A Work at Home Mom’s Blog

Ah, Celebrity Apprentice. It’s like The Apprentice, only with celebrities and money for charity. Lots of drama, and lots of fun.

The latest episode challenged the teams to create viral videos for All Small and Mighty, a highly concentrated laundry detergent with time-released freshness. To make things even more interesting, Joan and Melissa Rivers were pitted against each other for this effort.

The results were spectacular, and hilarious. The elder Rivers’ “Guess That Stain” video was classic Joan, complete with her trademark humor and wisecracks. Melissa’s “Laundry Fairy” video was an adorable documentary-type clip. Both were awesome. Here’s a sampling:

Unfortunately, there was no winner of this challenge, so no money was raised for charity. But don’t worry- you can help just by watching the clips in their entirety online. All is donating 50 cents to Joan and Melissa’s charities (Guide Dogs for the Blind and The Lili Claire Foundation) for each view of the videos on their website. So have a look, and send them to all of your friends!

There’s another good reason to visit the site as well. For 24 hours only, you can get a coupon for $2 off on All Small and Mighty. After 11 pm EST on Monday April 6th, the amount will be reduced to $1 off. So don’t delay if you want a chance to experience the concentrated freshness at a great price!

Oh yeah, one more thing: You can also enter to win an all expense paid trip for two to the Celebrity Apprentice finale or a year’s supply of All Small and Mighty! So… why are you still here? I mean, I’m honored that you’re still reading and all, but get on over there and get your coupon and sweeps entry and help out some great charities!

I love adorning my walls with photographs. As much as I appreciate artwork, I like to see the smiling faces of friends and family when I look at my walls. But with a little help from PhotoFiddle, you can have the best of both worlds.

PhotoFiddle is in the business of creating art from photos. They can take your favorite picture and transform it into over 50 styles, including oil painting, watercolor, charcoal drawing, pop art print, and much more. You can upload a photo and see it in every available style before you make a decision. And if you’re not satisfied with any of them, they will create a custom piece at no extra charge. They have received positive press from The Washington Post, USA Today, The Today Show and more.

So when PhotoFiddle offered me a custom canvas of my very own, I was ecstatic. I searched through all of my digital photos, looking for just the right one. I wanted to have a family portrait, but I couldn’t find anything that I thought was canvas-worthy. So I sent in one of my dad, Pumpkin and my niece. It wasn’t very high quality though, so I finally found someone to take a picture of Hubby, Pumpkin and me. I cropped it and sent it in, but the quality was too low on that one as well. But when I sent in the original, it turned out nicely. I asked them to remove some items from the background, and they got that done in short order.

The PhotoFiddlers were quite patient with me while I got my photographic ducks in a row, and they answered my questions quickly and fully. I received updates on the progress of my canvas, and an email with a tracking number when it was shipped. Two days after I got that email, the FedEx guy was at my door with my new masterpiece.

When I opened it, I was in awe. It turned out beautifully. Check it out:

I opted for the color sketch style. I thought it was the most fitting style considering the picture- my family as our everyday selves. Had we been all dressed up and proper looking, I might have gone for the oil painting style. But we’re rarely seen all dressed up and proper looking.

I’m very pleased with my experience with PhotoFiddle. Their customer service was great, and my canvas is the new highlight of my living room. So I’m pleased to announce that the folks at PhotoFiddle have been kind enough to allow me to give away one of their gift certificates!

How to Enter

The prize up for grabs is one $50 PhotoFiddle.com gift certificate. There are several ways you can enter:

For one entry each:
• Make a comment on this post telling me why you would like to win a PhotoFiddle gift certificate. Don’t worry, there are no right or wrong answers, I’m just curious.
• Twitter about this giveaway. Include your Twitter username or profile URL in your comment for verification purposes.
• Stumble this post. Include your StumbleUpon username in your comment.
• Subscribe to my feed via RSS or email. Let me know that you did so in your comment.

For 3 entries:
• Blog about this giveaway. Include a link to this post and a link to PhotoFiddle.com. Include the URL of your post in your comment.

Each entrant may have up to a total of 7 entries.

This giveaway runs now through midnight on Monday, December 15th. (Just in time for Christmas!) The winner will be selected by way of a random number generated by Random.org. The winner will be contacted via email, so double check your email address when leaving your comment. If the email bounces or the winner does not respond within 24 hours, an alternate winner will be chosen. The winner’s gift certificate will be delivered by email straight from PhotoFiddle. Good Luck!

I would almost give my right arm for a good video camera. My digital camera will only do 30-second videos with no sound, and it’s about dead anyway. I’d love to have something to capture some memories of Pumpkin with while she’s still young.

So I entered to win a Flip camcorder over at Common Sense with Money. These little cameras are so awesome! From what I’ve read about them, they’re very easy to use. And I just adore their sleek design!

The giveaway runs through December 10th, and you can earn up to five entries. So head on over there and get your name in the pot too!

My daughter always loves it when I make cards on the computer. Not only for her, but for other people, too. I always make it a point to put her name on the back in the “Made Just for You by” section along with mine, just because it makes her so happy.

There’s just something about having your name on something without having to write it that kids love. I always had a hard time finding anything that was already personalized with my name spelled correctly when I was young, but I kept hoping someone would give me a personalized gift. While I don’t think I ever got anything with “Kristy” printed on it, I did get something pretty awesome once: My mom’s friend called me her little sugar lump, and one day when she came to visit she brought me a quilt she had made me with a cool clown on it and “My Sugar Lump” embroidered at the top. I always treasured it- as a matter of fact, I still have it.

Knowing how a little personalization makes things extra special, I was thrilled when I got a chance to review one of the personalized books that Frecklebox sells. They have two kinds: story books and coloring books. I got one of the coloring books for Pumpkin.

When it arrived, she kept asking what it was. I told her not to be so nosy, took it in the bedroom and closed the door. I opened it up, and I was thoroughly impressed. The quality was excellent! It had her name on the front, and on every page in a different ornate font with designs in many of them to color. I had thought about holding onto it for her for Christmas, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

I went back to the living room, coloring book behind my back, and told her I had something for her. Of course she came running full speed ahead. I presented it to her, and her jaw dropped. She asked me if I had made it. I laughed and told her no, that that was what came in the mail. Then she said, “How did they know my name?” I explained that I had told them her name, but by that point she was flipping through the pages, amazed that her name was on each and every page. And then she finally put it down long enough to give me a ginormous bear hug.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, she loved it. If this big grin doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will.

Frecklebox makes all kinds of great stuff for kids. They have personalized party favors, growth charts, posters and more. So if you want to put a smile on your child’s (or niece’s, nephew’s or just some special kid’s) face, take a look at what they have to offer. The quality is great, and the products are lots of fun.

I got my George Foreman G-broil grill last week, and now I’m finally getting around to doing my review. I’ve been cooking up a storm with it, just haven’t had the time to pull a review together until now. Without further ado, here’s my video. But don’t forget to read on afterward for a more thorough analysis.

I’ve wanted a Foreman grill for many years, not only because it makes healthy cooking a breeze, but because I think food just plain tastes better without all that grease. Sure, it needs a little fat in it to give it some flavor, but it shouldn’t be swimming in it! The grill’s sloped design and grease catcher thingie eliminate virtually all excess fat.

And over the past two years, I’ve found two more reasons to want one: Hubby and Pumpkin. Both of them have stomach problems, and if they eat too much grease, they get awful stomachaches. So you could say I was an eager beaver about the opportunity to try a George Foreman grill.

Putting It to the Test

As soon as I opened the box, the first thing that struck me was what a fine-looking little appliance this was. Mine has a nice stainless steel finish, and the design is oh so sleek. But kitchen gadgets are more about function than form, right? So I started cooking with it in short order.

The first thing I cooked on it was frozen hamburgers. That didn’t go so well, but it was my fault. I was so excited to try it out that I didn’t read the directions, which plainly stated that it cooks much more quickly than a standard frying pan. So I kind of burned them. You can be sure that I read the instructions before trying again.

The steaks (shown in the video) turned out much better. I cooked them for around 6 or 7 minutes, and they were scrumptious. Even with the quick cooking and lack of fat, they turned out quite tender. They even had that grilled taste, minus the gas or charcoal flavor.

I even did something that I never do: I cooked something other than a grilled cheese or microwave meal for my lunch. I put a frozen chicken breast in the fridge to thaw the night before, doused it with barbeque sauce, and slapped it on the grill. Add some bagged salad, and you have a delicious home-cooked meal for one in minutes.

Features

The G-broil is a newer model, and it comes with lots of awesome features. Including:

• An on/off switch. It sounds simple enough, but the older Foreman grills didn’t have them. They just came on when you plugged them up. As a person who is jumpy about little electrical sparks, I greatly appreciate this.
• A timer. I still haven’t gotten brave enough to put the food in, set the timer and walk away until it beeps, but this is a great feature. It comes in handy for the five-minute warm-up time, if nothing else. And once I get more accustomed to how long it takes to cook things, I’m sure I’ll get plenty of mileage out of it.
• Removable non-stick grilling plates. This is probably my favorite feature. The plates come off easily, and they’re even easier to get clean. They are dishwasher safe (for those of you who have a dishwasher that works, unlike me), and you can wash them off by hand in no time flat.
• Hinge-lock lid. This is wonderful for cooking large foods, or for melting the cheese on your burger without scorching it. And if you want to make a dainty little grilled cheese on sandwich bread, this will keep it from getting flattened. Just remember that you’ll have to turn it over, because it won’t be in contact with the top plate to cook on both sides like everything else.

Darn Near Perfect

There’s not much I would change about the G-broil. It cooks food quickly and deliciously, and it is wonderful for those who are into healthy living (or those of us who just hate grease). The only thing I can think of that I would change would be to add temperature control, since I’m so accustomed to it. But with a little practice, I think I’ll manage just fine without it.

If you need to lose weight or watch your fat intake, I highly recommend this beauty. It makes eating the foods you love a possibility even if you are on a strict diet. And did I mention that everything I’ve tried on it (except maybe the burnt burgers) tasted great?

I’ve been struggling with finding ways to feed Hubby and Pumpkin without upsetting their delicate stomachs. Pumpkin has had mysterious stomach problems for about a year now. Hubby’s stomach started giving him serious trouble about a year and a half ago. He was diagnosed with acid reflux and gall bladder disease, and had the gall bladder removed. Anyway, both of them have trouble with anything that contains a lot of grease or fat. But they’re such picky eaters, it’s hard to find anything that will agree with both their stomachs and their tastes.

That’s why I was so ecstatic when I was asked to do a review of a George Foreman grill on my blog. Yes, that’s right, a George Foreman Grill! I’ve wanted one for years now, but never got around to getting one when I had the money. Lots of people have told me how great they are, how well they get the grease out and make the food so much healthier and it still tastes great, and now I finally get to find out firsthand. Awesome!

Not only will I be posting about how the grill works and how the food turns out, I’ll be documenting the whole thing on video. So if you’ve ever considered a Foreman grill but haven’t experienced the joys of owning one, stay tuned.

When I was younger, my hair was extremely frizzy. Some days it just looked like a great big puffball. That was the only thing I didn’t like about my hair- other than that it was my favorite feature.

I still have frizz, but it’s not nearly as bad these days. Still, it seems like every time I want to look nice, I have a puffball day. What I wouldn’t give sometimes for a ceramic flat iron.

My hair has a good bit of curl to it, and I used to blow dry it straight because that was the only way to tame it. That only made the frizz worse, though. A flat iron would produce much better effects. Hana makes a couple of different models, and I would love to get my hands on one of them.

The ceramic plates heat more evenly and efficiently than metal. And for those who share my frizz problem, Hana’s plates contain tourmaline, a precious metal that generates negative ions that eliminate frizz and increase shine. And you don’t have to go completely straight- these irons have curved edges that are capable of producing nice curls and flips.

I’d love to give one of these a try. I don’t go out a lot any more, but I can definitely see myself using it from time to time. Especially on those frizzy days.

Memory foam mattresses have become increasingly popular in the last few years. It seems to be a symptom of a larger concern that Americans have with their health in general, and sleep in particular. Some research has shown that a memory foam mattress can actually help the user sleep more deeply, by reducing the amount of times the sleeper awakens at night.

Without a memory foam mattress, almost no one sleeps through the night undisturbed. In fact, most of us wake up, if only slightly, as many as a hundred times during our slumber. The small disturbances are caused mostly by discomfort. Because of the way most of our mattresses function, pressure builds up and causes us to switch positions during the night. Although we may not fully awake during these episodes, they are enough to disrupt important deep sleep patterns. Memory foam mattresses help users get the deep rejuvenating sleep they need.

Memory foam mattresses used to be prohibitively expensive for all but the very wealthy, but as Americans become more health conscious, rising demand has spurned new companies to enter the memory foam mattress market. Today there are a number of companies producing quality memory foam at a fraction of what it used to cost.

With all of the stress I’ve been under lately, a massage would be nice. Hubby gives great ones, but it’s hard to catch him when he’s not busy and is feeling generous enough to oblige.

In modern times, we have made immeasurable progress in the areas of robotics and mechanics. How closely can we make a machine resemble or function like a human being? In the massage chair industry, they are coming closer than ever. Whether massage chairs will ever fully duplicate the touch of another person remains to be seen. But do any of us really receive all the tender, loving care that we would like on a daily basis? A massage chair from Panasonicmassagechairs.com can bring you relaxation and tranquility every day, as often as you like.

Maybe I can talk Hubby into getting me one someday. Then the only problem will be getting him out of it so I can use it.