Energizer Keep Safe. Keep Going Emergency Power Kit Giveaway

Severe weather events affect everyone no matter where you live. Families are at risk for potentially harmful and serious outcomes when storms cause power outages.   Being fully prepare for such a situation means having an emergency power kit ready when unavoidable and inconvenient power outages occur, which can minimize the affect it has on your family.

The Energizer Keep Safe. Keep Going public safety campaign was developed when it was recognized that there was a need for people across the country needed to be prepared with back-up supplies (both power supplies and other necessities) other than candles. Partnering together Energizer, the International Fire Chiefs Association (IAFC) and the American Meteorological Society (AMS) alongside more than 6,200 fire departments, work at helping families stay connected and powered by providing tips for building complete emergency power kits.

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Label Daddy Review & Giveaway

It's almost cruise time, and that means packing and unpacking and packing again!  With all the little things we'll need, I want to be sure that should we lose misplace them, and a kind soul finds them, we'll get them back.  This is where the handiness of Label Daddy comes in.

I make encourage Amber to label the things that she takes with her places for two reasons.  1. Many of her friends have the same things she does (iPod, Nintendo DS etc) in the same colors and 2. If it does make its way to the lost and found hopefully someone will see the name on it and return it.

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Mayfair Lane Product Review and Giveaway

I love to keep my papers and notes organized and in a place easily accessible. That can be a lot tougher than it sounds though. In our office we have a 9 foot by 9 foot (true!) L shaped desk, that is home to four computers, a printer, phone, modem and a ton of other things. So you can imagine that it gets cluttered more often than not. Because our desk space is already used real estate, I have to think of another way to keep my papers organized but still in reach. Mayfair Lane is helping me out there!

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CP Docks ♦ Plug-In-Shelf Giveaway

Ugh, I have charging cords all over my home.  One in a kitchen drawer, a couple around the computer, one on the bookshelf, and who knows where else.  Whenever I need to charge my cell phone, I have to remember where I last shoved placed it.

I now have a safe place to keep the cord, and my cell phone when it is charging, and it makes a great Christmas gift.

The CP Docks line of personal charging stations, solves the problem of large boxy holders that take up counter space, or still have the cords hanging out all over the place. 

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Calendars for Moms and a Giveaway!

Moms are busy.  Really busy.  It's so nice to have a variety of options to choose from when trying to organize the daily "busy"ness that we encounter.

Andrews McMeel Publishing has come out with a number of different calendars to help moms stay organized and inspired in 2010, and I want to highlight some of them.

This first is a delightful Mary Engelbreit design. The Mom's Can Do Anything Calendar, is a weekly wall organizer for 2010.  It has 54 weekly pages and 12 monthly pages.  With 6 different organizing lines, this will get you set to organize pretty much anything!

Each weekly page has an inspiring quote, which just might set your tone for the week!  This would make a great gift for any mom who likes to have a large surface area to organize her family's activities.

Then there is the Mom's Grab-N-Go 2010 Calendar.  If you don't want to have a wall calendar,  a desk calendar and a planning journal, this is the organizing calendar for you!  With weekly and monthly pages, this calendar has sections to keep track of appointments and kids activities.  It has extra space for lists and errands.  Plus it has a family reference guide in the back for  names, numbers and services.

The exceptional thing about this calendar is that it does double duty as a desk calendar and a planner.  Simply "button" it up and throw it in your bag, when you get home it easily props back up to sit on your desk or countertop.

The Moms Funny and True Tales of Motherhood 2010 Calendar, also makes a great gift.   This day to day calendar , will help mom get through the day with grace and wit.  Each page features an amusing anecdote, inspiring quote, or a fresh new tip.

There is also a Daily Extra, on the back of each page, featuring puzzles, jokes, lists, quotes tips and trivia.

All of these calendars and more are available at Andrews McMeel's online website.

Enter for your chance to win a Moms Funny and True Tales of Motherhood 2010 Calendar.

To enter visit Andrews McMeel and tell me another calendar you think is neat, besides the ones mentioned in this post.

For extra entries you can (the above must be done first before you are eligible for any additional entries)

* Blog about this giveaway linking back to Three Different Directions

* Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway (leave the link to your tweet in the comments, this can be done daily)

This giveaway will end on December 9, 2009 at 11:59 pm cst and open to U.S. Residents ages 18+. The winner will be chosen by random.org and will be e-mailed. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the e-mail or an alternate winner will be chosen. By entering this giveaway you are stating that you have read my **About Reviews and Privacy/Rules declaration and agree to them.

I received complimentary calendars from Andrews McMeel prior to writing this post.

Gutzees - The Ultimate in Home and Gift Giving

To make your traveling experience trouble free, items from The Satin Collection by Gutzees are so useful. 

I recently took The Revival Bag on my last two trips to Canada and Minneapolis. 

I thought the best feature was that this travel bag has 8 pockets, in two different sizes, made of a clear vinyl so you can quickly see all your things.  This made it easy for me to place my toiletries in the various pockets according to their purpose and size.  All of the items I use on a daily basis fit well in the pockets.

The Revival Bag is a larger sized case, more for use on car trips or to pack in your luggage.  When not folded up its dimensions are 30" x 11 1/4".  Folded up, it is more of the size of a sheet of paper surface area wise, or a large clutch.  I had no troubles fitting it into my luggage on either trip I took.

I have to say I was surprised at its capacity.  I have a rather bulky toothbrush and carry a full size tube of toothpaste when I travel, and the pockets didn't strain at all to fit them.  The quilted satin on the outside is well constructed and gives it a chic look, and the snaps that keep it folded up are sturdy and well placed.

The hanger makes it perfect for small spaces.  My parent's guest bath has no counter space, so this was a lifesaver for me when we visited.  I just hung it on the towel rack and had easy access to all I needed.

In Minneapolis (which was a "girls" trip), while the counter space was there; 1 bathroom + 4 females = Chaos!  My items were neatly tucked away in my Gutzees Revival Bag, and I didn't get my stuff mixed up with anyone's.  Packing to go home was a breeze too, since everything was already in my Revival Bag.

I am so thrilled that I have this to take on our cruise next year.  Those stateroom bathrooms make my parent's bathroom look gigantic!

Gutzees has many more products for organizing, traveling and gifts.  For jewelry, handbags and personal effects, they have styles and colors for every lady.  The Revival Bag costs $35.00 and is available at their online store.

For more products and gifts for her visit Gutzees.com

I was provided a complimentary Revival Bag to use and formulate an opinion for the purpose of this post.

It's All Too Much - So Get It Together

Less Junk. Clearer Mind. Better Life.

Peter Walsh posts are starting to take over my blog, lol. In case you live under a rock and like my husband don't know who Peter Walsh is...he's the Australian guy who helped people de-clutter their homes on Clean Sweep.  Oh yeah, like my husband says, HIM.

As a token for attending Office Max's Back to School Webinar, hosted by Peter Walsh.  I was sent a copy of "It's All Too Much, So Get It Together".  A book specifically written to teens.

Written in Peter's direct voice (if you have ever seen him on t.v. you know what I'm talking about), he gets to the bottom of the clutter issue in the unique ways that affect teens.

From bedrooms to bathrooms, car trunks to high school lockers, he helps teens think about their stuff and their relationships in a new way.

The tone is upbeat rather than browbeating and the illustrations are entertaining.

This book will likely span the angst a lot of juniors and seniors have as their plates are full with school, relationships and the future.  Along with the possibility of leaving home soon, and where their "stuff" fits into the picture.

This is a very helpful book that hopefully will leave a lasting impression and a clean, clutter free zone for the youth who read it.  If you know a high school student suffering from clutter-itis, I think this would make a nice Christmas gift ☺.

Be careful though, when your teen is finished clearing the clutter from their space, they just might take you to task!

Clorox College Survival Guide 2009 - Tips & Advice

The Clorox College Survival Guide 2009 is a .pdf featuring advice compiled from current college students and of course their moms ♥. The up and coming freshmen can check this out to find out what to pack for the dorm room, the latest fashions they'll see on campus, and of course what mom has to say. (Somehow if it comes from "someone" else's mom it's worth listening to right?)

It includes useful advice like: The School Part of going to "School", How To Do a 5 Minute Dorm Room Clean-Up, and the Correct Way to Cover Your Cough (so you don't get your room mate sick!) This guide is worth printing off and tacking to the cork board, both while getting ready for and at college.

A National Version of the guide is available at Mom Central, and Regional Versions can be found on the Clorox Survival Guide's Facebook Fan Page, on the left hand side. I've become a fan of the page, because the information is useful even if you don't have a child going off to college.

To give you a better idea of what the College Survival Guide 2009 is about, here's a video introduction from one of the contributors.

If you found this post helpful, fee free to tweet about it and use the hashtag #collegeguide so others can find it in their search for college prep.

"I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of The Clorox Company and received a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate."

Back To School with Office Max and Peter Walsh

We all like to try and save money where we can and back to school shopping can get dreadfully expensive if we let it. Running around from one store to another to get the best deals can be exhausting.

There's one place that you can go though, to get all you need, at reasonable prices and in the styles your kids want. Office Max.

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Office Max Back To School Webcast yesterday, starring Peter Walsh, blogging mom Anna, teacher Heather along with a couple of students, live from a school in Chicago. I'm sure if you were on Twitter yesterday afternoon, you were made aware of it!

I know a lot of you wouldn't go to an office supply store for school supplies because of a number of perceptions:

1. I can't find everything at an office supply store that is on the back to school list.

* Well, I honestly can't tell you that you'll find the athletic shoes there, but I'm pretty sure that the other 99% of the items you can. From pencils to backpacks, Office Max is sure to have what you need.

2. Office supply stores don't have reasonable prices.

* I so want you to check out the weekly circulars in your paper this weekend. Have you seen the fabulous 1¢ sales Office Max has? You can literally get supplies you need for pennies!

3. Office supply stores only carry boring, bland, basic supplies. My kids want the latest styles.

* Office Max's Schoolio Von Hoolio line has some of the hippest, trendiest supplies out there this year. Hibiscus flowers in pink, yellow and orange tones. Cupcakes and owls on composition books and memo pads. According to my 13 year old, cupcakes are awesome sauce. You heard it here folks! Check out this poly expanding file folder and clipboard from the line.

Your kids may have trouble picking out what they want, and you may want to grab a file folder or two for yourself! (That owl is just too cute isn't he?)

One of the most important things to do when planning for Back to School though is starting routines right away. Whether your children are in Kindergarten or are Seniors, homeschooled or attend public/private school, make sure they have designated spots for where school work and supplies belong at home. And that they are organized. Peter Walsh, who has so had to literally dig through people's clutter, shared in the webcast that when clutter becomes overwhelming then it's hard to get out from under it. This brings about stress and of course then your children's education starts to suffer too.

If you are a homeschool parent or teacher make sure you stop in at Office Max on August 9th, as they are offering educators a 15% discount that day.

If you would like to view a recorded version of the webcast with Peter Walsh and get ideas to get organized for Back to School, visit http://www.officemaxsolutions.com/btsblogcast/. (You will need to have or download Silverlight to view it.) I'm almost certain you will come out at least with one idea to get your Back to School plans rolling ☺.

I received samples of the Schoolio Von Hoolio line courtesy of Office Max, prior to writing this blog post.

CSN Stores Review

Recently I had mentioned that I was receiving a bookcase from a division of the CSN stores to review, and I was quite excited about receiving it because with the ever accumulating piles of school books in our home, it was beginning to look like an ill organized book store!

It's a basic oak look style, but that was ideal for Amber's room since all her furniture has that look to it, so it fit in nicely.

It was easy enough to put together (I think, I didn't actually do it, Hubby did, but he did it while watching t.v. so it must have been pretty easy!). If in doubt the pieces were all labeled, so there was little chance to err!

Since it is such a basic model I was pleased to see that they provided the plastic discs to hide the holes where the screws are.

Most importantly I was pleased with the service that CSN Stores provided. The item was shipped promptly, arrived undamaged and I even got a follow up survey after it was delivered. That is worth shopping there, as well as the reasonable price tags!

One thing that I noticed is that I would not choose to place this in a small child's room for one reason, and that is because the shelves are flush in with the book case. If it were to tip even at a slight angle, not just the books would fall out, but the shelves also.

For our teenagers room though it works great, school books on the bottom, DVDs and video games on two more and a shelf to grow with.

Check out the other divisions that CSN Stores has. They have stores that sell everything from pressure washers to luggage. They have very reasonably priced home office furniture at one of their stores Simply Desks too. You name it, you can most likely find it at one of their store divisions.

Please read **About Reviews at the bottom of the page. I was provided the Mylex 4 Shelf Bookcase from CSN Stores in order to try it out prior to writing this review.

Need More Space..... Upcoming Review

Wow the summer is just racing by and I find it hard to believe that we are halfway through our first quarter of our school year already. This week was a break week as Amber took off to Girl Scout camp. It was a great time for me to reassess our books and storage space.

Of which I found...I.Need.More.Space. to store books and supplies that is.

Amber's desk is overflowing with electronic devices, and she doesn't get much work done on it. I need help to get the items without plugs, shelved and organized and off of it. Or maybe we should just get her a bigger desk (lol). www.simplydesks.com (a CSN Store division) has a lot of nice ones and many of them are extremely affordable.

Fortunately for me I was approached by CSN Store to do a review for them, and I get to review a bookcase from their www.bedroomfurniture.com division! Hooray! That will alleviate the current tripping over books in our home (hopefully!).

In any case I will weigh in with my thoughts when we receive and I have Hubby set up the bookcase! Stay tuned!

Busy Body Book Organizer Review & Giveaway

Personal organization calendars. You name it I've tried it. Small ones, large ones, electronic ones. I have not been completely satisfied with any I have bought until...I was able to review a Busy Body Book Organizer.

I am so happy with my spiral bound organizing calendar I received to review from Busy Body Book. Each two page spread has on the left; space for To Do's and on the right; a five column grid calendar of the week to organize how you please. Five family members? One column for each. Using it to plan homeschool days? Five subjects. Myself, personally... I'm using it for both of the above and more!

* Column 1 - Homeschool planning - since I only have Amber's homeschool planning to do, one grid is enough space (provided I can read my own shorthand lol!)

* Column 2 - Appointments

* Column 3 - Meal Planning - What's for dinner that night. It's easily visible to see the night before what I need to take out of the freezer if anything.

* Column 4 - Blog Planning - I can note in this square future reviews that need to be posted.

* Column 5 - Housekeeping - In this column I am writing in the things I sometimes forget to do like change the baking soda in the fridge, flush the drains etc.

As you can see the possibilities of how you can use this organizational calendar are as endless as they are versatile.

I'm not done yet though! There are pockets in the front and back to store things. A year at a glance in front as well as the current year's holiday dates all in one list. At the back there are tear out note and to do lists along with places you can put important contact information so it is always at the tip of your fingers.

All of that with a very sturdy front and back cover that will stand up to kitchen counters, purses, car seats and gymnasium floors!

I will be looking no more for an organizing calendar, The Busy Body Book Family Organizer is the official organizer for me from this point on.

Please read **About Reviews at the bottom of this page.

I reviewed the January - December format, but if you're looking for a school year format head on over to busybodybook.com to order your August 2009 - August 2010 version now to get your Back To School started out right.

Joan at Busy Body Book is graciously sponsoring a giveaway for a Busy Body Book for one of my readers to win! (Calendar Year or School Year)

To enter (required): Visit Busy Body Book and leave a comment telling me which Busy Body Book Family Organizer format and cover you would choose.

Extra Entries (leave an additional comment for each you are eligible for):

1. Blog about this giveaway linking back to my blog and Busy Body Book.
2. Follow me on twitter and tweet this giveaway (this can be done daily).
3. Follow my blog publicly.
4. Subscribe to my feed by e-mail or reader.
5. Put my button on your blog.

Giveaway is open to US Residents ages 18+ and ends on July 24, 2009 at 11:59 pm cst.