I was provided with a free armband in order to try out this product.  All content contained in this post is 100% original, mine and honest.  Cross my heart.

I’m gonna let you in on a little secret: I use an armband all the time.  Also, I am NOT a runner.  I don’t like running, I don’t look good when I run and, right now, I am so out of shape that I couldn’t run far enough to need an armband.  We took a little hike, er walk…, last week while we were at the lake and I was sore for about four days afterward.  The only time I’ll be running will be if I’m being chased by something that wants to kill me.  And even then, I hope adrenaline will be enough to save me. But an armband is still one of my go-to little gadgets, even around the home.  Here’s five ways to use your armband when you aren’t exercising.

 

5 WAYS TO USE AN ARMBAND
(that don’t involve exercise)

 

1. Use it while cleaning.  This is the number one time I use my armband.  I hate cleaning.  I’m sure some of you can relate.  I wish I loved to organize and clean like Monica Gellar, but it just isn’t so.  But, I do love music and reading.  Being able to carry my music and audio books with me as I move through the house is glorious and makes the cleaning tasks less tedious.  I don’t have to turn the volume way up and risk waking sleeping kids.  I don’t usually have my upper arms in grime and funk, even if my forearms are in the toilet bowl while I’m scrubbing on hard water deposits and unidentifiable boy gunk, which means that my phone is safely out of harm’s way.  Most pockets on women’s clothing are not made to carry around a cell phone the size of mine and I used to always worry about it falling out.  Not an issue anymore.

2. While I’m enjoying the great outdoors.  This allows me to be hands-free for a multitude of tasks.  Whether I’m refereeing the latest bicker of who gets to ride which bike or up to my forearms in soil in the garden, my phone is close at hand, but safely tucked away.  I can use both hands to guide Little J on his bike, catch Baby N on the slide or pull those pesky weeds or squish the icky squash bugs.  I can be involved in playing with my kids and accomplishing some of the yard work without having to worry that I will miss a call or other time-sensitive notification.

3. While I’m cooking.  This is similar to cleaning.  Cooking can be messy and I am forever forgetting which counter I left my phone on now.  Whether I’m using it to look up a recipe, snap photos or checking Instagram while I wait the last 3 minutes the cookies need to bake, using my armband in the kitchen keeps my phone clean and I always know right where it is.

4. While driving.  Let me clarify.  No, I don’t use my phone while driving.  This may be overkill for some, but I have notoriously bad habit of setting my phone in my lap while I drive.  And then I forget that it’s there.  When I get out of the car, guess what clatters to the pavement?  Oh, just $500 dollars worth of technology, no big deal, right?  With it in my armband, I don’t have to worry about remembering that it’s in my lap and it won’t tumble on the concrete when I forget.  It’s safe and secure.

5. Shopping or out and about.  This is just the next step to wearing my armband in the car… it’s already on, might as well leave it there, right?  This has actually saved me a lot of unneccessary worry when it comes to where my phone is at any given time in the store.  You’re probably thinking, just put it in a pocket on your purse or your diaper bag or on your person, right?  I mentioned above that most of my clothing isn’t made to contain a cell phone the size of mine, so that’s not always an option.  I don’t usually carry my bags around the store either, so that’s not an easy access point.  I keep my shopping lists on my phone and need to be able to refer to it often and easily.  Wearing the armband is super convenient for me.  I typically turn it so the phone is between my arm and my body, just for a little extra security.

I had the chance to try out the i2 Gear Armband for Samsung Galaxy S2, S3, S4, and S5.  I have an s4 currently and it fit great.  Mine is hot pink, but you can also get it in black if pink just isn’t your thing.  I have used this specific armband for a month now.  I love the way it fits.  It fits around arms approximately 9 to 14.5 inches comfortably and this stays put, no sliding down.  It also fits on your forearm, but my preference is around my bicep.  I have a pretty thick case on my phone and it still fit into the armband well.  It wasn’t sliding all around with out the case though either.  The screen is fully accessible through the protective plastic and the jack ports are cut and positioned really well, putting no strain on my headphone cord.  There is a small key slot, which would be nice if I were a runner.  It will also hold a tube of lip balm, although the top does stick out, and that’s mainly what I use the slot for.  I haven’t had any issues with it falling out.  There is also a reflective band around the phone face on the armband and that’s nice when you’re out at night, also a great feature for the runners out there.  It’s a great price and a very functional #samsungarmband.

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SleepAligned #CollectiveBias

Big J has always been a dream sleeper.  As young as 18 months, we could ask him if he was tired or ready to go to bed.  If he was, he would tell us “yes”, we could put him to bed and he would go right to sleep.  I always knew he was a good sleeper, but I didn’t realize just how good until Little J came along.  Little J did well for the first month or so… and then it went downhill FAST!  All my magic tricks I’d discovered with Big J were useless.  Nothing worked.  Little J just fought it so much more.  After we ruled out medical causes (Little J actually had his tonsils and adenoids out last year, but that’s a whole long story), he STILL fights going to sleep.  He sleeps better now, but the get him to sleep part is just as difficult as ever.  Big J will come and ask to go to bed when he gets tired.  Little J has to be so tired that he just crashes to go to bed by himself.  It’s been a big struggle, especially lately.  With summer coming (and Mr. Napping’s travel season), I wanted to do something to help with our bedtime routine.  At the end of the day, I’m tired and drained; tussling with three boys until they are all tired enough to sleep is not how I want to end my day.  It’s not uncommon for me to spend an hour putting Little J back to bed.  P.S. Luckily, Baby N takes after Big J and is another dream sleeper!

Enter the NEW GE Align™ PM LED Light Bulb, which helps to promote the body’s natural sleep cycle.  This light bulb emits low levels of blue light to reduce any inhibition in the body’s natural production of melatonin, which helps signal your body that it’s time to sleep.  While using this light bulb won’t make you stay asleep, it will help get you there.  Using this light for 30 minutes prior to going to sleep helps promotes your body’s natural sleep cycles – and it’s always easier to work with your body than against it.  I’m already fighting against the strong will of a three-year-old, I will use all the help I can get.  And I like that it promotes something the body is already trying to do.

I have been wanting to decorate the boys’ room (I know, I know… we’ve only lived here for nearly 3 years), and they have requested a superhero theme.  I thought this might be the perfect time to get started on their room and a superhero lamp might encourage Little J to use it.  But the superhero lamps I was finding weren’t what I was looking for and the one I did like was WAAAAAAYY out of my budget.  And a DIY lamp makeover project was born…

SPIDER-MAN DIY LAMP MAKEOVER
WITH GE ALIGN™ PM LED LIGHT BULB

Materials:
– Lamp.  I found mine at Ross for $15.  It wasn’t hideous, but it definitely wasn’t an accessory for a little boy’s room.  I liked that it was pretty basic, but still visually interesting.  And that the base was pretty stable.
– Red Spray Paint.  I used Krylon Cover Maxx in Banner Red Gloss.
– Blue Spray Paint.  I used Krylon Cover Maxx in Oxford Blue Satin.
– Painter’s Tape
– Medium Grit Sand Paper
– Scrap Paper
– Black Puffy Paint
– Black Vinyl
– Fabric Tape Measure
– Craft cutter or scissors/craft knife
– Permanent Marker (Oil-based would be best, but a regular one will work)

Directions:
– Begin by taping up your lamp so you can paint it.  I decided that I wanted the base red, and the rest of the brown parts of the lamp to be blue.  I taped off the base and the glass bulb in the middle.  Furniture remakes are not something I am terribly good at and I’ve never actually done a DIY lamp makeover before.  I don’t have a lot of patience for all the steps and this was one reason I went with the Cover Maxx that was a paint and primer.  I also tend to over-tape  when I’m masking off parts of a project.  The upside is that I don’t usually have paint runs, but the downside is that it takes a long time to tape up and to un-tape it later.

– I lightly sanded the lamp.  It had some sort of clear sealant on it, so I took that off and then just roughed it up enough for the paint to stick.  I put two coats of the blue paint on, letting the paint dry about an hour in between coats.  Then I let it dry about 4 hours before I un-masked it and masked it off for the base.

– I masked the base off and sanded the sealant off it.  Then I put four coats of red on, letting it dry about 30 minutes between each coat.  I let the lamp then dry overnight.
– I debated A LOT on how to do the shade.  Originally, I wanted to mask off a spider logo and paint the shade with the red, but because the light bulb’s effectiveness is a large part due to it’s color, I didn’t want to mess with that.  I settled on a puffy paint web draped down the shade.
I had a 19-inch circumference lampshade.  I decided to put spoke lines every 2.75 inches and then split the difference of the last space at the back.  Then I just connected the spokes with free-handed web lines.  I then let the shade dry overnight.

**If I had this to do again, I wouldn’t do it this way.  I would make the web go diagonally across the shade or radiate from one point.  I may end up re-doing the shade, because all I see when I look at it is gathered curtains…  (Once it was all put together, it didn’t look quite so bad, but I still don’t love it.)  However, going vertically down the shade did make it super easy to hide the rather large seam at the back of the shade.  This method of webbing would look better on a conical-shaped shade, so if you have one of those don’t count this out.  I will probably redo the shade at some point… but maybe not til my kids crush and break the one that’s one there now.  I’m telling you, it’s going to happen.
– Once the paint was dry, I measured around the white glass bulb and the base and decided to do the web spoke lines every inch straight down the bulb.  This helped tie the shade to the rest of the lamp and look a little less curtain-ish.  Then, I freehanded the web lines around the bulb.  This part is similar to the sharpie on a mug craft you can find all over the internet.  An oil-based sharpie will last better, but a regular permanent marker will work too, since you won’t be washing the lamp, like you would a mug.  I used a regular black permanent marker.

– Because I’m so super thorough with my masking, I had a couple of spots where my blue paint and red paint met at the base that had some brown spots show through.  I just put a stripe of black puff paint around the base to help the transition area look a little more clean.  See… told you furniture remakes are not something I’m very good at.  But that means you can try it too!  And a DIY lamp makeover is the perfect practice project.

– I used my Cricut to cut out the Spider-Man logos from black vinyl.  Because of the copyrights on the logo, I can’t share my cut files.  But I just used a JPG file and traced it with my Sure Cuts A Lot Software.  If that sounds too complicated or you don’t have a craft cutter, you can print the logo out on printer paper, cut it out and trace around it on the vinyl with a sharpie marker.

– I use masking tape (or painter’s tape, in this case) to transfer my vinyl.  I find it much easier to work with than actual transfer tape.  And being able to peel it off a single strip at a time is nice.  Transfer the vinyl to the sides of the lamp base.

That’s it.  Overall, I’m happy with how my DIY lamp makeover turned out.  Little J loves it and Big J is a bit disappointed he doesn’t have one.  I’m sensing another lamp is in my future.  The only part I would change is the shade, but it’s time will come.  We’ve used it for nap time yesterday and bedtime last night.  Little J didn’t think it was bright enough, but it was pretty perfect for a light you want to use if you are trying to wind down for bed.  It’s similar to candle light in it’s color and not quite as bright as a typical bedside lamp.  Like I said, perfect for right before bed.  And I love that it fits in a standard size light socket.

GE Align™ also sells an AM LED Light Bulb, which help promote the body’s natural wake cycle.  You could put the AM version in the bathroom or kitchen.  I think these light bulbs would work great for anyone who works a night shift and has to change their sleep cycles on a regular basis.  The energy consumption is great and, according to GE, the bulbs should last nearly 23 years – based on a 3 hour per day usage rate.

Currently, these products can only be found on Amazon.com.  I am very (maybe a little too) familiar with Amazon and love the ease and effortless process of ordering from Amazon.com with super fast shipping.

 

If you would like to try to win over $800 in gift cards and prizes, check out the giveaway widget below and be sure to check out more great lighting options on GE’s website.  Which one is your favorite?  You can find GE on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest to keep up with all that’s new in lighting!
GE Align #SleepAligned Sweeps – More than $800 In Prizes