Mar 28, 2013

The Squatty Potty

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This is a post I have been on the fence about how to approach. I mean how does one talk about poop on the internet in a way that is about wellness and health.

I finally came to the conclusion that you just can’t. So instead of being proper, formal, and all medically (yep that’s a fancy word) about poop I’m just going to be me. Open. Honest. And sometimes just a little full of shit.

BLAHAHA who saw that joke coming from a mile away?

So yes this post is about poop. Heads up. POOP POOP POOP. Let’s get all the giggles out there. If you are ok with POOP talk, keep reading. Otherwise check back tomorrow for a much lighter topic.

So anyway, back to business a few months ago I received an e-mail from my mom exclaiming that she had a magical remedy for constipation and that she just purchased 2 squatty potties for her home. One for my dad’s bathroom and one for her’s. She proceeded to say that on top of her own purchase she also mentioned to the company that she had a daughter that may be interested in reviewing one of these potties.

Mother knows best right? Something like that.

Not even 24 hours later I got an e-mail from Bobby over at Squatty Potty asking if I would indeed be interested. Hell, why not!

So before I tell you what I think, you probably are wondering what the heck a Squatty Potty is. Honestly their website can tell you much more than I can but to summarize it it’s like a stool specifically made your bathroom and designed to work with your toilet. It elevates your feet in a way that encourages proper toilet posture. Proper toilet posture can lead to relief from unwanted butt issues like hemorrhoids and constipation but also can create faster and easier elimination (a really fancy work for pooping), improve colon health, reduce bloating and straining, and to quote the creators to “create a better bathroom experience.”

Say that again. A better bathroom experience. Now, doesn’t that sound nice?

Whether or not you want to admit it to the world, you want a better bathroom experience. Everyone does. I’m just not afraid to write it on a blog for the world to see. Anyway, like I said I HIGHLY recommend that you check out their website that has a video (no worries no poop or even real people in this video- just a simulation) that really explains both proper toilet posture and the benefits of the squatty potty.

sp sp2

So anyway, my purpose of this post? Other than to make both you and I just a little bit uncomfortable is this…

It actually works!

I’m not a big fan of as seen on TV (even though my Husband TOTALLY is which has led to a massive amount of kitchen toys) but this makes sense conceptually and seems to actually work in reality. I received this potty at the beginning of February and I have waited until now to review it but I wanted to be sure I could actually give a review. Something like this doesn’t happen overnight.  I can’t really review it for its ability to improve colon health necessarily but I don’t often (or ever) get my colon checked out but I can say with 100% confidence that it has reduced bloating and has made for a better bathroom experience.

Plus, it’s a great conversation starter when someone comes to visit and sees that thing in the bathroom downstairs. “Ummm what is that thing” We should really consider putting it in our private master bathroom upstairs. But then what else would make our guests that uncomfortable in the first 5 seconds they walk in the door.

Plus, as an added bonus, my husband asked me the other day if I felt like I was “addicted” to the squatty potty. I didn’t particularly like the language of “addicted” because I was by no means ready to go to an addicts meeting that exclaim “I AM ADDICTED TO MY SQUATTY POTTY” but yea Tim yea maybe I am addicted to a better bathroom experience.

And proud of it.

So if you have any bathroom, let’s just call them “issues” or you are simply wanting a better bathroom experience (which in that case means that you have bathroom “issues” but you probably don’t want to admit it) then I say read about it and make an informed decision for you. I think it works. My husband (although not addicted- he has self control) thinks it works, my mom thinks that it is works (haha she wasn’t getting off that easy without referencing her love for the sqautty potty) and my dad thinks it works (sorry dad- love you)

Heck, even my 4-old niece told my mom that she liked “Poppa’s squatty potty better.” When my mom asked why her answer was simple… “it just works better Nay Nay.”

Now, I’d call that a great bathroom experience.

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Dec 3, 2012

Pinterest Takes Over

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It is possible that Pinterest is taking over my life for the holidays.. but in the most fabulous way!!

For example, this centerpiece is inspired by Pinterest

And it’s so easy! Here is how you can do it and customize it your way…

Use any 3 pieces of glass you have around your house or go to a craft store and pick one up or even check out Walmart where you can get one of the same pieces I used for cheap! Pick 3 Christmas items that you love. I love candy canes, bows, and ornaments. Be simple… don’t get too crazy. Fill up your glass with your favorites… color coordinate if you want to go crazy. I love red and silver for the holidays but I also love all of the colorful pink, blues, greens, and purples in style this season. This year was classic- but who knows what next year will bring.Use it as a centerpiece for your kitchen table, coffee table, or a simple display pretty much anywhere! So simple.

Another Pinterest idea I executed with my friend Ann was the white chocolate snowmen I found. I also want to do this with Peyton but wanted to be sure I was able to execute first haha. They turned out so stinkin’ cute.

And they were simple! Here is what Ann and I used (we actually combined 2 different Pinterest ideas:

  • We used white ” ” sticks that we purchased at hobby lobby and put 3 normal sized marshmallows on the stick so that the top marshmallow was at the very top of the stick
  • We melted vanilla chocolate discs from Hobby Lobby in the microwave and just swirled the marshmallows on a stick in there
  • Throw those babies on some waxed paper
  • We assembled the hats (1/2 mini oreos with rollo candies)
  • We put on the eyes with a toothpick and melted chocolate discs
  • We used regular writing icing for the carrot nose
  • We used sprinkles for the buttons which we attached with Kayro syrup
  • We put toothpicks through the middle marshmallow for the arms and attached 2 mini marshmallows to each end
  • We adhered the hat to the top marshmallow with the Kayro syrup

Learnings and suggestions

  • Don’t use regular writing icing for the carrot nose- it’s not meant to dry very well
  • Dip the mini marshmallows in the vanilla chocolate discs too otherwise they look really white compared to the body. But do them one at a time. We did try this first but failed
  • To make the hat easier either don’t use 1/2 the Oreo and just stick the top part of the stick through the rollo OR use chocolate frosting to adhere. They slid off too easily
  • Make sure you have a way to dry them!

Pretty simple process… and was a lot of fun along the way! You can see more pictures below!

Tis the season and I’ll tell you what Pinterest has been making it A LOT of fun =) I am excited for another Pinterest play date with my sister and Peyton this upcoming weekend.

Happy Holidays!!

and if you haven’t done it yet, check out yesterdays post to win a $25 Gift Certificate to GO SPORT ID!

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Nov 22, 2012

Things I would do if I was unemployed…

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First off, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I hope you are enjoying some turkey and tasty treats! I’m not going to be enjoying the stuffing because of the Advocare challenge and I will miss that pumpkin roll but hey it’s worth it!

thanksgiving3

Today’s post is simple… the things I would do if I didn’t have to go to work!

Sometimes I wish I didn’t work.

By choice. Not by force.

Because I think of all of the many fabulous and wonderful things that I could do throughout the day if I wasn’t gone for 8-10 hours. So after some careful thinking I came up with a list of things I would do on any given day if I wasn’t at work.

  1. I’d make breakfast every single morning. French toast? yes please with powder sugar and syrup. Eggs and bacon? That’s just a given. I’d make my husband breakfast too and I think he would like that
  2. I’d juice every day. I could juice every day now but in the morning I scramble to get out of the door and at time I don’t want to go through all the hassle of clean-up and just the whole process. Now if I was home all day that would be different. I would happily spend time juicing.
  3. I’d run in the middle of the day. Well in the Winter I would do that, in the Summer I would run when I first woke up. But in the winter there is a small window in the middle of the day when it is actually warm out. Wouldn’t that be nice to run during that window? PLUS it wouldn’t be dark when I was running. Oh the thought of it makes me happy.
  4. I’d do a load of laundry a day. So that I didn’t have to do 10 loads on the weekends.
  5. I’m sweep my floors… a lot. Because I don’t like little Molly being a vacuum cleaner on the hardwood floors.
  6. I would get some healthy vitamin D in the summer. Hopefully I wouldn’t get too much but I am not a huge fan of looking like Casper the ghost. At work most people do.
  7. I’d drink more water.
  8. I’d eat more throughout the day… but in a good way.

So those are the things that I thought of that I would do IF I didn’t have a job/have to go to work every day.

 

So, what would you do?!!?

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Aug 28, 2012

Let’s Get Serious

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It’s a day that ends in y and ya know what that means… it’s time to get serious. So today we are going to talk about these things…

toilet_seat_cover_1

Not entirely sure what they is… here let me help you out.

toilet-seat-cover

So maybe we aren’t getting too serious but it’s just something I need to know about.

I work in an office and yea there are quite a few people here. And we have those wonderful little paper friends in every single stall and I have become increasingly curious as to who actually uses them. I feel like every time I am in the bathroom I always hear the paper toilet cover get pulled out which would lead me to believe that majority of people use them. When I googled toilet seat covers I was surprised to find out there are certainly a bunch of people out there that have also wondered (like me) and often times feel passionate about these little paper guys. Most of the articles I found, like this one, pretty much say that they are primary good for your customers ease of mind and that they aren’t really doing anything for the person. And my favorite quote from the article was this one

“The only way you will catch a sexually transmitted disease is if you have sex on the toilet itself with a person who has a disease.”

Well shoot, there goes my weekend plans.

I tried to find out if a certain % of people use these things but either there are not a lot of studies done on toilet seat covers (shame on those manufacturers) OR people don’t like talking about this kind of stuff so it’s just not a topic that is brought up a whole lot. In any case I wanted to know so I started counting people in the bathroom that I would hear grab one while I was also in there. 6 out of 10. That is 60% people. That is more than half.

It’s time I admit… I’m part of the minority this time.

I don’t know why but I’ve never used these things. Honestly, I think it is because they used to intimidate me a little bit. They look weird and I just wasn’t sure how they actually worked. I mean I got that you put it on the toilet, sat on it, peed/did your business, and then it what? could get flushed? had to get thrown away? These questions made me NOT want to use these and even now that I know you can just flush these things, I never reach for them.

Let me back up for one quick second actually. Typically, like most of the women out there, I squat in public restrooms (which I actually just explained to Tim this past weekend when I was disgusted by the person that peed on the toilet at Sam’s Club and didn’t whip it up- yuck) but at work for some reason I don’t  think I have to. I thought about why and here is what I concluded

  • By definition it is not public. You have to have a badge to get into the building which is where the restroom is located. Public implies any member of the general public can get in.
  • People at work are clean. I think. The girls here always look nice, their clothes are ironed (yea except mine), their high heels are shiny, and they look very put together. They clearly clean their butts every day.
  • I have things to get done! I don’t have the time to fiddle with toilet seat covers- I’m in and I’m out. End of story.

Ya know what else I wonder… those girls (all 6 of them out of 10) that used a toilet seat cover when I was in there pretending to be opening a tampon but really just seeing if they would use a cover, do you ALWAYS use that? Or were you just using it because I was in there WITH YOU? When you are alone in that bathroom do you still use it?! I guess I’ll never know.

I wish there was more to say on this topic but I think I’m all out of juice. Something I wondered… something I did a survey on (against the will of others if I thought about it) something I researched a bit online (because it is after all the most reliable source of information) and something I have now shared with you.

So are you bold enough to say… DO YOU USE A TOILET SEAT COVER?

And just for the records- if our toilet seat covers looked like this… I may be more inclined to use it.

toly-kids-childrens-toilet-seat-cover-family-pack-11-p

P.S. I hope you enjoyed this random but clearly very informative and important post!

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