Suburban Reviews

Anyone who knows me can tell you I was obviously absent the day organizational skills were being passed out. I hate making lists, because I know darn well I will probably just end up losing them, if I remember I made them in the first place. It’s a bad place to be my friends. Needless to say I was excited when the Parent Bloggers Network teamed up with Day Runner to try out their new Family Matters system. Maybe this will be the answer to my terribly unorganized dreams?

The basic premise here is color-coding. Each family member is assigned a color, and each piece in the system works with that. The undated erasable wall calendar is double sided, with one side having color coded boxes down the side of a traditional view, or for the busier family, the colored boxes rule, with the dates going down the side. Sound complicated? I promise it isn’t.

For those used to a regular wall calendar, there is a normal dated one for 2008 and beyond. Always on the go? Check out the color-coded planner. Also included in the system are storage boxes for those loose papers in each family member’s color, durable activity folders, and a really neat door hanger set(you guessed it, color coded as well!) for jotting down reminders.

There are only a few downsides that I can see with these products, and they are somewhat minor. The door hangers did not fit right, and I realized anyways how foolish it would be to hang anything with a marker on it that low in a house with two preschoolers. My plan is to hang these a little higher on a nail or tack, out of reach of the little ones. Also, the size is perfect for my family of five, but what about those with larger families? The more kids you have, the more organized you need to be, so I would highly recommend Day Runner consider some kind of expansion packs for this system.

Beyond that, I have to say I am very much in love with these products, and will be buying the wall info center when it becomes available. Hopefully Day Runner will help me make 2008 a little more organized!

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…then I’m going to make eating candles a disease too.

Before you click away thinking I’m crazy, you must smell this candle. Once you smell it, you’ll be eating right along with me like it’s the sanest thing in the world.

What kind of candle smells so good that soybean wax sounds (and smells!) like a perfectly plausible meal replacement plan?

That would be the Swan Creek Candle.

I discovered this candle while Wally and I were on our Free-At-Last! shopping trip in the fa-fa city of Fairhope, AL. As we walked hand-in-hand, in and out of the most child-unfriendly stores around, our noses discovered the most wonderful scent. We breathed deeply, following the scrumptious aroma until we found the source.

One of the fa-fa stores was burning the Swan Creek Candle in a gingerbread scent.  It smelled so unbelievable that Wally had to keep me from falling down on my knees and licking the candle in the store.

The candle made our car smell great just by sitting in the bag. Once we were home, I lit it and within 10 minutes, my entire house smelled so delicious. Just 1o minutes! And for only $10, it’s an incredible bargain to have my house smell like I slaved the day away in the kitchen baking homemade goodies.

By the way, you could still smell the scent in the kitchen by lunch the next day, even though I only lit the candle the one time the day before.

Needless to say, the Yankees can keep their candles.

This Dixie chick is all about Swan Creek from now on.

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 it comes to product reviews for moms, most of us think of strollers, car seats & slings. But I’m here to tell you of a little talked about must-have in any mom’s arsenal.

Carpet Stain Removers

That’s right folks, brace yourselves and don’t leave your seats because excitement is about to reign in the world of carpet fibers.

Once your child goes from stationary to mobile, you’ll soon discover the value and necessity of a good stain remover. In the realm of leaking sippy cups, melted chocolate and potty accidents, it is the must have.

Before having kids, I thought Resolve was da bomb. Then kids came along and I realized just how big of a bomb it was. It could not remove even a circle of white grape juice much less tackle toddler poo. It was time for something new.

I struck gold when i discovered Bissel’s OxyPro. I thought it was a stain-removing dream come true. Every stain I had it removed - throw up, (both child and pet) squashed mac-n-cheese, even red Kool-aid. While I did think the price of $5.96/bottle was high, it was worth the expense to save my carpet.

I loved the OxyPro. I praised the OxyPro to all those who felt the pain and tragedy of carpet stains that wouldn’t come out. I praised until the day OxyPro met its match with a stain or 4 of the magic marker kind. Not only would OxyPro not get the stain out, it would not even fade the color from green to lime.

In a moment of desperation, I grabbed a bottle of Totally Awesome off of my laundry room shelf. What was there to lose for my carpet, right? Much to our surprise, Totally Awesome removed the multiple ares of marker scribble. Completely. 100% gone baby! And those scribbles were not made with washable markers I might add. Oh no no no. We made sure this product was put to the real test with old fashion markers that refuse to come out.

Totally Awesome saved the day. But surely, if it beats out OxyPro at $5.96/bottle, then this product would be even higher?

Folks, Totally Awesome can be found for $1 at your nearest Dollar Tree store. That is not a typo. That is one dollar. Unbelievable, you say? No, it’s totally awesome!

At that price, I suggest you make a special trip right now to the Dollar Tree to pick up a bottle or 5. Who cares that gas is over $3.00/gallon, the money you save on the cleaner makes up for the gas you guzzle on your special trip. Go!

And on a side note, I do NOT recommend Elmers 3-D Markers.