New Dial Deep Cleansing Hand Soap and a Giveaway(!)

The Dial brand provided me with a sample of Dial Deep Cleansing Hand Soap in exchange for a product review. However, all the opinions expressed here are my own. 

This evening during dinner the doorbell rang and a package was left for me. Inside the package was a new product for me and the kids to try - Dial Deep Cleansing Hand Soap. Immediately the kids opened the bottles and started sniff-testing. Then began the hand washing tests. The soaps passed - our hands were left clean, soft, and sweet smelling.

Dial Deep Cleansing Hand Soaps are available in three unique scents:

• Yellow Raspberry and Black Sugar (very similar scent to grapefruit, the boys preferred this one)
• Water Blossoms, a crisp floral scent (my favorite)
• Coconut Lime Verbena, a citrus scent

This soap contains a deep cleaning formula to give the user clean, healthy hands. Moisturizing formulas with skin conditioners hydrate skin and improve dryness (so important this winter!), and micro-scrubbers help gently remove dirt and leave hands feeling smooth and refreshed.

The bottles have square bases, making them far less likely to tip over, perfect for a family soap.  The soaps are pretty and colorful.

The soap is not anti-bacterial, leaving out the funky chemicals, for which I am grateful.

Dial Facebook Page: click here

Want your own free bottles of Dial Deep Cleansing Hand Soap? Enter below to win. Two winners will be chosen and each winner will receive 2 coupons, each for a free bottle of this premium soap.

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TOS Review: Motivated Moms Chore Planner

I'm positive I'm not alone in my desire to be better organized; to have the day go more smoothly, the house be easier to keep up with and less chaotic, and to know what the heck I'm supposed to be doing each day. I'm positive of this because it's a subject my girl friends and I discuss often, but never really find a solution to (you organized Moms out there ... how do you do it?).

I was recently asked to review Motivated Mom's downloadable e-book yearly chore planner. An opportunity to become better organized, feel slightly less like a chicken with my head cut off, and, especially, stay on top of the housework and Mom-work? Goodness yes, I want to know more about that product!

Motivated Moms offers many options for chore planners - downloadable, printable full and half page planners or chore charts, both with and without bible reading in color or black and white, and iphone/ipad apps. I chose to use an e-book full-page yearly page-per-day chore planner.


The pages in my Motivated Moms Page Per Day Chore Planner include three areas:

• First, on the left hand side of the daily page is a daily chores list, complete with check boxes to mark checked items off, and a daily menu plan box. Items on the daily chore list include making beds, cleaning the kitchen sink, do laundry, exercise, and take vitamins/medications. This list remains the same each day.
•  Second, at the top right/center of each page is a daily cleaning and organizing list - a few items that aren't repeated every day. Clean oven, clean dishwasher door, sweep porch, clean vent hose on dryer, de-clutter night stands, clean bottom shelf of refrigerator, and clean out purse/wallet are a few of the items found in this section.
• Lastly, below the daily cleaning tasks is an hourly schedule of appointments, to be filled in by the user.

Also included in the planner are two-week menu planning pages. Using a monthly or weekly menu plan is a great way to spend less at the store (plan your menu when the weekly ads come out, basing your menu on what's on sale), eat out less (already have dinner planned or in the crock pot), and create healthier meals for the family (no more "deer in headlights" moments when the kids ask what's for dinner, followed by scrounging for whatever is available in the refrigerator or pantry).

Two things really attracted me to this chore planner: the fact that exercise is listed in the daily chores list (I know I love crossing things off my to-do list, and am more motivated to do something if it's on my list), and the rotating cleaning tasks, a great way to keep the house tidy and running smoothly without doing everything single little minute cleaning task all in one exhausting day (plus, some things like "clean toaster" would probably get done far less often than they should if they weren't on this handy list).

To begin, I quickly downloaded the chore planner and printed a few months worth of pages. At one page per day I'd have used a lot of paper to print the whole year, so I opted to start with a few months, knowing I'd print more pages before too long.

I opted to punch holes in the pages and stuck them in a three ring binder. If I'd printed the whole year I'd have taken it to an office supply store and had it spiral bound. Note: Lefties, you could easily print this out and put the holes on the other side of the page, making it much easier to check things off and write on the pages. Doing this didn't cross my mind until I'd already put the pages in a binder.

So, is my house super clean and am I more organized? Sort of. I didn't follow the planner every day and had some trouble sticking to it, but the days I did do it I was quite pleased with it. I love the concept of dividing cleaning tasks into short little bits to do each day. Sadly, I was not more motivated to exercise every day (darn it!).

I think, for me, I might have used the chore planner more if I didn't have so many different planners/apps/organizers going at once. If I'd merged this chore planner with planners for blogging, selling, home schooling, scouting, healthy eating and weight loss, etc. I'd have had everything I needed to do right in front of me at the same time. That said, I was motivated by this chore planner review to create a planner that combines most of those areas (also in a 3-ring binder). I am going to integrate the pages from this Motivated Moms weekly chore planner into the other planner and I think that'll be the ticket to success. I do know I don't want to not use the chore planner, breaking household cleaning down into little bits is wonderful, and feels so much less like work.

Check out the Motivated Moms weekly full-page chore planner and all the other great planner options here, and the portable device apps are found here. The Motivated Moms Page Per Day Chore Planner is available for just $8, and the planners are geared towards all Moms (and anyone with living space to clean and organize).

It's a Carrot. It's a Tie.

It's a carrot tie.

A fun special order for Easter, two ties that, abstractly, look like carrots. Too cute!

Stash Busting: For My Purse

I decided it was time for a new business card holder to carry in my purse, and thought that'd be a great little project.

For my card holder I used some fabric set aside for camera strap covers that I just love. I opted to mix and match the fabrics, using three of them. For this project I used a tutorial found here at The Crafty Cupboard. I chose to leave off the button and loop closure, knowing this would rest in a pocket of my purse that's seldom disturbed, except to retrieve business cards.

Total project time was about 15 minutes.

These little holders would make terrific gifts - if you did a pocket on just one side it'd be neat for giving a gift card. Or as a more decorative way to carry a driver's license or school ID. Lots of fun possibilities.

Of course, once I made the business card holder I didn't want to stop. What fun would it be to stop after making just one pretty little thing?

Old wallet

It crossed my mind that I needed a new wallet. I got the one I was using from my former husband, who bought it on eBay thinking it was authentic Louis Vuitton. It was most definitely a fake, but the gesture was sweet so I was happy to use it. Then I got used to it. Everything had a place, and I knew what all those places were, and once I'm used to something I'm not real big on change. I wouldn't be surprised if I'd been using that same wallet for 10 years. I often considered replacing it but knew I wouldn't find one exactly the same and I'd have to come up with a new system ... and if it's not broke why fix it?

Well, couldn't I make my own? Maybe? I've sewn plenty of handbags over the years, surely I could try a wallet. Taking a look at my old faithful wallet I realized that yes, I could try to make one as the lines were very logical and simple.

Two hours later I had a new wallet, in the same style as the previous wallet.

I used the same fabrics used in the business card holder, with the exception of the cover - there I opted for a red laminate which would be easier to keep clean. Not exactly my first choice, but it was very early on Sunday morning, I was still in my pajamas, and I wanted to make a wallet NOW, so I used what was on hand.

I love the slip-in pockets for the cards, and the closing pocket. And I love the fabrics. It's very bright and cheery.

Downsides: The snaps I used are too thick and when the wallet is folded they sit on top of each other, adding way too much thickness is one place. It's not stiff enough at all. The fold-down flap is super loose and is catching on all sorts of stuff in my purse. Both of these things are super easy fixes, and when I make a new wallet I'll use super stiff interfacing and leave the snap off of the inside envelope pocket.

Overall, though, I'm very pleased. These two pieces are a great addition to my purse.

TOS Review: Science4Us.com Online Subscription

River, like most young siblings, loves to do whatever his brothers and sisters are doing. Any projects, experiments, adventures ... he's right in there with him. He injects himself into their conversations, even those about what the older kids are learning in high school. This year Ian and Mia are in very engaging and exciting science and engineering classes and we've all been enjoying the journey through these classes with them as they spend most dinners hours talking about periodic tables and simple machines. So when River was given a chance to do his very own online science program for a review, Science4Us.com Online Subscription, he was beyond thrilled.

I'm going to admit that going into this I was a little leery. I've done online science classes with the other kids, usually beginning at a middle school level, and they've gotten quite a bit out of them, but really wasn't convinced that this was a class River would learn much from, considering that it wasn't a "hands-on" class. Before delving further into the program I expected him to get as much out of this as he does watching an episode of an educational kids show on tv. I thought the lessons would be over his head and he'd just like the games, even if he didn't do so well on them.

Was I ever wrong.

I'm going to just cut to the chase here ... River LOVES his science program. River wakes up in the morning asking if he can do science, and will do the lessons and play the games as long as I'll let him. I LOVE River's science program. He's really mastering and understanding the lessons, and puts what he's learned into his everyday play. These lessons are much more intense than I expected a 5 year old to grasp, but he really gets it and has learned so much, and I know he can continue to learn and be challenged by this program.

The Science4Us.com Online Subscription program is divided into four sections:

• Inquiry (science tools)
• Physical (matter, energy, force and motion)
• Life (living things, balance in nature)
• Earth/Space

Each section is divided into topic modules, and each module contains three initial activities - Engage (determines student's beginning skill level), Explore (present the concept and begin the lesson, presented in an entertaining, personable, and educational cartoon format), and Explain (further lesson information). After completing those three activities the student can move on to the learning games, which River just couldn't get enough of. Each module contains quite a few activities and they can be played numerous times, so there's no getting bored or fear of the student feeling like he's "been there, done that".

The games and activities sneak in math and reading too and River picked up plenty of new skills without even knowing he was learning them.

But that's not all ... In addition to the student account (yup, each child gets their own account), there's a parent/teacher account. This account allows the parent to track their students progress through the program. This account also provides detailed and extensive lesson plans and suggestions for how to teach individual modules (28 in all), the lesson plans include "hands-on" activities and experiments, to take what the child is learning on the computer and put it into their hands, as well as online virtual experiments for the students to do. There are also a dozen extensive help videos (that really do help!), and I highly recommend starting with those.

River is not yet Kindergarten age and is not doing formal school - I work at his pace and allow his learning to be child led, so I did not take full advantage of the parent account. We did do some of the lesson plan activities and had a great time, but I know we really could have done infinitely more - the resources available are so extensive and thorough. Instead I let him work through his student account at his own pace and while I think we'd have gained more by using more of the lesson plans (they're very complete and detailed), I'm more than happy with what he has learned so far.

I chose to gauge River's progress by what I saw and heard, rather than by checking his progress in the parent account (again, were he older and using this as our formal science curriculum I'd have done it differently). The more he participated in the program, did the activities, and played the games the more he incorporated what he'd learned into his play. When his older brother had to do a survey on conservation River know was able to engage in the conversation, sharing what he'd learned about energy. His Lego creations now include a lot of incline planes. Oh yes, he was learning.

River's review: It's online school where you learn stuff like pulling force, electricity and power from a power plant, ferns, and fossils. I got to scrape dirt off of fossils, play matching and sorting games, and learned a lot of things. I liked it because I learned a lot of things, had fun, and I'm really good at it.. In one of the matching games I got everything right and the game said, "This is no match for you. You got it all right.", I liked that.

Science4Us.com Online Subscription is geared towards kids in grades K-2, but can also be used with upper elementary kids for review purposes. The program costs $7.95 per month, which is a great deal considering the quantity of activities and the vast resources provided.

If you explore the program and try it out I'd love to know what you think.

Click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew.

President's Day ...

I have come to realize that getting reservations at our favorite "close to home" campground on the weekends is nearly impossible, so when a teachers in-service day married President's Day and the kids had two weekdays free I booked a decadent waterfront site. This, Fort DeSoto, is the same park we visited last month and, truly, as soon as we walked in the door from our first visit I reserved the site for this visit.

This part offers an entirely separate area for tent, pop-up campers, and truck campers, which works perfectly for us.

For us, the waterfront sites are the way to go. They're not perfect - when the wind hits just right it's freezing in these sites while still warm and comfy on the other side of the peninsula, but the view and opportunities are unbelievable.

This round I brought my sailboat, hoping to learn a little more about sailing. The water is very shallow here so I had no worries about the kids being out on the water. Kaden did take me out sailing, I was in charge of the sail and the daggerboard. Within five minutes I had a black eye - the daggerboard got stuck so I pulled it up really, really, really, really hard and it came out flying and stopped when it hit my eye, so I got out of the boat and left the sailing to the pros.

 And sail they did. The majority of our camping trip was spent at the little beach behind our campsite. Swimming isn't allowed because there are some deep holes, but wading and castle building fit the bill just right.

The camper has become a complete pain in the butt, so much so that I spent the majority of the drive home plotting it's demise. Yet once we got home I was back on the reservations website ... so I guess I'll be fixing it and preparing it for a new adventure next month.