Nosefrida: Better than the Blue Bulbs

I have to tell you about my new favorite product. It is a nasal aspirator called Nosefrida that works so much better than those blue bulbs. Baby Talk called it a Nose Hose, and that is basically what it is.

You take the plastic end and place it at the opening of the nose. Then you take the end of the hose and suck. It sounds so gross at first, but don't worry, there is a filter that makes it impossible for anything to get into the hose, thus ending up in your mouth. Everything stays in the blue plastic part. Then you pull it apart, clean the blue part with warm soapy water and replace the filter. That's it!

I love that the blue container is clear. That way I can see if I got things out or not. The end is also wider, so it provides a better seal in the nasal passage, thus allowing me to get more out. I hate using the tiny bulbs that don't clear everything because they are too small. This is nice and big and helped me clear a stuffy nose on a toddler. Now this was stuff I couldn't see, but I knew she was stuffed up because I could hear it. So this is one powerful sucker! The nice thing is YOU control the suction. It is safe to use on newborns up to toddlers.

We have recently gone through a bout of sickness, along with stuffy and runny noses. I bet all of you moms out there with toddler know how hard it is to try to get a toddler to blow their nose. It's pretty much impossible. And there's no way they are letting you near them with the bulb to help clear things out. I have to tell you though, my daughter loved this! She was a little cautious at first, but then once I did it, she thought it was funny. It didn't pull things into the blue container, but it got them all the way outside the nose, so I could quickly grab them with a tissue. After I was done my daughter decided she had to take it and play with it.

It took me a good long while to get it away from her!

Nosefrida was invented in Sweden by ear, nose, and throat specialists. There are plenty of testimonials on their site of people and doctors who think this is a great product. Want to see some clinical studies? They have those too! The best part is that this is a mom run business! Let's support mom businesses!

Nosefrida retails for $15 and comes with 4 filters. You can buy a pack of 20 filters for $2.50.

And for those of you thinking that this sounds great, and you'd love to try it, you're in luck!

Kaisa has offered to giveaway one Nosefrida to a lucky reader. And for all the rest of you who don't win, they want to offer a special deal. When you order from them and put my blog name, Sweet 'n' Sassy Girls, in the COMMENT LINE (not the coupon code line, their website is not yet set up for that), they will send one free filter bag with each order! Value is $2.50.

To enter

• Visit Nosefrida and browse around their site. Then come back here and leave me a comment telling me one of the places Nosefrida is carried.

For extra entries:

• Carry my button on your blog or add me to your blogroll (1 entry)
• Tweet about this contest and leave me the link to the tweet (1 entry per tweet)
• Favorite my blog on technorati (button is on the right sidebar) (1 entry)
• See that Share/Save button below? Use it to stumble/digg or kitsy this contest. (1 entry for each thing you do)
• Vote for me in the Dottie Awards under Best Supporting Blogger and Most Outstanding Performance (1 entry for each vote)
  

Contest will end Friday January 30th at 11:59 pm MT. Winner will have 48 hours to contact me, or I will draw a new winner. Open to US and Canadian residents.

Don't forget that if you order from them and put my blog name, Sweet 'n' Sassy Girls, in the COMMENT LINE (not the coupon code line, their website is not yet set up for that), they will send one free filter bag with each order!

For more fun contests, check out the bloggy giveaway carnival!

Winner of the Avon Giveaway

Thank you to everyone who participated in my live giveaway! Did you have fun? I think I'll do those more often. So out of 194 entries, the lucky number picked was number 124

Valeen who said,
I would love to try this makeup, but how do I keep my daughter out of it? She loves makeup too! (she's just too young to wear it!)

Congrats Valeen! You have 48 hours to contact me, or I will have to draw a new winner!

Avon Products LIVE Giveaway (CLOSED)

I was able to try out some great products from Avon not that long ago, such as this Essential Beauty Palette by Jillian Dempsey. Or this great Bamboo Reed Diffuser. Now being the makeup girl that I am, I loved getting makeup in the mail. It is a nice creamy make-up that dries to a powder. The colors were great, and went well with almost everything. I loved getting to try a creme blush. I've always wanted to, but never have. This went on very nicely and gave me a nice blushing glow. I loved it, and so did my daughter, as you can see here.


The reed diffuser is great too. I've never used a reed diffuser, although I love things that smell yummy. This one had a great look to it, and the Summer Blossom Bouquet scented oil that came with it was amazing! You simply pour a little into the white vase, and the reed pick up the oil and diffuse it into the air. I only used a little to start off, and my whole room smelled so nice! This is definitely something I will use all the time.


Well, you have a chance to win both of these products. I have a warm tone makeup palette and a diffuser to give away! I am making this a LIVE contest. Basically just leave me a comment on this post from now until midnight, and then I will use random.org to pull a winner. So the more you enter, the better your chances of winning!

The only rules are that they must be a full sentence. No counting numbers, etc. I don't care if it's spelled right or has the right punctuation. OK, so GO!

Wordless Wednesday- Look What I Got Into!

While you're here, please enter my LIVE contest to win some great products from Avon!

There May Be Some Hope!

There may be some hope in site with the CPSIA! Jenna from For the Love of Baby wrote to her officials office in Iowa, and she got a response from Senator Tom Harkin. Besides saying he was behind the act 100% and didn't think it needed changes, he said one little thing that gives me a ray of hope.

"I also recognize that this testing process may create a burden for small manufacturers. For that reason, I am pleased the law provides an exemption for crafters who only make one copy of each item."

This means that if I custom make everything, I can keep selling things!

I also heard that there was an APNewsAlert not long ago:

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House chief of staff orders federal agencies to halt all regulations pending review.

That means that they are examining things and might possibly change it! There is hope!

Here's a copy of the whole letter:

Dear Jenna:

Thank you for contacting me. I am always glad to hear from you.

I appreciate hearing your comments regarding the Consumer Product Safety
Improvement Act (CPSIA). I was a proud co-sponsor of this legislation.
This past year, Iowa's families were frightened by story after story of
dangerous products that had to be recalled. There were 472 product recalls
last year alone. From pet food to kitchen appliances, consumers were often
left wondering whether the products they were using everyday were safe.
One of the most upsetting occurrences was the news of toxic toys that
contained hazardous lead paint. More than 20 million toys were recalled
last year due to lead paint.

As you know, in order to better protect consumers, Congress passed the
CPSIA to provide new safety and accountability standards for manufactured
goods. It also authorized a much needed infusion of resources to the
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the federal agency responsible
for protecting American consumers. Recent recalls have made it painfully
clear that the CPSC is grossly underfunded and understaffed. The bill we
passed will ensure the CPSC can beef up its staff and provide the
oversight Americans expect.

One important safety provision included in the bill is the requirement of
third-party testing and certification for children's products. I believe
this is a crucial provision. It is vital that Americans know the products
they are purchasing, especially for their children, are safe. I also
recognize that this testing process may create a burden for small
manufacturers. For that reason, I am pleased the law provides an exemption
for crafters who only make one copy of each item. Furthermore, I
understand the Commission is examining an additional exemption for
products made from untreated wood or natural fibers. I am also hopeful
that as more testing companies are founded, the costs of meeting the law's
requirements will come down.
I do not, however, favor a blanket exemption for all small businesses.
Many recalls in the past have come from small manufacturers, and it is
imperative that parents know that a product does not contain lead, no
matter who manufactured it. While I am extremely sympathetic that this
requirement may be a significant burden for many small businesses, I
believe our children's health and safety must come first and testing is a
necessary safeguard.

Again, thanks for sharing your views with me. Please don't hesitate to
let me know how you feel on any issue that concerns you.

Sincerely,


Tom Harkin
United States Senator

Season 4 of "The Closer"

I have heard of the series, "The Closer" starring Kyra Sedgwick, but never had the chance to see it, since we don't have cable or satellite. When I was given the chance to review this, I thought it would be fun, so I jumped on it.

The show was just nominated for several SAG awards, including:

• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series: Kyra Sedgwick
• Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
• Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series

Being that I had never seen the show and I didn't know much about it, I went to the website for The Closer and read their summary. This is what it said:

Brenda (Sedgwick) is a former Atlanta detective who moved to Los Angeles to head a special police department unit that solves sensitive, high-profile murder cases. Brenda is a top-notch investigator and interrogator who pinpoints a suspect, traps them in their own lies and draws a confession.

Despite Brenda's brilliance as an interrogator, she is hopeless at LAPD politics and her many successes are contrasted with the challenges this creates. Brenda also faces conflicts with her fiancé, FBI agent Fritz Howard (Jon Tenney) and her parents . On the lighter side, she constantly tries to overcome her love of sweets, fighting cravings that surface each time she passes a vending machine.

I found this to be very true as I watched the episodes. The nice thing about this show is I could come in on the fourth season and not be completely lost. There are obviously some things I didn't get because I hadn't seen the previous shows, but for the most part, it was very easy to follow.

This series is somewhat similar to other crime fighting shows, but very different at the same time. First of all, the main person in charge is a woman. I found that very exciting. Second, they tend to get a lot more personal with the characters. It's not all about crime fighting. You tend to learn more about the character's lives than in other shows. Overall, I found it very entertaining.

The show will start again on Monday January 26th at 9/8 central, followed by the premiere of the new series "Trust Me".

Trust Me: A New Series About Good Guys and Ad Guys

I recently had the opportunity to check out a new series on TNT called "Trust Me." It premieres this coming Monday January 26th at 10/9 central.

It's basically about two guys, Mason (Eric McCormack from Will and Grace) and Conner (Tom Cavanagh from Ed) who work together as partners at an ad agency. Mason is the responsible one with a wife and kids, and Conner is the impulsive one who is single and carefree. Their friendship and partnership gets put to the test when Mason is promoted to Creative Director, above Conner.

Joining those two are: Monica Potter (Boston Legal) who plays Sarah Krajicek-Hunter, a new copywriter who is brilliant, except at shampoo comercials, Griffin Dunne (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) who is the big boss man Tony Mink, and Geoffrey Arend (Garden State) who plays Hector and Mike Damus (Lost in Yonkers) who plays Tom, together they make up a junior creative team that tend to have untraditional ideas.

Trust Me follows these memorable characters as they try to navigate the waters of inter-office politics, personality conflicts, easily bruised egos, professional jealousies and unreasonable client demands.

My husband and I found this series very amusing, and I would love to continue watching it. Too bad we don't get TNT. The characters were funny, the plots were unique, and we thought it was very well done overall.

Below is a short clip from the pilot. Make sure you check out the whole show Monday night at 10/9 central on TNT.

Winner of the Flabuless Arm Slimmer

We have a winner for the FLABuLESS arm slimmer! The number picked by random.org was

#125 Julie D! who said:

I added your button

Thanks for everyone who participated and congrats Julie! Please contact me within 48 hours, or I will have to pick a new winner!

What Did You Do This Weekend?

We decided to paint our dining room. By we, I mean me. My husband just keeps the baby out of the way. Not too hard when we can put a gate up to keep her out of the room! I think I got the raw end of the deal here! If I didn't do it though, it never would have been done. Our walls were plain white before. When we moved in to this place about 2 years ago, we said we would paint slowly. I was pregnant and couldn't do it, and the whole house was white. After looking at plain white walls for a while, I decided to start painting. So far I have the front room done, with a sponged technique, and now the dining room. So the whole first floor of our house. (Well, except for the 2 walls of the kitchen which I decided was way too much work to try to pull out the stove and refrigerator, etc)


So I worked hard, and finally got it done, and I love it. Our kitchen counter tops are green, and our kitchen and dining room are connected, so I decided it would work out. It's a little darker than I expected, but I think it looks great.


Then I went to pull the tape off.


Crap. I guess the tape we had wasn't very good. And yes, it bled through everywhere. Now I have to go buy some good tape, and tape everything off again, and re-paint the baseboards and the ceiling. Good thing I do have some paint to do that with.

It just made me so mad to take all that time to tape everything off, and now I have to do it all again. It would have been better if I didn't tape things off at all! That's the part I hate the most. I don't mind the painting, but I hate the taping. Oh well, I guess that's my project for this week!