Author Archive

{The Chore Cup}

I am trying a new idea at my house. I get tired of my elementary aged kids fighting over chores. I hear a lot of : “It’s not fair! I vacuumed/dusted/took out the trash/insert-chore-name-here last time.” In an effort to curb the fighting, I am trying a Chore Cup. I don’t remember where I heard about the idea, but I figured it would be a great time to try it as we are adjusting to the new back-to-school routine.

What you do is put the chores on popsicle sticks and put them into a cup. At chore time, each child pulls out a stick and does the chore on the stick. I am trying a color coding system since my son hates some chores that daughter likes and vice versa. So some chore sticks will have a green dot for my sons chores, some a pink dot for daughter, and some will include both dots for either. I suppose the colored dots could also be used to label them for age (like pre-school chores on the orange dotted sticks, middle schoolers on the red dotted sticks.)

In order to make it fun, I also am including some other things that aren’t chores like play your favorite video game for 10 minutes, run a lap around the yard, draw a picture, etc…
I’ll keep you updated with how it works out for us. If you try it, let me know how it works in your house.

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May 09, 2012 | 12 comments View Post

Kushyfoot – Flats To Go Slate Sandals

You have probably seen us mention Kushyfoot on our blog before. They have great socks, foot covers, toe covers, tights and men’s socks that use the principles of reflexology to massage your feet with every step. The padded/wavy design cushions your feet in your shoes. (I especially love their tights.)

Another great item that Kushyfoot offers are Flats To Go. They are soft flexible shoes that fold up into a little carry pouch so that you always have a pair of “emergency” flats available whenever you need them – no more blisters or scrunched up toes. They have some new styles available.

I recently received a pair of Slate Sandals from their “flats to go” line. They are very cute. While they are stylish enough for “normal” wear, they aren’t an “everyday-wear” type shoes with their thin soles. However, the thin soles make them very light weight and compact and perfect to keep in a purse, desk drawer, or glove compartment to have available when you need to get out of a pair of uncomfortable shoes.

If you would like to see more of Kushyfoot’s socks, tights, foot covers, or their Flats To Go line, you can visit their website.

To facilitate this review, I received a complimentary review sample from Lipton Publicity in exchange for my honest opinion.

May 01, 2012 | 0 comments View Post

K’NEX Cosmic Twist Coaster

We absolutely love K’NEX. You may have seen them on our blog before, but just in case you aren’t familiar with them, K’NEX makes awesome building sets. The sets have a bunch of rods and different connecting pieces that you can put together to make about anything you can imagine. Some of the sets also come with wheels, gears, and building bricks. The pieces are color coded which makes it easy to find exactly the piece you are looking for and easier to follow the building guides.

We recently got the chance to review the K’NEX Cosmic Twist Coaster and it is very cool. It comes with over 600 K’NEX pieces and over 19 feet of track and is 3 1/2 feet tall. Quite a project! It also has a motor that attaches to the chain to lift the car up and sends it on its way down the track. It is recommended for kids 9+. I think my ten year old could have built it on his own, but we made it a mom/son project.

With the number of pieces, I’d say its for more advanced builders. The instructions lead you through step by step and have photos that show exactly where the pieces go, but it definitely takes some time to put together. This is one of the things that I love about KNEX’s more advanced sets. They teach organization (it’s easier to assemble if you sort the pieces by size and color) and they teach a process. It’s great to have toys that take some work and time to assemble so kids can learn to stick with a project and get that feeling of accomplishment with the finally finish and see the result. And the result of the K’NEX Cosmic Twist Coaster is definitely worth it!

The other thing that I love about K’NEX is how the small pieces don’t take up much room storage-wise, but you can build huge structures with them.

Overall, this is a fun project with the usual great quality of K’NEX toys.

Mar 12, 2012 | 1 comment View Post

Healthy On the Go Snacking – Stretch Island Fruit Co and Bear Naked Foods

We have a very busy schedule. It seems like we are frequently running from one event or practice to another, and often the kids need a snack in between so we frequently grab a quick snack on the go. Unfortunately, quick and healthy don’t always go together especially when you are trying to find something to keep in the car for those unplanned “snack emergencies.” So I’m always excited to find easy, healthy snacks that we can eat between activities. So I was super excited to try some items from Stretch Island Fruit Co. and Bear Naked Foods.

Stretch Island Fruit Co. has all natural fruit strips that are the nutritional equivalent of ½ serving of fruit in tons of flavors (Apple, Apricot, Grape, Mango, Cherry, Raspberry, and Strawberry). All the flavors are good, but my favorite is the apricot or the cherry. These are one of my new favorite “on the go” snack foods. They are designed for more “grown up” tastes since they are a bit more tart than the FruitaBu Fruit Rolls that they make for kids (which have a full serving of fruit) in the flavors apple, grape, and strawberry. Unfortunately, I have competition for the fruit strips because my kids love those more than the fruit rolls. I have to hide them in the pantry or they would eat them all, lol. Both the fruit strips and fruit rolls are great for snacking on the go, and can be kept in the car or in a backpack much easier than fresh fruit can.

Stretch Island Fruit Co has also partnered with the Fruit Tree Planning Foundation to make “Fruit Tree 101” which plants schoolyard fruit orchards to education students about the importance of eating fruit and caring for the environment.

Bear Naked Foods is an all-natural food company with a line of granolas, trail mixes, cookies, and cereals. My favorite is the granola. I love can’t decide between the “oats and honey with blueberries” or the “triple berry crunch” – both are delicious. One of the snacks I love is vanilla yogurt with granola. Both of these are perfect for that. Trail mix is another great snack I love to keep in the car for the kids when they need a little something while on the go. Their Chocolate Cherry flavor trail mix is great – it’s cranberries, almonds, cherries, raisins and chocolate granola clusters.

Another awesome thing about Bear Naked Food Company is their partnership with TerraCycle in a program that encourages people to save their used bags that are then “up-cycled” into eco-friendly products such as shower curtains, umbrellas and other accessories.

I’m very happy to have found both Stretch Island Fruit Co and Bear Naked Foods to add to my list of healthy on the go snacks.

Feb 28, 2012 | 3 comments View Post

Scala Pronto Wool Cloche Hat

When I got the opportunity to review the Scala Pronto Wool Cloche my first thought was, “What’s a Cloche?” I had never heard the term.

In case you are like me and are wondering, here’s what I discovered: A cloche is a close filling bell shaped hat that first became popular in the 1920s and is still fashionable today. The shape of the cloche is flattering to just about everyone which makes it an awesome gift idea.

A hat is one of those things that can really make an outfit fashionable. Scala Pront’s Wool Cloche is made of a soft wool knit and is soft and not scratchy. It fits snugly, yet has some give to it so it is very comfortable. It’s both fashionable and warm, which is a great combination this time of year. It comes in charcoal, black, camel, wine, plum, and red.

Throughout the month of december STM readers can get 20% off at www.women’s hats.com and can get free ground shipping in the US by using the promo code: ScalaPronto.

Dec 28, 2011 | 0 comments View Post

Coffee Cow Keurig B-40 Elite Brewer Giveaway

CoffeeCow.com is an internet coffee supplier for home and office. According to their website:

Coffeecow.com was developed by a small group of coffee professionals who have over 37-years of experience in fulfilling any coffee service need. Last year CoffeeCow.com customers enjoyed over 26-million cups of our great coffees and teas, so whether it is from the comfort of your home or your corporate office, Coffeecow.com has it all. At Coffeecow.com, our goal is to provide you with the highest quality products, the fastest service, and the deepest discount prices you will find anywhere.

They carry many different brewers, coffees, teas, hot chocolates, cups, flavorings and creamers and more. We got the opportunity to try the Keurig Elite B40 Brewer, along with a variety pack of K cups, and a Green Mountain Coffee Roasters variety box.

The Keurig Elite B40 Brewer brews coffee, tea, or hot cocoa in under a minute. You have your choice brewing two different cup sizes (7.25 ounce and 9.25 ounce). It has a removable water reservoir and a removable drip tray.

There are several things that impress me about the Keurig B40. I am impressed by the variety and flavors of coffees and teas that are offered (according to Keurig, it’s over 200 different varieties) I also love the K-Cup variety packs that let you sample the different kinds to find your favorite without having to commit to buying a whole box. I also love the fact that they sell the “My K-Cup” re-usable filter basket so you can use your own blend of coffee if you like. It’s also neat that you can run it without a k-cup in place to get hot water to use for tea or for cup a soups. In addition to all that, it also brews a really good cup of coffee! When I was brewing the first cup, my son said that it smelled really good, just like our local coffee shop. My husband who is an avid coffee drinker says that it makes a really good cup of coffee.

I was disappointed by the fact that they don’t offer latte or other specialty drink K-cups. However, when I looked into that, I discovered that they have designed the Keurig machines to do one thing- make a single serve coffee – and do it incredibly well. They do that. And I discovered that with a milk frother, you can use the Keurig to brew an extra bold espresso blend. Then froth some milk to make a latte.

Overall, the Keurig is great for us. It is perfect for making a single cup. My husband likes dark roast and I like light and flavored coffees (my favorite so far is Van Houtte French Vanilla) so with the Keurig, we can each have exactly what we like.

To see the variety of Keurig brewers and K-cups available, you can visit the coffeecow.com website or connect with them on facebook.

Dec 26, 2011 | 39 comments View Post

Picasso Hair Feathers

Just in case you haven’t already seen it, the new trend with hair accessories is hair feathers. My daughter came home from school a few weeks ago and said that “everybody is wearing them.” We recently got a chance to try some animal-friendly hair feathers from Picasso Hair Feathers and they are awesome.

Picasso hair feathers are totally adorable and are easy to apply. I absolutely love their plastic loop that helps you apply them. It makes it so easy to get them onto your hair. Prior to these, we tried a brand from a local beauty supply store and they aren’t nearly as easy to apply. I am also very pleased with the ring that you attach them with. When applying them to my daughters hair, we had to reposition one three times (Hey, it’s got to be perfectly positioned right?) and it was very easy to remove and re-apply (make sure you keep the little plastic loop to help re-apply them if you decide to move them). You can see more about how to apply them on the Piccasso website here.

It’s really neat that once you apply them, you can just wash and style like normal. They are also heat resistant so you can use the straightening iron or curling iron too just like on your real hair.

The company has tons of great color combinations that you can see on their website. We got the “breaking dawn” pack, and I was very pleased to see that the colors of the feathers are just as rich and beautiful as they are in the photo on the website.

These would make a great stocking stuffer or an awesome way to update your look. I love that you can get a fresh and trendy look that you can put in and forget about, but still change up whenever you like.

Stop by the Picasso Hair Feather’s website yourself and have a look around or you can connect with them on facebook and twitter.

Dec 14, 2011 | 0 comments View Post

Diamond Candles Giveaway

I love scented candles. There is something about burning a wonderful smelling candle that makes your home feel so cozy and relaxing. We discovered a great new candle company called Diamond Candles. They have all natural soy candles, and the reason they are called Diamond Candles is that each candle has a ring hidden in the wax that is worth $10, $100, $1,000, or $5,000.

The company was founded in January of 2011. The founder came up with the idea of putting rings in candles when he was looking for a gift bag at the store for the ring, but he saw some candles and decided to buy her one to go along with the ring. The company website says “On his way out of the store, he looked down at the ring in one hand and the candle in the other, and the idea of Diamond Candles was born.”

I got the chance to try the Lavender Lemon scent and I love it. It’s a clean relaxing scent. It’s mostly lemony with a hint of the lavender. It’s pleasant, but it isn’t overpowering. I do wish the scent was a bit stronger though since you can’t smell it except for the room that it is in. I’d love for the scent to fill the whole house. It is in a very pretty glass container with a lid. I can see the foil pouch of the ring in the side, but haven’t gotten down to it yet. (I’m resisting the urge to dig it out, lol)

These candles would make a totally fun gift for someone since not only are they getting an awesome candle, but also a pretty ring. If you want to see some images of the rings, you can go to the Diamond Candle Facebook page and see photos that customers have posted of the rings that they have gotten. I’ll update this post with a photo of the ring once I get it out.

You can see all of the scents that they have to offer for yourself on their website. They have lots of different scents and even some Christmas ones.

Website: www.diamondcandles.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/diamondcandles

Twitter: http://twitter.com/diamondcandles

Dec 08, 2011 | 1 comment View Post

Myachi Hand Sack and Battle Pad

We got the chance to try Myachi and the new Myachi Battle Pad and we are having a blast with them! Myachi is a small rectangular handsack that you catch using the back of your hand and anything else with the exception of your palms. It reminds me of a hacky sack only better since it’s rectangular shape makes it easier to deal with. (I never did learn to do hacky sack and spent most of my time picking it up, but the myachi was fun right away) You “catch” it and do tricks. Our favorite right now is holding the bottom of your shirt out and bouncing it off trampoline-style then catching it on the back of your hand.

The new Battle Pads are very cool also. They attach to the back of your hand and let you play some other games using the Myachi. I also love the Battle Pads because they are great for younger or less coordinated kids that have trouble catching it on the back of their hand. The battle pads larger flat surface area makes it easier to catch so even younger kids can play. There is a video here that shows how they are used. They are using a neat funding website called kickstart to help with funding for their new battle pads. You can see more about that in our other post about Myachi.

This is one of the most fun “family-time” toys we’ve gotten in a while. We are having lots of laughs tossing it to one another and trying different tricks (our record is currently 14 catches without dropping it). It’s also turned into a great incentive. The kids love it so much that it’s become great incentive – “Sure we can play Myachi right after you finish cleaning your rooms” :-) Another very cool thing is that the myachi website has lots of videos showing tricks that you can learn to do. You can see those here, and to see even more they have lots of videos on their Youtube channel.

To find out more and see some videos of Myachi in action visit the Myachi website or you can connect with them on facebook and twitter.

Nov 09, 2011 | 0 comments View Post

Inktastic Giveaway

Inktastic is a fantastic website that offers lots of preprinted and custom designs that you can put on lots of different types of clothing and other fun items including stuffed animals, cell phone skins, signs, banners, stickers and more. They have an easy to use product designer, you can choose from hundreds of products and thousands of great graphics (or upload your own images and digital photos). You can get quality printing at affordable prices with no setup fees and no minimum order.

When I first went to their website to look for a t-shirt for my daughter, I was totally interested in the “upload your own image” idea. Then, I started looking around at all of the designs they offer. There were so many unique designs that I’d never seen before, I saw a lot of designs that I loved! Lots of sports designs, music and instrument designs, cute animals, baby items, holiday designs. It actually might be hard to find something they don’t have. Here is just a few of their categories to show you the wide variety of what they offer.

Eventually, I decided on a design, but was tough to choose just one with all the awesome unique graphics. I found a basketball-themed design that says “Forget about it Princess, not even Cinderella is getting to this ball” – totally her sense of humor. (They also have the same shirt for soccer as well.) I chose a cap-sleeved shirt with bright pink sleeves. I am very pleased with the quality of the shirt and the with the printing. The ink is embedded into the fabric not just stuck on. We have washed it many times already (she loves wearing it!) and it is holding up well and looks like it will continue to do so.

I was going to try to put more of their cute designs in this post, but there are just too many to choose from. You’ll just have to visit their website to see all of unique designs for just about any interest you can think.

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Nov 07, 2011 | 2 comments View Post

Conair Xtreme Heat Hot Rollers Giveaway

As a busy mom, I don’t have much time to curl my hair. Lucky for me, with the Conair Xtreme Instant Heat Multisized Hot Rollers, you don’t need much time. The rollers are heated and ready to use in 75 seconds. Not kidding – just 75 seconds.

I was very pleased with how quickly the rollers heated and with how well the they work. The set includes 20 ceramic multi-sized rollers: 8 jumbo rollers, 6 large rollers, and 6 medium rollers and 20 lightweight heated clips. My favorite size is the jumbo roller to get a nice wave.

The base unit has space to put on three clips at a time to heat them up to make the curling even more effective. I’ve never been great at rolling my hair, but I found the clips very easy to use. The rollers have a nice flocked coating on them and the end rings stay cool to protect your fingers. They have tourmaline ceramic center to allow for better heat transfer and help your curls last longer. One roller has a color-changing “ready dot” to let you know when they are ready to use.

The rollers are great when you want a different look, but don’t have much time.
You can find out more about the Conair Xtreme Instant Heat Multisized Hot Rollers on their website or connect with them on facebook or twitter.

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Nov 07, 2011 | 0 comments View Post

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Author Archive

{The Chore Cup}

Kushyfoot – Flats To Go Slate Sandals

K’NEX Cosmic Twist Coaster

Healthy On the Go Snacking – Stretch Island Fruit Co and Bear Naked Foods

Scala Pronto Wool Cloche Hat

Coffee Cow Keurig B-40 Elite Brewer Giveaway

Picasso Hair Feathers

Diamond Candles Giveaway

Myachi Hand Sack and Battle Pad

Inktastic Giveaway

Conair Xtreme Heat Hot Rollers Giveaway

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