Author Archive

Posted by Colleen     March 11, 2010

Mirra Beauty Products Review and Giveaway

Mirra is a new line of Beauty products that combines natural ingredients with proven scientific technologies.

Just launched, the Mirra product line includes shampoos, conditioners, hair styling products, body washes and mists, facial and skin care lotions, cleansers and cleansing cloths, eye firming and age defying creams, and cosmetic brushes.

The natural ingredients in Mirra products include olive oil, aloe leaf juice, cranberry, bamboo, honey and chicory root extracts.

Mirra products are exclusively available in the beauty care aisle of stores that are part of the Kroger family.

I was sent a selection of Mirra products to try out for two weeks. I received shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, hair gel and body wash to test.

The first thing I noticed was the scent. I like the way all the products smell. They have a pleasant scent that isn’t overpowering. I don’t like products that are too perfumey.

The other thing I like about Mirra is that the products are made with natural ingredients. I am allergic to chemicals in most standard beauty care products. I did use the products for two weeks, and didn’t haven any reaction to them.

The over-all performance of the products was great. The hair products left my hair soft and manageable. The body wash and lotions moisturized my dry winter skin.

Mirra Coupon

You can download a coupon for $5 off when you purchase any two Mirra products.

Mirra Giveaway

Mirra is giving away one gift pack of their beauty products to one lucky MommieDaze reader. To enter simply leave a comment on this post.

Earn extra entries by doing any or all of the following:

1. Subscribe to Mommie Daze

2. Follow Mommie Daze on Twitter

3. Become a fan of Mommie Daze on Facebook

Leave a separate comment letting me know about each entry.

The contest is open to residents of the US. Entries close at 11:59 p.m. March 17th. The winner will be notified by email.

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Posted by Colleen     March 10, 2010

Mother of the Year Award

Recent events that earned me points toward the Mother of the Year Award

1. Five year old David swallowed a marble. While I was in the room with him.

2. Nine month old Wade fell off the bed. While I was in the room with him.

Don’t worry. They’re both fine.

Me?

I think I need to take a parenting class.

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Posted by Colleen     March 10, 2010

Wordless Wednesday: Shoot Out at the MD Corral

This post is linked up with Wordless Wednesday over at 5MFM.

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Posted by Colleen     March 9, 2010

Bedtime

After the lazy, relaxing day we had on Sunday celebrating our anniversary, our peaceful little bubble burst as soon as Dave and I walked in the front door with the boys.

Immediately we flew into action getting bedtime under way. We divided up the children, Dave in one room with David while I was in another with Wade.

That’s the good thing about having just two. You still have a 1:1 ratio.

Dave and I passed briefly in the hallway, I in search of a pacifier, he looking for a teddy bear. Items both important to completing the bedtime routine.

“What a difference. Kids — no kids,” Dave said to me as we rushed past each other.

Bedtime, the result of which is silence. However the process of bedtime is anything but.

There are PJs to put on, one last bottle to give, teeth to brush, stories to read, songs to sing. Often it’s all punctuated by whining, and sometimes crying. Or laughter and shrieks from an over-stimulated, over-tired child.

Bedtime is a lot of work for the parents.

We eventually got everyone settled into bed, much later than on a regular night. We went back to the couch, and watched the movie we rented earlier that evening.

The movie ended, and just as we were ready to go to sleep Wade woke up. Something was bothering him, and we didn’t get Wade or ourselves back to bed until 1:30 that morning.

Dave was right. What a contrast our quiet day alone was to our hectic night of parenting. Just hours before we were lounging carefree on the couch lamenting that we didn’t know what to do. There’s no question of what to do when the kids are around. Just a question of what needs to be done first.

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Posted by Colleen     March 9, 2010

Early Bird Special

Dave and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary yesterday, and the day simply confirmed what I already knew. We are the two most exciting people on the planet.

Or not.

Dave got up with the boys, and had them fed, bathed, dressed and ready to pack off to Grandma’s house while I slept in. For which I want to say a heart-felt thank you to him. It was nice to sleep a little longer, and wake up to all that taken care of.

Dave accomplished it all before 9 a.m. I can’t even finish my coffee before nine. Maybe I should go to work, and he should stay home.

We dropped the boys off, and picked up breakfast and brought it home. The plan was that we would eat, get ourselves showered, dressed up and head out to do something fun.

“What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know.”

The conversation went on like that for a while. We each made suggestions, but they were met with answers like, “I don’t want to drive that far. I don’t want to be gone that long. 7 pm? Are you crazy? That’s too late!”

Then while I was looking up movies to go see, Dave fell asleep.

I knew he was tired. I’d slept in, so I let him take a nap.

Dave woke up, and we had a similar conversation.

“You know, just thinking about going out makes me tired.”

Finally, I decided we needed to make better use of our child-free time. So we got ourselves ready, and drove a whole 40 minutes away to a restaurant for dinner.

40 minutes.

I know, right?

It was exhausting.

It was also four in the afternoon when we went to dinner. Isn’t that what old retired folks in Boca do?

Since the night was so young that it hadn’t started yet when we finished dinner, we drove to a coffee house.

I didn’t even drink the coffee I’d ordered because, “I”ll be up all night.”

Livin’ on the edge people. Livin’ on the edge.

Dragging our lazy selves to a movie theater was too much work, so we rented a movie then picked up the boys.

The day was uneventful, but it was restful.

We actually had whole conversations that went uninterrupted.

Quiet days are few around here.

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Posted by Colleen     March 6, 2010

Love Story

Dave and I celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary tomorrow. Here’s an oldie but a goody pulled from my bloggy archives that tells our love story. I wrote this post last march. It’s a year old, but the sentiment is still the same.

I met my husband Dave in college. My first impression of him was that he was really cute, but I wanted nothing to do with him. I was a big time junior, and he was just a lowly freshman. I couldn’t be bothered with that.

But our paths kept crossing on the small campus. And as hard as I tried to put him off, for some reason he kept talking to me. I laughed and giggled with my friends about how he just wouldn’t go away.

I remember very clearly the moment I fell for him.

We’d known each other about a year. It was summer, and both of us ended up sticking around campus instead of going home. He came over to my dorm to see one of my roommates. She wasn’t there. As usual he started talking to me.

And he talked.

A lot.

As I sat there listening, all of a sudden he looked at me and smiled in this certain way that made my heart feel like it was going to burst out my chest. (I’ve seen that same look many times since. It still does the same thing to me after all these years.) I thought to myself, “You know this guy isn’t so bad after all. I might actually like him.”

O.K., so his broad shoulders, sun-bleached blond hair, summer tan and strong, muscular legs didn’t hurt either.

In any case, I was hooked.

That fall I went out of my way to put myself in his path. I went to soccer and volleyball games, because I knew he’d be there. I’d never attended a single one of those sporting events before that.  I used my position as a Community Work Day team leader to spend an entire day with him by making sure his name was on my roster.

Maybe I stalked him.

Just a little.

But I think he liked it.

It didn’t take long before I didn’t have to come up with reasons to run into him. We started hanging out together all the time.

One night we went to a park.

In November.

In the cold.

In the snow.

In the dark.

At 11 o’ clock at night.

(How safe was that?)

We sat in the band shell together. It was still and silent, with snow softly falling. We were sitting close because it was — ahem – so cold. A stoplight illuminated the intersection of the street the park was on. We watched the lights change.

He turned to me and said, “Green light means go.” Then leaned in and kissed me. Probably the worst line anyone ever said to me, but I didn’t care. I sure wasn’t cold anymore. In fact, I can’t remember ever being warmer.

I knew after that night he was The One.

We were engaged less than a year later. Married a few months after that. This march we’ll celebrate our 11th anniversary. We have a four year old son, and our second will arrive this June.

My husband is patient when I am not. He is optimistic when I’m all doom and gloom. He is gentle and kind. He is a fantastic father. He always lets me know I am loved. He goes above and beyond to provide and take care of our family. I am so thankful God gave him to me.

I love him so much. He is my best friend. We laugh together a lot. My favorite thing to do still is just hang out with him. With busy schedules and a son, we don’t get to do that very often these days. But this weekend our son is going to my parent’s.

I’m looking forward to some time with just the two of us.

Can’t wait for Friday night!

But I think we’ll skip the park this time, and just stay in.

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Posted by Colleen     March 4, 2010

Numbers

I’m not very good math, but I think you’ll enjoy my post over at Mom Spark today, Do the Math.

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