Baby R'Minder

When I started this review site it was mainly to keep track of my Mom Central reviews, but I also wanted to be able to review products, movies, books and anything else on my own as well. Occasionally a product comes along that really makes sense and it's even more awesome when that product is the creation of a family member. I'm proud to let y'all know about this product, the Baby R'minder.

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We are a busy society. We are probably too busy for our own goods. I know I personally meet myself coming and going on a regular basis. My kids are all vocal, verbal and frankly, they never hush while we're in the car because they are in grade school and middle school and are therefore obnoxiously all up in my business, but what about a baby? Babies are most usually lulled to sleep by the rocking motion of the car. Infants in rear-facing car seats become almost invisible once they drift off to sleep - they are silent and not in your direct line of view. So, while we don't think it will ever happen to us, it's easy to see how sometimes babies are forgotten in cars.

We've all heard the tragic stories of busy moms and dads who have forgotten to drop their child off at the sitter or have forgotten them in the car while they go into a store. Statistics show that because of front seat airbags, the incidence of child death due to hyperthermia (body temperature getting too high) has risen dramatically. Children and infants aren't placed in the front seat anymore and because of that they are at a greater risk of being accidentally left in the car.

I babysit my cousin's baby and the first day she brought Nonner in with the Baby R'minder on his carseat I wasn't sure what to think, but what she said makes sense - if you have a visual, tactile, solid reminder of your baby the chances of a tragedy like leaving them in the car decreases. The Baby R'minder hooks at one end to the child's carseat and at the other end to your keys, tethering you to your child and giving you a visual reminder of them even if you can't see their adorable little face. When your keys come out of the ignition the strap connected to the carseat reminds you that your precious cargo is in the backseat.



The Baby R'minder comes in your choice of colors and the length is adjustable. We've used it in a Chevy HHR, a Dodge Ram pickup, a Chevy Impala and a Dodge Caravan - we've run the gambit as far as vehicle sizes and have never had any problems with running out of length.






The Baby R'minder sells for $14.95 with free shipping. I've done some looking around online and I haven't found another similar product as versatile and affordable as this one. And I'm really not just saying that because my Aunt Janet came up with this product - I found a carseat alarm/reminder system online for $275, but if you have an infant you probably don't have $275 just lying around the house. (And if you do, please let me know your secret.)

If you are interested in purchasing a Baby R'minder or would just like more information email me and we'll do our best to answer your questions and take care of your order. theredneckdiva[at] gmail [dot] com) Eventually we'll get a shop set up on Etsy.com, so be on the lookout for that because, of course, I'll announce it on here!

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None of the parents that have accidentally left a child in a car are bad parents and like my aunt, the inventor of Baby R'minder said, "People who aren't busy probably don't need one of these." You know as well as I do, though, that we're all busy. And we all could use a gentle r'minder.

Plum Crazy

The other day as my aunt and cousin were getting ready to leave my house my aunt asked if I had ever read a Janet Evanovich book. As she held Foul Play out to me I said, "Oh that reminds me - the other day I got an email from Janet Evanovich's 'blog monkey' declaring me to be one of their favorite blogs." It was at that point my Aunt Janet's jaw hit the ground and my Cousin Courtney jumped from her car. Aunt Janet nearly screamed, "YOU GOT AN EMAIL FROM JANET EVANOVICH???" I clarified: "No. Her blog monkey."

I hear blog monkeys can be very flattering - this one had me at "one of our favorites."

After much fast talking from them both I took the book so I could partake of the reading wonderful-ness they were both gushing about rather excitedly in my front yard. I'm halfway through Twilight right now, but with all the snow days we're forecasted to get this week I figure I'll start Foul Play tonight. And no, up to this point in my life, I have never read a Janet Evanovich book, even though my friend Trishia has been trying to get me to for years. I know. I should probably be flogged or something.

The newest book in the Stephanie Plum series coming out January 6th is Plum Spooky. While you wait for January 6th, have a gander at this Preview of a New and Exciting Book/Holiday Greeting YouTube from Ms. Evanovich herself. (Or maybe her blog monkey. Or blog rhinocerous since the blog monkey takes care of emailing. Just a thought.)

And the winners are.....

I apologize for not posting the winners last night. I'll be real honest with ya when I say that I was literally asleep here on the couch, laptop on my lap, chin on my chest, by 8:30. Yeah, I'm that much of a party animal.

So without further ado, the winners - picked by Random Number Generator - of the Norton PC Tune-ups are:

1. Lori
2. "Aunt Janet"
3. Wanda

Congrats ladies! Stop back by the comments section to see what they have to say about their tune-ups!

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The winners for the Clorox2 coupons - also picked by Randon Number Generator - are:

1. Tiff
2. Nancy
3. Courtney

I don't have blog links or emails for these winners of soon-to-be happy laundry, so Tiff, Nancy and Courtney, email me your address and I'll send them your way!

Dare to be Colorful!

I have three kids, therefore I have laundry. Lots and lots of laundry. And because most of that laundry is generated by children I have dirty laundry. All three of my kids were spitters when they were babies, but when Abby was a baby my mom found me one day crying over her pretty pink bibs and how stained they were. She promptly went to Walmart and brought me my first box of Clorox2 and folks, my laundry hasn't been the same since. There are a lot of things I buy store brand, but when it comes to my laundry it's Clorox all the way. There is simply no substitute to make your laundry the happiest it can be.

I put a cap of Clorox2 in all of my light-colored loads, the dark ones if they're really dirty, and in my towels where I can't use regular bleach. I've literally been a user of Clorox2 for 12 years, so when MomCentral announced a blog tour and free coupons for it I nearly broke my toe on my washing machine trying to get in on it. Clorox2 has a new formula that is not only a non-chlorine bleach but also a color booster. Basically that means YAY! Happy laundry for everyone!

Tough stains? Ones that slipped by you in the wash and you don't dare dry them and set in the stain? No problem - soak the stain in Clorox2, then re-wash and voila! Again with the happy laundry! This is a product that I could go on and on even if MomCentral hadn't given me a coupon for a free bottle AND coupons for four of my readers. Yep, COUPONS! The economy's takin' a dive, but people, we're all gonna have awesomely happy laundry - four of you are gonna have that happy laundry for FREE!

Leave a comment telling me the worst stain you've ever had to get out of your laundry and you're automaticaly entered to win a coupon of your very own. Giveaway is open until this Friday. Tell your friends!

Big thanks to MomCentral!

A Review and the Giveaway

Once again MomCentral has made a product available for reviewers to check out and tell the universe what they think. Even though my laptop is only a year and a half old, I jumped on the opportunity to be a part of the Norton PC Tune-up blog tour because hey, we all want our computers to run even better, right? At least, I don't think it's just a geeky thing that only I get excited about....

Today we had absolutely nothing going on around the house (except for some serious Laser Tag between my son and husband) so I grabbed the phone and called the toll-free number. I was immediately connected with Peter who was obviously Canadian and every single time he said "aboot" instead of "about" I giggled with glee. The info included with the promo code said the service takes about 30 minutes. Whether it was due to my slow internet connection or El Nino or the fact that Venus is in retrograde, the whole conversation, start to finish, took just right under 55 minutes. Not that it bothered me (Frankly, I was enjoying everything aboot it) but I'm just saying it did take a bit longer than I anticipated.

He took remote control of my computer, but didn't warn me before he did it. I knew he was going to because I had read a few other blog tour particpant reviews, so I was expecting it, but to someone completely clueless that might a little disconcerting. While he was zooming my cursor all over the place he proceded to show me the inner workings of my blessed laptop. I have geeky aspirations, so any time I get to see someone tweak around on a computer I nearly get light-headed. (My dad and brother run and hide when they see me coming because they know I'm going to ask them if I can sit at their knee and watch them work.) Peter the Canadian showed me the unnecessary files that were bogging down my computer, showed me how to create a new recovery point, suggested I add some RAM sometime soon, explained why he was doing everything and making sure I was okay with it before he did it. He was just generally professional, humorous and courteous. I think the $69.99 price is a little steep for the service, even though I think it truly is a neat service. However, he explained everything he did so well I can now do it on my own as I need to in the future. That's worth a lot, but I'm not sure it's worth $70.

That all being said, because MomCentral is so gracious and giving right here at the holidays, three of you are going to get to try out the Norton PC Tune-up service FOR FREE! Free is always a good thing, right?

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here, telling me what kind of computer you have. Easy as pie, right? (Actually, I find making pies time-consuming and messy, but that's just me...)

If you shout me out on your blog, linking to the link here on my review site, I'll give you another entry - just leave the link in the comments so I can check it out. (Jesus knows if you're lying and so will I.)

The contest is open until Wednesday, December 3rd at 7ish PM.

Gimme a boost, wouldja?

I have two kids still in booster seats, so when MomCentral announced a blog tour for a device that makes boosters not so wobbly and unstable, I nearly broke my "reply" button trying to get included in the tour. I was tickled beyond belief when they announced that everyone who responded got to be a part!

Enter SeatSnug.

If you have kids in boosters you know how they seem to sliiiiiiide toward the front edge of the car's seat or how they somehow always manage to be off-kilter. We drive a Dodge Caravan with bucket seats in the middle row and oh, how those bucket seats hate my kids' boosters. There are honestly some days I wonder if them just sitting in the seat would be safer. Check out the SeatSnug website and watch the video of the test done at parking lot speed and ... oh heck, you probably see that every day in your rearview mirror if you've got a child in a booster seat. I know a booster puts them up where they need to be, but it doesn't keep them there very well at all.

Before I go further I need to say that installation was very easy. I put it on while standing on my driveway in my pj's and sock monkey slippers in 40 degree November weather and it only took about 5 minutes. My fingers weren't even numb by the time I finished. (In Oklahoma that is a feat sometimes.)

Kady's booster so longer slips, slides and aways; it stays exactly where I want it to stay - right under her hiney. No tipping, no wobbling, no more me having a panic attack when I look in the rearview and see her seatbelt across her neck because her booster has slid out from under her. It's also easy to turn off when you have a non-booster-using person in that seat. A simple push of the tab either way, to turn it off or on, and it's done.

A big thank you to the makers of SeatSnug for giving parents a product to keep our kids safer and big thanks to MomCentral for making it available to review. Be sure to check out both websites!

Barbie, sparkles and snugglin' with my kids

With the excitement of Halloween and various other things that get in the way - namely LIFE - the kids and I just had the opportunity to sit down tonight and snuggle up to watch our newest DVD, Barbie and the Diamond Castle. MomCentral gave me the opportunity to watch and review the movie and let me tell ya, Kady has been in near fits since the day we got it in the mail (you know I've mentioned doing crazy, joyous dances when the UPS man brings me my happy boxes - Kady is as excitable as her momma, obviously).

Barbie and the Diamond Castle is the latest in the ultra-cool, amazing CGI-animated, let a little girl's imagination go wild videos. Now, Abby is 12 and SO above watching a Barbie video, but Kady is the prime age for Barbie-watching. From the minute it started, that baby was glued to the set and when she'd catch me checking email or answering a text on my phone she'd whisper "Momma! You've got to LOOK! At the TV!" Toward the end, when the two heroines find the diamond castle their dresses turn into fancy, sparkly gowns I'm telling you, the child literally gasped.

The story is about two best friends, Liana and Alexa (played by Barbie and Teresa) who don't have much in the way of posessions or money, but their friendship is more than enough to see them through. Because of her kindness to a stranger, Liana comes to own an enchanted mirror which is actually the unfortunate home to a displaced muse, Melody. Of course, there's plenty of adventure as they search for the Diamond Castle and a way to release Melody. Lydia is a perfect villainness, along with her bumbling-but-eager flying serpent, Slyder. And along the way the girls meet up with a set of guy twins ( when they were transformed into their sparkly outfits at the end, Kady looked at me and said, "Hubba hubba!") and a pair of cute puppies that also get sparkly at the end of the movie. Sparkly is always good at this house.

I actually enjoyed watching this one, whereas some of the earlier Barbie movies have been a little hard to watch for me. Kady loves them all, of course, but she seemed to be way more engaged in this one. Sam also watched it with us ("Because I, ya know, want to give you a man's perspective, Mom") and he laughed when it was funny and declared it to be "not as yucky as some of Kady's DVDs" so I think all in all, Barbie and the Diamond Castle gets six thumbs up from the Diva family!

Christmas is coming - if you've got a Barbie fan in your family I think this one is a winner. Check out the official Barbie and the Diamond Castle website.

And don't forget to check out MomCentral!

Sniffle Sniffle Sneeze: A Review

The awesome folks at MomCentral offered up a blog tour awhile back for Clorox Anywhere Anti-Allergen Fabric Spray and let me tell ya, I jumped on it. Sam is a constant sniffler and Kady has asthma. Both are on daily medication for their allergies and as a teen, I took allergy shots. Yeah, we're just a big ol' allergic, snotty family.

The day I got my bottle in the mail, after I finished doing a happy dance (as I always do when I'm chosen for a blog tour and I get goodies in the mail) I took off on a fit of spraying throughout my entire house. I sprayed beds, stuffed animals, carpets, furniture and if Paul would've held still long enough I'd have sprayed him, too. It smells great and what's better - Sam's not sniffling as much!

Here's how it works: The formula works by changing the structure of allergen proteins, rendering them inactive. Seriously? I don't know how much more awesome this stuff can get. Well, if it produced money every time I sprayed it and magically removed the dust from the ceiling fans AND kept my kids from fighting it would obviously be more awesome, but well, ya know...the folks at Clorox are wonderful, but not magicians.

Clorox Anywhere Anti-Allergen Fabric Spray neutralizes up to 90% of allergens (dust mite matter and pet dander) on fabrics. While we don't have any pets in our house we have LOADS of dust and I'm sure, dust mites. Iew. Why do I feel like I need a shower now?

Check out Clorox Anywhere Anti-Allergen Fabric Spray if you're a family of snotty snifflers!


And also check out MomCentral!

Snacktivate!

Recently I signed up with MomCentral, although I don't normally jump on the mom-group bandwagons. I don't know, maybe it's that whole "doesn't play well with others" thing I have goin' on, I don't know. But people, I LOVE this place!I signed up at the website and within an hour I received a personal email from one of the gals there, welcoming me to the group. It was not a form letter, it was not a blanket "thanks, nameless, anonymous person for signing up" email, it was an email from someone who had already visited my blog and had actually read a few posts. They totally had me at hello.

So along with being a member of MomCentral, you can sign up to do BlogTours for them. I don't spend my entire day online (although my husband would probably argue that one) so I don't get some of the invitations as soon as they come in and I miss quite a few, but I did manage to get invited to do the Snacktivate! BlogTour from Kellogg's. You know, the cereal people. Big tiger? Three little dudes that make your cereal talk? Yeah, that Kellogg's.

Monday the mailman (He's an actual man who carries the mail so I feel confident in calling him that, rather than "letter carrier". He seems like the kind of guy who would take offense to that term.) delivered a ton of boxes to our house. Two were from Ab's first online shopping adventure (more in another post) but the biggest one was from KELLOGG'S!It was a veritable hurricane of brown box and paper packing while we (meaning me) went berzerk getting to the goodies inside the box from the Kellogg's Company: Two - Two! - boxes of Frosted Mini-Wheats and a cool snack cup for cereal and milk on the go. There was also a recipe for Sassy Sunpops, which we promptly made. Well, without the sticks to make them into actual "pops" and flax seed because I didn't have any in the house. Okay, so basically we just made the "Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies." Anyway, let me just say YUM. And with Sam's recent tummy troubles, this family can use all the help it can get with adding fiber to our diet.But the Snacktivate! website is what I'm really here to talk about.

Abby and I have spent several days looking over this site, clicking on links and seeing what we could learn and what other recipes we could find. I clicked all the way through to see how Kellogg's is involved in schools and how they do their part in making sure school lunch programs are healthier. Since my kids eat two meals at school, five days a week, nine months out of the year, that is a good thing. I also learned that Kellogg's PopTarts are better for you than breakfast pizza or even scrambled eggs. Who knew? See, Mom? I really AM doing a good job! Something else? Nearly 25% of our daily calories come from snacking, so it's kind of more important than throwing a couple of cookies and some kool-ade at your kid when they come in from playing. Abby printed out about 37,000 recipes (Okay, she printed five...) for us to try, so if it caught an 11 year old's attention it can't be bad!

Check out the Kellogg's Snacktivate! website and see what they're all about.

Make sure you check out MomCentral, too!