Category Archives: product review

Making the list – the book list

Posted on by
2

Two years ago – February of 2012, in fact – I posted this picture.

A new table has turned up in our hallway. I happened to be in the building for a different reason (I’m on sick leave recovering from surgery, remember?) so my chauffeur (Petunia) and I stopped by the table to pick up lists. I do have time for reading as I heal, so I might look into getting a few of the titles I haven’t yet read.

But wow. There are a lot of books that I haven’t read on the list . On the list for grades 7-8, I’ve read five out of the ten titles. In those for grade 9 and 10, I’ve read one, exactly one, out of the suggested sixteen. In fact, I read it and reviewed it and found it fascinating. Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer — here’s the review.

None of the previously listed books are here, so I’m guessing those already approved might remain part of the curriculum. I’ll start with those I know, and then see what I can find on Paperback Swap and at the downtown library.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is on my Kindle. Now I have motivation to read it.

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls is a classic piece of literature in many categories. I remember a gifted sixth grade reader asking to borrow it from my shelf, and then asking a friend to reminisce. “Remember when we were in third grade and Mrs. Sippi couldn’t finish reading this aloud because she cried?” Red Fern belongs on the “Read it with a box of tissues” shelf with Stone Fox and Walk Two Moons. The story is wonderful, and the setting is just foreign enough to my local kiddos that it will keep their attention.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a popular favorite. Personally, I might leave this out of books to read in class because so many young people are picking up the trilogy and seeing the movies.

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen and Holes by Louis Sachar have been “listed” for years. Both are excellent, and fairly easy reads for grades 7 and 8. Hoot shows a typical Hiaasen environmental bias and is a lot of fun to follow. I’ve read this aloud to fourth graders (who hadn’t seen the movie) and it was a hit. Holes? Brilliant. Louis Sachar braids present with historical and a hint of supernatural and somehow it all comes together seamlessly in the end. Fans of Holes might also enjoy Small Steps, also by Sachar, which follows two of the inmates from Holes into their life after Camp Green Lake. I read Small Steps to my 6th graders, most of whom knew Holes, and they took to it like shovels to snow. Um, poor analogy there, sorry.

Lemony Snicket’s opening salvo in his Series of Unfortunate Events also appears here, and my reaction is similar to The Hunger Games in that so many students have already read this and its many sequels. Lemony Snicket has a lot of fun with language, and that leads to a humorous telling of otherwise disastrous tales. The Bad Beginning is short and the plot is simple, leading to a quick and relatively easy read. Since this is the first in a lengthy series, it offers a chance to get readers interested in the characters and the story structure and read more of the same. That would be the strongest reason for me to assign The Bad Beginning for students to read.

Now I’ll dive into the rest of the list and see what I can swap, download, or check out for the remainder of my sick leave. Readers, let me know. Leave a comment. Have you read any of those I discussed or any of the rest of the list here?

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

The Boy in Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story by Lila & Lazan Pearl and Marion Blumenthal

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke and Christian Birmingham

That’s the list for grades 7 & 8. I’ll share the rest with you later.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

Hoover Wind Tunnel vs. the Rabbit

Posted on by
1

My rationale was short and sweet: I told the Hoover and MomCentral Consulting representatives, “I have a pet rabbit. Need I say more?” The people in charge understood; they sent me a Hoover Wind Tunnel vacuum to test and review.

Putting the vacuum together was simple. The directions in the manual were readable, and everything was labeled correctly. I had to look up the procedure for tipping the handle back, but as soon as I knew where it was, the process was easy.

I decided to attack the den first. Bean bag chair, 20-year-old attached to Olympic soccer, and various bits of snack crumbs and tracked-in bunny litter had the room looking something like this.

BEFORE

I’ll let the results speak for themselves. In addition to picking up the visible dirt, my Hoover Wind Tunnel sucked up a lot of bunny fur. I hadn’t realized how much our lovely bunny leaves behind. Results? Oh, yeah. Here. Look! Even the 20-year-old has disappeared!

AFTER

Oh. Wait. Those are his feet in the corner. He’s still here, waiting to bring back his bean bag.

The real challenge awaited the Wind Tunnel: the bunny cage surroundings. Not only fur, but hay scraps were all over the bunny’s rug. I usually pick up the largest pieces of hay before I vacuum this rug, but I decided to put the new Hoover through its paces and see how it measured up to this challenge.

The Wind Tunnel did a nice job of picking up fur and hay and any other miscellaneous dirt. The bigger pieces of hay did clog the intake a little bit, but not so much as to stop the vacuum from working. With that in mind, I will continue my prep habits and pick up the largest pieces of hay in advance.

The Hoover Wind Tunnel came through its first tests with flying colors. It is lightweight and easy to use, and it picked up much more than I expected. Fur, dust, dirt, and even scraps of hay couldn’t stop the Wind Tunnel. I wonder if I can train it to handle laundry?

Never mind.

I received a sample of this product to facilitate my review, but my opinions are entirely my own. Thanks to MomCentral and Hoover for inviting me to test-drive this vacuum.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

Evergreen and the Refrigerator

Posted on by
Reply

To start the Evergreen Products blog tour, my instructions were simple: raid the refrigerator. Okay, not exactly. I was to take inventory of its contents.

Wisconsin Public Radio Magnet

My refrigerator likes Wisconsin Public Radio. Doesn’t everybody’s?

The Racing Sausages from Miller Park

Recipes and clippings stay up with the help of the racing sausages, of course. Doesn’t your refrigerator work this way?

Oh, I get it. I’m supposed to be looking in the refrigerator, not on it. Darn those prepositions. I need to look inside the refrigerator for packaging in general, specifically for paper cartons.

Open the refrigerator door, Hal.

Inside the refrigerator itself

I came to a conclusion quickly: I use too much plastic. Eggs are in a paper carton (recyclable or reusable), the cream for the homemade ice cream was in waxed paper cartons (biodegradable), but that was it. You see glass jars, including those from my own homemade jam and pickles and (the last batch of) salsa. Those are reusable. But overall, there’s room for improvement, and a lot of improvement.

To recycle cartons, first check to see if your community accepts cartons in their recycling collection. Mine doesn’t – yet – a disappointment, since my state considers itself a paper industry giant. I can still make a case for cartons, though. Paper, like that used in food cartons, is often made using renewable energy and recycled paper waste. Evergreen Packaging, the sponsors of this blog tour, use 50% biomass in making their packaging.

Evergreen also talks about responsible forestry. Wood for lumber, pulp, utility poles, and yes, food cartons, is a renewable resource. Taking care of the forests contributes to cleaning our air by removing carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas. I liked the statistics Evergreen provided:

In the US, due to both increases in the total area of forest land and increases in the carbon stored per acre, an additional 192 million metric tons of carbon are sequestered each year through responsible forest management programs nationwide. This offsets roughly 11% of the country’s industrial greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of removing almost 135 million passenger vehicles from the nation’s highways.

Wow. I couldn’t have said it better myself. To find out more, and to increase your own use of paper cartons and other recyclable packaging, look up Evergreen’s web page. I took their “carton checkout” activity and found out that I use eco-friendly packaging more often than I thought. Each time I clicked on a grocery item like milk or cream or goldfish crackers, I saw a fast fact about paper carton recycling.

Since paper recycling is limited in my area, I have placed paper cartons with or without waxy coating in my compost. I found some, like Chinese take-out containers, decompose beautifully. Juice cartons leave behind some of their colorful label; there must be a significant plastic content. Since my community isn’t ready to recycle these products quite yet, I’ll have to be satisfied following on Facebook and Twitter. You can, too:

https://www.facebook.com/ChooseCartons

https://twitter.com/#!/ChooseCartons

I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Evergreen and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

Pure Matters –

Posted on by
Reply

Early last week, a package was on the porch: a product review sample left by FedEx. While overnight shipping has a significant carbon footprint, I understand the need for marketers to get their products out to their bloggers quickly. Within its protective packaging, I found small samples, a cloth shopping bag, and two full-sized bottles of product.

I sampled the combination pro- and pre-biotic for digestive health. I gave the kids’ multi-vitamins to La Petite. She’s 25, but she’s still my kid.

I grumbled about the over-packaging, and then I settled down to read the enclosed information in order to write a review. When I stopped grumbling and actually read the information, I decided that the combination pre-biotic and pro-biotic was safe for me to take and might just counteract the, um, er, stomach distress I’d been feeling lately. Replacing Wisconsin’s rogue governor will make my stomach feel better, too, but our chance to do that is still 22 days off. I’ll stick to Pure Matters to regulate my digestive health.

This product is a Complete Biotic, meaning it’s both prebiotic and probiotic. Probiotics replenish the good bacteria in the digestive tract. One commonly known probiotic is lactobacillus sporogenes, or the live bacteria that makes yogurt, well, yogurt. Prebiotics are supplements that help support the growth of probiotics. Pure Matters’ product is shelf stable, too.

Pure Matters also sent a few sample packs. Their gummi-style vitamins for kids are delicious. I did not try the sleep formula or the green tea extract yet.

Pure Matters sent me samples in order to facilitate my review. I had reservations about their over-packaging, but I liked the product in the box. In the end, I guess that’s what matters. 

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

Quieting my inner cynic

Posted on by
1

If every cloud has a silver lining, every environmentalist has an inner cynic. We’re the ones who say, “Earth Day? I do this kind of thing 24-7-365.” True to form, I had a field day today when I came home from school.

The weather outside was delightful, so I was able to walk to and from work. I brought my own lunch, refilled my own water bottle and coffee mug, and handled the workday in my usual green way. Then I came home.

A package was on the porch: a product review sample left by FedEx. While overnight shipping has a significant carbon footprint, I understand the need for marketers to get their products out to their bloggers quickly. I can swallow this one.

The mailbox had a book in it: a title I’d ordered from a swap site. This book will go to the little free library in front of my school building. Wrapped in recyclable brown paper, this secondhand book quietly and firmly channeled my inner Kermit the Frog green.

The newspaper had an article about reducing trash. A nearby city is considering a pay-by-the-bag policy instead of the current property tax billing. I laughed out loud. When we moved here 16 years ago, we filled our large garbage bin to the brim every week. Now we have a garbage bin that’s half the size (and a fee of $0), and if we miss a weekly pick-up it doesn’t matter. We generate very little garbage. Recycling, composting, and a sincere effort to reuse instead of disposing all contribute to our lack of trash. Charge by the bag? I’m so there.

Well, I opened the box to find a half-axed attempt at enviro-packaging. First, they’d sent me both items instead of the one I wanted. Hint: I didn’t sign up to review a kids’ product because my “kids” are grown-ups now. Second: the box was way, way overpackaged. I might have let this go if the only packaging had been the (reusable and recyclable) shredded paper, but atop the paper was a plastic sheath and underneath were two – 2! – layers of puffy plastic pillows.

Deep breath, Daisy, deep breath. Not every company has the same eco-standards as the Okay Chorale. Finish supper, settle in with laptop, and relax.

My inbox had a note from a consulting group recruiting bloggers to try a program called the One Bag Party. Their goal is (are you ready for this?) to keep trash bags out of the landfill by making their bags stronger with less plastic. I stopped myself from snorting cappuccino out my nose at this one. This is supposed to be eco-sensitive? Make the bags bigger and stronger so people can throw away more garbage? People, check out the graduation party for Amigo and La Petite – much more true to the One Bag Party concept. We didn’t even use the lyrical Red Solo Cup.

Oh, sigh. I guess the world isn’t ready for the Compostermom standard. Quiet, inner cynic, quiet.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

Zero Water Pitcher Review – How’s your TDS?

Posted on by
Reply

I live in the Great Lakes basin where water is plentiful. In the Great Lakes basin, municipal water goes through mandatory primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment stages. Look it up. It’s fascinating.


Even in the Great Lakes basin, unfortunately, water can contain particles that slip through the water treatment plant. People in the know refer to these as Total Dissolved Solids, or TDS. TDS can contain lead & chromium, among other metals; pharmaceuticals (unneeded medications flushed into the water supply), and more. These particles are tiny; they’re measured in PPM, or parts per million. It’s a wee bit scary, isn’t it, to think of these microscopic dangers in our drinking water.
Enter the solution: the Zero Water Bottle for filtering water.
I have a water pitcher with a filter already, but I have no idea how much it filters out of my tap water. I offered to test the Zero Water brand filter because my current pitcher is an awkward shape for the refrigerator and because the Zero Water pitcher comes with its own water meter for measuring TDS. Before taking a sip, Chuck and I read the directions.
Chuck: This has more instructions than a broadcast camera!
Me: No problem. Clear instructions are good.
Chuck (reading enclosed pamphlet): Actually, it’s not that bad. What is TDS? It’s measured in PPM, parts per million.
Me: Total Dissolved Solids. See above for explanation of TDS.
Chuck: Why should I care?
Me: Those dissolved solids can be lead, chromium, medications… you name it.
Chuck: Ah. I get it.
Me: This will be fun. I don’t get enough hands-on science any more. Hand me that meter.
Getting started using the TDS meter was indeed fun for me. I looked up the directions, made sure the meter started on zero, and then filled my new Zero Water pitcher. Meanwhile, I measured my tap water at 117 ppm.
You can find an estimate of your own TDS by entering your zip code at the Zero Water site. According to the site, my reading should have been higher: 275 ppm. I sent my own reading to the webmaster to help correct their data, something you can do if your reading is not the same as the one they have on record.
Now back to the pitcher. After going through the ion exchange filter in my new Zero Water pitcher, the TDS reading was an impressive 000. This process only took a few minutes.
So far, I’m impressed by the Zero Water pitcher. It fits nicely on my refrigerator shelf. It has a spout for pouring and a dispenser button at the bottom. In addition to these practical aspects, the filtration met, no, exceeded my expectations. I’m very pleased with this product.
Would you like to win a Zero Water filter pitcher of your own? You can, courtesy of MomCentral and ZeroWater. They’re giving two readers a chance to own their own pitchers just like mine. Readers, leave a comment to be entered into the pitcher drawing. That’s pitcher drawing, not picture drawing. Ahem. To make this even more interesting, leave your TDS reading from the Zero Water web site. It’ll be fascinating to compare the data.
Make sure I have your email in your comment profile or already in my address book so I can contact you if you’re a lucky winner. The drawing closes at midnight on Wednesday, April 25. It’ll be worth your while. Limit yourself to one entry, please, despite my enthusiasm.
While you’re waiting for the contest to close, you might want to visit the Zero Water web site and their Facebook page. If you don’t win, or if you want to buy one for someone else, you can use MC30 for 30% off on a 10 cup pitcher at this site.
I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of ZeroWater and received a water pitcher to facilitate my review, two pitchers to giveaway, and extra filters to thank me for taking the time to participate. Participation was fascinating and fun.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>Whipped, not Beaten – cooking up fun with a good book

Posted on by
Reply

>Is a picture worth a thousand words, or is a good book worth a thousand — whatever? I’d go with the second, really. Pour me a cup of coffee, and let’s relax with a good book.

Whipped, not Beaten by Melissa Westemeier is a great read. It’s smooth, it’s quick, and it’s quality. Melissa manages to hit all the right buttons for an enjoyable piece of pleasure reading.
The characters ring true. They dress casually, their friendship groups are realistic, and the dialogue is natural. This dialogue sets up characters and even directs the plot at times. The diverse group realistically could live in Madison, Wisconsin, the central location in Whipped, not Beaten. The studio apartments, the close-knit young people meeting at the corner coffeehouse or bar, the staff at Public Radio – all are based in reality. A reader could meet them on the street, or at least meet people just like them.
On the same note, the descriptions of Madison and the tiny town of Neillsville (a stop in the road late in the book) are spot on. College towns and university cities in Wisconsin often sport a small town atmosphere where everyone knows someone who knows someone else who knows you or your best friend. That tendency is comforting, but can get in the way, too. When Sadie needs a date for a party, she’s a bit stuck because all those she knows are either inappropriate or already invited. She gets lucky by running into a handsome neighbor at (of course) the corner coffeehouse. No spoilers, but when he spills cappuccino down her front, it brews up a new adventure for our heroine.
The author has obviously attended a fair share of product parties and heard the recruitment pitches. She knows the structure and the lingo well enough to place Sadie in an entry-level sales position at Coddled Cuisine, a cookware line sold at home parties, and to grant Sophie a small but significant amount of success.
Sadie joins the Coddled Cuisine crew to supplement her income at Wisconsin Public Radio. I loved this placement. Amigo and I (and Chuck, too) are Public Radio junkies. We just had stuffed chicken for dinner, in fact, a heart-healthy recipe we heard on Zorba’s show this morning. Amigo and I have trekked to Bayfield, Wisconsin, with other Public Radio junkies and some WPR staff members and interns. I understood the workload Sophie faced each day, her research requirements, and the fast-paced atmosphere. Her need for a second income is realistic, too, which led to the adventure of Coddled Cuisine. WPR’s fundraising has slipped with the recent recession, and salaries probably resemble those of others employed in the public sector in our fair state. Okay, enough politics. Back to the story.
Too much detail would spoil the fun of reading this book. I wonder if Sadie’s job changes and successful — never mind — will lead to a sequel? Melissa, if you write it, I’ll read it.
I hope many of my blog readers will pick up Whipped, not Beaten, and read it, too.
Disclaimer: I bought this book; it was not donated. The review is honest and not compensated in any way. But maybe, just maybe, the author will let me pick raspberries at her homestead again next summer…?

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>Hickory Farms Gift Baskets

Posted on by
Reply

>

Every year I create gift baskets for our extended family. I’m lucky; if I start early, I have time. My gift baskets are no match for the professionals, though. Hickory Farms, for example, sent me a gift basket to review and I was impressed.

When the box arrived, I was eager to open it and see what had come from Hickory Farms. It was like an early Christmas gift from Mom Central! The basket was a good size, wrapped well, and looked like it contained a lot of delicious treats. I emptied the top layer and stood back to look it over.


I noticed that the packaging was paper, shredded small and crinkled. The effect was a nice looking basket with a neutral background for the fruit, sausage, cheese, and more, and then a reusable or recyclable batch of packaging. This was a case of good packaging, keeping the pears and apples from bruising, and filling the basket as well. Within the layers of shredded paper fill were more pears and apples!


The fruits were delicious and fresh. One popular feature at Hickory Farms is their $3 – 3 Day shipping. Freshness matters when giving food. I recommend this shipping option because my fruit and cheese was just right and ready to eat when it arrived. See below for a close-up of the fruit. The racing sausage guys were a little jealous when I paid attention to the Hickory Farms sausages, so I let them join in the picture.

The cheese was fresh and flavorful, a smooth and tasty medium cheddar. The beef summer sausages sliced easily and tasted good with crackers and cheese as we watched our Green Bay Packers trounce the Detroit Lions. This was definitely a winner in my book – er, kitchen. I enjoyed the Hickory Farms basket, and so did the rest of my extended family.
I wish I could have found out exactly where the cheese and sausages were produced. In a state like Wisconsin, where cheeses abound and sausages even race around a baseball field, it’s logical to want to trace the origins of these products. Product quality was excellent, and freshness a plus. Wherever the butchers and cheese makers are, they do their work well.
As for the basket and the packaging, there are two birthdays and the Christmas holiday coming up. I know I’ll reuse these by filling them with my own homemade goodies.

I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Hickory Farms and received a product sample to facilitate my review. And what a generous and delicious sample it was!

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>Beside Still Waters book review

Posted on by
Reply

>It started with tragedy and ended with a question: will she or won’t she?

Marianna Sommers is nineteen years old and facing the usual challenges of being an Amish teen. Should she experiment with the outside world, the Englisch? Or should she stay within her boundaries, follow the guidelines of Amish life, and formally join her church? It’s no spoiler to say that Marianna is very devout and has no desire to stray from the Amish way. She has other constraints, though. Born on the day of a terrible accident, she feels pressured to be all things to all people, to make up for the losses her family suffered the day she entered the world.

Marianna, wrapped up in the courting rituals of a young man in the community, doesn’t realize that her parents are also suffering. Their solution is a major change: a move from Indiana to a smaller, more intimate Amish group in Montana. Marianna breaks out of her usual quiet to beg to be left in Indiana, finally agreeing to stay in Montana for at least six months to give the move a fair chance. After six months, she may return to Indiana and the man she’s loved for most of her life.
The family finds many differences not limited to the landscape. Montana Amish are less bound by the traditions and rules of the church, often by necessity. They befriend outside of their faith, working and socializing with Englisch people. It takes Marianna a while to adjust to interacting with people who do not follow the Amish way, but she finds her skills as baker and quilt-maker to be useful in both cultures. She also finds peace in Montana in the mountains, in the woods, and beside the still waters of a beaver-made pond.
Author Tricia Goyer did her homework before writing Beside Still Waters. The Sommers family is true to the faith and culture. Bits of Pennsylvania Dutch language are sprinkled in, as are Amish methods of farming and cooking and completing basic household chores. The family isn’t perfect; each member, from parents to the youngest child, has faults and doubts to confront. Goyer takes readers inside the thoughts and emotions of Marianna, especially, as she reaches adulthood and faces difficult decisions.
Beside Still Waters is only the first. Goyer plans more novels to follow Marianna, her friends, and her family. To follow Tricia Goyer on Twitter, look for @triciagoyer.
I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of the Beside Still Waters Campaign and received a copy of the book and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>Cheese! Glorious cheese! Sargento Fridge Packs

Posted on by
Reply

>

Being part of Mom Central Consulting is a lot of fun. The current fun is cheese. Yes, cheese. This cheese is good quality (it’s from Sargento), and the product itself is all about the packaging. Speaking of packaging, I was very excited to open up the box when it came. Look at all this cheese!

Below is the cheese as it fits in the refrigerator. Sargento Fridge Packs are made for convenience. As much as I prefer bulk packaging for most of my foods, I have to admit I liked these. Each cheese stick is vacuum wrapped to keep it fresh.

I opened the box of Colby Jack first. It didn’t take long before all three boxes were open. La Petite and Chuck dipped in immediately. This is a good sign for Sargento; we’re cheese snobs. We like our cheese real and we like it fresh. This cheese, thanks to its packaging, was very fresh and very delicious. Chuck packs a stick or two in his lunch. La Petite eats it any time of day, including breakfast. My favorite time to dip into the Fridge Packs is mid-afternoon to keep me from nibbling later while making supper.
Did I say it went quickly? It was a blur, honestly. Who needs junk food? When something healthier is this convenient, the family will eat it.
I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Sargento and received product samples and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate. No, it wasn’t a cheesehead. I already have one of those. This product review was tasty and fun; thanks for including me, MomCentral and Sargento. The family thanks you, too.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares