little time for anything! And this has been a fun comparison to my notebook.

It has features like:

•   Getting organized
•   Family management
•   Family memories
•   Digital organization
•   Organized family
•   Photo book
•   Online health records
•   Digital scrapbook
•   Applying to college

Now some of these features will not apply to everyone, for instance, "applying to college" does not apply to me for at least another two years. And the "photo book" is something easily accessible on my computer without having to log onto a website.

I LOVE the online health records. I have a million files, and it is nice to be able to have the information just a click away.

Here is what AboutOne has to say about the site:

"AboutOne is an online family information management system; ONE place, accessible anytime, anywhere, from any device, (you don’t have to be at home, and you don’t have to be on your own computer) where in just seconds busy moms can store, secure, and manage household information, including health records, possession details, education records, contacts, and family memories – both text and pictures.

AboutOne Video

AboutOne stores the information with bank-level security. Then, the system automatically uses the information you’ve entered to save you time on family administrative chores like completing school forms, college apps, caregiver instructions, and tax returns, creating family newsletters and scrapbooks, and automatically creating and mailing holiday cards (coming Dec 1). The information is also available, at your fingertips, to make informed decisions and respond quickly to an emergency. (Also coming soon is the ability to automatically create hardcover photo memory books from the memories and stories you’ve entered in AboutOne.)
This short video gives a good overview of what one customer loves about our service: AboutOne Youtube.

Joanne Lang, AboutOne’s founder and CEO (and mom of 4 boys under the age of 6), is a former software company executive. She’d seen how cloud-based computing allowed businesses to gain new levels of efficiency and wanted to bring these same benefits to moms and families. In this short video overview, Joanne shows how fast and easy it is to enter information in AboutOne: AboutOne Youtube.

These are a few of the features that make AboutOne.com truly unique:

• It is One highly secure place, online, to store household information and family memories – no more worries about losing important paperwork or losing data, pictures and contact information because your computer crashed. Also, no need to worry about backing up your data – AboutOne does that for you.
• Our emphasis is on speed of entry and intelligent use of the data entered.
• MAKE SURE YOU CHECK OUT HOW TO USE THE INBOX FEATURE OF ABOUTONE. IT IS A HUGE TIMESAVER!
• Data entry takes seconds, and can be completed on your computer, via cell phone, or by scanning directly into the system.
• Data can be entered in small pieces, via wizards and templates to streamline the process.
• Each piece of data must be entered only once. AboutOne then automatically updates fields throughout the system where this data is needed again.
• Other manual/paper-based filing systems, PC-based apps, and web apps focus on entering information for future emergency use only.
• Entering information in AboutOne makes it available for both daily family admin AND emergency access.
• The system can automatically create a hardcover photo memory book including user selected photos and written back story (other photobook sites include photo captions only) (avail Dec 1)
• The system can automatically create and mail greeting cards and invitations, using the Connections aspect (available Dec 1)
• The system can automatically prepare an education report for use during the college application process.
• Users can maintain “gift logs” for contacts using the Connections aspect
• The system generates alerts and reminders about appointments, birthdays, and anniversaries – including suggested gifts from the gift logs, and reminders of other details you want to follow up on.
• The system can automatically create a caregiver report for families to give to babysitters and caregivers for elderly and special needs family members.
• The system automatically generates a monthly family newsletter which includes photos, web and video links, and text memories.
• If you ever need help while using the system, just click on the “Live Help” button on the top right corner. Our customer service reps will be there to help you. If they aren’t immediately available, they will get back to you as quickly as possible."

  

Since using the site for a few weeks, I have gotten accustom to waking up in the morning, checking my calender and dinking around it for a while. It is just as useful as my household notebook, if not a little more. I would have to recommend this to on the go mom's who need a little more organization in there life's, and want it all in the click of a button.

I have yet to access it from my blackberry for this occasion, but I have A LOT of doctors appointments that my twins go to. What if I needed something from there medical records and hubster was not home to grab it for me? Or some kind of information that I don't carry in my thirty pound diaper bag?

**Imagine just for a second, little 5' nothing me, carrying two car seats and a diaper bag, and the whole time I am holding a five year old's hand. Sheesh... Maybe I am supermom!**

It would be awesome to access that website in that kind of situation.

There are things that I have used, like the "printables" I have printed the Babysitter/Caregiver instructions ***For Fun... I have a phobia of people touching my babes :-)*** And we are planning on using the "family newsletter" for Christmas.

It does take a while to enter all of the information, so if you are going to sign up I would wait until you have an hour or two on your hands to make sure you put all of the information in. I didn't went I signed up, and there where a lot of gaps for a while making it a little frustrating to do anything.

Something I just realized to, keep a hard copy *obviously* of anything you input here, unless  you plan on renewing your subscription.

All in all it is worth the couple tens to put down on it, I may just keep my household notebook hanging around in case my computer crashes though.

Here are some fun links associated with the site:

Site: http://www.aboutone.com/
AboutOne Blog: http://www.aboutone.com/category/blog/
YouTube Video Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/AboutOneVideos
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aboutone
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#%21/aboutone @AboutOne

Strider Bike Giveaway

EeeEEEEe!

I want one SO bad!

Not for me of course, but for Dear David!

He would love it. He is having such a hard time learning how to ride his bike.

Anyways... Awesome giveaway over at MeganKayden for a Strider Bike

Again... AWESOME!

Jess

This Moment...

 

 

"{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see."

Pre-Giveaway Party!

This AMAZING company Collegien is giving me the opportunity to review a pair of their slipper socks * These things are REALLY cool *

AND!

Here is the cool part... They are going to let me give a pair away!

Since this a new blog of mine, I thought I would have a Pre-Giveaway Party!

Soo.... Here is how it goes... Anyone who would like an extra 2 entries into the Collegien Slipper Socks giveaway, follow me on GFC and leave me two comments below, one with your name and eamil address, and one with a cheery thought for the day!

And look out for the review! It's coming soon!

Mama :-)

After Surgary

So we are finally home and relaxing from our surgery vacation. That was one of the most terrifying things I have had to do as a parent. Doernbecher was amazing, and treated us all so sweetly.

We got to the hospital and where admitted at exactly 9:19, eleven minutes early. Went upstairs to surgery, and waited. And waited. And waited. I lost it completely and cried and cried when a family came out from the surgery prep area, and they where all bawling. The mom was talking to her friends ( Yes I am a snoop ) about how her daughter is not OK with this, and that she is old enough to know what is going on and is freaking out. I looked at Kaydon and felt this pull that I am sure only mothers feel, I would protect this baby with every fiber of my being. And I realized that part of protecting him is making sure that the surgery was done. When we where finally called back into to surgery prep area by our very sweet nurses assistant who assured us all that they do this daily, and everything will be fine. They took his temperature, blood pressure, and weighed him ((*YAY* He is up over 7 pounds! He is still a skinny minny and in preemie diapers though. I wish I had some cloth's to put on him. But I can't find any :-(... )) Gave him the cutest baby gown with blue lions and it said "Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!" all over it. ( Yeah I am a bitch. We took it home ) Then we waited. And waited some more. Finally the nurse came to talk to us about the procedure and asked if we had any concerns. Hell YES! I told her that I understand Doernbecher is a teaching hospital, one of the best. BUT I do not want some half wit student working on my baby, and then I expressed my concerns with the anesthetic, and his eating afterward (( We worked DAMNED hard to get him to 7 pounds! )). She could not really answer any of my questions. That made me pretty mad. But when the surgeon came in to talk to us, he made me feel a bit better. He had to explain everything about ten times because all I was hearing was "Danger Will Robinson, danger!". Then the anesthesiologist came in, and I told him what happened to my Mom's partner. He said that is a freak accident, and that Kaydon will be monitored the entire time by him, and then afterwards he will be monitored by a nurse for an hour or so before being sent upstairs to be monitored over night.

And that's exactly what happened. They let me walk him to the OR doors. Kiss him, tell him that I love him always. Then they sent me back into the pre-op area to wait. About an hour into it I told Kacey I had to leave. I can't handle this and I have to get out of the hospital for five minutes. I called my Mommy to give her and update, and came back up. While I was gone the surgeon had come in to tell Kacey how it went, and give us pictures of the inside of Kaydon's stomach ( Yes, those are going in the baby book.) and let us know that someone will be right out to take us back to Kaydon. Yeah, that didn't happen. Ten minutes later I could hear him SCREAMING through the doors. Well I marched my 5' nothing red-head ass to the nurses station and said "My son's surgery is over, I can hear him screaming. I need to go see him NOW!". Now I am normally SO mild mannered. But I was ready to brawl if she told me no. She is lucky she did not. Lol.

So by the time she took Kacey and I back to see him, Kaydon had already calmed down. He did not look like my sweet baby. His face was very swollen ndahe looked like the was in pain. When I was given the go ahead to pick him up, just moving him the slightest bit, he would scream and scream. I felt so bad, so I just laid my head next to his and whispered in his ear that I loved him and everything would be ok. The nurse had to give him a little bit of morphine before she sent us up to the 9th floor where we would be staying over night.

So a little back story, Kacey had a teratoma tumor when he was born and had to spend a lot of time at Doernbecher having surgery and being monitored. And then as soon as he got sent home, he got an infection and had to go straight back. Well while we where in the post-op area, Kacey started freaking out and had to leave. Later he explained to me that he got this eary feeling like he was looking at himself and just could not handle it.

Finally when we got upstairs, they hooked up my baby to the monitoring machines, and we settled in for the night. It was very un-eventful. He was never put on oxygen, they did need to put a little a couple inches away from his face because his oxygen saturation was a little low. But we got to go home bright and early in the morning.

We are struggling a little at home, he is still in pain and the Tylenol is not cutting it. He does NOT want to be put down. So I have been holding him since we got home yesterday. And when I do pass him off, he wakes up and whines until I can pick him up again. Ahh.. There is nothing like a Mama's love! He has not been nursing very well, so my boobies are VERY full of milk. They are used to supplying two babies. And now, they are supporting one. And he won't eat enough! Lol.

Well I have to go change some diapers, and feed some babies.

Mama