Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!



Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!! Giveaways ending between now and Sunday will be closed as scheduled (even if I'm not at the computer to write **closed**) Entries submitted after the ending date and time will be deleted before a winner is drawn. I will not pull anymore winners until Sunday evening or Monday morning! We'll be traveling and with family. It's time to cook, eat, and enjoy family and friends!
*Image Credit: The Graphics Fairy

Winners!



Winner of the Snap-EZ One Size Pocket Diaper:

 Congratulations Rachel!



Winner of the Emmaya Naturals Wool Wash and Lanolizing Product:
 

Congratulations Jill!


Winners have been confirmed.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Comfy Rumps Pocket Diaper- Review and GIVEAWAY! (2-pack!) **CLOSED**


 ...where our mission is to provide high quality cloth diapers that make cloth diapering an affordable and easy alternative...


Comfy Rumps is a Canadian based company that seeks to provide quality yet affordable cloth diapers by cutting out some unnecessary costs such as branding and special packaging. I think this is a wonderful idea! This blog isn't called "The Cheap and Choosy" for nothing. I like to be frugal, but still value good quality. My experience so far with this product makes it fall right into both of those categories. I'm all about cutting out unnecessary things to make things simpler and more economical.


Let's face it, most cloth diapers are expensive, even though less expensive than disposables in the end (unless bought in excess), the upfront cost is still often hard to swallow, at least for me anyway.

One size diapers are a great way to save since they are supposed to fit from birth to potty training more or less, you don't have to buy a whole new stash of diapers each time your baby grows out of a certain size. However, one size diapers are more expensive than sized diapers so the upfront cost can be discouraging, and even then you get a lot more use for your money!

Comfy Rumps combines the savings of a quality one size diaper for an affordable upfront cost! That is saving right there. As I've shared before, pocket diapers are now my preferred daytime cloth diaper, and I'm excited to know that there are very economically priced diapers that are great quality!

About the creators of ComfyRumps (taken from their website):

"ComfyRumps.com Diaper Services was born on a rainy November day in Vancouver, BC by Christie and Trey. After paying over two hundred dollars for 11 name brand diapers, and noticing 11 diapers was enough for a day and a half (max!), we decided washing them every day was not another chore we wanted to add to the list. Soon after, we launched our company with a great single product! Today we are continually working to provide affordable and environmentally friendly diapering alternatives to families across Canada and the USA.
Our goal is not to make a killing on selling diapers and diaper services.  Our goal is to ensure that after our time, our children, grand children, and future generations can proudly say “Our parents/grandparents did their job to ensure we can breathe clean air, and drink clean water”.  Our modern world war is the war on climate change and pollution.  We are all responsible for making sure that our future generations do not suffer from the way we choose to live today.  Nearly everything comes in disposable versions these days offering convenience in many aspects of our lives, but at what cost? We are proud to say we are trying to do our part, to promote a healthy planet for future generations and we strive to offer encouragement and education to everyone we can in order to help them do the same"

Comfy Rumps offers a variety of affordable pocket diapers.  On their site, you can find:


PUL One Size Pocket Diaper with Velcro Closures

PUL One Size Pocket Diapers with Snap Closures


Minky One Size Pocket Diapers
Organic Bamboo Diapers





I received this PUL one size pocket diaper for review:




The outer layer is polyester PUL, the inner material is a extremely gentle micro fleece. Each diaper comes with one 3 piece microfiber soaker, each soaker can last up to 3-4 hours. The diapers have 3 snaps on each wing, and 2 rows of snaps. 



My Review:

This diaper fits my little one extremely well. I have found it to be an extremely great value because the microfleece and PUL used are nice and seem to me to be totally on par with that of many more expensive brands. Not only that, but the snap settings are very convenient and assure a good fit for any size baby.


I actually prefer this diaper so far to most snapping diapers that I have so far in terms of  ease of use and good fit. There are four snaps for possible leg settings, and the bottom snap on the wing is far enough back to pretty much qualify as a newborn side snap which will help assure a snug fit and prevent wing droop. I can easily find a perfect fit for my little one. They are indeed "comfy"!

It also has cross over snaps so that it can be snapped up teensy tiny!

This is definitely one of my favorite pocket diapers, and without further ado, here it is on my 13 month old 20 pound baby:







Buy it!

You can purchase this diaper for $8.75 (Canadian Dollars) at www.ComfyRumps.com! (Um...wow!)

Current Promotion: Buy 18 diapers get 4 free diapers, 1 free wet bag and 4 free soakers!**
or Buy 12 of any diapers and get 2 free**

Win it!

Comfy Rumps is offering one very blessed reader TWO Comfy Rumps pocket diapers!

Here's how to enter:

Go to Comfy Rumps' website and come back here and leave a comment letting me know which product you are most interested in and/or something you learned!
(Leave a separate comment for each entry. Include your email address if it is not easily accessible through your blogger profile.You do not have to have a blogger profile to enter, as long as you leave a valid e-mail address.)

Additional Entries:

Like Comfy Rumps on Facebook.

Follow Comfy Rumps on Twitter.

Make a purchase from Comfy Rumps.

Blog about this giveaway.

Tweet about this giveaway using @ComfyRumps, @Cheapnchoosy, and #clothdiapers. (Up to three times daily.)

Like The Cheap and Choosy on Facebook!

Follow The Cheap and Choosy via Google Friend Connect.

Follow me on Twitter.

Grab my blog button and leave a link to where I can find it in your comment.

Subscribe to The Cheap and Choosy via email.


Comment on one of my non-giveaway posts. (One entry per post commented on.)

Get two entries for posting the Fluff Your Pockets! button on the main page of your blog. Just leave a link to where I can find it.

This giveaway is open to Canada and the U.S. until Dec. 23, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. EST. The winner will be chosen using a random number generator. I will email the winner, who will have 48 hours to respond. If winner does not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen. I will post the winner when the selection has been made and confirmed by the recipient.

This is not a paid post. I received the product for review free of charge. The opinions expressed are completely my own! You can see my full disclosure here.

Monday, November 22, 2010

In the Kitchen this Week: A Work In Progress


Lately I have not been posting much about learning to cook since I took on quite more than I could handle with review and giveaway events. I had no idea how challenging that would be since I started planning for it when Lydia was sleeping and eating the majority of the time.  That was quite a few months ago. Around that time I also had begun learning to cook from scratch. I was excited about finding ways to simplify our grocery list and eat more naturally, and that is what got me motivated about cooking, along with the timely purchase of  More With Less Cookbook.

I'm looking forward to focusing on cooking again in the coming year. I am continuing to plug my way through More With Less Cookbook, and plan to continue to do so until I have found all of our favorites and have made them enough for it to be second nature.


Here are a few random things I've learned along the journey so far:

~ Yogurt is a perfect substitute for sour cream. Really. I know it doesn't seem like it would work on a taco but it totally does, and it's healthier too!

~ Salt really brings out flavor...try adding a bit more salt before adding anything else.

~ Freezing meat in one cup portions majorly stretches your meat supply and your budget. It also makes cooking simpler. More With Less has a lot of recipes that you can used chopped chicken, ground beef, or any left over meat that are very tasty.

~Homemade pizza sauce and spaghetti sauce are both easy to make. We no longer keep Ragu and Papa John's in business.

~We don't keep Pillsbury in business anymore either since biscuit dough turns out to be easy to make and can be used in my all time favorite recipe in place of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls.

~Bread crumbs are really easy to make yourself...just save the heels or any bread that got a little too dry but hasn't gone bad in the freezer and when you have enough, toast it at about 250 degrees until it's hard all the way through...crush or process in a blender or food processor. For Italian flavored crumbs, add garlic powder, salt, sugar, onion powder, basil, and oregano. (I add a teaspoon of each of those per approximate cup of crumbs).

~We no longer keep whatever company has the best coupons out for Ranch dressing in business either since we discovered a simple but DELICIOUS oil, vinegar, and garlic homemade salad dressing recipe.

~No more Cream of {Whatever} soup for us! A basic white sauce at the right thickness provides the perfect substitute...add chicken stock for cream of chicken and the possibilities are endless!

~Kellogg's, General Mills and whatever other producers of boxed cereal no longer have our business either since it's overnight steel cut oatmeal in the crock-pot, homemade granola, or eggs and toast for us in the mornings!

~You can grow lentil sprouts on your counter, and they work great in stir fried dishes.


Things I really need to work on are:

~Learning to make some easy healthy snacks.

~Storing homemade bread without it drying out.

~Dealing methodically with the bigger mess and increased amount of dirty dishes that cooking this way creates.

~Remembering to start things ahead of time that need to be chilled, sprouted, etc.

~Chopping up vegetables that I know I'll need ahead of time and storing them in the freezer/fridge accordingly.

~Some simple but tasty vegetable side dishes. (Trying to incorporate a few that sound yummy this week.)

~Figuring out what I'm doing wrong when I try to make tortillas!

~Making realistic menu plans... :)
 

*Image Credit: The Graphics Fairy