My Lenten Offering

OK, so I'm not Catholic, but I still feel the need to give up something for Lent. After much thought, I decided that I would give up chocolate as my offering on Wednesday morning. I went to an 8 a.m. meeting at a local coffee shop. Since I don't drink coffee or tea, I ordered a hot chocolate during the meeting. Hot chocolate!!!! So here I am 15 minutes into my Lenten agreement and I have already failed!!!!!! Argh!!! OK, so after falling off the wagon, I decided that Diet Coke found be the next goner after I finished my meeting. Then lunch rolled around. Without paying attention, I grabbed a Diet Coke and started gulping. Now, I am 4 hours into my Lenten offering and I have failed twice!!!

Then I decided that 2009 was not going to be my year for giving anything up for Lent, so I decided to add more Primo Water into my life. I know it isn't exactly in the spirit of Lent, but I feel that I am doing something that I wouldn't necessarily do without a cause, so it is close.

I am doing much better with this concept. I am drinking more water and getting closer to the recommended allowance (still not totally there). My heart is in the right place and my water cooler is excited because it see it much more often.

Features that are a Necessity

Shopping for a water cooler can be a little intimidating at first because you don't know what you are really looking for and need. I think it is very similar to buying your first Ipod. You want one (because it is cool) and you know you want to listen to music, but what else do you really need. Well cooler wannbe's, The Cooler Girl is here to tell you exactly what to look for when buying that first cooler for your home because you know you want one and you know you need to drink more water.

-Make sure it is Energy Star rated (we are trying to save the planet you know)
-Make sure you get one that heats water (you don't know how great it is until you have it)
-Make sure you can turn off the hot water when needed (again, it is the whole planet saving thing)
-A probe to capture the cap when putting the bottle on top of your cooler (you don't want to spill water all over the place when flipping the bottles)
-A bottom load cooler if it it fits in your budget (no flipping or lifting ever, plus a great shelf to put a plant on)
-Something that has stainless steel on it because it is much more stylish (and we are all about style now aren't we)
-Fast flow and recovery time because time if of the essence and I don't want to wait forever for my water bottle to fill while I am late for spinning class
-Lines and tanks that doesn't impart taste or odors (I hate plastic taste ruining my great Primo water)

While there are others, this is a good bare-bones list to consider when shopping for that cooler.

Inexpensive Toys

So like every new child in the world, Little Man absolutely has almost every toy made under the sun (whether it was the Chinese or American sun is another debate altogether). But as my mother reminded me last weekend, his favorite playthings aren't actually toys at all, they are the everday household items that we never would have put in the toy category. In keeping with Dave Letterman's Top 10 list, here are the Top 10 things that Little Man prefers to play with over his toys.

10: The Stairs (who doesn't)
9: The Refrigerator (a treasure chest of excitement)
8: The Tupperware drawers (much more exciting than the toy box)
7: The dishwasher (his climbing step)
6: Polycarbonate water bottle stash (he wants to be like mom and dad)
5: Dakota's Dog Dish (another climbing wall)
4: My black belt (he acts like it is a bull whip)
3: Wake Forest Demon Deacons beads (a NCAA Tournament must-have)
2: Dakota the dog's toys (much to her dismay!)
1: Our Primo 5-gallon water bottles (who knew)

Here's why he loves the water bottles. Now he is toddling all over the place and he loves to try to pick them up by the handles. Even though he is still a little too small to pick them up (the bottle is bigger than he is), he is able to push these bottles all over the floor. They are a walker!
It is so funny and so cute to see because he is very proud of himself when he's pushed them all over!

If we would only believe people when they tell us new parents that a child needs everything, they need everything that we already have to give them.

People love Water Coolers

While I could sit and tell you all of the wonderful things about owning a water cooler, you would really listen to what others have to say. Here's what some of the Primo customers have to say:

“I was tired of paying $8.50 for 5 gallons of water, and $50.00 a year for cooler rental. Saw your product and estimate I will save over 300.00 dollars a year in purchases, rent and electricity, not to mention the fuel the delivery driver used to transport. I’m totally pleased.” M.O., Las Vegas, NV

“I found the dispenser at Target at a reasonable price. I have been wanting a dispenser for a very long time. I used to use the Britta system, but just too many fillups, price of filters and taking up space in my fridge, all just got to be overwhelming.” D.P., St. Petersburg, FL

We love that our customers love our water coolers.

It's Monday and My Concentration is Waning!

It's Monday in sunny North Carolina and my concentration is waning. I scour the office in search of chocolate, but none is to be found. So instead I decide to start searching the internet for something completely unrelated to my job at Primo and I happen upon a British article entitled "Concentration Fuel at the Touch of a Button." I love British humor and thought I found check out the newest thing in England. Little did I know, it was about water coolers! Check it out. My concentration (and waistline) thank the Bristish for their insight!

http://tipsguides.com/health/health-nutrition/concentration-fuel-at-the-touch-of-a-button-2541

Super Bowl Ads

I'm sure all of the talk around the water cooler this week was about the Super Bowl. Some of us chatted about the game and the halftime show, but we know that people really only care about one thing - the commercials! As everyone knows by now, the Doritos commercial was the winner and the creative duo walked away with a cool $1 million bucks (Let's hear it for the little guy who won one over the overpaid NYC ad agency folks)! But what you don't know is the real reason why that commercial won. It wasn't the snow globe. It was the water cooler! That's right. You heard it here first on The Cooler Girl blog. The water cooler is what tipped everyone over the top. While I think they could've found a more exciting unit to use, they were smart enough the include one in their set because they knew it would make them a definite winner.

Cheers to the Doritos guys who are are true trendsetters! Free coolers for you.

I'm not the only one into water coolers!

A Fist Full of Throttle agrees! Although I do take exception to his claim that water coolers are "luxury items" when you can purchase them at Wal-Mart. That seems pretty Main Street to me!

http://www.afistfullofthrottle.com/foods-drinks/are-there-water-coolers-that-you-could-buy-for-your-home/