Zaggora Hot Pants Review (Part 2 of 3)

I recently purchased a pair of these pants.

Have you seen them around? They are literally the HOTTEST fitness trend sweeping the nation. 

I was extremely skeptic, but in this case curiosity trumped skepticism and I have now finished week one of my Two Week Challenge. (The Two Week Challenge, involves wearing the Hot Pants every day for at least 30 minutes.) 

Unfortunately my first observation with Zaggora is that they have less than desirable customer service. For example: when I contacted them about writing a review of their product they told me that I would receive a coupon code to offer my readers...  2 months has gone by and I still haven't received that code. (I'm still working on it guys! Don't lose hope yet!) It also took foooorreevver for my pants to ship. However, when they finally arrived I could hardly wait to take them out of the package and put them on! 

Live Your Favorite Book!

We are so excited to kick off our  Cheap or Free Summer Fun Series with you!

I'm willing to bet that your kids have a favorite book--or maybe a favorite series? Little Critter? Frances? Berenstain Bears? A great cheap (or free!) summer activity with the kids is to bring their favorite books to life. Not only are books great inspiration for kid-friendly activities, but it makes reading that much more exciting for your kids!

My girlies are fans of the ever-mischievous Curious George. Turns out that cute 'lil monkey goes camping--and what's more summery than a campfire and s'mores!? 

Step 1: Gather Supplies.
Cost: approximately $5. My parents have a fire pit and wood, so we only had to buy the ingredients for the s'mores.

Step 2: Read the story with the kiddos.

Step 3: Recruit your handsome-pants husband to wrangle up a fire for ya.
Confession: It was my amazing husband who thought of this idea. He is a genius.

Step 4: Invite friends and/or family and roast yourself some goodies!

Step 5: Enjoy the goodness!

A note of caution: Watch out for the tiny ones. They're stealthier than you'd expect!

What book would you choose to "live" with your kids?

Click HERE for more fun summer ideas!

Zaggora Hot Pants Review (Part 1 of 3)

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack!

And oh how I've missed you! 

I've missed a lot of things over the last few months.... like sleep for example. But look how cute!

Yeah. He's worth it. All of it. He's even worth the extra 20 lbs I'm still lugging around. 

Having a newborn baby is hard. Don't get me wrong. I am SO in love with this little man I can hardly stand it. I spend a good portion of my day snuggling with the kids on the couch, nibbling on his chubby little cheeks and covering him in kisses. (Hence the significant decrease in housework.) I love being a mom. There is absolutely nothing else I'd rather do...  but lately I feel like I have a one way ticket on the hormonal express train to crazy town. I'm re-learning what it's like to do everything one handed while swaying back and forth in a constant rocking/bouncing motion. (Because if the bouncing stops, the small child in my arms will inevitably implode. ) I'm up to my neck in housework, I'm eternally sleep deprived, and constantly covered in highly questionable bodily fluids. 

Hard stuff right? But do you know what the hardest part is for me? 

The baby weight.

Seriously. For me it is hands down the hardest part about having a newborn. I'm a fairly healthy gal, but with each pregnancy my hips get bigger and bigger, and it gets harder and harder to loose the weight. A friend of mine who also just had a baby said to me, "I feel like any woman who can survive pregnancy, labor, and still somehow manage to care for themselves, an infant, and keep their household running deserve nothing short of a gold medal!" I say to heck with a gold medal! I'd settle for being able to fit my pants over my caboose!  Who's with me!? 

All bodies are beautiful. I get that. I know I should be proud of the extra inches, and the shiny stretch marks that cover my stomach like a road map, after all, they are marks of love. But that doesn't change the fact that the only thing that fits me right now is my sweat pants, and now that it's hot outside and I actually have to go into public every once in a while an old pair of sweat pants isn't going to cut it. 

I'm a pretty active gal. I work out 5 days a week, and I follow the weight watchers core program... and yet the weight will. not. budge. My frustration led me to my dear friend, Mr. Google. He and I did some research and I came across a product I had never heard of before- Zaggora Hot Pants. 

They claim to help you lose inches by literally making you HOT, so you're burning more calories (As explained in this video clip.) 

I actually laughed out loud at the very idea. Psshhh, who believes this stuff?

Apparently I do. Because I am now the proud owner of my very own pair of Hot Pants. 

I couldn't help it! From the moment I first heard about Zaggora Hot Pants I started noticing them everywhere: In magazines, on the news, youtube, facebook etc. Every single review I read was positive. After another two weeks of these pants popping up everywhere, I finally gave in and ordered a pair. After all, the universe was telling me to do it! It was a sign! (And yes, I know it's because I googled them and computers are smart these days... but just go with me on this.) 

How many of you have heard of these miraculous pants before? Have you tried them? Have you ever wondered if they actually work? Well, you're in luck! I'm going to be your guinea pig. I'm going to take the 2 week challenge and tell you ALL about it! 

Stay tuned to hear about my first week wearing my Hot Pants, including a truly hilarious story about my first time wearing them to Zumba. Trust me, it's good.  I'll give you a little hint: it involves the words "bubbles" and "puddles." 

Don't even pretend you're not curious. :) 

Father's Day is Almost Here Again!

Hi there!  I know we've promised summer fun, but I need to get my Father's Day card up here so you can print it and cut it if you'd like.

It's a simple card, perfect for all of the men in your life--they don't want anything fussy, do they?  I did allow myself a tiny bit of baker's twine and ribbon, but I tried to balance them out with some manly staples.

If you'd like to use a Silhouette:
Silhouette Card Base
Silhouette "Dad" File

If you'd like to print and use scissors:
Dad Printable PDF
Card Base PDF

Cheap or Free Summer Fun Series

Summer is here and school is out.  Am I excited or terrified?  A little of both, I'm afraid... so many fun things on the horizon--and so much free time.  How shall I stave off the "I'm booooooorrreeed"s?

This calls for a serious plan of attack, folks!

And so, the Cheap or Free Summer Fun Series is born.  We here at One Lucky Pickle will post a new idea every couple days, which will keep us sane and our kids busy.  Hopefully our collection will be a quick source of ideas for you and your family as well!

Will you join us?

To the Depths of Despair and Back Again

To be honest, I didn't lose ALL my pictures, just all of them from the last two years...no biggie right?

Yeah...

I was a stressed out, bawling, mascara everywhere mess.  Not a pretty picture.

I reformat every once in a while, and I KNOW what I need to copy onto my external hard drive.  I did, in fact, begin copying everything, but my computer glitched in the middle (which is why we were reformatting in the first place).  I recopied every other folder, but for some reason, missed my pictures folder!  Gah!  It had copied up through mid 2010 before it got messed up.

In despair, I whined on Facebook, hoping that someone would know a way to fix it.   Someone said to call PC Laptops--a computer repair store in our area.  I wasn't hopeful--I knew they could pull files of of damaged drives, but could they find files I had erased on purpose?  They said probably not--and it was a $50 deposit, plus nearly $500 if they managed to retrieve files.

Uggggh.  The frivolous part of me teamed up with the sentimental part and tried to tell the frugal part that these pictures and memories were worth every penny.  But the logical part stepped in and reminded everyone that there wasn't much hope they would find anything anyways...

Thankfully, my knight in shining armor stepped up to the plate and started searching for data recovery programs. He found Recuva.  There was a free version, which I didn't have much hope in, but the paid version was only about $25--a price that made my frugal self AND my sentimental self dance for joy.  But first, I would try the free version, to see if it could find any files and give me hope.

Mom likes her roses recycled--with a side of ink, please.

It is a gift that's delicious AND practical: after she eats the candy, Mom has something cute to write with.  And these flowers will not die!  Hooray!  Plus, theoretically, it SHOULD make a pen easier to find--though mine are being used as Harry Potter wands as we speak...

I have most of this stuff lying around my house--I bought the pens, because I get a kick out of having the pen actually write in the color of the flower... (little known fact, I'm a pen fanatic--as a child, I'd blow my allowance on Gelly Roll Pens at the craft store)  but you can use any pen, as long as it will write!

Look for floral tape at any craft store with a floral section.  It's quite inexpensive, and one roll will last a good while.

You can use any kind of tape--I just couldn't find my cheap masking tape at the time we took this photo!

The skewer can be anything long and stick-like.  You could use your pen if they have a smooth shaft (mine don't).

I am using a recycled salsa jar because I love the shape.  Plus, I have a million in my craft room and the hubs won't let me save any more unless I use some of the stash!

Use double sided paper (not cardstock).  Most of my stash IS cardstock, so I ended up printing my own using digital scrapbook paper (I used paper from Zoe Pearn's "Birthday Girl" kit--pretty much my favorite in the world).  Think how cute book pages, newspapers, or magazines would be!  Really, I don't know why I don't just make flowers all day long--I'm that excited about it.

Then I cut this shape out using my Silhouette.  But never fear if you don't have one!  You can still make this project!!  There's a tutorial here that shows you how to make a template for these flowers using a coffee can.  There's a tutorial here that has a simpler one--which will make your roses turn out differently, but they are very cute and easy too!