As a Lowe’s Creative Ideas Network Member, I am being provided with a monthly challenge or Mission Possible and being supplied with a gift card to help me accomplish my mission and I also get to giveaway a Lowe’s gift card to one of my readers.

May’s Mission Possible, which I chose to accept:

Transform your entry, front yard, or in my case stoop, with some fresh and simple ideas. Show how small changes can maximize curb appeal.

Excellent! My curb was not looking too appealing.

Pretty plain and boring, right?

So armed with a Lowe’s $100 gift card I headed to their Garden Center.

And just a couple of hours later these lovely clay planters and succulent plants were ready to adorn the entrance of our home.

So adding these plants was a little thing and took very little effort, but we love the difference. They just add a bit of happiness to your day as you are coming and going from our home.

And just to make sure the place was truly inviting we also got this welcome mat.

Wanna improve your curb appeal Lowe’s DIY magic? Visit Lowe’s Creative Ideas for inspiration, but before you go enter to win a $100 Lowe’s gift card below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a $100 Lowe’s gift card to facilitate this stoop makeover and $100 Lowe’s gift card is being provided to the winner of the giveaway. All statements and opinions are mine.

I’m want to believe that the following text conversation is due to auto-correct and not a Freudian slip.

Unknown Papi’s texts are in white, mine are in blue.

Friggin’ auto correct is trying to drive a wedge between my husband and me.

My love affair with avocados started when I was a child. I remember coming home from elementary school and snacking on avocados. I would scoop them into a bowl, sprinkle them with salt, and squeeze some lemon on them. My mouth waters just thinking about it. Avocados are one of the few foods that I feel like I could happily eat EVERY SINGLE DAY, I love them that much.

Did you know that Mexico is the world leader in growing avocados? The best part is that avocados from Mexico are available year round.

Avocados From Mexico is sponsoring the Aguacate Lindo y Querido Recipe Contest for a chance to win $500 and a trip to Houston in September for private cooking classes with Mexico’s Celebrity Chef Aquiles Chavez, at his critically acclaimed restaurant The Fisheria. All you and I have to do is create a an original Mexican-inspired recipe using rich and creamy avocados from Mexico, snap a picture, and enter our recipe any time between 9:00 am ET on Monday, May 14th through 11:59 pm ET on Friday, May 25th.

Okay, I am not a recipe developer by any stretch of the imagination, but I didn’t have to think about this for 5 minutes before I came up with an idea. Two of my favorite treats that use avocado are guacamole and B.L.A.T. sandwiches. Why not combine the two?! Picture it:

I’m telling you my BLT Guacamole was a big hit with Unknown Papi and that is saying a lot.

Wanna make it? Here’s how I did it…

Ingredients:

• 4 ripe avocados
• slice of lemon
• dash of salt
• 12 ounce package of bacon (cooked and crumbled ahead of time)
• 6 leaves of shredded romaine lettuce
• 2 diced roma tomatoes
• pan birote or baguette of your choice (sliced and slightly toasted)

Directions:

Halve and pit 4 avocados.

When salting, remember you will be adding bacon which tends to be salty so go easy.

Try not to snack on the bacon before adding it to the guacamole. You will be tempted to, but the more bacon makes it into the finished product the better.

Add the L & T part of the BLT.

Add a spoon to make it easy to spread on the toasted bread.

At this point, all that is left to do is enjoy and share this deliciousness!

I encourage you to come up with an original Mexican-inspired recipe using delicious avocados from Mexico and enter the Aquacate Querido y Lindo Recipe Contest. If you do enter please be sure to share your recipe with me.

This is part of a sponsored campaign with Latina Mom Bloggers and Avocados From Mexico. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

Happy Mother’s Day from San Francisco, CA.
Be nice to a mother today.

Need help? Here are some “your momma” compliment ideas…

• Your momma’s so stylish she makes wearing baby spit up and puke look like the new black.
• Your momma’s so bad-a$$ she can put you in your place with just a look and never utter a word.
• Your momma’s so forgiving she loves you even when you are misbehaving.

Click here for more your mom compliments and to create a customizable video for a mom in your life.

I showed you mine, now show me yours.

Share your city/town/suburb/you name it! If you link up, please link back or post the Sundays In My City button either in your post or sidebar to let people know that other bloggers are sharing their communities too. Happy trails!

Grab the code from my sidebar.

So far May has been fantastic to me! Maybe the Universe is aware that it is my birthday month.

I got to go to Parc 55 for National Mom’s Nite Out hosted by Women On Their Way by Wyndham Worldwide. Had so much fun. The best part was hanging out with all the wonderful women there. In particular my guest and friend Marcia, Carol from NYCity Mama, Alexandria from Mommy Beta, and Lauren from Mommy and Baby Food.

I might have gotten a little silly.

I don’t get out much, what can I say?

More wonderful things coming my way in May. I get to spend my birthday weekend in New York as a Britax Latina Advisory Board Member in honor of the opening of the movie, What To Expect When You’re Expecting.  Many thanks to my husband without whose help I’d be staying home. It’s amazing the kind of cooperation you get when you look at the one you love, bat your eyelashes, and say, “But it’s my birthday!”

I’m tired so I’ll leave you with a few pictures I took in downtown SF. I never get to go downtown anymore and I rarely go anywhere without my kids so it almost felt like I was on vacation.

And now your Friday Fortune Cookie
(don’t forget to add “in bed” at the end, if you are so inclined):

You gotta be in it, to win it.

Hosted by Mrs. 4444

I’m co-hosting a Twitter party and would love for you to join me, Transitions Optical, and Latina Mom Bloggers on May 16^th for the “Preparense para el Sol” Summer Safety Twitter Party. We’ll be chatting about our summer plans, summer safety, and the importance of taking care of our eyes year round. It’s going to be a really fun and informative party with lots of great prizes!

Transitions® lenses are the #1 recommended adaptive lenses worldwide and are an ideal choice for healthy sight. Transitions lenses block 100 percent of harmful UVA and UVB rays – helping to protect the health and wellness of your eyes – so you can see better.

Transitions Optical understands that vision problems can affect anyone, but certain ethnics groups are more likely to develop eye- and overall-health issues that can take a serious toll on their vision and quality of life. Through its various web platforms and programs, Transitions Optical is helping to educate and motivate consumers nationwide, particularly in ethnics groups such as Hispanics, African American and Asian American, to visit an eye doctor regularly for comprehensive eye exams, helping with the early detection of vision conditions, such as diabetic retinopathy.

There are things you can do today to protect your sight for tomorrow. Transitions Optical supports the Hispanic community by providing bilingual tools and services to demonstrate its pledge, such as:

•  www.transitions.com
• The Transitions Healthy Sight for Life Fund: http://www.healthysightforlife.org and http://visionsaludableparatodalavida.com/
• Bilingual children’s site: http://www.yonosabiaeso.com
• Bilingual Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LentesTransitions
• Bilingual “how to choose your eyewear resource: www.aprendasobreanteojos.com

Party Details:
When: Wednesday, May 16, from 9 PM to 10:30 PM EST
Where: Twitter
Hashtag: #TransitionsLens

Who to Follow:
Panelists: @NaturalmentMama @Cuponeando @RockinMama @elianatardio @UnknownMami
Moderators: @Eva_Smith @JollyMom @latinamomblogs @latinomarketing
Brand: @Transitions

Prizes:

• Two (2) pairs of Transitions Eyewear (frame and lenses valued up to $500 each)
• One (1) $100 gift card
• Two (2) $50 gift cards

Rules: For the official rules, please click HERE.

RSVP: To be eligible to win prizes, you must RSVP at Latina Mom Bloggers. Click HERE to RSVP.

What: “Preparense para el Sol” Summer Safety Twitter Party

This is part of a sponsored campaign with Latina Mom Bloggers and Transitions Optical.

I’m excited about the movie What To Expect When You’re Expecting for a variety of reasons, such as…

• It speaks to where I am in life and is bound to provide some much needed laughter.
• It includes a male perspective which my husband being a very hands on dad will appreciate.
• The cast includes: Jennifer Lopez, Cameron Diaz, Elizabeth Banks, Chris Rock, Dennis Quaid, & Matthew Morrison to name a few.
• It features some of my favorite BRITAX/BOB products.
• Thanks to BRITAX I get to see it for free.
• Again thanks to BRITAX, I get to give one of you two passes to see the movie for free as well.

Inspired by the best selling book, the movie What To Expect When You’re Expecting opens May 18th. Take a peek…

Surrounding the release of the film, Britax is celebrating its Hollywood debut with a tour and sweepstakes. You can join the party as the BRITAX Expect Greatness Tour travels from city to city, in specially branded BRITAX and What To Expect When You’re Expecting mini-vans.   Can’t join the tour in person? There is an online promotion as well.

And now for the giveaway: Thanks to Britax one lucky reader will win two passes to see What To Expect When You’re Expecting.

To enter just follow the instructions in the widget below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I am able to share this information and giveaway because I am a Britax Latina Advisory Board Member and Blogger. All opinions and statements are my own.

There are all kinds of love stories, but the ones that I’m partial to have happy endings and the lovers ride off into the sunset either metaphorically or sometimes literally. I know of one such story that is close to my heart because it involves two people I love that just seem perfect together. It goes something like this…

There was a man, an actual man, not a boy. He was living a full and adventurous life and accomplishing many things. He found himself single for quite some time and had perhaps given up on actively looking for “the one”. Still a life should be lived and he lived his indulging his passions, one of which happens to be collecting and riding Schwinn bikes. Here are some of his bikes:

One day this man went to a yearly group bike ride and there happened to be a woman there…a woman, not a girl. This man and this woman hit it off while riding their bikes. Fast forward to the present and these two find themselves living together as man and wife with many bikes.

I was inspired to tell you of this love story because of the love story depicted in this video by Schwinn.

I love a good love story and I love a Schwinn (I’m partial to the cruiser styles). I did not meet my husband while riding a bike, but whenever we go for bike rides together I swear I fall a little more in love with him.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored posts. All statements and opinions are my own.

Put Pie: Papa?

Unknown Papi: Yes?

Put Pie: You can play rough with me?

Unknown Papi smiles and some rough-housing ensues.

Put Pie: Papa?

Unknown Papi: Yes?

Put Pie: Not that rough!

Moral: Be careful what you wish for…

The Castro Theater, built in 1922, is a beautiful movie theater located in the Castro district of San Francisco.
May it live long and prosper.

I showed you mine, now show me yours.

Share your city/town/suburb/you name it! If you link up, please link back or post the Sundays In My City button either in your post or sidebar to let people know that other bloggers are sharing their communities too. Happy trails!

Grab the code from my sidebar.

It has been a crazy busy week for me as a blogger. I finally showed The Face Behind the Paper Bag (thank you all for the kind reception, I was very nervous) and I flew to Charlotte, NC to visit Britax headquarters in my role as a Britax Hispanic Digital and Social Media Outreach Blogger.

Now that what I look like is no longer a secret, I can show you a pick of me with my now in-real-life friend Helena from Pink Guayoyo. Such a treat to meet her on this trip.

When I was invited to join Britax, I was excited. Britax is a company that is synonymous with child safety and I was sure that I could stand behind them. I’m very careful about the companies that I choose to work with and many times I turn down offers because I don’t feel like they are a good fit in terms of my lifestyle and beliefs. Britax and their commitment to child safety seemed like a great fit, but I had no idea that I would completely fall in love with the company, their employees, and their products.

I learned so much and feel like I was embraced as a family member and partner. My fellow blogueras and I were treated excellently, engaged, embraced, and shown the operation up close and personal.

I feel proud and excited to be able to share what I learn with you now and in the future because although Britax is a for-profit company and therefore in the business of making money, they are also in the business of saving children’s lives and they take their business SERIOUSLY. No joke. My eyes were opened to my own negligent practices. I found myself texting my husband and telling him that we needed to replace our current car seats and until we got new ones we had to reinstall the ones we have because they weren’t tethered. I didn’t even know you were supposed to tether your child’s car seat. You know what they say…

Once you know better, you do better.

I highly recommend that you watch this video, even if you don’t have kids. Watch it! You will be amazed and you will need a tissue.

I have lots to tell you, but I’m on the plane back from Charlotte (yup, I’m blogging on the plane baby), so I’ll just give you a few highlights.

This was my first trip away from my kids since becoming a mom.

• Best part: SLEEPING!
• Worst part: I forgot my breast pump and I’m still nursing #BREASTFEEDINGFAIL. I ended up having to hand express into a cup. Not so much fun. I can’t wait to get home and get some help from Luna Pie.

And now your Friday Fortune Cookie
(don’t forget to add “in bed” at the end, if you are so inclined):

Safety first.

Hosted by Mrs. 4444

The time has come to properly introduce myself to you. I started this blog in 2009 and had no idea what it would grow into. To say that I am pleasantly surprised is an understatement.

When I first started blogging I donned a paper bag to keep myself honest. I believed that a certain sense of anonymity would allow me to in a way be more transparent and it worked. I did feel like I could be more open, more myself, and not worry about El Qué Dirán. I would reveal my true identity to a few people here and there, but for the most part I was happy to be the blogger behind the paper bag. It felt safe.

As the blog has grown, it has become harder and harder to keep my identity a secret and if you really wanted to know you could have figured it out. I’ve left clues. I Facebook “like” my own page under my real name. I’ve “accidentally” sent emails and blog subscriptions from my personal account.

The paper bag has served me well, but it no longer feels like it is keeping me honest. It is starting to feel like I am hiding behind it and I don’t want to hide. I am ready to just be me. Even The Unknown Comic eventually revealed himself. So here goes…

This is me with a paper bag over my head. The idea of Unknown Mami was inspired by The Unknown Comic. I fancy myself funny on occasion and I am unknown to many.

This is me without the paper bag…

My name is Claudya with a “Y”. I’ll tell you the story behind that some other day. The picture above was taken 7 months into being a mami. I was desperate to connect and to have a sense of community. I missed acting and I missed making people laugh, my 7 month old did not get my jokes at all. I made the paper bag with clip art and PowerPoint.

This is me in black and white. I wear glasses full-time because I have iritis and some corneal scarring. When I started blogging, I mostly wore contacts.

This is me in technicolor in my kitchen. That is a partially eaten quesadilla in the background. Help yourself.

You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry. Just ask Unknown Papi, he doesn’t like me when I’m angry.

This is me on the day that I got married. I’m looking at Unknown Papi in this picture. I love the way I’m looking at him, like I know that he is as awesome as he is.

My future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades…

I’m just keepin’ it real in this one. I’m a busy Mami with a blog and I don’t always get to groom the way I should.

I know it’s weird, right? The drapes don’t match the ‘stache.

This is me on a good day…

This headshot was taken by my friend Ashley Forrette.

So there you have me. You now know my name (it’s Claudya, don’t worry I’m terrible at remembering names too) and you know what I look like. What does it mean for this blog? Not much.

I’ll still keep blogging the way I’ve been blogging, but if you “accidentally” catch a glimpse of me in a picture or I “slip” and sign an email with my real name it won’t be a big deal because I willingly took off the paper bag.

And don’t worry about the paper bag, I’ll still use it. I’ve become so fond of that paper bag, I almost don’t recognize myself without it.

Thank you so much for the support you’ve shown me as a blogger, a mother, and a fellow human being. Thank you for making me feel that it is okay to show the face behind the paper bag.

5/02/2012

Be here.

You never know what you might see.

I was so excited to be invited to become a Lowe’s Creative Ideas Network Member because it means that I will be provided with monthly challenges, a gift card from Lowe’s to help facilitate those challenges, and a Lowe’s gift card to give away to one of my readers.

The challenge (or Mission Possible as I like to think of it) that I received for April was to pick a room, any room, and use a $300 Lowe’s gift card to give that room a makeover/facelift. I immediately knew that I wanted to re-do Put Pie’s room.

Put Pie, my 3-year-old, has a very tiny room that is prone towards clutter. Her room is very difficult to photograph since it is so small, so I took a video to show you what we started out with…

We headed to Lowe’s and with Put Pie’s help we chose a great shade of “Plink” to repaint her wall and a few other items.

We really wanted to go with a no VOC emissions paint and primer and were very happy to be able to find them at Lowe’s.

The item I was most excited to find via Lowe’s was this Sauder Shoal Creek Soft White Twin Bedframe:

I saw this item available on the Lowe’s website. They didn’t have it in the store, but a very helpful salesperson ordered it for me and it was shipped to my home at no extra cost. Score!

We also got this great ClosetMaid Cube Storage Unit and bought 9 ClosetMaid Fuschia Fabric Drawers to go with it:

Other items we used to fix up her room were things we already owned and repurposed.

• A small wooden shelf that we painted plink.
• A small dresser we painted plink.
• Curtains that I added ribbons to the top of so that they would hang evenly.
• Artwork and posters that we already had.

Ready to see the results? Tada!

The best part of this challenge is that it showed me that you don’t need to invest a lot of money to redo a room and see a significant difference. The paint alone lightened up the small space and made it seem roomier.

Wanna try your hand at a little Lowe’s DIY magic? Visit Lowe’s Creative Ideas for inspiration, but before you go enter to win a $100 Lowe’s gift card below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a $300 Lowe’s gift card to facilitate this room makeover and $100 Lowe’s gift card is being provided to the winner of the giveaway. All statements and opinions are mine.

Bath time.
San Francisco, CA.

I showed you mine, now show me yours.

Share your city/town/suburb/you name it! If you link up, please link back or post the Sundays In My City button either in your post or sidebar to let people know that other bloggers are sharing their communities too. Happy trails!

Grab the code from my sidebar.

I am taking the day off because I’m tired. The other day I came home from work and put Luna Pie (my 1-year-old) and myself to bed at 7:00 pm and you know what? It rocked! I woke up the next morning at 5am because I’d already been in bed for 10 hours. I need to let myself rest more instead of always trying to get something done.

So I’m gonna rest. I’ll catch up with you later.

But I want to let you know that something pretty exciting will be happening here next week. Something that might perhaps involve a certain paper bag that I have been dutifully wearing for 3 years. I’m just saying you might wanna keep a look-out ’cause you never know what you might see.

And now your Friday Fortune Cookie
(don’t forget to add “in bed” at the end, if you are so inclined):

People who say, “I’ll rest when I’m dead” don’t know what they are talking about.

Hosted by Mrs. 4444

Although I was born in the United States, I did not grow up with the tradition of voting. Voting was a “tradition” that I had to create for myself. Raised by a single mother with a green card meant that since my mother was not a citizen she did not have the right to vote.

As soon as I was eligible to vote, I registered. I can still remember the first time I voted and what it felt like. I did not expect it to be such an emotional experience, but it was. I felt overwhelmed with pride and gratitude and shed some discreet tears. I was thrilled that I had a say in the political process.

A few years ago, my mother became a citizen. After so many years of being a legal resident I asked her why she was finally choosing to become a citizen and she said it was because she wanted the right to vote and again I felt overwhelmed with pride and gratitude and shed some not discreet tears.

My mother and I do not always agree politically (in fact we often disagree), but we do agree that we should exercise our right to vote, our right to be heard even when it seems like our individual voices don’t make much of a difference, even when we are exasperated by the results.

When it comes to politics and the government, I do not pretend to have a lot of answers, but I do have a lot of questions and it is these questions that keep me voting. Questions like:

• What is the point of a democracy if those that have the right to vote do not exercise their right?
• Will a democracy survive without active participation?
• Do I have a right to complain if I do not exercise that right at the polls?
• If I do not use my vote, does that give more power to those that do use their vote?

I could go on and on, but recently I have found two more reasons to vote that are not questions.

My two newest reasons for voting are my daughters. I want to have a say in their future locally and nationally; I am more invested in the political process because of them; and I want them to grow up with the tradition of voting. When they are old enough to vote, I want them to know that their vote matters, I want them to feel invested and entitled, I want them to be a part of the process. I already take them to the polls with me and give them my “I Voted” stickers.

Are you registered to vote? If you are AWESOME, please make sure that you cast your vote. If you are not registered to vote, but have the right to do so please please please follow the links below and get yourself registered and then when the time comes…VOTE!

Register to vote in California.

National Mail Voter Registration Form.

Disclosure: Although this post is sponsored by #LATISM, all statements and opinions are mine.

Warm breath against my ear as you whisper things that only I can hear…
Like, Mama, te quiero, I love you.

I smile as warm breath against my ear travels to and fills my heart, then say out loud for all to hear, Yo te quiero tambien, I love you too.

Every day my life is filled with love. How lucky am I?

Growing up one of my favorite albums was Combat Rock by The Clash. Come to think of it, I still love that album. Every song on that album pleases me, but Should I Stay or Should I Go is a definite favorite. That song is just catchy.

I don’t know how many times I listened to it before I realized that some of the lyrics are in Spanish, but it was the upteenth time and then all of a sudden it hit me and I was like, “Get the hell out of here, there is Spanish in this song!” And that made me like it even more. A bilingual song in my bilingual world!

To this day I get a thrill when the song comes on the radio and the Spanish kicks in. I sing along off-key at the top of my lungs and many a time a befuddled traveling companion will say, “I never knew this song had Spanish in it.” To which I reply, “I know, isn’t it great?!”

Darling you gotta let me know
Should I stay or should I go?
If you say that you are mine
I’ll be here ’til the end of time
So you got to let me know
Should I stay or should I go?

It’s always tease tease tease
You’re happy when I’m on my knees
One day is fine, next is black
So if you want me off your back
Well come on and let me know
Should I Stay or should I go?

Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
An’ if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know

This indecision’s bugging me
La indecisión me molesta
If you don’t want me, set me free
Si no me quieres, líbrame
Exactly who’m I’m supposed to be
Dígame que debo ser
Don’t you know which clothes even fit me?
¿Sabes qué ropa me queda?
Come on and let me know
Pero me tienes que decir
Should I cool it or should I blow?
¿Me debo ir o quedarme?

Should I stay or should I go now?
¿Yo me frío o lo soplo?
If I go there will be trouble
Si me voy – va a ver peligro
And if I stay it will be double
Si me quedo es doble
So you gotta let me know
Pero me tienes que decir
Should I stay or should I go?
¿Yo me frío o lo soplo?

You know what it feels like I do all day long? It feels like all day long I’m picking up trash. I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, but I’ll be honest and say that it’s the 1 year old that keeps me busy all day. She likes to rip things apart, leave trails of debris in her wake. If she eats, half of it ends up on the floor and I have to pick it up before she steps on it and then tries to eat it. For a little person she makes a lot of garbage.

What’s a Mami to do? I just have to embrace that I am the mother of a wonderfully wild child that makes messes. I recycle and reuse what I can and for the messes (diapers included) that must end up in the garbage, I’m grateful for a garbage bag that can hold its own. There is nothing worse than transporting garbage in a bag that tears when I’m only halfway to the basement where the garbage is collected.

The Glad Black Bag has ForceFlex, which is a diamond-shaped texture that allows it to stretch and helps prevent tears and rips. The drawstrings make closing and securing the bag easy.

I live in a flat in San Francisco and getting the household garbage to the basement requires going down a flight of stairs. I can either make 3 trips to take the kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom garbage down or I can put it all in the Glad Black Bag and make just one trip. Guess which option I prefer?

Fortunately not all our messes have to turn into garbage. You know the saying, one person’s garbage is another person’s treasure? Glad has teamed up with The Picker Sisters, Keep America Beautiful, and mosaic artist Jason Mecier to show the beautiful benefits of turning garbage into treasure.

The Picker Sisters offer inspiration for turning trash into treasure and show you that rescuing a “stained” chair from the garbage heap might be easier than you thought. Or why not turn your garbage into art? Glad Black Bag worked with Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanups across the country to collect items that were used by Jason Mecier and turned into works of art. These works of art will be auctioned off from April 16 through April 26 during the Glad Black Bag art auction on eBay for consumers to bid on with proceeds benefiting KAB’s Great America Cleanup.

This means that you or I could be the proud owners of a piece of art which was created from someone’s garbage. Oh and did I mention that some of this garbage is celebrity garbage? Yup, that’s right. The Jason Mecier pieces include garbage from the likes of actress Amy Smart, actor Jesse Eisenberg, reality star Lauren Conrad, actress Emmanuelle Chriqui of “Entourage,” Parks & Recreation’s Nick Offerman, actress Megan Mullally, Dancing with the Stars’ Chelsie Hightower, and “iCarly’s” Nathan Kress.

So tell me, have you ever repurposed garbage into a treasure?

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Glad Black Bag and received a Glad Black Bag product and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.