Friendly Friday

My old Friday tradition ended so I want to thank Christi, Xenia, and Charla for being gracious hostesses and starting a new Friday tradition, Friendly Friday. Here's my inaugural Friendly Friday post. Thanks for stopping by and I can't wait to meet some new bloggers. Happy FF!

Stir Fry

One of the things we've been doing to try to eat healthier is make a lot more stir fry meals. We've done it with pork, chicken, and beef and a bag of mixed frozen vegetables we bought. I bought shrimp, but I have to eat that when my husband's not around because he doesn't like seafood (as a native Marylander, I tried to get him to eat crab, but he didn't like it). I intended to mix up the sauces to keep some variety, but Dadda monkey found a sauce he loves at our favorite shopping place ... Costco (I'm starting to think I should ask for some endorsement money). I'm just wondering if using that sauce is negating any benefits we're trying to gain from doing stir fry. I haven't read the label carefully yet, but I need to put that at the top of my to do list.

Despite Dadda monkey's protests, I am going to look up some more recipes because it is getting a little boring to me, but it does feel good to be eating much better. Monkey girl likes it too so this has been an easy transition for us. Also, we found a doctor that I love because she encourages her patients to exercise and eat healthy. Anyways, she gave us a recipe for vegetable soup that she recommends we eat every week or two so that would help mix things up too.


Friday is grocery shopping day so I'll have to try to get everything on my list tomorrow. Our milk man will be here around 7 am tomorrow, so I'm off to bed for now after this quick anecdote. Milk man initially told me that he'd be by at mid-morning on Thursdays. I almost missed him last week because I was still in bed when he rang the doorbell at 6:50. I ran downstairs and apologized, and he said he understood. He didn't have our organic milk that day because the truck didn't get there in time. Milk man said he leaves around 3 am so I guess 7 am is mid-morning to him!

Dentist Appointments

I hate visiting the dentist. It's not so much the dentist or the procedures that go on as much as the necessary admonition that I don't floss my teeth enough. Believe me, I know I don't floss my teeth enough, but I'm an adult and saying I need to floss more is all you need to say. Anyways, tomorrow is Monkey girl's first dentist visit. Apparently, she should have gone a year ago (well before she turned 2), but I've heard different views on that. Tomorrow should be interesting and even though it's not me, I'm not looking forward to it. It does remind me though that I should probably make a dentist appointment for both me and Dadda monkey. Just thinking about it makes me cringe. Wish us luck tomorrow; I have a feeling we'll need it.

Ergo Sit Giveaway! NOW CLOSED!

For approximately the last decade, I've had occasional back aches so I'm always looking for ways to help decrease those uncomfortable times. One of the things I've had on my wish list for quite a while now has been an Ergo Sit  from TheraGear for my chair. When I worked in an office that hadn't upgraded their chairs I brought in a stability ball to sit on. I wanted to first off be comfortable and secondly improve my posture/core muscles. I loved it. I used a ball at home too, but shortly after my daughter began to walk, she thought the big blue ball was just too much fun to leave alone. So I'm back to my chair.

The Ergo Sit is a small, ergonomical, inflated cushion that is simply placed on your chair. It works in the same way that a stability ball does. It will help you improve your posture and strengthen your back and abdominal muscles. I didn't know this before, but you can also use it on the floor to exercise your lower body. Another really great feature of the Ergo Sit is that it's rounded on one side and if you place the rounded side to the front of your chair it will help with active sitting. The opposite way is for stable sitting with thigh support. I originally had the round side to the back, but I didn't find that to be as comfortable to me as doing the active sitting. Of course I probably spend too much time sitting in my chair anyways.

I'm really enjoying my Ergo Sit and I feel like it is helping me. The Ergo Sit comes in 3 colors (blue, red, and silver) and is sold on TheraGear's website for $29.95. There's even a Kinder Ergo Sit for your kids. I decided on the blue Ergo Sit because it's my favorite color and I thought it might blend more in my black chair. My Ergo Sit arrived in a large box and was already fully inflated. A needle pump came with it for easy adjusting later.

The wonderful people at TheraGear generously agreed to give one Mommy 2 Monkeys reader their own blue ErgoSit! Go check out TheraGear and let me know what else interests you. I spent a little while perusing their site and they have a lot of great therapeutic and fitness products that I may be adding to my wish list. Even Monkey girl likes the Ergo Sit and yes, I know my chair is torn, but I can't bear to part with it just yet.

How To Enter:
(The first step is required for your first entry. Any steps after that reward you with an extra entry.)
This giveaway, and subsequent shipping, is only offered within the continental United States.

1. Go to TheraGear and leave a comment on this post telling me what other item(s) they carry that interest you OR let me know why you're interested in the Ergo Sit.

2. Become a follower of my blog, Mommy 2 Monkeys, and leave a comment on this post that you've done so.
3. Become a fan of the Mommy 2 Monkeys Facebook page and leave a comment on this post that you've done so.
4. Follow me on Twitter and leave  a comment on this post that you've done so.
5. Place my button on your blog/website and leave a comment on this post that you've done so.

This giveaway will remain open until May 30, 2010 at midnight central time. The winner will be chosen using Random.org. I will post the winner on my blog and also email the winner (please make sure your email is visible on your profile or post it in your comment). The winner will have 72 hours to respond to my email or I will choose another winner via Random.org. Good luck!

Disclaimer:

Mommy 2 Monkeys was provided with a sample for the purpose of this review and the opportunity to hold a giveaway for my readers. No other compensation was received and the views expressed here are my own.

Playset Saga Continued

We finally got all our landscaping plans back along with the quotes for a couple of the items. First and foremost, was the information for the playset prep...$4000. The quote isn't itemized and also doesn't list what materials are going to be used for everything (except pea gravel for filler), but I can't believe it. My thoughts are that if we knew what we were doing then it's something we could possibly do ourselves. It'd be a lot of work and take a lot of research and trials/tribulations on our part, but it's doable. I'm definitely not saying that we would, but I'm shocked by the price.

Needless to say, Dadda monkey's next task is to get a couple of other quotes and get a break down for everything. I'm sure there's something we can do to save ourselves some money. For example, I bet we can lay down the weed barrier, which might save us all of $50. Who knows, but I surely didn't anticipate Monkey girl's playset costing us around $5000. I don't think I even need to continue with the rest of the information we got. Let's just say a deck will not be built in our backyard in the foreseeable future.

Stormy Weekends

I love thunderstorms, I really do. When I was a kid, my best friend and I would spend time in rocking chairs, blankets draped over our laps, sitting in front of the sliding glass door to the backyard just watching the storms go past. I still love them, but living in San Antonio has some drawbacks. The soil here is extremely rocky and the area doesn't get much rain. It seems that when it does rain here, it comes down in buckets and the ground can't absorb it all. Aside from being very expensive to put in an in-ground pool (due to the blasting required), the rocky soil contributes to our flooding problems.

The storms woke my daughter around 4 this morning and she spent the rest of the night with us. Interestingly enough, Bro Bro monkey didn't wake up early. We didn't venture out today so I'm not sure what the roads are like, but the news was consistently interrupting the day's television programming for storm related updates. We were planning on going to the Alamodome tomorrow, but I think we're going to play that by ear now. I heard it was going to rain some more, so I may find myself entertained by just watching some more storms pass. I hope everyone's enjoying their weather wherever that may be.

Boon Bath Goods

One of my recent favorite discoveries is Boon. They're products are fabulous and quite innovative. The company is also completely in tune with current social media trends. They even have their own blog, www.booninc.com/blog. You can also find Boon on Facebook and Twitter. We were lucky to receive the Boon Bath Goods and my daughter loves playing with them during EVERY bath. Unfortunately, that also means she's requesting even more baths. I must have the cleanest daughter in town.

I was surprised to see how large the package was. There is a ton of stuff in there and the name, Bath Goods, seems completely appropriate. The set includes 2 mini-scrubbies, 3 balls, and a bunch (15) of appliques that don't absorb water, but stick to the tub surround.  Monkey girl, like most kids, loves to have toys in her bath tub and these were no exception. However, after the initial excitement of new toys wore off, she wasn't sure what to do with the appliques. Dadda monkey and I showed her how they stick to the wall and that was it. She was in full gear designing her masterpiece.











The mini-scrubbies are great because they're smaller for children. Monkey girl grabbed one and declared it her own. Since she loves to play with balls anyways, they were also a hit. She had no problem figuring out how to play with them during bath time. I do have one warning though, for other households with retrievers, you might want to safeguard the balls. We had one casualty because the dogs loved them as much as Monkey girl does.

We already owned Boon's Flo for the tub faucet and the Frog Pod to clean up/hold her toys and have been quite pleased with both. Flo needs to be cleaned regularly though because of the bubble bath residue left behind, but it's easily dealt with. Amazon even has the Frog Pod and the Bath Goods packaged for sale together.

I'm sure Bro Bro monkey will also love playing with the Bath Goods when he gets older. Until then I'm pretty sure Monkey girl enjoys having them all to herself. As for me, I've already got my eye on the next Boon product I want, their Boon Benders. Monkey girl has a problem turning her eating utensils toward her mouth and these are designed perfectly to help her adjust to this. Be sure and visit Boon yourself and I'm sure you'll find something there that you like as well.


Mommy 2 Monkeys was provided with a sample for the purposes of this review. No other compensation was received and the views expressed here are my own.