Mommin' It Up!

January 30, 2008January 30, 2008

WFMW: Effective Ten-Minute Exercise

What do Oprah Winfrey and I have in common? Well, besides the fact that we’re both female and look much younger than our age, we also both HATE exercise! I really, really, really do not like to exercise. But alas, sometimes it must be done! Especially say, when you’ve just had a baby and have 37 extra pounds to lose (or so. ish. 37-ish.)With my first kiddo I busted my butt back into shape with Tae-Bo, but with an additional and much more high-maintenance child, I needed something simpler and faster. Sorry, Billy Blanks! You and your blue unitard were ~~gross~~ fun while it lasted.

My solution to the need for fast effective workouts? The 10-Minute Solution series! I have these three DVDs: the 10 Minute Solution: Pilates, Rapid Results Pilates, and Carb Burner, and I LOVE them (as much as it is possible for me to love anything that has to do with exercise)!

I also have this one, but I am too retarded to do the dance moves.

I tried it three or four times and then gave up. So the first person to email me and tell me how great I am can have it if they want it. (If you live in the U.S. and if I can find it. But I am pretty sure I know where it is.) You have to be coordinated to do this one. Sadly, I am not. **Edit: Millicent took the video! Yay Millicent! I hope you can bust a move!**

Anyhoo, with the help of these fine videos (each features 5 different 10-minute work outs so you won’t get bored) I lost my baby weight from Sophie in just 110 days. It took me 5 months to lose it with Joshua! So this was a great improvement, and I actually enjoyed the Pilates DVDs. Like, I actually wanted to do them. Scary, I know. This could be addictive. I better cut back, since my coupon addiction is the only one I can handle right now. Which means my meth dealer is really gonna be bummed out!

For more Works for Me Wednesday tips, check out Rocks in My Dryer!

January 28, 2008January 28, 2008

Bloggy Giveaway: $25 Kroger gift card from the NEW Kroger.com!

It’s Bloggy Giveaway time again! Woo-hoo!! This time we are giving you the chance to win a $25 Kroger gift card courtesy of the NEW Kroger.com! Kroger has recently re-vamped their website and it is great! I’ve used it in the past and I really like the new features a lot, so I want to highlight a few of them for you. Since I’ve recently become a crazy couponer, I am using store websites more than ever to carefully plan my trips and deals. Kroger.com has some great tools to help with that. If you create an account in the “My Kroger” section, you can indicate your preferred store. Then you can look at the weekly ad online, and add specials from the sale paper directly to your shopping list, which Kroger.com saves for you! This feature was so convenient. I just clicked on the item in the ad that I was interested in, and a larger picture of the item and sale details appeared. Then I just clicked “add to list” and it appeared on my shopping list at the left margin of the screen! The list stayed there even when I went on to look at other items. Very cool! You can also print the list when you are done and take it right to the store with you!

Another feature I really like is the ability to print coupons! If you click on the “In Store” section, you can click on “coupons” and it will take you to Kroger-applicable coupons on Coupons.com, which you can then select and print. You can also load coupons from Procter & Gamble products such as Pampers, Tide, and Pantene directly to your Kroger Plus card online! I LOVE this feature, because these e-coupons can be combined with paper coupons in-store. Let’s say you have a P&G e-coupon on your Kroger Plus card for 50 cents off of Tide. If you have a paper coupon for Tide from the newspaper for $1 off, you can use both and get $1.50 off! Pretty cool!

Kroger.com also offers some other great convenience features perfect for busy moms. You can refill your rescriptions online, upload digital photos to the Kroger photo center, and even order flowers and have them delivered from the Kroger Floral department! Talk about a one-stop-shop!

The last feature I would like to mention is that there are lots of great recipes featured on Kroger.com that have been tested by the Kroger chefs. If you see one you like, you can just click and have all the ingredients loaded to your shopping list! You don’t have to write the ingredients down or make a separate list. Again, what a great, convenient time-saver!

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This is Emily now… I just had to jump in and tell you how much I came to love Kroger.com this weekend! Like Jenny mentioned, you can go through the weekly ad and make your grocery list very easily. I also used the “add note” feature to put everything else I needed to get on there, so that my list was complete. It was great to do this at my computer because I could flip over and look for recipes or coupons or whatever.

The whole process led me to planning out my grocery list much more than I usually do… which also means I was throwing much less random crap into my cart when I was actually at the store. Since I was choosing sale items from the ad, I ended up only spending $82 and I saved $30! I also ended up with more “complete meals” than I would have if I was going off the cuff.

Kroger.com rocks!

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So now, on to the contest! All you have to do to win is leave a comment telling us why you like shopping at Kroger! One entry per person, please! We will pick and announce the winner of the $25 Kroger gift card on Saturday, February 2nd with the help of the Random Number Generator.

For hundreds more great giveaways, check out Bloggy Giveaways!

January 28, 2008

Breaking News!!!

After months of teething, Sophia Diane, the Toothless Wonder, is now the ONE-Tooth Wonder! Yeseterday at the ripe old age of 14 months and 10 days she cut her first tooth! It’s her top-right, front tooth. She is going to look like a real Hillbilly Baby when it comes all the way in. I think I am just going to dress her in a diaper and a Larry the Cable Guy t-shirt from now on and buy her a Homer Simpson doll so she can maintain her Hill-Jack image. Here is a highlight of the “dodging-mommy’s-efforts-to-photograph-my-tooth” photo shoot:

And an extreme close-up:

And what she is going to wear until I get her Larry the Cable Guy t-shirt:

She insisted on the socks and bow! What a diva! Don’t fight your inner hillbilly Sophie! It’s in your genes (thanks to my & Emily’s ancestors!)

Congratulations my crazy girl on your first tooth! My breasts will now commence quaking in fear since thou shalt ne’er be weaned. But the rest of me is very glad to know that you won’t have to have baby dentures.

Love, Mommy