U by Kotex - Review

My sweet little girl is growing up. Today we’re going out to get her bras & summer clothes. Pretty soon we’ll be dealing with all the other issues that come up as a girl becomes a woman. I have tried to talk to Darly about this and it has been awkward. I know that Darly is embarrassed and uncomfortable. I remember how “the talk” with my own mom went. I’ve tried to make it much better, but we’ll see. I’ve tried to use humor to ease the tension so I’m making sure to…
“Be prepared, be prepared,
This lesson must be shared,
This lesson must be shared,
Be prepared!”

Sorry for the Hoodwinked song there…

In an effort to “Be prepared” and to help young women feel less embarrassed, Kotex launched U, a new line of tampons, pads and liners, which feature a slim, thinner design, making them easier and more comfortable to use. And with bright, bold packaging and colors, girls don't need to send their Mom to Walmart for them or feel embarrassed the next time the conversation comes up with their friends. 

They’ve also set up a website http://www.ubykotex.com/ where you can order free samples of the new U by Kotex line, now available at Walmart stores around the country. For more information, and to download a fun Daily Journal iPhone or iTouch application that lets you take pictures, add play lists and geo-target your location for each entry, visit www.walmart.com/ubykotex.  And, if you haven’t seen the hilarious new commercials, you can check out some of our favorites like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n09SejxpcFA.

I think I’ve done an okay job with our talk.  One of the books that Darly read is "Are You There God, It's Me Margaret" so our running joke is if she needs any "teenage softies."  We have U products on hand and I'm sure she'll let me know when she needs more.  I remember that even though I wasn’t all that impressed with the job my mom did, I was prepared.

 “I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Kotex and received products necessary to facilitate my candid review. In addition, Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Old London Melba Toast - Review

Okay I'm probably totally showing how old I am again...but back when I was a little girl we would sometimes go out to restaurants where they would have a basket of crackers on the tables. Anyone remember those?

Now days when you go out you're lucky if the place brings the basket of crackers with your soup or salad...most places give you just a packet or two of saltines with your soup or salad. :P

But if you're lucky and get the basket my favorite thing to do is see if they have Melba Toast in the basket (some places still have a variety of crackers to choose from!) I just love Melba Toast. It's just so yummy and crunchy! Much better than a cracker.

So I was so excited to find out that I had the chance to try out some new flavors of Melba Toast. So excited in fact that I ran out to my grocery store to look for them and bought a box. I didn't know that you could just buy Melba Toast in the store! *blush* Before I was always just hunting for them in restaurants.


I scarfed down my box of Melba Toast and they were as yummy as I always remember. I tried them with all sorts of stuff and "lookie!" the Melba Toast folks even came up with some nifty recipes you can try to have with your Melba Toast! They awesome just right out of the box too...and lucky for me a serving is only 50 calories. In fact I had to go grab my box so I could munch some while I'm trying to type out this post. LOL

Another cool thing is the folks at Old London Melba Toast are currently running a promotion. It is called ‘Dance Your Way to Hollywood’ http://www.toastforeverydayhealth.com/dance/. Here’s some information about it from the website:

“Dance Your Way to Hollywood” will send one lucky winner and a guest to Tinseltown for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, including private dance lessons and tickets to watch the taping of a highly popular television show. The four-day, three-night, all-expenses-paid experience includes air travel and accommodations at a popular Hollywood hotel. Sweepstakes entries accepted March 17 through June 30, 2010.”

While you're signing up for the contest...check out the other cool links on the website about staying healthy and keeping fit.

okay I better go put away my box of Melba Toast before I scarf them all up. Mffpthh muh yummm he he

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Old London Melba Toast and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Party time

Darly's birthday was this week, so that means we had to have a party for her (I think it's a law somewhere or something like that!)

Monday we went to the American Girl Doll store and she picked out a few things that she wanted.  My credit card took another major hit!

The party was to be a sleep over of course because maximum playtime is a major requirement.  However, I had a few requirements of my own...namely that Darly help clean up HER MESS that oozes all over my house!  Alas, Darly is the queen of procrastination and she left all cleaning for the very last minutes (why clean it now since it will just get dirty again?  save it for right before so there's less time to make it messy again!)  You can see my eyes rolling - right?

Darly's one friend DJ's mom needed some errands run and the logistics of it meant that it would work out better for her if DJ came to the party early.  DJ LOVES to clean, so this was a good thing!  DJ came over and vacuumed my house!  WOW!  I love this kid!

Darly volunteered to dust the house...ummm she would FAIL a white glove test as there are huge areas of dust she didn't get at all.  Good thing her friends are not neat freaks.  sigh!

I'm not sure why Darly thought it would be best to save baking and decorating her cake (she's a budding cake decorator, so she has to do it herself!!!) for the party day would be a good idea.  She said something about worried it would dry out and I couldn't convince her otherwise.  So Darly & DJ bake the cake.  Darly has this idea for the design of her cake, but unfortunately that didn't turn out so well, so instead they smashed all the cake back into the cake pan and left it.

I started baking the pizzas and cheese bread, set the timer and then needed to bring down a table from upstairs.  By the time I got the table down, the timer on the pizzas went off and I didn't hear it.  Neither did the girls.  The pizzas were overdone...still very edible, but over done.  sigh!

The kids played and had a great time, but Darly's carefully planned out schedule was out the window!  I kept asking "aren't you supposed to be watching a movie now?"  The first movie didn't start until after 9pm and two movies were planned.

One of the girls had a soccer game this morning, so she needed to be picked up at 8:30am.  I woke up after 7am and hurried downstairs to get the waffles made so she could eat before rushing out.  I don't know why, but every single waffle stuck to the iron.  I've never had that happen before (ooh that reminds me that I need to clean up that mess!)  So the girls ate waffle skins.  They tasted good, but so not waffles.

Soccer gal's dad didn't come to get her until after 9am though.  I'm not so sure he was up when we called him.  he he!

but even with all the goofs the girls are having a great time, I have no idea where they're playing right now, probably the very messy basement.  sigh!

I NEED A NAP!

A Kitchen MeMe

Ladybug had this meme on her blog and I'm borrowing it because it's fun!

1. Do you have magnets on your fridge? I do. TONS! Dh thinks I have too many.

2. Do you have a calendar in your kitchen, if so, what’s the theme of it? I actually have two calendars in the kitchen. One is a week by week on the frig (one of the many magnets) and the other is from Williamsburg VA.

3. What is your favorite kitchen gadget? I think the one I use most is my waffle iron/griddle. It has 4 changeable plates so you can have waffles, grilled cheese or grill meats.

4. Are you lucky enough to have a pantry of some kind? Yes, I need to clean it.

5.What is your favorite appliance? My range. I am just in love with the double oven!


6. Do you have an eat in kitchen (table in it)? Yes we do, but when I was a kid we had the eat in kitchen and NEVER used the dining room. So to prevent that I ordered that we at least have dinner in the dining room every night. Now the kitchen table is a catch all cuz we hardly use it.

7. Do you have a bread box? no

8. Do you have a picture of your kids on the fridge? Yes. She's on the side.


9. Do you ever cook breakfast in your PJs? Who doesn't?

10. Do you have a favorite cookbook that you use? I have many. I think I use my Cheyenne Frontier Days cookbook the most.

11. Are you lucky enough to have recipes that were passed down from your mom or grandma? Yes. and I have one from my grandmother that she intentionally gave me graciously with missing information. I told my mom that I had gotten it and she looked at it and said "this isn't her recipe!" :( Stinker! So now I use one I found online that is very similar. My brothers don't know the difference.

12. What’s your favorite food? Steak.

13. What’s your favorite thing to cook? Anything quick and yummy.

14. Is your coffee pot electric or stove top? Electric, does anyone use stove top anymore?

15. Do you ever make your own bread? Once in a blue moon. I'm not into baking.

16. Name one thing that you have hanging on your wall in your kitchen: There isn't actually a lot of wall space in my kitchen, and what there is is covered in cabinets. But I do have a cinnamon broom hanging over the pantry door. It lost it's scent a long time ago.


17. Is there a clock in your kitchen? YES! One on the stove, one on the microwave and one on my radio.

18. Do you have a bowl of fruit sitting on your table or counter? No, it would go bad too quickly here.

19. What type of canisters do you have? I have ones that match my stoneware.

20. Does your kitchen have a theme? It matches my stoneware.

21. What’s for supper tonight? Pizza.

22. Do you have enough cabinet space? Yes... But I could use some better organization.

23. Does your family use paper plates? A lot!

24. Do you have a good set of china? Yes, I don't use it very often as it likes to be hand washed.

25. Do you wear an apron to work in your kitchen? nope. I have one, but never wear it.

26. Name one thing, if anything, that you would like to change about your kitchen. The entire thing. The sink needs to be replaced but I want an under the counter mount...which means new counter tops...and since we're doing the counter tops, how about new cabinets with better organization?

WThey? This can't be safe!

as you know I bought a new car this past summer. One of the really cool things that came with my car is the SYNC powered by Microsoft. A lot of the SYNC features are really cool, like being able to toss my purse in the back seat with the phone and still answer or make calls...not that I actually do that very often! I usually don't touch my phone at all when I'm in the car, but having the car answer it has been pretty cool. My friend says that the microphone is really good and when she's talking to me from it, it just sounds as if I were talking on the phone in the car.

One good feature of this was the day of my MIL's funeral. My BIL called us while we were waiting in the cemetery for our turn to use the "grave side" pavilion. (they don't have actual grave side service at this cemetery) So BIL calls us and everyone in the car was able to chat with him while we waited. I bet he thought I was holding up my phone. lol

anyway one of the BAD features of SYNC is the pre-set Vehicle Health Report. According to my handbook this was supposed to be something that I could choose to set, but someone set it before I bought the car. Imagine if you will... you're driving down the interstate in rush hour traffic...concentrating on the road...


"*BING!* IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO RUN A VEHICLE HEALTH REPORT PRESS OK!"

what?  who in their right mind thought that having this thing come on while you're driving would be a good idea?  I ignored it the first time and it has since come on twice while DH was driving...the last time we all screamed NO! at it.  lol 

I dug out the manual and see that I can turn this off...YAY!  but like I mentioned before, someone turned it on.  I wonder who?  Oh well, I'll shut the darned thing off so I don't cause an accident now.