Magnetic Paint Review

I want to talk about this great idea for magnetic paint. I love the idea and think it can have so many uses.  We bought a can of it (quart) to use in the remodeling of my son’s basement bedroom.  Then I talked to a company and they offered to send me some to do a review on, which he did.  He told me to make sure I followed the directions carefully because that can make a big difference in the results you get.

My Thoughts on the Magnetic Paint

My son measured out the area that would allow for the 2 quarts of magnetic paint that we had.  I told him to read and carefully follow the directions.  He did and used several coats of the paint. He did use ALL of the paint which I was told was important and if you did not you might not have good “stickability”.  I was also informed that a special magnet called NEODYMIUM magnets were the best to use. I did not buy them, so that might be why I had problems.

It looks great!  He is thrilled with it.  But here are the issues.  The magnetic properties are VERY weak.  The picture of the hand kept sliding down.  I do plan to get some  of the magnets though and if that is the case and they stick good….this is FANTASTIC.  If not…then I would recommend that each thing that goes up has several magnetics to hold it. The magnets that you should use for it are called Neodymium magnets.

If you Plan to Use Magnetic Paint Remember:

1) Follow directions carefully and measure size of space. 25 sq ft per quart.  Use ALL of the paint in the can.

2) Buy the proper magnets.  Neodymium magnets

Peel and Stick Chalk Board.

I also reviewed this 4×4 foot piece of peel and stick Chalk board.  I was pleased with it.  It went up like wall paper. Try to smooth it out so that you don’t get air bubbles underneath. That was good.  The magnetic power was like that of the magnetic paint. If I used several magnets I could get a piece of paper to stay. If I used one…it was not strong enough. My guess is that the Neodymium magnets would work for this too.

It worked fine as a chalk board, and cleaned up better (as most chalk boards do) with a damp towel.

They also have dry erase peel and stick. Tip: Don’t try dry erase marker on your chalk board….it doesn’t wipe off. Don’t ask me how I know…oops!

This review has taken me several months to get up.  I have e-mailed my source several times stating I was finally getting the review up but did not hear back. So I am not going to have a giveaway with it because I can’t be sure he will respond.

Disclosure: I did purchase 1 quart of magnetic paint myself. I did also receive 1 quart and also the peel and stick chalk board to review.

Pouchee Review

Go check out the review that Angela from Mom’s Fortress of Solitude
She did the review as part of Global Influence Holiday Gift Guide.
She just learned what I learned a couple of years ago…the pouchee is a great product!

There will be a giveaway this Saturday Dec. 11th for a sitewarming twitter party. So watch for it!

Ocean Isle Inn – Last Day

These are pictures from Wednesday which was our last full day at Ocean Isle Inn. We had a wonderful time there and this would be a great place for anyone to come. It is what I would call a very comfortable, clean, family friendly hotel. There isn’t carpet in the rooms which is actually nice when you have people coming in and out with wet, sandy feet and shoes.
The breakfast buffet in the mornings is a deluxe continental breakfast. Very nice.
Lee is the GM of the hotel and has been a delight to work with. He did provide us with three nights to stay at his hotel (see disclosure)
As I have told you (my readers) before I am not going to lie about something because it was given to me. This would be a great place to stay and I would love to come back. I would say the only negatives I could even find (and I do look of course when I review anything) would be that I think the room that we had an adjoining room with left their door open. We could hear someone over there a few times. And maybe our bed could use a little oil to keep it from squeezing. :) But that is it…really!! I am ready to go back…miss it already.
You can get a 15% discount if you mention me or Carolina Mama and reading this review or tweets on our blogs.
So I would say any hotel that could top that ….bring it on. It would be one hard review to top!

Click on the picture and it will start the slide show.

Winner of the $500 Walmart Gift Card

How exciting this contest has been for me. I have been so thankful to Walmart and Rockfish for providing me with this wonderful opportunity to transform my sons room. My video should be coming in just a day or so with the story of our bedroom adventure.
But the winner of my contest is Christine from Live Laugh Love. Here is a post she did on her sons room and why she needs this make over. She prepared this post for Dr. Mommy Chronicles blog..who also was having this same contest (and yes…she also won that one too…so this is one very lucky woman. …but she entered both our contest fair and square and was chosen randomly as the winner in each of our blogs…so we certainly can’t say she can not win.) She has let me know that she has a 2nd teenage son that is going to get his room redone also!! They have been through a lot with her as she has been battling cancer and just had a recent thyroid surgery…so this is a true blessing for this family. I will have her before and after pictures once the room is complete….and you can see that post in November. Here is her before post for her first son. I think she will send me pictures of her other sons room before and after for my contest.

See these other posts:

Walmart Room Reveal

Walmart $500 Bedroom Makeover Contest (closed)

Protect-A-Bed Mattress Pad Review and Giveaway *CLOSED*

Mattress pads are something that I typically hate to spend money on, but it is one of those necessities.  It seems it would be more fun to buy new sheets or a comforter, doesn’t it?   But when you realize the reality of what can breed in our mattresses…you will realize a good mattress pad is well worth it!

I was sent this mattress pad to test out and I am happy to say I have been very pleased with it.  We have been using it for a couple of months now and it is comfortable, no plastic wrinkly noises, no sweating (because it doesn’t breath) and even though I can’t see it..it is nice to not worry about the mites and bacteria. (Mites I know are around and I don’t want to think about them…but bed bugs I have never had and don’t ever plan on having!..uh ..yuk!)

This shows the Miracle Membrane which is described on their web site as “a new age air vapor porous barrier fabric, which is waterproof and protects mattresses from all liquids and bodily fluids.”

The top is a natural terry cloth fabric that keeps you cool in the summer and warm in the winter (who doesn’t love that?). I hope you can see the texture from this picture. It looks like a soft smooth robe.

It is hypoallergenic, prevents dust mites and bacteria from breeding in the mattress. It is recognized as a Class 1 Medical Device by the Food and Drug Administration.

It washes up great and one of the things I noticed right off the bat was that it fit our mattress! We have a large pillow top mattress (you can see where the pillow top starts through the fabric, so that is a tall mattress to cover and I have a hard time finding sheets to fit…but this fits great)  The other wonderful thing about it is that it doesn’t “pop” off the corner of the bed everynight. Literally every morning my husbands corner of the bed had the sheets and mattress pad pulled off (I don’t know what he does over there every night when he sleeps….) but since we have had this mattress pad I have not had one time that has happened. I am 100% satisfied with this mattress pad and thrilled that they sent it to me to try out. (disclosure policy)

To Purchase Your Own:  Go to Protect-A-Bed and order today.

To Win:

1) Go to  Protect-A-Mattress and find the Bed Bug video. Watch it and tell me what can protect your mattress and really work to prevent Bed Bugs.   Come back here and leave me a comment.
2) If your e-mail needs to be either on your comment or easily accessible in your profile

For Extra chances to Win:**Each of these HAS to have a separate comment written please. (I know its a pain, but other wise you won’t have as many chances if you don’t.)

1) Subscribe to my blog with the feeder or by e-mail. 5 extra chances.
2) Blog about this giveaway for 5 extra chances.
3) Follow me on Twitter
4) Follow me on Facebook
5) Follow me on Linked In
6) Fav me on Technorati
7) Stumble Upon me Either add me to your favorites, or write a review.
8) Tweet out this giveaway up to 3 times per day.
9) Add any of my 3 buttons to your sidebar and come back to let me know.

See….lots of ways to enter to win!

This Contest Ends Thursday Sept. 3rd at 11:59 pm est. THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

This contest is open to US mailing addresses only. Only one person from home can enter.

You will have 48 hours to respond to my e-mail if you win to be eligible. If I don’t hear from you then I will go on to the next winner.

The Good Home Cookbook Review and Giveaway *THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED*

Who can’t use a new cookbook? There is so much packed into this cookbook!!

The difference about this cookbook is that it is all recipes that are “good home-cooked” meals. It claims to be “The only cookbook entirely tested in home kitchens across America!
Cool! Over 1,000 classic, simple, clear cut recipes that taste and smell like they came from Grandma’s kitchen.
It even gives the appearance of one of Grandma’s cookbooks with the hand drawn pictures. (It actually does remind me of one my mom used to have)
I personally would like to have had some photographs of some of the dishes along with the hand drawn pictures. I like seeing what the dish looks like.

To Buy: Go to Abrams Books and purchase it for $29.95.

To Win:

1) Go to Abrams Books and and check out their site. Tell me how many pages are in this book.
Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your e-mail address in your FIRST comment. (Each week I have people who don’t win just because they have not entered their e-mail address)

For Extra Chances To Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

4) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

5) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

6) Subscribe to my Review blog. (left sidebar)

7) Subscribe to my Organizing Blog. (Right sidebar)

This contest is open to US mailing address only.
Only one person from mailing address eligible to win.
(will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

This contest will run until August 19, 2009 8:00 pm EST  *THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED*

TasteCasting – SugarDaddy’s Bakery

**Be Sure To See the Discount Code at the Bottom of the Page for an Exclusive Offer!!!

Meet Mark, Tom, Allison and Brian. This is team Sugardaddy! (Minus Chef who was on vacation for our visit).
Mark and Tom are the creators and owners of all these goodies!
Tom would make up these wonderful brownie creations and Mark loved them and encouraged him to take his love of baking, his marvelous brownie creations, and creativity to the next level.

Together they formulated the name from Blondies their light or butter, brown sugar based brownies and Brunettes from their chocolate brownies. So what worked better than SugarDaddy’s?


There are 17 flavors of these round brownies and blondies. For instance you have the Dark Berry, Auburn Original, Rich Mint, Tahiti, Fiery, Zanzibar, Chai Spiced and many more.

I have to say that the Rich Mint is my favorite…although I loved all the others too. I don’t think there would be any of all that I tasted…and I tasted a lot!!! I was trying just one bite of about all of the items.

Why round?

Tom and Mark did a lot of research and found that the majority of people do not like the brownie crust. They want the moist inside of the brownie. So they bake their brownies and then cut them round.
I think this is great. They do not let ANYTHING go to waste when it comes to their deluxe brownies.
They use the pieces that come from in between the round cuts to make 1 lb bags of “pocket change.” These little pieces of brownie are great for munching, using in a trifle, or paring with ice cream.

For those of us who love the crust…we are not forgotten!! They take the crust and double bake them to come up with Brownie biscotti! Oh…are these good! Brownie taste, crust taste, but so light and great with coffee.

So you think they would be finished right? Nope…more small pieces of brownie are used to make these fabulous Brownie Truffles! Oh my gosh!! Loved these too!!
They are color coded so you know what you are getting.

Here are a few that I got to taste. (Wish I had one right now as I am writing this!!)

This is the Auburn Original. It has triplet chocolate, chocolate ganache and kahlua.

The American Beauty with double chocolate, peanut butter, roasted peanuts, chocolate canache and creme de cacao. Soooo good.

So you would think there wouldn’t be anything left right? They take the smallest parts of the brownies and smash them and use them in the crust of their cheesecake!!
We got to sample it…yummy!

They have also begun to make ice cream and are working to develop more flavors. So that will be fun to see what new flavors they will be coming up with!

Ok…here is a really cool part. Not only do we like them….but they have already been discovered!
Tom beat Bobby on Bobby Flay’s Showdown, (you can find the video clips at the bottom of their home page.) enjoyed by Ellen’s Guest in her Green Room, used as the Snack of the Day on Rachel Ray and has tons of write ups.
They have been in business for only 4 years and have accomplished all of this so far!! Can’t imagine how big they are going to be in the next 4 years!
Here is the brownie that Tom beat Bobby with. It is the Tahiti Blondie: Roated Coconut, Sugardaddy’s special curry spice blend and roasted cashews. Now how is that for a blondie?

They have the cutest store!! This was just completed in February of this year. It feels so comfortable. There is a coffee station

Places to sit and eat and drink your coffee.

They have the cutest wrapping station gift bags and lovely ways to personalize your gifts.

Look at the cute personalized Gift Bag options you can send your goodies in to people!! Also note the Brownie cake sitting on the shelf. You can have this made with several days notice and I hear it is the bomb!!

I could go on believe me! But you need to visit their site..and investigate. What a nice alternative to the normal “flowers” that people send.
They only overnight their products. Why? Good question…because it is the only way to be sure their products are as fresh as can be. They bake them package them and send them the same day and then only overnight ship them. Here is another thing that is very unusual. They call you when your order has been delivered. Now how often does that happen?

Because of Tastecasting you can be privy to an exclusive offer!
You can get 15% off of your online order or in store or phone order if you give them this code:
15EX103109 .

Visit SugarDaddy’s web site to place your order!