How to take a picture of a toddler, by Stacie Turner

I recently came across this post on Staci Turner's photography blog.  I thought it was absolutely hillarious, the kind of post you read and think "darn it, I wish I could write like that!".  So I had to share!

How to take a picture of a todder, by Stacie Turner

1. Decide where you want the picture to be, take out your camera and meter the light.
2. Place toddler in selected spot.
3. Retrieve toddler from top of bookshelf and return to selected spot.
4. Get lollipop from cupboard.
5. Put toddler back in selected spot and give her lollipop.
6. Wipe lollipop smear from toddler’s face, top of bookshelf, and fur of cat.
7. Get out bubbles.
8. Return toddler to selected spot and blow bubbles to keep him interested.
9. Stop to mop up spilled bubble liquid.
10. Light has moved. Pick new spot and meter.
11. Put a basket in new spot.
12. Put toddler in basket.
13. Retrieve toddler from behind chair where he is playing with the outlet.
14. Remind self that you do NOT want a call from preschool in which the teacher inquires where your child learned to say those words.
15. Put brand new toy in basket along with toddler.
16. Throw broken toy away, retrieve toddler from kitchen where he is eating cat food.
17. Consider putting bowl of cat food where the light is good. Reject this idea.
18. Sew velco to butt of toddler pants and onto pillow. Place child on pillow where light is good.
19. Remove pillow from child’s behind and re-stuff with something heavier. Reattach child.
20. By now the light is gone.
21. Put camera away, pour self drink.

What apps do you love?

I have been loading my iPad with tons of educational games for the kiddos, but I'm ready to find some apps for myself. I love my kindle app and the blogger plus is great . What other apps are you guys using and loving?

Oh! I'm also loving WpC HD had which is where my background image (above) is from!

Support your local Walgreens Pharmacy, I do!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Chances are when you go to fill a drug prescription, you don't think much about what goes into making that prescription available to you.  At least I don't.  I go to my local Walgreens, give them my prescription form and expect that in 15 minutes they will have gotten it filled with which ever option (generic or what have you) will save me the most money.  It's why I go to Walgreens rather than the other pharmacy in town (which is  run by a very sweet, yet price gouging old man and takes at least 30 minutes to even get to your prescription). 

Luckily for me (and I'm sure most of you) there are Walgreens locations on my way to pretty much every destination I travel.  So when I'm running into the city I can take advantage of the 24 hour pharmacy and know that I don't need to worry about getting there until everything else is taken care of.  For someone like me who has to travel an hour to get to a city, that's a huge bonus.  Even my local Walgreens has great hours and the added convenience of a drive through (because getting all the kids out of the car and into the store is a HUGE hassle as most of you know!).

You get my point..... I'm a Walgreens customer.  Not only for their pharmacy, but that's what I wanted to focus on today because there are some changes going into effect that Walgreens wants you to know about.

Part of the reason Walgreens is able to provide such competitive prices is due to their relationship with Express Scripts.  In the past Walgreens and Express Script have negotiated contracts that allow Walgreens to offer their customers great savings.  However this year they were unable to reach an agreement which means those who are covered by the Express Script program (check the back of your prescription insurance card to see if this effects you,  it will say Express Script on it if it does) will now need to switch pharmacies (and pharmacists!) to continue to get their prescriptions.  Not to mention be subject to possible further drives to their new pharmacy and shorter hours of operation.  So when you leave the ER in the middle of the night (as I'm sure you fellow parents have!!! because nothing seems to happen during normal house with kids) your out of luck until regular hours the following day (and for people who live in rural areas like me, it also means a separate trip into town to go back during those hours!). 

So what is Walgreens doing to help their customers adjust to these changes?  Offering a discount on their Walgreens Prescription Savings Club !  For $10 a year, a family membership covers everyone in your immediate family, including a spouse, dependents 22 and younger and pets. Individuals may join for $5. Join and receive discount prices on your prescriptions.  Keeping Walgreens as your pharmacy also means you get savings on more than 8,000 brand name and all generic medications, discounts on flu shots, pet prescriptions, diabetic supplies and more. 

What can you do to show Walgreens your support? Follow Walgreens on Twitter and Like Walgreens on Facebook!

Clip in Hair Extensions from Rapunzel Rapunzel

Extensions are becoming very main stream.  There are so many options with fused, sewn in, clip on..... depending on how often you want to wear them.  Since I'm mostly at home playing with my kiddos, I don't do much with my hair on most days.  I think because of that (and that feeling of dread every time a stay at home mom catches a look at herself in the mirror, gasp!) I thought it would be fun to play around with something to make me feel a little glamorous. 

I knew clip in was going to work best for me as I don't want the commitment (or expense) of up keeping any of the other methods for extensions.  However! If you do decide to do clip ins like me, make sure you don't skimp on the initial investment.  Get good quality clip ins that will last you and be easier to take care of (it's a one time cost!!!!).  I decided to go with the Remi clip ins from Rapunzel Rapunzel for a couple reasons.

1. Real (human!) hair.  Which means I can curl it, wash it, even color it!  It's REAL hair.
2. Remi clip in are built root to tip.  Which means they pay attention to the natural directions of the hair strand..... which means LESS TANGLE!!!! The hair lays nice and smooth.
3. They are available in  a LOT of colors and varying shades so it's easy to find a match to your color.

So here is what comes in the box (shown in the color I ordered, #22 Light Blonde)

It's a good amount of hair!  There are 6 pieces there.  Each with fewer clips so that you can place them on different parts of the head.  Normally you would place the three clip at the bottom, then the 4 clip, then the two clip and singles on the sides of the head.  Because I have such thick hair I found that it looks more natural if I place a two clip lower than you would normally place on at the back of the head, then the 3 clip, 4 clip, then another 2 clip and the singles on the sides.  Because I have a lot of layering in the front I didn't need much on the sides, but I needed all of them in the back to get close to the natural thickness of my hair (and keep it looking normal).

To further blend it's important to style them into your hair.  Unless you wear your hair stick straight, I suggest putting the extensions in BEFORE you do your styling.  Styling them into your natural hair blends them.  For me I have found that large barrel curls work the best for blending.  Because of my thick hair straight doesn't look natural, and a more beachy wave (which I do a lot with my natural hair) has a bit of the same effect as straight.  But I think the big curls look great and sort of Kardashian (I love their hair!!!).

So here is the before (excuse the poor photos......and the pajamas..... and no makeup LOL)

I should also mention that the Rapunzel Rapunzel extensions only come in 18 inches.  For me that's 3-4 inches longer than my natural hair, but enough to make a difference! 

It's that last bit of length that I just can't seem to get naturally. 

I was using a 1.5 inch barrel.

The clips lay nice and flat against my head so it hides well.   I don't need to pull my hair half up to hide them like some clips make you. I am having so much fun playing with them!  You can even clip them in and pull your hair up if you need added thickness for an updo. 

Because of the root to tip build Rapunzel Rapunzel uses, the clips are easy to take out and don't get all tangled up.  I've worn them a few times now and each time they come out easily and tangle free!  I was impressed that I didn't get a head ache wearing them either, they fit very comfortably!

Loving these nails

The pink was a Christmas gift so I'm not sure where it came from..... I had never seen the brand before. The gift giver sells Mary Kay so that's a possibility? Anyway, I LOVE it! Shade called Blush. The sparkle is china glaze and called Tinsel Town.

I'm trying to come up with other ways to wear them together. I love the combo.

Better than insatagram.... Disposable App

 

One of the new toys I got for Christmas is an ipod touch.  Remember how I wanted an iphone?  Well unbeknownst to me, the ipod touch is practically the same thing.... just without the phone!!!! You see, I own the nearly original version of the ipod, so when the new ones were coming out I paid no attention at all thinking I did not need to update my music player.  So I had no idea what cool things the ipod can do now. 

 

I had thought I wanted the iphone (or ipod touch) to use instagram..... but I was WRONG!  Not nearly as cool as everyone made it look.  Perhaps it's more for those who get into the sharing end of it?  So maybe if your big into twitter, you may find it interesting, but I am not and was disappointed that the editing features weren't as cool as they looked.  So I was looking around (the free apps) for something fun to play with and stumbled upon this gem!

 

All the images in this post are done with this fun app called "Disposable" while I was playing in the car.   I am completely in love with it.  It works like an old film camera.  You choose which camera you want to use (from three options, you can even use multiple cameras at a time).  Label the camera so you know them apart if your going to use each for different things.  Then you take 24 images (like a roll of film).  You don't get to see the images until all 24 are taken and the effects are randomly applied just like they would come out of an old camera.  I did ZERO editing to these images, it's how they came out of the app (even the frames).

 

You can even choose to share a "roll" with your friends!  Everyone gets to see each others pics when you reach 24, how fun is that!!!!! 

 

I was just to excited not to share this app with you guys.  I'm new to the whole app world so forgive me if I tell you all about something you've used for years ;)  But I'm sure there are more than a handful of you out there that are just like me (clueless) and catching up.   Maybe we can share a roll of film some time!

Sodee Naturals, and a giveaway!

 

Although we are lacking much snow here in Wisconsin (which is just fine with me!!!!), it's still cold and dry.  Which means dry, itchy skin.  Add to that the new gym membership that has us in the family pool about twice a week, and I'm drying up and itching like crazy!  

I'm not much of a lotion person.  Mostly because I feel like most lotions are just for looks, moisturize for maybe 5 minutes, then they are gone.  Or worse, soak in and just turn my itchy skin into sore itchy skin because now it's irritated by what ever I have slathered on it.  

When Sodee Naturals asked me to put their products to the test, I wasn't sure I wanted to.  Not being a lotion person I hated to test a product I thought I wouldn't like to begin with.  Luckily Sodee has so much faith in their product they wanted to challenge me anyway, and I'm glad they did!

When the products arrived I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the containers, they are very generously sized!  The products themselves are extremely thick, not runny like store bought products.  The consistency reminds me of thick whipped butter.  A little goes a long way so combined with the huge jars they come in, they are a great value!

I started out with the Body Butter (which I got in Tropical Breeze, because I'm a coconut nut).  It's much thicker than other body butters I have used.  I love the scent, but it's available in lots of scents if your not a coconut person. Even though it's thick it rubs in nicely.  The scent isn't all that strong once on so it doesn't compete with your normal fragrance wear.

Next I tested out the shave cream in Spearmint Eucalyptus.  Again, also available in other scents, I love eucalyptus, and their version didn't disappoint.  Now, the shave cream container says face, I'm guessing this is because of the consistency, maybe it works better on the face?  However, being a woman, I had to test it on legs and under arms.  This stuff is thick and reminds me of cold cream.  It worked great for under arms, but when it came to my legs I found it to hard to spread (although it did do the job and left with me zero razor burn, nice!).  So I would recommend that men stick to this product.  The jar is very large and would make a wonderful gift for the man in your family!

Shampoo and conditioner...... I was EXTREMELY skeptical about these when I ordered them.  I'm a former stylist so I thought there was NO WAY I was going to like these hair products.  My only back up was thinking that the kids may like them.  Again, Sodee was confident in their products and urged me to try them out anyway.  So I did...... You may be wondering why I was so skeptical..... they come in bars! Like soap.  Very pretty, but a bar??? 

I'm not sure why they chose to go with bars, but I will admit it was fun to give something new a try.  I ordered the shampoo in Hair Tamer.  It takes a little getting used to the idea of lathering up the bar then putting the lather in your hair, but it worked great!  I have enough hair for maybe 5 people, and it came squeaky clean.  Okay, I say that with a bit of a giggle.... because my hair actually did squeak a bit while using it, which was a first and I thought it was kinda funny.  So this bar is going in my gym bag, because I think it's perfect for travel. 

I wish I could say the same for the conditioner.  Maybe if I didn't have so much hair, or it wasn't so tangle prone, I would feel differently.  But I had to put it down and grab my regular conditioner as I wasn't able to get enough off the bar ( I felt) to get through my hair.  For men (or women with short hair) the conditioner would work very well, but if your hair is long and thick like mine, it's not ideal.

In case your wondering, the conditioner bar is a slightly different shape so you can tell them apart, at least in the beginning.  After use I think you would need to distinguish them by color.

Last I tried the eczema cream (Original, the green jar pictured at top).  There are different versions of the eczema cream available depending on the type of eczema you have.  Sodee puts an emphasis on their eczema cream because they really want to help find a better solution for those who suffer from eczema.  I had eczema as a child and remember how horrible the red itchy patches were.  Luckily no one in my home suffers from it any longer, but it's great for more than just eczema so I gave it a go.  Actually, I ended up being able to test the product out on a strange dry patch that developed on my face this week.  Although you can't see it (or I would have shared a picture) you can feel it distinctly.  So I thought it was the perfect time to test out the eczema cream.  I put it on before bed (as it's a bit oily feeling and I wouldn't want to wear it on my face outside of my home... you can't see it, but I don't think makeup would go over it very well).  By morning I could feel a noticeable difference!  I put it on again in the morning as I'm home all day.  I think it will do the trick in a day or two!

So if your looking for quality products that are actually effective.  I urge you to give Sodee Naturals a try!

In fact, one lucky reader will get to try out the whole line for themselves!!!! Just tell me which Sodee Naturals product you think you would like most in a comment.  Giveaway ends January  10th, 2012 at midnight central time.  Good luck!