Mommin' It Up!

March 14, 2011

“Get Out” with Tide Stain Release

As you may have noticed, Jenny and I love us some Tide. In fact, I just searched our site and came up with 27 posts in which we mention Tide. We love working with the brand, but we also just love the products and use them all the time. I mean, Jenny buys Tide as opposed to whatever detergent she can get for 67 cents with a coupon, so you know how serious it is.

(And also, we love hanging out with Tim Gunn.)

One of our favorite Tide products, though, is Tide Stain Release.

I wrote a post about a year and a half ago that involved a crayon, the dryer, and an entire load of laundry – and Tide Stain Release came to the rescue.

Re-reading that post reminded me of something – a little secret about me and Tide Stain Release. For the first… I don’t know… month I used it, I didn’t realize that I was supposed to add it to the washer in addition to detergent. I thought it was more of an “instead of” proposition. Finally one day I happened to actually read the directions and found out otherwise, but it got the clothes so clean I would have never noticed!

My goodness, I am REALLY rambling… let me get to the point of this post!

Tide Stain Release has a great challenge and Sweepstakes coming up on their Facebook page starting March 28th! You could win a year’s supply of Tide Stain Release or an HE washer and dryer!!! To help get the challenge kicked off, Jenny took the “get out” challenge and caught it on video for us:

Wasn’t that amazing? You do NOT want to miss this great challenge! Here’s how you can keep in the loop! First, go “like” Tide’s facebook page. Then, starting March 28th, visit the Tide Stain Release Challenge tab on Tide’s Facebook page and click the “Take the Challenge” button. The first 100,000 registered participants will get a free sample for themselves, as well as three extras to share with Facebook friends, so they too can take the Challenge. Any registrants thereafter will receive a coupon for Tide Stain Release.

– Increase your odds of winning by sharing feedback (good or bad) about Tide Stain Release on the Challenge page, once you’ve tried it. Here, there’s also a chance to have feedback included in a Tide Stain Release advertisement!

– Increase your chances of winning even more by taking a poll about Tide Stain Release on the Challenge page.

We can’t wait for this great challenge to begin, and we’ll have more exciting Tide Stain Release news next month as well. We hope you’ll head over to Tide’s Facebook page to take the chance to “Get Out!”

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We are being compensated for working with Tide on the “Get Out” challenge. All opinions on the product are the real deal!

March 11, 2011March 10, 2011

Love the ones you’re with

I’ve been thinking about this for over a month, but I haven’t been able to figure out how to say it. So bear with me as I muddle through.

The internet is great. I love that I have a place to come and spew forth my thoughts, my stories, my grief, my craziness, my joys. I love sharing this space with Emily, one more gift in a life we’ve shared as cousins and friends.

And I love the friends I’ve made through blogging, near and far.

But mostly near. Because there are amazing ladies I’ve met through blogging who actually live near me, and we’ve had the joy of investing in each other’s lives face-to-face. You know who you are, #bigdealmoms!

So when I leave a blogging conference and everyone is all mushy-gushy about how much they miiiiiiissss each other and how they’re going through withdrawal, the cynical jerkwad in me just can’t buy it. Maybe it’s just because I’m fortunate enough to have people. I’ve got cousins and brothers and sisters-in-law and really wonderful friends, real-live in-the-flesh people. And as much as I love the blogging community, it’s my girlfriend down the street that I want to be mushy-gushy about. The one who watches my kids when I’m in a pinch or helps me clean my house before my kid’s birthday party, and vice versa. The one who knows my crap, sees me lookin’ like a hobo, and tells me I’m ok when I think I’m losing my mind. It’s those people, my family and my friends that I love like family, that I want to embrace and be joyful with every time I see them. Even if I just saw them yesterday.

So, there, I said it.

Let the ones you’re with, be the ones you love. And love the crap out of them!

March 10, 2011March 9, 2011

The Holy Grail of minivans.

(I stole this picture from Cortney for reasons that will soon be apparent).

For the past almost-12 weeks, I have been shoving three kids, and consequently three car seats, in the back of my car. Now I have made no secret about the fact that I love my ol’ Lexus with over 300,000 miles on it, but even when it was brand new in 1994, it wasn’t made to haul three kids!

I. NEEEEEEEEEEED. a minivan.

{so badly!}

And this spring, Bobby and I WILL be purchasing one. That’s right, we have saved our pennies and we are jonesin’ for a van! The search is ON!

Since I am quite the Toyota fan, I was really excited to get the opportunity to test drive the 2011 Toyota Sienna XLE a couple of weeks ago.

And now, I have a Sienna-shaped HOLE in my heart. Oh my word. It. was. AMAZING!

Unfortunately, the day it was delivered to my house, Joshua came down with is first-ever ear infection. So, I did not get to do a lot of “joy riding”. Therefore this post is not filled with cute photos of my kids boppin’ around in it. 🙁 BUT, I did get to take it to the pediatrician, the pharmacy, and the preschool drop-off and pickup. And since I had all THREE kids because of Joshua being home sick, this van was a life-saver. You see, normally having to shove all three kids in the back of my car and get Sophie to preschool and get them all back OUT of the car would have been a majorly stressful ordeal. But with the Sienna’s keyless entry and power doors, it was a SNAP. I mean, easy as pie. It was ree-donkulously wonderful!

I NEED a smart key and power doors. NEED NEED NEED!

Another really convenient features of the Sienna are the rear seats are super-easy to lay down and put back up. I am pretty much terrible at all things of this nature and I could do it easily. So you could say it’s idiot-proof!

I also really, really enjoyed the touch screen on the dash. Navigation, music, a CAMERA that shows you what’s behind you when you are in reverse – wow! It’s all there! And there are so many more technical gadgets on this car. I connected my iPod touch via bluetooth – didn’t even have to plug it in (although I certainly could’ve via USB port to charge it and listen if I wanted to). There’s a real electrical plug, a totally unbelievable widescreen DVD player with wireless headphones, and you can even hook up your Wii and play it on the road!! How awesome would that make road trips??

Oh, and did I mention it drives like a dream? Oh my goodness. It dumped snow on us the Friday of the week I was driving the Sienna, and I had an early-morning appointment (which is of course, precisely WHY it snowed.) The roads were really not good, but the Sienna handled them perfectly. It was definitely the most stable I have ever felt driving in the snow. Ouch. My heart is hurting just thinking about it again. The Sienna is now My Precious.

So here’s the deal. I am going to buy a van. I don’t yet know what it will be, but I know what I want it to be – a Toyota Sienna. It’s the dream van, man. If you’re in the market, you’ve GOT to test-drive one!

I LOVE the Toyota Sienna, so I linked this up to Things I love Thursday at the Diaper Diaries. Head on over to see what everyone else loves!