Saturday, November 27, 2010

PRESENTS! 12 days of giveaways: Day 2- Abby's Lane

Abby’s Lane: Review of BabyLegs
I want to say thank you to Stephanie from Abby’s Lane. I was not going to do a review for them until I had more followers, but she had faith that the extra traffic from this event would make it worth it for them. Abby’s Lane is an online retailer that sells cloth diapering materials and accessories.
When my package came it, it was the smallest of the 5 that arrived at once. I was excited that it arrived so quickly! I opened it up and my babylegs were wrapped up so very nicely. I took them out and played around with them a bit, stretching them, looking at their length, and more. Then I realized I really didn’t have an outfit that matched them yet (I chose them cause they were my favorite, not cause they made sense with her wardrobe! Oops)! Since I was eager to have her try them out, I decided I would take a too small brown dress and make it into a tunic, then she could wear them! I cut out the onesie portion of the dress, and put a cute diaper cover on her instead.
Luckily for me, it worked! She wore her cute little tunic and BabyLegs all day long with little problems. I did deliberately put them on upside down because I wanted to show off the accent color more than the brown. At one point towards the end of the evening they did begin to roll down her chubby little thighs, but I think that was because they were upside down, I am going to try them again this week and see if they do the same facing the correct way.
Great news! We found a jean skirt and a plain top that allowed us to put our daughter into these again, they are fantastic, and no rolling this time :)   

Support it: Abby's lane has a facebook. It is not required to "like" them, but I am sure they would love to have you as a fan, and I hear they may have some freebies on their page this weekend!
Buy it: Abby's Lane can be found online at www.abbyslane.com they offer a variety of items such as cloth diapers, baby accessories and and more!
Win it: Abby's Lane is offering a $10 gift card to their online store to one lucky winner. 
How to enter: Fill out this form one time for all entries. Entries valid 11/27/10 to 11/30/10. Winner will be announced Dec 10.


This giveaway will close on November 30,2010. This is not a paid post. I was given a product from Abby's Lane to try. All of the opinions stated above are my own. The winner must have a US mailing address. The winner will be chosen by random and contacted by email. If no response within  48 hours, then another winner will be chosen. If the form is not working between the 27th and 30th, please comment with your email address and ask for a form to be sent to you and add sunshinetostarshine@yahoo.com to your accepted emais list.

Friday, November 26, 2010

PRESENTS! 12 days of giveaways: Day 1- Crazydogtshirts.com

CrazyDogTshirts.com review and giveaway
Adult XXL “You like this” facebook shirt


I was delighted with my experience at CrazyDogTshirts.com. Not only was the representative I spoke with kind, but the company was extremely gracious in giving us a tee to try out and a tee to giveaway for my lucky fans. I opted to hang on to this giveaway for the “Sunshine to Starshine and Thrifty Nifty Mommy present PRESENTS!” 12 day holiday giveaway event.
When my package arrived I was exceedingly pleased with the amount of time it took to get here! Not even 3 days!! I opened up the small plastic packaging bag and inside my tshirt. It was soooooooooo soft. I cannot stress enough how soft this tshirt was, it was like a cloud or something. This was the softest tshirt I have ever worn in my entire life. It was smooth, soft, and every other descriptive word you would want a tshirt to be! I was not itchy at all. The color was just like it showed online, not the typical grey, but not too blue either, it was a little less dreary than I assume a grey shirt would be..  

I ordered a size 2X because I wanted to make sure it fit well enough to not expose my tummy or anything, and keep it for a while (hopefully I would lose weight and it would one day become a bed shirt only). This shirt fit her nicely, loose enough that I can wear it comfortably, but not too big either. I love it. Now let me explain the shirt choice a bit: I decided that I would get this shirt with the intention that after the review I would do a transfer with the logo from my blog and the links, almost like a walking business card. I still like this idea, but I do not want to compromise the comfy-ness of this tee, so we will see what happens.

Buy It: You can buy Crazy Dog Tshirts at Crazydogtshirts.com. They also work side by side with NachoMamaTee.com and costumesquad.com!

Support It: Please take the time to follow them on facebook!

Win It:
Your Choice..
  • Free Mystery Tee (they would need to specify their size in Mens and
    mailing address) (open to the US only)
    OR


  • Free $15 Gift Card (you would need to release their email address to us to
    receive the code via email)








  • How to enter: Fill out the form below one time for all possible entries. Entries will be accepted from 11/26/2010 to 11/29/2010.

    This giveaway will close on November 29,2010. This is not a paid post. I was given a t-shirt from Crazy Dog Tshirts to review through SheBlogs. Crazy Dog Tshirts is also giving a t-shirt or gift card (winner's choice) away to one of my lucky readers! All of the opinions stated above are my own. The winner cannot have won or been given a shirt for promotional purposes in the last 90 days. The winner must have a US mailing address. The winner will be chosen by random and contacted by email. If no response within 48 hours, then another winner will be chosen. If the form is not working between the 26th and 29th, please comment with your email address and ask for a form to be sent to you and add sunshinetostarshine@yahoo.com to your accepted emais list.


    Sunday, November 21, 2010

    Yesterday I posted the following:


    In less than one week I have tons to do.
    I have 2 papers and quizzes due by tomorrow for my psychology class (Today I finished one of each so far and have plans to do the remaining after supper)
    I have a whole house to clean so that we can entertain this
    week (finished with help of my MIL)

    I have a whole house to baby-proof because my daughter can now reach the tops of counters, the stove and some of our lower dressers. 
    I have a big dinner to make tonight so that my husband will feel loved (yay for a big and delicious meal)
    I have a huge 12 day giveaway event and 2 nights of flash giveaways to plan and they all start next Friday.


    I am going to be a very busy bee this week

    Saturday, November 20, 2010

    The week before..

    In less than one week I have tons to do.
    I have 2 papers and quizzes due by tomorrow for my psychology class
    I have a whole house to clean so that we can entertain this week
    I have a whole house to baby-proof because my daughter can now reach the tops of counters, the stove and some of our lower dressers. 
    I have a big dinner to make tonight so that my husband will feel loved (reason being that I have been lazy all week as far as cleaning and cooking goes)
    I have a huge 12 day giveaway event and 2 nights of flash giveaways to plan and they all start next Friday.


    I am going to be a very busy bee this week.




    What are your plans in the week coming up for Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, etc..?



    Monday, November 15, 2010

    Cradle Rock review: Johnny Cash, Michael Jackson, Kenny Chesney


    I will start with the Johnny Cash CD. I thought that the packaging for all of these CDs were deceptive. “Lullaby versions of songs recorded by Johnny Cash” made it seem to me that Johnny Cash recorded lullaby versions of his own songs. “I Crawl the Line” is the title along the bottom, okay, I thought maybe this was a comic relief type of thing. Even if it was a tribute style by someone else, at least it would be funny. The illustrations are also not clear as to what to expect- the characters look like they are supposed to be the singers that the CDs are based on. I wish somewhere there was the word “instrumental” to describe them, the only hint is the xylophone image on the back. As soon as you open the shrink wrap and open the case you see “arranged, performed, produced, mixed and mastered by Stephen Gause”. HEY WAIT! I thought this was by Johnny Cash! Well, I already opened up so let’s see how it goes.

    When I hear the word lullaby, I imagine the song that goes “Hush little baby don’t say a word, daddy’s gonna buy you a mockingbird. And if that mockingbird don’t sing, daddy’s gonna buy you a diamond ring. And if that diamond ring don’t shine...” so on and so forth. I imagine soft music accompanied by soft voices singing relaxing words. I might also envision a mother rocking a child in their glider and singing until they fall into a slumber. I do not think of what I got when I played these three CDs. These CDs were comprised of instrumental variations of popular songs by these three artists. Do you really think that “I walk the line” or “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash can be turned into lullabies? I had a hard time.

    I love country music. I did not love the two country CDs that were a part of this package. I found that the songs did not work well as lullabies. I was not tired or relaxed, but I was headache-y, which made me want to go to sleep.  I listened to the entire “No shoes, No diaper, Might be a problem” cd and was only able to determine what song was playing a handful of times. On the Johnny Cash “I crawl the line” CD it was even more difficult to find songs that were soothing or distinguishable.

    I also love Michael Jackson. Although the music was more easy to distinguish on “Thrillaby” than the others it was still a quite fast tempo and not exactly lullaby music. I enjoyed this, of the three, the most. Parts of this cd reminded me of some types of jazz, something that my father would listen to as I was growing up, so it was soothing to me, but probably not many others.

    As a whole, I would not recommend this set unless you have an avid fan of one of these three artists in mind who might forgive the discrepancies on the case and thoroughly enjoy using this music to put their child to sleep, even though it might not work for us.

    [Product review & giveaway disclosure: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."]

    Wednesday, November 10, 2010

    Story Time for Me, everyone wins!




    Story Time for Me is a website with multimedia children's books that we can all easily access. Once you create an account you have the opportunity to access up to 2 free books of your choice.
    All you have to do is go to http://www.storytimeforme.com/2books and sign up!

    Your two complimentary book credits are there right away, then you get to browse the books and choose what you want to add to your library. These books are read aloud, so older kids can read along with the highlighted words, and hear what is being said at the same time. The images can also be animated, so that there is movement in the characters and scenery, but this option can be turned off if you prefer that your child focus on the words.

    I chose "Fern Goes for a Dive" and "Ben Visits an Apple Orchard" as my two books. I wanted to see how the different age levels would affect the stories and animations. I also wanted to compare different character series.

    "Fern Goes for a Dive" is focused towards ages 1-4 and I think it is perfect for my 14 month old. My daughter was able to sit and watch this 2:34 minute video thoroughly and was very focused. The graphics were exciting and ever changing, and they taught a lot about creatures under the sea. The narration does not include dialog, but describes what is happening and what they see in the images.

    "Ben Visits an Apple Orchard" is aimed to ages 4-8 and is a much longer 10 mins 48 seconds. This book features paragraphs and dialog between the characters. My daughter is too young for this and got bored, but I loved the illustrations and learning who each character was. Perfect for the pre-school and kindergarten kids I used to work with!

    Sponsored by Tomoson.com
    I hope this mini review helps you and I hope you take advantage of using your 2 free books!!
    [Product review & giveaway disclosure: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."]

    Sunday, November 07, 2010

    Spicing things up..

    Mama Sunshine is going to get a job this week.
    I am a certified paraprofessional. I have always wanted to teach elementary school, however, previous jobs have opened my eyes up to kids of all ages and made me much more open to working with some of the older kids.
    I am not only a wife, mom, blogger, babysitter, artist and friend to many, I am also a college student with a dual major in Elementary Education and Special Education. This means that I could work with any level special needs, or in elementary school for regular ed.
    A friend of mine told me that her boss loved me at my interview last week, and I also have an interview at another place tomorrow. Now the question is, do I go to a daycare where I can be with my daughter but is not with the age range that I want to be with, or go to a public school where I will get paid more and have to put my daughter into some sort of childcare.. It will be a tough choice.
    Either way, this blog will be seasoned with a little more life no matter which job I take. I will be busier, and so much better off getting out of the house. I was not meant to be a stay at home parent, and 14 months later, I am glad to have a chance to get back.