A Mama's Rant

Unique gift ideas for babies and their big brothers or sisters

As a mom blogger, I'm approached by all sort of companies promoting their baby products, toys and clothes. Usually, it's the same old thing. Occasionally, I do find products that are out of the ordinary. For example, an online store featuring high quality, educational, lead free toys or gorgeous personalized children's books.

But I'm happy to report I've found a terrific online store out of Georgia that not only makes personalized baby clothes, burp pads, bibs and baby blankets, but also carries great toddler and sibling gifts that will get your kids drawing, writing, cooking, and making believe.

We've all seen those, "I'm a big brother/sister" t-shirts and buttons they make for new older siblings. They're usually fine for the "big event" but your child rarely wears them again. They're tucked away in a drawer or put in the Goodwill bag.

With My First Scrubs from Princess Linens, not only do you have a great going home outfit for your older child, they can wear it for dressing up, making believe, and Halloween. And if you or your spouse are in the medical professions, it's kind of fun to have scrubs for the whole family. (What's next - kid lab coats?)

Searching for the perfect bathroom cleaning product

I'm always on the lookout for cleaning products that will make my life easier. First, I signed up with Shaklee so I could get their Get Clean Starter Kit. Their product do a great job on counter tops, in the laundry, and on glass. Plus, they're environmentally friendly. Another "green" cleaning product I tried was Clorox's Green Works. (You can read my review of Green Works here.) Again, another great product that works well on surfaces and glass.

But nothing could touch old fashioned Scrubbing Bubbles when it came to cleaning my sinks and showers. You see - confession time here - even though I'm a neat freak, I'm too busy to clean. And I'm too cheap to hire someone to clean.

Needless to say, our shower tends to get kind of, well, nasty. We're talking minor (not major) science experiment here. It would bother me if it was a shower I had to use at someone else's house. But since it's my family's dirt and germs, I'm not so grossed out by it. It's familiar, you know?

Also, it doesn't help that the shower insert plastic and caulking just attract soap scum, grim and mold - and we use too many scrubs, hair conditioners, facial masks, shaving cream, and shower soaps. Nothing like built up beauty products - yuck.

I've tried a myriad of shower cleaners, but Johnson's Scrubbing Bubbles is my favorite. You can spray it on easily, it sticks to surfaces, and it makes scrubbing the dried soap scum off much easier.

So when I was offered to review their newest product, I jumped at the chance. Anything to make the occasional foray into domesticity less painful and more time effective.

Where are my keys?

"What's that noise?" my friend Karen asked me as we were walking around the track during our community's Relay for Life event.

"Oh those are my keys," I said. I had hooked them to my shorts.

"But it sounds like bells," Karen said.

"Well, that's because there's a bell on my key chain," I replied.

I then explained to Karen that I had bought a little tiny cow bell on our trip to France last year thinking that when I drop my keys, I'll hear the noise. You see I had gone through a few months of losing all my keys. First the mailbox key detached itself from my key chain. Then I lost the front door key. I was losing keys so frequently that I wondered if someone had cursed me.

I figured a new key chain, plus one that made noise, would prevent me from losing any more keys. Still, I don't need to carry a front door key since we have an electronic key pad that opens the garage. But occasionally the power goes out in the neighborhood, or the garage door breaks down. I wonder between the lack of keys and the inability to open the garage that I'll be locked out of my house some day.

If you're a person who loses their keys (or have kids or a spouse who does) or whose toddler locks them out of the house on a regular basis, you may want to look into electronic keypads for your doors.

Ever had one of those summers?

I'm not sure why the Hindus decided that Kali the Destroyer of Worlds should be a woman. Because moms everywhere know that the biggest destructive force in the universe is...

Children.

At home.

On summer break.

Bored out of their minds.

They don't want to read. The don't want to watch all the wonderful movies click-comm.com has sent me like The 45th Anniversary Special Edition of the Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book 2, and The Spiderwick Chronicles. All they want to do is fight with each other, eat nonstop, and watch TV.

So far this month, not a day has gone by without major house destruction. Mommy's little weapons of mass destruction have:

• broken a vase
• broken a candlestick holder
• spilled black acrylic paint on the carpet and hid the stain
• put a hole in one of the couches
• knocked something off the wall that landed on the couch that made the hole bigger
• made a chocolate milk stain the size of a dinner plate on the carpet behind the couch
• tore a library book page clear out of the book
• left the hose on in the yard for over 24 hours - my husband thinks that part of the yard has now sunk a few inches
• lost a pair of headsets that Sony gave me at the Sony Mom Blogger event last April
• left snack wrappers, socks, pajamas, and panties all over the house
• lost my kitchen scissors
• killed a plant
• spilled yogurt all over the back seat after sneaking it out of the cooler
• changed outfits several times a day

I'm sure there's more, but I'm too shell shocked to remember. Luckily we had a near miss, too.

Shopping for school supplies online makes life easier for moms

How's your summer? All I can say is that I'm looking forward to school starting - only 55 days to go!

Our school district is starting early this year on August 18. I hear other areas of the country are starting even earlier. Heck, before you know it you'll be seeing school supplies on sale.

I remember last year - I made several trips to various stores to take advantage of their sales. (I buy extra supplies and donate them to the school and teachers.) One day, I went with a friend to shop. Between the two of us, we had five kids grades 3 and under in tow. It was exhausting trying to find all the obscure supplies the teachers wanted while making sure the kids didn't run off or kill themselves climbing in and out of the cart.

Needless to say, never again! Instead, I'm going to look into buying school supplies online with EZSchoolSupplies.com.

Behind on your scrapbooking? Try digital scrapbooking with Karen of Scraps of Mind!

Here's a guest post from Karen of the Scraps of Mind blog, which is about the fine art of digital scrapbooking. I don't scrapbook (digital or otherwise) since I'm more of a writer than a crafter. (That's why I blog!) However, if you're a busy mom who loves to scrapbook, but doesn't have the time for it, you need to check out her blog and her new service Step by Step Digital Scrapbook.

Don't let today's moments slip away!

Hi I'm Karen and I write the Scraps of Mind blog, which all about scrapbooking. I'd like to tell you about a new scrapbooking website that I've recently launched to help absolute beginners get started in digital scrapbooking.

Why would I be interested in digital scrapbooking?

Well, if you're a Mom with young kids you've probably got a gazillion digital photos of them that are just sitting on your computer hard drive or on CDs. Digital cameras are a blessing and a curse. It's great to be able to take as many photos as you want. But when you have so many, you just feel overwhelmed and don't know what to do with them.

Moms have been making gorgeous scrapbook albums of the special moments in their children's lives for years. But often just at the time of their lives when you're taking the most photos, you find you have the least time or house space for crafty hobbies. And we all need some me-time and a chance to do something relaxing and get in touch with our creative side. (And yes, you do have one, even if you think you don't.)

Digital scrapbooking is the creative hobby for the Now Age

With no setting up or clearing away you can start and stop your scrapbook projects instantly whenever you want. Plus there are no half finished projects lying around for little hands to discover. With digital scrapbooking you can turn your special photo into a frameworthy piece of art, and then replicate it for your mom, your sister or pretty much anybody you like with no effort at all.

Lucie Gets on the Bus

My daughter Lucie got her picture in the Carbon Valley Edition of the Daily Times-Call today. (I was featured last week in their business spotlight section - ‘Mommy blogger’ has found outlet for her writing.)

The photograph was taken by Morgan Varon from the newspaper. It's a wonderfully creative shot. Nathan was mad that he didn't get in the newspaper. Actually he did a few months ago when the paper took pictures of kids playing basketball at the rec center.

Lucie and Nathan were part of a group of kids from our school who participated in a community service summer camp. The picture shows Lucie cleaning the bus that the seniors use. You can read more about it at "Serving seniors - Kids learn to give back to community during camp" by Lynn Parker.

Not only are the kids being taught to give back to the community, but the teachers make it fun. Now if I can only get Lucie to clean my car. And her room. And the big puddle of chocolate milk she left behind the couch.

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Sound Off in the Mom Central National Mom Blogger Survey - Win an Amazon Gift Card

Mom Central is inviting all mom bloggers to participate in their Mom Central "National Mom Blogger" survey.

If you've been blogging for awhile, you're probably getting emails from companies and publicist trying to promote their products - sometimes badly! Mom Central wants to change that.

Mom Central knows that mom bloggers are a unique and varied group of women who have quickly grown into an influential force in the marketplace. Mom Central has developed great relationships with many mom bloggers out there, and respects your opinion and powerful voice as a Mom Blogger.

They have designed the "Mom Blogger Survey" to help both Mom Central, as well as brands and companies, to deepen the dialogue with and better understand Mom Bloggers. For example, they would love to know: What are the top mistakes brands or companies make in soliciting your blog attention?  In your opinion, what constitutes a "true" blog? How important is it to you to make money from your blog?

As a thank you for your time - the survey takes 5-10 minutes - and valuable feedback, the first 500 completed surveys will receive a $10 gift certificate to Amazon.com.

All information obtained through this survey will be kept completely confidential and used only to better understand general trends in the larger community. Mom Central promises to never share or distribute your personal information with any outside parties.

And as an additional thank you, they look forward to sharing key highlights of the final survey report with you once the results have been analyzed. Click here to begin!

(Full disclosure - I've been a reviewer for Mom Central since 2007 and recently signed up with them as a social networking consultant.)

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Costumes aren't only for Halloween

Today was the first day of Lucie's summer preschool camp. The theme was "Pirate Adventures" and boy did the teachers go to town with their costumes. Miss Debbie was a swashbuckling pirate lad and Miss Jodi, a buccaneering pirate captain. There's nothing like having the preschool director walk around in a giant fuzzy red hat, an eye patch, and a drawn on mustache to make your day.

I must say, it was a hilarious start to the summer preschool camp season. The children made their own kids costumes such as:

• hooks out of foil and a plastic cup
• eye patches (premade patches which they decorated)
• hats out of paper
• a pet parrot made out of a toilet paper roll and construction paper

Of course, the kids all got a lesson on how to speak like a pirate - Arrgh! A pirate's life for me. Lucie can't wait for the next class, which will feature a treasure hunt for candy and GOLD!

Click here to read more...

MotherVerse Anthology: Mothering Out Loud: Moms Tell the Truth About Blogging it All

The editor at MotherVerse has put out the call for submissions on two proposed print anthologies - one for mom bloggers and the other on the global motherhood experience.

Blogging It All

The first proposed anthology is Mothering Out Loud: Moms Tell the Truth About Blogging it All. MotherVerse is looking for mama bloggers interested in opening up in a proposed anthology to be edited by the founder of MotherVerse Magazine and The MotherVerse Blog.

The anthology will focus on the behind the scenes lives of moms who blog their lives. The book will address questions such as why moms blog, what motivates them, the challenges they face, how they manage the personal/private dynamic of blogging about family and what impact mom blogs are having on a global societal level. Finished essays will need to be approximately 2000-4000 words in length.

The Global Motherhood Anthology

MotherVerse is looking for mothers who are living across the globe for a proposed anthology/research book on motherhood experiences in countries/cultures/political and religious environments around the world. Looking for mothers (writers or not) who would like to share stories and be part of an exploration of the diversity of motherhood experiences. If you are interested in becoming part of this project please write editor at motherverse dot com with “Global Motherhood Anthology” in the subject line.

Click here to read the full submissions call on the MotherVerse site.