Pretty Neat Review and Giveaway

Giveaway Closed

Winner: No one entered

Recently, I’ve become embarrassingly unorganized. I’m afraid to let people come over to my house, see the inside of my vehicle or even glance into my purse. I am even beginning to fall behind on projects and I’m afraid to take on new projects. So it was pretty much out of need that I volunteered to write a review on Pretty Neat by Alicia Rockmore and Sarah Welch.

Pretty Neat is a laid back how-to get organized guide with a collection of easy going tips from a variety of women who have a variety of perfect and no so perfect organization tips. I found the easy going, easy read book to be inspiring and have actually begun to try some of the advice provided in the book to see what suits my life style best. For example, I’ve begun to look at Google Calendar to keep my husband and I on schedule in our ever-increasing busy life. I’ve struggled a lot with delegation. I think this has been one of my reasons for my organization down fall. Pretty Neat has given me an insight to what kind of delegator I am and how I can work on becoming a better one. The Learn To Just Say No chapter gave me the courage to politely say no, “I can’t at the moment”, to someone asking me to add another girl to my already large troop. I still felt an obligation to explain myself, but I was able to explain myself in such a way it gave her no room to try to change my mind. She did not try. In fact, she didn’t reply at all.

Thanks to the book I also came to terms (I was in denial) that my office is my biggest stressor. I work from home and my office (once a small dining/breakfast room) is right next to the living room. There are no doors or walls to hide my mess and keep my kids and husband out. This means more than one thing: my messy office can be seen easily and right away by anyone who comes to my house. It also means it is nearly impossible to keep my kids and hubby out of my office. So my mess is jut made worse by their mess. Any time I’ve panned to move my office out of sight the plan has fallen through, besides I’d still have the mess and would still need to figure out a way to clean it. The good news is that I have found that my mess isn’t as big as I make it out to be. It looks terrible, but it’s just a matter of tackling it one box or pile at a time.

“And unless you have enough time to make organization a full-time job, you’ll need to embrace shortcuts and imperfect approaches to getting organized” (pg 3).

I feel there is too much emphasis on technology. I did notice the paper and pen options and appreciate them, but felt there wasn’t enough. I know technology has become an extremely important part of our society (my job would be a lot more difficult without technology), but I fear depending on technology too much or worse, others depending on everyone having access to technology may lead to chaos in the future, such as during a blackout. Also, not everyone has the convenience of technology. There are many of us out there without cell phones or even without computers. My husband and I don’t have cell phones anymore and our computers stay home. Cell phones are not in our budget right now. Truth be told, except for emergencies we also don’t really need cell phones. When we had cell phones people expected (demanded us) to be at their beck and call. Now we are in control of when and whom we answer to. In the future we may cut off our landline and switch to cell phones, but unless it’s free text messaging and Internet will probably not be part of our cell phone package.

In addition, my computer crashed this week. Right now, I am typing my review on my husband computer. He uses it for work and school. Until my computer is repaired we will have to work on a schedule just to share this thing. So on that note, I felt my family’s lack of technology kept me from connecting completely with this book. I felt the book was written more for super busy metropolitan women. This is not a bad thing, it just that personally I would have liked perspectives from men and women of all types with or without technology.

My future organization goals: declutter (clothes to be donated to Japan), make a family schedule, tackle my office one pile or box at a time, delegate (with positive feedback and accept my way is not the only way) once I feel less overwhelmed get back to cooking easy healthy home cooked meals and living my eco-friendly ways.

Giveaway: One of my lucky readers will receive a copy of Pretty Neat. In addition one reader from across all participating blogs for this book campaign will receive a $200 gift card plus a selection of Buttoned Up products (ARV: $50). US only, please. The giveaway deadline is March 21st 2011. To win the book leave comment below about any of your organization stories. Here are a few suggestions for creative giveaway entries:

*Share the area of her home or life that has become the biggest source of organizational stress.

*Share one tip for how to delegate an organizational task inside her home.

* Confess a funny story about either an area that has become out of control inside her home or a way in which she has given up organizing and covered up instead (i.e. shoving items under the bed, designating one room or closet as the catch-all, etc.).

Disclosure: Pretty Neat was sent to me via Global Influence for free for my review. My opinions are my own.

Big G Hot Wheels Review and Giveaway

**This giveaway is now closed**

The winner is #14 Lesley M.

I don’t often give my kids kid cereal for breakfast. Kid cereals are more often than not high in sugar and low in nutrition. It isn’t healthy for their little minds and bodies to eat daily for breakfast, but every now and then, on the weekends or as a snack I treat them (myself too) to a bit of kids cereals and they love it.

Recently I had the opportunity to treat my kids to a variety of Big G cereals.Why? Recently Big G cereals teamed up with Hot Wheels® and since late January (24th) there has been a Hot Wheels® pullback racer inside each participating cereal box. “Starting January 24th, inside each participating cereal box (Cheerios® 14 oz, Cinnamon Toast Crunch® 17 oz, Lucky Charms® 16 oz, Reese´s Puffs® 18 oz, and Cookie Crisp® 15.6 oz), you´ll be able to “gas and go” with one of four custom-designed collectable Hot Wheels® pullback racers. Each car contains a code to unlock an exciting online racing game” (according to the My Blog Spark campaign letter. Bloggers here and there get to taste, review and let the world know about it.

What I received: a “Big G Hot Wheels” gift pack which includes 5 boxes of participating Big G cereals (the same five listed in the quote above), all with collectible Hot Wheels® pullback racers. These are all cereals I loved as a child, but like I mentioned in the intro healthier than they use to be: more whole grains, less sugar and so on.

My review: I couldn’t just treat my kids to the cereal I had to taste it myself too. I am writing a review after all. I noticed right away that the cereals don’t taste as sweet as they use too. As a mom I was very happy about that, but as a kid at heart, I missed that super sweet taste. Still, it was a tasty treat and I know my kids enjoyed it. I also noticed that Big G cereals are a bit more nutritious than they use to be. That’s a good thing too.

I enjoyed opening the boxes and finding a prize. Kids and most adults I know love to find prizes in their cereal box. I’m glad prizes are no longer inside the cereal itself, like they use be. Someone’s nasty hand and arm digging through a box of cereal and spilling it everywhere cannot be healthy and isn’t appetizing.  Prizes are now in between the box and plastic bag. The Hot Wheels were wrapped in plastic with the paper code inside.

Hot Wheel cars are much lighter now than they use to be. I have a toddler that loves to throw things so this is is a good thing. The code…I felt no use for it. I checked it out on-line and realized it was for online car racing games. Online games don’t appeal to me much. Still I gave it a try. I noticed the games were very limiting and didn’t like it. Every car I chose was locked up or something else was. I’d like to be able to just start playing a game for once. Am I old for wanting things less complicated. I was locked out of almost everything. I know these games are for kids, but like I mentioned I’m writing the review, besides I don’t let my young kids online to play games very often and I felt this was too complicated for them anyhow. However, my kids did enjoy playing with the cars and I know a lot of car racing fans that would like this kind of thing.

My favorite Big G cereal as a child and adult is today is Lucky Charms.

The Green in me would love it if Big G and Hot Wheels were a little more eco-friendly too.

The giveaway: One of my lucky readers will win an identical gift pack. The giveaway deadline is March 31st, 2011.  To win leave a comment below with the name of your favorite Big G cereal, which Big G cereal is their favorite. What are your kids’ favorite Big G cereals? Get another point for posting a tweet with hash tag #myblogspark (leave the link in the comments). You can get extra entries for posting giveaway on other sites (leave link) and subscribing via email. Make sure to leave a comment for each action. I will choose the winner using Random.org. Please make sure your email is on your profile or leave it in your comment. If you win and I cannot contact you then the prize goes to the next person. Please respond within 48 hours.

Disclosure: the prize packs and information were all provided to me from General Mills and Hot Wheels through MyBlogSpark for free for my review. My opinions are my own.

XIGO Review and Giveaway

Giveaway Closed: 

The Winner is Michele P.

A little more than a month ago a box of Xigo Maximum Defense arrived in my mailbox to use and review. Xigo is to be taken as soon as you start feeling symptoms of illness. Boy, did it arrive just in time. 4 of the 5 of us were already sick when it arrived. Yep, I was the fifth. Next!

“Xigo Health is a family-focused company that has created a line of products designed to boost your immune system. From daily doses to maximum defense when your body needs it most, Xigo products make the immune system faster, stronger and smarter by detecting challenges in the body, defending against them and deterring repeat offenders. And setting them apart from other similar remedies on the market, Xigo Health products are all-natural and safe for everyday consumption.”

My review: Like I mentioned earlier my Xigo supply came just in time. Right about the time it arrived my kids and husband had been battling a hard cold (not the flu). I knew I would be next. Under the stress I was under I’d get it the worse; I was sure of it. Still I did what I could to avoid it. I washed my hands, drank lots of water and this time I also had a few Xigo whenever I felt even the slightest cold coming on to help me fight the fight.

Did it work? So far, I feel good. It has been a few weeks since the package arrived and the hard cold has hit my home and I feel fine, well… I’m still stressed. Is it a coincidence? Or is Xigo onto something here? The only way for me to know for sure if it really helps is if it helps me fight off the next big cold I’m sure is headed towards my house in about 2-3 months. Then we shall see.

By the way I love chewable tablets. I’m like a kid that way. So, I really liked that Xigo comes in chewable orange flavored tablets. It makes it easy to take with me and use anywhere I go.

Interesting facts: How is XIGO pronounced? It is pronounced, “chee-go”. What special ingredients does Xigo have in it to help the immune system fight off sickness? It has:
1. Beta glucans, which helps the body to detect harmful viruses,
2. L-gkutamine , an amino acid that fuels immune cells to better defend the body from sickness,
3. Lactoferrin, a complex protein that does some complicated stuff with memory and quick response to keep sickness away.

The giveaway: It is a box of Xigo Maximum Immune Defense for one of my lucky readers to try. To win visit http://www.xigohealth.com/
And then come back here and tell me what other product you are interested in. The giveaway deadline is March 15th, 2011. You can get extra entries for subscribing via email, posting the giveaway on twitter, Facebook and any other social network. Make sure to let me know in the comments. I will choose the winner using Random.org. Please make sure your email is on your profile or leave it in your comment. If you win and I cannot contact you then the prize goes to the next person. Please respond within 48 hours.

Follow XIGO on Facebook.

Disclosure: I received the Xigo for free for review from XigoHealth. My opinions are my own.

ReUsies Review and Giveaway

*Now Closed*

The winner is: http://canelaajena.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/reusies-giveaway-winner/

To cut cost and to reduce waste I like to use reusable containers or Baggies to store my daughters’ lunch food inside their lunchboxes, but many containers do not fit well in their narrow lunchboxes. Luckily, I came across ReUsies L.L. C reusable sandwich bags. I was sent a couple of Reusies to test and review.

ReUsies Snack & Sandwich Bags are a USA made (Seattle, Washington) eco-friendly product alternative to plastic sandwich Baggies. They can be used to fit snacks or sandwiches. They are lined with 100% cotton and leak-resistant nylon (BPA, Lead and Phthalate free) and are also secured with Velcro® closures.

What I received: a 2-pack, which includes 1 snack and 1 sandwich bag. As you can see in the pictures above, my sandwiches ReUsies are orange and blue. The little critters you see on the flap are little orange crabs. I’ll admit the design isn’t my favorite design compared to the other designs available on the ReUsies website, but it is cute.

The test: will the food fall out of my ReUsies? No. The Velcro is secure and the flap provides good coverage. In addition the ReUsies are easy to wash. I just turn them inside out and wipe clean with soap and water. I haven’t had to do this yet, but they can also be machine washed and dried or washed in the dishwasher.

My large ReUsies can easily fit a thin or stackable sandwich. Both ReUsies can fit sliced fruit, cheese, chips, crackers and so on.

Giveaway: Get two too. The winner gets to choose 3 pattern choices and ReUsies will send what is readily available. The giveaway ends February 15. To win visit the ReUsies website and let us know which design you prefer. Extra points for following, tweeting, posting on facebook or linking somewhere else. Please leave link in the comment. I will choose the winner using Random.org. Please make sure your email is on your profile or leave it in your comment. If you win and I cannot contact you then the prize goes to the next person. Please respond within 48 hours.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

Crayola Pop Art Pixies Giveaway Winner is

Image via Wikipedia

*giveaway now closed*

The winner of the Crayola Pop Art Pixies Giveaway is Stacy T.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Thank you to everyone who left a comment. Keep an eye out for future product reviews and giveaways. Remember to please make sure it is easy for me to contact you or I wont be able to let you know you are the winner and the next person in line will get the prize. Either have an email on your profile or leave it on the comment.

Spark from MyBlogSpark – Crayola Pop Art Pixies-Giveaway

Mini Mioche Fall Collections Review and Giveaway Winner

*giveaway now closed*

The winner of the  Mini Mioche Fall Collections Review and Giveaway is Stacy T.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Thank you to everyone who left a comment. Keep an eye out for future product reviews and giveaways. Remember to please make sure it is easy for me to contact you or I wont be able to let you know you are the winner and the next person in line will get the prize. Either have an email on your profile or leave it on the comment.

Mini Mioche Fall Collections Review and Giveaway

 

Spark from MyBlogSpark – Crayola Pop Art Pixies-Giveaway

“Pop Art Pixies – Skye, Maya, Tatum and Naomi – a group of online characters whose special interests and personalities are the inspiration for a new activity kit line created for tween girls”.

I really appreciate the opportunity to be a part of this Crayola campaign. My daughters and I are huge fans of arts and crafts. So, when the Pop Art Pixies products arrived I knew my girls would love them. When I opened the box I was pleasantly surprised to see that I received 7 of the 14 activity sets available. Wow! I was expecting maybe 2 or 3.

I’m glad I received more than I expected because it really gave me the opportunity to see a lot of the product line up close and get a feel for it so that I could give a detailed review. What I received:

The Stationary Box- Naomi’s kit
Color Glow Lamp- Naomi’s kit
Shadow Boxes- Maya’s Kit
Glass Pendant- Maya’s kit
Glass Plates- Tatum’s Kit
Water Bottle- Skye’s kit
Wind Chime’s-Skye’s Kit

What I did? I cheated. I wrapped the kits up as gifts for the holidays for my daughters. What they did? They loved them! I knew they would since I signed up for the campaign.

Our holiday celebration had to be split between in-laws, my parents and our own home, so it took a few days before the girls actually had a chance to get their hands into these kits and covered in paint, stickers and markers. My living room was also covered in paint, despite the paper beneath the kits (kids just move everything around so much). The good news is that it wiped away easy with vinegar and a cloth napkin (the green in me uses non-toxic cleaning products).

My girls looked so involved in their art it was sweet to watch. I liked how simple it was for them to do too. Their job was to paint, decorate and minimal assembly. They did it all on their own too. My six year old was able to look at the pictures and follow the instructions just perfectly. My 8 year old could easily read the instructions. All I did was give them their kits and open up some of the plastic bags with accessories inside (wish the plastic bags were reusable).

My girls were so proud of their artwork and I was pleasantly surprised at how pretty it all looked. Looking at their art I realized my little girls are way past the doodling stage. They are not little anymore. This made my heart both happy and sad.

Here is a look at some of their artwork:

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My suggestions: I would have liked to have a little bit more involvement of the pixies in each kit. Maybe include a story of the pixies and why these kits are important to them. Maybe pictures, stickers or pixies cutout dolls. Hey is there a kit of pixies to paint? I know the idea is to encourage the girls to go online to learn more about the pixies, but other than logging online (which my girls do not have permission to do often) there was little mention of the pixies in the kits.

With that said, when my girls did get a chance to log in online they enjoyed the visit to http://www.popartpixies.com/ very much. They especially enjoyed the avatar creations. This is always something they enjoy to do on any website. They also love watching videos and they loved the opportunity of creating virtual kits too.

I really appreciate the inclusion of an eco-friendly Pixie. Thank you Crayola. I would also love to see eco-friendly in the other Pixie kits in the future. For example, the plastic, glass, metal and wood in the kits could all be made of recycled material. The paints could be made with natural dyes. The packaging could be made of recycled material as well. These are just my suggestions.

Overall, I think this is an enjoyable product line from Crayola for any little girl/preteen. The kits definitely make fun gifts.

The printable coupon: Visit 
http://offers.e-centives.com/noreg/?type=portal&id=8313A1F1-8F69-4814-B4DD-9FD731BC9376
to download a printable coupon for $2.00 off a Crayola Pop Art Pixies kit today

The Pop Art Pixies website: http://www.popartpixies.com/

The giveaway: The prize pack to one of my lucky readers will include: Tatum’s “Decoupage Glass Plates” kit, Naomi’s “Create a Color Glow Lamp” kit, Naomi’s “Create a Stationary Box” kit, and Skye’s “Create a Water Bottle” kit. All you have to do is visit the Pixie website and then come back here and leave a comment below about your impressions of this product line. You can get extra entries for following me, tweeting or sharing this giveaway. Please leave you link of your share in the comments below. Deadline: This giveaway will end on Jan 20, 2010. I will choose the winner using Random.org. Please make sure your email is on your profile or leave it in your comment. If you win and I cannot contact you then the prize goes to the next person. Please respond within 48 hours.

Please tweet about this giveaway with Twitter hash tag #Crayola

Disclosure: Crayola Pop Art Pixies products, information, and giveaway were all provided by Crayola through MyBlogSpark.

Listerine/Reach October Oral Care Challenge Blog Tour

Halloween recently passed and right now there is a large tote (emptied other two totes into this one) in my pantry filled with candy. It’s enough candy to last us for several months and more than enough candy to rot our teeth (as well as put on a few very unhealthy pounds). The only reason it will last months is because I don’t let my kids stuff their faces with it. I ration it. Still it’s a lot of sugar for their bodies, especially their teeth.

I’m ashamed to say, as a family, we don’t take care of our teeth as well as we should. It has become worse over the years as we all grow older and busier. When my daughters were younger I tried and for a while succeeded on improving our oral care, but in the super busy last few years I have become lazy and have failed them and myself on our oral care, more lately than in the past. We brush our teeth at least twice a day, but we often fail to floss (flossing is so important) and hardly ever use mouth wash. So when the Listerine package arrived on October 26, I was blown away. I received an assortment of adult and children’s products: toothbrushes, a variety of flossing products, and a variety of mouthwash bottles in different flavors some for kids and some for adults. The purpose: to help build a healthy routine for brushing, flossing and rinsing our teeth. We need a healthy routine and there is nothing like a package of dental products and a challenge to go with it to inspire a family like us to get back into a healthy routine of cleaning our teeth better and more often.

Did my family meet the challenge (to brush, floss, and rinse with mouthwash twice a day for three weeks)? Well, we are only ten days into the challenge, but so far so good and my kids took to the whole idea of brushing their teeth like candy after they saw all the cool new fun dental products. They were so excited about all the stuff we recieved that within the hour they began using the dental floss and the mouth wash. The girls liked having kid flavored mouth wash for themselves. By the way I love love love the mouthwash control top. It doesn’t work perfectly (my six year old still squeezes too much out) but I love the intention and my 8 year old who know how to control her impulses knows exactly how much to use.

The adults’ oral care routine has improved too, but not as much as it should have. We need this stuff at our desk or on the go I think, but often on the go products are wasteful and not environmentally friendly… I enjoyed the the smoothness of the dental floss. It makes it pain free to floss. The mouth wash flavors also make it painless to rinse while still leaving my mouth feeling clean. My husband enjoys this, but to be honest I love the intensity of mouth was. I think it feels cleaner and leaves less of a sweet/sugar after taste in my mouth.

My only wish… that Listerine and Reach could be this inspiring for oral care, with an eco-friendly line of products. We try to be a living family and our toothbrushes, our dental floss and our toothpaste are more often then not eco-friendly and/or from eco-friendly companies. I would love to be able to put Listerine on my eco-friendly dental list to buy from.

About the Oral Care Blog Tour:
“Listerine and Reach created “October Oral Care Challenge” for kids 6 and older to take with their parents—a great tip to get kids to imitate good oral hygiene routines. To complete the challenge, kids and Moms have to brush, floss and rinse every day, twice a day for three weeks—a key step in building a strong oral care foundation. We all hear about the importance of regular brushing and flossing for your oral care routine, but rinsing with a therapeutic mouthwash for 30 seconds twice daily, an additional but essential activity, helps reach those other parts of the mouth that harbor germs.

The makers of Listerine and Reach have also teamed up with America’s Toothfairy to launch “Trick or Treat for America’s Toothfairy,” a campaign to raise awareness of pediatric dental disease and help provide life changing care to underserved children. You can visit www.AmericasToothfairy.org to learn more) (Mom Central newsletter).

Mom Central Disclosure: “I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of LISTERINE and REACH and received products to take the Oral Care Challenge. Mom Central Consulting also sent me a Global Giving gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

5 Places To Enter Pics of Your Homemade Halloween Costumes For Super Sweet Treats

If you made a homemade Halloween costume this year you can spend the first part of November entering pictures of it in the contest found here

5 Places To Enter Pics of Your Homemade Halloween Costumes For Super Sweet Treats.

Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving- Halloween Public Service Campaign

This Halloween plan ahead and designate a sober driver before you begin celebrating. Kids and parents are out on this wonderful and fun dark night in neighborhood streets an on the road celebrating too. Don’t turn a night of celebration into a tragedy. Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving and it’s dangerous. “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Ad Council are reminding everyone that the best way to stay safe is to plan ahead and designate a sober driver before you head out for your Halloween festivities” (Global Influence).

Here are some helpful resources to help you plan ahead:
1. Designated Driver Drink List – One of the most important things you can do before going out is designate a sober driver. If you’re throwing a Halloween party, make sure to offer non-alcoholic drinks for the sober drivers. Here on Facebook, is a compiled list of 50 non-alcoholic party drink recipes..

2. Alternative Ride Locator – This Facebook tab has a list of nationwide alternative ride programs to help keep everyone safe.

3. Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving website – Sign a pledge to not to drink and drive and then play a game called “Spot the Difference.” It is an interactive game that simulates the effects of buzzed driving.