review » Dawniemom Reviews

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

Special thanks to MomCentral for allowing me the opportunity to share this with you

18 days left!

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Dec 072008

Wow – we’re FULL FORCE into this holiday thing, aren’t we?! I haven’t finished my shopping yet but with so many holiday gift guides out there now, I’ll have no problem coming up with ideas.

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!

I never gave video chat a 2nd thought before I moved away from my family and had kids. But once they came along, it was important to me that my family see my kids, not just in the occasional photo, but really see them – even when they’re not at their best, so we invested in a video camera a long time ago.

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!

My special thanks to MomCentral for the opportunity to check TokBox out!

One of the reasons why I do not shop online very often is because of the shipping & handling fees. I don’t mind paying reasonable fees, but when they’re based on a percentage of what you buy, rather than what it’s actually going to cost them, that bugs me. It bugs me enough that I won’t buy from those sites.

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!

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When my nephew Dylan was born, within days of going home from the hospital, he was back in, diagnosed with a staph infection. It was a terrifying time for my sister & her husband, as well as the rest of our family, because here was this tiny baby, all of a sudden SO sick.

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.

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