November 2nd, 2011
Safety is your main concern while driving, especially when your children are in the car. But your eyes change drastically when the sun sets.
Did You Know?
· Starting at age 20, the amount of light needed to drive doubles every 13 years, so by the time a person is about 60, they’ll need 10 times as much light as a 19 year old to see clearly.
· Nearly one of every three drivers on the road (32 percent) say they have difficulty seeing all or most of the time while driving in the dark
· More than one-fourth (26 percent) report that they have trouble seeing signs or exits· One-fifth (20 percent) acknowledge difficulty seeing animals or pedestrians
· More than one in five (22 percent) report problems judging distance while driving in the darkStay safe while driving at night:
· Turn on your headlights in early twilight. Not only for your own vision’s sake, but to cue pedestrians on the road that you are approaching.
· Do not look directly at the glare of the oncoming headlights and keep your eyes focused slightly above the headlights. Try to keep your eyes moving across the roadway so you can gauge everything.
· Make sure that all your windows and mirrors are clean so there’s no dirt to give you glare or affect your vision.
· Adjust headlights properly. It’s estimated that more than half of all vehicles on the road have improperly adjusted headlights.
To learn more about driving at night and to listen to the Healthy Vision™ with Dr. Val Jones podcast, please visit: blogtalkradio.com/healthyvision
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Raisels, The Fruity Raisins
March 2nd, 2011
Yum, I am always looking for healthy snacks for my kiddos’ snack time at school.
We know that some moms may take issue with the amount of sugar in Raisels, but others will appreciate the raisins (the number one ingredient in Raisels) naturally contain about 21 grams of sugar per 35 gram serving. The light dusting of sugar that they add to make Raisels (about 10% of the total weight), is a small price to pay for making raisins into a healthy alternative to candies and soft drinks that can contain far more added sugar than Raisels!
Remember, 90% of the sugar in Raisels is naturally occurring. There are 5X more added sugar in a serving of sweetened dried cranberries than Raisels. There are also 19X more added sugar in a bag of Skittles original flavor candies and 17X more added sugar in a 12 ounce can of coca cola.
The American Heart Association issued guidelines for diets based on added sugar (http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20090824/heart-group-limit-added-sugars-diet), but for moms who are more interested in total sugar than added, Raisels 23 grams compare favorably to a 6 ounce serving of Yoplait original strawberry yogurt (26 grams), a 3.25” diameter apple (23 grams), or a 1.5 ounce bar of Hershey’s Milk Chocolate (24 grams). Many other common snacks and candies have even more sugar.
No food is perfect, but for the money, Raisels come close. Raisels number one ingredient is real fruit that’s healthy, fun for kids to eat, and jammed packed with vitamins and nutrients that sugar based snacks lack.
My kids think they actually taste like candy and compare them to sour patch kids but with the added benefit of them being raisins. They come in four fabulous flavors (Sour Apple, Sour Orange, Sour Lemon and Sour Peach) and are available in six packs of 1.25 oz. portion-controlled boxes. They also offer a 100% Vitamin C daily allowance per serving.
They are a fruity flavored raisin and the first 100% real fruit snack that actually tastes like candy! They have no sodium, high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners. They can be found in your grocer’s dried fruit section.
For more information about Raisels, visit http:///www.raisels.com
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To do or not to do?
February 2nd, 2011
These days, we have a tremendous variety of technology at our fingertips that can help us better leverage our time and get organized. So there really is no reason to fall victim to a cluttered mind and a never-ending TO DO list when sanity is just a few clicks away. Here are a few tips on how to stay organized and conquer the dreaded TO DO list.
1. Project Management. Each night, I reestablish the next day’s top 5 things that must get done. These top 5 things always have other people’s names next to them. If you are in a leadership position and don’t have people to delegate to, you won’t make it. Try using Basecamp by 37signals. Basecamp is an easy to use project management tool that allows you to assign tasks and “to do” lists to your team members. If you have more than 1 person on your team, you need this. Plus they have a cool story from their startup days.
2. Smart Scheduling. There are numerous scheduling tools out there. I use the Action Method Notebook by Behance. A great little find that is based on the mantra, “Your passion is your work, treat it well.” The Action Book is part of Behance’s Action Method product line, and it is designed to help creative professionals boost productivity and make ideas happen. The Action Method helps us push projects forward by organizing our ideas and focusing on action steps. I quickly filled my first notebook and am now onto my second.
3. Handling Email Effiently. I found a long time ago that I could very easily get off the task at hand when answering emails. I’d feel the need to respond right away, even if the email requested information that might take some time to produce. I’d get off the task I was working on and by day’s end, I’d find that I didn’t accomplish half the things on my TO DO list. So I started enacting rules. If I can respond in about two minutes, I do it right then. If I need to research or take other action for a longer period of time, I flag the message and decide when to revisit. This way I can focus on one task at a time, execute and move on to the next, and then answer the more demanding emails once my day’s TO DO list is complete.
4. And Finally: Breathe. This is your tech break. If you find yourself overwhelmed by a project, or that your eyes are glazing over and you can no longer think straight enough to produce quality work, take a break. Walk around the block (maybe 3 times), or grab a coffee with a friend for 10 minutes to switch gears. Take your mind off the task at hand for a moment, your brain needs a break every now and again.
We are most productive when we have a less cluttered and more organized mind. Enacting any of these items into your everyday can help save you tons of time and prevent future headaches! What technologies do you use to stay on task and conquer your TO DO list?
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Wheat Allergy kids can mold with Moon Dough!
September 22nd, 2010
Moon Dough (for children ages 2-4) is an amazing new molding compound unlike anything you’ve seen before! Moon Dough is soft and marshmallow-like in consistency. It cleans ups easily and never dries out-so you can use it again and again!
It’s hypoallergenic and wheat free! Woo-hoo my food allergy kiddos loved this stuff!
Both our 8 and 5 year old testers had a blast sculpting the molding dough into fun creations. Unlike the clay and wheat type molding compounds, they don’t dry up and make a mess, stick to your floor grout, or end up eaten by the puppy!
The folks at Team Mom were generous to allow us to review Moon Dough Farm.
The playset is geared towards ages 2-4 but it’s amazing that my older child of 8 was mesmerized by its consistency. The set included 1 magical molding barn handle, 1 molding barn base, 1 molding barn ramp, a molding barn silo, 1 instruction sheet, 1 magic molding barn, 1 fence mold, 1 hay mold, 1 playmat, 1 white bag, 1 yellow bag and 1 blue bag of 1.5 oz Moon Dough.
Place in your Moon Dough, turn the handle and out comes the creation! My kids used Super heroes to play with their creations and had hours of fun!
Also available are the Moon Dough Diner and Moon Dough Puppies!
Moon Dough comes in eight great colors you can purchase separately from the sets: Blue, green, white, orange, purple, red, pink and yellow.
Moon Dough is available at Toys “R” Us, Target, Wal-Mart, Kmart, Amazon.com, A.C. Moore, Michaels and eToys.
Happy Molding: www.moondough.com
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Transforming Imaginations from Spin Master!
September 22nd, 2010
From the best-selling children’s book and hit Nick Jr. Television show, Olivia inspires kids everywhere to think boldly and follow their dreams. Spin Master has taken Olivia’s bold personality and extraordinary imagination, and infused it into a collection of fun and creative toys for children ages 4 and up.
We had the pleasure of reviewing an Olivia 2-in-1 Transforming Playset from the great folks at Team Mom.
The playset affords kids ages 4 and up a chance at true creativity. My sons who are 8 and 5 could not wait to play with this set as they are both fans of Olivia and her adventures. The parts were a little small but could be managed by both ages. They loved how it transformed from Olivia’s house to a pirate ship! They could not wait to put on the stickers and correct the Mommy’s Company team on where the added stickers should be placed. They played for an hour and even took out other figures from other playsets to transform their stories.
The set includes: an Olivia figure and base, 23 accessories and one sticker sheet. Place everything in a zip lock baggy inside the house and you’ll always be ready for another adventure with the built in handle to the home on the top!
The 2-in-1 Transforming Playset is available at Toys “R” Us, Target and Kmart.
Olivia Plush: with the Olivia plush doll, everyone is a star! Olivia is all dressed up and ready to perform. With super soft plush and the best fashion sense around, Olivia comes dressed in all of her favorite outfits.
We sent this to a Mommy’s Company reader who shared that her daughter immediately gravitated towards the soft plush doll and has since been carrying her. She has even been seen reading to her new Olivia Plush doll. The 8” Olivia Plush is available at Toys “R” Us, Target and Kmart.
Collect all four including Artist, Opera Singer, Cow and Outfits
For more information on either Olivia item, visit: www.spinmaster.com
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