Kidzworld Makes Social Networking Safe

 There is no denying that in today’s world we are socialnetwork addicted. There are so many places we can check in, or share on ourfriends’ wall and everything fromcough meds to in power tools have a page to like.Where do you draw the line? Do you monitor their page heavily and hope for thebest? What if there was a social network for kids? Well that’s exactly howKidzworld was created. Kidzworld was established in July of 2001 by Allen Achilles,who noticed a there were no social networking sites for kids that allowed thekids to be safe and secure. Kidzworld is the perfect place for kids to expresstheir individualism in forms of moderated chat rooms and message boards. Plusthey can keep up with their favorite tv shows like GLEE and 90210 andeven know what their favorite stars are doing. There are also games, videos,music, get advice and even find homework help.

Creativelydad, O, and myself sat down to look over the Kidzworld site and we all agreed this is a great site to get kids started on how to interact with their friends safely on social network sites. O is about 2 years younger than the targeted age grouphe really loved looking at the site and thinks it’s going to be a lot of fun.What I love is that everything the kids do in regards to interacting with each otheris heavily monitored so there is no way personal information can get exchanged.I love this because now I can let O interact with his friends and Creativelydadand I feel comfortable being able to walk into the other room without worryingsomething bad will happen.  Also otherthan the chat feature O really loves that he can play games on the site. Healso loved that they offer giveaways for the kids. He was pretty excited to seea Scooby-Doo giveaway on there. So all in all I think this is a great site tolet the kids have a little freedom without allowing them the chance to allowbad things to happen. We’re a social network world now and Kidzworld is a greattool to use on how to be safe on the internet, and there is no better time thannow to show them how to use social network sites and the internet safely.

*I was given a free free product and/or was paid for this review. Any opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced in any way.

Cafepress Review & Giveaway

I can’t believe it’s been 3 months since my brother left for boot camp. He graduates in 23 days and I’m so proud of him. It’s been hard not having him and I had a little surprise for O two weeks ago, my brother got a 36 hour pass and I let O answer when he called. He was so excited! He had so much to tell my brother and kept mentioning how he loved getting mail from my brother and hearing about what weapons he’s using and the other things he’s learning as well. After the letters started coming in I knew that I wanted to find something for O as a keepsake box. I didn’t want something big and clunky, but something that would sit on his dresser next to the other things he loves. When I was contacted by Cafepress to do a review I knew this was the perfect place to find some amazing Army related products.


Cafepress‘ “Brave Like My Uncle” keepsake box is made of lacquered Alderwood and measures 5 1/4″ sq x 2 1/8″ and has a 4 1/4″ tile and hinged lid. It’s perfect for all of O’s letters and he just loves looking at it sitting next to his batman bank and baseball trophy. Every time someone comes over he makes sure that’s the first thing they see. I really love how sturdy it is and that it’s able to hold his favorite little items. Also the design on the tile is so cute. Being the awesome sister I am, I knew how much my brother’s girlfriend was missing him and wanted to do something really nice for her. In our conversations I remember her telling me about how she couldn’t wait to give him a big hug and that’s when it hit me. Why not look at the Army Girlfriend Throw Pillows? As soon as I loaded the page I found the PERFECT pillow. I purchased a pillow for the dragon shortly after my grandma passed away and I remembered how soft they were and perfect for those nights when you needed something to hug. I was right too, S loved the pillow and I was able to deliver it to her myself, with a big hug too, on a not so good day and I could tell it definitely brightened her spirits, though sadly in all the excitement I forgot to get a photo .. I know bad bad blogger!

Now the best news of all? Cafepress is giving one lucky Creativelyb reader the chance to win a $50 CafePress Coupon Code that can be used on coffee mugs, funny t-shirts and more! How awesome is that? Plus with Rafflecopter the entering couldn’t be easier! Find out below:

RafflecopterSettings = { raffleID: ‘MmMzYmEwNGQ3MjQ2Njg0YTZiNTFiNDZhNzVlMDVlOjI=’}; <a href=”http://rafl.es/enable-js”>You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway</a>.

*I was given a free free product and/or was paid for this review. Any opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced in any way.

Plastic Jungle Saves Christmas

You may remember my Wordless Wednesday from 2 weeks back … yesthe dreaded “C” word … Christmas is coming fast this year. I don’tknow about you but I always say this year I’m going to start shopping earlierthis year and it NEVER fails it’s Christmas eve and we’re running out to getthose last minute gifts. Well NOT this year. This year I’m determined to startearlier and Plastic Jungle swoops in to save the day with amazing offers on gift cards!

Plastic Jungle knows that the holidays are stressful enough without the added pressure of buying gifts that 9 times out of 10 people return and personally for us we buy a lot of gift cards during the holiday season and after awhile they really add up. This is why I’m using Plastic Jungle to help save some money this holiday season by buying a discounted gift card and saving up to 35%! This is really helpful since most of our shopping goes towards gift card purchases. I really like that they offer some really great gift cards like Kohl’s, here you’ll save 16%, and even Build-a-bear, where you can save 15%, and what’s even better is they offer such a wide selection you’ll be able to shop for EVERY person on your list … even those hard to shop for people on your list. Plus Plastc Jungle offers free shipping,  no fees, and no expiration dates so you know you can trust the transactions are guaranteed to be what they say they are.

Now you I know what you’re thinking. But Brandy, what do I do after the holidays are over and I find those long lost gift cards I never wanted anyhow and somehow forgot I had? Why haven’t they changed into a card I can actually feel excited about using? Well don’t worry Plastic Jungle has your back here as well. You can sell a gift card and get up to a 92% payout! How awesome is that? Now you can be happy to accept a gift card for a store that is definitely not on your want list and get a gift card that you actually WANT to use. So what gift card would you be most excited to receive?

*I was given a free free product and/or was paid for this review. Any opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced in any way.

Mistakes Made In Marriages

Creativelydad and I have had conversations lately about how we’re treating each other. It’s no secret that we’ve had our share, and then some, of problems and I fully believe it all surrounded with how WE treated each other. So imagine my surprise when I found an article on Yahoo talking about 5 mistakes commonly made in marriages. Right off the bat I went “Yup we’ve done/do that” ….sadly this happened all the way through and yes I know there were only 5 things listed.  I think the one that hit the most was #3 – Not Showing Enough Consideration. The article states that studies show married people find it easier to treat other people with more civility than they do each other. What’s interesting is we were actually talking about this exact topic on Wednesday while O was in school and I think it’s horrible that I’m not the only one having this issue though I can’t say I’m really shocked.

Since high school we’ve both done the clichéd thing and gained a little weight …. Okay I never lost my ‘baby weight’ with O and added some to it after losing my Grandma to Lung Cancer in ’08. Creativelydad also put on his fair share of sympathy weight while I was pregnant and then after his back surgery around the same time in ’08 it’s been hard for us to get some of this chub off. We’ve tried gyms and they are either too pricey or the ‘cheap’ ones don’t have what we need. Creativelydad’s doctor suggested to him a pool and hot tub to help with his rheumatoid arthritis and those obviously up any gym price. So we’re still looking. I was doing great by finally cutting out the soda and doing my butt bible workouts … until my ankle incident.  So now I’m back to square one. I know that the first step is to cut out the negatives and I’m thinking I got the perfect give and take going on for this one.

Then other one that really hit home would be #1 – Demanding Gold Stars. This is another big problem for me.  I always try to bust my butt getting done what he’s asked or stuff I know he’d love to have done and when I don’t get that instant gratitude I get VERY emotional and upset. It’s no fault of Creativelydad’s but I still sit there stewing with anger wondering if he’s dumb or just too blind to see all the hard work I’ve put in. Part of the problem is after I clean our entire apartment (that’s not too big but not too small) I feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. I also feel tired lol so I want him to come home and SAY that he’s noticed the hard work I’ve done and that the house looks nice. I’d even suffice a Great job champ! from him … but it usually takes me getting angry and yelling for him to realize I NEED that instant gratification. This is another one of those give and takes. I’m working on NOT needing that as often and he’s working on GIVING it to me a little more often.

So see sometimes those articles on Yahoo aren’t a bunch of fluff and you really do learn something from them.  Do any of these hit close to home? How do you make sure you guys don’t end up in these situations?

Dear #ButtBible I Miss You

I never thought I’d say that but I do miss you. Sadly what’s keeping me away my love is my ankle. Yes I know I sprained it about a month ago but I it’s still giving me trouble and thus I’ve been afraid to do any workouts with it. Though I decided in my moment of not getting any sleep that after all the distractions have left the house, it’ll be just you and I getting our workout on. I know you’re worried about my ankle but I still have my air cast so I’m going to strap that baby on we should be good to go. Plus if it makes you feel better, I’m just going to start all over with Day 1 except I’ve got weights now lol and stick to the upper workouts until I feel confident my ankle will not revolt against me. Now please remember I may curse your name and talk badly about you after it’s all said and done. This might not even happen until the next day, but be prepared that it will happen. Just know this post was written out of love and that you’re the only program I’ve found that is worth sticking too. This has to be worth the verbal abuse you’ll hear from me afterwards right? It’s all out of love and I know I’ll not only look great thanks to you but feel a lot better on the inside. This has been a great stress reliever for me as well.

So until next time,

Wordless Wednesday Waiting

My nieces came over today and I took full advantage of them walking with me to pick up O at the bus stop.

Captain America Saves Halloween!

What’s that over there? Is it a rock? No! Is it a statue? No! It’s Captain America! He’s here to save Halloween by letting you know of the one online store that offers you amazing Halloween costumes at amazing prices! I’m sure you’re wondering where you can find top Halloween costumes for boys and girls, and that place is Wholesale Costume Club! O’s second Halloween he was Superman and 2 years ago he was Batman. It only seemed fitting that this year he’d be Captain America not only because he, much like he nerdy comic book and video game loving mother, loves all things super heroes but also because ever since my brother left for boot camp O has been obsessed with all things army related. In fact he wanted to be an Army Zombie until he saw this costume. Zombies are ever awesome but how can they compare to a super solider? You just can. When I asked O about what he thought of his costume he was quoted to say “It’s very awesome. I love the muscles. Now I just need a shield. You know the one that shoots.” … sorry kid I’ve seen them with OUT the shooter part and I don’t need little discs flying all over the place. Though who really knows because Creativelydad was looking at the shooting disc one today and I think he likes it more than O does.

This Captain America costume is a two piece outfit that comes with the jumpsuit that has attached boot toppers and of course the costume details screen printed on. This also includes the character mask which has the symbolic A on the front. It does NOT include the shield. I ordered this costume in a size medium which fits most sizes 7-8. I thought this jumpsuit part of the costume was well made. I’m normally against the added muscles to a costume because it just doesn’t look right, but for this costume I love it. They aren’t over the top muscles, they are just right. My only concern would be the mask. I don’t know if you can see in the photos, but it doesn’t fit him very well. For the most part it looks to allow him to see clearly out of it but it’s after a little tugging to get it in the right spot.

All in all we loved this costume and O is over the moon happy about it. What more could I ask for? Reasonable prices, a wide selection of not only boys super hero costumes, but costumes that every member of the family can find something to wear, and a quality that can’t be matched anywhere else!

What are your kids being for Halloween? Are you dressing up with them and making it a family event?

*I was given a free free product and/or was paid for this review. Any opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced in any way.

T.G.I. Friday’s Solves Frozen Food Problems

This post brought to you by T.G.I. FRiDAY’S. All opinions are 100% mine.
I’m a sucker for frozen food that is packaged and sold from a big chain restaurant that I may love or just want to try because we don’t have one around here. Of course usually the frozen foods don’t hold up to a candle, but sometimes you get lucky and you’ll find that one gem that goes from the freezer to the microwave to the tasting extremely close to what you’d get at the restaurant. That’s where T.G.I. FRiDAY’S “Entrées for One” comes into play. I was lucky enough to get to try these new entrees and I was ready to give them the full trial.

I’m pretty picky when it comes to my frozen food. First I usually skip anything that has pre-cooked, frozen meat in it because it’s usually something gross. I will say that the grilled chicken in the meal I chose, Grilled Chicken Mac and Cheese entree for 1, was not something I was fond of, but it WAS a lot better quality than I normally find in my frozen meals. A few bites I had were really good chicken but then I’d get a couple bites that were mushy/fatty kind of feel/taste that wasn’t a pleasant taste to me. But the noodles and cheese were amazing! If I have a late night craving for mac and cheese this will definitely be my go to as it’s not only easy as pie to ‘make’, but it tastes just like homemade mac and cheese. The Grilled Chicken Mac and Cheese entree consists of White meat chicken with cavatappi pasta in an American cheese sauce topped with Cheddar, Romano, Parmesan, and Monterey Jack cheeses. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened up the box and saw not only the cheese sauce but nice sizes of all the shredded cheeses. After warming up, everything melted amazing and it was like heaven in my mouth.

Now amazing food is not the only thing T.G.I. Friday’s has to offer. I don’t know if you’ve visited their facebook page or not but they have this amazing Fun Freezer contest going! If you haven’t heard about it, this contest is about decorating the freezer has never been so fun. All you have to do is get creative and funky with how you decorate your fridge and after entering your fridge you have the chance to win one of the 10 prizes they are offering. The prizes break down like this, Third Place prize (5 winners) is a Date Night In Goes All Out. Here you’ll win a 12-month DVD subscription and a freezer load of oh-so-shareable T.G.I Friday’s Entrees for Two. How fun would that be? Next is Second place (3 winners) which is called House Party on the House. Here you could win everything you need to throw the best house party ever! This includes drinks, entertainment and of course a freezer stuffed with T.G.I Friday’s Snacks! Now that sounds like a good party. Finally the big prize. Grand prize (2 winners) is called Ultimae Home Theater Makeover. Here you could win a new TV and home theater system, plus a year’s worth of new T.G.I. Friday’s Entrees for One. This would be amazing and let me tell you we could so use a home entertainment center. Did you see my entry for this contest? O decided on a western romantic and how could I deny that one? I think he’s a fun and quirky little fridge. What do you think?

Are you entering? I’d love to see your fridges’ if you are! Have you tried these new entrees? What are your thoughts? Any favorite flavors?

NMEDA Helps Restore Independence

This post brought to you by NMEDA. All opinions are 100% mine.
By now you should know Creativelydad  has Rheumatoid Arthritis. Ever since we’ve been together I’ve found out what this is exactly and what it means to have Rheumatoid Arthritis because I while I can’t physically feel what he is feeling and how I can help him feel even just a little bit better. I figure he works so hard to make sure O and I are provided for and have everything we need, and even some stuff we just want. Once his mother started talking about getting a scooter from the scooter store for his dad, who suffers from a lot of what Creativelydad does, it made me realize eventually this is going to be where he ends up. I wanted to be prepared. This is where I started looking at NMEDA and what they have to offer. If you’ve never heard of NMEDA, they are a non-profit trade association. Also they take the time to educate consumers on buying products from NMEDA qualified dealers.  I love that they state up front that NMEDA doesn’t sell anything and are only an association that promotes safe driving and equipment for disabled people. Another positive is that since no two disabilities are 110% the same, and that you should beware of adapted wheelchair vehicles sold over the internet or through catalogs, they conduct personalized “in-person” evaluations so you can be sure you are getting the right solution for your specific lifestyle and needs. This is great because I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about people being pushy with this kind of thing just to get a sale.  Plus if you need extra training or even product refinements than your NMEDA dealer is right there to help you. How great is that?


So while I’m searching NMEDA’s site trying to not confuse myself I realized they offer two different types of dealers, Dealers and then Quality Assurance Program (QAP) dealers. The difference between dealers and Quality Assurance Program dealers would be that QAP is the only nationally recognized accreditation program for the Adaptive Mobility Equipment Industry. Plus it’s based on the principle that in order to satisfy customers consistently, companies must have a systematic and documented approach to quality. I like how with the help of NMEDA those you love that have a disability are able to get back a little of their independence and I can only imagine how satisfying this can be for not only them but the loved ones that help care for them. So in the end I found a lot of interesting information about NMEDA and their dealers. I guess my only negative would be there isn’t one located within 25miles of our city, but if it Creativelydad needed it and I knew it’d give him even a little bit of happiness I’d take the drive for him. What about you? Is there a NMEDA dealer near you? Have you had to care for a disabled loved one? If so what was your biggest struggle?

She loves Sports, Family, and Bonding

(c) MJimages via sxc.hu

I don’t know if I mentioned it or not but I’m a HUGE sports lover. My sports of choice are football, basketball, baseball, and pro-wrestling. They played a big part in my life even if I’ve never been on a team before. I know it sucks being the oldest child and expected to watch your siblings after school. It sucked watching my brother play his sports and my sister do volleyball. Everyone pegged me as the bookworm and didn’t take much stock in me wanting to play college basketball for the North Carolina Tarheels, yes that’s a Michael Jordan reference. Plus I knew my ‘job’ was to go to school and come home and play mother while the parents worked or did what-ever they did at night. But enough sour puss stuff. As I said, I just love sports. Growing up my first two loves were Pro Wrestling and Basketball. I know I know some are thinking really Brandy? Pro-wrestling is fake I don’t see how you classify that as a sport! But to me it is and I know it’s fake. What can I say there is something about big sweaty guys running around in little bottoms being over-dramatic and ‘hurting’ each other. I just can’t get enough of it. Plus growing up I remember spending nights at my grandma’s laying on my stomach in front of the television watching the wrestlers beat each other up, because being little I fully believed that they were really hurting each other. I remember my grandma and grandpa getting into it and it was just so exciting. I loved the over the top costumes, the stories the wrestlers were telling and it was just love at first sight. Then later in life I loved watching it with my Uncle and cousins from out of town. When we’d get together it was almost guaranteed that there would be “matches” reenacted … and I can honestly say I was dropped on my head as a child … thanks to my loving Aunt lol. It’s okay I still love her and the best part is it’s on a home video somewhere. Of course I hid my sports love well because well I’m a girl and no one really took girls liking sports seriously, or it seemed that way. The basketball love comes from the first time I seen Michael Jordan play basketball. It was love at first sight. I remember watching not only the games but those exciting play-off games with my grandparents. It was so fun and exciting because everyone was getting lost in the game. My Grandpa Mick knew this guy when he worked at the local Chrysler plant that took professional photos at the play-off games. I have a small tub in our closet that is full of not only said photos, but newspaper articles and even a Michael Jordan book that my grandpa bought for me. Another love was collecting basketball cards. Yes this girl right here was your non-traditional tomboy. I have a few books full of collectable basketball cards and I can’t tell you how much fun I had going with my Grandma and Grandpa Moore to various card shows. I still get giggly when I see signs for card shows pop up and make Creativelydad stop lol. I actually found some metal Michael Jordan basketball cards at a garage sale last summer that were only a DOLLAR!! Yes $1 and of course I had to grab them because I just never saw them before, so not only did I get something else for my collections but I get to educate O in the awesomeness that is Michael Jordan.

(c) iprole via sxc.hu

But I would have to say that basketball isn’t that high on the list of sports we love in our house. Pro-Wrestling would be a close second on this list but the chart topper would have to be a tie between baseball and football. Being from the Northern Illinois, you are always assumed to being the fan of 3 teams. If it’s football then you HAVE to be a Chicago Bears fan. Now if it’s baseball season then you’re either a Chicago Cubs fan or a Chicago White Sox fan. Well 95% of my family are Bears fans. The other 5 percent are broken down like this: 1% -Green Packer fan (Grandma), 1% – Tampa Bay Buccaneers Fan (Grandpa Moore), 1% – San Francisco 49rs fan (Grandma Moore), 1% – Pittsburgh Steelers Fan (myself), and 1% New Orleans Saints Fan (O). My Grandpa Mick is a Bears fan through and through while my Grandma was a Packer fan through and through. It definitely made things interesting around here. Growing up I always just assumed I was a Bears fan because well everyone else was. Then I went through a brief Packer fan phase … which I plead as temporary insanity. Finally I realized I COULD like my own team and I was about 14 when I started liking the Pittsburgh Steelers. I don’t know what drew me in but what-ever it was has a tight hold on my heart. On the other end of things my Grandpa Moore and my uncle are big Cubs fans. I remember them talking all the time about going out to opening day and how excited they were. My other Uncle is a Red Sox fan but my New York Yankee love will not all me to discuss this lol. My brother is a big White Sox fan and despite how he tried to load him up with White Sox things before he left, my son is still a big Cubs fan. I love that he’s already growing into his own sport teams that he wants to be a fan of. It makes games more interesting as was an example this weekend when Creativelydad’s Chicago Bears played against O’s New Orleans Saints. All week I heard the trash talk and it was hilarious trying to hear O talk “trash” to his dad about his team losing. Well come time for the big game and every time the Saints scored O would should out ‎”Ha they are beating you! Take that … in your FACE daddy!!” It was the cutest thing ever! Just don’t tell O I said that. These moments make me so happy because I remember how much fun I had watching sports with everyone and the bonding I see from Creativelydad and O as they not only watch sports together but play as well is just so fun. Yes we are a Summer/Fall baseball family. Creativelydad has been playing baseball since I’ve met him and was until this last summer due to back issues. I think it helped him realize it was time to hang up his cleats due to O starting his first year of team sports. He participated in Summer ball this year and loved it. He is extra excited for next Summer because we’re hoping dad gets to coach his team.

What are some things you’re family bond together over?