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Live in Our Skinz

The winner is:

Here are your random numbers:

11

Timestamp: 2009-05-10 23:42:27 UTC

Michelle K.

Michelle wrote: Wonderful post. Very important information. Lost my bff to skin cancer on 2/14/07 Miss her dearly as she was only 46. Much to young to be gone. If I win would love the Flutter – S – Butterflies YSS-FLU one in a size 4 for my grand daughter. Her mom loves pink and I love Butterflies. A win win situation. Great site.

I am not in the habit of bossing people around, okay who am I kidding, my entire family reads this blog and they know I love to boss people around. But, I try not to boss my readers around… until today.

Protect your children this summer!

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month, since I grew up in Florida and spent most of my life in the water I am very aware of the dangers of skin cancer. While I have not personally been affected by skin cancer, Rhonda Sparks has, she lost her 32 year old husband to the disease several years ago. After her husband died she turned a tragedy into something positive and started UV Skinz, a company that sells swim shirts, shorts, hats and accessories.

For the past several years my kids have worn swim shirts whenever they are in the water and even when they are out of the water! In my opinion swim shirts are an excellent alternative to sun screen, you never have to reapply and you never miss a spot, not to mention you don’t have to keep buying more and more sunscreen. Did you know that one in five Americans develop skin cancer every year? You can prevent this from happening to your children by protecting them with a swim shirt.

Now, here is why you should buy your shirts from UV Skinz. Over the years I have purchased swim shirts from many different companies, Old Navy, Target, Lands End, LL Bean, local Surf Shops and not a single shirt held up as well as the ones I have from UV Skinz. Last summer one of my boys had a UV Skinz shirt and the other had one from Old Navy. This year when I pulled out their shirts from the summer clothes box the Old Navy shirt was worn thin and would not give my son any protection this year. The UV Skinz shirt looked almost brand new.
Here is a picture of my son last year in his shirt.

This year in the same shirt.

As you can see the shirt hasn’t faded even though I washed (and line dried) it many times last year. My daughter loves her shirt and today I am ordering shirts for the rest of the family.

There is a reason I waited until May to order my other shirts, other than the fact that I live in Maryland and it is currently 55 degrees and rainy. In hopes of spreading the word and helping to prevent skin cancer, UV Skinz is giving away a free baby skinz with every order during the month of May. It is Rhonda’s hope that customers will then donate the baby shirt to someone in need and pay it forward. UV Skinz are free of harsh sunscreen chemicals that can irritate baby’s sensitive skin, the shirts also carry a UPF50+ rating, blocking more than 98% of the sun’s harmful UVA and UVB rays.

Many parents have their children wear t-shirts to protect them from the sun. Personally I think this is a bad idea. T-shirts are not made for swimming and do not protect as well as swim shirts from the harmful rays of the sun when they are wet. Also, I have seen many children struggling to swim in a weighted down water-logged t-shirt. Swim shirts do not absorb water and are made for swimming.

Finally investing is swim shirts is a frugal choice. Last year we did not go through tubes and tubes of sunscreen. We invested in swim shirts and one tube of sunblock for their faces.  The UV Skinz are so well made that they are able to be worn year after year saving me money in the long run. But more important than saving money I am saving my children’s skin from the harmful effects of the sun and that is priceless.

UV Skinz is giving away your choice of swim shirt to one of my readers. Go to the UV Skinz site, look around and then leave me a comment letting me know what shirt you would like to win.

Would you help me and UV Skinz spread the word about Skin Cancer Awareness Month? If you have a twitter account you can twitter about this giveaway and use the hashtag #UVSkinz. You can also write a blog post about protecting your kids from the sun this summer and link back to this post. You can pass the word on to family and friends. You can also sign up for the UV Skinz monthly newsletter which will keep you informed regarding all things sunny. The sign up link is on the left sidebar of their homepage. For each thing you do leave me another comment and that will earn you another chance to win a swim shirt of your choice.

So let’s recap:

Sun = bad

Swim shirts = good

Rhonda and UV Skinz = super cool mom of three boys turning a tragedy into something positive

Giveaway = you can win your choice of a swim shirt from UV Skinz

Ways to enter = Leave a comment, tweet with the hash tag #UVSkinz, blog about it, tell your friends, sign up for the newsletter and don’t forget to leave a comment for each thing you can do to help promote Skin Cancer Awareness month and this giveaway.

Oh, I forgot to add, the contest ends Thursday May 7, 2009, Cora time!

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I am not in any way affiliated with UV Skinz. I don’t make any money if you buy from them. I am promoting them because I believe in what Rhonda is doing and want to support her 100%.

by admin -

Random Thoughts

Since I have had site problems over the past week, I feel out of sync with the blog. Usually I have an idea of topics I want to cover for the week, but with all the site issues my mind has been elsewhere.

Grocery Shopping

Tonight I went to the grocery store and saved $26 in coupons. My coupon use had dropped significantly over the past few months because most of items I buy are things that don’t have coupons, whole foods, fresh fruit and veggies, milk, etc. Tonight at the commissary the shelves were loaded with coupons for things that were already on my list. I was able to get free razors, body wash, shampoo, and fruit. It was a good night.

Dishwasher Detergent

A few weeks ago Cascade sent me a sample of their dishwasher detergent to try along with their competitor Electrosol. I happened to be using Palmolive so I was able to compare all three products. I am not a brand name shopper and always purchase the cheapest brand. I thought I was saving money, but I could be wrong.

I have to admit that although I was skeptical at first Cascade blew the other two out of the water. Electrosol came in second, with Palmolive dead last. Now, I didn’t really conduct a scientific experiment, so you might have to do your own research. Basically, when I used Cascade I could put more dishes in the dishwasher and I had less dishes that needed to be rewashed. I also had to remove less food from the dishes before I put them in the dishwasher. Since Cascade is usually the most expensive brand, I have to consider several factors to see if it is a better deal.

If I use less water to rinse my dishes before I put them into the dishwasher, can load my dishwasher with more dishes, and have less dishes to rewash after the cycle is done, then I think Cascade is a better buy. But you can bet I will be looking for a coupon!

Dish Soap

I also conducted my own test with Ajax and Palmolive dish soap. I had been buying Ajax because it is so cheap. After a few months of using Ajax I realized that I was using more soap to get things clean. Even though Palmolive costs more, I use less to wash dishes, so they end up costing about the same.

Diapers

Last month I bought a package of Target brand diapers. They were significantly cheaper than any other brand. The problem started when I couldn’t open the tab without ripping it. Then almost every diaper leaked. The ones that didn’t leak fell off because the tabs didn’t stick. I ended up doing laundry after every single night my toddler wore a Target diaper because it leaked onto the sheets. I will definitely not purchase Target brand diapers again.

Web Hosting

I am sure that you have noticed the considerable site problems I have had over the past few weeks. My current hosting provider is Web Hosting Pad. I can’t even remember how much we paid for the hosting but it was about the same as many of their competitors. While they are very nice on the phone, they offer little to no help, can’t deliver the guaranteed 99% uptime, and do a poor job of responding to problems.

Shampoo

Suave Shampoo is current $0.45 a bottle at my commissary. There was coupon a few weeks back for $1/2. I was hesitant at first, because $0.45 is really cheap, but my family loves it! They even use it for a body wash. Check your local commissary to see if it is on sale.

Swim Shirts

UVSkinz, my absolute favorite swim shirt company, is running a July sale, one free swim shirt with every purchase. Their goal is to give away 3000 swim shirts this summer. I am going to order myself a shirt tomorrow. In case you are wondering, I do not make any money from them, I am just passionate about protecting our most valuable treasures from the harmful rays of the sun.

Raw Diet

My husband, who is well on the road to recovery (that is a topic for another post) has decided it is time to jump on the health train. I am excited because for years he has tried to jump in front the health train and derail it! As he attempts to rid his body of all the nastiness he has put in it over the years, his intake of fresh fruits and veggies has skyrocketed. The cool thing is that he has put me in charge of his diet. I would like to get him to about 75% raw foods but that is going to take some work. He is giving up soda, which is a big deal, and is decreasing his caffeine intake significantly. I would love to hear from any of you who eat super healthy, advice is appreciated and welcomed!

I made my kids a smoothie today. It consisted of carrots, bananas, whole orange, whole apple, whole nectarine, whole pear, frozen strawberries, and vanilla yogurt. They loved it. Even my pickiest of picky eaters downed his portion and asked for seconds. Tomorrow I think I will throw in some flax, spinach, and wheat germ. I think they had their entire requirement for fruits and veggies in one meal!

Homeschooling

Calling all homeschoolers, it is time to start planning for the next school year! I know there are some really motivated moms who have already started school, but for the rest of us… take some time each day to plan for the upcoming year. What character traits do you plan on working on this year? What does your schedule look like, daily, weekly, monthly? When are you going to clean and get the housework done? How many days off will you take at Christmas? The time to start thinking about these things is now! Start the school year off right and with a plan!

Completely Random Thoughts to Finish the Post

We had a great time on our trip this weekend. My neighbor had twins on Monday and is already home from the hospital. I saw one of the babies tonight, so tiny and precious. Have you ever been so behind on something that you don’t want to even begin to start up again? I have a few of those areas in my life. I have stopped reading my chronological bible and started reading Isaiah, Proverbs and Luke. I am reading Isaiah because my friend in WV is reading Isaiah, so I like to be prepared when she calls me with a verse. My kids are getting old. I can’t believe I have a child that will be able to drive in less than a year! Today I realized that my four year old can swim, and not just dog paddle. For a child that lives with endless irrational fears, I am shocked that she swims like a fish, has never had a swim lesson in her life and only has access to pools three months out of the year. I need to start exercising again. My energy level has been down and I think it is because I am not exercising.

by admin -

Protect Your Kids

I want to begin this post by saying that if I endorse a product on my site it means; I own it, love it, buy it as a gift for others, and I want you to love it too. I do not promote products very often, but when I do, consider me a believer.

A few weeks back I wrote a post about swim shirts. My kids have been wearing them for several years, and I believe all kids should be wearing them when they are in the pool, at the beach, or running around in the front yard sprinkler. One million people will be diagnosed with skin cancer this year, and every hour one person dies from skin cancer. Over 90% of skin cancer is caused by sun exposure. I have always known that skin cancer is dangerous ( I grew up in Florida), but I never really thought about how deadly it really is, until I met Rhonda.

Rhonda’s husband Darren was your typical outdoor guy. He loved to surf and snowboard and of course had many sunburns throughout his childhood. In 1996 Darren was diagnosed with malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Darren stayed positive and lively for his three young boys, Ethan, Seth and Caleb and never gave up hope during his long five-year battle with the disease. On September 14, 2001, Darren lost his battle with cancer, at the age of 32.

Rhonda decided to take action with the hope of preventing another family from having to live through this type of tragedy. She started the Darren Lee Farwell Foundation on December 1st, 2001 to help fulfill Darren’s legacy. The Foundation was created to raise general public awareness of the ever-growing dangers of UV radiation from the sun; to educate children and adults as to how to protect themselves from over-exposure by using sunscreens, hats and UV protective clothing; and to facilitate early detection of skin disease by teaching people to be aware of their bodies and to look for the warning signs of skin cancer development.

After starting the Foundation Rhonda made a trip to Hawaii, and brought back some rash guard shirts for her boys. These shirts became so popular, but so hard to find, that Rhonda decided to start UV Skinz a company that sells swim shirts, shorts, hats and other accessories.

There are so many things I admire about Rhonda. When she was hit with a terrible tragedy, she made the best of a bad situation. Instead of looking back she set her gaze forward. Although I am sure she has had her moments, she has made it her mission to keep this from happening to others.

Her website is incredibly informative about why swim shirts are better than sun screen, and believe me as a long time user they are, facts about skin cancer, and her products are cute to boot. This month in honor of Darren’s birthday they are giving away A FREE SWIM SHIRT with any purchase for the entire month of June.

When my oldest son was little he had a severe reaction to sun screen. Every time we applied sunscreen his face would swell up and he would break out in hives. This kept us from taking him in the pool, except in the evening, for the first few years of his life. Thankfully he outgrew this allergy, but if we had known about swim shirts 12 years ago, things would have been a lot different.

I have been buying swim shirts for my kids for the past 5 years. I have purchased from many different companies including Target, Old Navy, Lands End, LL Bean, and local surf shops. The UV Skinz shirts blow away the competition. The sleeves are a little longer than most, for extra sun protection, and the fit is just right, not as tight as rash guard t’s but not so loose as to inhibit swimming. My son loves his UV Skinz shirt and wears it as often as he can, even if we are not going to the pool. In fact, tonight he is even sleeping in his shirt.

I would encourage you to check out Rhonda’s site UV Skinz. Skin cancer is 100% preventable if caught early! Protecting your skin during the first 18 years of life can reduce the risk of some types of skin cancer by up to 78%.

Your kids will thank you for it.