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Listerine and Reach Healthy Habits for a Lifetime

I posted a few weeks ago about my parenting fail regarding dental hygiene, and that we’d signed up for the Listerine and Reach Healthy Habits for a Lifetime challenge.

I’m happy to report that while we’re not perfect, we’re doing a lot better at our house.

I’ve started flossing. I know. It’s miraculous. But when I floss and use Listerine Total Care rinse, I can’t believe how much cleaner my mouth feels (and is!).

My kids are all about using Listerine Smart Rinse too, which is great, because their brushing skills are still slightly suspect.

We hung this paper in our bathroom and the kids checked off each day, helping them to get into the habit of brushing/flossing/rinsing.

If helping your family establish better oral care habits is something you’d like to work on, click here to access to tips from leading dental experts and great values and prices on oral care products.

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An at-last accomplishment and a $75 giveaway!

There are a lot of things I want to do that I say I’ll do “when I get around to it.”  Or, “when I have the money.”  Or how about my favorite, “When I have the time.”  The reality is that only a small percentage of these things will ever get done.  But there are a few things in life I’ve managed to actually take the time to accomplish that were totally worth it.  Time+ effort paid off!  A perfect example of this is the “fun room” that I posted about a year ago.  We lived in our house TEN YEARS before we ever turned our useless, waste-of-space mud room into a beautiful, functional art room for the kids.  Not only did it take a long time for us to finally DO IT, but it took a lot of time to physically accomplish the transformation – researching and finding the appropriate furniture, cleaning the room, painting the room, arranging all the kids things in an organized manner, and of course, the 50 bajillion coats of chalkboard paint and dry erase paint Bobby had to put on the opposite sides of our door in that room!

But all that hard work and time we invested totally paid off!  In the year since we accomplished this big task, we’ve made so many good memories in that room!  Like this one:

Joshua, Sophie and I were making a Jack O’Lantern craft in October.  We’ve spent so much time making things together in this room.  This is also where Sophie and I did all of our work together to help her overcome her developemental delays. As a matter of fact, we still often call it the “Mommy-Sophie time room” even though it’s for everyone, because Sophie and I spent SO much time there accomplishing THAT big achievement!

Ok, so why am I telling you all about my great accomplishment?  Because the good folks at Quaker Oats asked me to spread the word about a great accomplishment of theirs that has been a loooooooong time coming. As in, 130 years long!  Quaker, the Oatmeal experts, have finally…made…COOKIES!! Delicious oatmeal cookies!  Can you believe they never had cookies before?  Me neither.  I got to sample some of the soft-baked oatmeal cookies and they are delicious!  Joshua and Sophie loved them too.  They come in five yummy flavors, Apple & Cinnamon, Banana Nut, Chocolate & Almond, Raisins, and Cranberry & Yogurt.  All made with the Quaker oats you’ve loved for-EV-er!  Get them at your local grocery store and you’ll be really glad Quaker finally accomplished this feat!  These cookies are well worth the wait.

To celebrate finally accomplishing oatmeal cookies, Quaker is giving away a $75 Visa gift card to one lucky reader! (You could buy A LOT of Quaker cookies with that!)  Here’s how to enter to win this dough!

1) Leave a comment on this post telling  me something that was worth taking the time to accomplish in your life.

2) “Like” Quaker’s Facebook page and then come back to this post and leave a comment telling me that you did.

3) Follow Quaker on Twitter and then come back to this post and leave me a comment telling me that you did.

**Leave a separate comment for each entry! Up to 3 entries!*

One winner will be chosen at random on Saturday, March 23, 2012 at 6 pm EST.

Good luck!  I can’t wait to hear all about your accomplishments!

___________________________

This post is sponsored by Quaker.  All opinions about the super-delicious cookies are my own!

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The Dugout Hero

We’ve reviewed a lot of cool stuff in the 4.5 years we’ve be blogging, but the product I’m reviewing today is special because I totally know the person who invented it – we grew up on the same block. (She moved to Los Angeles and had a successful career in show biz. I moved… around the block.) In any case, she created a great product I think you’re all going to love.

Meet Brooke and John Isbell.

Are they cute or what?

They invented the Dugout Hero, which is a personal dugout organizer for t-ball/softball/baseball players.

As you can see, the Dugout Hero is designed to hang on the fence along the dugout, and it’s the perfect way to keep things organized. Kate’s played t-ball or softball for the past few years, and I’d estimate that the kids and coaches spent more time rounding up gloves and bats and hats between innings than they did on the field. The Dugout Hero gives kids a place to put their bat, glove, helmet, batting glove and water bottle so they know where their stuff is and can find it quickly. It also makes the dugout more organized, so the kids aren’t tripping over gloves when they’re heading up to bat. And there’s also the sanitary factor – the Dugout Hero prevents the sharing of hats and water bottles (just the thought makes me cringe!).

Note the lack of crap all over the dugout floor.

Here’s Kate checking out the Dugout Hero.

I don’t think it’s typically used by people wearing sparkly red shoes, but that’s Kate for ya.

The Dugout Hero is well-made and sturdy, and would stand up to the abuse it would take during a baseball season. It rolls up and fastens with velcro so it can be put in a bat bag for transporting… they’ve really thought of everything.

I like the Dugout Hero so much that I’m going to hang it on the wall in Sam’s bedroom before and after his t-ball season. It’s the perfect decor for a baseball nut like him!

The Dugout Hero can be purchased on their website, so go buy one for every ball player in your life – the little ones and the big ones too. You and/or your husband could be the coolest person on the church softball team, and you’ll be supporting a mom entrepreneur in the process!

The Dugout Hero such a great product that it deserves a wider audience, and you can help make that happen! From now until April 3, the Dugout Hero is competing in Walmart’s Get on the Shelf contest. You can vote through Facebook or via text, so vote early and vote often!

For more information about the Dugout Hero, visit their website and like them on Facebook. And don’t forget to vote!

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