A Mama's Rant

Mamapedia reaches out to local moms via Mamasource

If you’re a mom fed up with parenting advice from so-called experts who haven’t changed a diaper in years, you may want to check out Mamapedia. It’s an online site where you can search for parenting wisdom from other moms. The topics covered include kids by age, health, household, finance, and “all about me” (everything about moms from social life to fitness.

Mamapedia has gathered this info from local Mamasource online communities over the past two years. They’ve compiled their answers, organized them, and made them searchable.

The information covers kids of all ages (not just babies and toddlers like a lot of parenting sites) and it’s updated daily. Best of all it’s totally free.

I found some good advice for some issues we’re going through with my son. However, on threads about subjects like weight loss or skin care, I was annoyed to see women listing their business websites. This is against Mamasource’s Terms & Conditions of Use. I clicked on (Report This) link and after checking back, it looks like those discussions were cleaned up. Good to know that the Mamapedia site managers are working hard to make sure the members are following the rules.

Help a community maintain their own field of dreams

My son Nathan started baseball practice last week. Now that he’s old enough for the peewee league, he’s playing at our community’s new regional sports complex. The project was funded by Great Outdoors Colorado, which is supported by lottery money. It’s a beautiful facility and close enough to our home that we can walk to it.

However, many communities are sorely in need of help to maintain their ball fields and don’t have the funds or grants to do so. That’s why I’m helping get the word out about Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes Plant a Seed program.

Out of hundreds of fields submitted to www.frostedflakes.com, 30 have been chosen as finalists from across the country. Many fields are used heavily by their local communities, but the town or the school district doesn’t have funds to maintain them properly.

10-10-10 by Suzy Welch

Have you ever made a decision that you later regretted and wished you could take back? Tell me about it! But what if you had had a tool to help you think through your choices and determine how the decision would impact your life immediately, in the short term, and over a long period of time?

Wow, someone finally invented a magic wand! No, instead there’s a book you should check out by best-selling author Suzy Welch, a mother of four and a columnist for BusinessWeek and O, The Oprah Magazine called 10-10-10: A Life-Transforming Idea.

It provides you with a decision-making practice that is as simple as it is profound, a way to remove the emotion and uncertainty from decision-making and dramatically change how you make choices in your life.

Eggo Bake Shop Twists makes your family's breakfast routine a little easier

I don’t know what it is about my nine-year-old son, Nathan, but he cannot figure out that he’s old enough to make his own breakfast these days. (His sister, Lucie, who is 6, has no problem making her own toast, putting it on plate, and buttering the bread – all by herself.) To make it as easy as possible for him, I’m on the lookout for breakfast products that are easy for kids to prepare on their own.

On such product is Eggo Bake Shop™ Twists, the first microwaveable pastry that combines soft, pull-apart dough sprinkled with sugar crystals and strawberry or apple filling made with real fruit. In just 2 minutes and 25 seconds, your child can enjoy a warm, bakery-like breakfast that he or she made himself.

Of course, that’s assuming that your child is old enough to safely use the microwave. Nathan and Lucie, once they’re told how to exactly use the microwave, can operate it safely. Even so, I prefer to be nearby. Still, it would be great if the kids started their own breakfasts, while I was in the kitchen doing other things. It would save me time and make me feel less like a short order cook and waitress.

Do you wear glasses? Buy one get one free MONDAY at EyeBuyDirect.com

On Monday, February 9th, you can get a FREE pair of prescription glasses for every pair you buy at EyeBuyDirect.com.

As part of a Family Review Network blog tour, I was given the opportunity to receive a complimentary review pair from EyeBuyDirect.com and was very happy with the glasses I received. Here’s why:

• Great selection – I buy my prescription glasses at a big warehouse store and EyeBuyDirect.com had an even bigger selection. In fact, they carried several of the same fashion designer glasses. The only drawback are their sunglasses – not a big selection. However, you can make any pair of glasses into sunglasses by ordering tinted lenses – prescription or not.
• Amazing prices – For a little over $100 I got a prescription pair of fashion frame glasses (Suzie eyeglasses in honey) with Thin and Lite (1.57), Photochromic (light-adjusting), UV Coating, anti-reflective, and anti-scratch lenses. For the same amount, I usually only get frames and anti-scratch lenses. Also, there’s no shipping charges on orders over $99.
• Easy to order – You may shy away from buying glasses online since you can’t try them on. However, EyeBuyDirect.com has a very cool (and fun) way to try them on virtually – Eyetry. All you do is download a picture of yourself (a straight on picture of your face wearing a pair of glasses works best – see my picture above with my old glasses under the new ones). Then you can load the pair of glasses you want to try on, and adjust the glasses and pictures for size and placement. When you see something you like, you can save it, share it on the site or even put it on your Facebook page.

Making healthy choices at the grocery store with Stop & Shop's Healthy Ideas

Have you noticed that your local supermarket is putting special shelf tags on items to denote if they’re healthy or gluten free? My local grocery store, King Soopers, has special “No gluten” tags, which makes shopping for my mother-in-law so much easier.

Well, the East Coast based Stop & Shop Supermarket goes one step further by launching Healthy Ideas, a new on-shelf symbol that helps customers easily identify foods that fit into a healthy lifestyle. I love this idea because making healthier choices begins in the grocery store and it takes the guesswork out of making healthy food choices.

Stop & Shop has placed the Healthy Ideas symbol on more than 3,000 items and shelf tags throughout its stores. The symbol highlights foods that have less fat, saturated fat and sodium. It also helps to ensure that the foods we select include a healthful amount of at least one nutrient, such as fiber, whole grains, calcium and minerals.

Print out your shipping list on the Healthy Ideas website

Don’t have a Stop & Shop by you? Well, you can still visit their website for Healthy Ideas recipes like Microwave Vegetable Lasagna and Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms. What’s extremely cool about their website is that you can check off recipe ingredients you don’t have in stock at home and print out a shopping list to take to the store. I wish more recipe websites used this feature.

This post was brought to you by Mom Central.

Be Fire Smart this winter

I hope you’ve survived the holidays with no mishaps like burning down the deck while deep frying the turkey (happened to a friend once). Or setting the kitchen cupboards on fire from a grease fire (happened to my mom).

And I bet you’re not like me and forget to extinguish candles when you leave the room. (Ooops.) Of course, you never leave the house with the oven on. (Yes, I’m guilty of that, too.)

If you’re wondering why I’m thinking about fire safety, it’s because of Liberty Mutual’s Be Fire Smart campaign.

Getting a little party planning help from Heinz and Ocean Spray

I’m going to a friend's New Year’s party next week and have been told to “bring family and an appetizer.” So what should I make? How about Ultimate Party Meatballs or Ultimate Baked Brie? Both recipes use a 16-ounce can Ocean Spray® Jellied Cranberry Sauce and a 12-ounce bottle Heinz® Chili Sauce and sound yummy. (They're an excellent way to get rid of that extra can of cranberry sauce, too!)

Many more party recipes are featured on the Ultimate Party Meatballs website. With the Super Bowl coming up, I’ll certainly be using some of these recipes.

I’ve also signed up to get more recipes and entertaining tips and the Ultimate Party Sweepstakes to win $3,000 in gift cards or a 4-qt. Rival® Crock-Pot®.

Customize your party with MyMMs.com

As we head into the new year, many of us will be looking at ways to create special gifts and party favors that won’t bust our budgets. One way is to use personalized M&M’s. These are perfect for party favors for weddings, birthdays, graduation parties, and baby showers, and terrific for goodie bags for kid parties. You can even  do corporate logoed M&M’s for your business celebrations and events.

Get personal with M&M’s

I’ve ordered other customized candies, and was eager to see what M&M’s offered. Not only can you pick out your colors and messages, but you can upload a picture of a pet, the birthday boy or girl, or the lucky couple and have them printed right on the M&M’s. (Click here to learn how to customize your M&M’s.)

MyMMs.com also offers dozens of gift options to accompany your customized M&M'S, such as candy dispensers, decorative tins, and MLB-themed containers. (Baseball themed birthday party anyone?) New this year, M&M'S has teamed up with Martha Stewart for ideas to make personalized gifts even more special. (Check out the Personal Wish Jars craft. Instead of plain jars, you could use baby food jars for a baby shower party favor.)

Smartphones for smart moms - Windows Mobile smartphones and the Samsung Omnia

I’m not a big cellphone user and only have it for emergencies or travel. However, with all the new smartphones like the Samsung Omnia on the market, and the amazing deals various phone companies are running for the holidays, I’m thinking of making the jump.

I’m traveling more and would love to take my email on the road without having to break out the laptop and find a wireless connection. Also, I’m looking for a device that would work with my current set up (Windows based PC) and eliminate the need for me to carry around a cellphone, an electronic planner, a camera, and a laptop. GPS and MP3 would be cool, too.