Mommin' It Up!

February 28, 2014

Insta-Friday

Today I’m linking up with our friend Jeannett at Life Rearranged for Insta-Friday. Head over there and check out all the insta-moments she’s collected today.
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Last Friday was the dreaded Valentine’s Day party. As it turned out, everything went fine at both parties, and Andy and I both lived to tell about it. And, I got the opportunity to bring lunch to Sam and Kate at school. As you can see from this picture, Sam was kind of excited about that.

Kate was happy to see me too. I wonder how long that will last?

Saturday I was getting ready for Kate’s basketball game, and I was drying my hair, not really listening to Sam chattering away beside me. Eventually it occured to me that he was saying “Mom, I want a mohawk!” and had Andy’s beard trimmer in his hand. So, we compromised.

Saturday was also National Margarita Day. I celebrated. Maybe twice. But I was just being patriotic.

This is Sam and my grandma, who would murder me if she found out I put her picture on the interwebz. Fortunately, the closest thing she has to a computer is a solar-powered calculator.

My dad gave Sam his cap from his Army days. Sam paired that with my grandpa’s army shirt, and he was ready to save the world.

Sam also turned 14 this week.

I swear I have two kids and love them both equally, but evidently I need to take more pictures of Kate!

So… this happened.

I’m sure that adventure is going to be bloggable, to say the least.

What did you do this week?

February 26, 2014

Design Sleep

A little over a year ago, I wrote about the, ahem, issues that Andy and I were having with our mattress. (And after re-reading that post, I’ve determined that Jenny is right – I am not very nice when I am sleep deprived!) Well, time went on and we tried to make do with the mattress we hated – we had paid an astronomical price for it and that fact in and of itself made us feel like we had to keep sleeping on it, even though I was terribly uncomfortable and Andy’s back was killing him.

A couple months ago, we decided enough was enough – we needed to chalk that mattress up as a loss and replace it. Sounds simple, right? Well, you know me – I have to make everything as complicated as humanly possible. I wanted to make sure that we got the right mattress this time, so I started researching.

Let me tell you, buying a mattress is COMPLICATED. (When you’re me, at least.) I had lists and charts and graphs detailing the benefits of foam and latex and coils, and of which brands were good and which ones aren’t – it was really kind of absurd. (I threw them away, but now I wish I’d kept them so you could see the level of my neuroses.) Eventually I came across The Mattress Underground – a blog and forum dedicated to solving the eternal question – “which mattress is right for me?”

And I thought I took things too seriously. Lord have mercy, this site took it to an entirely new level. And left me more confused than ever.

Except – the mattress expert on that site recommended finding a specialty sleep shop, rather than going to the nearest department store (or to the sketchy looking barn on my way to work where they evidently sell mattresses on the cheap. I am not even making this up.) – and they had a handy search function that found stores in my area.

That is a very long-winded way of saying that one Saturday morning, Andy and I walked into Design Sleep in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and our lives were forever changed.

Okay, that’s a little dramatic – but getting good sleep is serious business!

As soon as we walked in the store, my anxiety about buying a mattress vanished. I was sure these people knew their stuff, and that they’d help us make the right decision. Our salesperson, Stacy, was fantastic – he spent two hours with us, talking about our sleep habits and trying out mattresses and pillows. The only thing that made the choice difficult is that they were all so comfortable!

We placed an order for a mattress and also a EuroSlat foundation, which replaces a box spring. This video explains it better than I can, but here’s what it looks like:

While we were in the store, they figured out how to configure the slats for both Andy and me, and when they delivered the mattress, they set it up to those exact specifications. Stacy told us to give it a few nights and to call him if we had any discomfort. I was sleeping so soundly from the very first night, but Andy was experiencing some hip and neck pain. He called Stacy, who told him how to adjust the slats, and that was all it took. The back pain he’d been experiencing for months was gone, and we were both finally getting good sleep.

The personal attention at Design Sleep sets it apart. The fact that Stacy focused on us exclusively for two hours and that he’s available to help us adjust the bed as necessary from here on out is really impressive to me. It took something that had seemed so complicated to me, and made it simple and stress free. I love, love, love our new bed, and I would recommend Design Sleep to anyone!

February 21, 2014

Review: The Ninja Ultima blender

It’s been a while since I’ve done an old-fashioned product review! I’m excited to tell you about the Ninja Ultima blender. This thing is sweet! But I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

First of all… look how pretty it is.

It’s lovely, but also quite functional. The base is very sturdy (read: heavy) and it doesn’t feel like it’s going to rocket off my counter when it’s blending at full speed!

Speaking of full speed – this thing has serious power. In fact, it has a 2.5 Peak Horsepower Motor (whatever that means) and can go as fast as 24,000 rotations per minute. That is a lot of blending! In addition to the sheer power, the blender works so well because it has two sets of blades – one at the bottom, where you’d find them in any blender, and the other in the middle of the pitcher itself. They call it Dual Stage Blending, and only the Ninja has it.

Of course, the way I first tested out this blender was with my famous green smoothies. I threw in spinach, cucumber, celery, parsley, apples, lemon, ice and ginger. I hit the “pulse” a few times and then turned the blender up to speed eight, and in less than a minute I had a seriously smooth smoothie.

Now, I’ve made a lot of green smoothies in the past couple of years, and I’ve used everything from another high-end blender to a stick blender, and while they got the job done, I ended up with chunky smoothies. No one wants to eat smoothies with a spoon, let me tell you. The fact that I could pour this concoction straight from the pitcher (using the handy built-in pour spout) was very impressive to me. Honestly, it was nearly the consistency of juice – but with all the fiber from the fruits and veggies that a juicer would have removed.

My next test was another of my favorite things – salsa.

Tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, garlic, lime – I threw it all in there, either whole (the tomatoes) or in big chunks (the onion).

Again, I pulsed it a couple of times and then turned the blender on, and within seconds I had restaurant-style salsa.

(As an aside, the Roma tomatoes gave the salsa the pinkish hue, which was weird. I won’t be using those again!)

Here’s another cool thing about the Ninja Ultima – it comes with two single-serving tumblers that you put directly onto the base of the blender. You get the full power of the Ninja, but in a ready-to-go cup.

I have been really, really impressed with this blender. It’s sturdy and safe, and really does an incredible job. It’s also dishwasher safe and easy to clean, which is of HUGE importance to me. Best of all – the Ninja Ultima blenders start at $199. While that’s an investment, to be sure, it’s about a third of the price of the only comparable blender.

I am already dreaming of making frozen drinks in it this summer!

To learn more about the Ninja Ultima blenders, visit their website, follow them on Twitter, and like them on Facebook!