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| Friday, June 12, 2009 |
Mom Central's Father's Day Gift Guide |
Father's Day is almost here. The question is what do get our fathers and husbands, who are after all the father of our children, for their big day. Personally my husband and I have found that since parenthood we have put many of our personal purchases on hold and instead use the money for swim lessons, museum admissions and taking our kids out for other treats. Holidays, like Father's Day, are when we are able to get a "me" gift. However, it's a "me" gift still on a budget. Who isn't these days?
How then do you decide particularly when you are spending your extra taking your kids to the above mentioned swimming lessons and other activities? Mom Central has put together a Father's Day Gift Guide to take the work out of chosing a gift. They have gifts categorized into four catergories: Under$25, Under $50, Under $100 and Over $100. The gifts run the gamet from t-shirts to grill books, to a camera and a tent. There are different gifts for different personalities and different prizes.
Mom Central is also doing a daily give away. That's right, tents, BBQ accessories, CDs etc. They have a whole list of items that they are giving away. Perhaps you can win that perfect Father's Day gift. All you have to do is just login and click on the daily giveaway. Be sure to check it out! |
posted by Alex Elliot @ 8:15 PM
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| Thursday, May 28, 2009 |
Making Life Better |
I remember being a young kid and declaring that I would never cook. I would be one of those grownups who just didn't care for it and would get take-out every night. My mother would always say that one day when I had a family, I would care because I would want them to eat healthy. Not surprisingly, she was right. In addition to eating healthy, it also saves a lot of money to cook.
As much as my husband and I love the idea of cooking for our family, it can be hard to fit it into our busy schedules. On top of it, our oldest is now doing soccer and Tae Kwon Do which in combination occupy three evenings a week. The question is how to make it work. Ideally, it's also how to make it work so that we can have family dinners at least a couple nights a week.
Mom Central has teamed up with Making Life Better to tell you about how to make cooking dinner a little easier. Unlike just looking up recipes on the internet, which I frequently do by the way, you can actually watch demo videos. Basically it's the idea of a cooking show, but for meals you've already selected. You can also watch the videos at your own convenience. Put your laptop in your kitchen and it's like having your own personal cooking show! Jennifer Bushman, author of the Kitchen Coach cookbooks, has demo videos up there. She has a step by step video for upside down chicken pie on the YouTube Channel for Making Life Better.
The recipes are simple and use ingredients that are easy to find and stock in your kitchen like Knorr's products, Lipton, Breyers, Country Crock, Hellman and Ragu. There's a terrific recipe for a pizza meat loaf that uses Lipton's Dry Onion Soup mix and Ragu pasta sauce. The recipes are broken down at the end by approximate cost per meal as well as cost per serving. You can also choose to have recipes emailed, saved, printed on paper or even printed on a recipe card!
Another nice feature is that you can look what you have stocked in your cabinets or fridge and do a search based those ingredients. For example I selected eggs and selected stove top as my preferred cooking method. I could have also chosen which meal I was making. It gave me 43 recipes using eggs and my stove top. There are also budget recipes and recipe tips right on the recipe home page of Making Life Better. |
| posted by Alex Elliot @ 8:06 PM
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| Wednesday, May 27, 2009 |
Skinny Cow |
Like a lot of moms, I try to watch what I eat. In fact, with my triathlons I'm extra careful lately about not over-indulging in sweets. Or least trying not to. My husband is also watching what he eats.
I was pretty excited to hear that Mom Central teamed up with Skinny Cow. I received two coupons to try out their ice cream sandwiches and other products. I have to say that I was very impressed!
The ice cream sandwiches taste just like regular ice cream sandwiches. Sometimes low fat or diet ice cream tastes funny to me. That's not the case here. You would never know that they are low in fat. Plus they're big! It's basically two giant circular wafers stuffed with ice cream. You get a lot of bang for your buck or perhaps I should say food for the calories. In terms of Weight Watchers points, the mint chocolate ones I had are only 2 points each.
They also come in a variety of different flavors like vanilla, chocolate-vanilla combo, mint, peanut butter, cookies n cream and strawberry shortcake. The mint, vanilla and chocolate-vanilla combo are all approved by Best Health Treat. I love mint ice cream so I was pretty excited when I saw them in the grocery store. Both my husband and I loved them.
Skinny Cow also makes other products like cones and bars. I had the Chocolate Truffle Bars. They were also fantastic, satisfying, and only two Weight Watchers points! |
| posted by Alex Elliot @ 7:43 PM
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Mamapedia |
Who isn't overwhelmed from time to time, or perhaps all the time, with trying to become an "expert" parent? From developmental milestones, sleep schedules, making friends, playdates and at least for me right now, kindergarten transitions, it can be mind boggling. Then you factor in summer camps, vacation rentals for families and it seems like you can spend hours researching every single question on many different websites.
Mom Central has teamed up with Mamapedia to tell you about a brand-new site that consolidates all this information into one place. That's right the same place you go to find out about diapers can also tell you about school crushes. That place is Mamapedia.
It works like an encyclopedia in that it gives you answers from other real life moms. They have a bunch of categories or you can type in your question. There is also a revolving list of recent questions. For example, I checked out one search for "when is your child old enough to leave alone." There were 34 answers from real life moms to help that mom make her decision.
Out of curiosity, I searched for Storyland + NH. We just went there this past weekend. Tons of responses popped up and having just been there, I can say they were right on target. Definitely check it out. |
| posted by Alex Elliot @ 7:31 PM
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| Thursday, May 14, 2009 |
Frosted Flakes Plant a Seed |
I have to say when I think back on how I spent my athletic years, or even my current ones there was always a pool involved. As a high school and college swimmer and a current triathlete, I log a lot of time in the pool. However, that's not the case for my husband who is a former soccer player. It's certainly not the case for my 5.5 year-old son who is currently playing soccer or for my soon to be 3 year-old who runs around the field during practice talking about the day when he too will play soccer.
I think we all know how important fields are. Even though they are something I may not have utilized to its full potential when I was younger, I was fortunate to have had the option to use them if I chose. Certainly I did for gym class.
Mom Central teamed up with Kellogg's Frosted Flakes back in January to let our community know about its Earn Your Stripes (EYS) field renovation program that aimed to renovate neighborhood sports fields across the U.S. Since that time, thousands of fields were nominated some with as many as 700,000 supporters! Those fields have now been narrowed down to 100 finalists and your vote will help determine the winning fields.
The semifinalist fields were chosen based on the feasibility of the field makeover, the location and age of the field, how often it gets used, how many events take place, what teams use it, the number of other athletic fields in the community, the demand, condition, and the impact a field renovation would have on the community.
So how do you vote? Go to www.frostedflakes.com and cast your vote between May 1st and May 31st. |
| posted by Alex Elliot @ 1:03 PM
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| Wednesday, May 6, 2009 |
CPR Anytime Kit |
I was a lifeguard in both high school and college. I also grew up in IL where passing CPR was a state high school requierement. Between life guarding and high school, I've taken full CPR courses three times.
When I was pregnant with my first son, my husband and I took an infant First Aid and CPR workshop. It wasn't a full class though like I had previously taken. Still it was good to get a refresher.
The first week in June is National CPR and AED Awareness Week. As such the American Heart Assocation is participating in this life saving week by asking people to sign up for CPR courses and to log the training on their site. Don't have time to take a course? How about 20 minutes then?
The American Heart Association has put together a kit for learning CPR at home. It is called the CPR Anytime kit and contains a Mini Anne CPR Manikin, a DVD, CPR and AED reminder card for adults, Choking and Child CPR reminder card, a spare lung, wipes for the Manikin and of course directions. The also make one for infant CPR. I received one for free from Mom Central. It was the perfect way to be able to practice my CPR skills which have gone rusty in my years since lifeguarding. In twenty minutes you can learn how to save a life.
Think about how much time you spent childproofing your house. How long did it take you to install those baby gates?
Go on and sign up for a CPR course and if you don't have time to take one, check out the Anytime Kit. Don't forget to record your training on the American Heart Association's Log. |
| posted by Alex Elliot @ 7:58 PM
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| Monday, May 4, 2009 |
KaBOOM Blog Tour |
Spring has sprung and summer is just around the corner. I'm excited for the warm weather, pretty flowers and most importantly playgrounds. That's right, those wonderful places for my kids to burn off some of their energy. It's amazing what a difference a half hour at the playground can make to not just my kids, but me as well!
KaBOOM! is a non-profit organization that looks to provide all children with playgrounds within walking distances of their homes. They have embarked on a project to find 100,000 playspaces within a 100 days. As such they are asking people to go onto the databatase on their website and let them know of any parks or playspaces near you. You can also send a twitpic from your cell phone. Even better, for each entry on the KaBOOM! database team on behalf of the Mom Central Team, Mom Central will donate $1 to Jumpstart which is a literacy program for at risk preschoolers.
So what constitutes a playspace? Basically any place where kids can have unstructured play for free or for a small fee. Examples would be parks, public swimming pools, ice skating rinks, dog parks, community centers, and splash pads. Personally I think of it as a place where my kids can burn off some energy or engage with someone else!
If you have any placespaces near you, be sure to enter them in KaBOOM!'s database. Don't forget to check out the listed ones for yourself as well! Afterall, spring is here and summer will be here next month. |
| posted by Alex Elliot @ 7:26 PM
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| Monday, April 13, 2009 |
Electrolux Give-Away |
Up until about a year ago, I had a standard washer and dryer. If you would have asked me, I would have said that they worked fine. Not surprisingly since they were 7 years old and had already moved once, they broke. We replaced it with an energy and water efficient front loader and matching dryer. Right away we noticed that our clothes were cleaner. Our sink stopped overflowing from the washer water because the front loader only used about 1/4 of the water that our old washer had used. In addition to savings on our electric bill, our town also gave a small reimbursement to us for buying an energy efficient washer and dryer.
Electrolux and Kelly Rippa have designed a brand-new front loader washer and dryer. It is a limited edition green not only because Kelly likes the color, but also because this washer and dryer are eco-friendly. To celebrate Earth Day, Electrolux is offering a chance to win one of these washers and dryers. It's pretty simple. Go to their website and plant a virtual flower for a friend in the virtual flower garden. If you're own Facebook, you've probably participated in virtual gardens and oceans. It's the same idea. Electrolux will donate $1 to Global Green USA and you get a chance to win a washer and dryer. How cool is that? It's a win win situation. Help the earth and get a chance to win a brand-new washer and dryer that will help you and will also be green both literally and figuratively.
Actually there's even more good news. Mom Central is also giving away one of these washers and dryers. You just need to click on this link and tell them what your favorite flower was that you planted at the Electrolux site as well as a laundry tip(s) for saving time and energy. A winner will be randomly selected.
There's two chances to win a washer and dryer and combo and you'll be supporting a good cause. Spread the word! |
| posted by Alex Elliot @ 5:47 PM
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| Sunday, March 1, 2009 |
PalPodzzz Review |
My kiddos have never liked to sleep in a dark room. I know that it's not healthy for kids to sleep with the lights on, but when it comes to choosing between a good night's sleep for the whole family or having to comfort a scared child every couple hours, I would rather just leave a light on for my two boys. A while ago, I purchased a night light for my older son which seemed to keep him calm. However, as tends to be the case when it came to my younger son (YS), I just never got around to it. YS has been quick to point this out to me. Between a two year old's concern with the dark and his jealousy over sharing a room with a brother with a real nightlight, I leave a light on for him.
When I saw that the Parent Bloggers Network was looking for people to review a new nightlight called PalPODzzz by Sylvania, I immediately emailed them. What looked so neat about this nightlight was that it is an LED flashlight that recharges on a base that you plug into the wall. In other words, there are no batteries! I had my choice between the rocket or the ladybug, and I chose the latter. Thus the flashlight is shaped as a ladybug and the base is a cute green leaf.
YS was excited to get a nightlight and thrilled with the PalPODzzz. OS was also thrilled with the PalPODzzz, but he was not excited by the fact that it went to YS. In fact, there was so much fighting over it that we ended up having to work out a schedule for who gets the light when. Now they want me to order a second one.
I really like this product. My favorite feature is that it has 3 different modes. The nightlight works not just as a flashlight but as an LED nightlight when put back on the base and as a backup light during power outages. Fortunately, we did not have a chance to test this. I also like the quality of the light. In nightlight mode, the light is a soft, glowing light rather than a brighter, beaming light. This product is a great purchase for your own kids or a great gift for someone else's kids. |
| posted by Alex Elliot @ 7:58 PM
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| Sunday, December 21, 2008 |
Disney on Ice in Boston |
I have to say that I remember going to Disney on Ice as a special treat as a kid. In fact when the tour was here a couple years ago we took our then three year old and our 6 month old. Both of them loved it. It didn't matter that they had never seen as Disney movies.
The magical season of the holidays has arrived and what can be more magical than the magic of Disney itself? Disney on Ice is going to be in Boston Dec. 26th-30th. While it's Mickey and Minnie's Magical Journey, other favorites like the Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, The Lion King and Lilo and Stitch will be there as well. |
| posted by Alex Elliot @ 9:08 PM
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My Profile
| Name: | Alex Elliot |
| Home: | MA, United States |
| About Me: | Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 5 year old and a 2 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe. |
| See my complete profile |
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