Kid Friendly Restaurants

So I don't normally go to Wendy's but I happened to be near there the other day and boy was I surprised at how kid friendly they are, especially compared to the other fast food restaurants.

I was struggling to get in the door with a double stroller loaded down with kids and bags (there are no buttons to open the doors automatically) and TWO employees RAN to me to hold the door open and help me get in.

Then an employee jumped ahead of me to move a sign so I could fit through the small space in front of the counter where they take your order. Someone CARRIED my tray to the table and got straws for me.

They also came by and asked the kids how they liked it and was talking to them.

I can't believe it! Go Wendys!

GIVEAWAY: Swiffer Wet-Jet

If you've been here before, you may have seen my review for the Swiffer Wet-Jet. If not, you can find it here.


So the folks behind the Swiffer were kind enough to offer me a Swiffer Wet-Jet to giveaway! Isn't that awesome! Now one of you can win one of your very own. Please read on for entry guidelines.

TO ENTER:

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment. Make sure there's a way to contact you or you won't be eligible.

Bonus Entries: (Must be in a SEPARATE COMMENT or it won't count as an extra entry)

- post about this contest on your blog and leave a link
- add me to your blogroll (if you like my blog of course) and leave a link to your blog
- tweet the contest and leave your twitter id
- email at least 2 friends about this contest and CC me at callista83 AT cogeco DOT ca

This giveaway is open until March 11, 2009 11:59PM EST. UPDATE: This giveaway IS open worldwide!

Do you do Product Reviews??

I created a webring for blogs who do product reviews. If you don't know, webrings are a great way to get more traffic.

To join the webring go here. (you need be a member of webring but membership is free)

If you don't know what a webring is go here.

'Boca Beth' and 'Root and Sprout'

I won the Boca Beth Bilingual Beginner's Set from Root & Sprout!

Root & Sprout is relaunching new and improved on March 1, 2009

Even though French is the other official language of Canada, I've always loved Spanish and while teaching myself, wanted to teach my kids too. They already know quite a bit. (they are just barely 3 and not quite 2)

I am so excited! We've watched the video once already and I know they'll love the songs on the CD. They love the puppet although I might need to buy another one so they don't fight over it. It also comes with a coloring book although I think I'll photocopy the pages so that they can both do it and they'll last longer.

If the kids take to this I'll have to ask for more Boca Beth products for special occasions!

BIP Week 4

So for this week, we are focusing on blog basics.

Here are some of the things I'll be working on:

1. Write (or update) your “About Me” Page
2. Update your contact information
3. Add some sort of picture of yourself (if you’re comfortable with that)
4. Update your Blogroll
5. Create a link to your Archives on your front page (ALREADY DONE)
6. Add a link (or make sure a link is there) so readers can subscribe to your blog via RSS
7. Anything else basic I want to work on.

Well I found this article about must-haves for mom bloggers from the Mom Bloggers Club and so I'll also be doing the following:

- adding twitter link
- adding review policy

and just off the top of my head I also want to:

- add social media links/icons

I will be posting a wrap-up post about how I did in 2 weeks time.

Do What You Can (for Ontarians)

Stewardship Ontario, the industry organization responsible for the Blue Box program and the Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste (MHSW) program, is making it easier for Ontarians to recycle old batteries, paint, solvents and other “household hazardous waste” with a new initiative under a new program called Do What You Can.

The Do What You Can program aims to more than double the amount of ‘hazardous’ or ‘special’ waste diverted from landfill over the next five years. The target is to divert more than 33,000 tonnes of potentially hazardous or special waste, up from the 16,000 tonnes currently collected. Materials targeted under the program include paint, solvents, non-rechargeable batteries, antifreeze, propane cylinders and other items commonly found in Ontario homes but which need special care when there are leftovers and used containers.

Did you know that…

- Before this program, municipalities paid the fee to dispose of these hazardous materials. Now, the brand owners and importers of these products are responsible for paying the fee. The fee is used to pay for the program including collection, transportation, reuse and recycling, processing, research and development, and consumer education.

- The companies that make and market these items are also working with municipalities and leading retailers to enhance recovery of potentially hazardous or special wastes by making the process much more convenient. This means consumers will be able to conveniently drop their hazardous products off at retails locations like Home Depot, RONA and Jiffy Lube.

- Red Lake is the northernmost Ontario community with an MHSW agreement, Spanish is the smallest municipality with a population of 740 and Toronto is the largest (population 1.9 million).

To find out how to recycle many different items, check out http://www.dowhatyoucan.ca/

Check out Canadian Mommy

It's a new ning group for us Canadian mommies. Let's face it, there are a lot of resources that are American, and not many that are Canadian.

It's just starting but will be awesome I'm sure once there are some more members. So come join and tell your friends!


Visit Canadian Mommy

Baby Names

Do you live in Canada, US, UK, Australia or New Zealand?

Is your child(ren)'s name(s) on one of the following lists?

Top 100 Baby Names in Canada 2008

Top 100 Baby Names in United States 2007

Top 100 Baby Names in United Kingdom 2007

Top 100 Baby Names in Australia 2007

(or more recent ones if you can find them)

If not, I'm compiling a list of unique baby (child) names from those living in the above areas (only because they're likely to have similar names) just for personal curiousity. I mean I can search for rare baby names but I'd like to see which ones are really being used out there.

I have a few myself; my daughter's and some of my nieces. I'm not pregnant, I just love thinking of baby names.

Please put any names in the comments and after I have at least 15 I'll compile them and post them for anyone who's interested. Maybe we'll have a vote after that.

Top Trends in Home Decor 2009

According to Janette Ewen, the top trends in Home Decor for 2009 are:

• felt and leather fabrics


• gold as choice metal


• dark stone finishes


• brown, black and cherry red woods


• laser cut designs for your dishes


• candle ambience


• optical illusion walls


• purple for anything

Personally, I have NONE of these in my home. We haven't had the money to redo much of our home at all so it's all the old stuff that it was like when we bought it.

If you do have or choose to get any of these new fashion trends, be sure to check out which Proctor & Gamble products might be useful to keep them in tip top shape. For example Swiffer Dust & Shine would be good for the wood or a dishwashing detergent such as Dawn Plus with Power Scrubbers would be a safe way to clean real gold.

* leather couch from flickr user RLB865

Operation Love Zimbabwe

Esme's mommy has started a two week event called Operation Love Zimbabwe.

The idea is to help spread word about the crisis happening in Zimbabwe. Check out her post to find out more.

Throughout the 2 week period, you will find informational posts and African themed giveaways to help spread the word.

Blog Improvement Project Weeks 2 and 3

Note: If you read my BIP Week 2 and 3 post on my book blog, this is almost identical. Sorry.

So I'm behind in my BIP. Week 2 was all about brainstorming.

I enjoyed reading the articles and have been thinking a lot but haven't put any of the brainstorming ideas into practice yet. So I guess I'm still working on Week 2.

I like the Mind Mapping idea although I don't know if it will work for this blog. Most of my posts lately have been product or service reviews or info about products or services. But I'll try.Week 3 is Blog Post Bingo and is a fun idea.

By midnight Feb. 14 we have to do as many of the following types of posts as possible:

A Link Post - share a series of links your readers might find interesting
A Short Post - less than 200 words
A List Post - simple as it sounds, a list of some sort
An Opinion Post - take an event, news, or another blog post and share your opinion on it
A Poll or Question Post - post a poll or ask your readers a specific question for feedback
A How-To Post - You’re an expert in something; big or small, share how to do it
A Long Post - more than 700 words
A Review Post - self-explanatory, I think
A Definition Post - show your expertise about a topic related to your blog
FREE SPACE - a type of post of your choice (that is not the same as one of the previous posts)

Doesn't that sound cool?? So I'll be working on that as much as possible.

Have you checked out Root & Sprout?

Root & Sprout is an online newsletter for parents. It's February 2009 edition recently came out. There's also a ning communicty attached to it. So go check it out!