Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Remote Control Vehicles Designed for Preschoolers (GIVEAWAY!!!)

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Is it a universal truth that all children love to play with cars? This has certainly been our experience, so far. They are a huge hit with kids young and old. I’ll be the first to admit that I like playing with cars, too. They are fun! Darah and I will line them up and see how far we can push each one down the hallway. Tim especially enjoys breaking out his old “Mighty Mo” dump truck that was his favorite as a child. He says that it brings him a lot of joy to see it being played with by his daughter.

Cars and other wheeled machines are an obvious toy option for little boys, but I want to encourage all the parents of little girls to not overlook them. They are great fun and do seem to keep most kids entertained for long stretches of time. Hands, down, Darah’s favorite gift in her Easter basket this year was her new Hot Wheels car.

We recently got to welcome another little dump truck into our family, and also introduce Darah to her first remote control machine. It is the Cat E-Z Machines Radio Control and it is awesome because it is designed for little ones, ages 2 and up.

I wasn’t sure how a radio control vehicle would be simple enough for such a young child, but it really is. You see, it only has one button! The machine goes forward when you push the button, and when you release it, the machine will spin until you push the button again (this is especially handy when it hits a wall or a piece of furniture).

At this point, Darah is a little bit afraid of a machine that seems to move on its own. She’s happy to play with it without using the remote control, though. As for the grownups, we TOTALLY use the remote control feature. I was never very good at using remote control toys of any sort when I was younger, so this simple toy doesn’t stress me out. Officially, I’m just trying to show Darah that she doesn’t have to be scared and that it is actually the person holding the controller who is moving the car. Unofficially, I’m trying to become the grand master champion of the Cat E-Z Machine. Everyone’s got a dream, right?

The Cat E-Z Machine Remote Control is made by a great company called Toy State. They have a really nice selection of pre-school construction toys, as well as many other toys for the car enthusiast. Their site is most definitely worth a look around! The car we reviewed can be purchased for $12 and is available at Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R Us.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to with the Cat E-Z Machine Remote Control! The contest will run until June 28th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Tell me any other toy vehicle made by Toy State that you’d love to bring home to your kid(s)!

Additional entries:
1. Sponsor love: Follow Toy State on Twitter
2. Blogger love: Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my homepage.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

CLR Bathroom & Kitchen Cleaner: Good Stuff! (GIVEAWAY!!!)

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I find it interesting that I can make such rapid decisions about a cleaning product just based on its container. Isn’t that silly? But it is true. For example, when you look at this product, just in passing, do you assume that it is “green”?I know I didn’t. Why? I guess because it doesn’t say any of the buzz words like, “ECO, GREEN, NATURAL, etc.” in 60 point font. But CLR Bathroom and Kitchen Cleaner is made by the company Jelmar, and they have partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency to bring about its environmentally-friendly formulation. You’ll find that information on the bottle, but it is tucked away in the corner. I think the message it is sending is that being environmentally-friendly should just be a given with our cleaning products, and not the one thing that will make you want to buy them.

I have been using this product, which is designed for both kitchens and bathrooms for a few weeks. I LOVE having a spray that is eco-friendly, and that is designed to work on grease, hard water deposits, soap scum, film and dirt all at once. I spray it on the surface, let it sit for just a few seconds, and wipe it up. The mess and the grime comes with it!

Buy it!: CLR Bathroom and Kitchen Cleaner is available nationwide. You’ve probably overlooked it at a store you frequent! See all the places it is sold here.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a bottle of CLR Bath & Kitchen Cleaner for your home! The contest will run until June 27th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Jelmar has an excellent resource center with really helpful cleaning tips. Check it out and tell me something you learned there!

Additional entries:

1. Sponsor love: Like CLR Cleaners on Facebook

2. Blogger love: Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my homepage.

 

Disclosure: I was given CLR Bath & Kitchenby Jelmar Inc. for my review. I was allowed to keep the product, but the opinion I am sharing remains my own.

Celebrate Men’s Health Month with GNC ($100 Gift Card GIVEAWAY!!!)

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Did you know that June is Men’s Health Month? It is! What a great idea to take the same time that we celebrate father’s and all that they bring to our lives, and combine it with an opportunity to promote and encourage men to take care of themselves.

When you are younger, you feel invincible. At least I used to, and I think Tim did, as well. But just last July, Tim had to be hospitalized for a blood clot in his arm (it was related to an accident he had a few weeks prior). While it didn’t point to any other major health problems, a blood clot is SERIOUS business. He had gone to the doctor for a checkup and just casually mentioned that his arm felt a little weird. A few hours later, he was in the hospital. Just like that. It was a scary moment for us both and gave us a lot of pause.

Turns out we aren’t immune to health problems, after all. That was a real wake up call for Tim to start taking better care of himself. He is (in my opinion) fortunate to have very fast metabolism. I know that I have always made the assumption that since Tim wasn’t overweight, that he was in excellent health. But that’s not necessarily the case. Whether you have some extra weight or not, your body still needs plenty of exercise and the right fuel to keep it performing at its best.

GNC is a store that you can find all over the nation, as well as online, and it is their primary aim to help you meet your goals for optimal health. If you are like me, then walking into a store like GNC can be pretty intimidating. There are SO many different products…how do you figure out what you actually need? One of the things I really like about the GNC website is that you can shop by condition or goal. This can help you quickly narrow down your search to the products that will best help you. For example, I just searched for allergy remedies, and saw some very cool products that I have heard work wonders (bee pollen!). Even though I had heard this was a good way to reduce seasonal allergies, it wasn’t something I was remembering to look for in the stores. I’ve just been heading straight for the Claritin! I’m excited to see some natural alternatives.

Tim has always been interested in finding ways to add a bit of mass (what’s that problem like?!), and when I searched for the term muscle, LOTS of stuff came up. So much so, that I’d think this is one product it might be good to purchase in the store, because then you can talk to an expert! They also have reviews of their products online, so if you don’t live near a GNC or just would rather place an online order, you can read what other people who have tried the products have to say about them.

Win it!: GNC is celebrating Men’s Health Month by offering one Stuff Parents Need reader a $100 gift card! WOAH! The contest will run until June 26th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please. If you won a gift card from GNC in 2011, you are not eligible for this giveaway.

Mandatory entry: You have two choices for your mandatory entry. Just pick A or B!
a. Follow GNC on Twitter and Stuff Parents Need on Twitter and leave a comment here.
b. Like GNC on Facebook and Stuff Parents Need on Facebook and leave a comment here.

Additional entries:
1. If you did A for your mandatory entry, do B and leave a comment. If you did B, do A and leave a comment.
2. Subscribe to Stuff Parents Need by RSS or email.

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my homepage.

Disclosure: I received a gift certificate in exchange for my honest opinion about GNC, which I have provided.

Does Darah Prefer Boxers or Briefs? (GIVEAWAY!!!)

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I’ve mentioned this a few times in recent posts, but in case you missed it, Darah is officially 100% potty trained (even overnight!). She has been in underwear full time for about 7 weeks now. Overall, it has been AWESOME (said by the person who does most of the cloth diaper laundry!).

But let me tell you about what has NOT been awesome: the search for underwear that fits and that stays put.

Yeah, pretty much that has been a disaster. Darah is on the young end for being potty trained, and she is also on the small end for kids her age. She can still wear 12-18 month clothes. There’s just no such thing as that size underwear, at least not that I could find, and even size 18-24 months is really tough to find.

As a result, most of Darah’s underwear has to be rolled to stay put, and even then it is very big on her, and looks awkward under her fitted pants. There’s just too much material bunched up!

But then I heard about Girl Gotch, which was started by a fabulous mom named Rebecca who ran into similar problems when potty training her daughter in the summer of 2008. Her little one always was pulling and adjusting her underwear because it kept riding up on her. While having a playdate, her daughter had an accident but didn’t have a change of clothes. In a pinch, she borrowed some little boys’ underwear. They worked like magic, providing full coverage and staying put! Light bulb!!!!

So Rebecca designed a line of underwear modeled after those boy styles with the thicker elastic bands, but put a girly spin on it by offering them in bright, bold colors. She also created a line of little boxers for girls (I’d say they are close to boxer-briefs).

You guys. This underwear is SO STINKIN’ CUTE. And perhaps more importantly, it does exactly what it claims! It stays put! And Darah absolutely loves them. The day they came in the mail, she saw them and immediately took off the underwear she had on, right there on the spot, and asked for her, “new yellow underwear, please.” She knew they were going to rock, I guess!

Any time I give her a choice of which pair of underwear she wants to put on, she ALWAYS chooses a Girl Gotch, and since she has both the boxers and briefs, I can tell you that she picks the boxers first! 🙂

Buy it!: Girl Gotch underwear is available online. They are sold in packs of 3 for $15.99. Most size 2T underwear currently falls off Darah, but Girl Gotch 2T fits her perfectly, so that may mean that they run a little bit small. Sizes go from 2-6!

Win it!: One lucky winner will win a 3 pack of Girl Gotch underwear in your choice of briefs or boxers! The contest will run until June 25th at 11:49pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States and Canada. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Girl Gotch wants to be friends with you on Facebook, so follow them and then come back here and tell me you did!

Additional entries:

1. Sponsor love: Follow Girl Gotch on Twitter

2. Blogger love: Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter

 

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my homepage.

Disclosure: I received complimentary products for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

World’s Best Cat Litter: Lavender Scent! (Big GIVEAWAY!!!)

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Last year I reviewed a product that claimed to be the world’s best of its kind. That’s quite a hefty claim, don’t you think?! In fact, the company was so bold about this claim that they incorporated it into their name: World’s Best Cat Litter. You can read all about my initial review of the product here.

If you are short on time, I’ll give you the scoop (heh heh). The litter works beautifully, the smell is totally captured, and the product is environmentally friendly. It’s a winner, all-around! Now The World’s Best Cat Litter has come out with a lavender scented formula, and we have been giving it a test spin (more specifically, our cat Hattie has been trying it out).It works just as well as the original formula! I will say that the scent was a bit overpowering at first. But the litter box in our house is kept in a very small bathroom, so it doesn’t get a lot of ventilation.I thought the smell calmed down significantly after 24 hours.

I really like that one small bag of litter is designed to last one month (assuming you scoop the litter daily). So far, so good for the amount we’ve used. It looks like we’re going to hit that one month mark!

If you have not yet tried World’s Best Cat Litter, I strongly encourage it. You can find it at most major retailers and I think you’ll be really impressed with how well it captures odors, even for multiple cats!


One thing I wanted to highlight is that World’s Best Cat Litter was kind enough to send me four of their 17 lb bags of cat litter to donate to the local shelter of my choice. What an awesome way for them to have a positive impact on a local nonprofit! Thanks so much!

Win it!: WBCL didn’t forget about you! Oh boy, there are going to be FOUR winners of this giveaway! Two winners will each received a 17 lb bag of scented litter, just like what I reviewed. One winner will get a 17 lb of clumping litter, and 1 winner will get a 17 lob of Multiple Cat clumping litter! Woo hoo! The contest will run until June 22nd at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Check out the World’s Best Cat Litter difference, and tell me something you learned!

Additional entries:
1. Sponsor love: Like World’s Best Cat Litter on Facebook
2. Blogger love: Like Stuff Parents Need on Facebook

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my homepage.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

How to Make Yogurt

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Sometime last year, I decided to try my hand at making yogurt. Darah eats yogurt at least once a day, and we were reaching the point where I was thinking about investing in some yogurt stocks (only half kidding…that kid eats a LOT of yogurt). I had heard people online say that making it wasn’t so hard and could help you save money.

That was all I needed to hear; I was in!

I used a crockpot method that involved several steps, and heating the milk at varying temperatures for about 18 hours. It was a long process.

The end result for me? Chunky milk, which is NOT yogurt. It was SOOO disappointing! I didn’t roll my sleeves up and try again. I just quit. One spoiled gallon of milk was enough for me to go back to buying yogurt.

But then I learned about a very cool cool gadget called the Automatic Yogurt Maker. I found it at an awesome online resource that is all about cheese making called the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. Hang on to your hats, folks….a review of their cheesemaking kit is forthcoming! So exciting!!! I’m not usually a fan of kitchen gadgets that just do one thing, but considering just how much yogurt my family eats, it made sense for us to give it a whirl.

Here’s a video showing you what we did! We had a thermometer (came in our cheesemaking kit) to help us get the temperature just right in the beginning.

I’m very happy to report that the yogurt maker worked beautifully and took about 1/3 of the time as the method I tried before. And it tastes awesome! While we used some store bought yogurt to create a starter this time, we can either save one jar of yogurt that we make to use as the starter for our next batch, or we can use some of the yogurt cultures that the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company sends along with your purchase. We’ll never buy yogurt again! Wow! This product is a winner for us, and if your family eats a lot of yogurt, I highly recommend it! This is a really great way to make organic yogurt for a fraction of what it costs in the stores. The Automatic Yogurt Maker is available for $49.95.

Win it!: Oh my gosh, this is such a fun giveaway! One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win the Automatic Yogurt Maker, courtesy of the New England Cheesemaking Company! The contest will run until June 21st at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected using Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: The New England Cheesemaking Supply Company is such a cool cheesemaking resource. Poke around the website and tell me something you learned there or something else you’d like to own.

Additional entries:
1. Sponsor love: Join the monthly newsletter for the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company
2. Blogger love: Subscribe to Stuff Parents Need by email or RSS

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my homepage.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

An Incredible Detergent You May Not Know: Country Save (GIVEAWAY!!!)

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If you cloth diaper your child, you are most definitely going to read this post.

Or, if you are on the hunt for a more eco-friendly detergent for yourself and your family, but are none too impressed with the price tags for most options, you also need to keep reading.

Today I’m doing my part to bring a fantastic laundry detergent out from the shadows and into the spotlight. I’m certainly not claiming that I discovered this. On the contrary…thousands of people have been using it for several decades! But people seem to be rather quiet about it. I will occasionally hear another blogger talk about using it, but its only in passing, as if it is kind of a secret! Naturally, this made me very curious.

The detergent is called Country Save. Ever heard of it? I hadn’t until about 8 months ago, at a time when I was having some serious cloth diaper issues (repelling and MAJOR stink). The name was popping up on a few cloth diaper forums, with great success being reported with it. I couldn’t find it in any stores, but did see it available online.

Do you want to know why I didn’t buy it? Because it was about 33% cheaper than another brand of cloth diaper detergent that was so highly praised. So I was afraid that I would get what I paid for, and not in a good way! Isn’t that dumb?! But it’s true!

I’ve been talking with the President of Country Save (does that give you any indication of how connected they are with their customers?!) and he sent me some packets to review. I didn’t test this out with cloth diapers since D is now potty trained, but I used it on our clothes and everything came out fresh and clean!

One of Country Save’s best features is the fact that it doesn’t leave residue on your clothes. Most other detergents do…did you know that? Check out these results from an independent study done comparing residue left behind on a variety of detergents, most of which are “green”:

Country Save Sample
Country Save
90F, 130ppm, 100 R.P.M.		 Bi-O-Kleen Sample
Bi-O-Kleen
90F, 130ppm, 100 R.P.M.
Seventh Generation Sample
Seventh Generation
90F, 130ppm, 100 R.P.M.		 Tide Sample
Tide
90F, 130ppm, 100 R.P.M.
Ecover Sample
Ecover
90F, 130ppm, 100 R.P.M.

Woah! This is crazy to see. And if you cloth diaper, then you know just how serious detergent build-up can be on your diapers. It causes all sorts of problems that you DON’T want!

I was also impressed to read that Country Save is the laundry detergent of choice for hotels that are members of the Green Hotels Association, and that includes many Wyndham and Hilton vacation resorts.

I really hope this post helps get the word out about Country Save. This is an ideal detergent for every family, cloth diapering or not, and it does just what it promises, and leaves you wearing fresh and clean clothes, not fresh and clean clothes plus detergent! 🙂 It is available for purchase through Amazon.com. I think you are really going to love it.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a 10 lb box of Country Save! The contest will run until June 20th, 2011 at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Go to the Country Save website and poke around a little bit. Tell me anything you learned there!

Additional entries:
1. Sponsor love: Like Country Save on Twitter
2. Blogger love: Subscribe to Stuff Parents Need via email or RSS

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways found on my sidebar.

Disclosure: I received complimentary samples for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Tea Parties and Rag Dolls: Best Pals Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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I loved having tea parties with my dolls and stuffed animals as a child. We never actually drank tea (at least not hot tea!) in my house, but tea parties were all the rage. We have photos of me dressed up in my finest (including a miniature mink stole, if you can believe it…) sipping tea with my favorite stuffed friends.

I know it is cliche, but I’ve been really looking forward to having tea parties with Darah. And I’m happy to report that they’ve just started happening! Yay!!!

We’ve been using the Best Pals Tin Tea Set. It comes with service for 4, a serving tray and of course, a tea pot. Everything fits inside a cute carrying case, which makes it easy to take with you on play dates!

Our background music for high tea has been the Best Pals Sing Together cd, and it is delightful! The sound is simple and very singable, and you’ll recognize many of the tracks, such as Sing, Sing a Song, Candy Man, and Anything You Can Do. Kathy and Janet Lennon sing on the album, along with Janet’s three granddaughters!

Kathy and Janet are sisters, and they have been singing together professionally since they were in middle school in the 1950s, but their memories of playing with special dolls made by their Nana goes back even further than that! Inspired by their special dolls, they have created a line of products to encourage creative play in children and to celebrate their own special bond as sisters.

Several different dolls are available at their shop, but the one I am excited to highlight today is Danny. It is unfortunately still not very easy to find a little boy doll. I remember “My Buddy” from the 1980s when I was a child, but I don’t think he’s being made anymore. As Darah has become more interested in dolls, I want to make sure that every single doll she has to look like her. So I was really thrilled to see Danny as an option on this site. Isn’t he precious? He comes with a little lovey of his own and a teddy bear to cuddle. Darah loves to rock him.

I also love that Kathy and Janet have a line of doll clothes, paper dolls and mini dolls. The look of their products is very old-fashioned, but in a very good way! I know Danny will have a special place in Darah’s heart, and the tea parties we will have are going to have a very special place in mine.

Buy it!: The Best Pals dolls are very reasonably priced at $24.95 each. While you are picking out your favorite, be sure to check out all their other offerings!

Win it!: One VERY lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win one Best Pals doll, a Tea Set and a CD! The value of this prize is $75!. The contest will run until June 19th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected using Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Tell me the Best Pals doll you like the best, and choose wisely, as you will get that doll if you win!

Additional entries:
1. Sponsor love: Like Best Pals on Facebook
2. Blogger love: Like Stuff Parents Need on Facebook

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my homepage.

Disclosure: I received complimentary products for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Buddy Fruits: Fruit on the Go

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So you’ve likely seen several different types of squeezable baby foods hitting the shelves over the last few years. This dispenser method is a ridiculously HUGE hit with Darah. Yes, she is too old for “baby” food. But let me tell you, if there’s something that is really good for her (like it containing an entire serving of fruit, with no preservatives and no added sugar) and she jumps at the chance to eat it, I have NO problem feeding it to her!

buddy fruits


Buddy Fruits is one of those items. And actually, it isn’t baby food, per se. It’s meant for anyone and everyone who loves fruit and who needs a convenient way to get a serving in while going about their busy days.I’ve tasted their pure blended fruits and they are delicious! I would definitely eat one, myself. They are SO perfect for car trips or to have on hand when you are running errands. They are chock full of only good stuff…fruit!


They also carry pure fruit bites. These are crazy good. They are very sweet, but that sweetness is totally natural, since these don’t have anything other than concentrated fruit juices and a bit of pectin so that they will all stick together. The package has one complete serving of fruit! My only complaint is that the packages are quite small. They make a perfect snack for a youngster, but as an adult, I found myself wanting much more once I’d emptied the package. Perhaps I need to watch my portion control, but I would have easily eaten 2 pouches in one sitting.


Our experience with Buddy Fruits was very positive. These are items I will be purchasing again in the future to have on hand. Darah absolutely loves them and I love knowing that they are so good for her.


Buy it!: Buddy Fruits are available at many different stores all over the country (and they are priced REALLY well on Amazon!). The odds are quite good that you’ll be able to find them! Use their store locator to see where your nearest retailer is!


Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a display mix of Fruits and Pouches, just like what I received! The contest will run until June 18th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.


Mandatory entry: Tell me your LEAST favorite fruit!


My answer: If a plum isn’t perfectly ripe, it’s always disappointing to me.


Additional entries:

1. Sponsor love:Like Buddy Fruits on Facebook

2. Blogger love: Like Stuff Parents Need on Facebook


Be sure to check out my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my homepage.


Disclosure: I received complimentary products for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.