Tips Archives - Embracing Beauty

Honey Bunches of Oats – Smile While You Shake It #bunchofbeats

December 18, 2013 by Ashley 37 Comments

This is a compensated post brought to you by Mom It Forward and Honey Bunches of Oats. All opinions are my own.

I recently hosted a Smile While You Shake It Party with Honey Bunches of Oats. This party was a brunch with local bloggers and we had a lot of fun chatting, dancing, laughing, and eating. After we ate Honey Bunches of Oats and a few other goodies we danced with our Honey Bunches of Oats cereal boxes to shoot our Smile While You Shake It videos!

Playing around with a few of the cool props Honey Bunches of Oats sent us for our videos.

Smiling and shaking it!

These bloggers are discussing all the world’s problems…or which cereal to try next, or planning their dance moves for their Smile While You Shake It video? It’s hard to tell.

“Smile While You Shake It” caught your attention, didn’t it? It did mine too when I first heard about this new campaign from Honey Bunches of Oats. Smile While You Shake It is their new anthem they put together to celebrate what it means to start the day off with a smile. The fun and upbeat song, inspired by Samba beats, featuring musical artists Domino Saints, incorporates cereal boxes and breakfast utensils as percussion instruments. How fun? It’s a catchy tune that will be in your head for days {you’ve been warned!}. It’s an easy song for anyone or any family to dance…err, shake to.

Why video the shaking? Well, because you could win $500 for doing so!

Do you want to win $500 gift card? Visit the Honey Bunches of Oats Microsite now and show your fine dance moves {or simple shaking} as you Smile While You Shake It. They’re giving away a $500 gift card weekly so be sure to submit a new video every week! The video is only 15 seconds long and takes less than a minute to create start to finish! It’s very easy and I promise it’s fun! You can’t make a video without smiling, it’s impossible. The Smile While You Shake It Contest ends 6/6/14 at 11:59pm EST. I would love one of my readers to win so please come back and let me know if you do!

You can go here to check out my favorite Smile While You Shake It video that a friend of mine submitted.

Don’t forget to Like Honey Bunches of Oats on Facebook and Follow Hones Bunches of Oats on Twitter to get the latest updates and contest info from Honey Bunches of Oats.

Filed Under: Life Lately, Tips Tagged With: Mom it Forward

Party Planning Help from Cottonelle

December 9, 2013 by Ashley 12 Comments

Disclosure: This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Cottonelle, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #CottonelleHoliday http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.

Do you like to keep a good stock of household supplies like I do? Don’t worry, I won’t call you a hoarder! Having supplies on hand makes it easy to set up a party spur of the moment. On hand right now I would say that I have enough toilet paper, liquid soap, plates, cups, napkins, and silverware to supply a large party.

While I can set out enough plates and cups for everyone, the one thing I can’t set out enough of is toilet paper. We have a small downstairs bathroom with absolutely no place to store an extra roll. Normally, I’m left running in to check every so often for fear that someone would run out. {I also keep a spare roll in the pantry across the hall so I can replace it quickly when I need too. Shh, that’s our secret!} Plus, even if we had a storage place I would hate for a guest to have to change the toilet paper. I always feel so awkward when I’m over someone’s house and I have to peek in cabinets and closets to try and find a spare roll. Not to mention having to try and change the toilet paper roll without dropping the center piece of the holder. Ya’ll know what I’m talking about! Some of those are built with industrial strength springs and can jump right out of your hand.

To avoid having your guests awkwardly asking you for a roll, having them mortified when they run out, and to keep from running back and forth to the bathroom all night, simply pick up a package of Cottonelle’s Triple Roll.

This Triple Roll fits standard roll holders and boasts of being Cottonelle’s longest roll! It still comes with Cottonelle’s Ultra Care Comfort design too. With this roll you don’t have to sacrifice anything!

Check out the difference in size. One of these rolls will last all night at your party and then some.

Not only are these rolls great for parties but they’re great for every day. I picked up a 12 pack today at Target for my family’s regular use and for an upcoming party {I’ll tell you more about the party later!}. Note: the 12 Triple Roll pack is the same as 36 regular rolls. 36!! That means I won’t be running out for toilet paper anytime soon.

If you’re having a party this holiday season, pick up a pack of Cottonelle Triple Roll and have one less party detail to worry about.

Right now, you can buy a Cottonelle Triple Roll 12 pack or larger and get a FREE box of Kleenex with this Coupon at Target! (Coupons available while supplies last)

Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: Christmas, Cottonelle, Pollinate Media

ChefAlarm: Affordable Leave-In Thermometer

November 27, 2013 by Ashley 9 Comments

This post was written by my wonderful husband. I hope you enjoy it!

I was recently given an exciting new product from ThermoWorks to review called the ChefAlarm, and was quite pleased once again. I’ve never been a great cook but learning to cook with thermometers these past few years has improved my success rate immensely. And when it comes to thermometry, there is no better company than ThermoWorks, the maker of the Thermapen, which is the Cadillac of instant read thermometers. (See my Thermapen review here) I use my Thermapen every time I cook pretty much anything. In the information age we live in, you can quickly find the ideal internal temperature for just about any food you are cooking, from meat to bread to muffins to baked potatoes. Try it! On top of finding suggested temperatures for various foods, you can also keep a food diary to track your own preferences. All of this information of ideal and preferred temperatures combined with a fast and accurate thermometer you are pretty much guaranteed consistent results. Truly great chefs have an instinct for cooking that I just don’t possess so for me cooking is more of a math/science experiment and I’m OK with that. So my cooking involves notes, food scales, and my Thermapen (and sometimes even a spreadsheet–what can I say, I’m a statistician). But even naturally gifted chefs can benefit from a great thermometer to confirm those instincts and tell you what is going on in the center of the food you are cooking.

One thing you cannot do with a Thermapen, however, is leave it in the oven/grill while the food is cooking. You can use it to check on the progress of what you are cooking but it is often nice to not have to open up the oven and check. That is where my new toy comes in to play. The ChefAlarm (link) is a new product from ThermoWorks that connects to probes that you can insert into the food and leave in during the entire cooking process.

There are two compatible probes with the ChefAlarm, the Pro-Series High Temp Cooking Probe (included) and the optional Pro-Series Needle Probe that is ideal for thin cuts of meat and/or sous vide. Designed for use in commercial kitchens and professional settings, the Pro-Series Probes deliver better accuracy, faster readings, unique designs, wider temperature ranges and better moisture-resistance than the probes sold with low-cost “houseware-grade” temperature alarms.

The probe then connects to the ChefAlarm which displays the temperature of the probe, allowing you to monitor the internal temperature of your food without having to open the oven/grill. The ChefAlarm display provides a lot of useful information including the minimum and maximum temperatures since being turned on/plugged in and the current temperature is displayed in a very large font that is easily visible at some distance at a glance (in either F or C). In addition to these current and historical temperature measures, the ChefAlarm also serves as a timer so you can monitor time and temperature all on a single display. The timer can count down with an alarm or it can count up. The alarm is adjustable up to 92 dB which can be heard even in a noisy kitchen. There is also an option to set alarms for high and low temperature thresholds. Other features include a backlight, splash-proof design allowing you to use it by a busy stove, and is available in 9 colors. The ChefAlarm folds up to show the display when setting on a counter and it also has a magnetic back allowing it to lay flat on metallic, vertical surface. ChefAlarm includes unit, Pro-Series High Temp Cooking Probe, SST Probe Clip, Operating Instructions, and Padded Zip Wallet that neatly holds everything.

Perfect Temperature for Bread

I have tried this product on several things so far both in the kitchen as well as the grill. Used in conjunction with the Thermapen, it is a great way to cook large cuts of meat. Both products have shortcomings for this (Thermapen can’t be left in while cooking and ChefAlarm can only check the temperature of the one spot you placed the probe), but together they work really well. Embracing Homemaking has a wonderfully informative article on using the ChefAlarm in conjunction with a Thermapen to cook the perfect holiday turkey.

Grilled Turkey - Yum!

With a new baby due close to Christmas this year, we will be having our first Christmas at home this year and with that our first time cooking a turkey! I have planned to grill it and have already done a practice turkey breast. The ChefAlarm and Thermapen combination took all the guesswork out. It was a practice turkey and I did end up overcooking it a bit but professional equipment can only cover up so many sins of a bad cook! I broke a cardinal rule and apparently placed the ChefAlarm probe against a bone and that through off my reading. But like I said…it was a practice turkey! I am confident I’ll be able to nail the real one. So far, I’ve also tried the ChefAlarm cooking a wonderful pot roast (target temp 135F – 145F for medium), baking some sourdough bread (target temp 200F-210F), and cooking some chicken fingers in a deep fryer (target temp 165F). Having the leave-in thermometer with the alarm set really reduces the chances of overcooking anything. I love my Thermapen and I now love the ChefAlarm, but together they are a perfect combination.

The ChefAlarm would be a perfect gift for any griller or cook on your Christmas shopping list and now is the perfect time to shop for them as they currently have a “buddy sale” going on where you can get 2 for $52 each (regular price is $59).

Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: ChefAlarm, Christmas, Gifts, Thermoworks

Campus Book Rentals’ New Rent Back Program

November 23, 2013 by Ashley Leave a Comment

It wasn’t too long ago that I was in college and pinching every penny I was lucky enough to have earned. I always tried to borrow or buy books from upperclassmen that I was friends with but if that wasn’t available I resorted to buying them used online or new from the campus bookstore.

Recently, I heard about a great new site that rents college text books. It’s called Campus Book Rentals and I just had to tell you about them in case you or someone you know is in college and could use a little extra spending money.

Here are a few highlights of Campus Book Rentals:

– Save 40-90% off book store prices (This is the biggest perk!!)
– Free shipping both ways (College text books are usually very heavy so this is a great deal.)
– You can highlight in the text books (Nice! I loved my pink highlighter in school.)
– Flexible renting periods
– Campus Book Rentals even gives a portion of each text book rented back to Operation Smile (there’s no one who doesn’t love that charity!)!

Brief overview of Operation Smile:
It’s an international children’s medical charity that heals children’s smiles through reconstructive cleft lip surgeries, forever changing their lives. The long-term improvement on the lives of these children is indescribable. Campus Book Rentals is keeping their partnership with Operation Smile and have committed to donate a minimum of 80 additional surgeries between June 2013 and June 2014. I love to support companies that give to charities I believe in.

New Initiative: Rent Back:
Campus Book Rentals also have a new addition to their site called Rent Back. It’s a new initiative that allows students to rent the textbooks that they own – to other students. This will make the seller 2-4x more money than what they would earn through Campus Book Rental’s buy back option (selling books back at the end of the semester). Isn’t that incredible?

If you’re in college, I hope you’ll check out Campus Book Rentals and see how much you could save this next semester!

Here’s a little more info on how it works:

What ways did you save money in college?

Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: Campus Book Rentals, College

7 Tips to Manage Holiday Stress + a Giveaway!

November 18, 2013 by Tracie Miles 35 Comments

‘Tis the season to be merry…… and stressed! Sometimes the holidays can make us feel more tangled up than the lights on the Christmas tree, but holiday stress does not have to be our fate.

For those who aren’t fans of the Christmas season, the hustle, bustle and emotional rustle this time of year brings can elicit some overwhelming feelings, including irritability, loneliness, the blues, and even depression.

For those who love the holiday season, those same feelings can still secretly weave themselves into our spirits, as busyness, shopping, planning, wrapping, cooking, family challenges, and unmet expectations take their toll on our hearts.

The holidays often bring on this flood of heightened emotions which varies in intensity from person to person, and often results in dangerous stress levels. In the same way that stress from every day trials can be detrimental to our health, holiday stress – even if only for a couple months – can threaten to inflict the same harm.

Last year the APA reported that nearly all women in the US experience such heightened stress during the holidays that their health is put at risk, and that 41% of women use food, and 28% of women use alcohol, to curb the pain of their holiday stress. These statistics are alarming and heartbreaking and serve to remind us that holiday stress is not something to be ignored.

Fortunately, we can be proactive in preventing the negative impact of holiday stress by following a few simple suggestions and intentionally making Christ the focal point of all we do this season. Below are 7 strategies to keep in mind to avoid letting holiday stress steal your joy, squelch your Christmas spirit, or damage your health.

1. Plan for your stress.

You are probably well aware of the holiday stressors that push you to the limit, so why wait until they happen again to try to figure out how to handle them? For example, if decorating makes you stressed, invite friends or family members to help out and host a decorating party with light snacks and beverages. If baking goods for the PTA bake sale makes you feel burdened and stressed every year, give yourself permission to sit out this year out. If a family function is always challenging, pray for God’s divine intervention in dealing with family conflict this year. Being proactive in making plans for dealing with common holiday stressors is a great stress reducer.

2. Pursue a positive attitude.

Whether the holidays are our favorite time of year or not, we still need to pursue a loving, Godly attitude in the midst of the chaos. If we let crowds and traffic put us in a bad mood, we’ll take it out on our family later. If we allow obligations to stretch us thin, we’ll be too busy to enjoy the season. If we focus on all the negative aspects the holidays may bring, we will lose sight of the fact that we are really celebrating the birth of Jesus. Our attitudes and our thoughts will carry us to a destination of a joy, or a destination of bitterness and grumpiness. If you struggle with a Grinch attitude every year, ask God to help you pursue a new attitude for this season, and experience real joy in Christ.

3. Purposely get enough sleep.

If you want to be able to stay in a good mood during the holidays, don’t forget to rest! Sleep deprivation has a serious negative impact on our moods and our ability to manage even small levels of stress. Commit to getting to bed at a decent hour and getting a good night’s rest as often as possible.

4. Party sensibly.

Even though being at every holiday party we are invited to makes us feel and look like social butterflies, all that party-going might leave us bound up in a cocoon of stress. Choose your social events selectively, and only attend those which are most important to you. Stand in front of a mirror and rehearse a gentle and polite response to share when someone invites you to a function that you know will not fit into your schedule

5. Prepare a routine for the month of December.

Think about all the things you usually have to do around the holidays, jot them down on a list, and set a daily schedule for each day in December for fulfilling them, while being sure to include a target deadline for each thing. Write out your gift list, gift suggestions, budget, social outings, travel or packing needs, shopping availability, babysitting needs, special events you cook for, grocery lists, etc. This might sound compulsively organized, but it will be time and effort well spent, because good planning sets the stage for peace.

6. Practice fun. The holidays are supposed to meaningful and fun, so why do we let busyness and chaos steal the joy and fun from our hearts? Think about some ways you can have fun with your family or friends this year and make a commitment to follow through with them. Keep in mind that sometimes the best entertainment is cost effective, like watching movies at home or riding around looking at holiday lights and decor.

Promote love.

Our inward thoughts will always drive our outward actions, so if we want to show love during the holidays to family, friends and total strangers, we first have to focus on feeling God’s love. Although every person faces different adversities in life, we can all enjoy the Christmas season if we remember that Christmas is really about celebrating God’s love for us. If we bicker and complain our way through the season, our holiday spirit will exit quicker than Santa up the chimney. But if we focus on the fact that we are supposed to be celebrating peace, joy, and love, our Christmas spirit, our faith, and our love for others will soar. When our hearts are full of love, it’s hard to be a Grinch.

Unfortunately, Christmas can leave us feeling as tattered as the ripped up wrapping paper strewn around a living room floor on Christmas morning. A little holiday stress preparation can be the determining factor in whether your holiday is joy-full or stress-full, and when our hearts at peace our holidays can be too.

Tracie Miles is a national conference speaker and author with Proverbs 31 Ministries. She is the author of Stressed-Less Living: Finding God’s Peace In Your Chaotic World and is a contributing author to Proverbs 31 Ministries Encouragement for Today daily email devotions, Encouragement For Today: Devotions for Everyday Living, and the Zondervan NIV Women’s Devotional Bible. Tracie has a new book being released September 2014 titled Your Life Still Counts. She lives in Charlotte, NC, with her husband of 23 years and her three teenage children. Get connected with Tracie on her blog, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Enter to win a set of Tracie’s Managing Holiday Stress Conference Calls!

Tracie is hosting a conference call series this season through Proverbs 31 Ministries called Managing Holiday Stress . Click here for detailed information about the two calls, taking place on November 25th and December 10th, and how to join in the fun on her three live Facebook parties which include lots of fun holiday giveaways!

To enter to win a set of Tracie’s conference calls, enter via the Rafflecopter below.

This giveaway will end on Nov. 25, 2013 at 9 am EST and the winner will be contacted and announced shortly after. Open to US residents 18 years and older. If you have any questions feel free to contact me. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Giveaways, Tips Tagged With: Christmas, Giveaways, Holidays, Stress

RSV: What it is & Tips to Keep Baby Healthy

November 16, 2013 by Ashley 11 Comments

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting (#MC) for MedImmune. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

I talk about the dangers of RSV all the time to my husband, to other moms, and especially to new moms. RSV is incredibly serious and not many moms are aware of what it is or how dangerous it can be. I feel like a little unofficial RSV spokesperson.

This is me and my little sweet pea when she was 1 day old. It’s hard to believe she’s over two years old now and expecting another sibling soon! I’m due during the peak season of the RSV so this is good information to go over again for myself and to kindly remind those who may want to come by and visit.

What it is:
Respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) virus (RSV) is a common seasonal virus that causes mild to moderate cold-like symptoms in healthy, full term babies. Nearly all children catch this at some point by the age of two. Preterm infants, however, are born with undeveloped lungs and immature immune systems that put them at heightened risk for developing severe RSV disease, which often requires hospitalization.

I have had a few friends who’ve had their babies in the hospital for weeks and one that had to stay in there for months. Thankfully, none of the children I knew died from RSV but anytime spent in the hospital is too long.

-RSV infection is more likely to root in premature lungs where developing airways are narrowed and especially fragile.
-Preterm babies carry fewer virus-fighting antibodies—a precious gift from mom that all infants need while their own immune systems mature after birth.

Key RSV facts:

-RSV occurs in epidemics each year, typically from November through March, though it can vary by geography and year-to-year.
–RSV disease is the leading cause of hospitalization for babies during their first year of life in the United States, with approximately 125,000 hospitalizations and up to 400 infant deaths each year.
-RSV disease is responsible for one of every 13 pediatrician visits and one of every 38 trips to the ER in children under the age of five.
-Despite being so common, many parents aren’t aware of RSV; in fact, one-third of mothers have never heard of the virus.

If you visit a new baby:

-Wash your hands frequently—upon entering the home and especially prior to holding the baby. Parents, and the new baby, will appreciate it.
-Leave toddlers at home, especially during the winter months. Young children, especially if they attend day care or preschool, often carry germs and viruses, like RSV, that are easily spread.

Learn the Symptoms of Severe RSV Disease:

Contact your child’s pediatrician immediately if your child exhibits one or more of the following:

-Persistent coughing or wheezing
-Bluish color around the mouth or fingernails
-Rapid, difficult, or gasping breaths
-Fever [especially if it is over 100.4°F (rectal) in infants under 3 months of age]

How Can I Help Protect My Baby From RSV?

RSV is very contagious and can be spread easily through touching, sneezing and coughing. Additionally, the virus can live on the skin and surfaces for hours. There is no treatment for RSV disease once it’s contracted, so prevention is critical. To help minimize the spread of RSV disease, all parents should:

-Wash their hands and ask others to do the same.
-Keep toys, clothes, blanket and sheets clean.
-Avoid crowds and other young children during RSV season.
-Never let anyone smoke around your baby.
-Steer clear of people who are sick or who have recently been sick.

Did you read that above? There is no treatment for RSV disease once it’s contracted, so prevention is critical. That should get your attention.

World prematurity day is Nov. 17th so use this as an opportunity to talk with loved ones about their little one’s health and RSV prevention. For more information please visit RSVProtection.com.

Do you see those little buttons below here? Use those to share this post with your friends and family. Especially if you have a new baby, a baby on the way or if you know someone who is expecting or has a new baby please share this with them. RSV is a dangerous, dangerous virus and it could be a matter of life or death if not caught soon enough.

Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: Babies, MedImmune, Mom Central, RSV

Pampers Daylight Savings Sleep Tips #DDDivas #DivasSleep #Sponsored

November 7, 2013 by Ashley 22 Comments

This review was made possible by Double Duty Divas and Pampers. I was provided the featured product free of charge to facilitate my review, but all opinions are 100% mine.

My sister-in-law told me that the “Fall back” that came at the end of daylight savings time would be great until I had kids. I didn’t fully believe her but now I know exactly what she’s talking about. That extra hour of sleep is fabulous for adults who need to catch up on sleep but it can really throw off the schedule of little ones. Kids who normally wake up at 7, now wake up at 6. Less sleep is never a good thing for anybody but especially for a tired mama.

Here are a few of my tips from Kim West, LCSW-C, Sleep Lady Solutions, LLC on how to help your baby sleep better during time change {trust me, I’m taking notes}:

1. Many parents I have spoken to dread this time change as their children will be waking up even earlier, and previous early rising issues can become big problems. To help make ensure that your baby’s sleep doesn’t go completely off the rails, make a slow transition. Make a point to slowly adjust your child’s bedtime and naptimes an hour earlier, just 15-30 minutes a day for a few days before daylight savings ends. This way, your child will already be adjusted to the time change. While you’re adjusting naps and bedtime, make sure that you also adjust mealtimes in 10-15 minute increments to help ease the transition.

2. For children under 4 years old, its essential that we make naps a priority this time change. Quality nighttime sleep is dependent upon good daytime sleep. Make sure that your children are well-napped during the day so that when the time change takes effect having a later-

feeling bedtime isn’t as much of an issue. Between naps, make sure that your children are exposed to plenty of natural light; open the curtains, take an afternoon walk, or just play outside. To help your children adjust, about 30-45 minutes before naps and an hour before bedtime. Close the curtains, dim the lights and follow your soothing sleep routine. If you find that your baby is still having trouble with sleep even after a good day of naps, you may need to temporarily add a third late-afternoon nap, of no more than 45 minutes to help make sure that your baby isn’t overtired at bedtime.

3. To help your baby sleep more soundly, consider installing blackout curtains and using a sound machine. Although the days are getting shorter, there may still be some natural light present, especially in the morning as well as noise when you put your baby to bed. To mitigate these, install blackout curtains and use a sound machine to help buffer outside light and sound. Black out shades are great for children with early rising issues, which is often a problem after the fall time change, especially if your child was already getting up before 6:00 a.m.

4. While preparing for the time change (and after), use dramatic wake up to help your children adjust to the change. It’s entirely possible that after the change your baby may be waking earlier than normal. If this is the case, keep your baby’s room dark and quiet, and use a gentle method to encourage your child to go back to sleep; you may need to check on your baby and reassure that all is well, and remind them that it’s not quite time to wake up. At this point, you can either sit on a chair near the door or leave the room and do timed checks. If your child is over 2.5 years old, I recommend that you purchase a toddler clock or wake up alarm that signals them when its time to get up and start the day, as this will help your toddler stay in bed (and hopefully fall back asleep) until at least 6:00 a.m., at which time you open the blinds and make a big deal of “good morning”. Make sure that you expose your baby to lots of natural light first thing in the morning to help reset his circadian rhythm to coincide with the new time.

If you want to learn more tips, make to sure join us for the#PampersSleepChat!

Here are the details for our next #PampersSleepChat:

#PampersSleepChat Twitter Party Information:
The Twitter Party will take place on November 7th at 9pm EST. Chat about how the end of Daylight Savings Time can affect sleep patterns & get tips on easing the transition from The Sleep Lady, Kim West. RSVP here!

Prizes include:
$50 AMEX Gift Card, $25 Children’s Place Gift Card, Pampers product and book by Kim West. $100 AMEX Gift Card, Pampers Product, series of books by Kim West Grand Prize: $500 AMEX Card to purchase sleep items such as a black out shades, video monitor, etc.

To participate, follow your hosts: @DoubleDutyDivas, @BridgetteLA, @CeceliaMecca @AngieKcom @WhatMommiesNeed @RamblingChick, our sleep expert @TheSleepLady , yours truly @Beauty4Moms, and our sponsor @Pampers.

Stay social with Pampers by following them on Twitter and “liking” them on Facebook!

Want to win some free Pampers? Enter now!

Giveaway: Enter via the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win a pack of Pampers Baby Dry Diapers and a pair of Children’s Place PJ’s!

Winner will be chosen Nov. 20, 2013 at 9 am EST. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: Double Duty Divas, Pampers

Aflac, Health Care Reform, & Open Enrollment Information #MC

November 6, 2013 by Ashley 10 Comments

Are you ready for Open Enrollment? I’m not one who likes to discuss insurance or do paper work but I’ve come to understand that it’s an important, or even essential, part of life.

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting (#MC) for Aflac. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

Even though I hate discussing insurance and the thought of doing paperwork gives me chills I know it’s important to have the best health insurance possible for my family…and I let me husband take care of the paperwork.

I felt confident in my knowledge of our health insurance coverage, until that is, all this talk about health care reform. Understanding the requirements of health care reform is crucial to knowing how it will affect me and my family and how we can plan for the future. Our family is fairly healthy but if we didn’t have insurance we would be hurting!

Aflac shared with me a few startling statistics that I want to pass on.

The 2013 Open Enrollment Survey found that:

– 74% of workers sometimes or never understand everything that is covered by their insurance policy today.
– Now, nearly 4-in-10 (37%) workers think it will be more difficult to understand everything in their health care policy with the changes dictated by health care reform.
– Nearly a third (28%) of employees are confused, worried or simply unsure about the change their employer is making to their health care coverage or benefits options due to health care reform. {Surely that number is higher, right?}
– 60 percent of workers have not begun to educate themselves about coming changes to their benefits package due to health care reform. {Now that I believe!}

Here are a few things that can help you to better understand your insurance coverage and make sure you have the best plan for you and your family. I’m definitely going to share these tips with my husband so we can discuss our plan.

Aflac’s Top Tips:

– Prepare ahead of time: Be aware of annual insurance policy changes and compare your new benefits package to your policy from the year before. Do your homework to ensure you choose the right policy that fits your family’s needs and make sure that all of the health insurance costs you’re responsible for are within your budget. Also, review the deductibles and additional out-of-pocket costs for health care services and pharmacy purchases you’ll be responsible for paying to ensure your plan offers the coverage you need.
– Don’t make assumptions: Ask your HR manager if your policy options changed to include new benefits made available by health care reform.
– Check your spouse’s benefits package: Your employer doesn’t have to offer insurance to your spouse and as costs increase, more companies are cutting this option. Even if your employer does offer your spouse insurance, the company is not obligated to pay anything toward the premium. If your spouse has access to employer-sponsored health insurance through his or her job, it may make the most financial sense to purchase two individual policies as opposed to one family policy.
– Don’t double up: Health care reform legislation requires plans in the individual and small group markets to offer essential health benefits like pediatric vision and dental and, chronic disease management services. Check all aspects of your major medical plan so you know what is covered and what isn’t.
– Examine premium costs carefully: Cheaper isn’t always better, since plans with the lowest monthly premiums likely mean you’ll pay more in co-insurance and receive less coverage. That may be the perfect plan for your family if you have a savings account built up but make sure you choose the plan that is right for your family.
– Consider supplemental insurance such as accident, hospital or critical illness plans to help reduce rising health care expenses.
– Take a look at Aflac’s Open Enrollment Resources.

Open enrollment season is coming soon so take the initiative and make sure you and your family have the coverage you need to maintain your lifestyle even if the unexpected happens.

Do you have any insurance tips to share? If so, please share them in the comments!

Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: Aflac, Insurance, Mom Central

New Storybook to Detect Vision Impairments

October 18, 2013 by Ashley 4 Comments

This is a guest post from my friend, Justin, who told me about a fascinating new book that helps detect vision problems in children. I asked him to share a little more detail with you all and I’ll now turn the post over to him. Thank you, Justin!

A new storybook has been developed to provide an early indication for possible visual problems in children.

In order to help their child develop into a happy and healthy adult, parents have a lot of different considerations and choices to make, particularly when it comes to health and education. With experts claiming that 80% of a child’s learning is processed via the visual system, ensuring that a child’s eyes are healthy and that their vision is good is an important aspect of development.

Optical Express have always been firm believers of this concept. As one of the UK’s leading eye care providers, they are often the first point of contact for parents who are concerned about nurturing and monitoring the eyesight of their children.

It’s no wonder then, that when a unique charity initiative aiming to improve the early detection of possible vision issues in children was brought to their attention. Optical Express were delighted about being asked to get involved.

Glasgow Caledonian University’s department of Vision Sciences designed and developed Eye See a Dragon in the Glen. It is a children’s storybook with a difference. As well as being an engaging story about hunting for trolls up in the Highlands, this book also carries out two important visual eye checks during the reading process. These checks include testing visual acuity to find out if both the eyes can see clearly. It also includes a suppression test using 3D glasses to ensure that both the eyes are able to work well together.

John Morgan, Business Development Director at Optical Express, said, “The idea to create a fun and interactive book for children to enjoy that will also help to detect any vision issues early on is a stroke of genius.”

Optical Express have funded a large-scale print run in order to support the aims of this initiative. They have also bought 1,500 copies of the book for distribution to families that cannot afford to buy a copy of this valuable resource for themselves.

Ken Lewandowski, the Scottish Business Challenge, thinks that Eye See a Dragon in the Glen has the possibility of selling well in the future in both the UK and even abroad. He goes on to say: “The funding from Optical Express will ensure that this is only the beginning of the success story for this brilliant book.”

The profits raised from the sale of the book are going to Children 1^st. This is a charity in Scotland that helps children have happy and safe childhoods.

Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: Vision

Breast Cancer Awareness Nails

October 4, 2013 by Ashley 10 Comments

It’s that time of year again…time for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This annual campaign not only helps to increase awareness of the disease (because most people are aware anyway) but it’s a time to encourage everyone to take steps to detect the disease in its early stages.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month I wanted to do a little nail art. I picked up the ribbon stickers at a discount party store this summer when they were on clearance but I’m sure a quick Google search will tell you where else you could purchase them from. The white nail polish featured is the color Kate from the Julep line and the pink is the color Strawberry Macaron from the Dazzle Dry line. I use Kate in just about every nail art project I attempt and you can see Strawberry Macaron featured in my Easter egg nail art.

(Also see: Restoring Your Skin, Hair, & Nails After Chemotherapy)

In what ways are you promoting Breast Cancer Awareness Month?

Filed Under: Nails, Tips