product review

Product Name: Marvels All-In-One
Company: Kissaluvs
Country of Origin: USA
Materials: Outer: 100% Polyester Urethane Laminate (PUL); Inner: 100% Polyester; Soaker: 100% Polyester

Diaper Type: One-Size (OS) All-In-One (AIO)
Weight Range: 7-35 lbs
Height of front rise at each setting (approx.): Small -- 16.5cm (6.5"); Medium -- 18cm (7"); Large -- 19cm (7.5")

Let's face it: rainy summer days can really suck if you don't have a magic trick up your sleeve to distract your kids! With this in mind, and knowing I'd need a little extra something to get me through a summer with the two older boys and a baby, I bought an awesome set of activity cards through #1's classroom Scholastic order.

Product Name: Easyfit All-In-One
Company: Tots Bots
Country of Origin: Glasgow, Scotland
Materials: Exterior: 100% Polyester with Polyurethane Laminate; Interior: 50% Rayon from Bamboo, 50% Polyester

Diaper Type: One-Size All-In-One
Weight Range: 8lbs - 35lbs
Height of front rise at each setting (approx.): Infant - 14cm (5.5"); Medium -15.5 cm (6"); Toddler - 17cm (6.75")

Those of you who know me well know that I'm a bit of a cloth diaper nut. I was rather sad when #2 finally toilet-trained, as it meant packing away all that beautiful fluff for an indefinite period of time.

In the few years since then the cloth diaper market has exploded and they've become much more accessible to the average consumer. Accompanying this demand, natural laundry washes, soaps and detergents have multiplied on store shelves -- increasing consumer options and leaving me feeling, at times, as though I went to university just to be able to read the ingredients labels on cleaning products.

I received a package of Swiffer 360° Dusters* for review and I admit dust is something we see a lot of in our house. The package contained the dusting handle and three dusters, and required a bit of assembly.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the product performance. It grabbed the dust just as the packaging promised and was really great at capturing the "fly away" dust that can sometimes rise from the surface with conventional dusters. The handle was comfortable to hold and made reaching those higher spots easier to manage. It even somehow managed to make the dusting seem more fun than usual -- this is always bonus for me. I really dislike housework.

After 'serenity now', the television catch-phrase I most often find myself saying after a challenging day with the kids is 'Calgon, take me away!'

Calgon doesn't need to worry about me anymore, because Febreze has a new line of scents that draw inspiration from exotic locales around the globe. I'm in Brazil at Carnival right now, sipping a chilled drink and enjoying the hot sun -- about as far away from this damp, chilly, and snowy Ottawa day as I can possibly be! Well, unless I choose to go to the Moroccan Bazaar, or lounge around on a Hawaiian beach -- decisions, decisions. ;)

I received a fabulous package of Mr. Clean cleaning products in the mail just recently, and was intending to get to them for review later this week. I got to one of the products sooner than anticipated, however, when a friend's kid did what kids do best and experienced the misfortune of barfing on my stairs. (Poor girl!)

I was out of the house for the moment of excitement, but entered the kitchen just in time to hear my friend ask if we had "a multi-surface cleaner of some kind" around with which she could wipe the stairs.

I received a couple toothbrushes in the mail to review and chat about here back in December. One was an Oral B Vitality, which we already own and enjoy. The other was the Oral B Triumph — a bit of a cadillac in terms of electric toothbrushes.

I got a tweet this morning about a new product called "The Knit Kit". It contains a small pair of scissors, stitch markers, point protectors, stitch counter, thread cutter, crochet hook and a measuring tape and retails for a mere $20 US.

I cry "Highway Robbery!" as I made my own "knit kit" for far less than that more than a year ago, and by pure accident rather than whim!