BioTrue Video Review

When I went to the eye doctor a few weeks ago, I think I may have horrified her with how long I'd been wearing the same pair of contacts. Well, my prescription ran out, and I have a tiny baby, and not a lot of money, and ... and ...

I tend to misuse my contacts just a little. At the encouragement of my husband, who loves me in them, I started wearing glasses full-time recently.

But I still like to have contacts on hand in case of a special occasion or to wear while running.

To hear about what I did to my most recent pair of contacts and why I love the BioTrue solution MomCentral sent me, watch this video!



I wrote this review while participating in a Mom Central Consulting blog tour on behalf of Bausch + Lomb Biotrue. I received a Biotrue sample and a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.


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Holly Jolly Christmas Cards

I love sending Christmas cards. Really.

I just have this thing. I refuse to send them without some sort of personal note to the family. To me, it just seems like a waste of stamps to send off a card with two signatures and nothing else but an impersonal, imprinted message. (I think Laura, now at Hollywood Housewife, thinks the same way I do!)

But last year I sent a photo card and did just that--no written words. The year before, we had an infant; I sent out birth announcements in lieu of Christmas cards.

This year I am bound and determined to get back into the Christmas card swing. There is nothing that says JOY TO THE WORLD like getting a mailbox full of brightly colored envelopes. I want to make my friends and family smile a little more in December.

But have I mentioned I am due with my second baby on December 22nd? I need to get this game started. A great trick to the Christmas card game is having all your cards written, addressed, and stamped before December even starts. Stick them in the mail whenever you feel like it. There's enough to do in December already ... especially if you're planning on having a baby that month. (Or, say, going on a cruise and then moving to a new city, like my parents.)

Last year I used a lesser-known photo site with a great deal to create my cards. They turned out cute! But the site didn't offer the option of mailing them for you, which I think is a great invention of modern science. (Although yes, opposed to everything I said above.) Last year, in the throes of moving and single parenting and just being a little insane, I would have appreciated that feature.

I am a long-time fan of Shutterfly and have ordered many prints and photo books from them without any issues. Shutterfly does offer to mail and address your Christmas cards for you for a small fee. That gives them one point in my book. They have a selection of over 700 designs you can choose from for your Christmas photo cards or holiday cards--two points!

They also have a good selection of religious Christmas cards, so there's their third point in my book. I prefer to send out Christ-centered cards since a) not everyone we send cards to is a Christian; and b) He IS the reason for Christmas, after all. I was a little wary Shutterfly might not honor this part of Christmas, but I was pleased to see they have 35 designs they designate "religious Christmas cards."

My three favorite designs are shown in this post. If you're related to me or a close friend, I think you can expect to see one of these in your mailbox in December (with a picture of Libbie, of course). I just have to work on choosing which of Libbie's eight Christmas dresses I want to try to get a picture of her in.

I'm thinking as soon as her birthday party is over, it's time to start working on Christmas cards and Christmas presents!

If you're feeling really ahead of the game, you could even send out cute Thanksgiving cards instead of Christmas cards this year. I actually think that would be pretty fun to receive!

Are you a do-ahead-planner when it comes to the holidays? I tend to start buying gifts in June, to spread out the cost if nothing else. I like to be finished by Thanksgiving. Or do you wait til the last minute for everything and enjoy the bustle of the holidays?

Do you want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free cards this holiday season, and make sure to select Clever 1000 as the referral source.

This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

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Things I Love Thursday: Imprint Mats

Giveaway is now closed. The winner is #43, Nesting Project (Rosy)! Congratulations!

A few months ago, I was contacted by a company to try out their Imprint Comfort Mats. The company makes the following promises about their mats:

✓ Reduces overall fatigue and pain associated with standing on hard surfaces
✓ Beneficial to individuals with back, thigh and lower leg or foot discomfort
✓ Conforms to the shape of your feet and supports your arches resulting in soothing relief

I was VERY skeptical, but my cousin Tricia had already raved about the mats, which gave me some hope.  I am pregnant, have scoliosis, and often do long cooking sessions in the kitchen which usually kill my back. I have the hardest time with OAMC because of the constant leaning over, standing, and chopping. My back just does not like long times standing on hard surfaces. (I even quit a retail job after 6 weeks mainly because of this issue.)

I won't say that the Imprint Mat is a miracle-worker, but I have definitely had less back pain in the kitchen. When I did my mini-OAMC session in July, my only complaint was that I needed to move my mat back and forth from in front of the sink, the stove, and the counter where I chop!

It's like they read my mind, because soon after I received the longer (20"x72") runner mat in the mail. Hallelujah!! Now the mats line all my counters and I am happy as a clam. Seriously, these things are amazing.

They come in two sizes: the runner, as listed above; and standard, which is 20"x36".

I sure wish this were my kitchen. Don't you?

I only wish the price point were not quite so high. Being a cheapskate, I would have a difficult time paying $70 for a kitchen mat. It's almost silly, though, because $70 would have saved me SO much back pain and agony it would totally be worth it.

If you're also cheap, you're in luck, because you have the chance to WIN a standard Imprint Mat! To enter, go to their site and tell me what your favorite feature about the mat is.

For an additional entry, Tweet about this contest and leave me the link for your specific Tweet. Here's a Tweet you can use, if you like:

Win a super-comfy Anti-Fatigue Comfort Mat from @vanderbiltwife! http://bit.ly/8Y7WIi

Contest is open until 9/8. YOU MUST LEAVE YOUR E-MAIL OR HAVE IT CONNECTED TO YOUR BLOGGER ACCOUNT. I will not be hunting you down. Go to Blogger.com, click on "edit profile," and check the box that says "show my e-mail address." This will get you five stars and a sticker in my book.

Good luck!

Linked to Things I Love Thursday at The Diaper Diaries.

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Some Days It's Good to Be a Blogger

A few weeks ago a PR rep e-mailed me and asked if I'd like to be involved in a campaign promoting Chili's new and improved menu. They gave me a nice gift card and told me to take my family out!

Like I said, it's good to be a blogger some days! I don't participate in a lot of campaigns, but I am pretty open when it comes to free food. Especially since we don't eat out very much.

So one Friday night Mr. V, Libbie, and I, drove the four minutes to our local Chili's for an early dinner. Since I am trying to watch what I eat, I printed out a PDF of their menu with nutritional information before we left and studied it a little bit. (I was horrified to find out my beloved Quesadilla Explosion Salad has 1400 calories--but over 400 calories and 24 grams of fat come from the cheese quesadilla, not the salad part. The dressing is another 250.)

Mr. V and I sampled several items off the new menu. We both decided to get one of the new $9.99 Fresh Pairings. I got the (old standard and oh-so-delicious) chips and salsa with smoked chicken mini-tacos. I am going to have to be completely honest and say: the tacos tasted good at first. Then they started to taste funny to me. I am not a big fan of very pungent cheeses, such as bleus, unless they are paired with fruit; and I think the Cojita cheese was a little much for my tastebuds. The beans and rice that came with the tacos were interesting, mixed with corn and other veggies, but nothing special in my eyes.

Mr. V got the Crispy Onion Fries and Jalapeno Stack as his appetizer. It came with a ranch dipping sauce and was yummy and HUGE. We barely made a dent in it (or the chips). He also got a half rack of ribs with their new Shiner Bock BBQ sauce. They were quickly devoured. The sauce was lovely and sweet.

We ordered Libbie a cheeseburger and rice off the Pepper Pals Kids' Menu. The waitress thought I said fries, and she offered to get rice, but we let Libbie keep the fries, which she enjoyed very much. She wasn't a fan of the burger--but she also rarely eats any meat, so that means pretty much nothing.

Other than one very memorable occasion, I've always had excellent service and good food at Chili's, and I am happy to promote them as a good family restaurant that we'd go to no matter what. I almost always get the Quesadilla Explosion Salad, Southwestern Cobb (which has left the menu--sad!), or fajitas.

 

Sadly, we used the rest of our gift card ordering from the new Chili's To Go online service and were not pleased. They have a guarantee that your food will be ready at a certain time, and my husband waited over 20 minutes for ours past when it said it would be ready. I ordered the new Asian Chicken Salad, and I am pretty sure it was missing two parts of the salad. The rest of the food was good, though.

All that said, I won't give up on Chili's. They really do have good food at reasonable prices. The manager offered to send us coupons when my husband had to wait for his order.

Right now, Chili's is running a campaign called Shout Out to Eat Out! You can upload a 10- to 30-second video telling them why you don't want to cook tonight and be entered to win a $50 gift card. They're giving away one a day until August 30. There are a lot of nights I don't want to cook. How about you?

What's your favorite thing on the Chili's menu?

I received a $50 gift card from Chili's in order to do this review. I was not compensated in any other way.

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