susiej/reviews

There’s no stress quite like the one that comes from creating the holiday Christmas Card.  For some friends and relatives who live too far for visits, your holiday card is the only glimpse they have of your family, and what they’ve been up to for the last 365 days.

I’ve always looked at the holiday card as the pivotal year-end point to review, not just the high-points of our lives, but to share the funniest moments from our lives together.  No letter — just brief highlights from the year. So, needless to say, creating the Christmas Card is a high point of stress in my life; the traditional photo cards are too small for our words, and I end up designing my own card every year.

Parent Bloggers Network asked me to try Minted, an on-line stationery designer known for their artistry, exquisite printing and superb papers. Minted uses independent designers that I could never find on my own, and stationery brands you can’t find from mainstream retailers.

When I clicked on the holiday card selections, I was truly amazed to see a unique card design, that incorporates five pictures, (including the main large one on the front), with room for a paragraph under four of the pictures.  This “yearline” design (see photo above) fit my needs beautifully — as I could write a brief, humorous summary for each of the four pictures; Minted grouped each section by the four seasons.  If you prefer the traditional Christmas letter, this format is also offered, and looks like this:

I chose my card, (which, after you’ve seen the designs, you’ll see was not easy). My selection was the  Holiday Delights Holiday Card by Oscar+Emma Design. Next, I simply uploaded the five photos I wanted.  As the files were uploading, a message from Minted popped up, explaining that their professional designers would take care of cropping and resizing my images to fit into the card. What a relief!

The Next step was to type in the text I wanted for each of the four sections.  Of course, my text didn’t fit. Instead of asking me to “edit” what I wrote, the Minted designer simply worked with the text formatting and design so that the finished card would accommodate my words; without looking cramped.

There’s also a place to add your family’s name, greeting style and color.  Once I was done submitting the photos, entering text, and choosing my options, I saved them, and placed my order.

No less than 24 hours later, I received in e-mail from Minted with my Christmas Card proof attached for my review. My card required the Minted designer to do quite a bit of tweaking; changing the “circle” pictures to “squares” and changing the fonts.  She presented me with two versions to pick from. My choice was made, and final edits were sent back. The process was effortless, easy, and fast.

I received my completed Christmas Cards in ten days; and it’s not even Thanksgiving yet.  I opened the box to find beautiful cards — I mean gorgeous cards– the kinds of cards you typically find in the form of a wedding invitation. I’m in love with my Christmas cards.

These cards, naturally, are quite expensive.  However, the entire design, and ordering process from Minted truly made what once was such a stressful nightmare every year, a breeze.  I may actually have time to make Christmas cookies this year.  Still, remember this; for some of your friends and family, your holiday card is perhaps as close as they’ll get to your family this year. Make it count.

Filed under: stationery | 2 Comments →

The longer I listened and learned from the Total Transformation Program, the more I began to believe that ineffective parenting causes problem behavior in children. While driving in my car, listening to behavioral therapist James Lehman on the audio CDs explain how to handle Oppositional Defiant Disorder in children, I realized how I had been setting my own kids up to misbehave. The good news is, the program shows you step by step how to stop what you’re doing, so you can reverse the spiral of bad behavior. A big thanks to the Parent Bloggers Network for introducing me to this educational series.

For example; one of my sons has learned that if he throws a REALLY big fit about taking out the garbage, I will still make him take out the garbage; but I probably won’t ask him to do it again. This kid is totally manipulating me; and he knows it. I shudder to think of the example I’m setting for his brothers.

We have heard the advice before: Set clear limits for our children, and let them experience the consequences of their actions. But as parents, we need to be reminded. Sometimes, our children have health, emotional or behavior issues that “they just can’t help,” and we become lax at enforcing the limits and rules we’ve set for everyone else in the family. Soon, this becomes a habit, and kids begin to think, “It’s OK if I don’t have to do my chores when I get home from school, because I’m worn out from the kid who bullied me all day.” Lehman explains that the real world will not compensate our kids for their excuses. It’s up to parents to teach our kids to take responsibility for their own behavior, and to learn to function and lead a productive life with whatever handicaps they may have.

As parents we can feed the monster of giving our kids “special treatment” without realizing that we’re setting our kids up to be defiant.

Can you imagine trying to negotiate yourself out of a speeding ticket when the officer walks up to your car? It doesn’t work; I’ve tried it. But, as Lehman explains, when we let our kids negotiate their way out of what’s expected of them, we’re not being fair to our children. We’re giving our kids a false sense of the way the world works. Life will be especially difficult for our children if we force them to learn the reality of self-responsibility as adults.

The Total Transformation Program starts with an Introduction DVD. This was my least favorite part of the program; some of the acting, I felt was difficult to watch. From there, you start the 7-audio lessons, one per week, that really take you into the meat of the program. Each lesson is presented by Lehman himself. I listened to these in the car; over and over again whenever I needed a pep talk. The CDs include examples, and direct strategies you can implement immediately; and lead you to self examination about the type of language you’re using with your children, and the “type” of parental behavior you need to change.

There is also a 118-page workbook that helps you identify which type of behavior problems you are having. Recognizing and understanding the problem is the first step to recovery, and I am currently doing the workbook four times, one time for each child. Each child is different.

The program demands time, work, and introspection. The price tag for the complete program, is hefty: $327. Still, how much would a year in therapy cost? However, the program is guaranteed to work for you or your money back. You pay only $19.00 for shipping and handling ($25 to Canadian destinations). If, and only if, you decide to keep the Total Transformation Program after the completion of the 30-Day Free Program Trial, the cost is three monthly payments of $109.00.

You can also sign up for the Parental Support Line, which is $1 for the first 30 days, and $29 per month after that. If you want to check out James Lehman and what he has to offer, sign up for his Empowering Parents enewsletter. (Sign up is on the bottom of the page.)

Check out the free trial at The Total Transformation Website. It could easily change your life — as well as the life of your kids.

Filed under: parenting, products, self-help, teen | 2 Comments →

I know he’s only trying to help, but sometimes when my husband is at the store to pick up the Milk and Eggs, he buys more milk than we need. There’s always a valid reason, “It was on sale!.” But rarely, is milk ever that good of a deal. Unfazed, he takes the carton of milk to our deep freezer that we keep in the basement so that the milk will get good and solid. And preserved. This is really not a good idea. Here’s what usually happens…

• A frozen container of milk takes FOREVER to thaw.
• The cream always get separated, and you have a mixture of of slush on the top and goop on the bottom.
• Sometimes, realizing that the gallon of milk is not thawing as quickly as we need, he’ll set the milk on the counter at room temperature to speed things up. This usually results in sour milk.
• Just when you think the milk is completely thawed, you pour it on the kiddies cereal only to find Ice chunks falling out of the carton and into the morning cereal.
• The expiration date is completely out of whack, as we usually pull it out of the freezer way past the date printed on the carton. This causes great confusion among the children in the household.

The grocery store is less than five minutes away; we could have easily had some nice fresh milk, flowing freely out of the container. Still, I love it when my husband goes to the grocery store.

The Parent Bloggers Network teamed up with Ore Ida to promote their new Steam n’ Mash potatoes. If you haven’t tried them yet, they are a pre-washed and scrubbed, peeled bag of cubed potatoes that you steam in the bag in your microwave. You simply add butter and milk and mash. Instant mashed potatoes — but they’re real! This is one shortcut that’s hard to mess up.

Filed under: cooking, products | 2 Comments →

While his big brothers are away at school, the boy, who believes brown eggs are chocolate, and I spend our mornings together cooking ourselves a feast. Because Eggs Are So Incredible and Edible, we began by mastering the poached egg. It’s our specialty: The Circle Egg Sandwich. (Recipe follows.)

Yes, this was his first try at poaching, and he ate all three eggs.

In honor of World Egg Day, Friday, October 10, and the inspiration of the Parent Bloggers Network, find a friend and share a circle egg sandwich. Because,

if you give a boy an egg, you’ve fed him for a day; teach him how to crack an egg, and he’s fed for life.

How To Make A Circle Egg Sandwich

You will need:.

• Egg Poacher
• Water
• Eggs
• Salt
• Bread
• Glass for cutting the bread
• Butter

1. Fill the bottom part of the sauce pan with 3 inches of water. Add some salt and vinegar and bring the water to boil.
2. Carefully crack the eggs, and drop them into the egg poaching inserts. You can add a pinch of salt to the eggs.
3. Once the water starts to boil, turn down the heat so that the water is simmering.
   Carefully put the poaching insert on top of the sauce pan of boiling water. Put the lid on so the eggs will cook.
4. We like a firm yolk, so the egg will cook for about four minutes.
5. Meanwhile, use a glass to cut your bread into the shape of a circle.
6. After toasting your circles, you can butter your bread. (Always nice to let the butter pop across the table as you do this.)
7. Lift the cover of the egg poacher, and check to see if the yolk is the way you like it.
8. Use a spoon to gently lift the egg out of the poacher, and slide onto your circle egg toast.
9. Top with the other piece of circle toast and enjoy.

Filed under: cooking, kids, products | 1 Comment →

Frank Lloyd Wright. Did you know the illustrious architect had an affair? If you did, then you probably know whatever it was “that happened.” I didn’t know he had the affair, so I’m unaware of what happened… and so the ending of Loving Frank: A Novel, a work of historical fiction by Nancy Horan, is still a surprise to me.

Without thinking, I find myself in conversations with others about the book that I have not yet completed. As soon as my words I uttered, I then I find myself caught up in this precarious little dance, where I must let the other person know, (who usually does know about the affair and what Frank did), in no uncertain terms, that I do not know Frank had the affair, and I prefer to have what he did kept a surprise, revealed only by Horan herself; under her own timing.

I have it on good authority that whatever happens is pretty dramatic, because the friend who lent me the book screamed when she got to the part.  Fueled by my insatiable desire to find out what he did, I found myself devouring pages whenever I could; over breakfast, waiting on firefox to load before I wrote my daily post. Now, I’m at the 2/3 mark… almost to the end. This is the point where I stop reading the book. I’m satiated enough to put the book down, but no longer eager to see the book end, and say goodbye to Horan, Frank and Mamah. I do this all the time with books that I love.

So, if I want the ending to remain a secret, I must be careful to no longer talk about Frank, and let the long, leisurely ending unfold itself over the next week, when I will finish the book at my typically, long leisurely pace.

Filed under: products | 1 Comment →

One rare day, both of my boys (when I only had two) headed down to the basement playroom to actually play. Even more shocking, it was dinner time, the witching hour, and I was free to cook.

While I relished in this kid-free moment, when I was actually free to boil the water for the pasta without stepping over puzzle pieces scattered all over the floor in the kitchen, my youngest son, 2 1/2, declared that there was a squirrel in the basement.

“Ha,” I thought. What an imagination that boy has. We had large basement windows with deep window wells, and the house sat in a woods; so I assumed he meant he saw a squirrel in the window well… on the outside of the house. Now, don’t laugh — it could have happened; just a week before the boys did see a frog staring at them from the outside through the very same window. It could happen again, I thought. This time, with a squirrel.

I kept stirring and chopping, while he talked about the colors on the squirrel, what he should name the squirrel, and what he would like to eat.

Then, my son asked suspiciously, “Mom, is this squirrel gonna’ bite me?” At that, I quickly laid down my spoon, and ventured down into the basement steps to see my beautiful son sitting on the rug in the basement, face to face with a squirel. Inside, not outside, as I assumed.

I stood speechless, unable to think what to do. I calmly asked both boys to come upstairs to play with me while I cooked, while dialing Dad on the phone, asking “There’s a squirrel in the basement, and what do I do now?”

While I paced around and gabbed on the phone about options, my four-year-old simply grabbed a broom from the closet, and crept back down stairs and started chasing the squirrel with the broom. Stunned, I stopped talking and simply stared at him. Soon, my son had the squirrel cornered, and the squirrel scampered up the steps, where my two year old opened the door, and away the squirrel ran.

Not only do I live in a zoo, but my kids are the zoo keepers.

This story was inspired by the Parent Bloggers Network and Generation Next, announcing their brand-new product – iKnow Animals, Letters & Sounds. Created in partnership with the world-famous San Diego Zoo (where you’ll find Generation Next highlighted on the San Diego Zoo website as a featured partner!), this collection of media uses eye-popping graphics, beautiful music, and engaging video to not only help teach children to read, but actively involve them in helping the animals and the planet.

Filed under: boy, kids, products | 3 Comments →

I needed something to keep his toes warm and dry this winter through those long hours he spends away at school. As a bonus, the boots would also give him enough traction to run up the snowy hill this winter during the snow days we plan to spend at the lake. After studying all the options on the Vincent Shoes Web site, the same place I found the “climbing shoes” this past spring, I settled on this one: Lorenz. “our winter “diving” boot that helps combat that type of weather. It’s made of a neoprene-type material and covered with heavy duty rubber. Lorenz feels like a diving suit, and it really protects.” I couldn’t miss with a boot made like that.

I settled the shoes in their proper spot in the mudroom, where they’d be ready for their first wet, cold day — aI day I still hope is a long way off in the future. After careful consideration, the boy selected the boots on a day when it is still warm and dry.

To my surprise the boots are already getting some tough use while the weather is still warm. The boots just happen to be the perfect accessory for a good day of light saber action.

These boots; with their waterproof construction, and drawstrings tops are irresistible to any Mom; thankfully, they’re irresistible to little boys too. Special thanks to Vincent Shoes for the boots.

Filed under: clothing, fashion, kids | 1 Comment →

Instead of watching the football game like the rest of the town; my girlfriend and I escaped to a quiet room upstairs and plugged the DVD that Victor Lu from Special Ops Media graciously sent me; and we’re so glad that we’re smart enough to make good choices with what little time we have.

The movie, Then She Found Me, (now available on DVD) is based on the novel by Elinor Lipman, stars Helen Hunt (Best Actress, As Good As It Gets, 1998) and Colin Firth (Mamma Mia!, Bridget Jones’s Diary). The film starts off with laughs and giggles; but soon develops into a complex tangled weave as Alice April (Helen Hunt) hungers for a baby; her husband (Matthew Broderick) leaves her for another woman and her mother dies. Then, two-time Oscar® nominee Bette Midler, steps into Alice’s life as her real mother.

Bette was full of enough half-truths to keep us giggling, and ultimately, temporarily kept April side-tracked enough to see the options, some she was still unaware of, in her life.

When you watch the film; be sure to take note of the chocolate-colored evening dress April wears to the gala with Colin; in that dress, she looked her lovely, graceful best; even though we agreed through most of the movie that Helen is just too thin; she looked worn-out.

The movie is beautifully done; the scene of April in the bath tub, while her mother washes her hair was especially poignant. While the love story runs in the foreground; the real story in this movie runs underneath; this is a story about a mother’s love.

Then She Found Me was directed by Helen Hunt and screenplay by Alice Arlen and Victor Levin & Helen Hunt. The film was executive produced by John Wells, Chip Signore, Louise Goodsell, Ralph Kamp, Victor Levin, Walter Josten, Jeff Geoffray and Howard Behar; associate produced by Moon Blauner; co-produced by Matthew Myers; produced by Pamela Koffler, Katie Roumel and Christine Vachon; and produced by Helen Hunt and Connie Tavel.

Filed under: movies | 1 Comment →

So, don’t even think about taking it for yourself, kids. I’m talking about that last bottle of IBC Root Beer in the fridge. I don’t have a root beer everyday, I reserve it for special times.

There is an art to drinking and enjoying a tall glass of root beer. I stick the refrigerated, cold bottle in the freezer for 15 minutes to get it really cold. It must be cold enough. Fill a glass with ice, and pour.

Root beer doesn’t do a thing to help my low iron levels, it isn’t full of antioxidants, and it’s not low in calories. But root beer does make a great day better.

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as an entry for a contest sponsored by Brothers-All-Natural.

Filed under: products | 4 Comments →

I picked up this book at the library, right before we left for the lake, and the facts inside have turned out to be our most used tool, besides our marshmallow sticks, that we use up here. Of course, I never anticipated this much interest in frogs; who could have predicted the lake would have been so abundant with amphibians? Did you know that if a frog’s eardrum is smaller than her eye, she’s a female. Vice versa for a male.

If I had to put my finger on my most valuable, money-saving resource as a Mom, it would have to be our library card. Our family’s first child librarian, Sam, was always quick to set aside books he knew my sons would love. Of course Sam got to know us so well because we did spend quite a bit of time there – sometimes we’d go two times a week for a new pile of “adventures” to plow through. Of course, there was the weekly story times – a built-in playgroup that never leaves your own house dirty. There were the mountains of parenting books, cookbooks and how-to books I’ve devoured — actually books, I still devour. The library has faithfully carried me through each phase of Motherhood.

Children go through a frenzy of fads as they work their way through adulthood. From trains, to Buzz Lightyear and Woody, Batman, Star Wars, and even Madeline, the library has abundantly supplied all the “eye candy” to feed my kids’ curiosity and hunger to know more. The DK books, with their generous diagrams and pictures, have entertained the boys for long stretches of time in the afternoon as they poured over their pages. How awesome that those books never collected dust on my book shelves; because the frenzy for Buzz was all too quickly replaced by an obsession for Pirate Ships. The books are still available at the library, for another child’s obession. If pressed, I don’t think I could put a dollar amount on the books that have passed through our hands at home.

For me, there’s always a movie, a juicy novel, or a magazine to pour over when they kids give me a break. Sometimes, I pinch myself: it’s all free. Still, I do my part to support our local library with our fines — very abundantly.

Of course, you can always pick up some hot blueberries to save your family some money, but be sure to back up your adventure with this great book, Blueberries for Sal.

Still, families need lot of help saving money today. The Parent Bloggers Network is introducing Couponers.com, a tailored on-line coupon service that gives you constant updates for the products you buy the most, at the stores you love the most. Check that site out, and then, grab the kids and head to the library. And, if you’re a blogger, you can join the PBN blog blast too. Thanks PBN, last week, I won $250.

Filed under: kids, parenting | 2 Comments →