loohoo wool dryer balls giveaway

By on September 13, 2013 in giveaways, Uncategorized

Allow me to introduce you to today’s giveaway.  Introducing Loohoo Wool Dryer Balls.

From the Loohoo website,  “Loohoos are a reusable, energy-saving alternative to dryer sheets.  We proudly offer high-quality wool dryer balls that are made in Maine using domestic wool.  Together we can help protect our family’s health and the environment.”

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They are giving one lucky winner a wonderful set of Loohoo wool dryer balls.

When I got the opportunity to review today’s giveaway, I decided to do it because even though I know how to make my own dryer balls, not everyone does and those who do know how to make them might not have the time and they really work.  In the past 4 years that I have used my own dryer balls, I have saved a ton of money on my electric bill.  Why?  Because not only do they dry your clothing faster but you can forget the need for fabric softener as the wool balls beat the clothes soft in the dryer and get rid of static cling.  My dryer has a sensor that shuts it off when it senses that the clothing is dry.  Without dryer balls my loads usually take about 45 minutes to finish, with the dryer balls it cuts it down to 30 minutes.  The four loads I did with the Loohoo wool dryer balls went down by 5 minutes or more each time.  That makes me happy.

Aside from the money savings, have any of you ever inquired as to what is in fabric softener?  Horrors!  Dryer sheets are just as toxic, they make a film on your clothing and your lint trap and they can cause a fire from the film that accumulates.  Poppa loves fabric softener so I used to spend a fortune at Whole Foods on their softener and wool dryer balls replaced that need for us.

Funny, that she sent me yellow because I happen to be one of my favorite colors!  I love the muslin bag they come in and I want to show you what I noticed when I first opened the package!

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Do you notice how much bigger they are than mine?  Huge!  And not only that but my homemade ones are wrapped and felted, the Loohoos are wet felted and I didn’t expect it but my clothing is softer when it comes out and drying even faster.  I guess bigger surface area works better.  Now to be truthful, I don’t use my dryer all that much sometimes but there is one sure thing about Florida in the summer, as soon as you put one thing on the line, a torrential downpour will come out of no where.  Summer and winter I end up drying my clothing in the dryer a lot.

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So in the end, I thought I was helping you all out by sharing a great product and ended up being a customer myself!

Now, with all these giveaways going on I want to put this out there.  I have been very careful about choosing companies that only reflect the values and goals that I have chosen for my own family.  If it is not inline with living a natural life then you won’t find it here.  Sometimes, I am sent a product to try and give my opinion, sometimes I already use the product so I tell the company not to send me anything and just do the giveaway.  I have received a couple of products which I have not shared with you because after using them I chose not to.  Please be sure that I will only share products with you that I use would or do use with my own family.

To enter just leave a comment.  For more chances to win share this on Facebook, Tweet it, share it on your own blog and then come back and tell me how you shared it, you get an entry for each one that you do.  Good luck and the giveaway ends next Friday. The lucky winner will be announced right here in this post next Friday morning.  I have posted the winner to last Friday’s Knitting book giveaway at last Friday’s post.

Edit:  Thank you to all who entered!!  I hope you will all make a purchase if you didn’t win.  They post weekly specials here

The winner is:

Jacki said: These look like something right up our alley. My son has extremely sensitive skin so we currently use nothing. We can’t use anything at the market because his eczema will take a bad turn. Can’t wait to try these!

Jacki,  Please get in touch with me at farmishmomma@gmail.com and we will get your prize out to you!!

Comments { 73 }

on his first birthday

By on September 12, 2013 in Birthday Celebrations

 

 

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So hard to believe that is has been a year since I had Matthew.  If you have never read (and want to read) my birth story, you can see it here.  Of course, Matthew had no idea that today was any more special than any other day but we all spent the day soaking in the realization that we have had him to love for one whole year.  Matthew is such a funny little guy.  He keeps us laughing everyday, all of us.  We spent the day in full birthday celebration and preparation mode.  He loved it all.

The little ones and I dipped some new beeswax birthday candles to make up for forgetting to dip him one during Candlemas.  Of course you can’t just dip one candle because this is one of our children’s favorite activities, so they each made one and we put them away.

The girls felt he needed a new pair of Farmer Boy pants and we still had a bit of that chicken fabric that I used in his nursery, on his quilt (which you see on the table there under the cake), in the bunting that hangs over his bed and so it was the perfect fabric to use for the pockets.

I made the Farmer Boy pants from one of Poppa’s suit shirts which he got a teenie bit of bleach on.  The shirt is almost perfect except for that so I used the sleeves and will put the rest of the shirt away for a boys quilt later.

The birthday crown has a bear on one side because Matthew means bear and he is totally a little bear.  On the other side of the crown is a rainbow to symbolize the fact that he is a rainbow baby.  He came to our family to heal hearts in so many ways but mostly mine.  To heal my momma’s heart from a baby that I never got to meet and from Alexandra getting married  just three weeks after he was born.  I truly don’t know how I would have gotten through this year without him but he has made everyday so beautiful.

Erica and I baked a honey cake and we took advantage of all the basil in the garden to make a lemon, basil frosting for the cake.  It was just like eating summer, so bright and fresh!  I may need to make this frosting again in the winter when we need a pick me up.  The honey cake is just sweet enough to be a cake and was perfect with the sweet, tart frosting.  I think I may use the same recipe to make the cupcakes for his birthday party in 2 weeks.  So good!

Matthew got frosting all over his new Farmer boy pants and birthday crown and just about everywhere else.  He loved the birthday song so much that we ended singing it a few more times to get him to keep clapping.  While we were singing for the umpteenth time, he stuck one foot in the cake and then both hands, so fun!

Yesterday was the first time he has had any sugar other than what is already in fruit.  I should probably explain that I don’t give any solids to my babies until they are pretty close to a year old.  It is a but challenging at times but it is best for their digestive system as babies do not have the enzymes to digest most foods such as grains until they are nearly a year old.   Two months ago he began with avocado and bananas and then all the fruits and veggies and then we added beans and eggs, then slowly dairy and meat and then finally grains such as crackers and bread and yesterday he got sugar!!

I got to sneak a little cuddling time before he went to bed and I must say that I was very surprised that he did not react to having sugar but instead fell right to sleep in my arms and I got to rock him for a bit before I too was falling asleep.  And then the moon came to take his first birthday away and it was over.  This morning, I promise you he looked bigger to me as I heard him talking to himself in his bed and went to pick him up.  I got that same toothy smile he gives me every morning and then my heart swells and we start the day.

Thank you to all of you,  really!  Your coming along with me this year and sharing all of my little proud momma moments with him are near and dear to my heart.  I have cherished every comment and email and if I haven’t said it in a while, let me say that I feel so blessed to share our journey with you.  Thank you!

I will be back tomorrow with a really cool new giveaway from a wonderful small business and also announce the winner of the baby knits book.  Hope to see you back here tomorrow.

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