Clean Well

I had the chance to review something pretty cool recently for ParentBloggers. The makers of Clean Well offered some of us the chance to try out their new All Natural Anti-Bacterial Foaming Hand Washes. They use essential plant oils to make an anti-microbial compound that kills 99.9% of germs.

I realize there are people on both sides of the antibacterial fence. I happen to fall on the side that likes to kill the bastards, with a kid who seems to always get sick and who possesses a lack of thorough cleaning in general it grants me further peace of mind. So eager to try it, I signed up and was quickly sent all three scents, Lavender Absolute, Ginger Bergamot and Orange Vanilla. We put one in the bathroom and one in the kitchen and let it ride.

The hand pumps are easy for kids to use and the foam seems less wasteful for kids to use than pumping liquid soap, where less is more and more is easy to come by. The scents are pleasing, the essential oils come through nicely and each of the bottles are made from the most recyclable plastics possible. And the best part is the soaps are all natural and don't contain any Triclosan, something causing problems for frogs in our streams and rivers and that potentially causes problems for humans.

The compound in CleanWell is called Ingenium. It's the only all natural antimicrobial that meets both EPA and FDA standards for germ killing efficacy. It's made from plants, so it's a renewable resource and uses no pesticides in it's production which means less toxic chemicals are produced as a result, not only protecting us by the planet as well.

We love this soap. The prices are reasonable and comparable to what we'd pay for hand soap off the shelf. The only recommendation we have for CleanWell is that they make big refill containers so you don't need to replace the bottles as often. Ours lasted in the bathroom for about a month and it's close to empty. Purchasing a large refill bottle would mean less waste over all, perhaps one bottle in exchange for twelve small ones.

I am very happy to have been able to check this out. J felt the same way, it's rare for him to get involved with my reviews but he thought this was terrific and specifically asked that we buy it again. That alone is saying a lot.

printing made easy

I know a lot of people say this, but I really mean it when I am a technological infant. So when Parent Bloggers offered me a chance to review the HP Photosmart A626 Compact Color Printer I approached it with equal measures of excitement and trepidation.


So no one was more surprised than I was when I had this printer up and running in less than 10 minutes. You have no idea how spectacular that made me feel and we can all be assured it was due to HP and not to me. This was the easiest installation of technology that I have ever done in my life.

The step by step directions were easy, both on paper and on the screen itself. And I couldn't believe how responsive the touch screen was. Touch screens in the past have left me wanting to hit something but this actually responded to my prompt every single time.

Once your memory card is in the printer you can view your pictures in a variety of ways, manually, slideshow, various groupings as well as perform all the editing. Luckily we've recently gone on vacation and so I had a host of tropical pictures on my memory card and I was able to edit them easily - cropping, removing the red eye, adding frames to pictures and actually writing captions directly into the picture by hand. Erasing your mistakes is an easy thing too. And the quality was superb. As I printed out pictures of the coke bottle Caribbean it looked exactly as I remembered it. J has been working with two different photo printers at his work recently without decent results and as such was feeling skeptical but when I showed him these pictures he said it was much better color quality than anything he'd been able to achieve recently.

One of the things I haven't been able to try yet is printing pictures that are already stored on our computer. My laptop is mainly for work and I am not able to install new software onto it and our laptop with our pictures on it is temporarily out of commission. But as soon as it's fixed I plan on creating a photobook using one of the books HP sent with the printer. I am going to make a smaller photobook for my daughter with pictures of all of her friends and use the larger photobook to chronicle our recent trip.

The coolest thing about the HP printer is how small and portable it is. It only weighs a little over 3 lbs and is about 10" wide. Perfect for mobility and small spaces, something I put to terrific use last night. I took it over to one of our shelters and offered to take pictures for folks who wanted them and was able to print them right then and there for some people, many of whom hadn't had a photo taken of themselves in years. Several folks wanted pictures to send to distant relatives and some wanted group pictures of their friends, folks who live in such transition means friendships are real but fleeting, and the fact that I could take their picture and immediately turn around and hand them a print was really cool and the red eye function was especially useful given the poor lighting and the tiredness of the folks we help.

I'd imagine this same portability would be terrific for birthday and holiday parties as well as day care and school events. When you can frame and/or write on the pics it makes for a nice personal token that folks can take away immediately.

The only drawback is that you can't save the edited pictures directly onto the printer. So if you want to preserve them you'd need a bit more equipment if you were trying to do it at a function which might not be the easiest depending on where you are.

If you are interested HP is running a special promotion offering 20% off of their Photobooks. I noticed an instant rebate on the printer as well. Just in time for Christmas!

Ready, Set, Fire Truck!

Tis the season, I suppose, but reviewing Paz's Radio Control Fire Truck was something I signed up for awhile ago and M is certainly glad I did.

I don't generally buy plastic toys but I caved when I agreed to do the review after showing M a picture of it online and watching her lose her mind. Fire Truck! I'm a Fire Fighter! (She's been in a fierce firefighting stage lately) and when the package arrived I couldn't get it out of the box fast enough.

This truck is all about movement. It's got an easy to use remote control that enabled M to learn how to practice hand eye coordination and even a dose of patience while she figured out how to manuever the control to steer the truck around the kitchen without smacking it into walls. Luckily it's an easy venture (something pretty cool for a toddler to learn) and soon she was off and running and the truck was zipping all over the house.

It's got an easy on/off switch, but because M insisted on SLEEPING with the truck on the night it arrived I happened to find that switch around 3am the next morning (my fault, not the toys) and it includes four little people who can ride along, but to be honest those folks seemed like an afterthought and not a valuable part of the toy. They didn't hurt, but they weren't the main attraction. The movement, sounds, and lights stole the show.

It's durable, colorful and engaging, and it's also a bit loud (and even louder at 3am) so if you aren't one for noisy toys it's an important point to consider. All in all, plastic aside, it's a good toy for a toddler. You can check out what some other folks are saying about it over at Parent Bloggers too.

chief organizational officer or faulty mindless control freak?

Sometimes we all need a little help figuring out how to keep the axis turning.

I recently had the opportunity to review the Day Runner Family Matters system via Parentbloggers.

It's an interesting system. An erasable wall calendar, file folders and storage bins for each member of the family, a day planner and door hangers to remind yourself of what you'll probably forget.

I think it's a great idea for larger families or for families with older kids. We didn't have much use for the bins besides a general one for our family - our information is too entwined and our activities aren't seperate enough to warrant the additional storage. And the door hangers are nothing but a plaything for a toddler, so those quickly had to be relegated to a higher surface. And guess what, then they didn't get used at all. But again, that's me, not the system.

The wall calendar is terrific. Now I have a place to list each of the things going on in a week instead of merely keeping it all in my head. I've already filled it with upcoming things for the next month but again, with multiple kids I'd imagine the columns would have greater use.

It's probably safe to say our family won't get a ton of use out of this product but that isn't a reflection on the product itself, but rather a function of our still small family and one very smart (or controlling) woman who still stubbornly chooses to keep it all in her head.

i am a pureeing fool

I couldn't get enough of Jessica Seinfeld's book Deceptively Delicious. After being an excellent vegetable eater as a baby M has completely turned against them as a toddler. Anything orange or green earns the screech i don't LIKE orange food. i don't LIKE green food. Truth be told, it's a pain in the rear. So when Parentbloggers offered the chance to review a cookbook where the vegetables are smuggled in I figured I had nothing to lose.

I love this book. I've pureed cauliflower and made banana bread, pureed carrots and made meatloaf. I pureed acorn squash (a feat in and of itself) and put it in buttered noodles. M has eaten everything and I sit smugly by for once, victorious over the toddler food war.

The book is not only full of recipes, but also tips and techniques. I am pretty sure I won't become the pureeing warrior that Jessica is, but I now have another tool at my disposal and know I'll return to this book over and over. It's just that easy to use and the food tastes really good. You'd never know all those veggies were in there and it feels better simply eating it, not only because there was more intentionality and effort in the preparation but also because it's a healthier way to treat your family.

Getting this book and having the space and luxury to actually use it brought up some other issues for me too, ones that I am addressing over at my main blog today so if you found me some other way stop over there before you go.

safe travels

I've never done a good job at preparing for the worst. Since M came along I've gotten better, we now have water and some food stored in the garage in case of an earthquake. We baby proofed the house. But I've never taken measures to ensure safety while on the road aside from the car seat. We don't keep extra food or water or blankets in our car. And shame on us.

Sequoia Survival helped me change that recently by allowing me to review their travel kit through Parentbloggers. The kit is small, so compact it will barely be noticeable in the trunk. But the point is, it's in there.

The kit is packed with all sorts of important items. ready to eat meals for two for an entire day, water, a decent first aid kit, rope, gloves, matches, paper, a mini-blade, emergency blankets, lightsticks, a hand crank cell phone charger and even a deck of cards. It's got what you need to spend the night, maybe two nights stranded in your car.

I will never forget the Kim family's struggle last winter. I will never forget their agonizing story of survival, a wrong turn on a day trip turned into tragedy. We've gone off the beaten path ourselves and never were we adequately prepared for the what ifs.

Nothing can truly keep us safe and that is probably one of the most important realizations we'll ever have as human beings. But we can do our part to be smart about it, to be prepared in the case of emergency, so that our mistakes can be minimized as much as possible.

I feel better knowing it's in my trunk. I'll feel better knowing I have this one small measure for M and for my family. I won't allow myself to live in fear, but I will continue to be smarter about the choices I make and calculate the risks. The Sequoia Survival Kit is one of the measures we'll include from now on in our travels, that little red safety pack nestled in my trunk.

I hope I never need to use it, but I am happy knowing it's there.

sole train

Parent bloggers and Ryka have offered a soleful opportunity to many of their reviewers as well as anyone reading this post (did you know they are giving away 50 shoes every day until October??)

I used to work out religiously before having M. I'd hit the gym five or six days a week before work and on the weekends. I felt fabulous. In fact I worked out until the week I went into labor and I had never felt so strong. And then M was born and a year slipped by, then two. My exercise was increasingly sporadic and I couldn't find a groove. So about a year ago I went and bought new shoes, and my first time out I got a blister. The second time out I got a new one. So the new shoes sat in the closet and when I would go out walking I'd put on my old pre-baby shoes, the ones with barely any tread. My shins protested.

And then the Ryka opportunity came along. I was a bit apprehensive, sneakers on line that I didn't get to try on had a fair shot at not fitting, at the blisters redux. But I loved the Ryka shoes; not only are they comfortable, the soles have a tremendous amount of cushion and the right amount of flex, but they are also cool and understated, a perfect white.

Since I've gotten them I've gone out walking 3-4 times a week and I've never gotten a blister. And my shin pains have disappeared (the wonders of shoes with proper tread).

And this could be your post, your story. Because Ryka is giving them away. You never know, you might be walking on soft white sneakers soon too. And your shins will thank you, and so will your muscles and joints. I know I still need to move more than I do, but the right shoes go a long way.