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Invisalign, the new alternative to metal braces

This is a Sponsored Post. The company who sponsored this post compensated me via cash payment, gift or something else of value to write this post. Regardless of payment I only recommend products and/or services that I would personally use and that I believe to be a good fit for my readers.


Eight years, that’s how long I had braces. Eight painstaking YEARS. Whenever I discuss my braces story with friends or even new Dentists they all say pretty much the same thing, “eight years is a really long time”. You’re telling me folks.

It all started the year the photo on the left was taken, look how bitty I was. Ignore the awesomeness that is known as the fanny pack, jelly shoes, leggings and over sized sweater worn as a dress. Yeah it was the late 80’s early 90’s what can I say. I didn’t get my braces off until right before high school. So all through elementary and middle school I had braces. To say I didn’t smile often would be an understatement. Or if I did smile I did it with my mouth closed because in addition to the braces I also had to do the rubber band from my top teeth to my bottom teeth. Two rubber bands in my mouth to be changed daily. The only thing I was fortunate not to have to get was head gear. I ended up getting so used to smiling with my mouth closed that even to this day I do not like to smile with my mouth open. What I wouldn’t have given to not have to deal with braces. And to think Invisalign started being used by Orthodontists in 1999, one year after I had my braces removed. 





















Invisalign has brought the world of brace’s to a whole new level. By taking away metal braces and introducing removable aligners they have quickly become the favored choice between adults and teens alike. By using a series of clear plastic aligners that fit flat on your teeth you take away the pain from getting metal braces adjusted, use of rubber bands, possible cuts from metal wires coming loose or brackets falling off. I experienced all of the above with my braces, I even had a wire pop off and go straight into my cheek! 


Benefits of using Invisalign:

  • Because you can remove the aligners there are no restrictions on what you can or can’t eat! That’s right no more grabbing a giant jaw breaker and gnawing on that just because you were told you weren’t allowed to.
  • Adults, teens and even pre-teens can smile with confidence while using the aligners because unlike metal braces Invisalign aligners are almost invisible. 
  • Since you don’t need to constantly have adjustments done as you do with metal braces you will have fewer orthodontic visits. For us busy moms this is big as I am sure it is for teens as well, because who wants to be bogged down going to the ortho every week.
  • You can start seeing progress with your teeth in as little as 90 days! 
  • And one of my favorite benefits is NO more goopy clay like molds that make you gag as it drips down your throat….shudders, that is one feeling I will never forget.


Okay now in all honesty here, can you tell she’s wearing aligners? I can’t and as a former braces wearer I think it’s awesome and I may or may not be slightly jealous of the amazing options that are available now. Have you or someone you’ve known used Invisalign? If so, what was their experience? Would you consider getting Invisalign?

If you’d like to learn more about invisible braces offered by Invisalign you can visit their website hereYou can also find them onTwitter as well as Facebook. An interesting tool they have is the Smile Assessment where you fill out questions and they will send you an email with results of why Invisalign could be a good option for your or your teen.


This is a Sponsored Post. The company who sponsored this post compensated me via cash payment, gift or something else of value to write this post. Regardless of payment I only recommend products and/or services that I would personally use and that I believe to be a good fit for my readers.

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V2 Cigs Giveaway

This is a sponsored post. The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to write it. Regardless of payment, I only recommend products or services I would personally use and believe to be a good fit for my readers.
 

A lot of smokers  live in a state of denial. Denial that smoking is bad for them or denial that it stinks, or that it’s doing them harm, or that it actually gives them the calming affect they’re seeking. Smoking actually raises your heart rate and blood pressure so even if you think you may be relaxed your body is not. I know this because I used to smoke. I smoked off and on for ten years. Starting at the age of 14 I picked up a smoke and that was that. I still remember the very first time I smoked with my friend Rachel. I kept thinking gosh this is so bad if my Mom finds out I am going to be in soooo much trouble, which of course meant I couldn’t not do it. I didn’t smoke constantly, that came later. I was very good at hiding it too. I became some what of a pro at it which looking back is probably not as good as I thought it was. It may have been better to get caught and then I may have never smoked for so long.

But alas that was not how things worked out. I quit each time I found out I was pregnant and this last time I didn’t start up until after my youngest was a year old. I wouldn’t have started back up but I went through some very emotional struggles and caved. See I was an emotional smoker. If I was angry, sad, wanted to celebrate I would smoke. If I drank alcohol I smoked. If I was reading a really good book that I couldn’t put down I tended to chain smoke. I used smoking as my selfish reason. I told myself I knew what I was doing to my body and I didn’t care. It’s the one and only selfish thing I do and I enjoyed it so why should I stop. I liked the smell and I loved smoking. And then my husband got diagnosed with COPD. I knew then it was time and I had to quit not just for myself but for my husband and my three kids. I wish I had thought to use Ecigs then because I’ll tell you what, the withdraws from nicotine….NOT fun.

Here’s a few reasons Ecigs are a great alternative to regular cigarettes:

  1. Ecigs are less expensive than buying regular cigarettes (if you order the kits and not just the disposable Ecigs that you can find at  convenience stores).
  2. You can also save even more money by visiting www.ecigarettereviewed.com for coupons.
  3. Electronic cigarettes contain NO tobacco. That’s right zero tobacco which means NO second hand smoke. They do have nicotine which is delivered through the vapor which you can get in assorted flavors and nicotine strengths.
  4. You can choose from four different nicotine amounts so they’re a great tool for people trying to quit. If one thing that you really struggle with is the hand to mouth gesture you can use a zero nicotine Ecig so you can still do the gesture without having any of the nicotine. 
    1. The four different mg you can choose from are: 
  •  Zero
  • Light (6mg)
  • Medium (12 mg)
  • Full (18 mg)

To find out more information on Ecigs be sure to check out this V2 Cigs Review where they go into depth on everything about Ecigs.

If you are trying to quite smoking, know someone who may be considering quitting or simply want to switch to Ecigs instead of regular cigarettes, Ecigarette Reviewed is hosting a V2 Cigs “Express Yourself” Giveaway where they are giving away a total of 50 V2 Cigs Express Kits and the V2 10-Flavor Sampler. Every week for the first three weeks of the giveaway there will be 10 winners announced and 20 winners will be announced on the last week of the giveaway. So be sure to enter the V2 Cigs Giveaway as you have lots of chances to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is a sponsored post. The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to write it. Regardless of payment, I only recommend products or services I would personally use and believe to be a good fit for my readers.
 

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Shutterfly’s Home Decor Giveaway

The first official day of Spring is March 20th. That’s only nine days. One week two days. Two hundred and sixteen hours. Either way you put it it’s coming up quickly! For me Spring time is a wonderful time, the flowers start to bloom, the trees get their beautiful green back and the weather warms up enough for everyone to play outside. The other thing I love is the annual spring cleaning of the house. Okay I lied, I loathe it. I am unorganized and cleaning is my least favorite thing to do BUT I do it anyways every year around this time. My favorite part of spring cleaning is rearranging. I typically rearrange the kids rooms and the living room. That includes the furniture, the bookshelf and the pictures. I try to mix up the photos adding new one’s and rearranging current one’s to give it a fresh look.

Right now I have zero photo’s on my mantle. In fact I may or may not still have my Christmas town scene on my mantle. For shame I know. But once those come down which will hopefully be soon I will need to put something else up there. I love showcasing my family and what better place to put it then above my mantle right. I think this classic Monogram Black Canvas (middle pic) would fit perfectly above my mantle or maybe the Love Collage (left pic) would go better or what about Acrylic Print? Shutterfly has an entire Home Decor section online with sixteen different photo decor products.

    • Canvas Prints
    • Fleece Photo Blankets
    • Woven Photo Blankets
    • Dimensional Wall Art
    • Desktop Plaque
    • Acrylic Photo Block
    • Mounted Wall Art
    • Photo Cubes
    • Acrylic Prints
    • Plates
    • Cups
    • Ornaments

    Between all the different design options with each product the options are endless and Shutterfly recently added two new products to the line. New Canvas Print Designs –  and New Decorative Wall Decals. The Flower Power decals are absolutely adorable and would look perfect in my daughters room around her window. Even the colors match perfectly with her walls and bed spread. Adorable isn’t it?


     

    Tomorrow March 12th join Resourceful Mom for the Shutterfly Pinning Party. You can find out more about the party and RSVP here. I encourage you to check it out, a party with Amy is always guaranteed to be fun!

    Today I get to offer you all a fabulous giveaway for a 5×5 Photo Gallery Acrylic Block that you design plus shipping from Shutterfly.  


    Mandatory Entry:
    Visit Shutterfly’s Home Décor page and comment with your favorite item that you’d love to have in your home.

    Additional Entries:

      • Follow @Shutterfly on twitter (leave your username in the comments)
      • Follow @Shanamama9197 on twitter (leave your username in the comments)
      • Tweet “I just entered a @Shutterfly 5×5 Photo Gallery Acrylic Block #giveaway from @Shanamama9197 you too can enter to #win http://bit.ly/10y8a1z” (Leave the url of your tweet with your comment)
      • Follow Shanamama on Pinterest (leave your username in the comments)

      Giveaway ends March 19th at 11:59 pm CST and is open to residents of the US only.

      UPDATE: Giveaway is now closed and a winner has been chosen. There were two entries that came in on March 21st after the giveaway was officially closed so there were only 73 official entries.

      Congratulations to……….commenter number 18, Debbie Jackson with the lucky comment 
      “I love the photoblankets”. Debbie I will be emailing you right now.

      I have been compensated with product in exchange for participating in this campaign. All opinions expressed therein are my own.

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      Get unjunked with UnReal

      A few weeks ago I had a party with a few friends and their kids to introduce them to a new candy line called UnReal. I have been looking forward to this for months because I had tried the candy before and at first bite I new we would make the switch. I have tried many times to give up on sweets but every once in a while I caved and of course I always felt horribly guilty afterwards. But now I don’t have to feel half as bad with UnReal candy. No it’s not a candy claiming to be fat free, it’s even better. UnReal is candy that is unjunked. And by being unjunked it has no hydrogenated oils, no corn syrup, no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no preservatives AND no GMOs!

      And for me (one of) the best parts….it tastes amazing. Imagine eating a peanut M&M and biting into the tiny thing in the middle. Yeah it’s crunchy but does it taste like a peanut? Eh not really. Now when you have UnReals UN 54 aka Candy Coated Chocolates with Peanuts the first thing you notice is how big they are, then you bite into them and realize dude those are actual peanuts in there and they really taste like a fresh roasted peanut.

      I absolutely love that I can give in every once in a while and let my kids have candy and not have to worry about what is it the candy. How many different words I can’t pronounce, how many additives, etc. And I may sneak a bite or a whole candy bar for myself once in a while too. I asked my youngest who is four which one is his favorite and he said “all of them”.

      Here are a few pictures from our party.

      The loot
      In each bag UnReal provided a breakdown of ingredients and nutrition information for each candy

      The boys all played Wii Fit while the girls hid in the room and played dress up after the party

      Here is a fun little video that digs a little deeper into the story of UnReal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOOeNvls7qc

      If you’d like to try UnReal candy for yourself but haven’t seen them in your local store. Don’t fret! You can find UnReal candy at CS, Walgreens, RiteAid, Food 4 Less, Kroger, Fred Meyer, Staples and more.

      This is a sponsored post in part with Global Influence Network and UnReal. While I was supplied products and compensation to host my party all opinions therein are my own.

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      Getting my family organized with AboutOne

      I will be the first to admit that I am not the most organized person. My filing system is lackluster and I tend to loose things almost daily. But one thing I always bring with me every where is my phone. And the most important item on my phone would be my calendar. With three kids that will all be starting school in the fall as well as my husband attending the local University, keeping up with schedules is very high on my priority list.

      One site that I have been using to help keep me organized with the coming fall is AboutOne. Setting up your account is very easy and not very time consuming. In my book that is a huge plus because there’s nothing more frustrating then spending hours upon hours setting something up only to let it fall through the cracks over time.

      This great online organizer offers many different ways for you to keep your family organized. Here are some of the selections offered:

      • Health Records
      • Education Records
      • Home Inventory List
      • Home Maintenance and Improvement Log
      • Vehicle Records
      • Family Address Book
      • Family Memories and Scrapbook
        Learning how to how to get organized is new to me but something I am really enjoying with AboutOne. Adding contacts is super simple. You can add them individually or you can import them from Google, Facebook or from a file. And it’s not just names and phones numbers, you can add birthdays, anniversaries, addresses, a link to a facebook profile and even to a twitter profile. You can also tag a contact as an emergency contact and you can separate your contacts into different groups such as family, friends, work, etc. If you’re a visual person there is an option to add a persons photo to their contact information. It’s genius I tell you!

        Another great feature is that you can share certain things with people of your choosing. For example, you have a child with allergies and you have a new babysitter coming over to watch the kids. Instead of having to continually write out instructions in case of an emergency or what foods and/or activities to avoid you can quickly print out your babysitters instructions from the information you have saved in your profile.

        Calendar and documents is currently being developed so not only will you be able to import important documents into your account but you will be able to sync your calendar as well. AboutOne has an app for Windows phones which can be downloaded for free here. And for those not using a Windows phone they are developing an app for both iPhone’s and Android based phones which is scheduled to release later this year.

        One of the many things I love about AboutOne is the security of the site. They have security that is higher then that of a bank security. What exactly does that mean? It means that not only do they use encryption but they also have auditing, logging, back-ups, and safe-guarding of data. Everything is monitored by three (YES three!) different companies. So you have literally no need to worry about your information getting into someone elses hands. I don’t know about you but that is a big win in my book.

        Here is a quick video about AboutOne in case you still have some questions.



        “I was compensated by AboutOne to review their online organizer. All opinions and text are my own.”

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        Creating Unique Mothers Day Gifts with YesVideo

        Those three kids are my heart. They made me a Mother and it is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. Mothers Day had never really been a big day for me, not because I don’t love being a mother but because I always felt I didn’t need a gift just because I was a mom. For me every day was a gift, one that I have been very blessed to receive. But (you knew there had to be a but coming right)in 2009, six years after becoming a mom I received my first Mothers Day gift from my son.

        As soon as we got home and he gave me my gift I took a picture of it. I know it’s hard to read so here is what the card says “Thank you for loving me. Thank you for cooking breakfast. Love Stephen”. A long with the card he gave me a plant in the most adorable little planter that he painted. Yes I cried, and my heart swelled at the most perfect gift I had ever received. I told him I would cherish it forever and never throw it away. The idea behind it was solid, except that part of my gift was a plant and sadly I have a black thumb. I took such good care of my little plant, I even somehow managed to keep it alive for almost a year but one morning I woke up and found the plant wilted and just not looking good. I had no idea what could have happened since the day before it seemed to be doing so well. And then I noticed the planter. It was molded. ::::Insert tears:::: I knew it had to be thrown away. I had to break my promise of keeping that gift forever. You may think I was over reacting a little but I am very sentimental and an emotional person and it was my very first Mothers Day gift. 
        Every once in a while I look back on these photos and I am so glad that I snapped a quick picture because now I have a way of remembering that special gift as if it were yesterday. And now I have turned it into a tradition of sorts. 

        Each year if my children make me a Mothers Day gift I photograph it. This was last years gift. Warning, if you are the type that easily cries you may need a tissue when you read the poem that was attached to the back of his hand print.

        One thing that I absolutely love about receiving gifts from my kids that they’ve made at school or home is that they are all unique Mother’s Day gifts. There will never be one that is exactly same. Even if they have the same concept behind them they are all different because the person behind it is not the same. And who knows, maybe when the kids are older I will take all of these photos I will have collected and make a gift for my kids like a DVD. YesVideo offers tons of services in preserving your memories to DVD’s, whether it be via video tape, film, memory cards or prints. They do it all. In addition to being online they are also located in several major retail stores. And of course you can find them on Facebook http://fb.com/yesvideo and Twitter: @YesVideo and even Pinterest http://pinterest.com/yesvideo. Be careful on Pinterest though, they have a bunch of amazing boards on there and you may spend hours just browsing through.


        *This post was sponsored by YesVideo in honor of Mothers Day. All opinions expressed here 
        are my own.*