As I told you before, we have been included in Team Refrigerator for Frigidaire’s pairing up with Mom Central. It took awhile due to the Winter That Will Not End but our fridge was finally delivered last Saturday. I wasn’t home as I was at work but FireDad said that the installers were polite, knew their stuff and got the job done. My sneaky husband didn’t tell me that it had been delivered and installed so I came home from work, opened the front door, started up the steps and squealed like a little girl.

I’m in love.

I’ll have better pictures of the front of it once we get our trim work done in the kitchen. (Remember? We’re also doing a semi-remodel of our kitchen at the same time. We like to live in chaos.) We’ve now had the fridge for almost a week and I can tell you a few things that I really love about it. The size, the adjustable shelves and the freezer side are all great.

But I’m kind of easy to please. I’m loving the water and ice maker. I didn’t have that before and now I do. It’s funny, though, trying to get your mind to wrap around a new place to get water from instead of the tap. LittleBrother asked for water the other day and I got it out of the sink, walked back across the kitchen and said, “Oh yeah, filtered water, right there. Duh.”

I love also that the control buttons lock. Do you know why? Little hands like to press buttons. Press the control lock button and not only are the buttons for things like temperature disabled but so are the water and ice functions. That way, little hands can’t run by and press the water supply and get my (new!) floor all wet. However, if I forget to lock the controls, the water will turn off automatically if you have the thing depressed for three minutes. So only a couple of inches of water on the floor, right? Right.

I think in my next post I’m going to talk a little about why I love certain shelves. You wouldn’t think that shelves, especially adjustable shelves, would make such a difference in food storage and such but, wow, I’m seeing a difference already in how easy it is to find everything. But more of that next week. I’m going to relax with a nice glass of water, which, by the way, I’m drinking more of now that I have ease of use and a nice filtered taste. Who knew my fridge could help me with my weight loss goals?

Yep. In my Hot Dog Shoppe cup. Booyah.

My next post will be later this month. Stay tuned! I’m sure I’ll learn even more about my fridge in the meantime!

_
[Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator to facilitate my review.]

An exciting update: I’m a Frigidaire Test Drive Mom!

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of that, however, I do want to tell you about some stuff. I told you before about the new Frigidaire appliances that are supposed to save moms time and money. I also told you about how Jennifer Garner, in all her awesomeness, paired with Frigidaire to create the Make Time for Change campaign that raises money for Save the Children. They’ve decided to kick off a new campaign to continue to help Save the Children. It’s called Spin and Win.

Basically? You visit Make Time For Change, take a spin and see if you win anything. You could win a new Frigidaire Affinity washer and dryer. (Have you seen it? Go to the site. That blue? Wow.) There are also great gift cards that encourage you to “curl up with new books” or “get outside and play.” I’m all for gift cards!

Plus? Here’s the real bonus. Every day you take a spin, Frigidaire donates $1 to Save the Children as part of their $250,000 commitment to this worthy cause. It’s kind of win-win, especially if you actually win.

Now that you know about that, I suppose I should tell you about my involvement with Frigidaire. I’m getting a new fridge! That’s right! A brand-spankin-new stainless steel wonder of an appliance. We’re thrilled. In fact, we’re so thrilled that we finally decided to finish our kitchen.

Let me explain. When we bought our house in 2006, it was “move in ready.” We painted and have since been fixing everything that the previous owners did wrong and/or covered up to sell. The kitchen cabinets were brand new and the appliances were tolerable (though we bought a new stove). But we only painted one wall in the adjoining dining room and wanted to redo the floor and never figured out the backsplash and eventually came to hate the color we painted the one wall. Did I mention we had cheap linoleum on the kitchen side and carpet in our dining room? A mess. Thanks to this partnership with Frigidaire, we’ve been inspired to finally finish our kitchen project! I’m getting new flooring (laminate honey colored oak to match our cabinets) and we’ve already painted (a nice dark tan/light brown that warms up the room) and we finally, after four years, agreed on a backsplash, though that has yet to be purchased and done! Needless to say, we’ve been watching a lot of HGTV!

Our new refrigerator is set to be delivered at the end of February. I can’t say whether we’ll have the backsplash done but the flooring and subsequent trim work should be completed by that time. In fact, the flooring might be done this weekend! And I may or may not have found new curtains for the back window. (Help?) I’m excited to share our semi-remodel with you as well as how we’re loving our new fridge over the next few months. I’m hopeful that by the time this Frigidaire Test Drive is done, we’ll have a kitchen that I love to be in since, of course, that’s the room where everyone congregates!

_
[Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator to facilitate my review.]

Do you have a sports fan in your family? Are you struggling with what to get him or her with Christmas so close? Want a great idea? Good! You came to the right place.

Office Depot has a great, personalized creation that is sure to make any sports fan feel like a star. They take your sports loving gift recipient’s last name, throw it on a jersey in a photo where it hangs next to the jerseys of the great current stars of the team. Having a difficult time picturing what I’m talking about? As you may know, our family happens to be a huge Steelers family. I took my maiden name and had Office Depot put it into a Steelers picture.

Here’s the result:

Too much fun. Not a Steelers fan? (I’m not a fair weather fan. I’m still a fan even after this… interesting… season.) Office Depot can make this out of any MLB, NFL, NHL or NBA team! MLB? I bet they’d even make a Pirates one for you which, of course, is the only team that plays worse than the Steelers this year. (I still love them. I get to razz on them because I love them. Ask my husband.) Whatever the team, whatever your last name, I bet they can make a great gift for you and your sports lover. I mean, if Swearingen fits, well…

You can simply go in to your local Office Depot and they can make one of these up for you while you wait! It will run you $39.99 or you can have it framed for an extra ten dollars. Not too shabby!

To make matters all the more easy for you, we’re giving away a digital copy to be delivered directly to your own computer. (Simply print it out on photo paper straight from your printer or take your copy on a flash drive to Office Depot and have them print it out!) Leave a comment on this post with your favorite sports team (you don’t have to leave last names) or the sports team of the person you’d be gifting!

Giveaway will be live through Wednesday, December 23 at 12:00pm EST so that your gift can be delivered to your inbox in time for printing. Winner will be pulled by random.org. Tweeting about this giveaway (as much as your list will tolerate) will get you another entry in the giveaway. Please just comment to say you’ve done so!

For more great gifts, visit Office Depot.

_
[Disclosure: I received a free, digital file to print if I so desired in exchange for this review and giveaway.]

This may come as a surprise but I’m a talkative person. No, really. I am. I talk a lot in person. I talk a lot on the phone. I find it difficult to talk on the phone with little ones in my personal space, so, for awhile, I was talking a lot in the vehicle while traveling to and from places. I decided that I preferred to have both hands on the wheel. I’ve been using bluetooth devices for about two years now. And I have a new favorite.

The ChicBuds Pink Tooth. Why? Have you seen it? Here. Look at how adorable it looks in my ear.

I mean, RIGHT?! As adorable as it looks in my ear, the packaging is just as swanky. See?

As for ease of use, don’t worry. Even the most-talkative but least tech-savvy woman on your gift giving list can use this bluetooth device. Turn it on. Turn your phone on (in bluetooth search mode) and, bam! Connected. I have had nothing but clear reception. The battery charger comes with the ear piece and works quite well.

And, most fun, I can’t tell you the number of complimentary comments I have had regarding the bit o’bling in my ear. Women want to know where I bought it. Men want to know where to get one for their significant other. Or their mom. Sometimes for their uber-trendy grandma. It’s multi-generational apparently.

ChicBuds Pink Tooth retails for around $48.00. The packaging is small enough to fit in a stocking and but the total awesomeness of the gift is enough to be a “big” present for the year. (As a side note, ChicBuds makes some really swanky, bling-y products that music loving moms and women might love as well. I think I need the Chic Boom for my newspaper key chain. Check it out.)

_
[Disclaimer: I received a free Pink Tooth in exchange for my honest review.]

I know. Halloween isn’t until the end of the week. But I already have designed, ordered and received my Christmas cards. Don’t hate me. Or judge me. I’ve been on the ball this year! (I already ordered the boys’ Christmas pajamas as well.) I want to help you get on the holiday ball as well. First, let me tell you my experience with Vista Print and our Christmas cards.

I knew a few things about our Christmas cards before I even began to look at designs.

• I wanted a photo card.
• I wanted to use pictures from our family vacation at the beach on those photo cards.
• I wanted something that wasn’t going to break the bank.

I turned to Vista Print because they’ve been flawless for me for almost three years now. I was thrilled when I saw that they offered two sizes of photo holiday cards (4×8 and 5×7). I decided to go with the 4×8 cards. Why? Slightly cheaper and personal preference. (As a side note, Vista Print also offers non-photo cards, postcards for your holiday party invitations and even cute caricature cards!) When I decided to go with the 4×8 cards, I was then overwhelmed with my options as to style. I could have designed my own but I didn’t quite know what went with our beach pictures.

In fact, that was my biggest dilemma. Our beach pictures are not exactly holiday oriented. No snow. No long pants. They’re by the water. In the sand. In shorts. With short-sleeved green shirts. And a blue sky. Thankfully, Vista Print doesn’t only offer your typical green and red card with a Christmas tree (though they have those as well). There were over 20 pages to click through. These are the options I most pondered when trying to pick our design.

The palm tree was fun but slightly cheesy. The brown with green  and the green with black were both great. But we eventually chose the last, more colorful option with the Christmas ornaments. It just felt bright and cheery and seemed to match our chosen photos the best. We chose six photos to include on this particular card, uploaded them, added our text and came up with these amazing cards.

(If you are on my Christmas card mailing list, forget you have seen this card and be really surprised when it arrives in your mailbox!)

I was thrilled with how they turned out. We put the verse from Luke that is found in Charlie Brown’s Christmas on the back of the card as our family loves that particular one, verse and movie alike. Voila! The perfect Christmas card! For a fraction of the cost of some other places. Hooray! It was easy to put together (just upload your photos, adjust them if they cropped them wrong, add your text and ship) and the quality is fabulous. Again, I’m just thrilled. I want to frame our Christmas card.

And we want to give you 50 free holiday cards from Vista Print as well! We’re giving away 50 free cards of your choosing (one design). Here’s how to enter.

1. Visit VistaPrint’s Christmas card section and browse around. Come back to this post and let me know in a comment which design you would choose if you won. (You are not limited to the 4×8 cards.) As a side note, you can change your mind on your design if you win. You may do this once.

2. Tweet about this contest by copy/pasting the following into your twitter stream: Win 50 holiday cards from @VistaPrint and @FireMom: http://bit.ly/2HTZ4F . You may do this as many times as your followers will tolerate.

3. Post about this giveaway on your public blog, linking back to this post. Please leave a comment with your post URL so I am sure not to miss it!

This giveaway will be live until Friday, November 6 at noon. It’s a few days shorter than my normal giveaways but I want the winner to be able to create their cards with enough time for shipping, addressing and mailing back out. The time is especially necessary if the winner doesn’t have photos for their card just yet! We will choose a random winner who will be contacted by email. The winner has 24 hours to reply or another winner will be chosen! (Rules: Limited to the US.)

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

_
[Disclosure: I received my cards for free in exchange for this review.]

If you have a cell phone and anything with a speaker, you’ve probably heard some form of feedback. It’s an awful, nasty sound that is really aggravating when you’re trying to listen to something on television or sleep next to your child’s baby monitor. I hate it. The truth is that I like to sleep with my television on (hush) and my cell phone also has to be near me in case of an emergency. This creates some awful feedback which makes it hard to sleep.

No longer!

The Buzz Killers (@TheBuzzKillers) presented their product at Swagapalooza earlier this month and I’m in love with their product. In short, it’s like a “mouse pad” for your phone. It’s a little plastic card that has a chip in it which, I’m sure, does something scientific. You place your phone on the card. No more feedback. WIN!

For a more in depth look at the Buzz Killer card, head over to MomTV to watch my video. While you’re there, you can learn about how to win one of these cards for yourself so you don’t have to listen to that awful sound ever again.

Or, you could enter right here! There are two ways to enter here.

1. Leave a comment about the model of cell phone you have and where it creates feedback (TV, radio, baby monitor, land-line phone). You may do this once.

2. Tweet about the giveaway using the hashtag #SDBBuzz with a link to this post (copy/paste link: http://bit.ly/2HMkh6 ). You may do this as many times as you please.

On October 12th at noon, we’ll stop accepting new entries and grab a winner via random.org. (That’s also the time that the MomTV giveaway ends though it has different rules so go watch the video!) We’ll contact you via email or twitter, depending on which of your entries won. If I don’t receive a reply within 24 hours, I’ll move on to the next random winner! Simple rules.

But, anyway, yes, we do love this product. As the guy said in his presentation, it’s a simple thing but, really, it’s just so wonderful. FireDad and I have hated the cell phone feedback for years. And now it’s gone. And it almost matches my phone. Snazzy.

_
Disclosure: I received two cards for our home and three to giveaway from the company. This was part of the Swagapalooza event which encouraged ethical and transparent disclosure. I was not forced to blog about this product. I just think it’s awesome.

I love Vista Print. I do. I have loved them for the past two years. I have made birthday invitations, Christmas cards, business cards, calendars as gifts for grandparents and a series of other products. When I decided to throw my dad a surprise birthday party, I knew that I wanted to utilize Vista Print to print the invitations.

I’m glad I did. I wasn’t disappointed.

I do my invitations a bit differently than some people. I like to use their regular postcard, design my own (as the computer is the only place I’m remotely creative) and mail said postcards in their plain envelopes. We end up with extra this way as postcards come in packs of 100. However, for the party, we shared memories on the back of the extras and read them aloud. They are now keepsakes for my dad to have for the rest of his very long life. How did my postcards turn out? I designed them to look like this:

(Minus smudged out personal information.)

And they looked exactly like that. Vista Print has fabulous printing. It wasn’t pixelated. It looked exactly as it did on my screen. I was thrilled with that fact as were the people who received the invites. I just love having such a personal invite; pictures really make it look so much more awesome. Vista Print also offers their own designs on invitations, not just postcards. They help you out, of course, if you want to create your own design by offering the templates for each product size so you don’t go over the “full bleed” and “cut” sizes. It’s important not to cut off your words.

I’ll be honest: I have no desire to purchase products from any other printing company at this point. They’ve never let me down. I’ve experienced their wonderful customer service both online and off. (I once had a question and desperately needed an answer. I got it. Quickly.) Their prices are wonderful and they’re always having sales. Our family is a Vista Print family for life.

But no more surprise party invitations. Just regular ones. And Christmas cards. And other similar things. Just no more surprise parties. Okay? Okay.

_
[I received this set of postcards for free in exchange of my honest review of their service and quality after the surprise party went off. Vista Print was kind enough to let me wait to post until after the party. After all, my family reads the blogs!]

I’m in love with Tatutina. Who? What? Tatutina is a small business offering up unique, painted products that bring fun into the lives of all who see them.

When I saw their offering of wooden letters on ChicExecs, I practically jumped out of my skin. I’ve always wanted letters for the boys’ rooms but have never found anything that matched appropriately. As many of you recall, BigBrother has a very brightly colored bedding set that features The Very Hungry Caterpillar. On their site, I thought that the letters might match his bedding set quite well. And so, they sent us a lovely set of letters for BigBrother’s room to check out, inspect, review and hang up on his wall. (I don’t normally share the kids’ names on the blog. While sharing these pictures with you lets you know BigBrother’s name, it does not make it Google-able as Google can’t “read” the letters in these pictures. I would appreciate if you wouldn’t use his name in the comments.)

They arrived the day before we left on vacation and, after a brief inspection, I was quite pleased. They were well-made, just as bright as the photos online and did, in fact, match BigBrother’s decor. I was thrilled beyond measure and couldn’t wait to hang them when we got home from our (much-needed) vacation. After we got home and got back into a schedule, we got them up and on the wall. FireDad helped me because I get frustrated working over my head.

I’m in love with them! More importantly, BigBrother is in love with them. While he’s been working on spelling his name for quite some time, he’s really just started putting the first four letters with the second four letters on his own. I occasionally come into his room to find him sitting on his letter, reading them aloud, over and over. It’s really quite adorable. An accessory that aids in learning? I’m all for it!

But wait! That’s not all Tatutina has to offer. Their store boasts the title, “Happy painted gifts for a happy lifestyle.” Happy sounds good to me. The store offers everything from the wooden letters to storage help for everyday and little artists to recycling bins (which, by the way, BigBrother is all about recycling right now) to hand knit sweaters. Their blog is an interesting read as well, full of little tips and creative posts.

On their about page, I learned that I like their company even more as they’re a mother-and-daughter team “that loves to design functional, fun and quality products.” That’s a message I can get behind. To boot, their products are “designed and tested to meet the requirements of the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM)”. They use non-toxic, lead-free paints. Hooray for fun, unique and SAFE!

I’ll be honest: I like things things that are unique. Tatutina offers that option in, using their word, “happy” colors that appeal to my sense of style. Check out the store and the blog today!

_
[I received a set of wooden letters in exchange for a possible review and feature. I worked with ChicExecs and Tatutina.]

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and the Shell Family of Cards.

We are at the beach! We are at the beach! To be more specific, we drove to the beach from somewhere in Ohio to Emerald Isle, NC. Google Maps told us that it would take us about ten hours. You know, if we didn’t have a one-and-a-half and a three-and-a-half year old sitting in the back seat singing along to the song Moose A. Moose taught them. “We’re goin’ on a trip. We’re goin’ on a trip. Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” We banked on closer to twelve hours. We were spot on.

We choose to drive on this annual vacation for various reasons. Many of them have to do with the two previously mentioned (loud, very loud) children who sit behind us and sing songs for twelve hours. Packing enough toys, music CDs, DVDs, clothes, diapers, shoes, books, coloring books, crayons and snacks to keep them occupied… just for the drive… requires more than the plane would allow. Plus, despite the threats of turning the car around, we do enjoy a good road trip! And, yes, we’ve seen gas prices.

That’s why we’re taking the advice of BlogHer and Shell this year.

BlogHer and Shell have paired together to tell us (you, me, everyone) about some great time saving and money saving tips for road tripping.

Maybe you already took a vacation this summer but are planning to drive over the river and through the woods for Christmas. Maybe you didn’t get to take a vacation this summer because you’re saving up for next year. Maybe you’re leaving in two (2! Two! TWO!) days as well.

Read on about these products and how they might benefit you on your family road trip.

• Newest Product: Shell $aver Card: This is a card that you simply attach to your bank account and use when you’re purchasing gas at Shell stations. Why would you do such a thing? Because right now you can save two cents on every gallon! There are no enrollment fees and no credit check. Just simply attach it to your bank account and save money on the road. Sounds good to me!

(We considered this option for our trip though we have previously utilized one below.)

• Credit Card: Shell Platinum MasterCard® from Citi®: While this requires a credit check, you should know that it could really benefit you. This particular card offers a five percent rebate on Shell gasoline purchases and a one percent rebate on all other purchases. You’re basically saving money every time you use this card at the pump. Don’t believe me? Visit 877myshell.com to calculate your savings. You can apply for the card there or call 1-877-MY-SHELL and apply over the phone.
• Gas Only Credit Card: Shell Gasoline Card: Different from the above MasterCard from Citi, this card can only be used at an of the Shell gas stations (coast-to-coast). And also at Jiffy Lube locations. (Just in case you forgot to do something before you left on vacation!) And at ATMs across the US. This is a great idea for customers who want to keep their gas budget separate from the rest of their budget whether that’s for vacation or monthly treks to and from work. This card boasts no annual fee, flexible payment terms, the convenience of paying at the pump and free (FREE!) online account access.Best thing? For a limited time only, the Shell is offering a return of 30 cents per gallon on the first 100 gallons purchased with a Shell Card within a 90-day period. The promotional savings is available at all Shell-branded stations nationwide for those who sign up and are approved for a new Shell Card from June 29, 2009 to September 30, 2009.
• Refillable Card: Shell Refillable Card: The FireFamily has utilized this particular option in the past. We guesstimated how much we thought we would use on our road trip for gas. We loaded our card via the phone (though they offer an online method as well). And we hit the road. In the end, we had extra money left on our card that we used for our filling up after our return home for… quite some time! (It felt like free money!) This way, our gas money was kept separate from our vacation fun money. We didn’t get in the car at the end of the last day of vacation to realize that we had no money left. We had more than enough! This particular card is also a great way to teach younger drivers about money management.
• Gift Card: Shell Gift Card: Works like any other gift card. You can use it for gas at Shell. And car washes! Repair services! (Which hopefully you don’t need on vacation!) Food and drinks. All at any Shell station. Keep this in mind if you know you’re going on a long-driving trip next summer. When asked what you want for Christmas, reply, “Shell gift cards, please!”

But don’t just take my word for it. As I said, BlogHer has paired up with Shell and various other bloggers are talking about these products and sharing their travel stories. Check out the other BlogHer reviewers’ tales from the road. And for more information, hit up Shell: The Shell family of cards is great for Summer road trips.

We’ve been having a fabulous time on vacation. I’ve been talking about it on our regular blog. You can follow our trip until Saturday over there… and then we drive back home with the help of Shell. And caffeine.

We prefer McAfee products in this family. We find that they work well with our computers, are user friendly for our varied levels of technological expertise and work well in the background. Knowing we’re safe online is important to our family especially as our oldest son is now using the computer and the Internet.

When Mom Central asked if I would review McAfee’s new product, Family Protection, I jumped at the chance. While we have McAfee’s Virus Control, I was still concerned about various Internet perils. I have set him up on desktop while I work next to him on my laptop. I’m sure you know from experience that it just takes one wrong click to be somewhere you don’t mean ton be online. That’s exactly what McAfee’s Family Protection helps your family avoid.

First, before I jump into the ins and outs of what this software provides for your family, I have to tell you this: the download is small which means that it is quick. That means the world to me as I loathe downloading huge files with our not-super-fast DSL. To make matters even better, the installation was very quick, very self-explanatory and very easy. This is great for our very old (six years!) desktop. Huge kudos!

So, what does the software do for your family? Lots of things.

• YouTube filtering.
• Program blocking. (You don’t really want Suzy playing around in your Quickbooks, do you?
• Encrypted site blocking.
• Web blocking. (Block up to 35 categories of stuff you deem inappropriate.)
• Email blocking. (Blocks unknown email addresses on various accounts so your children can’t communicate with strangers.
• Social networking. (Records when inappropriate or personal information is posted. SO IMPORTANT!
• Instant Messaging. (Records IM chats.)
• Time limits. (LOVE this feature. This way I can’t forget that he’s had enough screen time!)
• Usage reporting. (Allows parents to view ALL activity.)
• Instant alerts. (Sends you a message at work if something is amiss.)

BigBrother isn’t a tween or teen yet. I’m not really worried he’s going to make a twitter account, talk up some pornographic spam accounts and offer up our address, bank account and Social Security numbers. But I know I have some friends who do have those concerns. And concerns about how much time their children spend on the computer, especially if they are away from the house. And concerns about messing up already installed programs. And concerns about websites that their children didn’t mean to access… or maybe they did. While nothing is better than a tuned in an attentive parent, you can’t possibly be attached to your child’s side at all times, especially if you have more than one kid! This is a great way for parents to provide security… and maybe a little extra freedom knowing that their children are protected.

Great news for our readers: McAfee is offering a $5.00 discount (normally $39.99) on Family Protection. Simply enter the promo code 5familyprotection at checkout. Also, if you have any questions above and beyond what I’ve covered here, McAfee has provided help via their Chief Cyber Security Mom, Tracy Mooney. Simply email cybermom@mcafee.com with any questions you may have!

The only negative aspect of this particular software is that it is not compatible with 64-bit Windows Vista. Most of you won’t have an issue with that as most computers run 32-bit Vista. FireDad’s super big laptop, however, runs the 64-bit variety. Therefore, we cannot install the program on his laptop (the software is good for up to 3 PCs). Be aware of this before you download if you are running 64-bit Vista in your home!

Again, we’re just starting out in our online journey with kids. I’m glad that we are going to be safe from the get-go. I encourage you to consider the same for your family.

_
[I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of McAfee and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. In addition, McAfee sent me a blanket and care package to thank me for taking the time to participate.]