Mamapedia.com is the answer to your wish.  They have “the wisdom of moms”.  We all know we can easily come up with solutions for our friends/sisters’ problems.  But when it’s us and our families, those answers aren’t always so easy to find.  Mamapedia is the perfect place for that!  You simply go there and type in your question.  Mine was “12 yr old son wants a cell phone”.  What comes up are other people’s questions regarding cell phones and kids.  Nothing fits your search? Write your own question and then other moms can answer you!  Sort of like a blog, but with a bazillion readers!

You’ll also find product recommendations, business reviews, and you can help other moms with your knowledge as well.  I love it!  When you put in your zip code, you’ll also see requests from other moms in your area.  It’s a great way to help out.  Check out mamapedia & mamasource (it’s parent) today.

I picked up Skinny Cow Mint ice cream sandwiches and was (frankly) a little skeptical.  How could low fat ice cream possibly taste good?  Reluctantly, I took a bite.  I MOO’ed!

It was that good.

In all seriousness, at only 150 calories and 2 grams of fat, this was like heaven wedged between 2 chocolate cookies!  It was delicious.  The ice cream tasted like full-fat normal ice cream.  The chocolate cookies were rich & chocolately and just simply a w e s o m e!

AND!

It’s Best Live Approved!  That means that when I do my 30 Day Challenge on the Wii Active, I can still eat them!  Woot!

Skinny Cow offers lots of varieties of yummy frozen treats, and they really are yummy.

Check them out – check out their site – and moo for yourself!

Perhaps I’ve watched too much Dateline, but the online world for kids is a scary place to me.  To think of what he might be up to if he were online by himself is just too creepy!

That’s why I was so glad when Mom Central asked me to take a look at a site called NSteens.org, a website designed to educate kids about online safety – but not just “don’t talk to strangers” but also covers such topics as cyber-bullying, social networking, and of course, what can happen when you take it offline.

Created by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to empower, engage and enducate kids, to encourage them to become responsible online users, NetSmartz and nsteens.org should be your first stop when introducing your children to the Internet.

As always, my thanks to MomCentral for giving me the opportunity to share this with you.

(Screen shot of my profile)

The other great thing about Drugs.com is that you can look up virtually any medication you can think of, in case you have to empty out that medicine cabinet and can’t remember what you were taking something for, or for an elderly relative with a counter full of medications, but no clue as to why they’re taking them all.  Not sure what a specific pill is? You can even look it up by it’s appearance!

Best of all – IT’s ALL FREE! So you have nothing to lose, and might even learn something!

Cozi is an online organizational tool that gives you all the tools you need to get at least some part of your life organized.  Color coded calendars, shopping lists, family journals and even an incredible desktop screensaver program that allows you to cycle through your photos in a collage that’s just such a nice surprise to walk in to when you’ve left your computer for a while. (Yes, believe it or not, I really DO leave my computer from time to time. lol)

In addition to the ways that moms can get their shopping lists and calendars already on any mobile phone via text message and using our toll free number, Cozi now has a mobile version especially for the iPhone and Windows Mobile phones.  Families can now sign-in and access their Cozi account using their mobile web browsers.   They can add and edit shopping lists and view and edit their family calendar using the mobile version of Cozi right from their iPhone.  This is a new feature! You can learn more about it here:    http://www.cozi.com/Promo-Cozi-Mobile.htm

But the best part of any blog post is the part about the contest, right? So here it is:

Use Cozi to manage and coordinate all the things your busy family wants and needs to do this year. And if you do so before February 4, you’re automatically entered to win a 2-day in-home organization makeover with one of the country’s top organization pros and author of Eliminate Chaos: The 10-Step Process to Organize Your Home and Life

How it works:

• Use Cozi before February 4 (add or edit a calendar appointment, add or edit a list, send a quick message, sync your Cozi calendar with Outlook, add or edit a family journal post, or run the Cozi Collage screen saver)
• You’re automatically entered to win
• It’s that easy!

My thanks to Mom Central for allowing me the opportunity to share this with you

Through some pretty amazing luck on my part, we are finally the proud owners of a Nintendo Wii and WiiFit and can I just say I LOVE IT!   We all do.  Fortunately for us, we have a GameStop store in town, and we’re in there every few days checking out all the cool stuff you can get for the Wii & Wii Fit.

One of the things I’ve been waiting for them to get new stock on is the silicone cover that goes on the Balance Board – but they have such a great selection of accessories for the Wii, as well as every single other game system you can think of, that we rarely walk out empty handed.

With the huge popularity of “active” gaming, this January, GameStop is offering a “Sharpen the Mind, Shape the Body.” initiative for the whole month that includes a special incentive to discover active gaming. So you can stop by a local store and demo a range of titles that match your interests and skill level.

As a special incentive, all shoppers who spend $35 or more on designated products will receive a free 12-month trial subscription to their choice of Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Redbook, Good Housekeeping or Esquire.

Now we parents can get in on the fun AND benefit from it!  I love seeing Jimmy & the kids up on their feet, playing games that get them moving.  Watching Libby bowl or box – too funny – and then there’s me – actually boxing, getting out of breath, and enjoying it LOL

for allowing me the opportunity to share this with you

Mom Central has prepared their own 2008 Holiday Gift Guide that is absolutely fabulous.  With gift guides for her, him, baby/toddler, kids, tweens, teens and pets, it’s jam packed full of great ideas for ANYONE on your holiday shopping list!

In addition to the Holiday Gift Guide, they’re also have 16 days of giveaways too! All you have to do is register on their site and comment. How easy is that?!

As you know, I LOVE working with Mom Central.  They’re so helpful and friendly and INVOLVED!  *MWAH!*  I love you guys!

The problem came when it was so choppy and lagged, thereby making it nearly impossible to hold a conversation.  The cam has sat there, collecting dust, for quite some time.

Then, MomCentral asked us bloggers to check out Tokbox.  Tokbox is a video chat website, and is (best of all) FREE.  Tokbox is even integrated into Facebook, so you can connect with your Facebook friends as you’re hurling a sheep at them!  You can also simply put your own specialized Tokbox link anywhere you’d like, [http://www.tokbox.com/Dawnie] and when people click on it, they’ll be able to call you right from there.  They do not need to have a video camera. 

In fact, when I dusted off our camera to try it out, the first couple of friends I tested it with didn’t have video cameras, and I don’t have a microphone! LOL  But you can text chat as you view the video or they view yours, etc.  I did finally find a friend who had their own video camera, and when we got linked up, the HUGE difference in the quality of the video was just mind boggling!  It was as if we were sitting face to face, having coffee – instead of 200 miles apart!

One of my favorite features is the ability to import friends from all your favorite places, like yahoo, gmail, etc. That made finding people to chat with so much easier!

I also liked having the ability to embed this cool little widget wherever I might want to. For those of you who are (rightfully) concerned about privacy, their privacy controls are AWESOME! You are able to set exactly who contacts you. I have mine set so that only the people on my friends list can contact me, IM me, leave messages for me.

With nothing to download, no costs or prepaid minutes, and complete privacy control, TokBox solves a number of the problems we all have staying in touch. Plus – video is so much more fun than simply talking! 

Now if only I can figure out where my microphone went!

So when MomCentral asked me to take a look at shop.com, the very first thing I clicked on was their link for Free Shipping!   They have HUNDREDS of shops that offer free shipping!

Shop.com is basically a one-stop shopping portal.  You tell it what you’re shopping for – it goes out, finds a parking spot, slogs through the slush, gets into the store, fights through the crowds, finds a salesperson to go look up the price of the thing you are in need of, gets the price, fights the crowds out of the store, slogs through the slush, searches for the car that it can’t remember where it parked, drives home, and gives you the price – and does that for hundreds of different places – all at once!

Here’s an example.  I searched for “cookie sheet”. I need a GOOD, heavy cookie sheet because mine are so … well, let’s just say I NEED one.  Look what I got: 

There are 574  matches in SHOP.COM  > Home & Housewares > cookie sheet

Now, of those 574!! results, you can narrow down the results by price, by store, by size, by brand – all without having to find your snowbrush!

For me, living here in the boonies, if I want something other than WalMart, I have to drive for (literally) hours to get something else.  With Shop.com, now I don’t have to!  I can comparison shop on just one site.  What’s more – you can buy from a variety of stores right there on shop.com.  They also offer shopping tips, suggestions and COUPONS!   Seriously, with all the stress that the holidays can bring, taking the hassle out of shopping is one of the best gifts you can give YOURSELF.

Special thanks to MomCentral for another great opportunity!

Thankfully, he recovered and just celebrated his 5th birthday.  Unfortunately, others aren’t so lucky.

According to stopmrsanow.org,  MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is a type of Staph bacteria found on the skin and in the nose that is resistant to antibiotics. More than 90,000 Americans get potentially deadly MRSA infections every year and in 2005, nearly 19,000 Americans died from MRSA infections. More deaths are linked to MRSA infections than AIDS.
There are two known types of MRSA. You may have heard of Healthcare-Associated (HA-MRSA), which occurs in hospitals and nursing homes, but a newer type of MRSA is Community-Associated (CA-MRSA), which has recently begun to spread in public settings like gyms, locker rooms, households and schools.

Mom Central has asked us to help get the word out to help prevent MRSA.  The following tips will help you keep yourself and your family safe from such a potentially deadly infection.

  Scrub up – Wash hands frequently with soap and warm water for at least 15 seconds or use an alcohol-based hand rub sanitizer. 

  
   Wipe it down – Use a disinfecting bleach solution to wipe down and disinfect hard surfaces. (1 tablespoon of disinfecting bleach diluted in 1 quart of water)

  Cover your cuts – Keep any nicks or wounds covered with a clean, dry bandage until healed.  

  Keep to yourself – Do not share personal items, like towels or razors, that  come into contact with bare skin.

Use a barrier – Keep a towel or clothing between skin and shared equipment.

It’s really not that hard.  It’s basic.  It’s necessary.  Realizing now that I went to the hospital the other day for my mammogram with my hand where I’d jammed it into the asphalt still unhealed, I left myself open for much more than painful breasts.