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January 16, 2009
Cozi
My husband is an habitual forgetter. He forgets his wallet. He forgets to call someone. He forgets an appointment. No planner, PDA, or personal assistant can control this. And while I am realistic about this habitual forgetting, I'm hoping this new find of mine at least curbs some of the forgetting-at least the things that directly affect me.
Cozi. It's your life, online. Here you can keep track of every family member's appointment and can access it anywhere you can access the Internet-your house, your office, your phone. You can create customizable lists (my favorite is the shopping list!!!) and again, can access it from anywhere. While I haven't done it yet, I imagine this scenario in my head: Running late from work. Call the husband and ask him to go to the grocery store. "I don't know what we need." "Oh, honey, we have Cozi now. It's all right there." Sounds great, doesn't it!
But Coziis even more than that…you can upload pictures and create a family journal. You can even search for recipes right from Cozi to help create your shopping list.
Another cool aspect…if you sign up to try Cozi between now and February 4th, you will be entered into a drawing to have a professional organizer spend two days with you organizing either your kitchen or your home office-a retail value of $5,000!! So head on over to Cozi to start organizing your life simply.
I give this a
January 15, 2009
Preserve Kitchen Products
Preserve is the company that recycles old toothbrushes into decks and stuff. We tried the toothbrushes before, and now they've launched the Preserve Kitchenware line in Target stores nationwide.
The complete line features colanders, mixing bowl sets, and small and large cutting boards. They are affordable (prices range from $8.99 for a small cutting board to $21.99 for a set of three mixing bowls) and colorful.
Preserve sent me a large cutting board and I have to say that it is fantastic. One edge of the cutting board is curved upward which is nice for keeping things put on the board as I work. All of the products are made from 100% recycled #5 plastic or 100% post-consumer recycled paper. This is one company that is truly going green and helping families across the country to do the same.
Preserve also accepts #5 plastics for recycling for their products at Whole Foods stores, or if you're a local in NY, you can simply drop them off or mail them. Your used yogurt cup very well may be part of my new cutting board. For additional information about Preserve's Gimme 5 program, go here.
Another great thing about Preserve is that all of their products are BPA-free, dishwasher safe and GET THIS, made in the USA. So, you can be green and support the US economy at the same time.
If you are interested in checking out the Preserve products yourself, head to your local Target. Target carries select items from the kitchen line and the adult toothbrushes. For any other Preserve product, you can buy it directly from their website. The line debuts this month. How cool is that?
BBM gives the Preserve Kitchenware line a. . .
What's not to love?
January 14, 2009
Apex Sit-up Board
If you read "Black Belt Mama" then you know how much I am in love with the slant board at the gym. Because Mr. BBM can't join a gym right now, I bought him the Apex Sit-up Board for Christmas. I knew I couldn't afford to get him one like they have at the gym, and this seemed like the next best thing. I mean, how much money does one have to spend in order to have a reclined surface to work your abs?
When all was said and done I spent about $15 on it (I had a lot of Amazon gift cards), and I figured that even if it was lousy, $15 was worth it. It sells regularly for $79.99 but is currently on sale for $54.99.
Mr. BBM and I put it together in about 5-10 minutes. It was fairly simple. Some of the pieces came already put together. It was shipped directly to my door in a fairly flat and ship-friendly box too so that was nice, especially the free shipping.
I have to be honest though. While it obviously does its job on abs, it doesn't have as much of an incline as I would like. The one at the gym allows me to hang almost completely upside down. The angle on this one is definitely more beginner-moderate.
The pads for your legs and to hold your feet are plenty comfortable; it's the board itself that is killing my back. Granted, it doesn't take much for me to have back pain, but when I spend more than five minutes on that thing, I pay for it the next day.
I must admit though, that when I'm not using it, it does make a fabulous indoor sliding board for the girls. I just much prefer to do my slant board sit-ups at the gym.
If you're looking for a slant board to mimic what you get at the gym, this one will do; but don't expect the perks you get from having high quality equipment at the gym. The lumbar support is just not there.
BBM gives the Apex Sit-up Board. . .
January 6, 2009
MedNotes
Exactly 13 days ago, after a delicious family Christmas dinner, my father sat down on his chair and suffered a massive stroke. Seven days after that, at home already, he suffered another stroke. On the counter of my parents' kitchen, sits a very large plate now that contains all of the medications that my father is on…there were nine at the last count. NINE. All that have to be taken at different times of the day, some with a meal, some before the meal, some at bedtime. My mother is managing all of this and discovering doctor errors in the process. It's been tough.
The good ladies at MomCentral have introduced me to two websites that will prove to be a lifesaver for my mom and the rest of our family. Drugs.com is a great resources of pharmaceuticals. On this site you can research all different drugs by both names and by condition. I plugged in "stroke" and found a bunch of the medications that my dad is currently on. They provide you with all the information you could possibly need on this drug. A really great feature for those with elderly parents or teens is the Pill Identifier. Here you place the description of the drug into the search engine and it provides you with the name of the drug. This is great when you find a stray pill on the counter of your parents' house or, God forbid, you find something in your teen's laundry. Drugs.com has the latest in FDA news and alerts, the newest drugs, and clinical trial information.
They have also just launched a new site called MedNotes. MedNotes allows you to log every drug each person in your family using. By doing this, MedNotes will show you any potential interactions, pregnancy/lactation warnings, etc. It's like having your very own pharmacist! What a great tool to keep you in charge of your own health.
As soon as I sign off, I will be calling my mom to tell her about MedNotes. This will certainly help her to organize and double-check the many drugs my father is taking to heal from these strokes. I give this a
January 1, 2009
Incubus – Light Grenades
I've never been an Incubus fan. Until now.
Incubus is a band that has been extremely popular since 2001, but for me they've been invisible. My brushes with them have been brief and cursory. Things would have stayed that way if it wasn't for a radio play of "Love Hurts".
Driving home one day last week I was flipping through radio stations as I normally do. A song came on that had a very intriguing melody. I let it ride for awhile and didn't pay full attention until the chorus. The hook was powerful and unique; it pulled me into the song immediately. I sat on edge until it was over, hoping the DJ would say the name of the song one more time. Luck was with me and I scribbled it down, knowing iTunes was only a few short minutes away.
Once I got home and located the song I realized it was by Incubus, a band I had essentially written off. Intrigued, I listened to the sound bites of the other tracks on the album and found myself captured by most of them. Even for bands that I know I like, it usually takes a few listens for me to get into the album. This was just sound bites and I was already on board. I decided to go for it and buy the whole thing.
After in-depth analysis, I'm very glad I took the $10 chance. A few of the tracks are hit-material all on their own – Dig, Love Hurts, Anna Molly, Oil and Water, Diamonds and Coal, just to name a few. Furthermore, the album as a whole brings a lot of complexity and diversity that caught me happily off guard.
Some reviewers online accuse this album of being a bit of a sell out to radio friendliness. There are certainly radio friendly songs here, but I don't attribute that to a selling out of quality or depth. Instead, I just think they are really well written songs with undeniable hooks.
Listening to this I get a sense of Foo Fighters combined with Coldplay, two bands anyone would be happy to be compared too. There is delicacy in songs like Oil and Water and Love Hurts, but power in songs like Dig. There is also a little trippy, conceptual action in tracks like Quicksand (and since I'm a huge fan of Led Zeppelin, this always grabs a few points from me).
Don't be like me. Give Incubus a go right now, and don't wait for the music gods to strike you down via radio.
Ikigai108 gives "Light Grenades"…
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