Precious Girls Club - Review and Giveaway!

Thanks to MomSelect, I was given the opportunity to review Operation Kindness, a new book from the Precious Girls Club collection.




Like many moms these days, I'm worried about the way the world will affect the lives of my children, and although I can't shelter them forever, I can arm them with values and morals to help them make the best decisions in difficult situations. This is the exact premise upon which the Precious Girls Club book series is based.

"An all new book series for girls that revolves around the life of Katie Bennett and a diverse group of her friends. Through the experiences of Katie and her friends, wholesome values are reinforced in a fun and engaging way. Their world is brought to life bot only by books, but also through a state-of-the-art virtual world, and exciting retail product offerings. In a world where little girls are growing up too fast, Precious Moments is happy to introduce Precious Girls Club. More than a club, it's a way of thinking and being; a safe place for young girls to discover how wonderful it is to be precious."

The book Operation Kindness is about Katie and her friends' mission to bring cheer to the sick children in Shine Community Hospital and realize along the way the right reasons for doing kinds things for other people. While this story is a little advanced for my daughters' attention span right now, they enjoyed the story and I think, eventually, will understand the message it sends. It was refreshing, as a mom, to read a faith-based story to my children that was engaging. I look forward to continuing this series and reading the entire collection to my children in the future.

The virtual world where Katie resides provides safe online entertainment for your children; my daughter loved picking out her avatar's clothing and walking her around the community of Shine. Parents, you can even set up your own online value points system to reward your child for demonstrating the Precious Girls values!


And now... the best part! A giveaway!


The lucky winner will receive their own copy of Operation Kindness, complete with web access code allowing your child entry into the Precious Girls virtual world. In addition to that, you will receive a plush puppy for your child to snuggle while you read the story together!


*** For entry into the giveaway, just visit the Precious Girls Club website and post a comment about your favorite part of the site. Good luck!!
*** Contest ends August 3rd, 2009 at midnight, CST.

Ecostore USA Review and Giveaway!!

Going green appears to be the slogan of the decade, as millions of people, and parents, attempt to reduce the mark they leave behind on this earth. I am no different, and am warming up to the trend, trying to decrease the amount of toxic chemicals I use in my household by switching to eco-friendly products. So when I was contacted by Ecostore to review some of their products, I jumped at the chance.

"No Nasty Chemicals™ is the foundation of the entire product line and philosophy
of ecostore. All of our products are made from plant- and mineral-based ingredients, free of toxic chemicals that bring people closer to nature with non-toxic, environmentally safe solutions that also help to reduce our carbon footprint. "

I chose to try out the Citrus Spray Cleaner and Toilet Cleaner.

The Citrus Spray Cleaner has a pleasant scent that wasn't as strong as most of my usual cleansers. It worked great on my biggest area of mess - the kitchen - I used it on my granite counters, in my sink, and on the stuck-on grime on the highchair. (What is that stuff?) I was left with a sparkling clean kitchen that didn't make me cough in the process!

The Toilet Cleaner was a great find as I have a septic system, and have to be careful with the products I flush down my toilets. It took care of the ring around the toilet as well as the drips that come along with kids and a husband! I have to admit, I do love the smell of toilet freshly cleaned with bleach... but I may just be convinced to leave that habit behind.

Many thanks to Ecostore for allowing me to review these awesome products and - for one of you lucky peops - giving away a $25 gift certificate to Ecostore!!

That's right -you get the chance to win a gift certificate and try out some of Ecostore's products for your home, pets, body, hair, and baby!!

So how can you enter??

Go to Ecostore's site and peruse their products, then come back here and comment on which product you'd most like to try. This is mandatory for entry! For extra entries, you can tweet about this contest or write a blog post about it. Make sure you come back to comment with the link!

Contest ends June 15, 2009 - the winner will be chosen by a random number generator. Good luck!!

TriDermaMD Baby - Review

I was recently given the opportunity to try out some skin products from TriDermaMD and Hill Dermaceuticals.

From the TriDerma website:

"Triderma MD® Therapeutic Skin Products quickly heal your damaged skin. By
combining highly effective ingredients with our superior AP4 Genuine Virgin
Aloe, we've created maximum healing for even the toughest skin irritations. All
without the use of cortisone or other damaging drugs."

I was sent samples for five different products: All-Purpose Aloe Healing & Cleansing Gel, Intense Fast Healing, Facial Redness Repair, Severe Diaper Rash Fast Healing Cream, and DriOff gel, and yes, I tried them all. Here's what I thought:

All-Purpose Aloe Healing & Cleansing Gel: My youngest has a continous diaper rash as of late, and this gel worked great to clean those sticky poops (you know the ones) without hurting her little tushie. She actually stayed still during a diaper change!

Intense Fast Healing: Aforementioned baby girl also took a little tumble off our patio, scraping the back of her leg on the concrete in the process. I put this on her abrasion for several days and it healed quickly without scabbing or scarring. I also used it on myself, after burning my forearm on an oven rack, and I can't even tell where the burn was anymore! As accident-prone as it seems we are, maybe I should invest in a lot of this stuff!!

Facial Redness Repair: Being a fair-skinned gal, it doesn't take much to make my face pink - and although I love a good facial scrub, I was reserved to doing them at night because my face would stay pink/red for hours! I used this one morning after a scrub and it did reduce the redness that I normally see. While it didn't completely disappear for an hour or so, I didn't look like I'd just run a marathon in 100 degree heat!

Severe Diaper Rash Fast Healing Cream: I was very excited to try this product on my daughter's little tushie since her diaper rash is so persistent. It reduced the redness greatly with consistent use, but didn't work as well on the raised rash as my usual diaper ointment. It doesn't really have a scent, which is nice as my usual diaper ointment has a strong medicinal smell. Now, I use it on my older daughter who sometimes gets a little irritated from the combination of the not-so-great wiping skills of a four-year old and her insistence on wearing things that are too small for her. It works like a charm!

DriOff gel: This was a little extra product sent to me to try since I live in a state that's pretty hot most of the year. I tried it in two different scenarios - working out and church. Now, I know you're all wondering why I would sweat in church, but let me explain. I wear some killer heels in church when I sing in the choir, and when my feet sweat, it's hard walking in them. I put some of this on the soles of my feet, and it worked! No more slipping out of my shoes when I'm climbing the risers! At the gym, I tried it on my forehead and on my inner thighs as those tend to be my sweat regions when I run. I did still drip from my hairline, but my forehead stayed fairly sweat-free. I also noticed less chafing on my thighs from sweaty skin, so it looks like a pretty cool product. Next up... must try it on the sweat mustache I get when I blow-dry my hair in the morning!!

Seeing as your skin is the largest organ of your body and its primary defense against infectious disease, it makes sense that you'd want to keep it as healthy and intact as possible. Since I work in healthcare, it is even more imperative that my skin is healthy when dealing with patients.

I tried it - now it's your turn!

Review - Hip Hop Baby

As a perk of being a Twittermom, I recently was given the chance to review "It's Hip Hop, Baby!", and how apropos that I received the Rockin' Dance Party DVD, seeing as I have two little girls who love to dance!

It's Hip Hop, Baby! is an educational DVD series targeted for children ages 2-6; its focus is teaching children through the use of kids-friendly music and movements. Per the company's website:

"This educational DVD series features child-friendly dance routines that help
your child develop listening skills and the ability to follow simple directions.
Your toddler will experience the joys of learning their ABC's, animals, body
parts, and numbers through fun-filled musical performances and interviews with
the hip hop kids. Your little ones will learn simple hip hop dance steps
with Miss Dre while playing Simon Says with our puppet, Hip Hop Simon, the
"cool" cat puppet."

I have two daughters, ages 23 months and 4 years, and at these ages, they don't like sitting still for very long, for anything. From the moment the music began and Hip Hop Simon began talking, my girls were entertained. They danced, wiggled, and giggled, and sang along with familiar tunes as well as learned new ones. "It's bathtime... oh yeah it's bathtime..." is now a nightly tune as well as my own adaptation "It's naptime... oh yeah it's naptime..."!

What's impressive about this DVD is that my children are learning - and having fun! What a concept! They were having such a good time that they didn't realize this was an educational tool! I also appreciate the emphasis on physical movement and dance, as we live in a world now where children aren't encouraged to be physically active.

Even I joined in when Miss Dre started teaching dance moves, cause you know, a mom's got to keep up with her crazy dance skills!

As music is a big part of daily life with my children and a teaching method to which they respond, this DVD is a perfect addition to our collection. Three viewings later they're still loving it, and so am I.

"It's Hip Hop, Baby!" is available on Amazon.

Review and Giveaway!!

Every day, I wear two necklaces bearing the names of my sweet baby girls, and I always get the same reactions... "Those are so adorable (great, cute, wonderful)!", quickly followed by "Where can I get one?!" So today, I'm letting you in on the fabulous company that makes them!

Heart on Your Wrist is a handmade jewelry business created by Beth Philbin, a mother of three who started designing and creating the hand-stamped pieces after her own attempts at finding stylish and unique mother jewelry failed. Each hand-marked piece is created with sterling silver, 14K gold of 14K gold-filled charms and components, giving you a gift that is sure to be treasured for a lifetime.

The necklaces I own are the Sterling Name Discs. I designed mine with the 3/4 inch discs, and each is on a fine ball chain. I like the look of two different-length necklaces, but you can put several discs on one chain and customize them with bead spacers, charms, whatever you choose! These are mine:

You can design your own unique piece, right down to the length of the chain, color of bead, special stamped designs... Heart on Your Wrist has so many choices that it's difficult to make up your mind! Luckily the prices are incredible, so it's easy to get several pieces if you can't decide - don't worry, it'll be our little secret...

And these pieces aren't just for you, Mom. There are other items as well that make great gifts for children, baby and bridal showers, fathers, grandmothers, special aunts or friends. There are mommy necklaces and bracelets, initial jewelry, mommy rings, military tags, key chains, and photo jewelry - and the designs are classic so they span any generation. I love that these pieces are timeless in design and quality.

And now for the best part! Drumroll please...

Beth, owner and designer of Heart on Your Wrist, is offering a $40 gift certificate to her shop for one lucky winner! Is that going to be you?!

Here's how to enter:

1. Visit Heart on Your Wrist and peruse the beautiful shop, pick out your fave and comment here to tell me what it is! Note: this first step is mandatory for entry. All entries that do not complete this step will be null and void.

2. For an extra entry, blog about and and link to this giveaway on your blog and comment here with the link to the post.

3. (Oh yeah, a third chance to win!) You can earn another entry by tweeting about this giveaway on Twitter!! Comment here with the tweet link.

Be sure to comment separately for each entry, and leave your email address so I can contact you if you win!

Giveaway ends April 15th, 2009 at 7:00 am. Winner will be chosen at random and will be announced that evening - it may be the only good thing about Tax Day!!

So what are you waiting for?! Good luck!

Hoover Floormate Hard-Floor Cleaner - The Answer to your Hard Flooring Prayers!

My husband and I built our home two years ago, before the birth of our second daughter, and knowing we were about to have two kiddos tearing up the house, opted to go with stained concrete flooring for the majority of the living areas. It was low cost, low maintenance, rustic, and would require no flooring removal should we decide one day to change it. It was perfect!
And it was back-breaking. I was used to having to sweep and mop only the kitchen, entry, and bathrooms in our previous home because the rest of the areas were carpeted. Now, I had to also sweep and mop the living room, office, dining room, dinette, and kitchen! First, I would run the dustmop over the flooring to pick up those new construction dust bunnies, then I'd sweep with a angled broom to get the corners and baseboards, and then I'd wet mop it all. Mmm-hmmm. Before I'd even get started on the mopping, my lower back was burning!

Then, my mother-in-law gave me this great housewarming gift: the Hoover Floormate Hard-Floor Cleaner. *Hall-le-lu-jah!* It pretty much does it all. There is a dry vacuum setting to pick up all the loose dirt and lost cheerios. Then, there is a wash cycle with scrubbing brushes to thoroughly clean the floor grime. Finally, you finish with a wet vacuum - it helps pull the dirty water back into the storage tank so your floors are dry faster! (A plus in my household, considering my oldest daughter, on more than one occasion, came flying around the corner out of her bedroom onto my freshly-mopped and slippery floors. Ouch!)

It's very easy to use. You simply remove the clean fluid tank and add water and your Floor Mate cleaning solution (measured in the handy locking cap). Pop the container back into the machine, plug in and turn on, and you're set to clean! During the wash cycle, there is a button release to allow the cleaning fluid to be dispersed onto your flooring area while the brushes scrub away so you can use more where you need it, less where you don't. Switch to the dry vacuum and watch the dirty water be pulled into the dirty tank - it also has a cleanable filter to catch the larger contents. When you're done, remove the clean and dirty tanks, rinse with clean water and allow to dry. Then, reassemble the unit, and tuck it away in your broom closet. Another plus? The handle folds down for easy storage.

Two years later, with now a 23 month old and a four year old, our floors still look fabulous (save for a mishap with a marker) and my back is no longer feeling the strain of floor upkeep. My Hoover Floormate? It's still wiping out the dust bunnies and juice spills like nobody's business! My Floormate, my love.