My teeth are not perfect which means flossing is a chore that I have usually opt to skip. The BrytonPick has me flossing more although it’s only a select few of my teeth. My teeth are extremely tight and in one place they actually overlap. That has always made flossing hard for me which is why I opt to skip it. Although on my teeth that are spaced not so tight, the BrytonPick is fantastic which means I am actually flossing now. I love the portability and convenience of using the floss alternative. I have it sitting on my desk and have used it quite frequently over the last few weeks.

BrytonPick is available at online at BrytonPick and in select Walgreens locations and select convenience stores. It will also be available at Pathmark Stores, drugstore.com, SUPERVALU, CVS, Meijer, Amazon.com, Winn-Dixie, Publix, 7-11, and Race Trac.

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• Company: Ebeanstalk

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Ebeanstalk sent us a Garden Tool Set to review. Sadly our soil is horribly hard here so these would simply not stand up to outdoor use for us. Most adult tools don’t stand up to our cruddy soil. However, the tools are fantastic when working in potting soil. Drama King had a few plants die on us (Mommy has NO green thumb and can kill anything) so he used the tools to pull out the dead plants and prepare the pots for the new plants. Since it’s coming around to winter, we won’t be planting anything at the moment.

Drama King said the tools make it easier and they fit his hand better than the tools I own. I’d guess it’s because the tools are scaled to a child’s size. He loved the entire set and it is on his desk as I type this post. ‘Just in case I need to go outside and fix a plant,’ was the response I got when I asked why.

I found the site to be amazingly thorough on the quality of products they offer. Zero appear to be disposable toys. And we all know what I’m talking about. Those toys you pick up and say ‘$5 for this’ or ‘My kid will break that before we get home’. If the quality of the toy we received is any indication as to their other toys, I’m hooked. I love that the toys have been reviewed prior to making it on the site.

And I’d probably say they’re only downfall is the limited selection of toys. However, I know that every item has been carefully tested so I know I am getting the best toy possible which makes the limited selection acceptable.

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Tommee Tippee, from the UK-based Mayborn Group Limited, the #1 brand of infant and toddler feeding products in Great Britain, is loved by parents and children alike and is one of the top brands of infant products and accessories in the global market. Tommee Tippee has received numerous brand accolades in Great Britain, including top ranks in the prestigious Mother and Baby Gold Awards – a head-to-head assessment of competitive products voted on by moms themselves. The Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature line of baby bottles has been chosen as Great Britain’s best baby bottle by The Mother and Baby Gold Awards: winning the category in 2006/7, 2008/9 and again in 2009/10. In 2009, Tommee Tippee was the first and only children’s feeding brand to be selected as a UK Superbrand in a nationwide poll of consumers, putting it on par with brands such as Microsoft®, Coca-Cola®, Nike®, Lego® and Google®

Next, I checked out all the products they offer. What a wide selection of great products. I really like that they keep both kid and parent comfort in mind when designing their products. Baby bottles mimic breastfeeding with a valve to release air. Spill proof dishwasher safe sippy cups. Bowls that attach to mats. I was hooked and signed up to review an item.

I received a Closer to Nature® 9 fl oz feeding bottle. When I first took the bottle out of the package, I knew it would be different than any bottle I’ve used in the past. It was shorter and fatter than previous bottles and the nipple was intriguing. What caught my eye first was truly how similar it looked to a breast. I cannot wait to use the bottle with my niece that is due later this year. I am confident that she will love the bottle.

Tommee Tippee is sold exclusively at Toys”R”Us and Babies”R”Us.

Site: http://www.tommeetippee.us
Twitter: http://twitter.com/tommeetippee_na
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TommeeTippeeNorthAmerica

Tommee Tippee has generously offered one Closer to Nature® 9 fl oz feeding bottle to one of my readers. Giveaway ends Aug 23, 2010 and is open to US and Canada readers.

Be a public Google Friend Connect follower and leave a comment stating what Tommee Tippee product appeals to you and why.

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The Rio Grande Zoo is the best zoo our family has ever seen. It is clean, not only for the visitors but for the animals, too. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable. The animals appear to enjoy their life in captivity. There are lots of baby animals and tons of exploring for children and adults alike.

This not so little guy was watching the people enter the zoo. He was perched up there mesmerized at the parking lot. It made me wonder what he or she thought about all of us.

Drama King (red outfit) and Little T (black outfit) had so much fun that they didn’t want to leave and they have already asked to go back. We spent all day at the BioPark and didn’t see close to half of everything. You could easily spend 2-3 days walking through the entire area.

We didn’t go to Tingley Beach or walk through the garden but those areas did not meet our needs at the moment. I do love that Tingley Beach has a child only fishing lake that is extra stocked to promote the love of fishing. The garden would be a great relaxing place to stroll through but Little T has never been a strolling child. He likes action and gets bored quite easily.

Admission is very reasonable for adults and children alike and they have reciprocal discounts with many zoos around the U.S. We were thrilled to find out that our zoo membership got us a 50% discount.

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Over the boys first five years of life, we have gone through so many toys. Some were good, some were bad and some were life savers. Lately, we’ve been doing a lot of online shopping for everything from office supplies to toys. Ebeanstalk is “dedicated to providing the learning toys and educational toys that promote a child’s development.” I wish I would have known about them when our boys were younger. Some of the toys they sell are similar to the ones we have but they look sturdier than some of the ones we owned. I did noticed that some of the toys prices are higher than ones you might find at discount stores but these look sturdier than some of the cheaper ones we’ve owned. I also LOVE that a lot of their items are gender neutral. Tim, Grandma Deb, and I spent months searching for a tea set that wasn’t covered in pink and flowers made for little girls. Why couldn’t our tea loving boys have a tea set? Or a baking set? Or a cookware set? If I had only known about Ebeanstalk, I would have saved a lot of time.

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I was thrilled when I saw the Non-verbal Tat because being non-verbal is often a left out condition with medical safety items. The tattoo went on as easily as other temporary tattoos we have used in the past. The only thing I noticed is that the tattoo seems to fade and crack faster than other temporary tattoos we’ve used. Little T loved the tattoo and showed it to everyone during his first swim lesson. At less than three quarters a tattoo, you will have peace of mind while your kids, verbal or not, are out and about.

The Quick Stick Write-On! is an ultra-durable skin safe applique “tattoo” waterproof sticker and you use the included waterproof tattoo marking pen to add your phone number or other details. These definitely look more durable than the Original SafetyTat and last much longer. The biggest draw back we discovered is the writing process. Little T rarely sits still and I had a lot of trouble writing our phone number on his arm. On the other arm hand, Drama King was perfectly still while I wrote our phone number. At a little over $1 for each “tattoo” sticker, they are well worth the investment for longer term trips such as vacations, weekend at Grandmas, or the likes. Although, I’d be willing to pay a tad bit more per tattoo if they were reusable. When my back was hurting, I used a TENS unit which has pads that you stick to your skin and they were reusable. If it was reasonably affordable to use that same adhesive to create these Quick Stick “tattoos”, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy them for my boys and as gifts.

A little bit more about SafetyTat directly from their site…

It can happen anywhere—at an amusement park, zoo, school field trip, or even your local shopping mall. Your attention shifts for a moment, and suddenly your child or loved one has wandered out of sight.

So put the odds in your favor for a safe return, with SafetyTat. Invented by a Baltimore Mom of three kids, SafetyTat is a fun and colorful temporary safety child ID tattoo that’s uniquely offered either customized with your mobile phone number or blank so you can write in your cell phone number on them. When applied to the arm of your child or loved one, SafetyTat provides an immediate, highly visible form of child identification that stays in place even when wet!

SafetyTat—it’s the perfect way to show how much you care, just in case. It’s The Tat That Brings Kids Back!®

SafetyTat safety tattoos are great child id for: Theme Parks, Amusement Parks, Shopping Malls, Airports, Fairs, Festivals, Traveling, Museums, Zoos, Stadiums, Playgrounds, Site Seeing, Field Trips, Drop-off Birthday Parties and Play Dates, First Day of School, Scout Trips, Medical, Health and Allergy Alerts…anywhere you have kids in crowds.

You can purchase from the online store at SafetyTat and from a variety of retail stores. Check here for a local store near you. And you will have a chance to win some by coming back to our site and entering to win during Blogmania.I think it’s fantastic that you can even customize the tattoo to meet your own child’s personality. This is very important to Drama King as he usually wants something that is only available in pink.

Come back and enter our Blogmania giveaway on September 15th-16th, 2010. We’ll, also, have a discount code especially for our readers so make sure you come back.

Site: http://www.safetytat.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/SafetyTat-Kids-temporary-safety-tattoos/53174830989
Twitter: http://twitter.com/SafetyTat

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Of course, Drama King had a million projects running through his mind and he’s been working primarily on his own for the last few weeks. I had to show him how to apply glue dots a few times before he got the hang of it but now he can zip though a project in record time. Although there are times, he has opted to use glue sticks or standard glue because “it just needs more than a dot.”

Drama King has made numerous musical shakers out of toilet paper rolls, construction paper and rice, photo collages from magazine, shapes and letters cut outs, animal stick puppets, and many other projects. Some of these we have made in the past with standard glue or glue sticks but this time we tried making them with Glue Dots. While the Glue Dots are a lot less messy and extremely easy to use, sometimes you really need more than a simple dot. This is where the Dot N Go dispensers become useful. The dispenser is similar to other rolling dispensers (think white out lines) and rolls out a line of dots quickly.

The only downfall I noticed is they are time consuming to individually place dots for young children and the Dot N Go’s are a tad large for little hands. Although after some trial and error, kids will learn how to use the dots but if you have a child that gets bored or frustrated easily; you might want to stick to standard glue or glue sticks.

Glue Dots Adhesives are a safer, easier, mess-free alternative to typical tapes and glue guns. Glue Dots provide the strength you need in an adhesive without the mess and dry time required of liquid glues. Glue Dots bond instantly to a wide variety of surfaces including: Paper/photos, Metal, Wood, Plastic, Textiles/Fibers, Plastic, Foam, and more! Find Glue Dots at a retailer near you or online today!

**Note: Glue Dots are Acid Free and Non-Toxic. Learn more about Glue Dots Products and Uses Here

Join Glue Dots on Facebook and Twitter @gluedots!

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Today, we’ve played catch up on random things. We watched the final three episodes of “FlashForward”. I was sad to hear that it wasn’t picked up for a second season because I thought it was a great show. And while I enjoy “V” just as much, I hate to see such an interesting show be dropped to a remake of a show.

I’ve also been working on a few reviews for you guys. I have a SafetyTats and GlueDots review that I’m working on now. Do you have any questions or concerns about either of these products that you’d like me to answer?

And I’m searching for Blogmania sponsors so if you are interested in offering an item or gift card in exchange for advertising on our site and through our twitter accounts, please contact us.

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On to our partners for the September 2010 Blogmania…

First up, we have National Emergency ID and you may remember them from when I did a review of the IDs the boys have been using for years. They have graciously offered up their National Emergency Medical ID Package which includes 2 Free IDs every year to age 21. Make sure you come back to our site to find out what extra items they are also including with their ID package.

And in the theme of safety, I am partnering up with SafetyTat to provide a SafetyTat package in your choice of Girl, Boy or Multi. Keep your eye on our site because we’ll have a review of their product before Blogmania. And we’ll have a special discount code for you to use on your order of SafetyTats.

Of course, I couldn’t leave out my local readers so I have a special treat for you. Siobhan of Stroller Strides (Tucson) is offering up a gift certificate to help those new mommies get out and moving. Sign up for your first class now and it’s FREE. Can’t beat trying before buying and they offer reasonable prices per class or membership packages.

This is just the beginning. Over the next few months, I will be contacting more companies to add to this prize package. And, remember, if you have a company or product in mind that you think would be a great addition to this package, please contact us.

UPDATE: Blogmania published our first preview. Want your company in our next preview? Contact us TODAY!

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The cars were a big hit with our two boys. They were shaking the cars in the packaging just to see them light up. I gave each boy a car and the decal stickers and they struggled to attach the stickers to the car. After a few tries, both Drama King and Little T gave up and asked me to put all the stickers on the cars. After assembling the first two cars, I noticed that the top sticker sticks to the marble. This doesn’t appear to interfere with functionality of the cars but Drama King asked me to take the top sticker off because he couldn’t maneuver the marble anymore.

Drama King was a little upset that some of the cars had numbers and some had logos (police/fire). His comment was “If one has numbers then they all should. It’s not fair.” Overall the boys had a blast playing with all 6 cars and they have taken them with them to Grandma Deb’s house. The flashing lights definitely keeps their attention longer than a standard toy car. And since these cars are the same size as other toy cars, they work with the accessories we already have in the house.

You Know You Want One

Light Up Marble Racers are available at CVS or you could win a set here. That’s right! You can win your own 6-car collector set right here.

This giveaway will be open until May 11, 2010 at 11:59 PM PST and is open to US residents only please. The winner will be selected randomly using random.org and will be notified by email. The winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize or a new winner will be selected.

How to enter to win: Since this is my first giveaway, I’m going to keep it simple. Please, leave a comment telling me why you’d like to win for your entry.

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One evening, I was flustered by the thought of making the bed again that I decided to find something to hold the sheets down. Tim and I had tried various sheet corner straps with no luck in the past but I knew there just had to be something out there. If not, I was going to be the person who’d solve this crisis. Thankfully, someone beat me to the punch.

Sheet Suspenders ® are two (2) individual suspender straps made of the finest woven elastic that adjust to any size. Most importantly, Sheet Suspenders ® are easily slipped under any type/size mattress, EVEN A BABY’S CRIB to form a cris X cross. There is absolutely NO LIFTING OF THE MATTRESS NECESSARY and they NEED BE APPLIED ONLY ONCE! The four easy-open clips have nylon inserts that will not damage sheets. WE ALSO RECOMMEND A SEPARATE SET FOR THE MATTRESS COVER WHICH IS NOT CHANGED AS OFTEN AS THE SHEETS.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I ran across Sheet Suspenders® because they were so simple. I showed them to Tim and we agreed to try them out. We have been using them for over a month now and have changed the sheets at least once. At first, they seemed difficult to attach but we’ve got the hang of it now. I can make the bed and clip on the Sheet Suspenders® without assistance and not be in pain afterward. They keep the sheets on the bed without the headache of having to make the bed every single night. We have two pairs of the Sheet Suspenders®, one for the mattress cover and one for the fitted sheet. If the boys ever have trouble with their sheets pulling up, we will definitely purchase these for them as well.

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Then, we stumbled across the perfect solution. National Emergency / Medical ID provides an ID that is similar in size to a driver’s license and contains both emergency and medical information for children age 0-21. And when we got ours, we were able to get a 2 for 1 deal and free yearly updated cards for one low price. And because we got ours from a kiosk in front of a store, we also got badge holders for the boys to wear the ID cards around their necks. This was great because the boys loved to wear my old work badges and these would have their own information.

We received two ID cards per child. We kept one for each child on a lanyard on my desk at home and one in their backpacks in the car. Whenever we are planning to go somewhere, the boys put on their lanyards before we leave the house. We tuck them inside their shirts and remind them what to do if they cannot find us. And for those spontaneous stops, we have a spare card in their backpacks already in the car. I am thankful we’ve never needed them but they have offered much peace of mind for any parent.

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I spent a while troubleshooting in Firefox before I gave up and opened the site in Internet Explorer. At first I thought, “Well, if they cannot code properly to work in Firefox then I don’t want to use them.” I closed out but was drawn back the next day because I thought it would be interesting to have a little book for Drama King, my photo fanatic.

This time I skipped Firefox all together and began creating my photo book in IE. The process was easy and user friendly. My order was placed without any trouble and now I am waiting for the book to arrive in the mail.

Update:
The book arrived this afternoon. Drama King loves his cruise book. I left a few pages intentionally blank so he could fill in with his own creations. The book contained only one sheet of advertisements and it was dead center of the book. It took only a few seconds to tear out the advertisements with no damage to the book.

I have never ordered a photo book from other sites so I can only guess that the quality is equivalent to other books. I can tell you that it’s not the best quality print and I would not pay full price for the book. The paper is similar to legal size photo paper which is printed and then creased in the center. It is bound together with two staples.

With some basic graphic software skills, you could easily create a custom photo book and print on the same quality paper for less money. So for the occasional quick book, this does a wonderful job. If you want more control and have the skills, you might be better off creating and printing your own book.

Would I use them again? Yes but only if the price was free or close to free and nothing for myself. I would only use it for our two boys or stuff for my nephew.

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Opinion – Everything below this is completely my opinion
The plot was weakly executed into a fun yet lacking movie. Great actors, hilarious moments, old movie makeovers and some strange characters make this movie worth watching.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

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