Dander, Dust Mites & Dirty Air Be Afraid…Be Very Afraid


Zoey and Jack equal one impressive pet dander factory.


This giveaway is closed. The winner is LizP who commented May 5: “All the features are great, I like it most that it is ultra quiet.”


Edited to Add: I had the price point of the purifier incorrect – it is a $499 value, and not $399 (I had published the sale price.) The price has now been reflected in the post. Thanks ya’ll!


There are many things I consider cool. And yes I may be 42 years old but I still know my cool people!


Allergies? Not cool.


Modern, sleek, hip looking air purifier like something out of the Matrix? Cool.


Not long ago I was invited to an Oreck AirInstinct Air Purifier launch party here in Nashville. I had no idea what to expect but it was a lovely evening and I was impressed with Oreck’s very down-to-earth CEO, Doug Cahill, who seemed genuinely excited to speak with local bloggers about how Oreck was using social media to help spread the news about its new line of air purifiers. Oreck may be an old school company, but they are embracing the future.


I know what you’re thinking…Oreck? Aren’t they those fancy pants vacuum people?


Yes. Yes they are. They are also based here in Middle Tennessee, which I must confess I did not realize, AND they also are now manufacturing an incredible line of air purifiers.


Living in Nashville is pretty much like living in a pollen burrito. I tend to have seasonal allergies in the spring and fall…Bradford Pears kill me. My poor husband, however, has been tested twice in his life for allergies (you know…the lovely pin prick your arm to pieces test) and is basically allergic to everything on this planet except for pet dander. Lucky for him as we have two dogs! Score one for the canines!


You may think that dirty air is limited to the great outdoors, but it’s not. The air in our homes has pollen, dust, pet dander, and smoke particles that are so microscopic and lightweight that they can remain suspended in the air for hours. In fact, according to the EPA, the air inside your home may be up to 5 times more polluted than the air outside.


I was really excited to bring home a beautiful, and I am not being sarcastic, sleek AirInstinct 200 air purifier from Oreck. Not only is it a very contemporary and hip design, but it’s quiet (although you can turn the fan on higher for white noise which I personally love while sleeping)  and the HEPA filter lasts for THREE YEARS. Three years! That’s longer than a Kardashian marriage my friends.


Other features I love:

  • It cleans rooms up to 248 sq. ft. (we’ve been using it in our master bedroom)

  • It’s ENERGY STAR® qualified

  • Its smart air sensor features automatic shut-off, so it only cleans the air when it needs to, and 4 speeds

  • A fun color changing feature (that can be turned off at night) shows you when the filter is really working…it’s like cool mood lighting

And now for the really fun part.

One very lucky BlondeMomBlog reader will win an AirInstinct 200 Air Purifier from Oreck, value at $499!


Simply visit Oreck online and take a look at their line of air purifiers and then come back and leave a comment here about what feature most appeals to you..

For up to six additional entries to this giveaway (please leave a new and separate comment on this post for each of these you do):

  • Let me know if you are a fan of Oreck on Facebook

  • Let me know if you are a fan of BlondeMomBlog on Facebook

  • Follow Oreck on Twitter

  • Post to Twitter the following: I entered to win an incredible $499 @Oreck air purifier on @BlondeMomBlog!

  • Follow BlondeMomBlog on Twitter

  • Follow BlondeMomBlog on Pinterest

I’ll select a winner from all eligible comments using Random.org; giveaway closes at midnight CST Monday, May 14. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents, ages 18 and up. Winner will be notified via email and will have 24 hours to respond before a new winner is randomly selected.

Disclosure: I received an AirInstinct 200 air purifier to test and keep from Oreck and attended a party to learn more about the product.

Happy Fifteenth To Us

Today I am celebrating 15 years of marriage to this handsome guy.


I’m reposting something I wrote in 2009 because it sums it all up nicely. I’m also puppy sitting for my nephew today and holy cow is it a tad nuts with a puppy and two dogs around here!

Originally published in 2009 – Did I Shave My Legs For This? I Sure As Heck Did

Tonight the hubby and I are going out for a romantic Italian dinner to celebrate our 12th anniversary.

12th...

Holylordjesusonhighhowdidthathappen?

Actually he and I met in high school in 1987 so just calculate that all you young whipper snappers. I can still hear Bon Jovi and smell the hair spritz.

Our actual anniversary is tomorrow. We exchanged vows outdoors at beautiful Shadowbrook in Joelton, Tennessee. It nearly rained. But it didn’t. After spending the night at the gorgeous historic Union Station Hotel in downtown Nashville, we honeymooned in Key West at the lovely Simonton Court Bed & Breakfast and Inn in the heart of Old Town, which the hubby had researched and found on his own in hopes I would love it. And I did. It was perfect. We flew from Nashville to Ft. Lauderdale and rented a convertible so we could drive into Key West with the top down in true island style.

Here we are in April 1993 at a bar in St. Augustine. Note that we had not dated in several years when this picture was taken by my roommate.

st-augustine-19931

I’m giving him the look and he’s giving me the look. My roommate swore I drugged her every night during this trip because she would zonk out to sleep early (I’m sure this had nothing to do with us drinking all afternoon and night) while the hubby and I made out like wild rabbits in love.

I had driven down with my roommate from Nashville to Jacksonville Beach, Florida, to visit him and he honestly thought he might hit it off with my roommate. All I’ll say is he and I had a pretty up and down “past” so I can’t blame him for wanting to stay away from me. But he couldn’t. And neither could I. I mean look at us.

Here we are just four months later at his apartment in Jacksonville. (Note to self, I believe this is the tannest I have ever been in my entire life as I spent 10 days at the beach with nothing to do all day but hit the beach while the hubby worked.) I flew down by myself via ValuJet Airlines, remember them? I’m sure you know where this is going.

jacksonville-august-1993

Here we are cleaned up with nary a longneck beer in sight and looking like an up and coming couple in the fall of 1996 for our engagement portrait.

engagement-1996

A very good friend of ours who is a photographer took our engagement portraits on the campus of Vanderbilt University, which is where I was working at the time. For the longest time I could not part with that red suit. I still have those earrings.

This was taken on our wedding day and WHOA can you say flash photography? I loved my bouquet. My dress is hanging in my mom’s walk-in closet and I hope one of my girls will wear it some day.

wedding-day

Here is our caravan of love, our getaway Suzuki Sidekick adorned with many beer cans and some sort of translucent inflatable object on the antennae which I shall not name since our oldest daughter is now reading. You stay classy friends!

sidekick11

Our marriage, like most, has never been about the “perfect,” but it has been wonderful and it has never been dull and I would do it all over again.

I love you babe. Here’s to many, many more years of happiness together.

Cherish The Cookies (And The Crumbs)

 


My girls in 2009, back when they had no tomboy gag-reflex aversion to the color pink or to wearing adorable matching nightgowns. Sniff!


Lately I’ve been truly stressing about the “messiness” of our house. I may have resorted to some unfortunate coersion (i.e. screaming) over the weekend because my girls left their breakfast dishes out AGAIN.

There is good messy and bad messy when it comes to this parenting thing, though.

Cue the violins.

Grab a tissue. 

Go ahead…I’ll wait.

My advice to all you moms just starting out on this fantastic voyage of swaddling and sippy cups (my “baby” just turned 7 years old so I’ve been at this a while) is to appreciate the big messes that only little kids can make. Treasure your trashed house. Embrace the chaos. That’s right. Relish the water on the bathroom floor after an epic bubble bath with Barbies and bath toys, appreciate the sticky PB&J handprints on the refrigerator door, cherish the cookie crumbs.


Because you know what? One minute you’re sweeping up cookie crumbs and the next minute you’re consider colleges.


Now remind me to read this the next time I go ballistic over unclaimed cereal bowls.


Speaking of cookie crumbs, today is National Oatmeal Cookie Day and I wanted to follow up to the sponsored post I wrote for Quaker last month AND announce the winner of the $75 VISA gift card and assortment of cookies from Quaker’s new cookie line. Deanna G. who commented April 1: “I’d like to get the garage clean & organized,” is the winner. Congrats to Deanna!


Some fun facts about National Oatmeal Cookie Day from my friends at Quaker:

  • The oatmeal cookie was originally invented in the late 1800s during Rome’s attempts to conquer England.

  • Two of the most famous fans of oatmeal cookies are Susan Sarandon and Bethenny Frankel.

  • Oatmeal cookies are the second most popular cookie.

  • 75 % of U.S. households have oatmeal in their cupboard (including mine!)

  • Americans consume roughly 2 billion cookies a year; some reports will say about 300 cookies per person a year.

So there you go. If you’re ever playing trivia at a sports bar with your kids (not that we’d ever do that…ahem) and you find yourself challenged with some particularly perplexing cookie triva, you are so totally going to rock that category.

You’re welcome.

What kind of kid messes are you going to miss when you’re kids are grown? 

Disclosure: This is the second in a series of sponsored posts from Quaker. As always, all opinions and words are all mine.

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