A delicious review...and some other stuff

One of the things I like about Mom Central is the opportunity to review cool stuff.
Well, some things are cooler than others, but hey - FREE GOODS. Right?

This time was a total score.

You know I love my coffee. I also love to try energy drinks - especially when I'm gearing up for the Blogathon and 24 hours of straight blogging. I tried a lot of coffee the first year & MAN it tore up my stomach. I had acid reflux almost until the next blogathon.

Last year I tried a variety of energy drinks, and I have to say that: TAB ENERGY DRINK tastes like a can off ass juice.
Also the Monster drink with the red writing, and some weird off-brand I bought for 89 cents at Walgreen's.
THE.SUCK.

So Mom Central asked if I'd like to try an energy drink made by Ocean Spray, and since I like their Cran-Grape, I was all for it.

What I got was a couple bottles of Cranergy, in Cranberry Lift and Raspberry Cranberry Lift.

First of all? YUM
Second of all? It didn't give me a huge rush, it didn't give me the jitters, and it didn't make me clench my jaws--which is what I do when I'm all jazzed up on caffeine and/or energy drinks.

What I liked about Cranergy (besides the delicious flavor) was that it did give me a gentle boost and sort of...unfuzzed my tired brain. I felt more alert and awake.
The first bottle I drank in the morning-time in lieu of coffee; I KNOW, right? But it seemed to do the trick, and I didn't even have to wait for it to brew.
The second bottle I tried the next day in the late afternoon (around 4pm I usually start fading & need a lift), and it boosted me nicely so that I didn't yawn my way through dinner. Also? Did NOT make it hard for me to sleep that night.

It's got green tea extract, antioxidents, the all-important B vitamins and - here's the good part if you're a calorie counter - 50% fewer calories compared to other energy drinks and sodas.
Since I'm in the midst of dieting right now (BLAH!), that was a bonus.

So try some Cranergy. It does not taste like ass-juice, and is WAY tastier than Red Bull.
Is all I'm saying.

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in case you missed it live...

You can get the podcast!

FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE - YOU ARE THE STAR OF MY SHOW!

It's one you don't want to miss - some of my friends from twitter.com sang some songs! They were awesome. I also had a fantastic and very funny co-ho, PseudoJoe.
It wants to be heard. It NEEDS to be heard.

This coming Friday will be YOU ARE THE STAR PART II.

Record me a song (with YOU singing, naturally), email it, and I'll play it for tens of people! Woo!
Hurry up though, I won't wait forever.

**BONUS! This week's guest co-ho is none other than Mr. Fabulous himself!
You'll really, really want to be there.

I'm not nitpicky.

Really. I'm SO NOT. I don't like to pick the nits.
DO.NOT.
See, lice and nits fall under that whole "any kind of bugs touching my skin FREAKS ME OUT!" umbrella.
I was lucky as a youngster; I never had lice. Never, not once.
Which now strikes me as having dodged a bullet, since all my girlfriends and I shared brushes, combs, hats, and jackets.
My sister, though? She had lice about 4 times, and I laughed and laughed and made fun of her.

BIG mistake. HUGE.

Because the first month of kindergarten, I got a call from my daughter's school.
Yep.
"Come pick up your girl, she's got head lice."

OH.EM.GEE.
I had no idea how to deal with it.

I was all OH, no PROBLEM, I'll get some of that lice shampoo and comb her hair and BAM! No more lice.

And I did that (gagging a few times & shuddering & ceaselessly scratching my head and neck). Sent her back to school the next day...yeah, you guessed it: "Come pick up your daughter, she's still got lice."

Let me tell you, she spent a whole week at home and I spent that week practically in tears because I COULD NOT GET ALL THE DAMN THINGS OUT.
Stupid little teeny comb. Stupid stick-on lice. Stupid BUG-O-PHOBIA.
Mean Mom wouldn't help.

Two months later...SHE GOT IT AGAIN.
I almost just shaved her head that time.
Luckily good sense prevailed & I did NOT shave her head...but she did get a really cute (and very short) pixie cut. Well, sort of. I called it a pixie because it was short and uneven and sort of shaggy, because let's face it - hair-cutting is not where my talent lies.

ANYWAY. I used Rid those times (and I'm sure that's a name many of you are very familiar with), but I wanted to let you know about a PESTICIDE FREE lice treatment that's available now, LICE MD.
It's pediatrician tested, it helps prevent re-infestation, and -BEST OF ALL!- has a proven 100% effective comb.
AND you can reapply as needed! And it isn't STINKY!
I wish I'd've had Lice MD back then...but you can bet I'll be giving it a shot if there's a next time.

Check out their website: http://www.LiceMD.com

Now excuse me, I need to go wash my hair. And scratch.

MOM CENTRAL REVIEW: Got Milk? I DO!

Okay, I'm the first to admit that I have very little knowledge about organic foods - the process that makes products "organic". So when Mom Central offered me the opportunity to review a product from Horizon Organic, well, of COURSE I jumped on it because I really, really, really really love to get free stuff hey, I'm here to do the dirty work for you and guinea pig myself. Because I love you that much. Really.

I did wonder how well the reduced fat milk would travel in the mail...AND I feared that my chemical-laden body would immediately reject anything "healthy", so I did what any good mother would do: I made my daughter try it first.
Just in case.
Don't worry, I made her smell it before she drank it.

It was sort of anti-climactic; she said it was good, tasted like milk. What do you do with that? So I had to try it myself with much the same reaction - it was tasty and fresh and didn't taste like 2% or reduced fat milk, which normally to me tastes like watered-down milk.
This tasted like whole milk, and it was as good as anything from our local "dairy" store, Braum's (and anyone local knows that Braum's has awesome, rich-tasting milk).

If you're a numbskull (like me) when it comes to organic stuff, here's a little info on the Horizon Organic Milk:
It helps support a healthy brain with DHA Omega-3, it's produced WITHOUT the use of antibiotics, added growth hormones, or pesticides, it's ultra-pasteurized and has vitamins A & D added.
One thing which seems to be important (yet made me giggle a little) is that they use holistic veterinary medicine on the cows. It just conjures visions (for ME, because I'm uneducated in this area) of a vet wearing crystals, burning incense and playing soothing music for the cows.

ANYWAY, anyway.

The process is healthier for the animals, healthier for the environment, and the milk is purchased from family farms that are transitioning to the Organic way.
Even the whole "making the products" is done with wind energy, reducing pollutants in the air.

See what kind of stuff you can learn from a single carton of milk? It's made me smarter ALREADY!! Also I noticed that if you use the Amazon grocery shopping service, they sell Horizon Organic dairy products.

Are you going organic? You should try this. PLUS ALSO! I have THREE COUPONS to give away to the FIRST THREE PEOPLE TO EMAIL ME, so that you can try a Horizon Organic product (milk, cheese, butter, whatever!) FOR FREE. FREE! WOO!

Feel free to leave a comment, but if you want a coupon, be one of the first three to email me.

BIG THANKS to Horizon Organic and Mom Central for hooking me up.

Got milk? Want some? HOLLA.

It's tough to find good child care...

...but I was sent to a place called Care.com, and guess what? They do the work for you!

Through the wonderful women of Mom Central Consulting, I was given the opportunity to check out what is, to me, an invaluable resource.
As a parent, many of you are aware of how difficult it is to find someone to mind your children--apart from daycare, I mean. If you're a SINGLE parent, it's even more difficult, because there's no co-parent to fall back on if you need to go holiday shopping, or if you just need a break for a few hours.
Remember when we were teenagers and babysat the neighborhood kids? Yeah, kids don't much do that anymore. Not even for friends of the family. Of course, a lot of teenagers nowadays think working at any job is beneath them, but that's a-whole-nother rant for a-whole-nother day.

ANYWAY. (Mamacita, see what I left off JUST FOR YOU? heehee)

Being a single parent with a non-disabled AND a severely disabled child...well, you can imagine what it's like to find a sitter. Or maybe you can't--let me just say it's entirely restrictive. I'm not complaining; my job is to be a mother and be here to take care of my kids, and I'm okay with that. But.
I don't go anywhere. I don't date. I can't just pop over to Friend's house for a couple of hours and a glass of wine. I can't go to the bookstore and indulge myself for a few hours. If I do get invited to a party, or on a date, my acceptance ALWAYS hinges on whether or not I can beg and/or bribe some family member to watch my kids so that I can get away for a while.
Most often I get the answer, "Sorry, I have things to do."
It's okay, really, but sometimes entirely frustrating.

Then the Mother Talk ladies hooked me up with the Mom Central Consulting ladies, and they said, "Hey, why don't you check out a place called Care.Com and tell us what you think?"

So I did.
Care.com is awesome! At least from what I see so far. It's a service that allows you to search for child care, pet care, senior care, and even tutors in your area!
I was surfing around the site and noticed that under the child care postings, each person wrote a little paragraph about themselves, and then clearly noted what they might be specialized in, what age groups they're willing to take, how many children they could watch, what other duties they were willing to perform (ie light housekeeping, preparing meals, carpooling, swimming supervision and MORE!), and whether or not they had experience with special needs care and CPR (which are of utmost importance to me). You can see if the care-giver has their own transportation and how far they're willing to travel for a job, as well as a range of hourly rates.

This information I was able to get using the Basic (free!) membership--of course, you could upgrade and get more reference information, view background checks (!), and contact the person directly by email. There's a video you can watch that takes you through each step--the site is VERY user friendly.

Unfortunately there's no-one at present in my area who meets all my criteria (a couple were close, but my kids just happened to be outside their age requirements)...but I'm going to keep checking. Maybe one day soon they'll have the perfect care-giver for me.


Check it out, Care.com. You'll be glad you did.
**BONUS!!! I almost forgot! Sign up HERE to get THREE FREE MONTHS of Premium Service!