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August 14, 2008
Suave Summer Hair Care
I am the girl who looks for a bargain pretty much everywhere except for my hair care products. I have no problem spending mucho dollars on shampoo because "it is so worth it," and "it’s the one thing I do for myself," and "If 2 oz. of shampoo is $20, it must be that much better than everything else." Can you tell I’ve had this argument with my husband on more than one occasion?
While I have no problem using Suave’s body washes because they smell great and they’re cheap, I’ve always been a bit of a shampoo and conditioner snob. I can’t help it; it’s just who I am.
So when Suave sent me a box loaded with their hair care products, I was completely skeptical. Then I read the label on Suave’s Professional Color Care shampoo: "Protects as well as Biolage." What??? Could it be true?
I was given three different Professional series shampoo and conditioners to try: Suave Professionals Color Care (comparable to Biolage), Suave Professionals Sleek (comparable to Matrix), and Suave Professionals Vibrant Shine (comparable to Sebastian). I thought that all the products performed well. The shampoo seemed to do its job easily and my hair had a very clean feel to it. The conditioner works well too, but I did find that I needed to use a bit more than I normally would use to get the same effect (I should note here that I just moved out of a house with a water softener to move into one that doesn’t have one so that could be the issue too).
My favorite of the three lines is the Color Care line. It smells great and if it’s comparable to Biolage, well then send me a crate of it because I believe I’ve just saved about $400/year (o.k. maybe that’s a slight exaggeration).
I also got to try the Extra Hold Mousse and the Extra Hold Aerosol hairspray. While I’m not really an "extra hold" needing kind of girl, I thought both of the products did a good job. Both of these products are comparable to Sebastian styling products. Generally I don’t use mousse or hairspray, but back in the 80’s and early 90’s. . . let’s just say that the hairspray would have been my very best friend (behind a good spiral perm of course). However, for those women who are looking for some control, these are definitely worth a try.
Suave also sent me some travel-sized samples of their invisible solid deodorant in the tropical paradise variety. The stuff smells so good, I kind of want to blend it with ice and drink it. I’ve found that the deodorant works just as well as my usual deodorant, and it smells really nice too.
Overall, I’d have to say that I’m fairly impressed with the Suave Professionals line. It’s definitely worth a try for anyone looking to trim their budget or for those who would just like to have extra cash to spend on clothes instead of expensive hair products.
BBM gives the Suave line of products. . .
August 8, 2008
Noodleboro Games
After spending much time unpacking from our recent move, we were delighted to find the Noodleboro Manners game arrive on our new doorstep this week. We quickly unwrapped the game and got down to business.
The game board looks like a picnic tablecloth. It comes complete with a picnic basket and tokens that have various images on them like lemonade or apples. Players take turns using good manners to ask permission to pick a token and see if it matches the color on their side of the "tablecloth." Sometimes you even get a token with an ant on it. As long as proper manners are used, "please" and "thank you" most notably, then the game continues as normal. If manners are forgotten, players lose a token and risk losing the game.
My daughters are ages 2 and 7 and we had a great time playing the game. It was quick enough to keep the little ones attention and simple enough to play that the girls could even play by themselves.
Perhaps the best part of the entire game package is the accompanying CD which takes you from the beginning of the picnic until the end, including an ant invasion. The girls had a blast playing the game and then spent the rest of the afternoon creating their own musical show thanks to the CD.
In addition to the game and CD, the Noodleboro game also comes with a very nice book about manners. What’s impressive about the game is that there are three different mediums to reinforce good manners: the game, the book and the CD.
If you’re looking for a game your young children will enjoy, that doesn’t take hours to play, and helps to reinforce things you’re already trying to teach your kids, then you might want to give the Noodleboro games a try. The games are set to premiere this fall and they’re not just limited to good manner games. There are also games that reinforce sharing and listening. Oh, why couldn’t they have sent us one of each???
If you’d like to purchase your own game, you can do so here in The BBM Review store.
For being a fun game that doesn’t just stop when the game is over, BBM gives the Noodleboro Manners game. . .
August 7, 2008
Fuji Force Camo Uniform
. . .
August 7, 2008
Create-a-Tale: Funny Fairy Tales DVD
When I was little, I absolutely loved the books that allowed you to choose which direction the story takes. Every time you read the story, you created a new outcome or a new route to get there. I could spend hours reading those books.
Enter 2008.
Yesterday my kids spent about an hour playing with the Create-a-Tale: Funny Fairy Tales DVD, creating new stories each time. The DVD is pure fun. The stories are unique and funny. The choices are intriguing and interesting; and the stories that are created made both of my girls giggle. The DVD was controlled easily by my 7-year old as she used the remote to make story choices and her little sister was more than happy to watch the results.
The DVD is geared to kids aged 3-6, but my kids are just out of the range on either side and I felt it was appropriate for both of them. The stories feature fun music that I actually liked too. No parental torture has been inserted into these stories whatsoever.
There are five different stories to choose from including: "The Teeny Weeny Genie," "The Monster Song," "There’s a Fly on My Soup," "The Three Big Pigs," and "The Witch’s Stew." If you’d like to watch a sample, you can do so here. These are not your ordinary fairy tales.
While watching the DVD with the girls, I couldn’t help but think about what a cool learning device the DVD can be. For an artistic 7-seven old who likes to tell and draw stories, she was able to see different ways to construct a story while watching the DVD. For my 2-year old, it was pure entertainment.
The DVD is priced at $14.99 and is worth every penny. TV is an inevitable thing in most households; but Create-a-Tale makes that time interactive and fun instead of a total zone-out time period. If you’re interested in purchasing this DVD, you can do so directly from the site or on Amazon.
It’s just pure interactive fun, and I can’t help but give it a. . .
July 30, 2008
Snacktivate
I would like to be able to tell you that I made each and every one of the recipes on the Snacktivate website and that they were all easy to make and fabulous to eat. But we moved this week, and so I’ve only managed to drool all over my computer while reading the recipes with plans to make everything, probably all at once, very soon, once I am able to find things like measuring cups for example.
The Snacktivate website is courtesy of Kellogg’s and it is fantastic. I’m not one of those artistic types who knows how to make macaroni and cheese look like an Eiffel Tower while my kids scream with glee, but if there’s one place where you can learn these types of skills, it’s here.
If you’d like to make butterfly quesadillas, funny bunnies (which practically make me drown in drool, yummy), or flower box muffins, it’s all there for you.
Many of these recipes are made with simple cereals like Corn Flakes and Kelloggs’s Frosted Mini-Wheats, like the Sassy Sunpops which sound almost too good to be true. There’s also great nutrition information available to make you feel really good about serving up these delicious looking and sounding snacks.
The best part about the site is that there are Snacktivate ideas for just about every season and many different occasions. And if you have a budding chef in the family like I do, you won’t want to miss the easy kid-friendly recipes either.
If you’re looking for some healthy recipes your kids will get excited about, you won’t want to miss the Snacktivate website and all it has to offer.
For the ease of use and the the sheer yummy goodness, BBM gives the Snacktivate website:
Getting Rave Reviews
BlogHer Review
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