MOM CONFESSIONALS

{ disclosure : received My Little Pony’s RC Rainbow Dash Plane as a gift, the opinions expressed here are always my own }

I’m definitely living vicariously through my daughter.  As a kid my parents couldn’t really afford toys for us.  Christmas gifts usually involved more practical gifts like a new outfit and school bag.  But I do remember all the girls with their dolls, Strawberry Shortcake toys and My Little Pony.  Oh how I wanted ones of my own!

My daughter is a mix of girly and tomboy and the My Littlle Pony’s RC Rainbow Dash Plane is perfect for her!  Maybe I’ve been living in a bubble but this was the first RC toy I’ve seen that wasn’t targeted at boys.  I can’t imagine a little girl not wanted to have an RC controlled toy of their own.  I can’t believe there aren’t many more out there.  Ava shrieked with delight when we opened the box to reveal a My Little Pony gift.  Little did she know that it was way more fun than she could have ever imagined having only played with RC “boys” toys.  I laughed in amusement because my 6 year old was begging to play with it himself — you know, with a girl’s toy.  It was appropriately rated for ages 3 and up, with a simple 3 button remote that took seconds for the toddler to figure out without any instruction. Out came all her Pony’s and they took turns riding Rainbow Dash’s plane as I’m always trying to teach the toddler another socialization skill.

My Little Pony’s RC Rainbow Dash is being added to my arsenal of gifts.  Perfect for little girl’s birthdays, Christmas presents or in this case… just for being her.  With a suggested retail price of $24.99, it requires 3 AA batteries which are not included.

For a limited time, get $10 off when you spend $30 on select new items from My Little Pony at Amazon.com. See details and restrictions.

I also spotted it at our neighborhood Target on sale for $18.99 – STEAL!

{ disclosure : received a Filtrete Water Station to demo but the opinions expressed here are always my own }

After observing all of my environmentally conscience classmates over the summer with their reusable water bottles I was determined to kick the bottled water habit.  No matter how small a step I managed to take, my family never seemed to climb on board.  I couldn’t believe they thought the mere act of filling up the bottles before leaving was just too much for them.  Sheer laziness I tell you!  It was simply easier to grab a bottle from the shelf and walk right out the door. Yet I was shocked that they could remember to bring back the empty bottles for recycling redemption and yet couldn’t be bothered to fill up their own bottles and bring it back, as if the 5¢ really makes it an incentive.  If there was a sale at Target or BJ’s Wholesale Club my basement would be filled with cases and cases of Poland Spring water, much to my chagrin.

When I spotted the Filtrete Water Station at BlogHer, I thought it was sheer brilliance!  It took the Brita or Pur water pitcher idea one step further and was just the thing to help my family kick the water bottle habit.  The station is small enough to move under the faucet to fills 1 to 4 reusable crystal clear bottles rapidly.  When I say rapidly, it’s not a drip drip drip like the filtration pitchers I’m use to.  Within a couple minutes I have 4 bottles of water ready to go.  The bottles have a uniquely designed cap that creates a spill proof seal each and every time and also serves as a handy handle for transportation.  Every morning as I leave for school, I grab a bottle and go.  It’s been a life saver in the heat wave we’ve had this week.

My family is slowly coming around.  This past weekend as we headed out the door, we grabbed 3 bottles for the car and were on our way!  I guess the sleek bottled water design helps too!  Another added bonus, I can twist the cap off and add in a few ice cubes for an instant chill.  That’s one over on bottled water!

The Filtrete Water Station boasts a savings of 3000 plastic water bottles from landfills per year.  The filter doesn’t have to be replaced for an amazing 3 months, almost 2 and a half times longer thn traditional pitcher filters and is recyclable with #2 plastics. The Filtrete Water Station comes with a docking station, (4) 16.9oz bottles and 1 Filtrete Fast Flow Filter and retails for around $42.99.  Additional bottles can be purchase in a 2-pack for $15.99.  Replacement filters are only $12.99 and only need to be changed 4 times a year.  This mom loves Filtrete and Mom Confessional readers can download this coupon for $5 off their own environmentally friendly Filtrete Water Station.

{ disclosure : Guest writer, Gail G., attended Time to Play Preview Luncheon and received a gift bag }

Always a big fan of creative fun, what caught my eye was a notebook from Crayola called “Wild Notes”. On the surface it looked like an ordinary notebook. It is a 2 subject notebook that is college ruled (also available as a 1 subject notebook and wide rule as well). The book is 9.5” x 6” and has 75 sheets of paper. The paper is easily perforated for removal if you, say, wanted to hang a masterpiece.

It is packaged with a special pen designed to work only with Wild Notes.  When writing on the paper with the special pen, the ink changes colors as you write. I did find that the ink is a little light and slow to appear, but I think that is from the reaction from the ink and paper.  For a child, it’s probably magical.  After about 10 seconds, it will become a full rainbow of color. The pen is very comfortable in your hands when writing and the wire binding of the notebook is large enough to hold the pen for safe keeping.

The front cover serves only as the packaging and does come off revealing a new artsy page underneath which is meant to use as the actual cover. I liked that, since the pen’s packaging was glued to the cover and ripped a bit upon removal.  An added bonus to ensure the fun doesn’t end if you lose said magical pen, they also give you a number to call for a pen replacement. Another added plus, since the book would just be a regular notebook without this special pen, you can use regular pens and pencils with the pages and it would work normally, but where would the fun in that be!

I gave it to my toddler to try and he really liked the different colors appearing, but I would recommend this notebook for an older child.  This would make a great stocking stuffer at $7.99 retail (can be found as low as $2.99) and even a “keep busy” table item at a dinner out.

Another Crayola crayon product that is a Mom Confessional’s favorite include: Crayola Crayon Towns

{ disclosure : received complimentary business card printing but the opinions expressed here are always my own }

{ comments are closed for this post, to enter giveaway please fill out this form }

My husband always says without even looking at the prices I always choose the most expensive item on the menu.   What can I say other than I’ve got good taste!  When it comes to design, I’m pretty much the same way.  When it came time to think about getting new business cards I wasn’t going to get the same design as before.  I saw it as an opportunity to do something different and change things up a bit.  A new design wasn’t going to be cheap… or so I thought!

When the kind people at Uprinting.com offered me a chance to try out their printing services and dangled “square” business cards in front of me… I was drooling.  I had previously priced square business cards and they were NOT cheap.  I always got the same lame excuse, it’s a unique size, requiring a special die… as if I was the first person to think of this brilliant idea of a square business card.  Added to my idea of a double sided card, my internal calculator was working overtime.  I thought I was in for a REAL treat… getting all fancy smancy with square business cards.

As I uploaded my design with their easy to follow guidelines and handy Illustrator template, I was shocked to see how affordable they made it.  Not only was I getting square business cards, but double sided, hi-gloss, full-color with bleed too.  In laymen terms, the whole nine yards!  Each of the features individually would exponentially add to the final production price at a print shop… but not at Uprinting.com!  There is even an eco-friendly option printing with 13 pt recycled uncoated cardstock.

Even more amazing is their customer service.  During the process I got a free proof (before you pay) sent to me and then a personal phone call to approve my draft for production.  Every question I had was answered and my own little quantity mistake was rectified during one of our phone calls.  The perfectionist side of me asked the graphic designer to double check the red on the back matched the red of the lips and she happily complied.  From start to finish my order took just a little over a week with standard delivery.  When I opened the box, they were perfect! and gorgeous!  It was my design come to life!  Nothing makes me more giddy than seeing my design come to fruition.  A similar order would have cost around $120 easily at another unnamed printer using one of their own single sided designs.  For approximately $33 with 3-day shipping I got the whole she-bang!

GIVEAWAY: One lucky winner will win 500 Business cards by Uprinting.com.  Your choice of 2 x 3.5”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.75 x 3.5” (slim card); 14 pt gloss cardstock, 14 pt matte cardstock or 13 pt recycled uncoated cardstock; Full Color Both Sides.  To ENTER, from now until September 10th 2010, fill out this FORM.  Get up to (two) bonus entries. 1st Bonus – If you follow me on twitter@momconfessional and re-tweet this giveaway (Win 500 Business cards by Uprinting.com @momconfessional http://wp.me/pLvfH-yD) 2nd Bonus – If you “like” us on Facebook and share the giveaway with your friends.  DON’T FORGET to visit this FORM again and leave a separate entry for each action. Giveaway only open to those with U.S. addresses and must be 18 years or older. Giveaway ends on September 10th 2010 at 11:59 EST. A winner will be selected randomly by Random.org and notified by e-mail.

{ disclosure : attended sneak preview of Thomas & Friends – Misty Island Rescue, all opinions expressed here are always my own }

My brood and I attended a very special sneak preview of Thomas & Friends Misty Island Rescue movie and had a chance to check out the newest Thomas & Friends toys from Fisher Price at the gorgeous Brooklyn Bridge Park.  The kids and I anxiously waited dock side to see their favorite steam tank engine arrive, not by rail, but by sea, tugged by The Pegasus, a historic tugboat that participated in both World Wars. I never saw a bunch of kids so excited! Even my 6 year old nephew who declared he was too big for Thomas got so excited.  It was almost like it all came flooding back to him…. his once upon a time obsession with the steam engine.  They couldn’t believe he came all the way to New York!  With him, he brought all the newest Thomas & Friends toys from Fisher Price for them to check out.

As Thomas docked, we ran aboard the Lehigh Valley #79, a restored 94 year old wooden covered barge to check out Misty Island Rescue – The Movie.  This story takes place as the engines are hard at work to build a new Search and Rescue Center and Thomas gets lost at sea finding himself on the mysterious Misty Island.  We only got to check out 20 minutes of this action-packed movie adventure but all the kids were wondering… Will Sir Topham Hatt’s search party ever find Thomas?

Despite the cliffhanger, the kids were eager to get up and check out all of the play stations on the barge.  We got to check out Zip, Zoom & Logging Adventure™, Thomas & Friends^TM Shake Shake Bridge, both a part of the TrackMaster line and the Rescue from Misty Island Take-n-play playset which brings the movie to life in interactive play.  All these and much more are sure to  be on Thomas’ biggest fans holiday wish list!  Even my 6 year old nephew who declared he was TOO big for Thomas was begging to play with the trains after watching the preview — didn’t he say he was TOO big?

Misty Island Rescue – The Movie will be released on DVD on September 7th.