Holiday Gift Guide

Last night, as I was sifting through my chest filled with my son's Christmas gifts, I realized I didn't have enough presents for him. As people would ask me what he wanted, I would give them something I had already gotten him. This left me short on gifts. I wasn't worried, though. I had MomCentral's Holiday Gift Guide to rescue me! Click on the link and you'll be taken to a beautiful page with lots of different categories…I clicked on "Kids" and within a minute, I added three more toys onto my son's list. I could read the reviews, see age recommendations, see the price, and find websites on which I could buy the product. What a wonderful stress-reliever for a frazzled mom!

Just as good is their Giveaway. Yep, you read that right-login to MomCentral, check out their dailygiveaway, leave a comment, and you could win the prize for that day. They are offering some great products and we all could use a freebie at this time of year. They're giving away packages until December 18th, so jump on today and try to win one of these awesome giveaways.

I have had the pleasure of working with MomCentral for almost a year now…they are a great group of women whose passion is to provide a place for mom's to talk, to provide needed information, and have fun along the way. This Holiday Gift Guide epitomizes all they truly are. Check it out today!

For coming to my Christmas rescue, I give this a

Posted by TKDDaughter on December 7, 2008 in General Information | Leave a Comment

December 7, 2008

ridiculous / hilarious / terrible / cool : a year in an american high school

Many years ago, a friend of mine was dating a very worldly European woman. I found her fascinating and loved to hear her perspective on American life. One observation that she made sticks with me today, especially as I enter a room filled with people. She observed how self-conscious American women are…that instead of just being, we were concerned with what others thought of our being. She noted that our posture gave us away with its self-awareness.

As I read through ridiculous/hilarious/terrible/cool: a year in an american high school, this memory came floating back to me. Elisha Cooper's book chronicles the lives of eight teenagers over the course of one year of high school. I live high school each and every day, over and over again. This time around I have a bit more say it what goes on and, more importantly, I'm very comfortable with who I am. I can't say the same for my high school days.

I loved Cooper's book for it's simplicity with such complex characters. Teenagers, by their very nature, are complex beings-stuck between childhood and adulthood, desiring to be independent, yet secretly terrified of letting go. Cooper shows his reader this not by his words, but by these eight teens' words, and more importantly, their actions. We see in these characters what teens truly are-funny, uncomfortable, passionate, hopeful, driven. In these pages, we see not the stereotypical image of teens, but who they truly are. How, for the most part, they want to be defined.

Even for me, a high school English teacher, I was startled by their drive, passion, and honesty. We enter their lives, see what moves them (college, an iPod, a better future), and see that they all, in some way, want to change the world. These optimistic look at teens is refreshing.

I found myself laughing out loud at a character who said one thing, but his action's clearly showed the truth. I shook my head at the personal lives of some of the characters who struggled, yet persevered to move beyond their present. And each and every character in this book had a name from my teaching career. We may meet Daniel, and Zef, and Emily, and Maya, and Anais, and Anthony and Aisha, and Diana in Cooper's book, but they represent Sally, and Mike, and Kristina and Jeff. In their uniqueness, they are one.

Consider adding this book to your Christmas list for your own favorite teen, or parent of a teen, or high school teacher. You can check out Elisha's Cooper's website for more info on the author and a link to purchase the book.

I give this a

Posted by TKDDaughter on December 7, 2008 in Books | Leave a Comment

December 1, 2008

Clorox 2

You have kids, you have stains. It's the lay of the land. First, it is spit up stains. Then baby food drool. Then juice. Then grass stains. You see where I am going with this…I am currently in the "grass stains" category. Just last week, after our first snowfall, my son was climbing the hill in front of our house. You would think that with snow on the ground, it would be difficult to get grass stains. Not him. He came in happy as a clam and grass stains on his brand new, first time wearing them, jeans.

How glad was I that I had a sample of the new advanced formula Clorox 2? Most of my son's clothes are darker colors and after so many washings, the color does tend to get dingy. Clorox 2 promises to get out those stains and brighten those dark colors. While I haven't conducted any tests seeing if the color fades or get better, I can tell you that the grass stains are gone and his new jeans are still looking, well, new! I chose to use the Clorox 2 for sensitive skin. It smells like absolutely nothing, which I love so that it doesn't mix with whatever smelly laundry detergent I have.

Clorox 2 even offers a money back guarantee on their product, that's how strongly they feel about it. And, I have coupons for a FREE 33 oz. bottle for four lucky BBM Review readers. Just leave a comment between now and December 8th and the BBM Review will choose four lucky winners!

For helping me fight the grass stain fight, BBM Review gives Clorox 2 a

Posted by TKDDaughter on December 1, 2008 in Household | Leave a Comment

November 29, 2008

Ultimate Party Meatballs

Last year, as I prepared our annual Christmas cocktail party, I decided to make these very simple, but yummy sounding meatballs. I bought the ingredients. There are only three. The day after the party, I realized I had forgotten to make them. I was very disappointed!

This year, I had already decided to include them in our party, when MomCentral contacted me about reviewing the Ultimate Party Meatballs recipes. This is the easiest review ever!

First, go to Ultimate Party Meatballswebsite and check out all the easy and delicious recipes they have. There's more than just the meatballs! Then, head to the grocery store-you only need three ingredients-Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce, Heinz Chili Sauce, and a 2 lb bag of pre-cooked, appetizer-sized meatballs. Don't go generic on these ingredients…First off, Ocean Spray is a fabulous company who prides themselves on quality. Second, I'm a Pittsburgh girl-when it comes to any condiments, it's got to be Heinz! Stir it together, heat it up and serve.

We ate them during our Thanksgiving Happy Hour and they were gone in minutes! Everyone raved about them and we all agreed they easily could be eaten over rice to make it a meal. You could also use turkey meatballs if you wanted to make it more healthful.

To make it even more worth your while, when you check out Ultimate Party Meatballs website and enter to win a $3,000 Ultimate Party. How cool would you be to host this party? Pretty darn cool! So check it out and make some recipes and find out how easy and delicious Heinz and Ocean Spray have made holiday entertaining!

For the simplicity and awesome flavor, this gets a

Posted by TKDDaughter on November 29, 2008 in Food and Drink | Leave a Comment

November 24, 2008

Seat Snug

I love receiving the products that I review. It's good mail, for a change. No bill, no credit card offer-just anticipation. I won't lie that when I opened up the SeatSnug, I was intimidated…this was one review that I would need help with! It required installation, so the husband was called in.

What is SeatSnug, you ask? It's a piece of mind for parents with children in booster seats. SeatSnug does just what its name suggests-it keeps your kiddos snug in their seats. You have probably noticed that after awhile, booster seats start to rock or bounce a little because the seat belt slackens. I have never felt safe with our booster because of this. It's not the booster itself, but the seat belt. SeatSnug ensures that this doesn't happen. Once you put the SeatSnug onto your car's existing factory installed seat belt, you buckle in your child and then lightly tighten the belt by pulling up on the shoulder strap. The child will still have easy and free movement of the upper body, but the lap belt with fit snugly, both around the child and the seat to the car. It uses the patented CG-LOCK Technology which received the National Parenting Center's Seal of Approval!

Hubby did the installation and assures me it was relatively easy. I did make him carefully read the instructions (he's not good with that sort of thing…) and between the instructions and his own penchant for all things technical, the install went smoothly. He's a mechanical engineer and I heard him mutter as he was doing the install, "why couldn't I think of this?????" This should be the biggest seal of approval for the SeatSnug.

My son found it comfortable and liked being the center of attention as we played around with this. I like how snug it truly does fit and I love knowing that my son will be much safer in his seat. We will definitely be buying one for our other car!

For providing us with a safer way to drive our children around and for more piece of mind, I give this product a

Posted by TKDDaughter on November 24, 2008 in General Information | Leave a Comment

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