My kids get into everything: Dirt! Sand! Grime! They pick up everything: “Look Mommy, what is this perfectly good toy doing here lying in a muddy gutter?” They make Sundaes of Doom that necessitate trips to the E.R. where very sick people cough all over the chairs and handle the Marie Claire magazine that suddenly interests my two-year old son.

I am not a complete germophobe, but when people nearby are hacking away or my kids’ hands are covered in slime, I worry...

Read the original review, posted to Kari's Couch

When I think of “dangerous boys” I think of the thugs who stole Husband’s cell phone yesterday. But of course, "The Dangerous Book for Boys” that I received free-for-review from the Parent Bloggers Network is exactly the opposite: an opportunity to jump back into a time when the boys played stickball outside homes with stoops, or constructed batteries and go-carts with their own hands...

Read the original review, posted to Kari's Couch

Husband used to be addicted to Diet Coke. Around the same time, he was also very enamored with “Emergen-C” and “Airborne.” He has since moved on to Propel vitamin-enhanced flavored water.

And so, when the Parent Bloggers Network gave me a free-for-review batch of Nozin, I had to laugh, since this is the sort of thing in which Husband would be very interested...

Read the original review, posted to Kari's Couch

I received tons of Noah-themed toys when the Cat was born. They ranged from the more subtle plush cuddly animals to the board books that used words like “evil,” “lazy,” and “kill.” I was frustrated by the latter of course, since although I want my kids to know the Noah parable, I don’t think scare-tactics at newborn-hood is a good route.

The Parent Bloggers Network allowed me to receive free-for-review several pairs of animals from Caboodle! Toys LLC’s “Noah’s Pals” collection. These are not hastily put-together figurines...

Read the original review, posted to Kari's Couch

Surely by now you realize the sun-scorched look is out, right? People blessed with rich hues in their skin are beautiful, but those of us with pasty white thighs should rejoice in their ghost-attracting abilities, too, right?

Always wear sunscreen. It doesn’t matter your natural color. Protect your skin...Via the Parent Bloggers Network, I received a variety of products free-for-review from KINeSYS...

Read the original review, posted to Kari's Couch

When I was younger, I thought I’d grow up to speak many languages. The concept of communicating in different ways intrigued me. Unfortunately, my fear of making mistakes got in the way, plus I had some rather high-stress foreign-language teachers. Had I been involved in a comfortable situation with a trusted individual (or multiple people) teaching me a second (or third) language, perhaps I would have succeeded.

Indeed, The Bilingual Edge, which I acquired free-for-review via the Parent Bloggers Network, debunks several myths (what? I am not over-the-hill language-learning wise?), and reinforces some of my suspicions (high pressure is not a good situation in which to acquire a language.)

Certainly, I hope that my sons can be bilingual, or even trilingual, but the authors point out that it isn’t just “school language” that leads to the cognitive and career benefits of learning multiple languages; true fluency must be reached to really impact one’s life. (Of course, appreciation for another language, ethnicity, and culture is all wonderful for those who like to “dabble,” but the focus here is on actual comprehension of a new tongue.)

As I learned about the commitment and ways that subsequent languages (and even primary languages) are learned, I thought it akin to an exercise program. It isn’t as though you can strap on those little electrical sensors to “jolt” your abs into shape, or connect your stomach to a jiggle machine and expect the fat to melt away. Rather, you must begin an active program and stick with it. Likewise, the passive and sporadic learning from watching a DVD or occasionally using a series of flash cards isn’t going to create an environment in which a different way of communicating can be internalized.

Junior high is a tough time. I don’t think anyone would deny that. The implications of the awkward onset of puberty and the questions of sexuality, changing bodies, and raging hormones continue onto high-school and college.

A few years before I got my period, my mom gave me a book by a rather conservative author. I don’t think she really recognized it for what it was: a condemnation of the female body and emphasis that sex was something done only when the husband wanted it done. I didn’t finish the book because I was in tears during the first couple chapters. My mom took it away, figured out what it really said, and threw it in the trash.

Alas, there was no replacement. I learned things only via the rather dry biological descriptions in sex-ed, but didn’t get the real scoop on what “everyone else” was doing. What is really normal for a teenager: in looks, in function, in level of “experience” in the sexual arena?

Twenty years later, I received a free-for-review copy of Girlology: Hang-Ups, Hook-Ups, and Holding Out via the Parent Bloggers Network.

I have confidence in my ability to dance. After all, I took lessons for 15 years, was part of a performing division, won awards, and represented the USA in Australia during the World Expo.

Likewise, I am not a shabby singer. Or at least I wasn’t in my youth. I got the solos in church choir, I was a Chamber Singer in high school, and I don’t do too horribly at my husband’s staff retreat when everyone does karaoke. (I still tear up a little when I think of my husband’s VIP boss sitting in a corner singing karaoke alone when the rest of us had moved on to other things. He stopped when we brought him a birthday cake.)

When the Parent Bloggers Network asked me to review Wii Boogie, I completely did a dance and whoop of joy. “This will be fabulous!” I thought, envisioning myself busting serious moves and singing the night away. I am already a Wii addict, so why not add another title to my obsession?

Well, here’s the deal: I am not good at Boogie. At least not yet.

The Little Black Book of Style by Nina Garcia (of Project Runway and Elle fame) in a nutshell: Confidence is key, but a tailor is a must. Exude confidence, but not while wearing a sweatsuit!

I find this book more inspirational than “practical.” It is a pep-talk. And WOW, what a talk it was. I read the book in full twice, and skipped around to favorite sections a number of other times. The quotes are fabulous, and give me motivation to dress carefully and confidently. The little pieces of history educate me, and encourage me to believe that I know more about fashion than I do.

Unfortunately, my enthusiasm meant that I purchased more “trendy” items than the good-quality basics that Nina would have insisted I buy first. Yes, I was tempted by a sale, a big no-no (I got a designer skirt for less than $30!) but I am thrilled with what I received. One pair of pants is currently out being altered, because I wanted to do it “right” this time instead of slogging around in too-long jeans. The other pieces are more “special occasion” than everyday staples, but I am excited for those events to arrive, and have plans to put them in a more casual rotation after their big debuts.

Or perhaps I have mistaken “fashionable statements” for “trendy” and Nina wouldn’t chew me out after all: I’ve usually been of the “better just get it in a neutral color” mentality, so getting a bright red and white bold print skirt and a crazy-wild geometrical dress seem outrageous. I am excited to enable myself that “freedom.”

The familiar orange-pink swirled envelope came in the mail last week. This time, enclosed within was a DVD offering a free trial of NoodleNet, a safe way for kids to browse the internet. Sometimes it will be a fabric softener sample, or a DVD of a new television show, such as when "Meerkat Manor" came out.

I still have fond memories of the show "Cover Shot," for which I voted on a "final shot" as one of the original VocalPoint members. I was in "the Club" so early in the game that I actually voted on the design of the envelopes in which VocalPoint sends their product samples, coupons, and announcements!

Why did I become a member?

I didn’t take Con Law in high school. I didn’t really enjoy history, government, or current events discussions in high school, either. Con Law, though, was a tempting title. It implied a serious student, ready for some serious business. I was curious. (And serious.)

The glassy-eyed, robust, seemingly dazed teacher who oversaw the proceedings liked to talk a lot, I had been told, and yet I only heard him speak a few times, and couldn’t understand him. I was a bit nervous for what might happen behind his classroom’s closed door. A student-driven class can be brilliant, or it can be a let-down. Amongst lots of bright and socially-conscious, politically-minded students, I decided perhaps I wasn’t up for the challenge. I elected “Brain and Behavior” as my elective; but in hindsight, perhaps the subjects aren’t too far off!

Nonetheless, Bill O’Reilly would probably have classified me as a “moron,” since he explains in the introduction to his new book “Kids are Americans Too,” that “many American kids are complete morons.” He goes on to explain that these morons are “too lazy to figure out what their country is all about.”

I love my True Religion jeans. I bought them after flirts with 7 for All Mankind and Citizens of Humanity. Sure, the two latter are excellent, but my first True Religions (Joey) made me ever so happy. They have a wonderfully soft feel and Nordstrom's hemmed them perfectly.

Given my success with True Religion, I got an olive cropped pant and then later a deep-back-pocketed (Mickey T) that looked much better online and was way-more-ripped in person (and super-scratchy to boot.) The Joey jeans remained my favorite. (Although, I love the olive cropped and have received complements from Actual Very Rich Society People on them.)

But sadly, on the Joeys the fashionable rips have become deeper and a bit more homeless-chic than society-chic. The fading has become a bit light, so actual stain-type-things mean that the jeans always look dirty, even straight out of the wash. Still, I wear them on a regular basis, now with tights underneath to make the hole-y parts look more fashionable. (But don't I look more like an art student type that way, though?)

I loved the Dangerous Book for Boys. As such, while I was eager to review the The Daring Book for Girls, I was also a bit nervous that perhaps it wouldn’t live up to its inspiration. I knew it could either be a worthy match, or a weak attempt dressed in pink. While The Daring Book for Girls indeed has sparkles on its cover, they are welcome, for the content inside definitely sparkles. (And, the cover is not pink!)

Like The Dangerous Book for Boys, this “companion” is full of exciting facts, “how-to”s, and plenty of nostalgia.

I received The Daring Book for Girls free-for-review via the Parent Bloggers Network.

We spend a lot of time in the car. Whether it is going to Grandma's or to hockey games, it is likely that we end up on the road while it is dark. Usually, we pop a DVD into the player, but then I am left rather bored and the books that the kids inevitably bring along end up unread as the sun goes down. There have been many times when I've wished for a book light for me or for the kids. I avoid using the overhead lights because I don't like people looking into our car and I don't want my or my husband's vision or attention compromised while we are driving.

Fortunately, through the Parent Bloggers Network I received an Autolite Spotglo Seatbelt Lite.

The Spotglo Seatbelt Lite is about four inches long and three inches wide. It clips on to the shoulder belt. The light itself is adjustable, plus the apparatus can slide up and down the belt. There are two settings of light strength, although I didn't realize this until I read more information about the product after I had tried it out.

Awhile ago I wrote a review of Clean Well. Since then, I have continued to be an enthusiastic consumer of their antibacterial spray (and hand sanitizer wipe.) Splig is even pictured on their website (Look for “Chalk and Cheese”.) As you can imagine, I was ecstatic to try out their new line of products via the Parent Bloggers Network.

Their All-Natural Antibacterial Foaming Hand Wash is not like the traditional soap found on supermarket shelves. Like their hand sanitizer, the soap is made with Ingenium, a patented formulation of essential plant oils proven to kill 99.99% of harmful germs. Unlike those supermarket brands, CleanWell is the first all-natural Triclosan-free antibacterial hand soap.

Do you remember those horrible stories about alcohol poisoning from hand sanitizers? CleanWell jumped in with their alcohol-free variety. Similarly, most antibacterial liquid hand soaps contain the active ingredient Triclosan, a carcinogenic chemical which has been shown to act as an estrogen and androgen hormone disrupter. Why kill the bacteria but end up with cancer or hormone problems?

Well, CleanWell doesn’t have Triclosan.

I was one of those first-time parents who stocked up on the parenting books and magazine subscriptions only to quickly become bitter. The preachy tone of the books and the unrealistic up-beat nature of the magazine articles soured my taste, especially when the advice didn't ring true to my particular situation.

But when the Parent Bloggers Network asked me if I wanted to read Mama Rock's Rules, I was game. Sure, Rose Rock happens to be the mother of comedian Chris Rock, but what intrigued me the most about this mother extraordinaire is that she has raised ten children, plus "more than" seventeen foster children have gone through her home. Her house was "the place" to gather and after reading her book, I can see why.

Rose Rock is an educator specializing in preschool and special education. With that kind of training, plus the real-life training of being the mother to so many types of kids, she surely knows what she is talking about. Her co-author Valerie Graham is part of the on-air and production team of The Mom Show with Rose Rock (at WWXM-FM.) She is a mother of three and a grandmother of four, so she's got experience, too!

The wonderful folks at TBS sent me several DVDs worth of preview shows along with a comfy pair of pajamas (my first pajamagram!) I am glad to announce that one of these shows, The Bill Engvall Show, premieres new episodes tomorrow night.

Truthfully it has been awhile since I’ve watched an “old-fashioned” style sitcom with the laugh track . Those types of show were the staples of my viewing back when I was younger. The Bill Engvall Show is an updated version of these shows I used to watch religiously.

It was fun to watch the sitcom family in action: patient wife, goofy husband, the three kids with the requisite know-it-all, dunce and beauty, plus an annoying-with-a-soft-spot neighbor, naturally. Of course they have a family dog - who ends up being the subject of one of the episodes I previewed. The jokes were sometimes predictable, as is the formula for such shows, but I found myself chuckling along nonetheless. The plot lines are definitely lighter and more entertaining in a “kick-back-after-a-long-day” sort of way than some of the heavier “drama-dy type” shows I typically watch.

While I started shopping at Whole Foods and other "organic-health-conscious" stores to find Feingold-safe food, I've started to notice and purchase environmentally-conscious products from pine-pellet cat litter to natural pest control solutions. After all, being healthful isn't just in things one eats, it is also what one breathes, uses on the skin, or on one's teeth. And being "green" in ways other than buying local produce or all-natural, organic products is important.

My kids are into the eco-conscious action, too: the Cat remarked the other day after I filled up my gas tank, "Mom, you're hating on the world because you drive this van instead of a part-electric car like Daddy!" But I digress...

In the household product aisle, I've been drawn to the brightly-colored Preserve plastic cutlery. I bought a whole bunch of lime ones since the Cat's favorite color is green.

Well, it turns out that Preserve makes more than just tableware. Thanks to Mom Central, I had the opportunity to receive two free Preserve toothbrushes.

There are many things about this toothbrush that warrant mention:

1) The bristles are WHITE. This may not seem like a huge deal at first glance, but the majority of the brushes found in drugstores and major-chain grocery stores have dyes on the bristles. Some brands market this as an indicator that when the dye fades it is time to replace the brush. But of course, the dye is going into your mouth or the mouths of your children.

After I received a rare white-bristled child-sized brush from my dentist, I begged him to let me snag a few more. He gave me his final two, and told me that the other brushes he had were dyed. I copied down the manufacturer's information and purchased an enormous package of the white-bristled ones direct from the supplier. Thereafter, I received mail about "my dental practice."

Fortunately, I found some white-bristled toothbrushes at health-food stores, but I am very relieved to know that Preserve toothbrushes are available. Preserve Jr. has some models that include dye, but they also have some all-white bristled ones as well.

2) Preserve toothbrushes are made from recycled material, namely yogurt lids. The Sundance Channel published a video about this process. [edited 2/2009: The website has been revamped; below is a quote that appeared on the original site.]

"Since 2001, Preserve and Stonyfield Farm have partnered to keep (literally) tons of plastic out of landfills. We collect cups and scrap plastic from Stonyfield's manufacturing facility in nearby New Hampshire, as well as the used cups that people who have enjoyed Stonyfield Farm yogurt return to them. Then we turn these cups into Preserve Toothbrushes, Tongue Cleaners and Razors."

3) Preserve toothbrushes are themselves recyclable. Their website includes a postage-paid label that can be affixed to a package of used toothbrushes, razor handles, and tongue-cleaners.

4) It turns out that Preserve products are not just sold at expensive health-stores. Preserve toothbrushes are available at Target stores nationwide for only $2.04! Plus, here is a printable coupon! [no longer available.]

Thank you Mom Central for letting me know about this fantastic company, and thank you Preserve for creating products out of old plastic that we can use and then recycle yet again!

Last autumn, I volunteered to bring the pumpkin pie to the First Grade Thanksgiving Feast. The pies needed to be cut into uniform pieces to serve four classes worth of students. Since most store-bought pumpkin pies contain cloves – which the Cat is allergic to – I was going to make homemade pumpkin bars. They cut easily into squares (easier to serve than pie slices!) and would no doubt adhere to the school’s “Wellness Policy” because I knew I wasn’t going to use additional sugar, and I use real vanilla, no artificial flavors, and no funky preservatives. It seemed like a winning situation.

But I made a tragic mistake: Instead of just showing up with 13,284 pumpkin bars, I emailed the woman in charge of the volunteers to let her know of my plans. She had said to buy “four Costco pies and cut into bite-sized pieces.” I figured the mention of Costco was an attempt to let people relax about not having to bake themselves, so didn’t think there would be any reason to object to someone who wanted to take on that responsibility. So, when I volunteered, I said I’d happily bake bars.

Her response was, “The committee decided to serve Costco's pumpkin pies,” but that I was “welcome to bake a special pie for [the Cat.]”

In Michelle Lamar and Molly Wendland’s The White Trash Mom Handbook they refer to such committees as “The Muffia,” a term they lovingly lifted from I Don’t Know How She Does It. Indeed, this particular lady is leader of our school’s Muffia, but unlike White Trash Mom’s assertion that the Muffia wishes to condemn those who aren’t perfect, this particular “you must only bring store-bought goods,” was a twist on that. It is almost as though this particular woman wanted to make sure that I didn’t get credit for being capable enough to bake enough pumpkin bars for around eighty First Graders. (And, in this cruel twist, this meant that my son would be singled out as not having what the other kids had – and I had to foot the bill for all that nasty artificial crud, the leftovers which were returned to me, of course.)

Later, a fellow non-Muffia-Mom (who White Trash Mom would simply call a Fellow White Trash Mom - but I view this particular friend more as a Hippie-Free-Spirit more than straight from the trailer park) ran into the aforementioned woman shouting out directions to her volunteers. My very strong, unflappable friend whispered nervously, “I am SCARED of her!” Indeed, upon speaking to other moms, I learned there was no “committee” that decided on the Costco pies. The “committee” was just Muffy.

I received The White Trash Mom Handbook via the Parent Bloggers Network. It is written by the same gal behind the blog of the same name, plus with “inside-information” from her former-Muffia Friend “Tacky Princess.”

While I don’t listen to “Country and Western” or quite feel comfortable wearing tie-dye, I got some great tips from this book. Part of the White Mom Trash Philosophy (thankfully spelled out quickly at the start of the book) involves not worrying so much about what other people think. Indeed, I am very guilty of that: I am an approval-seeker, which means those “Muffia” folks definitely have a victim in me. (I have plenty of juicy anecdotes like the pumpkin pie one.) But if I learn to “take a chill pill,” I should be able to accomplish much more than if I am trying to live up to an unattainable standard of perfection.

Indeed, White Trash Mom talks about how the perfect people must have help. And in my neighborhood, they do: nannies, housekeepers, personal chefs, and personal trainers. I do not. And yes, I am sure there are plenty of folks in our school who don’t either, but the most visible folks are also the most pampered.

Being “White Trash” is not about bucking all expectations and rebelling loudly, because as is mentioned many times in the book, your kids will suffer. On one hand, being “White Trash” is “still holding on to the flicker of light [you] had before having kids,” but on the other hand, “you need to be involved in some manner because the school needs you,” so “think of yourself last and put your child first.”

“White Trash Mom” and “Tacky Princess” give a run-down on school volunteer opportunities with their unique cost-benefit analysis (ROI: Return on Investment.) They mention ways short-cuts can be taken without anyone getting truly hurt. It is essentially all about balance: not trying to be Superwoman, but also not being a complete slacker.

I admit that I found a few contradictions in the book, but that is because there are many contradictions in real life. For example, the book disapproves of the Muffia’s over-scheduling of kids’ activities, particularly sports activities where the child is unlikely to ever play professionally or even in college or high school. But one of the pieces of advice (that I cheered!) was to sign up kids for activities outside of school. That way, if a bully at school is making life miserable, the kid has friends from outside of school.

Indeed, my kids’ activities are primarily with kids who don’t attend their school. (And yes, the Cat’s soccer team is a “club sport,” where he had to try out. But I think everyone made the team. Shhhh! Don’t tell him!). My own tumultuous social life in elementary school was balanced by the many hours I spent dancing with kids who didn’t know my in-school social status. Having that outlet physically and socially was valuable for me, and I hope it is for my kids as well.

But I do agree with White Trash Mom that it isn’t productive for the kids to be pushed in multiple sports if it is all about the parents’ benefit instead of for the kids’ enjoyment. Knowing when it is about the kid and when it is about the parent is hard.

The White Trash Mom Handbook begins with a dose of social philosophy and psychology, and then continues on to actual “tips” to hopefully decrease stress while still supporting teachers in the “unwritten curriculum.” It is about keeping up with expectations and appearances in a way that benefit, instead of hurt, the kids. Tips about handling work, cleaning, and cooking are all in here. I’ll happily contribute to The White Trash Mom Cookbook (yes, I see a companion book in the future) because while the recipes in that section indeed look yummy and easy, I have a bunch of easy recipes that don’t rely so heavily on the processed foods. Being healthy need not be a Muffia-trait.

Even if you don’t like the term “White Trash Mom” – put away your biases or I’ll accuse you of being part of the Muffia -- The White Trash Mom Handbook is worth a read. (pick it up at Amazon) It challenges us to be true to ourselves and our instincts while still accepting responsibility for our kids and household. The book is humorous, practical, and surprisingly thought-provoking. It is going to take some effort to wean me from my wanting-to-please-everyone ways, but at least I know there are others struggling with the same tendencies.

I got to the BlogHer Keynote speech early.

I didn't see anyone I knew, so I sat at a table just off center to the right in the front. I pulled out my schedule and who-knows-what-else from my bag and started to read.

A lady approached, "Is this seat taken?" she wondered.

"No, go on ahead," I nodded.

Soon we were doing the usual business-card exchange thing. Except she didn't have a business card on her. "I'm from Her Room," she said, "Did you see a card from us in your swag bag?" she asked hopefully.

My face probably gave me away. I had no idea. I hadn't dug through my swag yet. "Um, no? Not yet. I haven't had time to sort through everything!"

"Well don't throw it away - that card from Her Room is good for a free panty!" She then explained how the site is heavily customer-review driven and how the customers had voted for their favorite brand and style within the different types of undergarments. That card would entitle the bearer to a free pair of whichever type we wanted (boyshort, bikini, thong...)

Our conversation then turned to other things, but when I returned home I remembered about Her Room. I found the card and checked out the site. I selected the hi-cut brief. The Her Room customers had selected "barely there," which touted completely invisible panty lines.

I wasn't familiar with that brand, but went along with it. After all, free is free!

I received several emails from Her Room after that, checking up on the status of my order and giving me very accurate delivery times. When the package arrived (very quickly!) it was wrapped nicely in tissue paper, just as if I had bought it instead of receiving it gratis.

I was struck by how much care had gone into presenting me with a free panty.

Well, I love my new pair of underwear. In fact, I love it so much that I went back to Her Room to order a gazillion more, all the barely there model I received just because of BlogHer. While at the site, I picked up some Flexees as well, 'cause most of us can stand to have a little tummy-smoothing action. Flexees was also a brand with which I wasn't familiar, but thanks to the reviews on Her Room, I had confidence that I was purchasing something about which I knew more than trying to guess how a random flashy-looking thing on an already-svelte Victoria's Secret model would look on me.

I am ecstatic that I learned about Her Room through BlogHer. I now have underwear I actually like. And that is saying a lot.

---

Her Room has a brother site called (what else!) His Room.

Over the summer, Turner Classic Movies aired fabulous family-friendly movies every Sunday night, such as Meet Me in St. Louis, The Music Box, and National Velvet. I was lucky enough to receive - from TCM - The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together , a wonderful book filled with suggestions for those great movies that many of us have forgotten, but that are still relevant and appropriate for kids. The book gives age recommendations, plot summary, modern-day tie-in, and a discussion of why it is a great choice for family fun.

Well, the fun didn't end in the summer, that is for sure. Today, December 7th, TCM Presents The Family Classics. The festivities will include Sunday movie showcases featuring more than 25 Disney live-action classics, plus an all-new original documentary entitled The Age of Beliving: The Disney Live-Action Classics, narrated by Tony® winner and three-time Oscar® nominee Angela Lansbury.

Today's line-up includes some of my favorites like Swiss Family Robinson and the original Parent Trap - show your kids the original so they aren't thinking about Lindsey Lohan's drinking and other current behaviors while they watch what is supposed to be a wholesome show. I remember fondly filling up my parents' VCR with all the Hayley Mills movies I could. Now I can fill up my TiVo with the same!

Tonight at 10:15pm Eastern (7:15pm Pacific) is Pollyanna. You know I'm going to watch that one. After all, I can't sing America the Beautiful without hearing Mills' cherubic warble and picturing her hot-dog-style in that fabric as a piece of the American flag. (But hey, isn't Mills British?)

Every Sunday starting today through December 28th, TCM will air Disney live-action classics from noon until after midnight. Please visit tcm.com for the complete schedule, as well as for their gift-giving guide for movie buffs of all ages. I won't blame you if you shed a nostalgic tear as I did reading through the list of my past-favorites like Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Escape to Witch Mountain, and Freaky Friday [the original, of course.]

The Age of Beliving: The Disney Live-Action Classics, narrated by Tony® winner and three-time Oscar® nominee Angela Lansbury will premiere next Sunday, on December 14th at 7pm Eastern (4pm Pacific.) This special will follow the studio's history as it ventured beyond its animation legacy to develop non-animated family fare. I am eager to see it!

If you fear that your kids are bored with the recent releases, perhaps it is time to take a look backward to remember all those fabulous movies that we loved as kids. Check out tcm.com and your local listings. Or just set your TiVo to record from noon 'til a little past midnight on every Sunday in December.

Pass the popcorn!

Husband and I typically end up with multiples of the same gift, like the year we both got each other America. Typically the duplicates end up because Husband will talk about how much he wants something, so I'll buy it for him. But days before Christmas, he'll go out and purchase whatever is already wrapped under the tree.

So I stopped listening to his first choice, figuring he'd get it for himself. I focused more on the "lower down" priority items.

Last year he kept talking about a slingbox. But I thought I knew better. I wasn't going to purchase something he'd no doubt buy on his own during Thanksgiving sales or Pre-Christmas sales or Friday Fry's sales.

The day before Christmas, Husband mentioned how excited he was that he'd be getting a slingbox for Christmas. He assumed that is what I had already bought. He was ecstatic.

Except I hadn't bought one, of course.

Not wanting to disappoint him, I quickly went online to Best Buy and did an in-store pickup order. While the store itself had long lines and packed aisles, the in-store pickup line was small. We were out of the store - coveted present in hand - in less time that it took us to find parking.

And so, my first tip to those of you who have waited too long to shop for Christmas (or the latter half of Hanukkah) is to see which big stores have in-store pickup. It is easy to browse online for that perfect gift, and typically is pretty easy to pick it up since most stores have separate lines for their online sales.

(The one exception I found to this was when I bought a camera at Circuit City - the closest store was sold out, so I purchased it at a store a half hour away. Guess what happened? That store didn't have it when I arrived, but discovered that my local store did! In the end I got my camera, but that particular excursion took a lot of driving and involved confusion.)

Another idea is the dreaded overnight shipping - yet for stores like zappos.com that already ship overnight, you're golden. Still, most overnight shipping options are pretty pricey, so you might want to brave the malls.

Or, you could buy something that is electronically fulfilled, such as an iTunes gift certificate or an Amazon.com gift certificate delivered via email.

Plenty of websites offer extended content for a fee. No, I am not suggesting purchasing "adult materials" for your preteen cousin. Rather, for kids there are sites like Club Penguin, a favorite of my boys. While the basic experience is plenty of fun, being a member allows the little penguins to accumulate coins to purchase pet puffles, buy snazzy new outfits, and deck out their igloo like budding interior designers would. In the Cat's case, that means purchasing as many toy trains as possible to create a "rug."

For older folks, there is Happy Neuron. I learned about this brain fitness website shortly after I had realized that I wasn't very good at the Brain Age DS game. (And don't even talk to me about Big Brain Academy.) "Mommy brain" is no myth: my brain is so filled with details of appointments, tasks, and managing other folks' lives that I don't have time to read or do puzzles to expand the other parts of my brain.

As we age, our brain "sags" just like our bodies do. Those who keep mentally fit by exercising their brain end up faring much better than those who don't. Plus, it is fun (until the computer tells you that you are mentally weak, that is!)

Happy Neuron is offering a 20%-off holiday special on a year's membership to the website. Members have access to 35 games (plus 5 beta Wii games.) The games fit in five categories: visual-spacial, attention, executive function, memory, and language. Each game has several difficulty levels, plus the program itself will recommend games based on the user's weaknesses.

I tried using the "coach" function whereby the computer is supposed to take me through an optimum combination of games based on my preferences, time available to "work out," and my past performance. Unfortunately, this feature didn't work for me (I was given a login free for the purposes of review, but perhaps this is a feature only available to full members, not reviewers.) And so, I tried out the five free games.

Does it surprise you that on the "split words" game that I was able to do the one about football but did horrifically on the "agriculture" one? (I can still hear my grandmother's tsk-tsk from many years ago when she learned I couldn't tell the difference between different types of cows. Sorry, I don't know anything about farming.) I thought I would do fantastically on "Catch the Ladybug" because after college I was a research assistant in a visual psychophysics lab. We did lots of "search" experiments, and since I had to program and test such things, I became very good at visual search. But my downfall in this Happy Neuron game was my trackball skills. I saw the ladybug immediately, but had a hard time rolling my way over. Perhaps a traditional mouse would be better in this instance.

There are other games that rely on time where an individual's ability to move the mouse becomes a limiting factor. This concerns me for the grandparent-set who might otherwise benefit from these mind-enhancing games. For these folks, those games without a time limit (but which will still record time) would be more accurate: as their time decreases with practice, the improvement can be attributed more to mental performance and less to mousing-ability. But for games that stop if the user fails to provide the answer, the individual wouldn't be able to practice the actual task unless the time required could be increased.

I love that there are a variety of games to "train" the user so the "workouts" are not boring. The site has a section on brain fitness science, plus has recommendations for other (sometimes offline) products. In addition to the aforementioned Wii games in beta, there is also a "Happy Neuron Junior" program in development. The Cat loves various games, particularly online. Although some of the games I've played through Happy Neuron are perfectly appropriate for him, I imagine the "junior" version will have aspects (such as in the "language" category) that will better fit his grade level.

Consider Happy Neuron for that otherwise difficult-to-buy-for adult. Grandmothers have enough perfume, bath oil, and lotion. And does Granddad really need another tie? Young(er) adults would like these games, too, so don't think your recipient needs to have grey hair. (I think my parents are sharper than I am at this point, anyway.)

Or maybe spend some time on the site yourself; it certainly wouldn't hurt! After all, the present I am getting for Husband is one that I hope to get myself at some point. This is one year where I'm actually hoping for a duplicate (but not expecting it.)

The Cat is quite intelligent, at least in academic matters. He's creative, curious, and can make connections very well. But somehow, if the intended connections, schemas, rules, and intuition is in regards social skills, he stumbles. He's one of those "quirky kids" who was diagnosed with pdd-nos, a "catch-all" diagnosis on the autistic spectrum.

As part of his IEP, he receives pragmatic speech and social skills group pull-outs at school. Truthfully, I haven't seen results. He's laughed at social skills DVDs and seems to enjoy them (particularly when the kids act goofy as part of the "how not to behave") but hasn't really put the information to use. One year we sent him to a social-skills camp, but while that may have helped him pay attention to his behavior, I actually wonder if being so analytical about it actually created an artificial situation: he ended up being hyper-sensitive to each mistake, which then created panic and an inability to remember the "correct" response. And then there is the matter of positive role models: he was with some kids who really had some odd social behaviors.

It is embarrassing to admit, but there are certainly times when I want to just throw my arms up because he's done something inappropriate, seemingly without "common sense." And then there are those days that he seems totally "normal" waving good-bye as he says brightly, "Bye Katie! See you tomorrow!"

Ice-cream unplugged. Sounds kind of dangerous, doesn't it? But that is the tagline for Haagen-Dazs' new five-ingredient ice-cream, titled five.

When Mom Central told me about five, I seriously could not contain my excitement. You see, Haagen-Dazs and I go way back...

As many loyal readers know, I was on the Feingold Diet when I was younger. It helped with impulse-control. Since my oldest son has similar impulse-control problems with hyperactivity, we put him on Feingold and have seen success.

Haagen-Dazs is one of the few widely-available ice-cream brands that is Feingold-safe. Certainly people can make their own, but the convenience of being able to pop over to the local grocery store is truly priceless. Haagen-Dazs is at the corner market, not only sold in high-end specialty stores. Their product, however, tastes as though it would be in only exclusive upscale markets.

One of the number one concerns people admit when they question me about hyperactivity elimination diets is the worry that with the "elimination" all the convenience and fun will be taken out of eating. Fortunately, there are plenty of all-natural brands that are completely fine. Haagen-Dazs is one of these brands, and with the addition of the five line, the number of acceptable ice-creams has gotten larger.

Let's face it: the "creative" ice-cream flavors typically aren't the ones that are all-natural. To obtain those exotic flavors, most companies use artificial flavoring (along with artificial coloring.)

five is plenty creative, but maintains its purity.

The concept behind Haggen-Dazs five, is that it has only five ingredients: milk, cream, sugar, eggs, and then one "hero" ingredient. These flavors are: vanilla bean, milk chocolate, mint, ginger, coffee, passion fruit, and brown sugar.

My first motivation for trying five was that it is all-natural, as I was eager to give my son some additional dessert options. But I soon learned that using just five pure and simple ingredients naturally lends itself to an ice cream with one-third less fat. Less fat is certainly something I can get behind. And then the flavors themselves are not common. I would have thought "strawberry" would be a shoo-in, but instead the five fruit is passion fruit. Flavors like brown sugar and ginger are quite unique, and exceptionally tasty.

I was very excited when the package arrived = dry ice!

I was even more excited when my boys and I got to sit down to taste the ice-cream contained within. I am not a food blogger, so forgive the clumsy language, but here are my impressions of the four flavors I received:

Passion Fruit: This reminds me of a dragonfruit soda that I really enjoy. It is definitely a unique flavor, both spicy and fruity at the same time. It is smooth, as all of the five flavors are, and the passion fruit is subtle enough so that it doesn't overwhelm. This sort of exotic flavor is great to entice kids to try new foods. Haagen-Dazs recommends serving this flavor with pieces of tropical fruit on top - yum! [clicking link downloads a PDF]

Ginger: Of course this reminded me of Chinese food, so no doubt this ice-cream would be great paired with a fortune cookie or other vanilla-orange type cookie or cake. Ginger typically is associated with heat, but this ice-cream is refreshing. It is spicy and soothing all in one.

Mint: Most people think "mint chocolate chip" when they hear "mint ice-cream" and of course most people picture that neon green color. Haagen-Dazs is definitely not green: instead it is a natural white. The texture is completely smooth without chunks of chocolate. Although chocolate is certainly a great pair for mint (so this ice-cream would be fabulous over a rich chocolate cake) the mint on its own is so pure and subtly sweet that it doesn't need a companion. This is a sweet mint, not the biting mint of a mojito. Haagen-Dazs recommends pairing the ginger ice-cream with cardamom-honey roasted peaches. [clicking link downloads a PDF] I think pear would also work well.

Brown Sugar: My sons love milkshakes. Traditionally they have vanilla or mint chocolate-chip, but they have since had several brown sugar shakes. This flavor was absolutely my favorite. It calls to mind gingerbread men and a cozy gathering. I suppose now we can have our holiday memories during the summer, thanks to this spicy-yet-cool ice-cream. Recipe: Häagen-Dazs Five™ Brown Sugar Ice Cream with Warm Apple Cinnamon Blossoms [downloads a PDF]

I will definitely be purchasing five for my family in the future - tastes good, less fat, all natural. It is truly a fantastic five.

Fittingly, I have FIVE coupons for free ice-cream to give away to you loyal readers. Simply post a comment telling me what flavor five you are most interested in trying. (Check out the Haagen-Dazs five website to find all the five flavors - and yes, there are more than 5 flavors...) I'll give you until April 30th to enter. Good Luck! If you don't win, consider picking up five at your local store: you won't regret it.

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Wooo! You all won! Send me your mailing address to karianna at this domain name (see my header) and I'll get the coupons out to you!

Hooray, Hooray, today is a special day!

Today - Tuesday April 21st - is "Iced Coffee Day," says Dunkin' Donuts. Today the price of a small (16 oz.) cup of Iced Coffee is only 50 cents. More importantly, five cents from every cup will be donated to Homes for Our Troops.

Homes for Our Troops puts on "build brigades" - a three-day construction blitz to get a house framed, plus install doors, windows, roof, and siding. The beneficiaries of these homes are severely injured vetrans who require specially adapted homes (ie, kitchens with counters accessible via wheelchair, wide enough hallways to accommodate wheelchairs, etc.) All specially adapted homes are built at no cost to the veteran thanks to foundation grants, corporate sponsors, and generous support from countless volunteers.

Dunkin' Donuts is currently selling "Camo Koozies" to keep your iced coffee nice and cool (and your hands nice and warm) - for every Koozie sold, $1.00 will be donated to Homes for Our Troops. You can pick one up at your local Dunkin' Donuts store today when you purchase your 50 cent iced-coffee, or you can purchase one (or more) "Camo Koozies" online.

Many years ago, I volunteered in a home-building mission project for my church. The memories I have of that project are varied: from realizing just how shallow my hometown's teenager existence was to how incredibly grateful the recipients of the home were. In that case, we were building tiny two-bedroom dwellings with no electricity or appliances. Our homes were just a shelter. Nonetheless, it made a big difference for these folks.

The veterans who return from their service injured in a way that prevents them from living in a "regular" house can now have homes built to their particular needs. Learn more at Homes for Our Troops

May is Skin-Cancer Awareness Month!

While I haven't actually had skin cancer, I have several scars to show that I've had irregular moles removed. Perhaps you all remember the Code Blue in Dermatology drama?

Several years ago I had two moles on my leg removed. I haven't worn shorts since, because they left huge bruise-like gashes. But having those is better than being dead.

Of course I don't want my kids to get skin cancer, nor do I want them to get nasty looking scars. With that in mind, I bought them a bunch of UV Skinz (who I found out about through Cool Mom Picks.) I also bought several for myself: a black jacket that I can simply zip over any tank top, plus two long-sleeved swim-shirts (that I am going to use as wear-while-at-the-boardwalk rather than for swimming.)

When the UV Skinz arrived, an additional product was put in my bag: a Baby Skinz to donate to someone else. All UV Skinz customers completing an order in the month of May will receive a free Baby Skinz. They request that these Baby Skinz be donated to a needy cause of their customers' choosing. Customers can then share their donation location - good karma points!

They write, "Protecting our children from becoming the one in five Americans who will be diagnosed with skin cancer within their lifetimes starts from day one! Teaching safe sun habits to every child is imperative to help eradicate a disease that is almost entirely preventable. Every child deserves to live safe under the sun!" UV Skinz have a UPF rating of 50+, which blocks out over 98% of the sun's harmful rays. In addition to the free Baby Skinz, they offer free shipping on orders over $50.

Sounds great - but do the products deliver?

Well, my youngest son adores his new Skinz. He's worn them around "just because" (even to his preschool art show!) and also in the swimming pool. I've worn mine too - I wore the black jacket as I hiked around the reservoir. I wondered if I would overheat, but the material was thin and breathable, so I wasn't uncomfortable at all. I felt glad that my arms, neck, and chest were all protected. (Now I have to get a cute-looking hat...)

I'm also eyeing some UPF 50+ clothes from Athleta, but haven't yet taken the plunge (they are expensive.) The Athleta clothes are more "regular clothes" whereas the UV Skinz definitely have the "water" vibe. If I give Athleta a try, I'll report back here. But for now, I'm pretty excited about my UV Skinz - and plan to wear those shirts on what I imagine will be our many trips to Splig's Favorite Destination Ever - the beach boardwalk.
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My posts about the whole forehead mole situation:
- I am not Smurfette
- Code Blue in Dermatology
- Decisions and Delays
- Not Again
- Where Everybody Knows Your Name
- Blocking Pesky Betas
- En Route to a Harry Potter Scar
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Disclaimer: UV Skinz did not contact me in any way to promote their product. I did not receive any special treatment in exchange for mentioning them. I learned of the company on Cool Mom Picks and decided it would be a good match for our family. I then learned of their May promotion and wished to spread the word as it is generous and important!

As May comes to a close, so does "Skin Cancer Awareness Month," but that is no reason to forget about the sunscreen. Whether you wear UV protective clothes or slather on the lotion, make sure you are doing something to protect yourself outside.

Sure, it may not quite feel like summer yet for some of you, but with school's dismissal, suddenly we're all going to be spending a lot more time outdoors.

Here's a secret: I've already gotten burned this year. I had my UPF 50+ protective jacket unzipped a bit in the neck area for the stylish look of it all (V-neck is so much more flattering for my body type) but didn't apply enough sunscreen in that area. (The neck area is frequently forgotten, and it is delicate, so important to remember!) The good news of this burn (and it isn't bad, really - just a tiny bit red) is that it showed me that the UPF 50+ protective wear from UVSkinz totally worked -- because the areas that were covered with the clothing weren't even a tad tanned or pink.

Luckily, I sprayed a bunch of sunscreen on my boys, so they were doubly-protected: they wore UV Skinz and had sunscreen on. We use both Neutrogena and KINeSYS sunscreen sprays. I also use the Neutrogena lotion (slathered it on my neck as soon as I realized I had damage: sunscreen provides healing, too.)

I know everyone knows this, but sunglasses don't just make you look cool. Sure, they help you see better in bright light (and help with fatigue in bright cloudy light) but their most important role is to protect against UV exposure. Many of those cheap-o sunglasses don't block both UV-A and UV-B light, so be sure to look on the label.

The one sun protection item I am lacking is a hat. I haven't found a "cute" one that I like just yet. Yes, I spray my head to avoid a sunburn in the part of my hair, but I know I need to be better protected. (And sunscreened-up hair is not so pretty, anyway.)

So, consider this brief "service announcement" a reminder to put your sunscreen out on your bathroom counter so you remember to put it on -- stash one in your car, at your desk at the office, in your diaper bag, and by the front door. Get a hat (yes, I need to take my own advice) and some great sunglasses (my dad has pairs littered all around, as does Husband - better to have a bunch in different places than to squint-n-burn because you can't find your sole pair.)

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I received no compensation for this post -- just highlighting products I've reviewed in the past. I purchased the swimsuit pictured from dELiA*s (and got a beautiful one from Victoria's Secret as well. I learned last season that it is important to have more than one swimsuit, least my boys require that I put on a cold wet one when they want to go back in the hotel pool and hour later...) The sunglasses pictured are Fendi - but you can get UV-A + UV-B protection from less expensive brands (just not totally cheap-o.)

I cannot play the guitar, as evidenced by this photo in which I am holding the thing upside down (apparently.) And then there is my son, who was so obsessed with a pink ukulele that when he randomly found a $20 bill mere feet from a store selling pink ukuleles - right after I told him I wouldn't use my money to buy him one - he purchased it himself. (I mean, how could he not given that the gods were apparently smiling down on him?)

So when Mom Central put out a call to try Guitar Hero for the DS, of course I responded. Not because I think I'm a rock-star, but because I clearly need the help. More so, I wanted to try out these games because I knew my boys would be interested. After all, they spent a good portion of Thanksgiving watching my brother play Guitar Hero on his Playstation.

I figured, if my brother can do it, so can I! (But, um, apparently he's the one who got the guitar talent.)

UPDATE: We saw the circus! It was tons of fun -- please read on to find out how you can see the circus at a discount.

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I saw the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus when I was young. I don't remember my brother being there, which means I was probably younger than five.

I remember I was nervous. It was my first time in a large arena, there were animals I had never seen before in person, and I worried that I was the one who would have to perform. But I also remember once my nerves were calmed it made quite an impression.

Yes, I'm one of those folks who is freaked out by clowns, but I love the trapeze, high-wire acts, and all the animal acts. I have fond memories of being able to meet an elephant at Ringling Brothers when I was young, and some baby tigers when I was in the eighth grade. Getting close to animals I thought would be inaccessible was a real thrill.

I took "ownership" of my Ringling Brothers experience enough so that when a competitor came to town I scoffed, saying they were just "impostors." Surely they couldn't be as talented as the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Baily troupe!

My first circus experience was at "The Oakland Coliseum" which has since gone through several renamings to become "The Oracle Arena."

Now MY kids can experience their first circus experience in the exact same place with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, just as I did. Their latest show, Zing Zang Zoom, is coming to Northern California in August. And my family will be there!

Lucky me, I have a coupon code for fellow Bay Area residents to use when purchasing tickets for these shows, thanks to Mom Central:

As you recall, before BlogHer I had the enjoyable opportunity to visit the Chicago Ford Plant and find out more about a company that I had previously thought was "middle of the line" and "dependable" but learned is actually "innovative" and even "luxurious." I learned quite a lot during my visit with Ford and was thrilled that they reached out to me last week to ask if I might be interested in test-driving a 2010 Lincoln MKT.

Of course!

During the driving portion of our pre-BlogHer visit, I had eyed the Lincoln MKT, noticing it had the third row of seating that is so valuable to me and my team-sport-playing kids. Several years ago we rented a van when my in-laws came into town so we could all travel in the same car. Shortly thereafter, we purchased a minvan, considering that it would be ridiculous to continually rent vans when we needed to transport more than just our family. At that time, I looked at both SUVs and minivans.

As my husband can attest, I really really wanted the prestige of some of those SUVs. I eyed them lovingly, but their poor gas mileage gave me pause. I checked out a high-end hybrid SUV but the reviews were poor, and the technology wasn't up to par yet, such that it's MPG wasn't very impressive. The safety and the gas mileage of the minivan I selected far surpassed those SUVs that just looked tough.

Sure, I'm predisposed to love the 2010 Lincoln MKT for the reasons I stated already: third-row seat, safety, Eco-Boost™, and luxury. It caught my eye in Chicago, so I already had favorable first impressions.

But what about my family? Here is what they said during our first day with what my sons later dubbed, "The very cool new car:"

My Husband:

"It is a tank!"

"Good thing it has parallel-park assist (Ford calls it "Active Park Assist") because it is a tank..."

My Husband is not a car-guy, but seemed happy with it during his brief once-over: "This is niiiice." He was particularly happy with 3rd row seats and noticed AC adapter in the back seat immediately. (Yes, this is important for long trips - to plug in the boys' DS systems and so forth.)

When I told him about the push-button start, he remarked "Yeah, I think they're all going that direction now." (He has a Prius.)

The Cat:

"This is so cool"

"Let's trade in the van"

"The windows go down ALL THE WAY" (In the van, they only go mid-way)

"I like it when you back up and we can see all the stuff behind us!"

Spliggle:

"This is super-awesome."

"It is so beautiful!"

He found the pull-up shade: "this is cool!"

"You can just go to the bank to order more money so we can get this!"

"Can we just give back the van and keep this one, please?"

"I'm going to miss this beautiful sparkley car when they come take it away." (pout.)

Disclaimer: Ford lent me a 2010 Lincoln MKT to use for a few days. I am not receiving any compensation other than the use of the vehicle and possible promotion of my posts on The Ford Story website. The opinions stated above are actual quotes from my family members, not from anyone at Ford-Lincoln.

A week from now our family will be going to see Disney's Princesses on Ice (officially "Princess Classics," but "Princesses on Ice" sounds kinda rad) thanks to Mom Central. This is a Very Good Thing, since Spliggle absolutely adores princesses and has been yelping, "Can we go!?" every time the Disney on Ice commercial comes on T.V. For "proof" see how he looks adoringly into Cinderella's eyes when she signed his autograph book during a Disney event two years ago.

Lucky me, I have a coupon code for fellow Bay Area residents to use when purchasing tickets for Disney on Ice: Princess Classics. Purchase a 4-pack of tickets for only $44 by logging onto www.ticketmaster.com and entering the coupon code: MOM.** If you'll recall, this is the exact same deal as when Zing Zang Zoom came to town. Lucky us!

(If you want to see this show - head on over to my other post for a Disney on Ice coupon code!)

Last night our family went to see Disney on Ice: Princess Classics. I knew my youngest would have a blast -- he's totally into sparkles, pink, purple, aqua, and pretty princesses. But I expected my oldest would roll his eyes the whole time. Surprisingly, he got into it - the Cat loved the more physical comedy portions whereas Splig loved the more sappy, glide-y, sparkle-y parts. Meanwhile, I felt nostalgic and realized that while I own many Disney movies, most are on VHS - curses!

The show catered to a great mix of ages. The little kids were scared a bit during some of the sections, but there were no hugely frightening parts. The audience really got into the spirit, such as screaming at Snow White not to bite the poisoned apple. And of course they swooned and clapped at the various "true love's kiss" moments.

Last night LeapFrog sponsored a talk with Larry Magid on internet safety. (We also had some excellent food at the Four Seasons Hotel, including a to-DIE-for mashed potato bar - YUM!) Mr. Magid is the co-director of ConnectSafely.org and founder of SafeKids.com.

Surprisingly, the talk meshed well with my own beliefs about risk (not nearly as high as my parents or many others would believe) and how to approach privacy. I had been expecting a scare-fest, but instead the advice was realistic and practical.

The Cat (age 8) has an email address, but he knows I see what is on it (and I delete SPAM off it.) He knows not to give out personal information, although I admit I worry if he is anyway. Spliggle doesn't yet have an email address and doesn't yet really know his own information well enough to give it out. But, of course we will talk to them both as the need arises.

We've considered putting a filter on the Cat's computer because he's pretty Google-savvy, but Mr. Magid explained a filter is mere "training wheels" since the real world isn't filtered. We all know that an overprotective parent actually ends up hurting a child because he cannot fend for himself. But then of course a too-permissive parent ends up putting their child at risk. As with parenting in general, internet safety is about striking a balance.

From left top: Kristin Chenoweth's "Glinda Bubble Dress", Elphaba baby prop, Madame Morrible dress. From left bottom: Nicolas Dromard (Fiyero), Jonathan Ritter (Swing) wearing Dr. Dillamond's mask)

Not really a Wordless Wednesday, since I could gush about it for hours... At the start of the holiday break, Husband and I went to see a behind-the-scenes presentation of the fabulous musical pictured above. Last night we actually saw the show. I had seen it before, a few years back - and had read the book (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West ), the sequel (Son of a Witch), and have the fancy collector's book about the musical, "The Grimmerie." It was nice to see it again - and this time bring my husband. He was thrilled it actually had a plot (whereas he says Phantom does not, but he does love Rent) and he is actually interested in reading the book now. Go figure!

I love musical theater. It is just so magical to me, particularly as I remember what a thrill it was to be on a stage while I was a dancer. For awhile Phantom was my favorite. Then Rent. And sure I had that obsession with Cats many years ago, as the rest of the country did. (And yes, my dance company did a version.) But Wicked takes things to a whole new level. (I still have heavy allegiance towards Rent, which is a different animal, and moving in its own way.) I should probably admit that I've read Kristin Chenowith's biography, too, shouldn't I? (A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages)

After it was all over last night, I was really sad. It is such a treat to go to a show like this, and then such a letdown that we must leave all the glitter and song behind to go about our regular lives. It was a fabulous escape!

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Disclaimer: the Amazon links give me a few cents if you happen to purchase something on Amazon after clicking on one of them. The books I mention I purchased with my own money years ago. The kind folks from Wicked gave me the tickets gratis, with no obligation to post, nor further compensation for doing so.

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and DiGiorno.

Jokes aside, portion control is a big deal. We all know the "secret" to losing weight is "eat less, exercise more," but that is easier said than done. Some "experts" recommend using smaller dishes to create the psychological satisfaction of filling up one's plate without truly packing in the calories. The plates that we typically use for a regular meal are several inches bigger than they were in leaner times. (That's "leaner" both financially and physically.) And portion control isn't just about losing weight; it is about maintaining a healthy weight as well.

"Yeah, that's great, Kari," you say, "You can do that plate-trick when making meals at home, but I'm super-duper busy and can't always take the time to cook from scratch." Yeah, I hear you.

Convenience food is typically one of those categories for which portion control is a challenge. Back when "fast food" originated, a hamburger and fries were the size of what is now considered the smallest of meals. Now, such a meal looks puny. Bottled drinks have 2.5 servings-worth of liquid packed inside. And "personalized size" pizza typically has at least three-servings worth of calories.

But not anymore.

Last Spring I took up running (much to my surprise!) Somehow, what started out as a peer-induced challenge ("Let's run a 5K!") turned into an actual hobby. While the summer months were hot at times, the autumn and winter brought the dry skin and chapped lips out in full force. It isn't surprising that I jumped at the chance to try out a different challenge: Neosporin's 3-day Healthy Lips Challenge, thanks to Mom Central. I received two products: Lip Health Overnight Renewal Therapy and Lip Health Daily Hydration Therapy.

To put it bluntly, I didn't need three days. My lips improved overnight on the very first day. The Overnight Renewal Therapy was so soft and moisturizing that on the second day I ended up using it on a couple of my toes and on one cheek that had gotten a bit of a dry patch. Both of these other body parts cleared up immediately. Meanwhile, the Daily Hydration Therapy gave me satisfyingly slick lips with a little gloss. My lips felt great, but also looked great. As a bonus, the Daily Hydration Therapy is SPF 20 to prevent further damage.

During the Silicon Valley Moms Group Holiday Party, I was giddy when I saw a Tassimo in action. I had never heard of such a product, nor seen one before. I was thrilled to observe how this individual-cup coffee maker uses "T-disks" instead of ground coffee. I was intrigued that these disks could also contain tea or hot chocolate. I watched in awe as the machine read the bar code on the disk, therefore heating the water to the proper temperature for that particular beverage, and then dispensing the proper amount of water.

I walked away from the demo with a delicious hot chocolate beverage, but also a plan: I would get my husband a Tassimo for a gift!

You see, my husband and I both have an "off and on" relationship. No, not with each other: with coffee.

Both my boys have gone completely "bonkers for Berk" so to speak. How to Train Your Dragon has replaced Star Wars as being "the" thing to talk about, play with, and wear. My sons have begged to go to the "M-Place" to get Happy Meals so they can hopefully get a plastic dragon that they don't already have. Of course, said dragons lose their wings pretty quickly because they are Happy Meal toys, so I think I've injured my fingers from all the re-attaching I've done of late.

Ahem.

But the important thing is that my kids are smitten with Astrid, Hiccup, and the rest of the gang. They haven't seen the How to Train Your Dragon movie yet, but I anticipate it will be one of the things we do as spring break wraps up. What they have done, though, is play the How to Train Your Dragon Wii Game and the How to Train Your Dragon Nintendo DS Game.

Three years ago we moved from a big house with a little yard to a little house with a big yard. I had excited ambitions for planning my own garden, but my plans fell flat. Embarrassingly, the gardening work the previous owners had done was wasted when my purple thumb came along. In the midst of my farming failure out in our back yard, I noticed that the containers I planted in our front yard actually did well. A lime tree gave us limes for our beer, and an initially small rosemary plant is now enormous and can provide seasoning to whatever I happen to be cooking. (Okay, I don't cook much, but I have big plans for that, too!)

I hope to plant other easy-to-grow herbs in containers in an attempt to incorporate more fresh seasoning into my (future) cooking, and to essentially take "baby steps" towards having a more sustainable experience. Maybe I'll cook more if I know I already have basil, sage, and rosemary growing right there?

It was with a hope that I can make this a reality that I happily accepted Mom Central's opportunity to review Triscuit's Home Gardening Program. Triscuit has placed plantable herb cards in four million boxes of Triscuit crackers. I was fortunate to receive one of those boxes in exchange for spreading the word about their program.

Today is the last day of April, and thus the last day of "Autism Awareness Month." Honestly, I don't know what to think of autism "awareness" since it doesn't really make people "aware" so much as it frequently spreads unhelpful stereotypes.

Each child is different, regardless of whether he or she has a "diagnosis" and as such, their strengths and weaknesses differ.

I'm tired of the tragic stories of autism: those that focus on hardship, despair, and lost dreams. Although there are definitely aspects of a spectrum diagnosis that fall into those categories, it is much more useful to acknowledge these children's (and adult's) strengths.

Fortunately, I've had the opportunity to review two different stories about children on the spectrum, both of which acknowledge challenges, but also celebrate their subjects for who they are as people beyond the diagnosis. Both the book Cowboy and Wills and the independent lens film The Horse Boy have animals in their title. ("Cowboy" is the name of Wills' golden retriever.) This is no coincidence.

This past weekend I went on an amazing whirlwind of an adventure in the form of participating in The Relay, a 199-mile run from Calistoga to Davenport (near Santa Cruz.)

Thanks to the fabulous connections of several members of my Eat Blog. Run team, we ended up with some pretty spiffy sponsors who made our trip that much sweeter. Thanks to them, we had transportation, nourishment, and rest.

Our big sponsor was GM, who graciously provided us two "red jewel" Acadias for our trek. Three fabulous GM reps took us out to dinner the night before the race to carb-load and to learn more about both the Acadia and slightly-smaller-but-packed-with-features Terrain. Our team was easily the snazziest on the road. Most of those other teams rented white vans. Our team was definitely visible in our "red jewel tintcoat." Of course our crossovers were even more visible as we drew all over them, giving shouts out to our sponsors and providing tally marks for important things like U-turns, bathroom breaks, and number of compliments we received on our sparkle skirts.

I have been very lucky as it comes to entertainment of late. Last year my boys and I enjoyed Zing Zang Zoom!, and I was later thrilled to see the "Zingmaster" in an episode of Biggest Loser. Then we struck gold again when Feld provided us tickets to see Disney Princesses on Ice last autumn, and Disney Fantasy on Ice at the end of this winter.

Well, we're off to the circus again - and this time it is Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey presents Barnum's FUNundrum! This show definitely looks FUN - and is a tribute to P.T. Barnum, who was born 200 years ago. The performance involves motorcycles in a spherical cage, trapeze artists, cowboys, mermaids, and even a strong man - "Mighty Meetal." From balancing to flipping to jumping through fire, these performers are likely to keep my jaw dropped. Apologies if I have to look away a few times from the contortionists!

My family and I had the thrilling experience of witnessing the Peter Pan stage show yesterday afternoon. Sure, we had seen various movies based on JM Barrie's tale, experienced themed rides and such at amusement parks, and of course we have various toys, especially thanks to spin-offs like the various Tinkerbell shows. But, until yesterday, we hadn't experienced the magic live as a theater production.

Several months ago as my family drove through San Francisco, I saw the white tent taking form, and wondered what it was. A few weeks ago when Peter Pan PR emailed me about the show, I saw the now-familiar white tent on their website. Not only was the mystery solved, but I also became very excited!

After all, who hasn't wanted to fly?

Win a Treatment Pack for Yourself or Your Teen!

Zits. Pimples. Poppers. Blemishes. Spots. Acne.

Whatever you call 'em, they are a fact of life for most teens, and for many adults as well. What started out as almost an exciting rite-of-passage quickly became a complete horror for me. (I wanted braces, too, go figure. But of course once they were on I wanted them off.) We all have stories of the perfect date-face gone wrong at the last minute because of a horrid inflamed red bump. Or how those darn blemishes showed up on Picture Day and during the school play.

When I was a teen, I had a lot of "white-heads" and of course a bunch of "black-heads" as well. I even had plenty of bumps on my face that weren't discolored in any way, but were just not smooth. And everyone knows your skin has to be smooth to be beautiful. And you have to be beautiful to be popular or accepted in any fashion.

My mom took me to a fancy dermatologist who poked and prodded my face, and then prescribed various creams that burned my skin or otherwise didn't do the trick. I had the most consistent results simply using those familiar Oxy circular slightly-abrasive face-wipes on a daily basis. And honestly, I still use them to this day.

It isn't surprising, then, that I was happy to try out Oxy Clinical Solutions thanks to Mom Central. After all, Oxy has been a winner for me for decades. This new Acne Solutions Pack is an over-the-counter trio of treatments that deliver prescription-strength results - or at least, that is their claim!

I love Breyers. I was introduced to them in my youth when my mom sought out all-natural, no-preservatives food for me. Many of the ice-creams and various frozen products contained varying degrees of "artificial." (Check it out - most "vanilla" products have "vanillan" instead - what a villain!) Breyers did not.

Breyer's has been a staple in my freezer from childhood up through when I started my own family. In fact, I think I only had Breyer's in my freezer and maybe some Diet Coke in my fridge when I was a grad student. (I only needed to attend nightime "special lectures" to chow down on free pizza - though the fabulous convenience and plethora of options for New York City delivery meant I had some pretty exotic take-out boxes spending time in that studio apartment as well.) These days, we purchase three or four cartons of Breyer's all at once. We use it in shakes, smoothies, and of course for sundaes or a plain ol' bowl of ice-cream.

Imagine my glee when I learned about Breyer's Smooth and Dreamy ice-cream bars and sandwiches! Oh, the excitement!

We had the pleasure of attending Barnum's FUNundrum, a "retro-inspired" tribute to PT Barnum. As expected, the kids had a blast. We did the requisite "oooh!s" and "ahhhh!s" and my youngest son has determined that he'll join the circus someday.

If you are interested in bringing your family, I have a Fundundrum discount code for you.

Last year we saw Zing Zang Zoom. I wondered if our experience this year would be different.

It was.

[above left: my older son can't help but create chip-smiles out of his nachos. I swear my boys have decent table manners... at the table.]

When I was in college I straddled the worlds of "Be a strong woman!" and "OMG, I really want to find a husband and have kids!" As part of my whole fantasy life, I joined a Disney movie-of-the-month club in order to gather up some of those old and new favorites in which princesses got their prince. These cartoons provided fun breaks amidst all the studying.

I don't know exactly when I purchased Beauty and the Beast or even if I owned it before I played it over and over again for my charges when I babysat. (I know I owned it in grad school as I had to bide the time between harvesting cell culture.) But I can say with certainty that the movie and its accompanying songs are engraved in my brain.

My husband and I had the fabulous opportunity to have a date night in which we attended the opening night of SHN SF's Beauty and the Beast, playing now through August 29th at the Golden Gate Theater. I am grateful to SHN SF for providing me press tickets for this event.

It can be overwhelming and exciting to get so much free stuff.

BlogHer didn't used to be such a swaggy experience, but it has certainly morphed into a legitimate place for companies to distribute information about their products. In some cases, it is simply a brochure; in other cases, it can be something huge like a pair of slimming designer jeans, an expensive curling iron and flat-iron, or a Powermat. (All three of these were at the fabulous Getting Gorgeous event.)

I'm not going to debate the whole whore-i-ness that can accompany an experience like this other than to say that I started out as a blogger first, and a reviewer second. I decline "swag" that I know will not fit me or my audience, unless it is something that I know will benefit someone else, such as diapers (I received one this year from PlaySkool) or infant clothing (I received a sleep sack from the Mom Central suite.) I have a favorite family shelter who will happily pass on such items, including the formula I received from Similac a few weeks ago, to families who need them.

It is unrealistic that I can review all the products that I received from this year's event. Just as in years past, the effects from "swag" tend ripple rather than gush. While I might not immediately mention a product here, I may several months down the line. Plus, my purchasing habits may change based on the products I see, or the brands with which I interact. Finally, people in real life learn and see about the things that I use on a regular basis.

I like gum. It is good stuff. I have several favorite brands, but for the most part, I can pick up nearly any brand and be satisfied. For me, it is more the flavor that matters than the name on the label. Most out there have similar flavor and similar consistency, so my choice is a matter of price and availability.

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm eagerly awaiting a specific gum's release to the general public in October.

That's right, I'm excited about gum.

During the hoopla that was the BlogHer convention, I got my hands some packs of Extra Dessert Delights. I have both "Mint Chocolate Chip" and "Key Lime Pie." There is also a "Strawberry Shortcake" flavor that I have yet to try.

Around the seventh grade, my doctor had some sobering news for me. Or at least, she thought it was sobering. She was a stout, portly woman who I admired. She kept telling me how smart I was, or complimenting me on the size of my thigh muscles (really, I think she meant it as a compliment.)

So when she came in that afternoon with a worried look on her face, I was all ears.

"I'm so sorry. It appears you have stopped growing." And then she smiled a little, eyes crinkling in sympathy. She patted her own belly as she talked about how difficult it would be for me to keep a slender figure with my stature.

But I wasn't really listening. After all, the little girls were the cute ones! If I were truly going to end up petite, then wouldn't I have a better chance at being a perky cheerleader?

One of my kids stepped on my glasses. Or maybe they sat on them. Or perhaps it was a space alien who stretched them out with his enormous bulbous head. Whatever the cause, my poor eyeglasses were bent out of shape. But, because they were fancy ($400) and my insurance only covers one pair per year, I kept wearing them, cursing each time they'd slip off my face as I bent to pick up the newspaper.

Fortunately, I was contacted by Just Eyewear to review the process and resulting product of ordering eyeglasses online. This no-risk proposition was definitely too good to pass up, especially because I love trying on new looks, and thought it would be fun to purchase something I wouldn't ordinarily, knowing that I can always buy something else through my insurance later this year.

Well, Just Eyewear didn't disappoint.

For the last several weeks, I've lived in Delicate Soles. And right now as I watch the Emmys, I'm willing to bet several of those celebrities have a pair in their purse (or their assistant's purse, or in their limo...) for when they slip off those high-heels and want to baby their feet while still remaining chic.

I learned about Delicate Soles through a giveaway. I was doing one of my giveaways on Prizey, and clicked around to see what my fellow bloggers were touting. Well, Delicate Soles caught my eye. I entered, but didn't win the giveaway. Nonetheless, I was interested enough to purchase a pair. I selected "onyx" since my go-to black flats are looking pretty shabby these days.

When they arrived, I fell in love. And then I purchased two more pairs: "starlight silver" and "lipstick red." The other color they sell is "pixie dust," a beautiful soft pink that I expect I'll purchase shortly.

For the past three years, one of my favorite parts of the BlogHer conference is the CheeseburgHer party. What started out as a stuff-the-suite-with-cheeseburgers event turned into a full-fledged ballroom filled with hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and McDonalds new Angus Snack Wraps. Of course there was a large cheeseburger bed in there, too. And sure, the photo booth was a great touch for my friends and I to show just how delectable we found the food.

I was intrigued by the new Angus Snack Wraps. I love the Chipotle BBQ grilled chicken wrap, so was definitely in favor of new wraps. The Angus Snack wraps come in three flavors: deluxe, mushroom & swiss, and bacon & cheese.

I tried the mushroom & swiss.

When I went to Johnson's Camp Baby I arrived with the perspective of someone who enjoyed their products as a child, but who had gravitated elsewhere, especially after having a son sensitive to various dyes and fragrances. Other Camp Baby attendees had similar concerns - sure, J&J's smell and look was iconic, but many moms today are looking more towards the "natural" products, and are willing to pay a premium for them.

Well, much to my delight, Johnson's came out with their fragrance-free baby lotion last year, and have just launched entire "Johnson's Natural" and "Johnson's Natural Kids" lines that are 98-99% natural, plant & fruit-derived ingredients, with "ALLERFREE" fragrance. And, every Johnson's Natural cleanser contains their gentle NO MORE TEARS® formula.

Thanks to Mom Central, I had the opportunity to test several products from their new lines: 2-in-1 hand and face wash, 3-in-1 shampoo, conditioner & body wash, head-to-toe foaming baby wash, baby lotion, and baby shampoo.

During BlogHer I was introduced to SOYJOY. I was fortunate to attend a breakfast talk with some fabulous food (some of which was indeed made with soy) and excellent speakers who explained some of the ways we could eat healthfully with our family. And, of course, they let us know the benefits of soy, while also speaking to some of the concerns we've heard in the media about soy products. It was a great event, and I was happy to come away with a sample of their new and improved SOYJOY bars. I received banana.

Well, when I heard that Mom Central was looking for folks to spread the word about the new SOYJOY flavors and encourage entry into their Second Chances Contest, I jumped at what would be my second chance to try SOYJOY.

I have tried to be a good mom when it comes to feeding my family healthful food, but something always gets in the way. Either it is a time-crunch situation, so I order pizza; or, I compose everything beautifully, but the kids won't try it. Of course over at Grandma's house, they'll eat whatever she gives them. And their friends can get them to try new foods, too.

The times we've cooked together, my kids have been more likely to try at least a spoonful of their creation. With this in mind, I was extremely excited to learn about Disney family.com's Muppet Kitchen with Cat Cora. In specific, I was excited I was invited with my children to the Professional Culinary Institute to try out some recipes from the site. Free food and cooking instruction with my kids? Sign me up!

My younger son was particularly excited about this excursion because he adores reality-show-style cooking programs. He loves to get on his apron and expects to be a contestant when he is old enough. My older son, on the other hand, was skeptical, but I could tell he was a bit intrigued too: Muppets?

When I was preparing for the excellent adventure that was The Relay, I read an eat.blog.run post on the Moji Knee Brace with interest.

My right knee has been all "crinkly" ever since a car rear-ended me at a stoplight. (Instead of crashing into the car in front of me, I slammed on the brakes, thereby sacrificing my knee.) My HMO said it was just "sudden-onset arthritis" but I'm pretty sure something snapped in there. So it snaps, crackles, and pops. Sometimes it hurts, but mainly it just sounds funny. Still, after races, my knee is sore, so I often ice it.

Before learning of Moji, I used the traditional runner's bag-of-frozen-peas method. That is all well and good, but requires that I stay in one place, carefully balancing and repositioning the veggies as needed.

One of my favorite storybook characters was Rapunzel. Sure, she did pretty much nothing, aside from sitting in a tower. But that hair was mighty impressive. I used to put stockings on my head to simulate super-long hair. In fact, I was pretty good at wearing two at once to create an impressive braid. My favorite pair of tights to use for this purpose was dark red. Oh, to have long red hair!

Years later I did have super-long hair, but it was blonde. And then later when it was short, I dyed it red. Oh well.

Yes, the Rapunzel of my youth was beautiful, but passive. Conversely, the new film Tangled comes out November 24th, and stars a spunky, very-capable gal attached to those locks. Hey, I'd love to be kick-booty and have fabulous golden hair! (Okay, well I do have blonde hair, and am a Warrior.)

What kind of Halloween candy is your favorite? Your answer might be none now that it is two-days-post-haul and your belly might not want to see another piece of chocolate or colored sugar for the remainder of your days. Or, you might just now be sneaking some of your kids' stash, or happily taking home some of that half-price stuff from your local supermarket.

For many years now, I've been thrilled to find that bright yellow and blue wrapper of a Butterfinger tucked into my trick-or-treating sack, or now, in my kids' bags.

It isn't surprising, then, that my eyes lit up when I saw the Butterfinger Snackerz booth at BlogHer. At first I figured the Snackerz were just a mini Butterfinger, but when I tried a sample, I learned that although the buttery-goodness is still there, the texture and taste is slightly different. The texture still has that satisfying crisp, but also includes more of a melt. And then the taste is a bit "lighter" with more of the chocolate shining through than in the original.

Okay, so when I was invited to a "pearltrees" event, I envisioned something like bath beads, or - the obvious one - jewelry. I thought of an ornate wire tree sculpture upon which to hang my beautiful pearl necklaces (of which I have zero.) But, the Clever Girls Collective said that pearltrees was going to somehow help me shop, and since the event was co-hosted by Beth Blecherman of TechMamas and Cool Mom Tech, I knew it had something to do with technology. But how?

Well, here is how. Below is my very own pearl - and its little offshoot-pearls - containing my birthday and holiday wish-list. Yes, I'm one of those lucky-ducks that has a birthday in the midst of the holiday season, so I get all my gifts at once. Once I set up my (completely free) pearltrees account and downloaded the little toolbar add-on, I was able to just "add a pearl" whenever I found something I wanted to include in my list. It was really easy to learn how to do.

If I add items to this tree, it will update above. So, if you read this post in a year, I probably will have deleted some pearls and added some others. Just mouse-over each item to see a little pop-up preview of the website. You can navigate to similar lists by clicking the little black pearl to the left of my face. You can even navigate backwards to see some of my other trees.

As it turns out, I've gone totally wild with pearl-ing. No, not like knit-and-purl, but rather quickly identifying and organizing websites within pearltrees' visual structure. This type of layout definitely makes more sense to me than straight-up bookmarks.

'Tis the season for lots of work - and also for kids to be on vacation, home from school. As such, I was wearing these beauties all day today - both to enjoy some tunes as I typed, and also to block out the various brother-bickering, video-game cheering, silly-song chanting behavior of my sons. Oh sure, they are good kids - but on Day #3 of having them at home ALL DAY LONG it was definitely time to go into my own space a bit. This was definitely do-able with my Agent CMYK headphones.

Don't worry, I didn't pump up the volume too high.

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Disclaimer: I received these excellent headphones while at BlogHer this summer. I was eager to try them out, but my youngest son declared them his - because they are awesome - and uses them while doing homework on the computer. But I stole them back because they are pretty. I will not receive any compensation or commission as a result of this quick shout-out.

I am thrilled that the Cool Mom Picks Holiday Gift Guide launched today. Sure, some of my glee is purely because I'm a code-wrangler there, so finishing a big project is always rewarding. But more of my excitement involves the actual picks. Although I had a list-in-progress of things that I thought I might purchase for my various relatives and friends, the CMP Gift Guide made me change my mind on a few, and certainly filled in the blanks as I considered difficult-to-purchase-for people.

I expect I'll reference the Guide way past the holidays, too. I always do. When folks have new babies, decide to grow a year older, or just need a little "pick me up," I know that I'll find an appropriate gift on one of the Guides. Of course Cool Mom Picks has fabulous ideas every day, but having the Guide all laid out all purdy (I did that!) makes it easy to pick something at a glance.

I'm not going to lie - I emptied my wallet today - but I'm pretty sure that there will be some happy faces when they open their presents from me (if I do say so myself!) I bought gifts for a bazillion people, so definitely appreciated the "under $15" and "under $10" picks on the guide. You will do.

Get shopping!

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Disclaimer: I'm on the Cool Mom Picks staff, but loved them even before I started working for them. No joke, the majority of the presents I purchase throughout the year are from a CMP guide or post.

Uh, HUH. Well, today is Saturday - which could be a race day, except I slept in instead. Nothing like a little laze to start out the Thanksgiving holidays, eh? (I'm thankful for the ability to sometimes sleep in, especially because my kids are old enough not to completely burn down the house if I'm still snoozing.)

But if I were racing today, you'd better believe I'd be wearing my sparkle skirt.

I got my first team sparkle skirt while running eat. blog. run. I loved it so much that I purchased another. I am the proud owner of both turquoise and pink sparkle skirts.

I've worn a sparkle skirt on trail races and through Disneyland. I've sparkled through a 6-hour endurance run and while doing San Francisco's wacky "Bay to Breakers" race. I always get compliments on the skirt. People have to smile when they see the sparkle. Sure, I can look sweaty and labored everywhere else, but if I'm sparkling, that's what people see.

I am pleased to announce that Team Sparkle can now ship your order immediately! No more waiting for two weeks or so to get your skirt sewn!

Seriously - everyone needs at least one sparkle skirt. You cyclists out there can sparkle, too, you know.

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Disclaimer: I got a free pink sparkle skirt during eat.blog.run. Two of the Team Sparkle founders were part of the relay team. I then purchased a second skirt using my own dollars. Wearing a sparkle skirt to run (or bike) is definitely worth the fun! I won't receive any commission/compensation for the shout-out - it is purely motivated by my love for the Team Sparkle gals and their product.

One of my favorite race-bag additions is popchips. I'm fortunate that reps from popchips are often handing out free bags in the post-race area after some of the trail runs from my favored organized running company. Just as I crave a little salt, the popchips are right there. And yet, I'm not completely sabotaging my diet by partaking. You see, popchips aren't fried. In fact, they aren't even baked. They are popped!

I know what you are picturing - rice cakes, anyone? - seriously, this is much different.

Popchips have actual flavor. It is amazing to me that a single-serve bag is only 100 calories and 3.5 grams of fat. The ingredients are natural - I can pronounce every word on the bag. This isn't a chemically-laden snack food. They start with real potatoes, and POP! them. They then add seasoning using the actual ingredients they want the chip to taste like. Remember, no manufactured flavors out of chemicals!

I've always loved the original potato and barbecue potato flavors, but when popchips sent me a whole variety of flavors, I found a new favorite: cheddar potato!

A couple weeks ago, Cool Mom Picks launched their annual holiday gift guide. I've already purchased several items from that particular list of excellence. And then on Friday, Cool Mom Tech launched its tech-oriented holiday gift guide - whoo! As full disclosure, I was part of this project, but had to laugh when I discovered that many of the items on there are already wrapped under my tree. Er, well, they would be if we had our tree up yet.

Go check it out - there are many items on there that you simply wouldn't have considered, but that will be just perfect for that special someone on your holiday gift list. (And yeah, that "special someone" might be you.)

Oh, I know what you are thinking. No, I'm not talking about the type of Family Game Night where everyone is wearing matching turtlenecks with identical smiles. Yes, I know the importance of sitting down to dinner together and spending time together, but realistically it is tough.

Usually "Game Night" it is not exactly a scheduled situation. Rather, it is a spontaneous, "Hey, will you play Towers with me?" Or my two boys will start playing together, but then the first gets bored so the second asks a parent to join in. Then the first comes back. The fun catches on.

A lot of times our family gravitates towards games on the Wii, such as our latest acquisition, Tony Hawk's Shred. This game was exciting to receive because while I love Wii Sports Resort, they don't allow goofy-foot snowboarding. But Tony Hawk does!

But recently, I had the pleasure of obtaining several new board games from The Wonder Forge, the creators of ZimZala Games for older kids, and I Can Do That games for preschoolers.

During this past autumn, I had the pleasure of attending a wonderfully informative and fun luncheon sponsored by Jabra. I was excited about several new products, applications, and new developments.

I marveled over the Clipper headset that could be used while running, because during my Project 2010k I had experiences with earbuds sliding or yanking out of my ears while running, or - in one case - with the wire actually breaking as I made a sudden movement.

And the Jabra Stone really appealed to me because I used to leave my headset in the car where it would of course lose power. The Stone charges itself within the "stone" so it doesn't require a full "in-house" charge-up for awhile. One of the presenters told us he wears his Stone around the house. Although I've mastered the "shoulder cradle" hold, it does make sense to use a headset in the house so I can multi-task. (Note: there is now Stone 2, which looks amazing!)

I enjoyed learning about applications that read email, and how some Jabra products are Skype-enabled. I realized Jabra isn't only about mobile phone calls. Email, radio, and music are all enhanced using Jabra products.

I went away from the luncheon feeling happy with all the "cool" things I had learned about and the product samples I was taking home. I thought about the products as "fun," "innovative" and "time-saving." I thought about entertainment and work-related productivity.

But what I learned is that these Jabra products ended up being vital in terms of FAMILY.

I enjoy makeup, but I'm admittedly inexperienced at how to put it on. I can do the standard lipstick-with-mascara look, but adding in things like blush and eye shadow end up tempting fate that I'll end up looking like an extra in an 80's music video. (I already have big hair.) Forget eyeliner, because I'll just look like a raccoon, whether or not I cry.

But for my brother's wedding I had to wear more makeup than usual. Not that "sister of the groom" is a huge role, but as a bridesmaid and someone who old friends would be interested in seeing, I knew I had to look at least half-decent.

Thanks to BlogHer, I received some Mary Kay samples. In particular, I got the "mineral eye color bundle: beautiful brown eyes." In it was a gorgeous blue color that looked amazing in the palette, but I wondered how I could possibly pull it off given that music-video fear. (Seriously, blue eye shadow and me aren't supposed to mix, right?)

But I need not feared. In addition to the proper blending colors, the box itself contained instructions on how to properly apply the colors for the best effect. I added the blush they sent me, and ta-dah! I was set. Both for the rehearsal dinner and the wedding itself, I wore my Mary Kay.

Believe me, I was nervous that I did my own makeup for such a big weekend, but it turned out just fine. I'm definitely glad that the Mary Kay package came in the mail at the right time, because otherwise I would have just put a little blush on my eyelids (since that isn't as noticeable as blue) and called it a day. But, my eyes probably wouldn't have stood out nicely.

I was surprised at how smoothy the shadow went on, and how easy it was to carefully blend the colors together to create a look to enhance my eyes.

Thank you to BlogHer and Mary Kay for taking me outside my comfort zone with positive results!

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Disclaimer: I received some Mary Kay samples through BlogHer's promotional program. Although I was not required to blog about my experience, I definitely wanted to thank them since they factored in to a very big weekend!

Whenever I tweet a status update that indicates that I'm enjoying Coco-Swirl, I inevitably have friends who chuckle about how that is the perfect drag queen name. Nonetheless, I am a huge fan of this nonfat treat.

My very first "real" job (aside from babysitting and cleaning neighbors' homes) was working at our local frozen yogurt joint (which is sadly now a Subway. I love Subway, but I love frozen yogurt more.) The place was called "Naturally Yogurt," and it carried all-natural varieties of frozen yogurt that I could actually eat (on the Feingold diet) unlike the rainbow flavored/colored stuff in the more traditional franchises around town. Eventually the place was renamed "Scoops," but I definitely preferred the "Naturally Yogurt" moniker.

While an employee, I learned how to clean the yogurt machines (a task that is much cooler than it sounds) and of course I got to eat some free yogurt. Shhh, don't tell anyone, but we used to trade employees of the hamburger restaurant next door fries for yogurt. I dipped my fries in vanilla yogurt. And I also dipped carrots and celery in vanilla yogurt. (It is better than it sounds, seriously.)

And so now that I've lost all credibility thanks to my potato-and-veggie-combined-with-dessert meals I enjoyed as a teenager, lemme tell you about Coco-Swirl!

It is yummy! The End.

My kids love to go to Coco-Swirl as a treat. I love to go because I'll take my beloved frozen yogurt and then add toppings like mochi and tiny cheesecake squares. We didn't have sophisticated toppings like that back in my Naturally Yogurt days.

When I moved back east for college, I was freaked out that maybe frozen yogurt was only a California thing. Thankfully, that wasn't true, but back home Scoops did close. Although many chains ended up closing for about a decade, I am so grateful that places like Coco-Swirl are now around to feed my obsession.

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Disclaimer: I love frozen yogurt. I could live on it - and maybe also sushi - forever. Coco-Swirl did not ask me to post about them, nor will I receive compensation for this post.

As if I needed more reason to be excited for the October 16th launch of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, here's a walkthrough of one of the levels that serves as a great introduction to what makes this game special:

They taunt me with the awesomeness!

This is not just a level preview, but also a pretty great explanation of the nuts and bolts of the game. For example, the narrator (Yale Miller, the game's producer) explains how there are different element characters (which of course provide different necessary benefits for certain aspects of the game) and how the game works across platforms. I love that the characters can come and go without having to wait for a "save point" on traditional games. The toys here truly do come to life! Like some similar games, each character has different attributes, but unlike those other games, each character here has the potential to unlock completely different areas of gameplay.

My kids and I are definitely eager for the game's launch on October 16th.

Preorder Skylander's: Spyro's Adventure now from Amazon!

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Disclaimer: I was introduced to Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure thanks to an event in San Diego at the beginning of August.* I mentioned how this is the winning holiday gift for this year. It truly is! The fantastic people behind this game and its promotion gave me the link to the video above. When I link to Skylanders on Amazon, I am using my affiliate code, which means I get a few cents of commission if you happen to purchase anything.

*Update: As a pleasant surprise, the Activision folks sent me the game and some additional characters as a thank-you for promoting the game and to facilitate a review once the game was actually released! This post was written before the release.

I'm not a super-big iced tea drinker, although I'll have it on occasion. And lemonade is tasty and refreshing, but is often a bit too sweet for my tastes. Imagine my forehead-slapping surprise when I came across a solution to a problem I didn't know I had. Amongst my latest blissmo box of yummy treats was a single bottle of purity.Organic iced tea + lemonade.

Yes! People put all kinds of sweeter and lemon in their iced-tea, why not lemonade?

I tried the drink with a little skepticism, but also excitement. Verdict = yum! It is refreshing, not too sweet, and not too bitter. It is the perfect mix of flavors. It is satisfying without being heavy.

This stuff is half organic lemonade and half fair-trade black tea. It isn't from concentrate, and does't pack as high a caloric punch as many sweetened drinks. Each 2-serving bottle is 80 calories per serving, for a total of 160 calories per bottle.

purity.Organic iced tea + lemonade is sweetened with cane sugar, not any of that crazy HFCS. And there are no unpronounceable ingredients. The bottle is made of PET rather than glass because the company says it is lighter (takes less energy to produce and ship) and because it can be recycled to make many new products.

I'm definitely excited by this lemonade-iced-tea blend and will be looking for it at my local grocer.

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Disclaimer: I just happened upon this drink in my blissmobox and thought it was innovative and delicious enough to share here. I will not receive commission or compensation if you buy from purity.Organic; however, if you sign up for blissmo emails I'll get a tiny kick-back if you purchase one of their deals.

I'm not going to lie and say I do a lot of bike-riding (although I did when I was younger!) But when I go out cycling I like to keep my noggin safe.

For years now I've been buying the helmets in the bike section of various all-purpose stores. We even got some free helmets once during a health event. But, these seemed to wear out really quickly, well before their time.

I first learned about Nutcase Helmets thanks to my eat.blog.run teammates, the same folks who invented Sparkle Skirts. I visited the Nutcase site, and immediately ordered a pretty pink one for my head.

My youngest son was insanely jealous, so stole it for himself a couple times. Thanks to the adjustable pads, it can fit his head, too.

Otherwise, here are the helmets my boys have been wearing:

I finished Power of Six on Saturday and can't wait until the next Pitticus Lore book. On one hand, I love delving into adventures like this, which continue; but on the other hand, waiting for that "continue" part is pretty difficult.

My e-book library is pretty much filled with science-fiction type things, although I hate the whole stereotype about science-fiction. If someone told me that I'd love a book involving alien races and war, I'd laugh in horror.

And yet I'm completely wrapped up in the whole Lorien Legacies series. I love the adventure. I love the mystery. I love experimenting with the themes of growing up and fitting in. (Hey, 37-year-old women can remember "growing up," too!)

Although the women are definitely attractive, I don't feel they are over-sexualized like so many of those other science-fiction books traditionally aimed at men. Neither are the men described in overly promiscuous terms. While it is clear that certain characters are very capable and easy on the eyes, the focus is on the mission at hand and the relationships that develop based on substance, not sex. There is definitely an innocence in these young characters, even if their intelligence, combat skills and sense of responsibility are mature.

I've read the first three books, and am looking forward to "number four."

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Disclaimer: I bought the three e-books with my own money. I saw a press release with the above trailer for the book released last week and decided to post it since this series is one that I've been enjoying. I will receive no compensation or commission for this post or any resulting sales of any of the Lorien Legacies books.

I first learned of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure at the Big Toy Book's Sweet Suite Event. Shortly after I returned from San Diego I posted about how Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure is likely going to be the "must-have" holiday gift this winter season for elementary-school-aged boys (and probably middle-school boys, and plenty of girls, and even middle-aged women such as myself.) I then followed up with a wii walkthrough for folks who wanted a bit more information.

Well, I just got a character bio sheet that I wanted to share with you folks. Completely coincidentally, when the email with this bio sheet came in, my eldest son was asking me, "When is Skylanders coming out again?" and "How many characters are there gonna be?"

It is sad to say, but when a package arrived on our doorstep that night, my son cried because it wasn't the game. Logically, he knows it doesn't come out until October 16th, but he made a wish that it would come earlier. He just hopes that somehow the game will magically be released sooner so that he and his younger brother can partake in the adventure.

I just finished attending a several-days long Halloween party, but I didn't have to worry about laundering my costume or providing a hostess gift.

In fact, for the past month I've been changing my hair color and style on a regular basis, plus picking up plenty of boutique-quality clothing, all from the comfort of my computer. I've put on fashion shows, gone jelly-fishing, gotten some pretty nice items from a wizard, and raised 24 (and counting!) pets. I've thrown a bunch of parties, including messy pinatas, but haven't had to lift a finger to clean up afterwards.

My boys and I have been checking out Fantage. While its name references a Fantastic Age, I like to think of the title as "fantasy" as well, which is pretty darn fabulous. (After all, how else could a 30-something-year old woman get her teenage body back?)

I had the opportunity to meet one of Fantage's founders last month to hear about the thought that went behind this thriving online community for kids.

Safe Socializing

Safe interaction online is a big deal, and Fantage is one of those sites out there that creates community without risk. From chat algorithms that prevent reveal of personal information to plenty of reporting (and suspension) features to avoid bullying, these online friendships are of the supportive nature rather than the hurtful.

Frankly, I'm less of the "chat 'em up" personality, and more of just the "people-watcher" type, which is exactly the main customer profile, as according to the Fantage founder I spoke with. Fantage is more about playing games and checking out the "items" that others have accumulated and less about the chit-chat, although socializing is definitely available. My youngest son is extremely social, so has become friends with tons of buddies with whom he chats on a daily basis. My oldest son is like me, so we spend our time on Fantage doing games to earn "gems" and "stars" that can be used to purchase special items (super powers, hoverboards, clothing, hairstyles, costumes, pets, and even new eye colors.)

Engaging Games: For Fun or for Smarts

I like the "mind teaser" games ("brick breaker," "candy swap," and "staries" - all that involve pattern-solving) but became pretty enamored with the "fashion show" game as well, where I must select virtual clothing based on a theme, then perfect my runway posing. (I've won many times even though in real life my solid, short statue would hardly earn me the title of Supermodel.) My sons love racing their pets, especially when tied to their mathematical ability. Yes, that is right, these games are educational too. "Off the Hook," for example, combines an olden-day talent competition's "hook" with straight-up quiz-style knowledge: you better know your stuff, or you'll be pulled off stage. The Fantage School also has dedicated classrooms for educational games. Teachers/homeschoolers can create private classrooms if they like.

The one drawback with the games is that there is no way to "pause" them. Many are live-action that involve other people, so of course there can be no break. But most of these games are not very long, so it is okay. But some other individual-style games have the potential to go on for a looooong time. For many of the brain-teaser-style games, to pause the game during a level would be cheating; however, being able to pause in between levels would be nice! (A mid-level pause might block out the screen to prevent cheating. Otherwise, how can I answer the telephone without forfeiting?)

Fantasy

Being able to "reinvent" oneself virtually can be a ton of fun. My sons and I have enjoyed "buying" new outfits, hoverboards, and a variety of other objects, both for our outward appearance and to increase our inventory for the fashion show game.

The "pets" your Fantage character can acquire are not of the dog and cat variety, either. From fiesty firepuffs to friendly rainbows or ribbons, these beat a goldfish any day.

One concern that I discussed with the Fantage co-founder is the automatic sorting of "boy" and "girl" items. I'd love to be able to purchase some traditionally "masculine" items for my character, or wear short spiky hair one day, and I know my son would love to purchase pink shirts for his character. In Fantage, you must select a gender to receive either a male body with spread out legs fixed in a confident stance or a female body with demure crossed legs. Luckily some of the costume items can make the girls look pretty "fierce" or I'd be concerned that these body positions have some sort of greater meaning. Still, I wish there was just a standard body that all items and hair could be applied upon.

Although Fantage tops sites like Club Penguin in many areas, I'm afraid that in terms of awareness of self, I prefer the ability to just be a penguin, whether pink one day or blue the next, with no assumed gender roles.

That said, I've embraced my cute little female body, and have enjoyed dressing it up online. I've also enjoyed purchasing and decorating a home that doesn't come with a mortgage. I selected a Rubik's cube for my home, and am definitely reliving my 80's-based teenagerhood.

My boys and I were given premium memberships to test out Fantage, along with some eCoins, so we had the advantage of being able to purchase items a bit more quickly in this online world. Basic membership is free, so any character can play games to earn "stars" that can be used to purchase basic items, but there are "luxury" items that are only available to premium members, and some items that are discounted if paid for with purchased-with-real-money "eCoins" rather than the earned-virtually "stars." Non-premium members (those with a monthly, quarterly, or yearly account) can purchase and use eCoins, but you receive more eCoins for the same price if you are already a premium member. There are a variety of different ways to be a member and to have eCoins, so peruse the options to discover what is right for you!

Not surprisingly, premium membership (and/or purchasing eCoins) definitely has its benefits, so - like in the real world - those with more (real) cash will get ahead faster. But, also like the real world, currency can come with hard work and patience, too. For example, although I had the eCoins necessary to purchase "magic codes" to instantly hatch my pets, I decided to go the traditional route and wait for them to arrive.

My kids and I have had a lot of fun playing both together and independently on Fantage. We definitely had a blast during the Halloween event, where I happily added vampire teeth and bat's wings to my clothing inventory, and trick-or-treated the shops in the Fantage world to earn coins, gems, and other items. I'm definitely eager to see how Fantage transforms itself for the winter holidays, although the basic world is impressive on its own!

Check out Fantage, and perhaps purchase a membership for your favorite kid. (Gift subscriptions are available!)

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Thanks to Fantage for giving me and my boys premium memberships to try out the various features of their online community. The words and opinions expressed above are my own.

On Tuesday I had the pleasure of being introduced to a beta version of Savvy, a shopping app that will rock your world. The updated iPhone app launches today! (Android users, hold on because December 2nd will be your lucky day.)

Have you experienced either of these situations?

Scenario One: You see something you absolutely loooove, but the price is just a tad out of your budget. You promise yourself you'll keep checking to see if it goes on sale, but you forget, or don't have time to obsessively monitor it, so end up buying something later that isn't as fabulous as that first find.

Scenario Two: You buy something you adore, but then mere days later you see it for half-off, or your best friend gushes that she got the same item for way less than what you paid.

With Savvy in your pocket, you won't lose. Here's how: