Staked is the debut novel from author J. F. Lewis, and it’s a very different vampire novel than what I have been reading. The story centers around Eric, a relatively young yet incredibly powerful vampire, who has some major problems with memory loss and anger management; blackouts are never a good thing! Eric isn’t a dark, brooding, sexy, romantic hero, this is a guy’s guy vampire; a vampire who owns a strip club. While I love the romantic hero vampires, it’s refreshing to see a vampire with an attitude problem.
We were happy to receive a copy of the newest Bob the Builder DVD, Bob the Builder – Building Bobland Bay in collaboration with a Parents Blogging Network blog tour. Our family started watching Bob the Builder when it was first on TV and BG was a toddler. BG had always had a fascination with tools, and she adored the show. I was happy to have her watch the show, as it kept her engaged and it included Wendy, a female builder in addition to the eponymous Bob, and we quickly ended up with Bob toys and video tapes.
BG continues to have a fascination with tools (she was in second heaven yesterday when the carpenter was working on our floor!), but at 9 1/2 she has outgrown Bob & Wendy. Er, mostly. We have watched the DVD a few times, now, and I’m sure we’ll watch it many more! The Building Bobland Bay DVD includes some new machines, episodes my girls had never seen, as well as some episodes from two other much-loved series: Fireman Sam and Fifi and the Flowertots. Fifi is a big hit here, so knowing we had a Fifi show made the DVD all the more exciting. I’m glad that the folks who put together the DVD didn’t exclude a “girly” show from a construction DVD!
LG at 4 1/2 was eager to watch the DVD with me, and loved every second. BG and MG (9 1/2, 7 1/2) didn’t sit down originally, but once they joined us, they didn’t get up. The storylines on Bob the Builder are really engaging, and because the stories on Building Bobland Bay are linked, once you start watching one 15 minute episode, you don’t want to get up until the DVD is finished, you want to know what happens next! It’s fun watching “Bobland Bay” grow, and the characters are so much fun it’s hard to get up and walk away. Each of the machines has its own personality, and they really are endearing.
Bob the Builder – Building Bobland Bay is focused on Bob and the crew’s next project; now that Bob and his team are finished building houses in Sunflower Valley, they are building a place for fun near the sea. Mixed in with the construction are some new machines, morals about doing the right thing, trying your hardest, and playing fair; Bob, Wendy, and his crew do a great job of mixing machines and values so kids pick up on the ideals without pounding it into their heads.
As I mentioned earlier, my girls have always loved watching Bob and Wendy, so I didn’t think there would be much of a difference when we watched the DVD with a 3 1/2 year old boy. I had noticed earlier in the day that he was fascinated with the trains and trucks at the local museum, so I was glad we had brought the DVD over for a trial run. I don’t want to be stereotyping, but WOW. He totally enjoyed the DVD on a different level than my girls. Sure, he was engaged by the characters and the storylines, but he was thrilled by the different machines, jumping up and down, and pointing at them. It was a very different experience than watching with my girls who want to listen quietly so they don’t miss any of the dialog.
Our gaggle of girls loved Bob the Builder – Building Bobland Bay, and think it would make a great gift for anyone in the 2-5 age range, but after seeing a real live boy watch the show, I’d have to say that I’d wrap it up as a present for a boy really quickly. And maybe add some pretend tools, or real ones, too.
We give it 5 spotlights out of 5. Our only minor hesitation in giving the stars is that the stories are linked so much that you’ll probably end up with a tantrum if you don’t watch the whole DVD in one sitting.
Carpool Diem is a new book by Nancy Star. Star has taken the theme of soccer moms and the actual sport of soccer and taken it to another level, creating characters that will make you laugh, because it’s all just so true. If you’ve spent any time around youth soccer, you must take a look at this book, it was written for you!
Our main character in Carpool Diem is Annie, a high powered executive who travels for work, as does her husband Tim, who is also very busy and traveling a lot for work. Their nanny Hildy takes care of their 12 year old daughter Charlotte, and Annie is starting to realize that Hildy knows far more about what Charlotte is doing and more about everything in general. It’s right around the time that this realization is setting in that Annie is fired, and turns into a stay-at-home-mom slash consultant. Once she’s home, Annie realizes even more how out of it she’s been, when she meets her “new” neighbor, a woman who has lived in the house next door for two years.
Where the Heart Leads: From the Casebook of Barnaby Adair is the newest historical mystery/romance from bestselling author Stephanie Laurens. If you love a good Regency romance, you’ll adore this novel. If you have never read a romance, but like a good historical fiction novel, or a good historical mystery, you will be surprised by how much you like this book.
I love 1800 Flowers.com. I’ve used them to send presents to all the mothers & grandmothers in our lives, and every present has been happily received. I’ve also been the recipient of gifts from 1800 Flowers.com, and have been thrilled with the quality of the flowers and gifts each time.
I’m not a big flower person. Don’t get me wrong, I love a pretty bouquet of flowers on the table, but I am not good at remembering flower names. I do like pretty, and I prefer fair trade when possible. I used to prefer giving flowering plants to cut flowers, but then all the plants died, so I’m back to preferring to give and receive pretty bouquets.
If you plan to give flowers to the Mothers in your life, it’s worth getting quality flowers, and not just whatever the convenience store has on sale. Trust me, they’ll appreciate it! If you choose 1800 Flowers for your mothers day gifts, you can save money and have the moms around happy with you, all in one fell swoop! Here are the coupons, each of which only runs for a limited time, so buy early for more savings and less hassle.
Mar26 – Save $10 no minimum
Mar15 – Save $15 w/min $74.99 purchase
Mar25 – Save $25 w/min $99.99 purchase
I need to drop some hints about this pretty tulip bouquet! Leaving browser windows open, ladies – best way to drop a hint!
Kristin Harmel’s newest release is an engrossing young adult novel called When You Wish. This is a delightful story of a girl pushed to be a star by her mother, but Star herself doesn’t feel comfortable with her “star” persona, and tries to discover who she really is. Readers might remember my earlier reviews of Kristin Harmel’s wonderful chick lit books How to Sleep with a Movie Star and The Art of French Kissing, and this book is right up there with the others – if you’ve read her other books, you will definitely want to pick this one up! If you’re not already a fan, When You Wish will quickly convince you to pick up her other novels.
You think I’m kidding? Nope, totally serious. Because of an inexpensive desktop label maker my kids can actually tell which toys go in which bin. Admittedly the label maker doesn’t put the toys into the bin for you, but it’s a step. If you are looking for a way to add some fun into organizing your home, check out the home label makers; they have come so far from the kind that were available when I was a kid! You’ll be amazed at the things that can benefit from a label maker: I have to carry an inhaler and a day’s worth of medication when I leave for the day, and now the inhaler and the meds container have my name & phone number on them in case I lose them in transit somewhere. Perfect solution!
For businesses, there are even more reasons to have a label maker onsite. You could be printing labels for all of your files, storage, and more; no more messy handwriting! Plus, now there are label makers that can print postage! You can save yourself time and energy, never mind the cost of gas you use driving to the post office and circling 4 times before you can find a parking place!
While I have yet to meet a label maker I didn’t like, the LabelWriter 400 is special. It can print out almost any type of label you can imagine (and from any computer program you can imagine), plus it can access online stamps, then print out postage label. DYMO has a program for stamps that, unlike most others, doesn’t require a monthly fee. If you’ve got a small business, think of all the ways you could use this little machine that just uses one little USB port to make you happy!
Label makers, they’re the perfect present. Hey, isn’t Mother’s day around the corner? Or Easter? Oooh, buy yourself or your office a label maker to celebrate the first day of spring – you won’t have to waste this spring reading illegible handwriting on files, cramping your hand addressing a bunch of envelopes, or even waste it waiting in line at the post office!
The Girl Who Stopped Swimming is the newest novel by bestselling author Joshilyn Jackson. A mix of mystery, parenting, paranormal, and the drama of family dysfunction, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming will quickly pull you under its spell. Jackson pulls on her own southern heritage to create a realistic-feeling impoverished rural Alabama town, and then she pulls on her life in the suburbs of Atlanta to create the contrasting perfect suburban neighborhood. The characters that spring from those contrasting towns are also drawn from people the author has observed, and they have an authentic feel.
I was offered the opportunity to test the new Naked Naturals citrus shampoo and conditioner, and it’s great to see a hair product with fewer chemicals and more ingredients I can pronounce!
I have always bought natural soap, but I have skimped on shampoo and conditioner, and now that I think of it, isn’t the shampoo and conditioner in closer contact to our eyes and mucus membranes? After that duh moment, I’m switching to a more natural shampoo. Naked Naturals is trying to have a better ecological footprint with no lauryl sulfates, no animal by-products, no harsh chemicals, no synthetic scents, and not tested on animals.
The Citrus and Keratin Naked Naturals shampoo and conditioner have a good lather and a good scent. The citrus-y scent really smelled clean to me. As a person with medium-long hair, I want a conditioner that de-tangles and leaves my hair feeling stronger, both of which occurred with the Naked Naturals conditioner. I’ve used salon conditioners that left my hair feeling brittle and dry, but after washing and conditioning my hair with the Naked Naturals products, it felt strong.
I’m glad I had the chance to try the Naked Naturals shampoo. I’m planning to pick up a couple bottles so that I can do a long-term test about their claims of strengthening hair. The difference in how my hair feels after only one use is impressive, so I look forward to seeing what happens after a week or two! I’ll have to post a review update.
We give the Naked Naturals products 4 spotlights out of 5; great cleaning and conditioning, much more natural than most shampoos & conditioners, but still has a few unpronounceable words in the ingredients!
Just as I was running low on cleaning supplies, I was offered the opportunity to review the new “green” cleaners from Clorox in collaboration with Mom Central. I had previously reviewed certified Organic cleaners, so I was interested in seeing the differences between other natural cleaners, Green Works Clorox products and the “regular” Clorox products.
Living “Green” has become a hot cause, whether it’s buying a Prius, watching An Inconvenient Truth, or Global Warming as the focus of the newest Maximum Ride novel. More and more companies are touting a certain percentage of recycled paper, less packaging, and being “natural”, because that’s what consumers say they want. Just as granola bars filled with chocolate and sugar are “natural”, most products have “natural” cleaners mixed in with the chemicals. What exactly makes a cleaner “green”? Clorox and other companies are hoping to regain customers who may have read about the evils of bleach and are trying to lower their use of chemicals, but who either wish to purchase cleaners at their regular supermarket and/or are not interested in making their own cleaners.
Skeptic that I am, my first question was “what does Clorox consider natural?” Thankfully, they have that definition posted. The goal of Green Works is to have cleaners that work as well as “traditional” cleaners, be made from plant & mineral ingredients, be biodegradable, not be tested on animals, and be made with sustainable resources. The one area where I would disagree with them about “natural” is petrochemicals (chemicals derived from petroleum): Clorox is minimizing their use so the Green Works line is 99% petrochemical free, where I would expect a “natural” product to be 100% petrochemical free. The ingredient list for Green Works is much shorter at least: coconut-based cleaning agent (non-ionic surfectant), corn-based ethanol, essential lemon oil, filtered water, and biodegradable preservative.
Beyond the question of Natural – how do the cleaners clean? I took three tricky areas in our home, and tested them with the Green Works cleaners: our stove, which is white and constantly in use, the window behind where our 4 year old eats, and our bathroom, which is used repeatedly by 5 humans and 1 cat. The stovetop was sprayed, let sit, and then sprayed and wiped. A bit of the cooked-on gunk needed some elbow grease, but overall the Green Works Natural All-Purpose cleaner cleaned it very well. The Green Works Natural glass & surface cleaner cut through the finger-marks and chocolate trails on the picture window, and left it streak-free, without the nauseating ammonia scent – the light lemon scent is much nicer than ammonia for eating and cooking areas! In the bathroom, there were a few areas that needed to soak, but in general the all-purpose cleaner got rid of the icky bathroom dirt easily. Because there was no risk of mixing ammonia and bleach accidentally, I was able to clean the bathroom without opening the window to ventilate in 10 degree weather, a big bonus!
The big benefit I found with a different brand of natural cleaners was that I felt comfortable with my daughters using them on their own. While I wouldn’t feel comfortable with my daughters using the Green Works line unsupervised, I’d rather have these cleaners in the house than the traditional cleaners! If you are used to traditional cleaners, the Green Works line is a great way of reducing your ecological footprint without requiring major lifestyle changes and without giving up real cleaning power. Additionally, the lemon scent feels clean, with none of the bleach or ammonia odor that comes after using traditional cleaners. Green Works is a huge improvement over other cleaners, but each family needs to decide which cleaner is right for them. Is Green Works green enough for you?
The Gaggle of Reviewers are a family of four - Mom; Big Girl, 11; Middle Girl, 9; Little Girl, 6. We are a family of readers, computer users, DVD watchers, consumers, and people who love the outdoors.
Our reviews of products give a 1-5 Spotlight rating. Services and books do not usually receive those ratings. Book reviews link back to our Book Review site. Reviewed products are often received for free, but are sometimes purchased - if the product is received for free, we will state that in the review. All reviewed products show our true feelings about the product or service - we will not give a great review simply for payment or freebies! (Even though we do like payment and freebies!) ;) Feel free to email us if you have any questions about our reviews OR if you would like to send us a product to review.
We have watched the DVD a few times, now, and I’m sure we’ll watch it many more! The 
