5 Days of Holiday Giveaways- Day 2 - ABBY'S LANE Review and Giveaway!

Finding a retailer that still focuses on customer service is tough. Especially when shopping online. I have A LOT of online shopping experience-probably more than I should confess to : ) My go-to retailer for all my baby and mama care needs is Abby's Lane!

Their selection of products is wonderful. They carry all the major brands of cloth diapers, inserts and accessories but also carry unique items that you don't see everywhere- children's gifts, baby carriers, clothing and shoes galore! Abby's Lane offers free shipping (a HUGE bonus) on all U.S. orders and has outstanding customer service.

Abby's Lane is a family owned business started in September of 2004 and located in Northern Virginia. Named for her oldest daughter Abby, Stephanie and her husband have 3 girls and one little boy at home and focus on making parenting enjoyable and a bit closer to nature.

Abby's Lane differentiates itself from other online retailers with a program called Abby's Lane Dollars. Every dollar spent equals one "point" that you can redeem for store credit!! Getting something for free is always a plus!

Stephanie is wonderful to work with. I ordered a wetbag that wasn't in stock and she was so quick to email me to let me know of the error and offer me the option to exchange it at no cost to me! She is quick to answer questions and offer recommendations as well. You won't be disappointed when you shop at Abby's Lane (especially with the holidays coming up!)

Want something?

Buy It:

Visit Abby's Lane and check out their products and place your order today!

Win It:

One lucky reader will win a $10 gift certificate to Abby's Lane!

Mandatory Entries: Please be sure to leave your email address within each comment!

1. **YOU MUST BE A PUBLIC FOLLOWER OF MY BLOG** (leave a comment)

2. **Visit Abby's Lane and tell me which product is your favorite.** (leave a comment)

Extra Entries : (Be sure to leave a separate comment for each one)

1. Place an order at Abby's Lane and leave me the order number in your comment. (1 entry)

2. Visit Abby's Lane Blog "It's the Cloth that Counts" and subscribe to the blog. (leave a comment- 1 entry)

3. Follow Abby's Lane on Twitter. (leave a comment- 1 entry)

4. Retweet the following: @abbyslane I entered to win certificate at http://justrollingwithit09.blogspot.com/ Please leave me the url so I can verify your tweet-- I will be checking! (leave a comment- 1 entry per day)

5. Post on your blog linking to this giveaway and the featured company. Please leave a comment with a direct link to your post (leave a comment- 1 entry)

6. Add me to your PUBLIC Blog Roll. Please leave a comment with a direct link to the URL- I will be checking. (leave a comment- 1 entry)

Giveaway ends December 5th @11:59PM CST. Winner will be picked via Random.org. Please respond within 24 hours, or a new winner will be chosen.

All remarks are the personal and honest opinions of me. The prize for this giveaway will be shipped by the featured company. I am not responsible for any lost or damaged prizes. Winner is respondsible for any amount due for purchase above and beyond the gift certificate amount.

5 Days of Holiday Giveaways- Day 1 - ROCKIN' GREEN Review and Giveaway

Do you smell that?

If you used Rockin' Green Soap, you wouldn't!

When I started cloth diapering, the biggest hassle was figuring out a wash routine. There are so many blogs, chat rooms and websites with information that I was overwhelmed. Then a friend suggested Rockin' Green Soap. I found the website online and bought a few samples. I also shot Kim, the owner, a message asking for help. In that same day, she was able to suggest a wash routine that worked for my stash, for my particular washing machine and with my type of water.

The results were astounding. The ammonia smell was gone. GONE! And there were no bubbles left in my washer--everything rinsed completely clean. My washer drum didn't stink either and my inserts were bright white after drying. I was amazed. I immediately ordered a bag and have been using it for over one year now.

The best part? Rockin Green is NOT just for diapers. You can use it on ANY type of laundry. I know mamas that use it on their hard to clean items like uniforms, scrubs and stained baby clothing. You can also use it as a stain remover by mixing in just a bit of water to make a paste and scrub it in with your hands or a toothbrush. I have personally used it on carpet stains and as a presoak.

RnG comes in three different formulas to suit your water types- Classic Rock, Hard Rock and Soft Rock. The website is packed with information including a chart for multiple brands of washing machines to help customize your wash routine.

If you do use cloth diapers, Rockin Green is the go-to detergent for "Rockin a Soak!" as well. Simply fill your bathtub with warm to hot water, dump in a few tablespoons of RnG with all your inserts or prefolds and let soak overnight. Rinse, rinse, rinse, run a wash cycle and BAM- super clean, non-stinky diapers!! It's truly amazing.

And for the hard to remove smells, try Funk Rock Ammonia Bouncer. It's a new product designed specifically for those hard to remove smells. Just a 30-60 minute soap on clean diapers should do the trick!

Kim is a wonderful resource and very quick to respond to all customer inquiries, comments and complaints. My only personal complaint--it costs a lot to ship and isn't normally included in any free shipping offered by retailers. But I think that's more of a complaint to USPS/UPS than Kim : )

Feel free to visit Rockin Green on Facebook and tell Kim that "Just Rolling With It" sent you!

Want one?

Buy It:

Visit  Rockin Green's Shop and order today!

Win It:

One lucky reader will win a bag 45/90 load bag of Rockin' Green in your choice of formula and scent!

Mandatory Entries: Please be sure to leave your email address within each comment!

1. **YOU MUST BE A PUBLIC FOLLOWER OF MY BLOG** (leave a comment)

2. **Visit Rockin' Green's website and tell me which scent you like best.**  (leave a comment)

Extra Entries : (Be sure to leave a separate comment for each one)

1. Visit Rocking Green's website and sign up for their newsletter (leave me a comment) (1 entry)

2. Follow Rockin Green on Twitter (1 entry)

3. Retweet the following: @rockingreensoap I entered to win an bag at http://justrollingwithit09.blogspot.com/

Please leave me the url so I can verify your tweet-- I will be checking! (1 entry per day)

4. Post on your blog linking to this giveaway and the featured company. Please leave a comment with a direct link to your post (1 entry)

5. Add me to your PUBLIC Blog Roll. Please leave a comment with a direct link to the URL- I will be checking. (1 entry)

Giveaway ends December 5th  @11:59PM CST. Winner will be picked via Random.org. Please respond within 28 hours, or a new winner will be chosen.

All remarks are the personal and honest opinions of me. The prize for this giveaway will be shipped by the featured company. I am not responsible for any lost or damaged prizes. Open to US and Canadian residents only.

Are you ready? Giveaways start Monday!!!

Once again, I'm so excited to be bringing you a week of giveaways starting Monday! There's a little something for everyone! With all the black Friday madness, waiting in lines, fighting for parking and traffic, this should be a refreshing, easy and simple way to get something nice for yourself!

The giveaways will feature some "rockin" stuff that is just "wild". Guaranteed to be loved by "Abby", "Lia" and "Sophia" and make you into a "hot mama".

HeHeHe!!! See you Monday!

Ergo Giveaway on Applecheeks FB page!

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=469216769343

The perfect Christmas Tree

Despite the rain and cold, we loaded up the family and headed out west (I think) to cut down our first Christmas tree as a family.

Growing up, we always spent Christmas at my Grandma's house so we never had a real tree. We'd be gone for 2 weeks so our 4ft mini fake tree did it's job--spread holiday cheer without turning brown while we were gone. My husband has always grown up with real trees. So far, I've convinced him that fake was the way to go but now that the kids are a little older, I gave in and we went to get the real tree.

I must admit, it was a lot more fun than I would have imagined. The weather was crappy but the kids were so excited. We were all bundled up and walked through the rows of Frasier furs until I saw it....the perfect tree.

It stood about 9 1/2 fee tall and was full and green and beautiful. My husband asked if I was sure and that we could look around some more but I just knew!

We cut that sucker down and hopped on the tractor to drag it in.



We had it bailed, enjoyed some free popcorn and cider and were on our way home within and hour. It was just the right amount of time to enjoy the experience but not get too cold. We'll bring it in tonight and decorate it tomorrow.

I know it will be a pain to keep it watered and vacuum it's needles but the look on the kids face during the whole experience is definitely worth it. This will be our new tradition. And I SO look forward to dragging them along when they are 16 and 17 and forcing them to smile for pictures!

I love being a mom.

Why I hate Gwyneth Paltrow less

She has always been very annoying to me. I don't think she's a very good acress. I never really liked any of the movies she's been in--they are always very serious, english and happen in olden times. Then she moved to England to pretend she's English with her English husband. And I really don't like the name Apple-it's weird to me.

BUT.....she was on Glee this week and he was HILARIOUS! I've never seen her in a role like this before (maybe I missed it) but I loved seeing her shake off that "I'm better than you" attitude I always thought she had and just let loose. She's not a bad singer either. I heard that she's trying to drum up a career in country music too.

Blogger Giveaways!

Check out this set of giveaways by some other blogging mamas!
http://leatherberryfamily.blogspot.com/2010/11/all-i-want-for-christmas.html

Giveaways Giveaways Giveaways

Oh my goodness! I've been so busy over these last few days getting all the giveaways and reviews together for my 5 Days of Holiday Giveaways happening the week after Thanksgiving!! It's exciting to get the response email from a bunch of awesome vendors and I'm so excited to offer this week to you guys!! As a smaller blog, you'll have a wonderful chance of winning!

The first review and giveaway will be posted on Monday November 29th! Make sure to bookmark my blog as there will be a new one posted each day. Let me just say that the first one is totally "rockin".

Otherwise, we had a pretty busy weekend. Hubby decided to head to Mad-town for the Badgers game so my mother-in-law offered to take Olivia for the day on Saturday. When they came to pick her up, Kellen got so upset that he wasn't going, that they took him too!! So it was a day with just me and Owen. My BFF decided to stop over for a visit--it was very nice to have time to talk without any interruptions.

Sunday was chore and errands day as normal. Lots of laundry, dishes and vacuuming. It was very exciting. Not really. The worst part of the weekend? Snow flurries! Yikes! I'm not ready for the cold weather and slick roads just yet. I hope it holds off at least until Christmas. I wish we could just have snow on Christmas and then it would be spring again.

Okay- gotta get going again! Lots more to do today!

Christmas Tree oh Christmas Tree

In a state where the weather can go from 70 degrees to 20 degrees overnight, the hubster and I decided we'd put up our Christmas lights tonight. The temperature is currently 59 degrees---which is pretty equivalent to summertime for us. And it's NOVEMBER which is just crazy. We've had snow on the ground at Halloween so to have this kind of weather this late in the year is amazing.

I love Christmas. It's probably my favorite holiday. I love Thanksgiving and Halloween too but Christmas has always been close to my heart. My fondest memories come from driving from Rhode Island to Illinois to spend 2 weeks with my grandparents over Christmas break. My mom and dad would let us open one present early so we'd have something new to play with during the 21 hour drive. My dad would pull out the middle seats in our 1988 Chrysler minivan (with the wood on the side) and we'd hunker down in our sleeping bags on the floor (oh....how life has changed).

We didn't have iPods, DVD players or PSPs. You know what we did? We talked to each other. We used to play license plate bingo. We would read books and play board games. AND. IT. WAS. AWESOME.

I'm lucky enough to have most of my family and hubby's family within a 5 hour drive so we can see them relativily easy but I hope to be able to share those kinds of memories with my kids now that they are getting older. I hope they can look back on Christmas and remember listening to their parents since a horrible rendition of Bette Midler's Wind Beneath My Wings vs. what the coolest present was that year.

But this year....it will be ME singing : )

Getting ready for something good.....

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. And with Christmas, comes gifts. And I would like to give you all a gift.....or maybe a giveaway? Or maybe 3 giveaways? How about 5 giveaways????


Stay tuned........ : )

About me........

For all you loyal readers out there (I think I'm up to 4 or 5 now!) I'd like to share a little bit more about me. It's weird building friendships over the Internet. I feel like I *know* some of you yet we've never met in real life---never shared a cup of coffee or gone shopping together. We should organize a blogger mixer sometime. Maybe in Vegas?? All of us who follow and comment could get together for a night of craziness. That would awesome.

Anyway, in an effort to build some of these relationships, I'd like to share some more info about ME!

HI!

Name: Sarah

Age: the big 3-0 this year. I'm a child of the 80's

Where were you born?: Peoria, IL. I lived there for a few years (the majority of my family is still there) and then we moved to Rhode Island. I lived there for about 10 years before moving to the grand old state of Wisconsin. We've been here for almost 20 years. Go Packers!

Favorite Food: I love Mexican food. Anything that has guacamole is good for me. My second favorite is probably Italian.

Favorite Music: I'm a Pop Queen. Anything Top 40. I love New Kids on the Block (old and new), N*Sync, Britney, Jason Derulo etc but I also love Led Zeppelin, REO Speedwagon and Foreigner. Pretty much anything except country (sorry).

How tall are you?: I'm 5'10" and no, I never played basketball. I don't know why everyone always asks me that. I played soccer and danced all through kindergarten up until high school. Now I just sit around and watch TV.

Are you married?: Yep. My husband and I met in college. I dated a guy in high school that I was convinced I was going to marry. The first night of college I met by hubby, called my boyfriend and broke up with him. I just KNEW I was going to marry this man! Drama ensued, lots of craziness followed and we were married in 2003. Love you honey! (although I don't believe he knows this blogs exists!)

Tell us about your kids: First of all, I never wanted kids. I know, right? I am WAY selfish--I like to buy whatever I want, sleep whenever I want, run errands whenever I want. I still do. I knew that I would make a horrible mother.
But I guess the "big guy upstairs" had bigger plans for me. A bunch of Bud Light and a few missed BC pills and my dear Olivia was born in April 2006. She was an awesome baby so I figured "This is easy!"
I was pregnant with twins in fall of 2007 but unfortunately suffered two blighted ovums. That didn't stop us and Mr. Kellen was born August 2008 (5 1/2 weeks early).
We decided we were done with kids but would hold off on the big "V" until 2010. Low and behold, Mr Owen was born July 2010--my surprise baby (I still think a certain pharmaceutical company owes me some money).
We have a very busy household but love the craziness and joy they bring to our lives. Is a #4 in our future?99% sure that's a no, but I guess we'll see.

• Miss Olivia- She's 4 1/2 years old. She's my drama queen (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree). She loves baseball, drawing, crafts, baby dolls and swimming. She's got a touch of OCD since all the babies need to be lined up perfectly before she can sleep. I also think she may be a bit of a hoarder since she's always collecting and hiding stashes of rocks, tiny pieces of paper or playing cards. Not sure where the blond hair, blue eyes comes from. I assure you, my mail person is a woman!
• Mr. Kellen- He's my little man. We were home together for about one year after he was born so he's a mama's boy. He makes the most hilarious facial expressions and is a real brute. He's 34lbs and in size 4 clothing and he's only 2! He LOVES sports-baseball, soccer, football- it doesn't matter. He can watch a whole football game start to finish. He cheers for the touchdowns and yells at the TV just like daddy!
• Mr. Owen- He's only 4 months old so we're just getting to know him. So far, he's my stoic one. He's very much a "watcher". He's very laid back and only fusses when he needs something. He always thinks twice before throwing out a precious smile or coo. I think he'll be my cautious one. While the other two are jumping off the side of Grandma's boat, he'll be calculating the water temperature and the best angle to jump at so-as not too splash too much. He's such a snuggler too!

My Dream Job- I would love to be one of those cleaning/organizing specialists on Hoarders. Or a wedding planner. Or maybe plan the wedding of the engaged hoarders that I helped organize. Perfect!

Why I started blogging- Honestly, I was so frustrated with all the politics going in the world (the horrible, horrible health care plan, the insanely high gas prices, the collapse of the housing market) that I needed a place to vent. Don't get me wrong... I have a lot of friends and family to talk to, but I just wanted a place where it wouldn't immediately argue back. I also like to enter giveaways--and most giveaways give you extra entries for having a blog. Win-win!

My blogging goal- I would love to be able to host giveaway and share the stuff that I love. I love sharing pictures of my family, talking about my parenting achievements and challenges (and knowing I'm not the only one facing these challenges) and giving away products that I love to use. I don't have a lot of money, but when some extra paypal is available, I like to buy some of these products to share with you.

There! That's about it for now. Feel free to comment if there's anything you'd like to know specifically about me. I'll answer pretty much anything : )