FyrFlyz Review and Giveaway

Sometimes the simplest things bring the greatest pleasure.  We were fortunate enough to participate in another product review this last week and I have to say, I am really, really amazed at the awesomeness that is FyrFlyz.

The whole toy consists of this small plastic piece with LED lights on each end that is attached to strings with handholds.  The fun comes when you start to twist and spin and pull the strings using the handholds.  All that motion causes the plastic part with the lights to start moving around to create scenes like this one that took place when the boys had some friends sleep over:

Sorry for the speedy replay on the video, I'm still trying to get a good video converter/editor to work with. 

ANYWAAAYYY...how cool are these things!?!  Here are some things we loved about FyrFlyz:

• Fun for all ages
• Encourages coordination development
• Encourages creative play as kids try to learn new tricks to create different light patterns
• Easy to operate, no setup time
• Addictive!!  We sat for at least an hour trying to create new patterns!

Things we did not like:

• Improper placement of fingers while using FyrFlyz will lead to a very sharp whack to your thumbnail or knuckle.  It freaking hurts! (Remember old school Clackers?!  Same kind of pain.)

I have to state though, that if you follow instructions, place your fingers properly on the holds and don't get too crazy with the speed and maneuvering, you can avoid the whacked finger issue.  The issue really is a result of operator error, but it is something that moms with small kids should be aware of.  Other than a throbbing thumbnail, we found everything about FyrFlyz to be entertaining and fun.  After our own experimenting, we went to the FyrFlyz website and learned more about how to achieve different light patterns.  My boys are still working on some of them and are looking forward to amazing their friends with the new tricks. 

FyrFlyz come in 4 different colors and are being sold in the Phoenix area right now for under $10.  They'll be released for purchase nationwide sometime in September.  We are planning to use them as part of our 4th of July celebration...should be an intersting and colorful night!!

Wanna Win One?  Do any or all of these things:

• Leave a comment on my blog
• Refer a friend to follow my blog
• Tweet about the contest
• Post this contest to your Facebook page
• Like FyrFlyz on Facebook

The more of these things you do, the more opportunities you will have to win!  The FyrFlyz contest will end on May 29th, 2011 @ 12 midnight. 

***Disclosure:  MomSelect and FyrFlyz provided me with product in order to facilitate this review.  I was not compensated monetarily for my opinions, which are my own. ***

DaGeDar Review

Remember the good folks at Cepia?  They're the company that did Zhu-Zhu Pets...the robotic hamster things?  Well, they've come up with a new toy that we got to try out last weekend called DaGeDar (pronounced DAH-geh-DAAR).  Here's some background on DaGeDar:

"DaGeDar™ (pronounced DAH-geh-DAAR) collectible supercharged battle balls have a special feel and weight that almost demand to be raced! Each DaGeDar™ battle ball boasts a graphic design that reflects the true energy contained within. More than 240 different DaGeDar™ ball graphics are planned for release this year, with varying degrees of rarity. Each ball carries a special code number that when registered on the DaGeDar™ website (www.dagedar.com) will reveal the true spirit contained within the DaGeDar™ ball, as well as its hidden powers, which can assist in racing strategy and let kids unleash the power within!

Racing DaGeDar™ balls requires skill, practice, agility and finesse. Players must control the speed and velocity of DaGeDar™ balls in order to propel them through thrilling loops and turns without forcing the balls off the tracks. Exciting tricks and stunts can be refined by whirling DaGeDar™ balls in Spinners or loading several balls into Battle Launchers to unleash them with supercharged battle play."

They seem a little simplistic at first, I mean really they are nothing but steel bearings encased in foam rubber stuff with some really cool looking designs on them.  But...put them in the hands of little boys and add some tracks to race them on, suddenly they are amazing to watch and play with!
  

I could not believe how much they enjoyed these things!  I heard nothing but constant laughter and strategizing for 2 solid hours!  It took the boys some time to figure out different ways to spin and launch their DaGeDar balls to get them to stay on the track and to make them go faster, but  after some practice they got much better results on the track.  I love that the balls encourage creative and analytical thinking, as well as some agility and coordination.  The boys love the collectible feature and since last week have spent almost every day comparing and trading their DaGeDar balls with friends and neighbors who recieved some of their own at our DaGeDar launch party.  The track comes out almost daily during playtime now, it is quick to set up and break down, and the boys haul it around the neighborhood to various friends' houses to race.

DaGeDar was just launched this month in the Phoenix area, so look for them in select Phoenix area Wal-Mart and Toys R Us stores. The price ranges from $4.99 for a DaGeDar ball to $19.99 for various racing and launching components and sets.  Don't forget to check out the DaGeDar website for some AWESOME videos and really interesting facts! 

I Am Still Here...Albeit A Little Worse for Wear These Days

It's been so long since I posted about myself and my family that I have almost forgotten how to blog!  Don't get me wrong, I love doing the product reveiws and giveaways, but lately I'm feeling like I need to get back to basics with my posts and really focus on chronicling the adventures of Boymom and family.  That's because I have completely lost control of my life.  I feel like I am careening through the days at 1000 miles an hour and everything around me is just a giant blur that I see out of the corner of my eye.  My only goal these days is to keep myself from crashing into oncoming issues!   How did I get to this place? 

Well, work is one of the contributing factors.  As a former stay-at-home mom, I had forgotten what a time suck a job can be.  How the heck do women do this?  Work and raise a family, I mean?  I have always admired and stood in awe of single parents and the way they juggle work life with the demands of raising a family.   I have help at home (well...in theory) and still can't seem to manage the hectic schedules of 2 boys and 2 adults and a job!  I so get the whole "do what you love and then it doesn't feel like work" thing now.  Suddenly being at home with my family doesn't feel like work anymore.  Now I just have to figure out how to make my job not feel like work anymore.   

I have many other theories as to why I am so lost these days.  One of them relates to age and being an "older parent." As a person who didn't start my family until I was in my mid thirties, I now find myself in the over 45 category of moms who are still raising pre-teens.  It's kind of exhausting.  From an energy standpoint, it is so much smarter to have kids when you're in your early twenties.  There's still an abundance of excess fuel to burn at that age!  I use to think I had a lot more wisdom and patience than younger parents.  Now I know that no matter how much you think you know?  Raising kids will prove you know nothing and that your resevoir of patience is FAR from endless.  Those realizations have left me wandering around these days wondering how the heck any of us are going to survive until the boys get out on their own.

Then there's the inability to concentrate that seems to plague me lately.  Is there such a thing as Adult Onset ADD?  Oh, that's right...it's called perimenopause.  And I hate it.  I'm not one of those women that embraces all of my womanly-ness when it comes to this hormonal crap.  I'm ready to be done with this so I can get back to being a normal, functional human being that can multi-task and remember something for longer than a minute.

Kids, work, getting older and the state of the world in general have left me feeling a bit discombobulated and disconnected.  Am I the only one who feels like we are in some kind of weird "speed-life" relay race or something?  Cause honestly?  If it is a race?  I really don't care about getting to the finish line first anymore.  I just want to finish the thing somewhat intact and coherent, with a few good memories to take home as a consulation prize.

Giveaway Winners

Wow, the time flies around here!  Life has been crazy hectic lately with sick kids, work and a gall bladder issue that has really slowed me down.  Sorry for the delay in getting to the winners of the giveaways...

Clean and Green giveaway winner is:  Cherl F - The Lucky Ladybug! 

And Random.org says the winner of the Silk giveaway is:

Miss Hope Wins the SIlk Milk!

Congrats to both winners and as always, thanks to my die hard readers who keep stopping by even when I haven't posted for awhile!

Silk for Milk 10-Day Challenge and Giveaway

I have a family that loves them some ice cold milk.  Add some chocolate and they are ecstatic!  So when I was asked to participate in the Silk for Milk 10-Day Challenge I jumped at the chance to try to bring some healthier options to the table for me and the men folk.  So for the last 10 days I have been substituting Silk Milks for regular milk in various meals and recipes at my house.  Here's how it all went down...

I started the challenge on April 11th.  The first milk I got was Silk Soymilk in the Vanilla flavor.  I decided that when the kids or hubby asked for ice cream, I would make smoothies instead.  The Vanilla Silk Soymilk was perfect for the mixture.  It added some great flavor to the berries and orange juice and gave the smoothies a creamy texture.  They were such a big hit that we had them almost every afternoon!

Using some of the suggestions from the Silk website, I also used the Vanilla flavored Silk in place of regular milk to make chocolate pudding and I added it to the custard mixture when I made french toast!  I like the fact that Silk has no cholesterol and no saturated fats, which makes me feel like the french toast and pudding were just a little more healthy than they would have been otherwise! 

This is actually the 12th day of my challenge.  I finished it today by having what was left of my 2nd carton of Silk Soymilk on my oatmeal.  It was just the regular flavor and it was just as tasty as regular milk.  Throughout the week we used the plain Silk Soymilk to make fluffier scrambled eggs, in our cereal and in mashed potatoes.  Me and the boys agree that we couldn't drink a glass of the Silk plain like we do with real milk, but it was really easy to substitute it into various recipes and snacks!

To help one of my readers take the Silk to Milk 10-day Challenge, I'm giving away a Free Silk coupon along with a cute little Chico bag (courtesy of Silk)!  To win, leave me a comment telling us how you would substitue Silk for regular milk in your daily routine.  Contest ends on May 7th at 12 midnight, MST.  US Residents Only.  

*Disclosure* - I was not compensated monetarily for this post.  SILK provided me with a product sample in order to facilitate this review.  My product reviews are always honest and my opinions are my own. 

Blackie Chan Strikes Again...Clean and Green Review/Giveaway

Okay, I have to say it out loud.  I haven't been a responsible pet owner.  I have had Blackie Chan for 3 years now and have still not had him neutered.  I know.  I KNOW!!!  It is irresponsible.  In my defense though, there are no spay/neuter clinics close to my house, they are all like an hour away and I have to have the cat there at 6 a.m.!   I used to use that as an excuse a lot...until my awesome neighbor who has the energy of five Energizer bunnies told me she made the trip for her cat a few months ago.  She's got kids and a job and all of the issues I have, but she was responsible and did the right thing.  And now I need to finally get my cat crap together and do the right thing too.  For my cat and for my neighbors.  Also because "Kitty Karma" paid me back in spades a few weeks ago for not taking care of Blackie Chan's maleness.

Here's how Blackie Chan's Ninja attack went down.  We're all sitting in the family room one day, watching TV.  Blackie is getting a major rubdown by Big Brother and loving life.  You could here him purring all the way upstairs.  Then all of the sudden he jumps up and starts running toward the front door, yowling his head off to go outside.  Well, apparently no one got there fast enough for him because while he was waiting he decided to spray my really nice, big brown, velvet comfy chair.  You know the smell, right?  It's freaking noxious and I swear I have never made it across a room as fast as I did that day to open the door and chase that cat outside.  I think I said some not very lady-like words while I was running him out the door.  

AAUUGGHHH!!!  Cat spray is one of the nastiest smells in the world, and now it was in my house!!!!   The kids were freaking out, Big Man was ready to nueter the cat himself and I was trying not to gag when I remembered a can of stuff I received in the mail a few weeks prior to the spraying, so I ran into the kitchen to grab it.

It's called Clean and Green and it is the most fabulous stuff on earth for removing pet odors!  I am so not making this up, people.  This really did happen and I really did get a sample of this stuff to try and I am telling you all about it because it is one of those wonderful products that actually does what it says it will do!  It literally saved my cat and my furniture.  I sprayed it on the area as directed and almost imediately noticed that at least the smell in the air started to dissapate.  As far as the chair goes, it took three applications to totally remove the smell, but I swear to you there is not one bit of lingering odor left on that chair.  It really is amazing stuff.  It's made by SeaYu® Enterprises.  Here's their bio:

At SeaYu®, we love animals – and we care about the world we live in. That’s why we’ve carefully developed safe, effective, pet cleaning products. Clean+Green® are eco-friendly aerosol pet cleaning products, delivering instant results in a non-toxic, eco-friendly solution. Based in San Francisco, SeaYu was founded 2002 by two fun-loving dog owners – one a former high-tech executive who is passionate about pets and cleaning her house, and the other a former apparel marketing executive who loves animals as much as he loves the planet. For more information, visit us at  www.odorandstainremover.com.

So what's the moral here?  People who don't get their cats neutered will eventually be victims of their own negligence.  So I have made an appointment at one of the clinics to get my cat neutered.  And I will drag my lazy butt out of bed at 5 a.m. to get him there so that no one has to endure his smelly spray again, although I am told that getting him neutered may not stop him from spraying, which means I'd better stock up on Clean and Green.

In the meantime, you can win a can of Clean and Green!  It's good for neutralizing all kinds of pet odors, so it works for dog owners too!  All you have to do is "LIKE" Clean and Green on Facebook, then come back here and leave me a comment telling me you did so. Easy peasy, right?  Contest will end on April 24th at 12 pm. Midnight.  US addresses only.  

I Want Another BABY!

I love this video.  It reminds me of when my boys were little and how much I loved to watch them when they play together. 

OMG!  Have I been bitten by the baby bug?!?  I think I have!  I am so missing my little boys!  I just caught myself wishing I could have another one!!  Aauuggghhhhh!! 

Curse these blasted hormones and their mixed messages!  First they tell my reproductive system to go into shutdown mode because I'm too old to deal with childbirth again, THEN they go all crazy and make me want more babies!!  I don't have the energy for this.  Guess I'll go dig through my boys' baby pictures and reminisce to fill the void.