Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

Merry Christmas lovely readers! 

 

I work in part of the retail industry and growing up my mother worked with the United States Postal Service. So for me Christmas was always kind of ad-hoc fit it in where ever, and this year was no exception. My husband and I let our children open most of their Christmas gifts last night on Christmas Eve. These presents include the ones from me and him, and the ones from relatives who live far away and won't be able to make a trip in to visit.

It was a successful unwrapping. The older two professed how much they loved their gifts. Minion Number 3 was actually playing with the toys he had unwrapped. We cleaned up all the wrapping paper and ushered the children off to bed so I could relax a little before going to bed for the night. (Yes, I had to work today.)

As us adults were unwinding my husband pointed out. The kids still believe in Santa. And here we were, Christmas Eve and the children had already unwrapped all their gifts. The husband and I, start wracking our brains to come up with a plan. We found the tricycle we had gotten for Number 3. We hadn't shown it to him yet because it still needed to be assembled. We found a new pair of boots for Number 1; we hadn't shown him them because they were not wrapped due to the shoe box missing its top. So that had my boys taken care of, but what about Number 2? We really didn't have anything left for her that she had not already seen. I go through my closet and I found my stash of yarn and I remembered her begging me to make her a scarf all year long. So I got right to it. About 2 hours later, she had a nice warm scarf folded and sitting under the tree.

This morning when we all got up the older two excitedly ran to the tree. Number 1 tried on his boots and loved them. The first thing out of Number 2's mouth was the exclamation "Mommy made me a scarf!" In a way she didn't care that at first glance she didn't get a Santa gift and she was excited that I had made something for her (*insert sound of heart melting*). However, I felt that it would be selfish of me to rob her of her belief in Santa just so I could receive credit for the scarf I had made. My husband and I corrected her and told her it was from Santa.

Then Number 2 replied "Mrs. Claus can knit?" 

Thank you readers for allowing me to share this wonderful little bit from our Christmas. I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas/Holiday.
Keep an eye out over the next few days. I have a set of ear buds that I will be hosting a giveaway for soon. Details to come!!

Another Round of Product Reviews

Here are some more items that I have had the pleasure of trying recently. These listed below made enough of an impression with me that I think they might make a good gift or spark some inspiration for those who are difficult to buy for.


A Gift of a Quiet Night: Anti-Bark Collars (Not to be used on the kids no matter how tempted I am.)


I can't tell you how many times something would sneak across the street (usually a stray cat) and get my dogs riled up for several hours of barking. I am a pretty light sleeper, and that would be all that it would take for me to get little to no sleep and revert back to the zombie like state that had previously only been induced  by having a newborn needing to eat every few hours.

I have a really large Golden Retriever/Lab/Chow mix. He is an adult dog that we "inherited" from a family member. He did not have any structured training in his formative years and as such has fully resisted several months of attentive training methods that worked for my Beagle/Boxer mix.

If I lived out in the country, his barking would not be an issue, but I live in an older well developed and otherwise quiet neighborhood. My neighbors know me and have been exceedingly patient with us and our large dog, but I can tell that their patience is starting to wear a little thin especially as I see the bags and dark circles under their eyes become more pronounced like mine.

For me training collars are the absolute last resort. I started off with the collar on the default setting, since he is a larger breed. At first, it did not phase him at all. I have since increased the level once and I am starting to notice a difference. My dog still barks, but it is less frequent and doesn't last as long. I will probably leave it at this level (5) as long as he continues to show progress. Hopefully in a few weeks we can try just setting it at the audible *reminder* setting.

A Gift of Relaxation: Calming Ocean Waves CD and Wine Aerator

Ryan Judd has composed a beautiful and relaxing soundtrack that will take you to the beach. 


The CD is exactly 1 hour long and offers consistent sounds of waves. There are no jarring noises like seagulls squawking to make you jump and get your adrenaline going while you are trying to relax. The CD comes in a thick envelope-type sleeve and not in a jewel case, which is no big deal to me but I thought I would mention it.

I use this CD for my meditation as well as for white noise to help my toddler fall asleep at nap time.





And when meditation fails to bring me calm and inner peace a nice glass of red will. Although I find that with a lot of affordable reds out there you have to let them breath for quite a while in order to get rid of that harsh tastes.

I found an explanation of this at the site Wonder-How-To: Food Hacks.

When wine is aerated, many volatile compounds like sulfides become oxidized and then turn into vapor. This means they don't end up in your mouth, where they can make the wine taste sour, tannic, or otherwise nasty. Ever sipped a glass of wine that has the taste of rubbing alcohol? That would be ethanol, another volatile compound. Exposing your wine to a lot of air reduces that harsh note as well.

So the longer wine is exposed to air, the more harsh flavors and notes begin to mellow out and blend together. If you have a very delicate older wine, you probably don't want it to aerate for too long or its singular aromas might literally turn into thin air. More recent vintages and very tannic wines (like Cabernet and Syrah) tend to be harsher and more concentrated. These can stand long periods of aeration and be better for it.

Since I usually don't have the patience to sit there and wait for a glass of wine to be ready, I like to lend a little hand to the breathing process. (No, I don't sit there an blow on the wine...anymore.)

I have graduated to using wine aerators. These little devices add air bubbles to the stream of wine as it is poured.

This was actually the second wine aerator I had purchased. While I love the one I originally purchased, it was awfully clumsy to use with out someone lending me an extra set of hands. You literally need three hands with my first aerator (one to hold the bottle, one to hold the aerator, and one to hold the glass.) It is not that big of a deal if you are pouring for others, but pouring for yourself will be a lesson in juggling.

This aerator by Vino Aria. It has a rubber collar on the small end that you shove into the wine bottle for a hands-free aeration. When I first opened up the packaging for the aerator and examined it, I was quite a bit disappointed as it is terribly light. My first aerator is heavy as it is made of hand-blown glass. As I got to thinking about it, the hardened plastic material suits me just fine. Out of all my wine accessories, do I really need another one that will shatter if accidentally dropped? With this one made from the hardened plastic, I feel comfortable carrying it with me and a bottle of wine over to my friend's house for a girls' night in.

A Gift of time: for those who are always late (and by that I mean a watch).

Topaz makes some surprisingly nice watches. The watch face is very nice. It was slightly larger than expected, but that makes sense as it it listed as a unisex watch. It is larger than watches listed as women's but smaller than a lot of watches tailored towards men. The numbers are easy to read and even though I have only had it a few days it appears to keep time well.

For more holiday gift ideas, check out Amazon's list of top toys for the season.



I had mentioned shipping deadlines in my last post.
Here is an update for shipping Christmas presents this year.

These are the published deadlines from the major shipping services.





USPS: December 15 is the last day the USPS recommends you use standard shipping if you want delivery on time; December 19 is the last day for First Class mail; December 21 for Priority Mail, and December 23 for Priority Mail Express.





 




UPS: December 18 is the last day to ship UPS 3 Day Select — if you want packages to be delivered before Christmas Day; December 22 is the last day for 2 Day Air, and December 23 is the deadline for overnight packages to arrive on the 24th.








 
FedEx: December 16 is the last day to ship FedEx Ground if you want delivery by Christmas Day: December 21 is the deadline for Express Saver, and December 22 is the deadline for 2 Day Air. The 23rd is the last day to send overnight packages for arrival on the 24th.



As always feedback, questions, comments, and suggestions are always welcome. Please remember to follow the blog and register your email address at the top of the page to have new posts delivered right to your email inbox and never miss an update.

Disclaimer: please be aware that any item mentioned in this blog may have been received for free or at a discount in exchange for a fair and honest review. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own regardless of how the items were acquired.

Chirstmas is Coming Fast!!

It is now December and that means we are about 3 weeks away from Christmas. Time to get those presents is quickly flying by. I have found two more items that are going to be added as great gifts.

The first one is a set of toy dinosaurs. Minion Number 3 is hard to shop for. At 20 months he doesn't have the communication skills to just tell me what he wants. So I took him with me when I went to Toy'R'Us in search for their new diapers. (You can read about how I feel about them after using them here.)

While we were at Toys'R'Us we happened to walk by a set of dinosaurs and the reaction that he gave was just too cute to ignore. He pointed to the dinosaurs, looked at me and said "rawr". In that moment I knew I had to get him some dinosaurs for Christmas. I have found two different brands of dinosaurs that are made out of the traditional hard rubber/plastic material of the figurines that I remember growing up with. Both the Kids Imaginative and the Oriental Trading Company have great sets. Both sets feature 12 different dinosaurs without any duplicates. They are both between 5-7 inches in length and are brightly colored. There is a nice mix of both herbivores and carnivores. As an added bonus, minions Number 1 and 2 also like the figurines and all three will play together with them. Easily the best purchase I have made in a long time. I will definitely be looking into expanding their collection this holiday season.

The second item that I have found is for my hard to shop for husband. I ask him what he would like and he either shrugs and says "I don't know" or states "some peace and quiet would be nice." Since the latter will not happen until minion Number 3 is much, much older I have settled to getting him a beautiful copper Moscow Mule Mug.

This Moscow Mule Mug comes as a gift set with its own box and wooden coaster. I know this is probably going to sound weird but I like the smell of the wood used to make the box and the coaster. It smells like it is made from a premium hardwood and it reminds me of log cabins. The mug itself is bright and shiney polished copper. The handle is soldered on to the body of the mug for an attachment that does not mar the design with an obtrusive screw. I can't wait to see the look on my husband's face when I present this gift to him.



As always comments, questions, feedback, and suggestions are always welcome. Also, please remember to follow my blog and register your email address at the top of the page to have updates sent directly to your inbox so you never miss a post.

Disclaimer: and product mentioned in this blog may have been received for free or at a discount in exchange for a fair and honest review. The opinions expressed above are my own regardless of how the item was acquired.

Happy Turkey Day!!

Greetings Everybody! I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels for those who took to the roads to visit family.

Tomorrow begins the mad dash to finish shopping for Christmas gifts for loved ones. If you have a girlie girl like my minion Number 2, or just like nail polish yourself, then I have a great insider tip for you. 

Del Sol, the company who makes the super cool color changing nail polish is launching a HUGE Black Friday sale starting 11/27 and lasting until 11/29!! 

Everything on the site is 50% Off with the exclusive coupon code WHOA.

Del Sol Nail polish make excellent stocking stuffers!! 

They also sell more than just nail polish, Del Sol also sells other color changing apparel and accessories.

Click HERE to visit their site to see their entire selection and don't forget to apply the coupon code WHOA at check out to take advantage of their Black Friday Super Savings!

Gift Ideas for Dad pt 1

Over the coming weeks as we all approach the holiday season, I want to share gift ideas with you. I will also keep a running list the pages linked to my blog: Mommy's Time Out and Dad's Man Cave.


Buying for guys in my family can be difficult. They just don't seem to keen on communicating with me things in which they are interested. Number 1 has already started learning these non-communicative habits. (Hello monosyllabic answers. I didn't expect you until the teenage years.)

So as I scour the Internet and local stores, I will share with you some of the items I think would make great gifts, and hopefully they will inspire you and help you find something for them.

Silicone Wedding Band:

These things are really neat. Okay so story time. I used to work in a warehouse setting, and I was constantly terrified that my ring was going to get caught in the machinery. Or smashed onto my finger to where I couldn't get it off, and the blood flow would be restricted and I would have to have my finger amputated.... Sorry about that. Like I said, I was terrified.

Silicone wedding bands are made of a soft, flexible rubber. I have found three different brands so far.

The first brand is North Action. This brand of rings is very light weight and comfortable. I like the variety of colors you can get them in. One of the downsides is that the edges are not beveled and so for the first few days or so (until you get used to it) it will almost feel like the edges are "cutting" into you when you bend your finger.

The second brand that I have found is Stoni. These rings are a little heavier than the North Action brand and they don't flex quite as readily. What I do like about them are the beveled edges. They make for a much more comfortable wear.

 

The third brand that I have tried is the softest and lightest that I have tried yet. It flexes easily and if it were to get caught it would break away before any damage would be done to your digit. This ring is a lot like the North Action in the design and like it, it does not have the beveled edges that the Stoni does. This ring  comes in an attractive box that is suitable for giving as a gift like the Stoni. I would recommend it for any active person where they are not allowed to wear metal rings or any person who works with heavy machinery that might damage traditional metal rings. 


iPhone Armband:

If the man in your life likes to spend his extra time either on the track or at the gym, then this may be the gift for him. I found a nice one from CellProPlus.

The armband straps are made from a soft padded neoprene to ensure a comfortable fit. The clear plastic shield over the screen of the phone is thin enough to where the touch screen can still be used. There are small openings at the top and bottom of the back panel of where the phone fits for unimpeded sound from the microphones and speakers.

The arm band sports a few nifty pockets that come in handy if your workout clothes do not have any pockets. The is a small pocket for a possible gym locker key built into the strap. There are two flat pockets on the back of the phone pocket to hold an ID or a credit/debit card.


As always the items mentioned in my blog may have been received for free or at a discount in exchange for a fair and honest review on other websites. 

Keep an eye out for future updates in blog posts.

And as always --  Comments, Feedback, and Suggestions are always welcome!

Please register your email at the top of the page and never miss an update.