Tuesday, February 21, 2012

adoption fundraiser: bamashark customs

In case you didn't already know, my super talented hubby has a little hobby/business called BamaShark customs. He customizes sports figures. And the packaging. And they're awesome.

As a fundraiser for our pending adoption, he is offering his talents! For $75, you can have your own sports figure, display base, and customized packaging! AND the proceeds go toward our adoption fundraiser!

For more information, and to check out some of his work, head on over to his website. These make perfect gifts for graduation, birthday, father's day, etc! Or just for fun!

Monday, February 20, 2012

adoption fundraiser: wild olive tees

GREAT news! We have been set up with Wild Olive Tees to do an adoption fundraiser! Wild Olive has some super cute, spiritually-themed t-shirts for women & kids. If you'd like to help fund our adoption through Wild Olive Tees, please visit their website and browse the Adoption Fundraiser Tees. Pick out your shirt(s), and when you go to check out, be sure to enter our family code, GOINS220, in the "coupon code" field. That's how we get the credit for the sale. Be sure to enter our family code! These are such great t-shirts, and I am so excited that we are working with them. Please help us out, and tell your friends!


{ check out all of our adoption fundraisers in the sidebar to the right! }

::UPDATED:: the "toy bench": a CSN stores product review

**Please see updated review at the bottom of this post!**

So for all 2 of you who keep up with my blog, you may remember awhile back when I mentioned I'd be doing another CSN Stores product review. Well, I decided to get this Linon Anna storage bench, but we had to save up for it, so that took awhile. :) We got the bench a couple of weeks ago, and I love it! It's the perfect size to store Natalie's smaller toys, a collection of which I am sure will continue to grow. The assembly instructions were a little confusing, but I was able to do most of it by myself when Baron was out of town. I left some of it for him to finish once he got back. :) Anyway, as always, shopping with CSN Stores was a breeze. Ordering was easy, shipping on this particular item was FREE, and I got the bench within less than 2 weeks of ordering it. If you haven't shopped CSN Stores before, check them out for home decor, furniture, luggage, baby stuff, and more!






So, my question for y'all is this:


How should I decorate the bench? Two small rectangle pillows? A long bolster pillow?

I need input!


::UPDATE::

It has been almost a year since I first reviewed this product on 3/28/11, and I need to amend my review. A few months after assembling it & using it, the screws in the hinges started to come loose, and the spring arm that holds the lid opened started to bend. Eventually one of the spring arms completely broke. As in, the metal just broke completely. So, I [eventually, I admit] called CSN to request replacement hardware. [I should note at this point that CSN Stores was in the process of changing over to Wayfair. That is important to remember.] The customer service rep I spoke with basically told me I should have called within the 60-day [or maybe 30-day? I don't remember] time after ordering the product so that it would be covered by warranty. [Really? So your product that cost us almost $200 should only be expected to last a couple of months? Nice, Wayfair. Nice. I digress.] The gentleman then told me he would have to check with the warehouse to see if there were spare parts he could send to me, and he would call me back the very next day. And...that was the last I heard from Wayfair. I do NOT recommend this bench, and I furthermore do NOT recommend this company. If they decide to make this right, I will consider changing my opinion.

On a related note, we also submitted a room in our home for the Worst Workspace Contest. We had started the very slow process of converting our dining room into a home office, and the timing was perfect, as this contest was just getting underway. That was a year and a half ago, and they have JUST NOW contacted us that the voting is open for the contest. Needless to say, we don't have time to wait any longer to proceed with the makeover of the room. It's already been a year & a half in the making, and as we are trying to prepare our house to be home to another child, we cannot wait any longer. The room is almost halfway done at this point, and we just can't slow the process any more. We could most certainly use the winnings to help us financially, which is why I am sorely disappointed in the untimeliness of the contest process.

You should form your own opinion about this company. I am simply sharing my experiences, in hopes that someone at Wayfair will take note, and work to make it a better company.

Thanks for reading! :-)

Monday, February 13, 2012

juice box valentines

So, I wanted to do something for my almost-2-year-old daughter's Mom's Day Out class for their Valentine's Day party tomorrow. What do you do for a bunch of 2-year-olds? Candy hearts...crackers...goldfish...hmmm. Juice boxes! So I bought some juice boxes & got to work. Here's what I came up with. Not too bad for an almost-last-minute toddler Valentine. :-)



Want those Valentine circles in a pdf? Click here: Valentine Juice Box Circles