Author: Emily

This one is for all you Dayton-area people!

So let me start by saying this – I love my house. I really do. But I seriously hate our carpet.

It’s super light – just-barely-off white – and I think it’s got to be original to the house, which means it’s a solid 16 years old. The previous owners had two kids. We have two kids.

Did I mention the carpet is almost white?

Yeah. It shows everything. A week ago, I was honestly embarrassed to have people come into the house because the carpet looked so bad! It had been a year since we’d had it cleaned and there were just spots everywhere.

Needless to say, when Dry Right contacted me to see if they could come show me what they were about, I was all over it.

Ironically enough, they had just been to my grandma’s house the day before, doing their other service – 24-hour water removal. Instead of pulling up her carpet, as she’s had done before, they brought in a huge fan and a giant water-sucking (that is the technical term) machine and after a few days, it was good as new. They’re a professional, certified crew, and I knew I was in good hands!

They came to clean the carpets while we were at work, and that day Andy got home before I did. As soon as he walked through the door, he called me – he was practically giddy. Andy is a bit (understatement of the year) type A, and generally he finds something that’s not exactly right, but not this time. He said it looked amazing, and he was right. I could hardly believe it when I got home!

Want to see for yourself?

Here are some “before” pictures:

Look closely at that last picture – see the scribbles? Sammy took a DRY ERASE marker to our carpet! What you see there is what was left after I used carpet cleaning solution on it… I thought it was going to be there forever.

Not so! It is gone. And so are the other nasty spots on our carpet.

Look at what a great job the guys at Dry Right did:

It seriously looks great now. I’m not even embarrassed to have people come into our house!

The nice people at Dry Right want YOU as a customer too, so they’re offering Mommin’ It Up readers a special deal – use coupon code MOMMINITUP and you can get any two areas cleaned for $44 or any SEVEN areas cleaned for $119. That is a great deal!! Call (937) 886-4489 or (937) 490-1138 to schedule a cleaning.

To learn more about Dry Right, visit their website and “like” them on Facebook. They’re giving away a two-room cleaning to one lucky Facebook fan on April 1st, so make sure to “like” them soon!

It’s always fun to find a great product that’s made locally, which is why I was interested in checking out the products from Tapaahsia Farm. Located in Liberty, Indiana (not far from my workplace), they’ve been making natural soaps for more than nine years.

What intrigued me even more about Tapaahsia Farm is the story of why they got started. Here’s what owner Karen Baldwin told me about how they got started:

“My husband, four children and I have managed a small farm for the last ten years located in Liberty, Indiana. Our main purpose for farming was to help feed the family. We produce some of our own meat products including, chicken, eggs, milk, yogurt and some cheese. We also home school and felt that farm life would aid in their educational experience by directly connecting them to their food source. We try to produce most of our own food products through gardening, meat (animal) production, laying hens and dairy goats. We learned very quickly that in order for the farm to be financially self-supportive we needed to produce a product that would help pay for farm related expenses. Nine years ago I pursued an interest I have had for some time in soap making. The soap has for the last three years paid for the farm and is growing every year, even in this stressed economy.”

How cool is that?!?

Karen was kind enough to send me some of their products to check out. A couple of things I particularly enjoyed were the Citrus Cream and the lip balms.

My husband and I both struggle with chapped, cracked hands all winter long, and we’re always on the lookout for something that will help. The website describes it as “A luxuriously soft face cream lightly scented with rose water, Ylang Ylang and Orange Essential Oils.” I like to put it on before bed, and wake up with my hands nice and soft!

I also really like the lip balms – not just for me, but for my kids. My kids LOVE chapstick, and honestly I kind of cringe when I see them putting it on because I know some of it’s going to be ingested – and really, what’s in that stuff? But since this lip balm is all natural, I feel much better about them using it!

Tapaahsia Farm has a whole line of soaps, lotions and creams. They even have baby products – their Blushing Bottom cream is made with zinc oxide, jojoba oil, avocado oil and olive oil. That sounds like a great baby shower present to me! Their products are sold at local markets, retail locations, directly from the farm and online.

To learn more, check out their website and become a fan on Facebook!