Suburban Reviews

Let me just spill the details quickly and get it over with.

I have a severe sweating problem.  In my pit region.   And I’m not referring to any perspiring or glistening problem.  I’m talking about SWEAT. 

There, I said it.

While pregnant, my problem got worse, much worse.  Like change-my-shirt-three-times-a-day-because-of-icky-pit-stains worse. No need to fear, however, I have the problem under control.   Although this is something I probably should have discussed with a medical doctor, I was too embarrassed.  (Funny how I’m sharing my sweathogedness with the entire internet.)

Anyway, I saw those commercials for Secret Clinical Deodorant and decided to give it a try.  It is marketed as “prescription strength” deodorant.  The directions stated that it should be applied at night, before bed.  It even said that it wasn’t necessary to reapply in the morning, even after showering.  I was incredibly skeptical, but I was surprised by the results.  Instead of sweating buckets, my pits stayed dry for the whole day.  On particularly hot days, or should I say, days that I actually left the house and endured the heat, I did sweat.  However, it wasn’t in copious amounts that caused the need for frequent shirt changes.

The only problem I had with this deodorant was that I had trouble remembering to put the stuff on every night.  After years and years of applying deodorant in the morning after my shower, it was an adjustment to remember it before bed.

Secret Clinical Deodorant is easy to find at most drugstores, grocery, and discount stores.  In my very unscientific review of prices, I found it priced between $7 and $8.50.

I highly recommend this product to all other sweathogs, like me.  Can I get a “hell ya” from all my sweaty peeps!?

New here? Subscribe to the RSS to get info on all the latest products straight to your feed reader!RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I’ve felt a very strong need to simplify my life lately. Maybe it’s because school and all it’s franticness will be starting again soon, I’m not sure. I just know I’ve been tossing a lot of junk, handing off responsibilities, and trying to make things as calm and easy as possible. I had no idea when I was asked to review the Noah’s Pals collection for Parent Bloggers Network how much these little toys would tie in with my recent change of attitude.

Noah’s Pals are collectible animal toys that are sold in pairs, along with a Noah figure with set of doves, and an Ark to hold them all. While it might initially seem these would be marketed directly towards the Christian audience, I soon discovered there are much, MUCH more to them.

These are not your typical plastic animals. They are a heavy, durable plastic, hand-painted with beautifully realistic detail. Each set of animals comes with a card telling what continent they live on, what type of habitat, whether or not they are endangered, and gives their family name and species. As if that isn’t cool enough, it gives an individual profile for each of the pair, showing the different height, length and weight for the male and the female. To a 9 year old animal lover, the cards alone were a treasure trove of information. They also lead to quite a bit of “Mommy, do you know how the (fill in animal) (does some random thing)..?” Needless to say we have spent considerably more time on Google looking up animal facts since these toys arrived.

In addition, each set of animals comes with a code you can enter on the Noah’s Pal’s website. Should you collect all 40 sets, they will send you a special prize. In addition, each code entered put you in drawings for merchandise from the Caboodle shop!

In an age of video games and on-demand cartoons, Noah’s Pals are truly a way to get back to basics. They are both educational and entertaining, and kept my 9 and 3 year olds entertained far longer than I would have thought possible.

Noah’s Pals are sold on the website and at Amazon and range from a surprisingly affordable $2.50 up to $20 per pair, depending on the animals, so there is something for everyone.

These toys are rated for ages 3 and up, and would make fantastic stocking stuffers for the young animal lover in any home.

Congratulations to Sarah from In the Trenches of Mommyhood for being our very first guest reviewer! Want to join the ranks? Contact us!

As you may already know from reading my blog, In the Trenches of Mommyhood, we had a rampant fungus In the Trenches: the dreaded stomach bug, causing woe and misery in the form of vomiting (yuck) and diarrhea (yuckier). But as everyone in my family recovered, anyone who unluckily subsequently entered the Trenches became ill, much to my dismay.

How do I know my household environment was to blame? Because we hosted a party, and at least 12 people got sick in the week following. And no, it wasn’t from the potato salad.

After the guilt subsided (Would I have any friends left? Will we be banned from future get-togethers? Hey, does this mean I don’t have to host any more parties?) I decided to get down to business. Obviously, a thorough disinfecting of the Trenches was necessary.

As I was lamenting at work about the lack of “child-friendly” sanitizing products (I’m saving the undiluted bleach for a REALLY bad day), a co-worker recommended the Clorox Anywhere Hard Service daily sanitizing spray. I checked out the product on the internet (being the consumer that I am) and headed to Target (being the Target whore that I am) to make my purchase. $2.84 later, I was armed and ready.

Game on.

This product was worth the $3 and more! It doesn’t leave a nasty bleach scent, doesn’t leave any sort of sticky or greasy residue, and according to the bottle, can be safely used around both children and food. The website claims that it is made with a “special formulation of Clorox bleach” and “ultra-purified water” to create “a perfect combination of effectiveness and gentleness”. I definitely put it to the test. I used it on: the train table (and all the Thomas trains), the zillion Matchbox cars we own, the play kitchen and all the fake food, and basically everything in the boyz’ playroom.

I also used it on our light switches, tv remotes, telephones and door knobs. I liked the fact that I could use a paper towel to wipe down objects after spraying them, but that I could also just spray at random (like the contents of a toy bin, for example) and not have to rinse. And did I mention there was absolutely no nasty scent?

I’m not sure if it was the product, or the fact that I kept the windows wide open for days on end or the fact that I did about 200 loads of laundry using the Sanitary cycle on my washer, or maybe a combination of all of the above, but since I deep-cleaned using this spray, no one else has gotten sick. I will certainly continue to use it.

There’s a quote from Roseanne in Oakland, CA on the product website that enthusiastically states, “Once I started using it, it was almost addictive. I just kept finding additional things to spray!” Yep, me too, Roseanne! Because I had to stop myself from spraying the boyz, wondering if perhaps it would, in fact, eliminate “99.9% of (their) bacteria”…

When Greetingflix contacted us about doing a review on their new e-card service, I wasn’t sure what to expect. They claimed they had a whole new concept for e-cards, and what more could be done with pictures and music?

I have to say now, I was pleasantly surprised. Much like other photo sharing sites, you upload pictures into albums and make projects from them. Unlike other sites, you get to choose from cool,  ready-made templates that offer music and narration, and are actually really cute! There is a very short learning curve, and pretty soon you are off making inbox goodies on topics that range from birthdays to graduation to new baby announcements.

One thing you have to expect, the templates they offer are a *little* cheesey. Cute, but cheesey. But on further reflection, I realized these are absolutely perfect to send to relatives who may not be quite so computer savvy, and may like a little multi-media experience to go with fabulous pics of the grandkids. My own family would love it, I would recommend it because they will get such a kick out of them.

Overall, a much better idea than I initially expected. Very easy to use, cute (if slightly silly) templates and excellent customer support make it a site worth checking out!

We were asked by Boost Kids to evaluate their program dedicated to helping kids learn self-esteem and social skills. The program consists of a cd-rom, workbook, and parents guide and is aimed at children ages 8-15.

Due to our different perspectives on this one, we decided to break it into 3 parts.

Jennifer said-

I haven’t always been an over-educated stay at home Mom. In fact, I used to earn a paycheck for working with kids! As a Speech-Language Pathologist, I worked with children who had communication disorders. Many of the lesson covered by the Boost Kids program were things that I targeted in my students’ therapy sessions.

One of the first things I noticed about the materials was that they were not very eye-catching or colorful. It appeared that these materials were targeted for adolescents to preteens. However, the subject matter seemed more suited for younger kids. The accompanying lessons presented on the CD-ROM probably would not hold the attention of many kids. I found myself daydreaming and making grocery lists in my head while watching it.

Personally, I’m not a huge believer in teaching children communication skills through worksheets and non-interactive computer lessons. To truly learn and improve communication skills requires actual practice. I think these lessons could certainly be a good starting place when introducing these subjects. An interactive computer game would definitely be a bonus for kids.

Heather said-

As a mom of a child with what some would call social difficulties, I was interested in the Boost Kids program. Unfortunately, my hopes for the program were short lived.

Call me a slacker mom but when a program starts off poo-pooing on technology such as instant and text messaging, and implying those advances are why it is more difficult to develop social skills, I’m immediately turned off. Hatin’ on modern communication technology will not earn any smiles from me. It’s the way of the future people and our arbitrary social rules will adapt to the social majority as they always have when times change. It has been my experience that instant message actually improves social relationships with friends and family, not the opposite. And while I did find one or two social lessons insightful, the majority of the lessons were ones that I believe children will pick up through modeling those adults around them. In my opinion, this product is not worth the $70 price tag.

Sara said-

I am so torn on this one! Unfortunately it seems the folks at Boost Kids had the same problem. When I heard it was a program to help with self esteem and social skills, I figured it would be perfect for a child my daughter’s age, kids around 7-9. However, they market this program to children ages 8-15. The problem with that is you don’t talk to an 8 year old in nearly the same way you would a 15 year old, and I think that’s where they got a little lost. Don’t get me wrong, the information in this program is solid- any help I can get teaching my kids things like proper telephone manners, making conversation, etc is greatly appreciated. But the skills they are teaching are things kids should know, or at least have begun learning, by ages 10-12, and is being presented with workbook and visuals that only a 12-15 year old could sit through. The workbook was a big turnoff, because there was very little in it that would appeal to kids. It was more like a test, and after being in school 7 hours a day, putting a workbook in front of my 9 year old would be pretty akin to punishment unless it had something to pull her in and keep her interested. As for the cd, again, not enough to hold the attention of a younger child, and too boring for an older child. I hate to recommend cartooney stuff, but I think Jennifer is right on the nose that making it into a computer game somehow would have given the user something to relate to and draw them in.

I think there are good lessons to be learned here, but they need to be repackaged in a way that is both more interesting, and possibly broken down into lessons for older kids and one for younger kids in order to more effectively reach their audience. In the meantime I’d seriously consider lowering the price point, because $69.95 is not only high for what you are getting here, but probably out of reach for the average everyday parent. Drop it to $29.95 and consider a redesign, and I think this could be a product worth saving