Febreze Fabric Refresher

I have already mentioned that I have some smell issues. Actually, they're pretty hard core.
Bad smells make me qwazy. So I have in my cleaning supplies every spray, with every scent known to humankind.
I have candles.
I have incense. The only problem with that is that people accuse me of smoking pot when I go the incense route.

Anyway, I've always liked Febreze products. And got about eighty bazillion bottles when we first got our dog because I didn't want to have people come in and take one sniff then say, "you have a dog, don't you?"

Got the newest bottle of fabric refresher which I love because I got the Lavender Vanilla and Comfort one. Lavender is pretty much my favorite smell evah.

So I'm watching Project Runway on DVR. And my couch smells good. Much like I would assume Tim Gunn's fabulous apartment (or amazing home) smells. Because, you know, Tim Gunn does NOT have a stinky place. It smells like sage, or a subtle pine, or a spring meadow. Anything, pretty much, except dogs, or sweaty kids, or burned toast.

The only thing better than the Febreze I used might be a Tim Gunn-scented Febreze, because I bet Tim smells super good.

Universal CDs

I listen to CDs in my car running kids to 10 hours plus of activities during a week's time. That does not count the time spent driving long distance to Emersyn's gymnastics.

They are, by default, forced to listen to whatever I, the driver, am listening to.

I got the Universal Music Family CDs and put them in my car.

Now, I have to admit, I thought they'd be those kiddie knockoff songs of popular tunes that seem to be on infomercials all the time.

Horrible, tragic and annoying. I hate hate hate when they (music CD people) take big hits and have a bunch of 3rd graders singing them off-key to make them seem more kid-friendly.

So, the first CD I popped in was the 80s. That is MY ERA. I was prepared for the bleeding of the ears as some 9-year old starts belting out Kool & the Gang.

What's this? It's the REAL MUSIC. The actual songs!! By the actual artists! Listened to the whole thing. Forgot to have the kids listen I was enjoying myself so much.

Anyway, had another one in the van while running kids around and it was the Motown selections. Now, out of all the CDs that is the one they are requesting over and over. Especially "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". We have been blasting that on the way to school, and all four kids now know the lyrics. I'd love to have them choreograph some dance moves we've been working on in the car.

It's great for me because I already love so many of the songs offered on the CD collection. But the bonus was that when I was telling their grandparents about it, they were so impressed. You see, my inlaws grew up in Detroit, so Motown is THEIR music.

If you have had it up TO HERE listening to Barney talking about the Wheels on the Bus, get these. Because you will enjoy them too. Besides, Michael Jackson (before he was crazy) has been teaching my youngest "A-B-C is easy as 1-2-3".

Thanks to PBN for the heads up on these great CDs. I have really enjoyed them and so have the kiddos.

Available CDs:

• Totally 80s for Kids
• Songs for the Car
• Motown for Kids (our most favorite)
• Future Idols
• Miss Ella's Playhouse
• Jazz Lullaby
• A Holly Jolly Kids Christmas
  

William Is Going Green

I've started making small changes around the house here with my own kids regarding going green. There are so many easy things which can be done which really don't translate into a massive lifestyle change. But I don't think I've talked to the kids enough about going green. I guess I hope they'll duplicate what I already do.

One thing we do hear about routinely are hybrid vehicles. The reason for this is twofold. One, because we live in Iowa and there is a lot of talk about ethanol. Hubby is also in the automotive industry so they hear their dad talking a lot about hybrid cars and E-85 cars because of what he does for a living.

I was anxious to read William is Going Green because I'm not sure what kind of information my girls, who are somewhat younger, are absorbing about going green. I sat down with Emersyn to read the story and she did enjoy it.

Her favorite parts were when William rescues Gage the cat, and when William gets a new green paint job. She did note that his smoky engine was not a good development and was happy for William when he got a new engine.

If you have smaller kids that you'd like to read some stories to with some lessons about being more earth-friendly, your child may enjoy William and his cat friend Gage. My own kids have loved Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine. William the Garbage Truck & Crew may very well appeal to this same group of kids.

• Check it out on the official website
• Purchase William is Going Green
• This review sponsored by Parent Reviewers
  

Tutor.com

As many of you know, last year we had some school issues with our oldest. But rather than an academic problem, it seemed to stem from an attitude problem. He understood the material, he just didn't feel the need to execute.

This year, I fear I'm facing a separate set of circumstances with my second son. Zach has to pass some math testing within a certain time frame by the end of the school year. He has a long long way to go. And I know they'd pass him to the next grade level but I guess the alternative being that he ends up in a remedial math situation.

I get it, though, I really do.

I am not crazy about math myself. Hubby is dyslexic and math was an albatross around his neck year after horrible year. I tried explaining this to my son. But rather than buckle down and do a practice sheet last night, it dissolved into him making himself physically sick. He was crying, he had horrible stomach pains for the rest of the night.

Math may kill my son.

Well, not really, but it's going to be a mighty battle. Mom Central gave me some great information about a new site for students, Tutor.com. And I have to tell you, sure, I can help my 4th grader with his math homework now, but much past this year and my math know-how has long since been pushed out of my brain in favor of more interesting information like making apple pies and how to cast on stitches for a felted bag.

Tutor.com isn't just some kind of site where you log on and you're supposed to find the answers to your questions. There is actually a live instant messaging feature so they are getting REAL help.

Anyway, if you have students who need more help than you're able to give them, you may want to consider Tutor.com. I guess the way I feel about it is, I'm well-intentioned as a mom, but I'm not an expert. I can't do some of that math and science stuff but I don't want my kid to suffer because their mom doesn't remember any of it and I can't even provide a way to check if their answers are correct. At least there is a resource where there are actual teachers, online, ready to ask at a moment's notice.

If you use this helpful tool for your kids, please stop back and let me know how it's going. There is the button below and also I am leaving on on my sidebar.

Horizon Organic

You might call me a somewhat milk expert.
Need proof?

First, it's one of my favorite drinks, especially with certain meals. I simply will not drink anything else.
Second, some of you already know this, but my paternal grandparents were dairy farmers. When I would spend time on the farm, I was getting the fresh stuff. When everyone came in for dinner, my grandpa would bring a fresh jug of milk, grandma would skim off the top and that's what we would drink for dinner. Straight from the cow, folks. It was dinnertime, wouldn't have made sense to have it any other way.

So when Mom Central sent me some of the Horizon Organic, I assured them I would be incredibly skeptical. Nobody could have a more discerning palate when it comes to judging milk on its merits. And I've got four kids who are pretty good milk drinkers in their own right, so Horizon had better bring it!

Here are some of the bulletpoints from the Horizon website:

• It's produced without antibiotics, growth hormones and pesticides.
• Our cows eat only organic feed and have access to clean water, fresh air, organic pasture and exercise.
• All of our milk is pasteurized and homogenized to ensure freshness, and fortified with vitamin D.
• We've added vitamin A to our Fat-Free, Reduced Fat, Lowfat and Lactose-Free Milk, as well as all Milk Plus DHA Omega-3 products.
• Milk Plus DHA Omega-3 is enhanced with an Omega-3 fatty acid that helps support heart, brain and eye health.
• Our Lactose-Free Milk provides the same wholesome organic dairy nutrition, without lactose worries.

Now for the big results. Got the flavors, and the straight up moo juice. And we had conclusive evidence from the kids. Uh, finished milk. To be fair, strawberry and chocolate went over the biggest because my kids are high maintenance. That's pretty much good enough for me, if they're going to drink it because they like it and it's also nutritious, I will buy it for them.


I know some people are taking small steps toward organic living, and some people still aren't convinced. I guess I'm just interested in knowing there are stringent guidelines in place to ensure the safety of the food I'm feeding my family. I also know that there are questions as to what is and isn't considered truly "organic".

If you want to check if Horizon meets your standards for organic, here is the link to check for yourself.

Horizon also has a comprehensive and informative website about their entire product line and their philosophy. Check it out for yourself, and if my picky kiddos liked the milk, I bet your kids would like it too.

Qlubb

I'm one of those busy people. Like you.
There are people who are far busier and people less so, but just looking at the calendar sometimes can make a person nauseous.
I had a friend who used to make fun of me for color-coding my kids on my calendar until she had 3 of her own. Yeah, she's not laughing now.

As a mother of four, I'm like a lot of you out there. I have parent meetings. I have a preschooler who still enjoys the "playdates". I have a knitting group and book club. I'm working "part time" now. About the only thing I'm not doing that many of you might add to your list is volunteering at school, I have contended that I won't volunteer at school until all four kids are there all day. But come next fall when my youngest is in Kindergarten, I'll be adding that to the list as well.

I have also served on a ton of volunteer committees and boards. Oh how I wish back when I was fundraising for United Way there had been Qlubb.

Mom Central sent me the lowdown on Qlubb. And, to keep a groups activities organized, alert members about events or meetings, or just quickly get some tasks going in your organization without having to call a meeting to do so, it's pretty darn slick.

To try it out I organized two groups. The first thing that's cool about it is that you are designated your own URL that everyone can make sure they bookmark. Easy peasy.
You can invite people. Post notes. Set up a calendar. Assign tasks.

I'm getting distracted. Organizer type stuff gets me as excited as a prepubescent girl at a Jonas Brothers concert. Anyway, I set up a group for our family, so my husband can check it from work and know any things on the schedule that are outside the ordinary madness.

I also set up a group for my closest girlfriends. There are five of us. We get together for lunch occasionally. We celebrate each other's birthdays. We knit. We take our kids (all 16 of them) on outings as a big huge moms-and-kids day from time to time. And having a place we can plan stuff together will be nice as emailing or texting gets a little harder to plan with some people getting message, some not, etc.

Qlubb is a great tool for keeping organized. I'm excited to really use it to my advantage now that life only seems to get busier, not less so. I'd encourage you to check it out for yourself. It's free, it's easy, and even the most computer-challenged person in your organization will be able to check in easily.

All Boys Miss the Toilet Except Mr. Clean

With four kids, my biggest chore, aside from constantly making meals, would be keeping things clean. But…

See these boys?
They look like really nice, normal boys, don’t they?
They’re not.
They’re totally disgusting.
They live like frat guys in training.
They belch, they fart, they smell bad.
And, for the love of all that is good and holy, they cannot hit the flippin’ toilet if you spotted them the 8” of clearance from “shooter” to bowl.
Their aim, in a nutshell, bites.
So guess what? The area in and around the toilet in their bathroom is nasty. I mean, urine overload, pee-fest, totally uber-icky. I make them clean their own filth from time to time but to get it up to mom standards, well, I gotta do that myself. Because I’m the only one truly capable of mom standards.
To get rid of the germs down there in Toilet Town, there are very few things I can think of that would
-50 gallon drum of straight bleach
-napalm
-nuclear attack
-alien invasion

So, BlogHer sent me these Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to try.
I guffawed to myself, “those folks at Mr. Clean have no idea who they’re dealing with, considering the boys have the ability to aim, they miss an impressive percentage of the time”

I scrubbed around the (choke back the gag reflex) bottom of the toilet around it and onto the floor. No small task but, what’s this???? Is there actually the ability to find the original flooring somewhere under this layer of pee-scented scratch-n-sniff??

Scientists are geniuses!

Then I scrubbed my white Corian kitchen sink. Which pretty much never looks like white. Excellent job squishy Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

I scrubbed one square in the kitchen where we have ceramic tile that is supposed to look a lot whiter and cleaner than it does most of the time (I say this even having paid to have it cleaned professionally with, omg, humpback whale tears or something because that was expensive). Can you tell in the picture which square of tile I scrubbed with the Magic Eraser? No, well, the arrow should have helped you out. (Sorry, for you game show fanatics I spoiled your guess but not sure how it would show on camera)

I also scrubbed the oven, that’s takes a pretty good beating week after week. SHINY!

I scrubbed the stovetop.
The kitchen counters.
Another toilet (slightly less scary than the Lavatory of Death).

Do I like the Mr. Clean Magic Erasers? Yeah. For a few reasons.
I’ve already used ‘em before, I mean, I bought these suckers back in the day when they were a NEW product.
But now, dude, they get squishier and they smell like citrus. Hello, CITRUS! I fully admit I’m kind of a smelloholic where if things smell super clean, I automatically assume they ARE cleaner whether they are or not, because for me, smell is half the battle. And, as everyone knows, citrus equals clean. Seriously, Adam and Eve probably cleaned everything with citrus. It’s in Genesis somewhere.

And the final reason I like the Magic Eraser? There is no room for user error. It’s ONE thing you get wet and start scrubbing thereby providing you with the ability to be a little lazy. Or at least clean faster so you can keep hopping around the internet!

See how disgusting that Magic Eraser is? I’m just getting started.

For more awesome tips and hints about how to use the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, visit their official site or the fan site.

***This paid review sponsored by BlogHer

***BlogHer and Mr. Clean sent me the Magic Erasers to try out for myself
***Believe it or not, I really love my boys and they do have a ton of really nice, admirable qualities, but I do fear they will never marry because they are kind of gross.

V-Tech V-Motion Active Learning System

We're wired up around here.

There are online computer games and software options my kids like.
My boys have a Gamecube in their room.
We just sold two Playstation 2 systems.
We have a Wii.

And aside from a couple things on the Wii that my girls may accidentally do well on, there aren't any gaming options for the younger set. I mean, even Wii Boxing require a certain level of dexterity and skill. Believe it or not.

However, I know that my girls like that stuff and would enjoy it more if it were more small-people oriented.

Enter V-Tech. I've seen them in the stores. And I guess what I was most struck by was that the games seem to be a lot less expensive than other games I end up shelling my money out for. I mean, it makes your hind parts pucker up a little bit when you slap down sixty bucks for a Wii game. Ouch.

I was pleased to try out the V-Tech for myself, well, not actually me but my girls at 4 and 6 years old being in the target demographic. Yes, they were thrilled. Hooking it up wasn't any more challenging than getting a bargain basement VCR and hooking it up. 3 cords in the right spot and, badda bing, you're playing.

And both girls liked it. The controller is easy for them to handle, I was actually kind of surprised they operated the joystick first instead of using the controller for movement. And, also no big shocker, the driving game was the favorite. I must confess, back in the olden days in the early 1980s, driving games were some of my favorites as well when I went to the arcade. I spent my meager allowances, one quarter at a time. Those were the days...

If only I had added up all those quarters over the years. Now, the V-Tech system will cost you $69.99 and games run $24.99. Like I said, quite affordable. Especially when you think that your smaller kiddos are using their noggins to solve simple reading and math problems as they play. And the selection of games is massive, the latest movie or cartoon is going to have a game component for V-Tech in the offering.

Learning! Disguised as entertainment! Genius!

Thanks, PBN, now there is one less TV I'll be able to watch Project Runway on. Oh well, at least these little suckers are learning. Tim Gunn will have to wait.

Liberty Mutual: The Responsibility Project

Not sure you realize this, but I’m a capitalist at heart. Start a business, make a profit. Profit doesn’t have to be a bad word.

However, the bigger you are and the more solid a company you are, there is an unspoken responsibility to give back. Not everyone feels that way, but I definitely do.

So, when I see a company doing its level best to contribute to society in some way, of their own volition, then I’m very impressed by that.

Also, as many of you know, I’m a Libertarian, so when it comes to politics I think more along the lines of personal responsibility rather than the government making all my decisions for me. It’s called LIBERTY.

The segue here being that I’m pleased to let you know about The Responsibility Project from Liberty Mutual. You’ve probably seen those commercials where people are doing something nice for a stranger (like stopping them from getting smacked by a bus) and it keeps going and going…right?? You’ve seen those? I mean, I like those because I’m a small town girl (please stop yourself from singing Journey right about now if you can) and pretty much, around here, if you don’t go out of your way to open a door for someone carrying packages into the post office, you’re a total jerk.

I do think it is our responsibility as parents to care for their fellow human beings. I mean, I give examples of not having much growing up (sometimes met with an eye roll from the kids when they’re like “here comes another ‘you’re so lucky’ lecture”) and how we should do things that help the less fortunate.

Sometimes, it does actually sink in. I was having a conversation with Zach after one of his guitar lessons. He’s not super keen on practicing but his idol is Slash (of Guns N Roses fame) and I asked him if he thought Slash was as good as he is now when he was 10 years old. Then I was kind of laughing trying to picture Slash as a 10-year old in the first place. But I digress. Anyway, our conversation steered around to the fact that when Zach grows up, and is a very rich famous rock star, he is going to send me to Hawaii (thanks, Z!), buy me a nice house, he’ll probably have the government take a bunch of his money (this commenced with a grumbling about how the government shouldn’t get to take his hard earned rock star dollars), and then with what is left over he wants to give it to the poor.

*sniff*

He’s been listening to his old Ma after all!

But, my kids have a serious couch potato gene, so when they can learn a lesson via movie format, they’ll suck it up. My favorite was The Lighthouse. Probably because I have an inexplicable romantic yen regarding lighthouses. The kids liked the New Boy film. Since I was the “new kid” many times during my school years, I have always impressed upon the kids to be nice and inclusive to any new students that join their class, explaining how scary and intimidating a new school can be. They’ve, thus far, made me very proud when they go out of their way to help a new student.

Parents, make sure you check The Responsibility Project for a variety of films that you can watch together with your kids about personal responsibility.

I’m pleased that Liberty Mutual is bringing The Responsibility Project to the masses. It’s a great thing to see a company endeavoring to make the world a better place by encouraging those of us living in it to be better people.

This post courtesy of Mom Central

K'Nexpert 2009 Search!

For immediate release, and any of you with budding architects in the house and/or those kiddos with a creative streak like some of mine, you'll love this!

K’NEX Brands, one of the world’s leading construction toy companies, is inviting kids across the country to put on their thinking caps and enter the K’NEXpert Search – an annual contest that invites kids to design an ultra-creative, original model made entirely from K’NEX parts. Three imaginative young builders will each win a $10,000 savings bond for college.

First, you need to visit their website with all the K'NEX information you need to know.
Next, you'll be interested to see that there are three age groups for competitors: 5-6 year olds, 7-8 year olds and 9-12 year olds.
Also, the prizes aren't limited to only the three grand prize winners. There are many more opportunties for the K'NEX builder at your house to win a prize

The 2009 K’NEXpert Search will run from now through September 30, 2008 with winners announced on or about October 28, 2008. Children enter by printing out the entry form from the K’NEX web site (www.knex.com) beginning July 8, 2008 and mailing it in to K’NEX. Submissions must include a photo of the creation and a one-minute video or one-page summary describing how the child came up with the idea, how long the design took to build and how many K’NEX pieces were used.

Young builders between the ages of 5-12 must submit an entry within one of four building categories: Ultimate K’NEX Model – built with K’NEX Bricks, Classic K’NEX and Micro K’NEX; Futuristic; Vehicles; and Amusement Park Thrill Rides. Kids are encouraged to let their imaginations run wild – models are judged on creativity, uniqueness and detail.

So visit the K'Nex website to get all the details, and happy building!

***Thank you to Team Mom for the scoop on the contest!***