Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters - WE HAVE A WINNER!

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:10:00 +0000

I'm not sure I've mentioned it much yet (guess I'm sort of waiting until things get closer) but I've spent the last 3 months plus steadily training for my very first half marathon.

If you are a running person, you may not be that impressed.

I must say, though, as a one time track chick in high school that ran sprints, this distance stuff has been a huge challenge. That being said, my slow and steady progression toward my end goal has me in the best shape I've been in since those high school days.

That's saying a lot considering I'm a 37-year old mother of four.

But part of my training has also included eating a more runner-friendly diet. In my research and tips I've gotten from other runners, nuts are a good thing to snack on.

Nature Valley sent me a nifty little box full of goodies. Actually, more goodies than I anticipated because there was a drink bottle, binoculars, flashlight (which my girls promptly stole because it was cute) and a little backpack too!

But let's talk about the food items, the Granola Nut Clusters. As stated, I like nuts and I like granola when there are nuts involved. My FIL just had hip replacement surgery and there were some complications, so we ended up at the hospital logging more hours than anticipated. I grabbed the bags of Nut Clusters because I thought, depending on our ability to get to the cafeteria for a meal, we may need some sustenance.

Now, truth be told, I'd consider myself pretty damn picky when it comes to anything made with granola. Why? Because far too often it tastes like you're chewing a cardboard box. Blech.

These things are tasty, and I say that with a very discerning palate. The Roasted Almond one was my favorite. Also, the other thing that appealed to me was the serving size. What a normal person considers a serving size and what is sometimes listed on food products can vary a great deal. Especially, it seems, with chips and other high fat snack items.

The servings size here are seven or eight of the clusters, and if you haven't seen them, if you can picture a Rolo (those chocolates with the caramel in the middle), one of these clusters is slightly larger than that. And they're a lot more filling than you'd think. Simply eating them as a snack, I wouldn't even need to eat seven or eight. And that serving size is only going to be around 150 calories. So, whether or not you're watching what you eat, you're not putting a bunch of nasty in your system...so that's pretty good.

You may want to try some of these for yourself. In fact, I'm pretty sure you do. SOMEBODY is going to win the box full of Nature Valley goodies with all the loot I listed above. So for ONE of my lovely beautiful readers, leave me a comment (make sure there is a way to contact you via email if you win) about the biggest health-related thing you've done for yourself lately. And if you haven't, is there something coming up you're excited about?

Wish you could all cheer for me on my first half marathon! In the meantime, do something else healthy...leave a comment and you could WIN!

And the number random thingy distributed thusly, thanks to all who left a comment:

List Randomizer

There were 7 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

The Beatles

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:08:00 +0000

Remember I mentioned (as did the rest of the world, with great anticipation) that The Beatles Remastered had been released including songs from fourteen albums by The Beatles? Remember that?

I've listened, all right.

Not sure if you were one of those who ran right out and bought your own copy or haven't found time yet...hey, I get it, fall is a busy time of year.

But, is anything, barring death and destruction, more significant that The Beatles? No, of course not.

I spent my childhood listening to my mother's scratchy, ill-cared-for original Beatles albums. On a record player in my room. I remember the exact muffled spots in "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away", which was one of my favorites from "Help!". And this may sound a little melodramatic, but when I got to that track on the Remastered CD, it was incredible to hear it in its pure form. Without the scratches, the shortcomings of vinyl, the sound from cheap speakers...the song still makes me feel that melancholy ache which drew me to it in the first place, but now it's even better.

I had "Rubber Soul", "Revolver", "Sgt. Pepper", "The White Album" on CD during my college years. The rest of the catalog came courtesy of the original vinyls.

I enjoyed having a stroll down memory lane listening to The Beatles again, some songs for what seems like the millionth time. But I'm thinking about how The Beatles have breached the generation gap - AGAIN. See, I was the daughter of a Beatles nut. And of my own choosing, fell in love with the music myself. And I'd been listening to the Beatles "Love" CD in my car some months back when my teenage son was interested in a couple of the songs. Now, we listened to the Remastered versions together and he's become quite a fan in his own right, asking for more and more Beatles music to add to his iPod.

It's probably come full circle when the other day he posted a tribute on John Lennon's birthday on Facebook for all his junior high friends to see.

Now, if you'll excuse me, my son needs to listen to "Glass Onion" just a couple more times.

Febreze Flameless Luminary

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:52:00 +0000

Some lovely person sent me the Febreze Flameless Luminary.
Why?
Because Febreze and I? We go way back.
I don't like stink.

Febreze makes me not want to get sick because things smell weird and I can't figure out why and I don't end up thinking about a bunch of strange germs and stuff it could be.

This luminary was pretty slick though...and I thought no way it would actually smell up a whole room nicely, but it did. And I got the Green Tea Citrus scent, which I didn't think I would like much but it's pretty nice actually...not something I would have picked myself, so I'm sort of glad I got it.

Probably the biggest bonus, is that my firefighter hubby isn't having a hissy fit about it because there's no flame. It's an illusion! It only looks like there is a flickering candle in there. So, since he HATES candles and I love them, it's probably the equivalent of a marital compromise.

Holla, Febreze!!

The Beatles Can Never Truly Be Remastered

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:08:00 +0000

You know all this awesome Beatles stuff is coming out now, right? As in, "yesterday"... which wasn't my favorite song, but it was up there.

There's a worldwide CD release of the digitally remastered works plus The Beatles: Rock Band. I would like to take this opportunity to beg the video game gods to offer this in Guitar Hero format for Wii. Thankyouverymuch.

I'm getting a CD sampler which I'll review. As a major Beatlemaniac, I trust I can tell you whether it's just as awesome as it was before...what am I saying? How can it not be awesome. So, be watching for a future post about THE BEATLES!

And that photo there? Yeah, the White album. I had that poster on my wall in high school when other people had Milli Vanilli or New Kids on the Block.

For all things Beatles, check their site

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra for Wii

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:19:00 +0000

There are a few times when hubby and I are reminded, that despite our own perspective that we think we're pretty cool and hip and young....uh, maybe we're not.

We both grew up with Atari. What with it's painful joystick and minimal graphics. The games were simple. And I can tell you right now I could kick all your asses at Pitfall. I rocked that game.

Our kids have Wii, and while it's incredible just how far things have come, their games, quite frankly, some of them give me a headache just watching them! There is so much going on simultaneously that I can't figure out how they are keeping it all straight.

Hubby is the same way, which I guess is what makes us the geezers around here. He says, "It's so confusing, how can it even be fun". But our kids are growing up used to that intense level of stimulation. Makes me wonder if they'll be "normal". Probably not, which is why I make them go outside and play in the sandbox to offset the technology seeping into their noggins. But I digress...

The other night we finally got a night since school's started that they all had some time to play the new GI Joe game on the Wii. Hubby wanted to play since he himself was a GI (and had a younger brother who was a GI Joe nut back in the day, as did I), and he likes military games. Zach will play anything on the Wii save for something Disney Princess or My Little Pony. He has to draw the line somewhere.

Here's the "official" game description:

G.I. JOE The Rise of Cobra for all major video game consoles will feature an exclusive storyline that picks up where the live-action movie, from Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment, in association with Hasbro, leaves off, allowing players to re-create and re-live the greatest moments from the film, cartoon series and action figure toy line. The game will feature 16 playable characters – including 4 unlockable COBRA characters – each with unique abilities and weapons. Adding to the adrenaline rush will be an intense single-screen co-op mode allowing two players to easily unite as a team in a classic struggle between good and evil to defeat the powers of COBRA.

They played for awhile then I hung out and watched them. Zach was enjoying it a lot. There's shooting other people and blowing stuff up and even though it's rated T for Teen, it's not disgustingly graphic like some other shooter games are. People just kind of fall over dead like some of those shooter games you might have found at the arcade. It's the blowing stuff up that's way fun.

For hubby, he was glad that he had the ability to hang in with it. The game has you seeking out objectives and killing enemies but not doing eighteen other things. And despite the fact that Zach's score was five times what his was, at least they could play together!!

So, for my younger son and my hubby, we'll be giving this one two thumbs up. They could play together and my son could show his dad a thing or two but at least his dad could kind of keep up with it. Heck, maybe he'll practice some and show up the kid next time!

Birthday Party Bash

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:32:00 +0000

Sammie has it both good and bad with a summer birthday. For one thing, it's outside the school schedule so she misses that awesome day at school reserved for when you're a little kid and it's your birthday.

And with a birthday smack dab in the middle of summer, all the usual summer stuff has been done by her party guests. They've done the pool thing, the going to the park thing, every kind of summer fun thing. They've had weeks of summer fun by the time her birthday rolls around.

So, when Mom Central sent the Birthday Party Bash for Wii, and I knew it'd come for us to use at her birthday party, I was pretty darn excited. Especially because it's hard to come up with something new and fun for birthday parties.

I had a few things planned for the party and implemented the help of the witless teenager of the house to get the game going for Sammie and her party guests. Yeah, they didn't need much by way of intro, once they got figured out which person had which controller they had a blast. And it's funny, the games were so varied, no one person was dominating by winning everything, which was nice. I mean, we're talking about 7 & 8-year old girls here, if there is a bit of competitiveness, there can be a little drama too.

Truly, I kept asking if they wanted to change to Mario Olympics or Wii Sports instead, and in unison, they insisted that they wanted to keep playing Birthday Party Bash. Hand to God, they didn't ever end up switching games. That's pretty good, to keep the interest of that many little kids when they knew they had other options.

I have photos, but then my camera had to hit the camera shop, so I will add later. But hubby did a little video, though his camera work needs some help, he shot the girls and not the game too. But, it's funny, look how hard they are concentrating on the game! It cracks me up.

The game itself came with invitations but we'd already sent hers out. But they're very bright and colorful and I think I'll have to save 'em for when it's the next birthday around here.

So, it got a lot of kudos from everybody involved...great idea for a kids' party! The girls had a real blast with the game.

Mom Central Summer Giveaway

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:28:00 +0000

I know summer is busy, it's been quite crazy around here as well, so I definitely know!

However.

Is it ever, EVER, too busy to want to win FREE STUFF? No, that would be a big fat no, boys and girls.

Mom Central, that I love, as a top notch site for everything under the sun that matters to me (and many of you) is having massive giveaways.

However, you can't dawdle and you need to check out the Summer Giveaway Bonanza pretty much RIGHT THIS MINUTE because some of the first week giveaway items end today to enter to win!

So, hurry hurry! You don't want to miss: shoes for your toddler, a Hoover vacuum, a Super Soaker, a Kodak digital frame, and lots more stuff as you keep checking back to enter to win.

Run, don't walk, to check out the giveaway NOW!!!

Look Good...Feel Better

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:42:00 +0000

Six years ago tomorrow, I walked with my best friend Teresa at Relay for Life. For her. And her cancer was so new she'd only had one chemo treatment and hadn't even lost her hair yet, that would begin to fall out just a couple weeks later. And my daughter, Teresa's goddaughter, hadn't even turned one-year old yet.

My daughter was too young to know how hard it was for Teresa to not only fight the cancer but to go thru all the surface changes. When she went to pick out a wig, she was terrified. She took about 8 of us along to help her...we made a party out of it. But she needed us there to help her pick out a wig, but more than that, to remind her that she was still so beautiful even without her hair.

Teresa, as a nurse, was the type of person who met her cancer full-on with research in hand. Once she got thru that initial denial, she met everyone armed with an arsenal of information. But, that was just about her disease, not about her...as a woman. Mom Central told me about this website and I wish I'd known about Look Good...Feel Better to give her information about all those other insecurities that come from having cancer.

What is it, exactly?

Look Good…Feel Better is a free, non-medical, brand-neutral, national public service program created to help individuals with cancer look good, improve their self-esteem, and manage their treatment and recovery with greater confidence.

But, wow, what a great source of information for everything from wig selection to how to put your eyebrows back on when you lose them to chemo. Teresa always seemed even more frustrated with the lack of eyebrows and eyelashes than she even did about the hair on her head!

Look Good...Feel Better is celebrating its 20th anniversary by looking for people to share their survivor stories as part of the "Women of Hope is Beautiful" campaign. There's an extensive timeline of what has been going on the past 20 years with LGFB if you, too, are learning about it for the first time.

Take a look though, there's a blog and a place for women to submit stories and photos. Cancer is never easy, but finding a support network to get some answers and some help with even something that seems silly like how to apply eyeshadow when the eyes seem to fade away with the ravages of the disease and the challenges of treatment.

Cancer is hard, but finding support should be easy.

Mamapedia: the Wisdom of Moms

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:53:00 +0000

I don't think I'll shock anyone when I mention the phrase, "opinions are like a**holes, everybody has one".

But you know what? Sometimes you're so fluxommed that you seek counsel. Advice. The OPINIONS of others, God forbid. It's that whole "been there, done that" philosophy.

Literally, three days ago a friend on Facebook asked about getting her son to sleep thru the night and starting to wean him from night breastfeeding. Another college friend and I both gave our methods and experiences, she having nursed three babies and myself racking up four former nursers. Our methods both included a minimal implementation of "crying it out". Yet another person the inquiring mom knows offered other options and was NOT a fan of any letting baby cry. (The other mom and I were virtually called out for being child abusers, definitely not a case where a difference of opinion was shared in a respectful manner)

Different strokes for different folks.

My biggest feeling is that while so many people have different viewpoints, the most important thing to remember is to be respectful of other people's choices. Especially when it comes to parenting. Isn't it a hard enough job already? We already second guess ourselves enough hoping we make the best decisions when it comes to care and discipline, that unless we're doing something harmful, it really isn't anyone else's business.

But what if there's a situation where you feel uncomfortable talking to your girlfriends or your favorite aunt, and you want a variety of information from other people who have already handled the same scenario? That's where Mamapedia comes in.

I have looked all over the site. I don't know how long Mamapedia has been online but the gamut of topics is already varied. Not only that, but some of my own kiddie "issues" are on the site with lots of detailed and thoughtful responses from a lot of moms.

My boy-crazy daughter Sammie....yeah, having a boyfriend in 1st grade is a topic. (FYI: the consensus of opinion being that it's pretty harmless...I agree). There's also a thread concerning getting kids a video game system or not.

From conception to adulthood, the Mamapedia site is broken down by age groups so that you can go directly to the age of the child you have where you may have an issue you are struggling with and find the topic already exists or post a new query.

Pretty slick.

If you're in a place where you need to get a little more perspective and just need a variety of advice, with all the feedback on Mamapedia, you're bound to find a voice in the crowd similar to yours that makes sense and is helpful. And the nice thing is, after you "solve" your problem, you can go back and update the thread on how things turned out.

Thanks to Mom Central for sharing this little gem...it just may help me survive the teen years. Maybe.

Frosted Flakes Plant a Seed

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:47:00 +0000

I like it when corporations put it in the hands of the people to have a say in where charitable dollars are spent.

I can't remember what the organization was last year that had a school project to help a school and there were like five from across the country and Parkersburg, Iowa that had been leveled by a tornado was one of them. I have family that live there and to think that something could happen that would help the town rebuild was great to be a part of.

This time, it's Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, which I eat myself if I'm being honest, I don't just buy them for the kids. Anyway, they have a Plant a Seed initiative where they want to rebuild playing fields for kids in towns where the funds aren't there for upkeep and kids are losing out on places to play.

Voting is currently going on and ends May 31st, so you need to boogie on over there. I went over and voted for a field that is in a neighboring town to where I was born and raised.

Check it out! You'll be GGGGGreat! (you knew I was gonna go there, right?)

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey's Big Splash & Imagination Movers: Warehouse Mouse

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:29:00 +0000

Some PRish type folks sent me a couple new Disney DVDs, just in time for the coming summer months when approximately 3.7 days after school gets out they will be whining about how bored they are.

The nice thing for me was that my 5-year old is a big fan of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse series and she liked that one and my 6-year old (almost 7, as she keeps reminding me) is an Imagination Movers fan and she liked that one.

Everybody wins!

The Mickey Mouse disc is raring to go with a summer theme with the stories on the DVD. Emersyn was quite a fan of the bubble bath episode. But, with the genius of promotional materials, you can actually take a sneak preview yourself of a little bit of the DVD.

If you've never been a big fan of Mickey but your smaller kiddie seems interested, you might want to consider it. I swallowed the bitter pill that was "Barney" back in the day when my oldest son was little because he really loved it.
Not to mention, apparently it's a fan favorite all over.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ranked as the #1 cable series with kids 2-5 in February 2009, with more than 24 Million unique viewers – over 42% of preschool kids age 2-5. It features the iconic characters of Mickey and friends encouraging teamwork and problem-solving.
(Source: Nielsen Media Research, National Ratings, Live +7, 1/26/09-2/22/09)

Not too shabby, even by Disney standards. There's some pretty stiff competition for what's on TV for the little kiddos to watch.

Next up was the Imagination Movers. I'm not gonna name names, but it seems the Imagination Movers are the dudes who get the moms all interested. Like, we're all supposed to have one guy we like...I'm just sayin, I've seen blog posts debating which mover is the hottest. I'm voting for Dave, myself, but to each their own.

That aside, my older daughter likes this show too and after a long couple weeks of soccer games and dance practices, she came home the day I offered up the DVDs for watching and plopped on the couch with her favorite blanket and chilled out. Didn't move a muscle 'til it was over. That's 88 minutes, folks. She both needed the break and it engaged her interest. I don't normally just let them do that...just sayin. Don't want you turning me in to child services for using the TV as a babysitter.

Anyway, as usual, the guys are up to solving the "Idea Emergencies" and getting on the crazy hijinks.

Sammie's favorite was the "Tooth Hurts" episode...watch the clip.

Both DVDs are good additions to your library, especially if your kids are already fans of the shows. Just in time for summer.

Nancy Drew for Wii

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Sat, 02 May 2009 02:31:00 +0000

Nancy Drew. Isn't it amazing there are still Nancy Drew products coming out?

I was sent the new game for Wii Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek and I guess at first I was kind of surprised Nancy Drew is still on the scene.

My kids have heard of her and not from the recent movie offering. No, from hubby's mother who loved nothing more than she loved Nancy Drew when she was growing up.

At first I thought I'd play the game with my girls. But here was the problem. It's for ages 10 and up and for my 6YO daughter, that did apply. There is some reading involved that is more than her current reading level could handle.

So, I asked my almost 11YO son to try it out. I was playing for awhile myself but, in a total switch of personalities, I wasn't catching on as fast as my son was.

My kids, the boys specifically, have always been more excited about games with different levels and worlds and basically anything where you have to make progress of some kind. They've never really been into shooter games or sports games. So my son was quite adept at playing this Nancy Drew game where there is a set of things to accomplish and tasks to perform to keep moving along. Whereas I, am ashamed to admit, was losing patience somewhat at having to go along so diligently.

It's been crazy busy around here so they haven't gotten a chance to play it long enough to beat it and my son promised me that that snowball fight was "pretty tough", so it's good to have a game that actually challenges them. If your kids like those problem-solving type games, they'll like the mystery spin appeal of this game.

To buy: click here

Sid the Science Kid: The Dirt on Dirt

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:44:00 +0000

My youngest kid is probably my dirtiest. After two boys and an older sister, the "baby" girl seems to be the one with the most enthusiasm for being outside.

The episode "The Dirt on Dirt" summarized:

In an Earth Day-themed episode, Sid wants to know what makies dirt so dirty. At school, Sid and his friends discover that dirt is really important to the Earth because it helps things grow, and it's also filled with tiny rocks, pieces of leaves, and even living things like bugs and worms!

I had Emersyn watch the Sid the Science Kid episode first. Then Sammie watched with her. Then Zach watched it with them when they watched it again a 3rd time.

The kids have all planted seeds in dirt and grown things during the spring during projects at school starting from when they were preschoolers. We live in Iowa. We know a lot of about dirt here since we're an agricultural state, so my kids may by osmosis know slightly more information than a kid who doesn't live in an area heavy with farming.

But in the usual PBS programming style, the show does a nice job feeding a kid's curiosity and speaking to them in their language but also not dumbing it down. The show is geared for 3-6 year olds (which fit with my viewers, my girls who are 5 & 6 quite enjoyed it but my 10-year old was outside the target audience) and I think it does well with the information for that demographic.

I particularly liked the song Sid sings in the car about how great his mom is. Obviously.

DO NOT MISS this episode of Sid the Science Kid, it airs tomorrow April 22 on PBS KIDS. Check your local listings to find out when it's going to be on in your area.

School House Rock! Earth & Handy Manny: Go Green Edition

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:59:00 +0000

Earth Day is coming up. I never heard anything about Earth Day until I was in high school despite it being started back in 1970. Then we got a day out of classes and spent time cleaning up trash and other earth-friendly activities, such as they were in the late 80s.

Certainly though, when I was a kid in the 70s, seeing litter in ditches was commonplace. I guess until somebody decided that to teach people to stop doing it, you'd get a ticket for littering. A penalty for being stupid with the planet.

Litter is so visual, though, it's an easy reminder about being nicer to Mother Earth. However, there are other ways that, as our society is becoming more environmentally conscious, we can do.

I've started thinking about the ways in our family life we can change. I've implemented things that are more "green" but also, more conservationist and save me money.

The Disney DVDs School House Rock! Earth and Handy Manny: Manny's Green Team have these themes for the kiddie set.
My kids get a lot of information at school about being good to the planet. And no, I really don't think it's some kind of left-wing, Al Gore, tree hugger conspiracy that they discuss it at school, but it does comes up. Even without having the kids watch the DVDs, they could already tell me a lot of things to do that are good for the Earth.

I got my kids the School House Rock DVD with all the songs from when I was a kid many moons ago. They've already become fans so I figured they'd like the Earth one too. The thing I like is that there are some old cartoons I remember but they've given them all the "old" vibe like the ones I watched as a kid.

The Handy Manny DVD is obviously, newer content. Handy Manny is something that's just been around here with my girls watching stuff (which is too bad, I think my boys would have liked it when they were small) but the show itself already has a "problem solving" vibe anyway where people work together...well, I guess really just Manny and the tools do. So an Earth Day theme for episodes isn't really outside the norm for Handy Manny. My younger son, who is almost 11, actually sat down with his little sisters to watch it and was enjoying it too. I didn't find that there's a suggested age for watching Handy Manny, but if that tells you anything, he liked it too.

So, for some kiddie entertainment for Earth Day, they just might learn a new thing or two from these Disney DVDs. These just came out, so should be pretty easy to find for your kids.

Listerine Total Care

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:00:00 +0000

I've had a pretty good variety of dental work done. As a kid, let's just blame it on all that candy I ate at every opportunity. The result? A mouthful of fillings.

Each time I was pregnant then my mouth went in the toilet. Well, not literally...you know what I mean. And the last time I was in with some tooth pain, my dentist threatened root canal in the near future. Not super excited about that.

And I take good care of my teeth, seriously! Well, I could floss more but I am improving in that department.

I got to try the new Listerine Total Care. And I'll be truthful, I've always used mouthwash for one purpose, and that was to keep my breath super fresh that much longer than simply brushing. And I'll be truthful, after many years of trial and error, I already use Listerine.

Want to hear something psycho? I like Listerine because it's so intense. Like, it tastes kind of medicinal and almost hurts. That's what I like. I don't like that stupid stuff that's wimpy and tastes like bubble gum or whatever.

OCD admission: they have it noted on my chart only to use mint when cleaning my teeth at the dentist's office. Why? Because if they use something like wild cherry, I don't feel like my teeth are clean. At all. I hate that. I know, it's apparently super weird because only me and one other freakshow have to have mint.

Anyway, so I tried the Listerine and at first glance I was nervous. It's purple (the color of the mouthwash) which is my favorite color in the universe! However, it's not normally the color of minty type stuff.
But, it was mint taste anyway! HOLLA!

I suppose I should divulge that it's called "Total Care" because it's more than just mouthwash where your breath smells super good. It does SIX things, so hey, that's pretty awesome.

Helping to prevent cavities
Restoring enamel
Strengthening teeth
Killing bad breath germs
Freshening breath
Fighting unsightly plaque above the gum line

Anyway, I appreciate Mom Central sending it. Because I just ran out of my own Listerine (I usually get Fresh Mint). Now I can get this because it's PURPLE and it still makes my mouth feel totally clean.

Current Cards for Teens by Discover

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:06:00 +0000

My oldest son is in 7th grade, which means a few things.

He's moody and unpleasant often. He grew five inches last year. He smells bad when he forgets about that nifty little invention that I introduced him to called "deoderant".

And with the fuzz accumulating on his upper lip, his seriousness about girls has increased somewhat. A lot of things about the freedom he has are scary for us as parents but at the same time, I know I need to start trusting him to make his own decisions.

He's had a cell phone for about six months but it's the kind you load the minutes on so I have some control over how many minutes he's going thru (which, unless he is interested in a girl, the phone gets little activity) and how he's using it.

And now that he is "on again" with a girl he's been interested in this school year, he's wanting to "hang out". Which basically entails going to the Mexican restaurant he likes with her and then walking over to the movie theater to see some sort of horror genre flick.

So, we get down to the money thing. He doesn't need much. He has everything he needs, besides the things we buy him his grandparents spoil him rotten. He really, like most other kids his age, doesn't buy much besides the frivilous.

That is, until he's thinking about spending his money to do stuff with his girlfriend. The movie theater doesn't take checks. Cash or debit/credit card.

Therefore, this Debit Card for Teens offered by Discover is a pretty slick idea because then he can start to learn to make some, though small, financial decisions. And maybe have a better place to put the money he gets from me occasionally for babysitting his siblings instead of the silver box in his desk drawer. Very weird. He'll be stockpiling some cash for his 13th birthday over the next month (his birthday gets spread out as we go to Arizona for Easter to see his grandparents and he likes to have his birthday with them there).

I like that his purchases can be tracked. I can deposit money on it. When he starts working, he can set it up with his employer for direct deposit. And, perhaps the best feature is that we can set spending limits so he doesn't try to buy strippers or something outside his budget (not that he'd be buying strippers because then I'd have to kill him). As an artist, he thinks the designs you can choose for the cards are pretty cool, he's picky about that stuff because he doesn't want to look like a dorky little mama's boy.

I think the only drawback, if you want to look at it that way, might be that it costs $5 a month to have the card. That's $60 a year. If the other features are appealing enough to you to offset that cost, then it's worth it. Personally, he probably loses $5 a month in that pig sty he calls a bedroom, so I think it's worth it.

Will let you know how it's going a few months down the road when he's been using it.
No doubt when he whips out the black card with skulls on it to pay for popcorn at the next scary movie, his girlfriend will be impressed.

Totally Fit Mel B

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:31:00 +0000

I spent 3 miserable weeks sick in February (well, a tiny bit into March, but who's counting?) and I must say, it's one thing to skip all that time exercising and say, "hey, isn't this great laying around and skipping my workouts because I'm sick" because you're delirious on medicine and don't know any better.

So, I got this workout DVD and wanted to try it right away but I felt like I'd been beaten with a baseball. It'd have to wait.

My first thing with Mel B a/k/a Scary Spice was that I didn't like her much. But then she was on Dancing With the Stars and when that casting decision was announced I was like, "desperate much, DWTS? A washed up Spice Girl who got impregnated and abandoned by Eddie Murphy? No thank you." But I'm an addict to DWTS and by God if she didn't end up being my FAVORITE person on the whole season. For one thing, she started off with some leftover baby fat which quickly melted off after all that dancing. So I liked her for being brave enough to wear those outfits without having the 6-pack from the get go.

Homegirl got fit in a hurry and you had to be blind not to see that she was in great shape, but still had real woman curves, and she's maintained it. Yeah, one of the things that I came to admire about her on the show was her ballsy attitude but that doesn't keep the pounds from coming back.

Anyway, when I checked out out her workout DVD, Totally Fit Mel B, I can see how she's stayed in great shape since she was showing up regularly on my TV.

Totally Fit is set up to serve to people who either don't have much time to work out, or those who want to focus on specific areas. There's a section that kind of explains how to use it, which my best guess is, many of us with ADHD are gonna skip because we want to get right to the good stuff.

Basically, you can use the various sections: Cardio, Advanced Cardio, Arms, Legs, Bums, Tums. There is a Warm Up and a Cool Down which you are encouraged to always, always, always do no matter what workout you choose. So, it's kind of a buffet style...pick the things you want, using your remote, it'll go right along the workout with the selections you choose in order.

The moves aren't hard or weird. She also contends that with her workout, you don't have to have expensive equipment, as for hand weights at one point they're using full water bottles. Certainly she's keeping the budget conscious person in mind.

Now, up until this year I took Pilates and Plyometrics classes at a local place. My instructor is one of my best pals and a former 2-time Olympic athlete. If you think she doesn't beat our asses hard during a workout, you'd be mistaken. Many of the moves in Mel B's Totally Fit have some of the same concepts as those classes: building a strong core, and also the repetitive motion of simple movements that build up muscle.

I'd recommend it for somebody who wants to look into a new workout. Especially the ability to easily concentrate your exercise on certain problem areas, that's very appealing.

And, if you want it quick, it's on Amazon for ten bucks. Yeah, the classes I was taking were sixty. Good deal!

Carpet Fresh

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:52:00 +0000

I have issues with smell and stink. I have mentioned this many times before.

Mom Central sent me some Carpet Fresh Carpet & Room Odor Eliminator Quick-Dry Foam (in Morning Rain scent) to try out.

I seem like when it comes to many household chore scenarios I'm either too busy or too lazy to want to put forth effort but I do anyway on occasion.

But dudes, when all you do is spray some foam and THAT'S IT. That is the serious slothful cleaner's dream.

I feel like my house smells godawful lately. A couple of us were sick for the better part of February. The dog stinks from both getting all her exercise done in the house (she's a small dog, she does that) and also the times she goes outside in melting snow and comes back wet. I didn't realize how nasty wet dog smell was until I owned a wet dog for myself. Not to mention, we've been doing some remodeling in our basement so things were smelling like paint, and other junk and I'm not giving it a good cleaning until it's all done.

There's multiple levels of stink around here.

I used this in two places over the course of a few days when the dog was extra smelly (there is a Super Pet version I'm excited to try next!) and when I did it, the foam dissolves into the carpet very quickly and the kids gave the smell major kudos.

I'm definitely getting more in the Super Pet version...we haven't seen our last days of wet dog! Check out the link for a downloadable coupon, woot!

Irreplaceable

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:14:00 +0000

So, OK, I like to spout off about my home state of Iowa as much as I can. I like it here, it's a great place to live.
Thusly, we have some feathers in our cap here, one of them being the Iowa Writers' Workshop. It's pretty famous and stuff.

Remember the movie Juno? Diablo Cody dreamed about the Iowa Writers' Workshop and moved her keester to the U of I to get some schoolin'. And you writer/movie buff people might be interested in a slew of other success stories from the hallowed program.

Stephen Lovely, himself a resident of Iowa City and grad of the program offers us Irreplaceable as his first novel.

Set in Iowa and using his years of experience working at the University of Iowa hospitals, Lovely offers a heart-wrenching medical backdrop to his story about love and loss. Life and death. Sacrifice and personal discovery.

Irreplaceable begins with Isabel, the wife of Alex Voorman, tragically killed in a accident. Janet Corcoran is the woman suffering from heart disease who thinks she'll never get the heart transplant she needs to live. In the aftermath of Isabel's accident, Alex suddenly has a connection he doesn't want with a woman a state away. Irreplaceable follows their lives and how they are intertwined with each other.

For you movie goers, it may remind you a little bit of the movie "Return to Me". (Which I totally loved, loved, loved.) For you readers, there are some similarities in theme to best-selling author's novel "My Sister's Keeper". And to both, I do mean similarities but not duplicates. I would say, though, that if you enjoyed either of those I would highly recommend Lovely's book.

If you're just starting from scratch, I did quite enjoy Lovely's attention to character development and really exploring in detail the emotional journey the characters take in the story. He has taken something that seems so abstract to the rest of us who've never made a choice about organ donation and examined how it affects all parties. But in a way that pulls at the heart-strings...no pun intended.

I so enjoyed it I'm hoping to write the author and see if he'd like to talk about this book as a program at our local library. I'm hoping that as an Iowa author, he'll be interested!

Thank you to Parent Reviewers for sending the book, it was a very nice read.

Yo-Plus and Giveaway!

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:56:00 +0000

I'd call myself a fair weather yogurt eater. I like yogurt, except the stuff with way too much chunks in it, I like mine smoother. Just a personal preference.

But, seriously, it's only when I try to think about making better choices about my diet that I revisit the yogurt area of the dairy section in my grocery store. I know yogurt is good for me and has all that good stuff in it that helps me out. I shake my head in dismay at myself for not thinking about yogurt more often. Quite frankly, my kids always want that kiddie stuff that has the latest cartoon on it and costs eighty bazillion dollars for a 4-pack. THEY remember. Or they just want it for the cartoon. I fear my children are lemmings to the advertising juggernaut.

I was sent some Yo-Plus coupons so I could sample it. I gotta say. Darn good stuff. And an excellent source of fiber, calcium, and vitamins A & D. And it has the probiotic cultures to help with digestion. Which, my digestion and the lower half of my internal organs - total slackers in that department. I should be eating way more yogurt, and the more I write the more shame I'm feeling which would be earth-shattering if I didn't have this Yo-Plus sitting in front of me right now.

So I know it's probably not your birthday or anything, but I have a few presents for you anyway, because you look really nice in that shirt, and you smell fabulous today. Is that new perfume?

You can print off coupons right now by clicking this link and you can get some Yo-Plus for yourself. There are a variety of flavors including the newest, Blueberry Acai.
By visiting the Yo-Plus website there is a lot more information about Yo-Plus and other health information
THERE'S A GIVEAWAY!!! For 3 readers, Yo-Plus will send you a gift bag which includes: a coupon for a free 4-pack of Yo-Plus yogurt, Yoplait cooler tote bag (it's very nice, I like mine a lot), a water bottle (very green and earth-friendly to have a reusable water bottle, dontchaknow), and a nutrition journal to keep track of your health goals and eating habits. To qualify for the giveaway, please give some of your tips for staying healthy and maintaining a nutritional diet.

So, don't forget, THREE people will win this giveaway. I'll give it a few days and will draw three winners at random at noon CST Monday, February 23rd. These gift bags are nice, and as a person who's very picky about yogurt, I really did like the taste and the texture.

UPDATE: Used the Random number generator thingy and here it is!

Random Sequence Generator

Here is your sequence:

I'll be contacting the winners for their mailing address!

Presidential Literature for the Whole Family

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:29:00 +0000

Hubby and I quite enjoy politics and Presidential lore. And without meaning to, we've passed along our interest in that history to our kids. They come home from their years in early elementary chock full of enthusiasm at the facts and figures related to present and former leaders. It's a lot of fun. I've gotten them various books at their particular reading levels to keep their interest.

I received four books and I'll give a brief summary about each.

Our Country's Presidents - if you want something utterly up-to-the-minute, this one already has our newest Commander-in-Chief, President Obama, right on the cover! From National Geographic, the book I got is hardcover and as with most books about the Presidents, starts with George Washington and goes in order. Each President has several pages devoted to them. There's kind of a basic stat chart and then there are photos, stories, quotes and anecdotes. If you know a lot of about the Presidents, you might not learn anything "new" as everything that could have been revealed about our Presidents has been long before now, but as a basic and nicely laid out informative book, it's a great coffee table book to see all the Presidents at a glance. I particularly enjoy the pictures for each. I left these books out in our library room and my junior high son picked this one up first and spent quite some time reading it one evening without any encouragement. So, it held the interest of a 7th grader who could have very well been playing Wii instead of reading about Presidents.

Our Country's First Ladies - also by National Geographic, this one has the same format as the one about the Presidents with the stat area. It also divides up the book into portions as "eras" of how the role of First Lady changed over the years. It is noted which women did and did not enjoy their roles as First Lady and the particular intracacies of how these women met their President at which point in his career.

Dear First Lady: Letters to the White House - As taken from the Collection of the Library of Congress & National Archives, it examines the role of First Lady again as something that was routinely loved and hated by the women that resided at the White House. But then starting with a letter dating 1796, it goes in chronological order by highlighting some specific correspondences from various notable figures and also, everyday people, who took the time to write to the First Ladies regarding one issue or another. Some intensely important, some trivial. Great book for those who enjoy the perspectives of the First Ladies of our nation. It was suggested in an article last month in the Washington Post that this be a book Michelle Obama might want to add to her reading list.

Dear Mr. President: Letters to the Oval Office - this was my absolute favorite of the four. While the layout is similar to the book with letters to the First Ladies, it becomes an intense and emotional timeline of the issues that most affected our nation that compelled everyday people like you and me to pick up their pen & ink, or sit at their typewriters, or to entice small children to carefully write barely learned alphabets about what mattered to them so much, they had to write to the most powerful person in the world to let them know it. This book, while informative, has an intensity of real human emotion. War, slavery, equal rights...it is full of compelling stuff.

So, if you have someone who enjoys Presidential history, I would highly recommend any of the four selections here. Well done, and incredibly inexpensive for how much book you get for the price.

NetSmartz

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 19:43:00 +0000

As soon as our kids were big enough to get up and play on the computer (age 2-3 when they played educational software), we started to worry.
The internet is a big, huge amazing place where a person can work, information-gather, socialize, and so on and so forth.
And it's also a place where the most deplorable and evil elements of our society can lurk in anonymity and prey on others.
Once our two oldest kids started to get knowledgeable enough to navigate their way around the internet, we wanted to be prepared.
Long ago, we placed our desktop computer in a high traffic area. We actually remodeled a room to accommodate a study area and place to work online while still being "with" the rest of the family. My biggest fear was a pedophile adult luring my child in and sending them a plane ticket to Yugoslavia because I wasn't smart about the internet and my kid.

We have talked to our kids frequently about the dangers of the internet. About how we expect them to use it wisely. We also have a rule that there will be no computers with internet access in their rooms. Nope.

My oldest son, a 7th grader, had a series of talks at school as a 6th grader where they educate the kids about cyberbullying, harassment, and some of the other dangers that come up online.

But I know there must be parents out there who don't know how to broach the subject. And I assume that not all schools have the time and/or the funding to provide a series for kids about it.

There is website Mom Central sent me the link for that handles the topic of internet safety and other lessons, but directs it at the target audience. NS Teens has a list of characters in video and comic book form role playing various scenarios that have to do with their lives online.

Calling it NetSmartz, it really is just that. I have a few teenagers that have friended me on Facebook. The majority of them are pretty smart about what information they are sharing online.

But a few....idiots. Seriously. Either they have forgotten that they have adult "friends" or they just don't care.

NetSmartz addresses some of the things kids probably don't even think or care about right now. How colleges they may apply to someday can find the information they've put online. Employers can find it. Your choices online can affect your life outside the computer. So if you post a sexual picture online, with the speed of the internet, it can go viral and be sent to your dad's work email within 20 minutes. Or posting pictures of yourself doing something illegal can result in actually getting in for real trouble with the cops.

There are actual kids testimonials along with the cartoon cast of teenage characters talking about how their lives online affect the rest of their lives.

If you haven't had an opening to talk to your pre-teen or teen about their activities on the internet, at least this is an opening. It can be a springboard to get some intelligent and helpful dialogue going about the expectations for kids online.

Beautify Your Heart

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:12:00 +0000

One in every three women are at risk for heart disease
Seventy-eight percent of women 25 to 34 years old said they do not believe they are at risk for heart disease

I've seen my fair share of cardiologists over the years. Surprised?

I was born with a heart murmur. Not a big deal. Then in my teen years I started have chest pains fairly regularly during exercise (like when I ran track). At 18, University of Iowa Hospitals diagnosed me with MVP. Yeah, wearing a heart monitor thingy around during my everyday life attending college classes was slightly embarrassing. Good thing it was just a couple days.

My college years would see an increase in the chest pain frequency which went from only during physical activity to, pretty much, any time at all for no reason. Stress probably had a lot to do with it.

During all my pregnancies I had extra whatever kind of stuff added to my drip at the hospital during labor. Extra attention paid to my heart rate during labor and delivery.

At one point in my early 20s I was told me I was a candidate for getting a pig's valve after my child-bearing years were over.
To say that news freaked me out is an understatement.

Thankfully, cardiology is an ever-changing science and after I knew I was done having kids I went in for a big work up with a new cardiologist and he changed my diagnosis to Atypical Chest Pain. No more surgery to stress about, just a promise on my part to stay heart healthy and monitor when I overexert myself.

Had it not been for a history of minor cardiac issues, I'm not sure I'd have paid very much attention to being heart healthy. Because heart attacks are the kind of things that happen to 70-year old men, right?

But no, I've served on the American Heart Association board locally in years past and hoped to spread the correct information about heart disease to men AND women.

I got some information about the Beautify Your Heart program which stems from a partnership between Metamucil® and WomenHeart that encourages women to get cholesterol screenings and helps them learn healthy habits for beautiful hearts. To support this Beautify Your Heart program, Metamucil is encouraging 100,000 women to get their cholesterol screened and donating $100,000 to WomenHeart to help fund heart disease education and patient advocacy programs.

As you know, February is heart health month.
Here are a few things you can do on the Beautify Your Heart website:

Pledge to get a cholesterol screening
Find a cholesterol screening location in your area
Learn heart healthy lifestyle tips and recipes
Enter the “Beautify Your Heart” sweepstakes for a chance to win a heart makeover getaway for you and your friends

You know how sometimes I get a little compensation for my review work?
This time I got a Metamucil sample (and for the embarrassing and TMI reasoning behind why this is a good thing, read my post about, uh, asses), a coupon for Bayer Aspirin with Heart Advantage, and a coupon for Cheerios.

But, I'd talk about heart disease pro bono, folks, because I believe it's important to get the correct information out there so people can live heart healthy.

So, you, promise me you'll do your best to love your heart today.

Champion Hoodie Remix

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:19:00 +0000

I don't have a whole lot of fashion disputes with my almost-13YO son. The current style trend seems to be what I call "Hobo Chic" or "Runway Homeless". Baggy, ripped, faded jeans and shirts a couple sizes too big.

It's one of those 'pick your battles' scenarios and despite the fact that he looks like he lives under a bridge, he looks the same as all his peers...seriously, I just don't care about it.

There is a kind of fixation with the hoodies. So when I got some scoop on a hoodie designing contest of sorts from Champion. You go to the site and using color palettes, designs and a blank hoodie to start, you can design your own. The cut off date is March 31 and the winning hoodie will get made by Champion.

My son, as the artsy fartsy type he is got on and played around with options for quite some time on the site before settling on his current color trend of black and white. Geez, kid, kick it up a notch!!

If you want to waste some time playing fashion designer, check it out!

***This link might work to see the hoodie he designed***

Green Works Cleaning Wipes

sonia.sunshine13@gmail.com (Sunshine) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 02:40:00 +0000

I've already talked about Green Works stuff before.
It smells good. It seems to clean as well.

You know, last time I talked about how the stuff got the job done and made lots of bubbles, etc etc.
But this time, I really took a look at why Clorox can claim it's "green".

Seriously....have you seen how many "green" things there are on the market right now?
It's almost laughable, makes you wonder if every company in America had a meeting and said, "hey, let's promote a bunch of stuff in our product line as being 'green' and we'll make a ton of money. It worked for Al Gore, he has tons more cash than when he was Vice-President. Being all environmental rocks!"

So, let's take a peek at the back of the container here and see how exactly Green Works Natural Biodegradable Cleaning Wipes stack up.

Made with plant-based, biodegradable ingredients: these wipes made coconut-based cleaners and essential oils
Never tested on animals
Bottle contains a minimum of 25% post-consumer recycles plastic
No phosphorus, no bleach

Using these for the past week on my kitchen counters and table, I noticed something that assures me of their biodegradability. When you get done using one, it's all used up. It's not a still stiff chemical laden sheet. When you use one of these wipes, it's not super thick and tough. It does the job and that's it, you can see that the claims that these wipes were validated in normal compost testing are accurate.

It's up to you. If what happens to your cleaning supplies after you're done with them is important to you, then you just might want to read the info on the Green Works products yourself. Or at least check out their website if you want more information.

This review coming by way of Mom Central.