Michael Jackson Is Dead: I guess It Really Happens In 3’s

I just sat down at my computer to hear that Michael Jackson had died along with Farah Fawcett, and Ed McMahon.  The weird thing about it all, is you know that saying that these things happen in threes?  I can honestly say that I used to like Michael Jackson, but after he went downhill in his mental state, I was totally turned off.  SO I guess I wont be winning the readers digest sweepstakes and Ed wont be coming to my door.  Ans as for Charlies Angels, I used to watch that show all the time, but I vaguely remember Farah in it.  Well rest in peace everyone!  I guess I am at an age now where all the celebrities that I love are going to bite the dust!

Glidden Paint Is Giving Away A Free Quart!

I have heard through the grapevine that Glidden Paint is giving away a free quart of paint!  It’s only good for today 6/25/09 so hurry and get yours!  You just pick your favorite color!  I can think of a ton of things I can do with some extra paint.  I have a few chairs that need touched up, some trim to paint, or I can even paint a few blocks on my wall for a cool look.  Just a word of warning the page is loading very slowly, due to the amount of traffic. Who couldn’t use free paint?  Hurry and go get yours now!

Wordless Wednesday

Fun At The Splash Pad!

The Associated Press Can Kiss My Ass

Opinions are like (well you know) and everyone has them. When I make a purchase or decide to buy something, I will look around and see what other people are saying about it but ultimately, I have to be the judge.


When I do a review, I try to give people my overall honest opinion about something and if it is a product that I don’t like then you won’t find it here, on my personal blog. First of all, I like to present products that I like and that I think other moms may like, and secondly, I refrain from posting negative reviews because my time is limited and it is easier to contact a company and just say hey, I don’t think that this is a good fit because of this or that.


Many people think that because you receive a free product that you have just been bought and sold. Although free products are nice, a lot of work goes into my reviews, and that 2 hours I spend posting and sometimes more is so worth that $3.00 box of ice cream I got to try! After all, I sit in my mansion with my free butler service, my free appliances, my free groceries, and eat bon bons in front of my computer glorifying my free stuff just for everyone here.


The truth of it is, I am a stay at home mom, with two children to run after, 10 plus loads of laundry to do each week, a house to maintain, meals to cook, butts to change, cat puke to pick up, dog hair to vacuum, grocery shopping to do, and then I come on here and spend 8 plus hours posting reviews that sometimes take me 3 hours to post with photos, just so I can blow smoke up someone’s *** about my free ice cream!
I enjoy review blogging and having fun with giveaways because it is so cool to hear that someone benefited from something they won here or from an opinion that I gave about a product I liked. If you get home and don’t like something that I said I liked then I can’t help you. You were a little too naive in your thinking. It’s just as bad as saying “hey she said it was turquoise and I say its aquamarine” lets sue her because her opinion lied to us. Ultimately product reviews are my opinion and I am not out stating that if you eat this peanut you will grow your hair back. The problem is that it seems the FTC is always wanting to regulate and people can never think for themselves.


So what’s the point? I was recently sited in an article from the Associated Press about the whole FTC’s involvement in regulating blogs like mine that review products. They mentioned a review I had done on Skinny Cow Ice Cream, stating there’s no clue that Nestle SA’s Skinny Cow division was giving bloggers coupons for free products. Well Nestle didn’t give those to me and Mom Central did which I acknowledged in my post. And to make matters worse they didn’t even have the nerve to link to my site, only mention it in hopes that I wouldn’t find out? or they are a bunch of pansies.


I sent them a reply

Dear Sir or Madam,
I’m writing with regard to the article posted by Deborah Yao on June 21st entitled “FTC plans to monitor blogs for claims, payments”. While I agree with the general thrust of the article, I feel the article incorrectly and unfairly singles out DoubleBugs.Com as having conflicts of interests or somehow acting in an unethical way.

I don’t get paid by companies to do reviews, though they do provide me with the products so I can personally evaluate and use the product and develop an opinion of the product or service. If I don’t particularly like a product, I will not recommend it on my blog, and I’ll often work with the company to identify areas of potential improvement. My blog reflects my honest opinions and observations, there is no input at all from companies or anyone else.

Further, at no point did anyone from the AP contact me to get any information for the story. They based their comments on a single 15 minute review of a small number of pages on the DoubleBugs website. That’s just plain shoddy journalism.

There are many sites out there that are essentially shills for companies, sites where bloggers get paid to push products regardless of merit. DoubleBugs.Com is not one of them. I hope the AP will take steps to set the record straight.

Sincerely,

Laurie
DoubleBugs
laurie@doublebugs.com
www.doublebugs.com

And what I would like to know, where is my free trip to Europe? And for people who leave anonymous comments this is for you! At least get yourself some balls, maybe you can find them in a review!

They are smarter than we think

So I was folding laundry and the conversation goes like this.

Me: Mommy asked you to please leave that alone.

My almost 3 yr old: No! *scowling face*

Me: Mommy doesnt like when you talk back like that

My almost 3 yr old:  I’m not talking back! I’m talking forward!

Me:  *trying my best from laughing*

They are smarter than we think!  So funny and so not.  What am I gonna do when he is a teenager  LOL.

Dinosaur Train New PBS Series Chugging To Your TV This Fall

We are huge fans of PBS in our house and amongst their favorite shows are Sid The Science Kid. I have always loved this series because they can actually learn things from it.  I have always loved the things that Jim Henson Company has done and was a huge fan of The Muppets when I was a kid so when I hear his name, I am always interested in seeing new programs.

PBS KIDS will debut an all-new CGI-animated series, DINOSAUR TRAIN, this Fall.   The new series embraces and celebrates the fascination that preschoolers have with both dinosaurs and trains while encouraging basic scientific thinking and skills as the audience learns about natural science, natural history and paleontology. The series will join other top-ranked PBS KIDS preschool series including The Jim Henson Company’s series SID THE SCIENCE KID, which premiered in fall 2008.  I can’t wait to show this to my boys because they adore  anything with trains and have a whole collection of dinosaurs that they play with.

DINOSAUR TRAIN is seen through the eyes of Buddy, a preschool-aged Tyrannosaurus Rex. Buddy and his adoptive family of Pteranodons go for adventures on the Dinosaur Train to meet all kinds of dinosaurs in different eras and learn fascinating new facts about these incredible creatures.

This looks like this might be a big hit amongst my twins and for any preschool aged child.  I am looking forward to watching this with my boys.  The best part about it, is I can watch all of this stuff as an adult and enjoy it with the excuse that I have kids!  I am a big kid at heart so it doesn’t take much to excite me.

PBS and Jim Henson have always offered quality kids entertainment in my opinion so I have high hopes that this will be yet another great show.  Keep and eye out for Dinosaur Train chugging to your tv in Spetember of 2009!

Basement Flooding *Update*

Well after working from morning till night, we have managed to get up all carpets of any kind in our basement. We went to the store and bought about 20 plastic bins to put everything that was in cardboard boxes. I was amazed at how much water a cardboard box holds!

We had to get a wet/dry vac to clean up a lot of standing water and I must have emptied that thing about 40 or 50 times. In the process of cleaning the basement, I did something to my shoulder. Now I can barely move and even bending hurts my shoulder, and lifting a fork causes great pain! I am hoping that it is gone soon, otherwise I will be off to the doctor.

We managed to haul a whole garage full of trash up from the basement and the guys who come by to pick up our garbage are going to hate us lol. After everything was in bin, I bleached the floors, and half way up the walls to make sure we had no chances of growing mold. My husband had two carpets that we wanted to save, so they are out sunbathing to kill anything in them and I sprayed them down with lysol. I opted for new rugs but in the effort to save money we are going to try and salvage these two small rugs.

It seems like if anyone sneezes the power goes out here so we have discussed that we definitely need a generator so this kind of stuff doesn’t happen in the future especially since we will be building a room down there soon! Needless to say, I am exhausted and we still have some things left to do, but we have it all cleaned and it actually looks so much better. I had not planned on doing much of anything this weekend but shows how much I know!

Woe Is Me

So I have been missing in action because I have spent my entire day, dealing with a power outage. It seems like when anybody sneezes around here the power goes out. Today we had a massive storm come through which wiped out our power for about 6 hours.

As a result of the outage, I had no phone and two toddlers that were hungry so we headed out the door. first I had to get the garage open which as you know has to be manually lifted because there is no garage door opener when the power goes out. I couldn’t cook because we have an electric stove and I didn’t want to open the fridge to keep our food from going bad. I think since we have lived in this house we have lost 4 or 5 freezers worth of food! Grrr.

The best part about the whole outage is that our sump pump, which you guessed it, runs on electricity was not working for 6 hours. When the power went back on, it dawned on me that the pump was going more than I am used too. I go to my basement and its got about 2 inches of water covering the entire place. So this is what we will be doing this weekend! We have carpets down there, we have boxes of things ruined and my husband has all the computer stuff. We have had to throw a lot of it away. I need to go to bed ugh! Calgon take me away!!!

Vroom Solo *Review*

When it comes to vacuuming, it seems like I have our vacuum attached to my hip all day long.  With two 3 year olds running around, a dog and a cat, I am always cleaning up hairballs, and messes.  I have to be pretty vigilant about keeping the pet hair up off the floor because one of my twins has allergies.  One of the major pains about vacuuming is you have to unwind the cord, get it plugged in and then you have to put it all away.  If you vacuum your high traffic areas frequently, like the kitchen and foyer, then you have to get out all your gear and move from plug to plug to reach everything.  I know my current vacuum has a very limited reach so I have to move plugs, I don’t mind doing it that way if I have to, but anything to make it easier is a plus.

I was given the opportunity to review the Vroom Solo vacuum and I must say that I love how easy this thing is to use and put away!  And even better when you “put it away” it is hidden from sight and you don’t have a clunky vacuum cleaner laying about.  Vroom Solo can be installed right under your kitchen sink and is perfect for high traffic areas in your home, and you don’t have to lug out your vacuum when you need to do a quick cleaning.  Vroom solo, also has a 24ft retractable hose which makes it easy to reach just about anywhere in my kitchen which is where a majority of the messes occur.

Installation was pretty easy. We did have to do a little work changing out our outlet to accommodate plugging in our dishwasher and the vacuum but that only took us about five minutes to do. I highly recommend having a professional install the vacuum you don’t feel comfortable messing with wiring and installation. Vroom offers installation from qualified dealers in your area.  The unit that holds the hose is mounted to the inside of the cabinet to keep it in place and typically the collection unit where all the stuff goes can be placed next to the unit that holds the hose, but under our sink we had to put it on the opposite side.  It works great either way, as you can see from the pictures and video.

After installation, we were ready to give this thing a whirl and I gave it a workout!  I swept behind the dishwasher since I had that pulled out, behind the fridge, under the kitchen table, along all the baseboards, where the dog hair seems to collect, and my entire kitchen floor.  Everything was spotless and I didn’t have anything to put away afterwards.  I was impressed with the power from this little thing that is no bigger than a pc box or gaming device.  The vacuum does come with and extra hose attachment and a brush attachment  and I store those under my sink with the vacuum.  Now when any messes occur, I know that I can just pull out my Vroom and off I go. You can use this vacuum anywhere in the house and Vroom would be perfect for the laundry room, the basement, and bathrooms so you have quick cleaning access in all areas of your home.

The Vroom Solo retails for $299 which isn’t too shabby for a vacuum, and I know that I paid close to $500 for my Dyson and the Vroom solo has just as much power and a whole lot more convenience.  All in all, the Vroom Solo is convenient to use, works great, and can be kept where it doesn’t contribute to clutter in your home.  As a busy mom this is a huge plus! You can also register to win one on thier site.  Now get busy and “Vroom Your Room!”  Thank you Vroom for a great product!

Look Good Feel Better

The big “C” word that no one wants to hear in their lifetime, is one of those things that I hold close to me.  Cancer is one of those diseases that carries a lot of heartache with it and no family should have to go through it.  I lost a family member to cancer and it all happened so fast.  There are many resources available to families to help people cope and to help lift their spirits.  I think that good resources like Look Good…Feel Better are so important in aiding families in the healing process and can even make a difference in recovery and survival.

Look Good Feel Better is a free, national public service program that helps women cope with the appearance-related changes of cancer treatment through workshops across the country, self-help materials, and other free information.  Look Good…Feel Better is a collaboration of the Personal Care Products Council Foundation, the American Cancer Society, Inc. and the National Cosmetology Association.  I cannot think of anything more wonderful since cancer can change a woman’s appearance so drastically with things like the loss of  hair and just how much the illness can wear on your body.  It is hard to feel pretty when you don’t feel good and are dealing with so many things.

In honor of its 20th anniversary, Look Good…Feel Better is asking women cancer survivors to submit their stories of how the program helped them cope with cancer as a way to inspire others who may currently be undergoing cancer treatment.  Entries will be featured on the Women of Hope is Beautiful blog to help educate others.  Anyone can visit the site to view entries, make comments and show their support.  In August, Look Good…Feel Better will choose five women with the most-compelling stories to receive a trip to New York City for a makeover and a trip to the DreamBall, a black-tie gala and the program’s largest annual fundraiser, held each year in New York City.

This is a great way to support a good cause and to give someone who has made it through cancer with courage, the chance of a lifetime to win a really awesome trip. Thank you Mom Central for making me aware of such a wonderful organization!

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