Earth Day Challenge Update

I posted about how I was participating in the Earth Day Challenge through The Canadian Mom Blog Network a few days ago.

Well I finally found the time to post about what we did during Earth Day to share with you all.

At playgroup we planted flowers and played with the playdough with gardening toys. Then we went to the library and picked out books and videos to bring home.

They watched Barney Jungle Friends which I picked up because I figured animals would fit under Earth Day. It was a pleasant surprise to find them singing about Earth Day! We also got The Meerkats (as told by Paul Newman), a documentary/movie about Meerkats. Although it's not made for kids, my kids loved it and watched it three times over the past few days.

The books we got and read:

Science Starter: Living Things by Wendy Madgwick (info on living vs. non-living things and science experiments to do. I just read the text and make sure she understood and asked her questions about the pictures.

An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Aston and Sylvia Long (All different kinds of eggs and compares how they are different.)

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page (shows parts of mouth, ears, tails, noses etc.. of different animals. You can guess what animal it is and what it uses it's mouth/ear/tail/nose for and then turn the page to find out the answer.)

This Land is Your Land (With a Tribute by Pete Seeger) - Words and Music by Woody Guthrie, Paintings by Kathy Jakobsen (I introduced this song to my children and we enjoyed the illustrations.

I forgot to take photos WHILE they planted the flowers but here they are after

Here's the playdough with gardening tools

This is my husband gently watering the tree seeds we planted (Thanks to Majesta) Yes there is a toaster outside, it's broken. Also the photo is blueish because my camera sucks and it was dusk.

The girls were playing computer games and all on their own stumbled upon a flower planting one, perfect for Earth Day!

This post was written as a part of the Earth Day Challenge hosted by The Canadian Mom Blog Network in Partnership with Mom Central, Majesta, and Fenigo.com

iPhones and iPads Oh My!

I’m participating in a contest at Best Kids Apps, a blog about iPhone apps for kids, for a chance to win an iPad.

First I'd like to state I don't own an iPhone. I would love to own a smart phone but it's just out of my price range. An iPad is even more out of my price range. I like how the iPad can function as an e-reader but isn't solely and e-reader. I don't read much e-books although I've never tried an e-reader. However I'm sure I could find many uses for the many apps out there, especially being a mom. I love the ones (for iPhone or iPad) that are books or games for your kids. That would be great for the waiting room.

If I won (or was gifted) an iPad for Mother's Day I think I'd faint.

The website mentioned above reviews apps for kids so you figure out which ones you may want for your kids. The apps are categorized based on age and type of game. I think the iReward Chart looks cool!

Do you have an iPhone or iPad? What do you think?

REVIEW/GIVEAWAY: Lysol No-Touch Hand Soap System

I had the pleasure of reviewing the newest product from Lysol. Have you ever gone to get some soap when you are washing your hands and you end up getting the mess that was on your hands, on to the soap dispenser? That's happened to me. Especially when you've been handling raw meat

All I have to do is put my hand under to get just the right amount of soap, without getting food matter or anything else on the dispenser.

It's quite easy to use. The system needs 4 AA batteries which come included in the package. You remove the seal on the soap refill and insert it upside down into the dispenser. Place the dispenser on the counter, switch it on and wait until the red indicator light stops blinking. It's now ready to use!

That red light I mentioned, it will also flash periodically when the batteries need to be changed.

Personally I found the soap dispenser gave just the right amount of soap for me to wash my hands with. However a friend who visits our house often says it wasn't enough. He does have big hands though. I guess it depends on if you like tons of soap or not.

Since I have two young children, I put mine by the kitchen sink, otherwise the kids would just keep putting their hands out until all the soap was all over the sink.

Updated: May 13, 2010:
The starter kid comes in cucumber splash but you can also get a Ginger Tea refill. Grapefruit Essence is only available in the US.

At the Lysol website for the No-Touch Hand Soap System you can view videos of how to set it up and how it works. The starter kit retails for $14.99 and the refills retail for $4.49

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

REVIEW: Majesta Paper Products + science experiments by me!

Have you heard of Majesta brand paper products? I had heard of them in passing but had never really tried them until I was picked to be a Majesta Mom. These past few months I've been trying out Majesta products and doing special activities to get to know more about the Majesta brand.

With Earth Day tomorrow, I wanted to share my findings and some information about a great contest Majesta is hosting.

Majesta products are made by the Irving Tissue Corporation, a family owned company committed to managing its operations in an environmentally sustainable and socially responsible manner. The Irving Tissue Head Office is located in Dieppe, New Brunswick, where Majesta products have been manufactured for over twenty years.

This Earth Day, Majesta gives Moms across Canada the chance to win a $15,000 Green Makeover for their home. All you have to do to enter is visit www.majesta.com. This promotion ends June 27, 2010.

So what would I do with  $15,000 to make my house more green friendly? Well I've already had the windows and doors replaced, a new roof and the electrical wiring has been fixed but there are some things that could be done:

1. Plumbing. My plumbing is bad and getting worse. I would probably use less water (which is better for the environment and my hydro bill) if the plumbing were fixed.
2. Insulation. Our house is old and doesn't have good insulation. You can feel a breeze at some parts and certain walls are much colder than others.
3. Solar Panels. These would be another great thing for the environment and my hydro bill. Any time you are using less hydro, you are saving resources.

What would you do if you won? (Feel free to answer even if you aren't eligible to enter.)

So now what about Majesta products? I was able to try out the Toilet Paper, Facial Tissue and Paper Towel. I normally buy the cheapest brand out there. It changes which cheap brand but for comparisons sake, we'll go with Equality Brand (from Food Basics) How do they compare?

*Toughness refers to whether it rips easily or stays together (tough)

Facial Tissue

	Equality	Majesta
Softness	Rough, scratchy	Not the softest of all tissues but 50% better than Equality
Toughness	With large nose blow, it rips	A little bit tougher

Toilet Paper

	Equality	Majesta
Softness	Rough, easliy get a sore bum	60% softer, much nicer
Breakdown	I'm on the new row, too!	Breaks down fast, no clogging (see shake test below for more)

Paper Towel

	Equality	Majesta
Absorption	I put exactly one tsp of water, in two different spots on the counter. At the same time I put one paper towel from each brand on top of the puddle. Majesta started soaking up the water first but at the end it seemed quite even for the size of the water spot. However when I lifted off the paper towels, both piles had water still in it that hadn't been soaked up but there was almost double the water in the Equality puddle as the Majesta puddle.
Toughness	I put a toonie on the paper, held it under water and it broke in 32 seconds	I put a toonie on the paper, held it under water (same pressure) and gave up after 125 sec., it still hadn't broke!

Shake Test
One of the activities us Majesta Moms did is a Shake Test.  We put 4 sheets of Majesta toilet paper and 4 sheets of Charmin toilet paper into separate water bottles filled 3/4 with water. I shook each 4 times and then observed and took photos. You can see how the Charmin (C) is broken up a bit but still all together in the middle while the Majesta (M) is floating around the whole bottle.

That was the shake test, but I went one step furthur. Since the toilet paper should be going down the toilet, I decided to dump the bottles in to my toilet to see if all the toilet paper bits would come out of the bottle or if they would be stuck. Majesta (M) pretty much flowed out. There was one bit that was a bit bigger and was blocking the water bottle opening but a few shakes of the bottle got it all out. Charmin (C) would not drain completely, no matter what I tried.

I decided to try it with the Equality brand toilet paper and I took photos but since my camera does not like me, they didn't turn out that well. Interestingly, the Equality was the best. It all broke up and poured out of the bottle with ease, no shakes needed and much quicker. It breaks up well but it also makes your bum sore so I'll stick with Majesta. That's not the only reason Majesta is great, check the website for a rollover description of all the company is doing to make Majesta environmentally friendly.

Earth Day Challenge -Canadian Mom Blog Network

This Earth Day (April 22) I'll be doing earth-related activities with my two preschool children. I want to teach my kids to be good to our environment. They already know how to recycle and to not pick flowers or leaves.

The Canadian Mom Blog Network issued and Earth Day Challenge.

The challenge is to post about what I'll be doing with my kids on Earth Day, do it, and then post again afterwards about what we did.

So on Earth Day I plan to read some books about the environment to my kids, perhaps watch a video and maybe plant a tree. I have a seed I just have to figure out if there is somewhere I can plant it.

We also go to playgroup that day so they may have Earth Day activities, I'm not sure.

I'll be sure to take photos of all we do to share with everyone.


This post was written as a part of the Earth Day Challenge hosted by The Canadian Mom Blog Network in Partnership with Mom Central, Majesta, and Fenigo.ca

Blogivation - Why do you blog?

First of all I want to apologize for the lack of posts this past week. I was doing a read-a-thon through my other blog SMS Book Reviews and didn't have time before hand to set up auto-posts.

It has come to my attention that there is a new blog around called Blogivation. It is all about why people are blogging, and it's quite interesting. Jordan M. Williams has co-created Blogivation.

I'm not sure I could put into words why I run this blog so you won't find my story there but there are plenty of other stories there. Goodfellow Blog also heard about Blogivation and submitted her story!

Who knows? Perhaps reading about why others blog will help you think about why you blog and help solidify your blogging objectives.

Sunday Linkage - Apr 4 - Poetry Edition

First of all, Happy Easter! I'm off celebrating Easter right now. This is being auto-posted in case anyone is not celebrating Easter or has some free time to be on the computer (in which case I'm honored you are spending that time at MY blog!)

April is National Poetry Month so I thought I'd give some poetry links.

Poetry4Kids.com - Great site with fun poems. I'm reviewing Kenn Nesbitt's new book April 14 at SMS Book Reviews

National Poetry Month Blog Tour @ Savvy Verse & Wit - My review mentioned above and another one that same day are a part of the this blog tour. Click on over to see the schedule and who else is posting about poetry this month.

Poetry Daily - a new poem every day plus more!

Ready to Rock National Poetry Month @ Miss Rumphius Effect - great post with links to resources for poetry around the blogophere (especially for kid)

That's good! See you next week for more links!

My Blog is Carbon Neutral!

Did you know that your blog or website releases carbon dioxide into the air? That's because of the computer we use for it. Let me quote Make it Green!

How much carbon dioxide does your blog create?

According to a study by Alexander Wissner-Gross, PhD, physicist at Harvard University and environmental activist, an average website causes about 0.02g (0,0008oz.) of carbon dioxide for each visit. Assuming an average blog gets 15,000 visits a month, it has yearly carbon dioxide emissions of 3,6kg (8lb.). This can mainly be tracked back to the immense energy usage from (mainframe) computers, servers, and their cooling systems.

 I don't have anywhere near that many visitors a month but I still leave a carbon footprint. So what can I do about it? By joining the Carbon Neutral campaign they will plant a tree for me (in California) to help neutralize it.

Their goal is to have 500 blogs in the campaign by Earth Day and they haven't hit 300 yet so why don't you join too? It's easy and it's good for the environment.