The Importance of having a Good Bed

I think it is important to have a good bed. I have a wooden bed that I love. It has a really nice head board too. I think that wooden beds last a long time.  I have had a wooden bed for as long as I can remember.  I had a wooden sleigh bed in high school.  It was a twin bed though.  I have had my current bed for five years, and it was my mom’s before that. My mom still has her old wooden bedroom furniture including her wooden bed. This bed is at least twenty five years old, because I remember it from when I was five. It has been passed around to my sister and now my mom has it again.  The great things about wooden beds are that you can pass them down and last forever.  I think it would be cool to have one of those bedstar leather beds. I have never slept on a leather bed, but we have had a couple leather couches that are the most comfortable couches.  I remember when I would have friends sleep over in high school we would take turns sleeping in my wooden bed and on the leather couch in my room, so I can imagine a leather bed would be extremely comfortable.

I was lucky enough that my sister and I never had to share a room.  I think that was a good thing as we both really liked our space. We would share a room sometimes at my dad’s house, though. I wish we would have had bunk beds.  That inevitably would have meant arguing who slept on which bunk.  I am not sure which one I would have wanted to sleep on. The top bunk is where all little kids want to sleep.  I remember sleeping on the top bunk when I was little when I was at friend’s houses. It was fun to be up high and having to climb up a ladder.   Now that I am an adult, I would be afraid that I would fall off the full over full bunk.  I tend to sometimes wake up suddenly. I also would constantly feel like I am falling. So, if I was visiting someone who had bunk beds I would definitely choose the bottom bunk if I could.

 Noah had a loft bunk bed experience and he wanted to sleep on the bottom bunk. He went up to the top bunk with some help but then he got stuck and didn’t know how to come back down.  I am sure it was because he was unfamiliar with bunk beds and my mom had to climb up there and encourage him to get down while I had to reassure that I would “catch” him. I am sure he would get the hang of it. I think it would be a must if you share a room with a sibling especially if you don’t have a lot of space. 

If I would have had bunk beds, I wouldn’t have the fond memories of doing fun bed with my sister, which is where we took the mattress off my bed, jumped on it, used it as a slide and sometimes jumped off a chair or the dresser.  Noah has started taking his mattress off his bed but, he is using it as a ramp and a slide for his stuffed animals. I hope he never finds out the crazy things his mommy and his aunt Julie did that were dangerous.

Do your kids share a room? Do they have bunk beds? Now, for the most important question: Top bunk or Bottom bunk?

Halloween with Pottery Barn Kids Review

I am a self proclaimed Pottery Barn junkie. I remember when the one close to me opened. I would spend an hour looking around thinking about all the things I wanted to own from there.  My family has two really cool photo boxes from there with little albums in them. They are really neat.  When I found out I was pregnant with Noah, I was excited because I could shop at Pottery Barn Kids.  My favorite thing I purchased from PBK is Noah’s Octopus Sprinkler. I bought it when he was 1.  It is the most adorable thing. I have pictures of him playing with it at different ages and it doesn’t matter how old he is in the different pictures he has the same look of joy and excitement on his face. It is his favorite summer toy. My philosophy is if it is from Pottery Barn Kids, it’s going to be adorable. I think when I get married again someday I am registering at Pottery Barn. I would love to have my whole home decorated in Pottery Barn stuff.

 I had the opportunity to review some Halloween products from Pottery Barn. They have so many cute things for Halloween.  I was able to review two items.  I reviewed the Halloween Treat Basket & Liner.  It is this huge basket with a Halloween themed liner.  I love Halloween and passing out candy to the trick-or-treaters.  Growing up we had this particular wooden bowl for Halloween candy. I am not sure if it is lost or packed away somewhere, but I haven’t seen it in a while. The trick to the perfect candy is to have a good variety of candy and mix it up so you give the goblins choices.  I remember the wooden bowl had to be refilled all the time and it was kind of hard to mix the bowl up. The Trick or Treat Basket with Liner is big enough to mix and hold a huge quantity of candy.  It’s easy to manage though.  You can even get it personalized with your last name, if you want. 

The other item I reviewed is a Pumpkin treat tote for Noah.  If you are going trick-or-treating it is important to have a good sturdy Halloween Treat Bag to haul your goodies home with.  When I was little we used pillow cases. I think that Noah is too young for a pillow case, so I would buy him a plastic pumpkin. It worked for the night half the time. I took him in his wagon and sometimes the handle would fall off and candy would be in the wagon.  I never took the pumpkin and put it up after the candy was gone so it became Noah’s new toy, it would be without a handle and smooshed in.   So, every year I had to buy him a new one.  I am so excited to have an adorable one from Pottery Barn where I know it is well made and I know that it will last for a long time.  I can’t wait to show it off when we go trick-or-treating.  Pottery Barn Kids also has adorable Halloween costumes. I wish I would have waited to buy Noah’s costume but I found his at the end of August and since he is obsessed with space, he is going to be an astronaut.  I really like that some of the Pottery Barn Kids costumes can fit preteens and they are also really well made. That is something I have noticed about costumes is they can be really flimsy and kind of weird looking. This is the first year Noah is not being an animal for Halloween. 

For more information please visit Pottery Barn Kids

Thank you to Pottery Barn for providing me with samples of the products I mentioned in my post for me to review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Ward Off Vampires This Halloween with Garlic Turbana Plantain Chips

I love Cuban food. I am sure some of you remember my recipe for Cuban Sandwiches on my blog. I am a pretty picky eater and I was unsure about trying plantains for the first time. I think I probably had to be coerced to try them.  I ended up loving them.  My favorite kinds of plantains are the chips. When I lived in South Florida, I happened to live pretty much across the street from my favorite Cuban restaurant that I ended up going to a few years earlier on vacation a couple times.  The smashed plantains are good too, but not as good as the chips. That was my favorite thing to order from the Cuban restaurant with my Cubano.  When I first fell in love with Plantain chips, I was living in Indiana. I remember going on a plantain chip hunt with my ex husband.  We probably when to four Latino grocery stores before we found plantain chips back in 2004.  So, when I had the opportunity to review some Turbana Plantain chips you knew I jumped on that opportunity.  Turbana is a company that is based in South Florida, close to where I used to live.  They make flavored plantain chips. They are a much healthier choice than the normal potato chips. They would be a better afterschool snack or even with Halloween coming up as a better alternative for Trick or Treaters.  You know that your kids are going to end up with tons of candy, it would be nice if some people gave out some Turbana Plantain Chips, hopefully the garlic flavor for two reasons. The first reason is to ward off those vampires.  #2 so I can eat them all. 

 When I received the Turbana plantain chips to try out, they seriously lasted a hour. I salivated at the thought of garlic plantain chips. I think that the company must have done their research on me and knew that garlic is one of my most favorite things to eat. Yeah, they were shoveled in my mouth by the handful.  I was so sad when they were all gone. I had Noah, who gets his picky eater syndrome from me, try one.  He thought the garlic ones were hot.  I wasn’t too sad, I said to him, more for me then.  I asked him if he wanted to try the regular plantain chips, I told him they weren’t hot, and he loved him. He said and I quote. Plantain chips are my most  favoritest food.  Noah doesn’t really eat any chips though so I am glad he loves plantains as much as I do.   I felt good about giving Noah them because they have 30% less fat than potato chips and twice the flavor. I am sure someone out there is unaware of what a plantain is. I didn’t know for most of my life. It looks similar to a banana, but it doesn’t taste like one.  It’s a tropical food, it is used a lot in Latino cuisine.  It sounds different but we love them.  So, from my picky eaters to yours, check out Turbana Plantain chips.  

For more information please check out the Turbana Plantainchips website.

I received some samples of Turbana Plantain chips for my family to try out. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

Seducing Christopher Mendoza

I have been known to watch some guilty pleasure shows in my time. Some of the shows I watched were on Fox Reality. It is not on any more and sadly Fox Reality, which was a channel full of reality shows, a lot of them are kind of trashy. I used to watch a show that was only on at like 3 or 4 am, and I have insomnia so, I was up and started watching it. It was about a woman who was a private investigator who busted cheaters. There wasn’t much on TV and I kind of found it interesting.  The show I watched all the time was called Seducing Cindy. I am not sure why I cared if Cindy Margolis found love or not, I found it interesting. Basically, there were 20 or so guys were fighting to win Cindy’s heart. There was this guy named Christopher Mendoza, who was Cindy’s number one fan. Christopher was the sweetest guy on the show and he was often picked on by Timmy Z. who was a total jerk.

I cheered loud enough to wake the neighborhood when Timmy Z. was told to leave.  I often tweeted with my friend about the show and I remember celebrating with her via Twitter when Timmy Z was gone.  I remember this one episode of Seducing Cindy, where they pretending Cindy was in a horrible accident to see who would be there for her completely.  Christopher was really afraid of needles and he almost passed out during the blood test for a kidney match.  He would have given her his kidney, and I was crying when he realized she was absolutely fine.  Christopher is a total catch. He is so sweet, and a total hunk.  I wish more guys were like him. He would always say a prayer before she said who was leaving.  He is stinkin’ adorable!

I watched the show for him, secretly tweeting to my friend Jessica about how I was going to marry Christopher Mendoza. I was going to take him from Cindy. Once he was voted off, I couldn’t bear to watch anymore.  I cried real tears because she threw away her Prince Charming. I wanted them to be together although, I am not sure she deserved such a loving man. I don’t think I would win in a fight with Cindy; she looks kind of like an Amazon woman. She’d probably knock me out.  She ended up picking this guy named Leighton. He was nice but he was no Christopher Mendoza. Cindy and Leighton broke up shortly after the show ended.  I wasn’t really surprised. I think she picked him for the wrong reasons.  I hope Christopher finds the woman of his dreams that is worthy of all the love he has.  Maybe he will pick me. I have family in San Antonio, so Christopher if you are reading this…let’s chat.

Mall Surveys

I went to the mall the other day with Noah and my friend Ben. We went to the Lego Store and a couple other places. Noah was really excited to go to the Lego Store because we had never been and he is huge in to Lego. As I am typing this I hear the sounds of Lego bricks being moved around. I let Noah pick out a set and we also filled a small container of odds and ends Lego pieces, like tires and other assorted random pieces. Noah made some really cool things with the pieces.  I had not been to that mall in at least six months if not longer, so I wanted to walk around and see what was new.  We only wanted to go to a few places but walking to the end of the mall it happened.  I am not sure if your mall has those people that come up to you and ask you if you want to answer some questions or do a survey.

I was aware of them because they have been frequenting the mall that I was at for many years.  I was on high alert, they are like secret agents that pop out the shadows and bam you are asked will you please answer some questions.  I always say no, because I know my adorable five year old doesn’t want to sit through it and neither do I.  Well, Ben being the guy that talks to anyone for long periods of time about anything, decided to say yes.  I was hoping that Noah would have thrown a fit at that time, to get out of it. I really like Ben; he is just really friendly to everyone. I am more reserved and shy.  So, we follow the lady who was very nice and she started asking us questions about fragrances. She said it would take only a few minutes, time had either stopped or we were misinformed.  I thought ok we will fill out her questionnaire and we would be on our way. No big deal, I can write fast.  I could already tell Noah was not thrilled to say the least. 

After we both answered questions, and filled out our information we were led in to an office. I remember a long time ago I did a survey for cough syrup, it was not a pleasant experience so I said never again would I do a mall one.  Maybe that is why the lady asked me if I did a survey with her before a long time ago. Maybe I was in the training video of upset clients. I don’t really remember the circumstances, but I remember it was bad. I think I ended up walking out and telling them to shove their cough syrup.  So, after we went in the office they verified our information, and then called us on our phones. What if it were a home phone? How could they verify? Noah and I were taken in a room and I had to be sprayed with a perfume, that smelled pretty good. It was citrusy, it kind of reminded me of Clinque Happy.  Then I had to wait and answer questions on a computer.  I had to wait until the timer ran out. I was relieved when I had finished, and then she sprayed my other wrist with a perfume that I didn’t like at all and wait and answer questions.  Finally I was done.  I collected my pay for my hard hours work, two George Washington’s , yes two dollars. Ben got three and didn’t have to do as much as I did.  I guess equal pay for men and women is still not in affect.  I think it was gender discrimination.  I am just kidding.

I don’t know if you have ever worn two different perfumes or colognes at the same time, but by the time we went to dinner I stunk. Every time I put food in my mouth I could smell it and as it worked out I am left handed and the stinky perfume was on my left wrist. I wasn’t allowed to rinse it off.  They were supposed to call me to ask me more questions, they called once and I was in the middle of dinner and I had really bad service in the restaurant and we got disconnected.   I had a great time with Ben though. I know Noah did too. Noah was so incredibly good.

Finding Your Soulmate on Craigslist

I know I have talked about Craigslist before, sometimes when I get bored, I go and check out my local Craigslist. I wouldn’t buy anything or meet anyone off Craigslist personally. I know some people have positive experiences with it, I just don’t wanna chance it especially after the whole Craigslist killer thing and all the scams.  There is a section called Missed Connections, where if you see someone you want to get to know and don’t get to talk to them or if they are in a car at a stoplight you can reach out to them in this section of Craigslist.

After looking at it one day, I noticed something about a woman at our local Kohl’s the ad said: We talked about Christmas shopping, dinner with family, and touched on work as we were both leaving Kohl's. After we left, I wondered why I didn't ask to see you. Get in touch!  So, thinking my mom was at Kohl’s that day I asked her jokingly, did you meet a guy at Kohl’s on Monday and talk about Christmas shopping? She was like no, I didn’t; I wasn’t even at Kohl’s on Monday, why what is going on? I proceeded to tell her about the missed connection section on Craigslist. She was like so, these people think they will find someone by posting about them on Craigslist and hope that the person they are looking for goes on there? I was like I guess so mom. It’s kinda creepy in my opinion.  I think if you want to talk to someone talk to them, don’t post about them on Craigslist in some stalker-like fashion. I know I personally wouldn’t be flattered if some guy wrote about me like that. I don’t care who the person was. I would run for the hills as fast as I could. I also personally don’t like to be approached by strangers that are interested in me. I hate being put on the spot and don’t want to be rude, maybe it’s because I am shy or something.

 I don’t think that if I happen to go to the store at the same time as someone else, there is some kind of fate there. I believe that I needed something from the store and so did they. I don’t believe that those “missed connections” are a potential soul mate. I guess I believe, everything happens for a reason within reason. Of course I believe in fate and all that, just under the right circumstance or every person you came in contact with would be potentially the love of your life, which would stink if you worked at a counter job or was like a mail carrier.

Save This Holiday Season with CouponChief

We are approaching the holiday season. I know I like to do a lot of my shopping online. I am a single mom so, when I go shopping my son is always with me. When he was a baby, I could easily buy his presents with him with me and he wouldn’t even notice. I was able to get away with that until he was two. Even trying to hide the presents in the cart under things doesn’t seem to work well either.  I have had to start buying presents for him online.  Sometimes you can find some great deals and toys you can’t find in stores.  I always scout out for coupon codes from different websites like CouponChief to save extra money or sometimes get free items.  I could sign up for every stores newsletter but, I get so much email as is with all the newsletters I have already signed up with. I also like to try shopping at new stores since Noah’s major interests right now include space and sea life.  Both of those are hard to find at just any store.  I also have to support my VS habit, which I couldn’t do without coupon codes.

Scooping up the Field Mice and........

I am sure you have all heard the song Little Bunny Foo Foo. It’s the song about the bunny and the field mice and the good fairy. I loved that song as a kid, I did all the little hand movements and sang it all the time.  Years later I found out they changed my beloved Little Bunny Foo Foo from scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head to scooping up the field mice and kissing them on the head.  I am not sure if there was a rash of children dressing up like bunnies bopping mice on the head or what, but I am not sure that it is as effective now.  Before it taught children that it was wrong to hit others and not to be cruel to animals, now I am really confused what is wrong with kissing someone. It is almost like they are saying you are bad for loving animals. What was the punishment in the story Bunny Foo Foo was turned in to a goon.  A goon is a bad scary creature so little kids wouldn’t want to become a goon.

I must have listened to and sang Little Bunny Foo Foo millions of times. I never turned in to a goon or even touched a field mouse.  There wasn’t an epidemic of violent children roaming the streets, running amok because the child listened to a harmless song.  It makes me really sad when they go and change things to be more politically correct.  I know that Little Bunny Foo Foo had to be an older song because it was something my Grandma knew. There are millions of perfectly sane non violent people in this world that listened to the proper version of Little Bunny Foo Foo.  It makes absolutely no sense to me as there are all kinds of violent movies and shows and they choose to show those and remove the word bopping  from a little kids’ song.  It wasn’t as if they said they murdered and gutted the field mice. I will still remember it as it was, and my son will sing it properly because why would the Good Fairy punish  Little Bunny Foo Foo for kissing the mice, unless they were rabid.

Did you sing Little Bunny Foo Foo as a kid?