A whole week of reviews and giveaways
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Two things you should know:
1) I have been very busy over the past two weeks with some work stuff, some personal stuff, and being sick. (I quit smoking to get healthy and right after I quit, I get sick. Figure that one out.)
2) I have been very fortunate to have some amazing opportunities to do some product reviews and giveaways.
Now let’s do the math. Busy/sick + lots of reviews = I am way behind on posting reviews and giveaways.
So I decided last week that I would make make this week “Review-a-palooza” and make the daunting task of catching up into something FUN for me and for my fans readers. (That’s why you haven’t seen many posts from me lately. I’ve been writing the reviews during my usual blogging time but not publishing them so I could save them for this.)
Stay tuned and pay attention! There just might be something in it for you!
P.S. I’m also going to be doing some more recruiting for Sissy’s Baby Shower, so if you or someone you know has a pregnancy or baby related product to donate or even if you just want to contribute a gift in exchange for some linkage, let me know!
Share and share alike
I was reading this post at Simple Mom today about brothers and sisters sharing a room. I left this comment:
My two oldest kids are about 2.5 years apart, my daughter being older than my son. They originally shared a room because of space but as they got older and we moved into a bigger house, they could’ve had their own rooms but they didn’t want to. In fact, they did have their own rooms and yet they would still end up sleeping in the same room, one of them sneaking into the other’s after I’d put them to bed.
So for years they had a bedroom and a playroom, probably up until they were ages 9 and 7. They are now 18 and almost 16 and they’re still extremely close.
I had forgotten all about that until I was writing that comment. Sissy and Bubba grew up sharing just about everything - a bedroom, a playroom, toys.
And then I realized that Princess won’t have that same experience. Since her siblings are so much older than she is, she doesn’t have to share much with them other than the TV, the Play Station or the computer.
Now I don’t want her growing up to be spoiled, selfish or stingy. (Ok, it might be a little too late on the spoiled thing.) I want her to be compassionate, giving, and willing to share with others.
Luckily, I’ve discovered a fun way to do this. Hasbro has this new series of games out called Noodleboro, one of which is the ‘Learning to Share’ Fun Park. She has a blast playing this. Its not just a regular ol’ board game. The layout of the game includes a carnival style layout with 4 different stations. The goal is to win prizes from each game and if you win more than one of a certain kind of prize, you earn a star by sharing your extra prize with another player who doesn’t have one.
The best thing about it is that there is no “winner.” The point of the game is for the entire group to collect enough stars before the sun goes down and the park closes. So rather than putting player against player, the players are working as a team.
We’ve had a lot of fun with this game. Of course, there have been times where we don’t worry about collecting the prizes and the stars; we just play with the little carnival games.
Oh, and if your child doesn’t have any problems sharing - meaning they’ve outgrown the “Mine!” stage - then you might want to try the other Noodleboro games. There’s the “Learning About Manners” Picnic Basket game and the “Learning to Listen” Pizza Palace game.
We’re having a baby shower
If you follow my blog, you know two things about me: 1) I’m a struggling single mom and 2) I am about to become a grandmother for the first time.
I took her out on Saturday to register for baby gifts, to get some maternity clothes (from Goodwill…why pay full price for clothes you’re only going to wear for a few months?), and to see a movie.
The registry thing started out a mess. I drove all the way out to pick her up from work and take her to Target, got all the way through the process only to get to the end, clicked “submit” and the thing didn’t go through. I asked one of the clerks about, she had someone come over and that person told us “Yeah, our system is down. Someone else had the same problem earlier and we couldn’t get it to work. Sorry”.
So we left and headed to Babies R Us who treated us a lot better than Target did. But after reading about Toys R Us and their definition of a grandparent, which apparently only includes people over 50, I’m debating if I want to give Babies R Us our business too.
Anyway, I decided that since I’m the only family she has around here - the rest of our family is in the South - its up to me to support her through this and make sure she and the baby have everything they need. That’s why I’m throwing her this virtual shower.
I’m hoping that all of the generous companies, crafters, and business owners who have provided their products to be reviewed by bloggers will do the same for us. I love doing reviews, I appreciate those opportunities, and I’d like to have a few more opportunities to do some more.
By donating or sponsoring the baby shower, we’ll post your product, a link to your website, and a review (if applicable), on a page dedicated completely to this event.
If you’re interested, please email me at ThatCrazyMom@gmail.com and let me know what you would be able to contribute. And I can tell you now, every little bit will be appreciated from the bottom of our hearts.
If you’d like to promote Sissy’s Virtual Baby Shower, please feel free to grab this button by just copying the code in the box and placing it on your blog:
I need a girlfriend
No, not that kind of girlfriend, although based on my experiences with dating lately it does sound like a better alternative.
I mean a girlfriend, like the kind you can tell anything to, the kind that will tell you yes those jeans DO make your butt look big, the kind who will rush over with a bottle of Absolut pint of Ben & Jerry’s when you find out the jerk is cheating on you.
That’s what Mary has. Actually, she has a few of them. See, Mary is really Meg Ryan and her girlfriends are Annette Bening, Debra Messing and Jada Pinkett Smith. And they’re all in a movie called ‘The Women‘.
‘The Women’ is a remake of a 1939 movie by the same name that takes a comical look at women and the ties that bind them. When ‘the women’ find out that Mary’s husband is having an affair - with Eva Mendes of all people who I absolutely adore but really want to choke in this movie - her friends come to her rescue. But its more than just a story about cheating spouses, its about loyalty, betrayal, gossip, careers, and friendships.
The amazing thing about ‘The Women‘ is what went on behind the scenes. If you visit Dove.com, you can watch a short film about “The Women Behind The Women” to learn, first-hand, how Hollywood creates the images we see on screen, highlighting the work and people involved in making a major motion picture come to life.
The short film encourages women to challenge today’s beauty stereotypes, celebrates the opportunities for women to empower one another and explores the diverse definitions of beauty, shared through interviews with some of the cast and crew of The Women. The Women Behind “The Women” is available exclusively on Dove.com.
Here’s what you’ll find at Dove.com:
- View exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of The Women & The Women Behind “The Women”
- Read the Director’s Diary, written by Diane English
- Go Behind-the-Scenes with Dove teen journalist Cammy Nelson
- Download self-esteem building tools for girls, moms and mentors
- Enter for a chance to win a trip for you and a friend to the LA film premiere of The Women on September 4 (Sweepstakes ends 8/20. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.).
- Enter for a chance to win one of 100 pairs of movie tickets each day between 9/3 and 9/19 (No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.).
Its all tied in with Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty which is just awesome. Its been around for a few years and already it has made such a difference. Remember how shocking and controversial it was a few years ago when Dove ran ads showing women of all sizes, shapes, colors and ages (some of them in their skivvies!)? Now we don’t even bat a well-curved and mascara’d eyelash. Yay Dove!!
Anyway…I get to do something this weekend that I haven’t done in a long time. I get to go relax and enjoy a movie all by myself. No potty breaks during the good scenes, no trips to the concession stand because someone’s root beer is all gone.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
The Dangerous Days of Daniel X
All of you moms and dads with teen or even pre-teen boys, listen up. Bestselling author James Patterson, along with Michael Ledwidge, is on a mission to get these kids into reading. And he’s doing a great job at it with ‘The Dangerous Days of Daniel X’.
I initially took the opportunity to review this book because I thought Bubba would like it. He hasn’t even had a chance to read it yet because I’ve been hogging it. Hey, I wanted to read it first! And I’m glad I did.
Just to give you a brief plot synopsis, Daniel goes on the hunt for aliens on ‘The List’ after witnessing them murder his parents and uses his superpowers, like shape shifting, to fulfill his mission. Its like Superman meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
As I was reading it, I kept thinking of how much it reminded me of Neil Gaiman’s ‘American Gods’. Its a little bit sci-fi but its more like a comic book. Wait, they don’t call them that anymore. What’s the phrase now? Graphic novel! Yeah, that’s it. It’s like a graphic novel only without the graphics. I could even “see” this book being made into a movie in my mind.
I don’t want to get into too many details about the plot and what happens because, well, that ruins it. But I wanted to address the concept of getting teen boys into reading. James Patterson has really tapped into a much-overlooked audience. Most YA (young adult) books are aimed at girls. Look at the popularity of the ‘Twilight’ series. But other than Harry Potter, can you think of a popular series that guys would enjoy?
Aside from drawing these kids in with the plot, Patterson also keeps them engaged with short chapters (hello? sons with ADHD anyone? *raising my hand*) but he also makes references to pop culture that readers will be familiar with which keeps the story modern.
Now I’m fortunate enough to have a son who does enjoy reading but if he didn’t, this would be the book I’d use to reel him in. And even though his reading tastes are a little beyond his chronological age - he’s into Nietzsche, Shakespeare, Darwin, and “quantum physics” or something like that - he’s still interested in reading this one.
But he’s going to have to wait…until I get done reading it again.
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Sissy's Virtual Baby Shower
November 1st, 2008 Sponsorships, Advertisements, Donations Appreciated!
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