I’d like to wish a big Happy Mother’s Day to all my Mom Readers! I hope you got to sleep in, or had a special breakfast prepared by your kids, or went out to brunch, or got a nice long nap, or whatever makes you feel special! I got a card and the Juno DVD from Ryan, and a handmade card, bookmark and laminated handprint from Nathan. Plus I got to take a nice looong nap this afternoon! It was a pretty great day.

I also got a surprise when I checked this blog’s Dashboard this morning, an incoming link from Dance of Motherhood. Much to my surprise I found that my longtime blog pal CyberCelt had nominated both MomReviews and Table for Five to the A-List Mom Blogger’s Guild! WOW! And I get to post THIS:

Pretty sweet! It really put a big smile on my face when I saw that. So, this week on MomReviews, I have just tons of great products to review for all of you, including Momager’s Mom Calling Cards, Wishbone Bountifuls Salad Dressing, Aveeno Sun Products, Neutrogena Skin Care products, Danica Aromatics Perfumes, the book “I Just Want My Kids To Be Happy”, a cool little travel toy called Thinkets, an organic and super soft new line of Peter Rabbit stuffed toys, the VERY cool Karito Kids dolls that include a donation to charity, a review of KidsSave, an online savings program for kids, and a yummy line of cheesy snacky crackers that are just delicious called John Wm. Macy’s CheeseSticks.

This Week’s GIVEAWAYS:

• Nalgene’s “Everyday” bottles including the very cool sippy-cup like Grip-n-Gulps
• “Cahooties”,a fresh version of the paper thing we called “Cootie Catchers” or “Fortune Tellers”
• A pair of Babylegs which are like a combination of legwarmers and tights for babies (so cute!)

Wow! So many great products! I look forward to having you read my reviews and leave your comments and thoughts. You WILL leave your comments and thoughts, right? EXCELLENT.

Paris Presents is a company founded in Chicago in 1947 that creates and distributes a wide range of makeup tools, bath and body liquids and accessories, travel accessories, and nail care products. They are committed to making earth-friendly products with the introduction of the Ecotools line, which uses materials such as bamboo, cruelty free brush bristles, and materials that either are recycled or can be. I received two products from the Ecotools line from Skirt PR, a Bamboo Bath Sponge and a 5 piece makeup brush set.

This Bath sponge is made from bamboo, a sustainable plant. So, here’s my take on this-it was super, super soft when it was dry. It felt like a bunch of very soft baby washclothes bunched up together. I thought it would be wonderful to bathe with. BUT, when wet, it becomes, well, this hard lump. I have to be honest! If you are committed to using something more earth-friendly than a bath puff made from plastic, then give this a try for yourself. That’s just my opinion, of course.

These amazingly soft brushes are made not from animal hair but from a synthetic called taklon. Actress Alicia Silverstone who is a committed vegan praised them in an article in Allure magazine last month. The best part? The whole set is available at Walgreen’s for only $10.99! The handles are bamboo, the ferrules (the metal part between the brush and the handle) is recycled aluminum, and they come packaged in a cotton and hemp case. You get a Blush brush, Eye shading brush, Eye lining brush, a Lash and Brow groomer, and a Concealer brush. If you use makeup brushes or have always wanted to try them, THIS is the set to buy!

All this week I’ll be bringing you my very favorite items for Moms that have been sent to me for review. In addition to today’s fantastic find from Olive Kids, I’ve got fabulous calling cards for Moms, eco-friendly makeup brushes, wonderful smelling baby lotion, and some new food finds. If you haven’t already subscribed to get my feed either in your reader or by email, this is the week to do it!

Today’s Fabulous Find comes to you from Olive Kids (get it? I Love Kids, Olive Kids? cute!), a company started by Anita Oliveira Brandwein and Russell Brandwein when they became parents ten years ago and couldn’t find coordinated, affordable kids bedding and accessories that didn’t feature characters from TV or the movies. Not that they don’t enjoy movie characters, they just didn’t want them taking over their child’s bedroom! They believe kids rooms should “inspire creativity and play” - not be an advertisement for a TV show or movie. Amen to that!

The Olive Kids website is bright, colorful, and fun, just like the products they sell. The bedding and accessories design features classic children’s themes like transportation, space, cowboys, animals, tea parties, and more. I was thrilled when they asked me if I would like to review a Personalized Framed Print. I knew it would go in Kaitlyn’s room so I showed her the page of choices, and she chose the “Blossoms and Butterflies” print. It looks great!

Now, I know the price tag of $59.99 might seem high, but don’t let that keep you from checking out the rest of the site. Also, for a personalized print in a frame, that’s really not expensive. It’s a perfect gift suggestion for a new baby gift, birthday or Christmas present!

To celebrate their tenth anniversary, Olive Kids is having an incredible giveaway. The Grand Prize is an entire Olive Kids room valued at $750!!! First Place is a Personalized Package valued at about $250, and Five Runner Ups will receive a Personalized Placemat Pack and Name Tag worth over $50. Details on how to enter are here; you have until 11:59 p.m. PT on June 30, 2008.

Thanks again to Olive Kids and especially Kim for contacting me and sending me the beautiful print. Yours is a site I am more than happy to endorse, and your products are definitely FABULOUS FINDS!

I’ve teamed up with M80 and Campbell’s Soup to help spread the word about the nation’s largest single-day food drive, called Stamp Out Hunger!. Both the Campbell’s Soup Company and the Harlem Globetrotters are working hard to spread the word about this important event, which has collected more than 836 million pounds of food since it began in 1993. Watch this:

And here’s some important information:
• The Stamp Out Hunger! drive is a nationwide effort to provide food to local food banks and pantries, which would otherwise have depleted stocks during the summer months, to help feed the hungry on a daily basis.

• The nation’s 230,000 letter carriers will be collecting food donations in more than 10,000 local communities and delivering them to food bank members of America ’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network and other hunger relief organizations.

• Last year the letter carriers collected more than 70 million pounds of food from generous Americans, bringing their impressive total to more than 836 million pounds since 1993.

• Campbell Soup Company is supporting this important initiative by kicking off the food drive with a national donation of one million pounds of soup and other food and beverage items that will be donated to food banks across the country.

The Face of Hunger…

• According to the America ’s Second Harvest, 35 million Americans are food insecure, hungry or at risk of hunger. Approximately one in four people in a soup kitchen line is a child.

You Can Help…

• Helping Stamp Out Hunger! is as easy as checking your mailbox. Just leave a bag of non-perishable food where your letter carrier normally delivers your mail. Your letter carrier will then pick up and deliver the food to a local food bank. Examples of non-perishable items include:

• Canned soup

• Canned meats and fish

• Canned juices

• Canned vegetables and fruits

• Boxed goods (such as cereal)

• Pasta and rice

• To find out more about the annual Stamp Out Hunger! effort in your community, ask your letter carrier, contact your local post office or visit www.helpstampouthunger.com.

Please mark your calendars for this important event. I know money is tight, but items from discount grocers like Aldi are not expensive and can make such a difference. Many of us go grocery shopping every week even though there is food in our pantry-imagine if there wasn’t. I’ll be continuing to post on this topic up until the 10th, and I’ll also be giving away some pennants signed by the Harlem Globetrotters as well as calendars featuring images of the Globetrotters and other images from previous Stamp Out Hunger! events, so watch for that coming up. No one in this country should ever have to be hungry, there’s plenty of food to go around if we can just get it to the people who need it!

I don’t have a backyard pool, but if you do, I have some information to pass on to you about how you can make your pool more friendly for the environment and safer for your family. That’s right! You can enjoy your pool without using harmful salt, chlorine, or chemicals to keep it sparkling clean. Who knew?

According to their website, swimming in the natural pools sold by Ecosmarte Pools is like “swimming in bottled water”, that’s how safe the water is. In order to avoid using chlorine, some people choose to have a salt water pool instead, but that is NOT a safer option. Salt water pools use chlorine generators, which is a unit that contains salt, and as the water passes through the generator, it produces chlorine. The problem is that this creates byproducts that are messy and not easy to dispose of. What you save not buying liquid chlorine, you spend running the generator, which must run 24 hours a day 7 days a week in order to produce the amount of chlorine needed. When the generator wears out, it can cost anywhere from $400 to $1000 to replace.

You could use salt water chlorinators to help with cleaning bacteria, algae, and viruses (yuck!) from your swimming pool, but they involve the use of harsh chemicals to act as cleaning agents. Ecosmarte uses ionic and oxidation processes to produce pool water that is clean and safe from harsh salts and stinging chlorine.

Q: How does the ECOsmarte System work?

A: Simple. Every time your pump runs, the ECOsmarte oxygen electrodes deliver a non-chemical
shock to your water when the water passes through your pressure line. Once per week you test
your pH and copper levels. You will switch the button on your Electronic Control Unit and ionize
for 4 - 8 hours depending on your pool size and bather load. This will put copper in your pool
which is a great algaecide and deadly to viruses.

Your pool water will be comparable to the safe drinking water level according to the EPA. In fact, if you DRANK two gallons of Ecosmarte Pool water, you would ingest the amount of copper found in a multivitamin!

Q: How long do the copper bars last and how much do they cost to replace?

A: Life of the copper bars will depend on the length of your pool season, the calcium hardness of
the water and the size of your pool. Normally, they will last 3-5 years and cost only $95 to
replace. They can be replaced by the pool or spa owner with a screw driver.

And if all of that isn’t great enough, the company also donates 5% of their profits to environmental charities! Ecosmarte Pools used to only be sold on the Internet, but now the company is branching out to home-based businesses and Dealers. You can request pricing and product brochures on their website and see for yourself how an Ecosmarte pool will be a great way to have a pool that is safe and fun!

My husband occasionally travels on business, and while he is gone, I am even more vigilant than usual about checking the doors to the house to make sure they are locked. We have deadbolt locks, for which our insurance company gives us a discount on our homeowners insurance, but it doesn’t hurt to get up and make sure the locks are in place every few hours or so, right? I mean, that’s not obsessive or anything, lying awake in bed thinking oh crap, did I lock the door to the garage? I did, didn’t I? Maybe I should check.

When I did that giveaway of the InGrid home security system, it did get me thinking. If you missed that review and giveaway, InGrid is an easy to install system that uses sensors that you attach to doors and windows, with a base and console that controls everything. You set up your account with MyInGrid.com and with a monitoring service, and then you can customize what alerts you receive and how you receive them via any Internet-connected device such as a digital cell phone or web-enabled PDA (one that you already own). It’s even got a remote that goes on your keychain to let you disable a sensor before you open the door.

For example, let’s say you have a child who comes home from school before you get home from work. The act of the child opening the door will trigger the sensor, and InGrid will let you know that the door was opened, letting you know that your child is home. I was a “latch key” kid myself for many years, and I know my Mom had our across the street neighbor watching out her window every afternoon to make sure I came home (and didn’t let in any boys-lol). But a security sensor is much more reliable than a nosy neighbor, don’t you think?

So my question is, how many of you use a home security system? Do you find it reliable? Is the cost of the monthly monitoring offset by the peace of mind you get? Leave me a comment!

We have a sideboard in our dining room that belonged to my husband’s grandmother. We’ve had it since 1997, and now I can’t imagine not having one. Both our former house and our current one are ranch-style, with one large room that is both the living room and the dining room. Our sideboard defines that side of the room as the dining area.

We use our sideboard for all kinds of things. It’s wide top drawer serves as our “junk” drawer, holding the phone book, batteries, extra pens, old film cameras, and all kinds of other stuff that I feel the need to keep. The bottom of the sideboard has a narrow shelf that holds all of my photo boxes, and under that is our stash of afghans and large blankets. It’s broad top holds our cordless phone base, papers the kids need to have signed, a basket full of product samples I get in the mail, and at Christmas, my Snowman collection:

If you are looking to invest in a good quality piece of furniture that will have many uses and look great as well, consider buying a sideboard or buffet, and check the prices on eBuffet when you do. They offer free shipping and a generous return policy as well.

In other words, my sideboard is something I could not imagine living without. But it’s old, and not in very good shape anymore, so someday it’s going to need to be replaced. There’s a website called eBuffet that carries a variety of discount sideboards and buffet tables in a wide range of prices. They carry beautiful buffet cabinets and antique sideboards, made of hardwood and available in a variety of colors. I love the look of this large French Style Hutch cabinet:

If you are looking to invest in a good-quality piece of furniture, consider buying a sideboard or buffet table for your dining room, and check the prices on eBuffet when you are ready to make the purchase. They offer FREE shipping as well as a generous return policy, and you’ll be purchasing a piece of furniture that is both useful and attractive.

Okay, so I know it’s only March, but it’s never too early to start thinking about this year’s Christmas card, right? CardsDirect carries a line of Custom Photo Cards that look to be of the highest quality. Here’s my favorite:

Photo cards are printed on thick white card stock using state of the art digital color technology, and are a full 7 7/8″ x 5 5/8″. Upload or email a high resolution digital photo, and it will be printed on the front of the cards in full color, black and white, or sepia tone. Inside the cards, you can add a holiday verse plus personalized text, or completely customize the entire text, choosing from a variety of typestles and ink colors at no additional cost.

You receive an electronic proof of your card by email showing you exactly how the cards will look before they are printed. Lined envelopes are included and can also be custom imprinted with your return address for an additional cost. CardsDirect offers a money back guarantee as well. The minimum order is 25 cards, so why not start making that Christmas card list now and get your cards ordered! Imagine how jealous your friends will be when you tell them “oh yes, I’ve already ordered this year’s cards”!

This is a photo of me “before” I used the samples of naked naturals Awapuhi & Lavender shampoo and conditioner that were sent to me for a review. I really wish I had thought to take an “after” photo, because I was amazed at how well these worked on my color-treated hair.

I’ve read enough articles in magazines to know that you are supposed to change your shampoo every once in a while, because otherwise it builds up and stops working as well. My addled brain must have forgot that piece of advice, but I sure remembered it when I saw the results of using Naked Naturals. Naked Naturals products contain no Lauryl or Laureth Sulfates. What is that? It’s a detergent that makes the big lather when you use shampoo. The thing is, detergents dry out your hair. That lather actually does no good at all. Naked Naturals doesn’t have it, so when you apply it to your wet hair, it doesn’t lather up. You just work it through your hair and rinse. Right away I noticed my hair didn’t feel “stripped”.

I applied the conditioner and waited at least 3 minutes, and my hair soaked it up. When I went to rinse it out, there was almost nothing left to rinse. I guess my old conditioner wasn’t working that well. Other benefits of Naked Naturals are:

• No DEA or TEA
• No Animal By-products
• No Synthetic Fragrance
• No Harsh Chemicals
• PH-balanced
• Not Tested on Animals

I squeezed the excess water from my hair and let it air dry like I usually do. And I was amazed at how full and thick it looked, even without having been blown dry or styled at all. It really looked good, I have to say. And my husband said my hair smelled good, too Naked Naturals contains an exclusive protein called Keravis, which in clinical tests was proven to significantly increase hair strength – up to 7 times stronger with the shampoo and 3 times stronger from the conditioner. Keravis penetrates the hair follicle as well as forming a protective barrier, which strengthens the hair. Maybe that’s why my hair looked so great!

I really like the idea of using a natural shampoo and conditioner. At $9.00 a bottle, it is more expensive than the drugstore shampoo I’ve been using, but comparable in price to the brands sold at hair salons, only without the detergents and animal testing. I might still need to switch to a different brand once in a while to keep my hair from looking dull, but I plan to keep using Naked Naturals. You should too!

I have to admit, I am not as careful as I should be about what I use to clean the house. I’ve believed the commercials that tell me that my house has to smell like bleach and pine needles to be really clean. But in the back of my mind, I’ve always thought that there must be a more natural way to get surfaces clean without leaving behind traces of dangerous chemicals. Guess who now has a line of cleaning products that are made with all natural ingredients?

CLOROX, that’s who! And they didn’t just take the chemicals out of an existing product, they started completely from scratch. GreenWorks products are biodegradable, sustainable, and NOT TESTED ON ANIMALS. Ingredients include a coconut-based cleaning agent, corn-based ethanol, fragrance with essential lemon oil, filtered water, and a biodegradable preservative. The products were tested in blind studies against leading conventional cleaners and were found to work just as well, if not better.

MomCentral sent me full-size bottles of GreenWorks All-Purpose Cleaner and Glass & Surface Cleaner, and I got to work. It’s never hard to find messes that need cleaning up around here! I used the All-Purpose Cleaner on coffee stains on my kitchen countertop, sticky spilled syrup on the kitchen table, and on the drips around the knobs of my oven, and they all came up with just a light spray of the cleaner and a wipe with a paper towel. The fragrance is very light, pleasant and lemony.

I used this cleaner on the surface of my glass cooktop stove, which always seems to have burned-on gunk around the burners. I was so happy to see that a light spray and a wipe with a damp paper towel took care of the greasy film on the cooktop. And then I got inspired, and realized that this is the PERFECT CLEANER FOR THE MICROWAVE. I used it to clean the inside of the microwave and the glass panel on the door, and realized that I had been using chemicals to clean my microwave which were then being heated up and possibly going into our food-EWWWW!

GreenWorks also comes in Bathroom Cleaner (in addition to the same ingredients as the other cleaners, it contains glycolic acid to clean soap scum, hard water stains, and rust), Toilet Bowl Cleaner (lactic and citric acid plus a thickener so it clings to the toilet bowl), and a bottle of Dilutable Cleaner that you can pour into a mop bucket or use to make your own spray. I want to buy all of them! Sheesh, I just might start LIKING cleaning my house now! Thanks, MomCentral and Clorox GreenWorks