Our sample of OXY Clinical arrived when the teen was doing the daily chore of “go get the mail.” She jogged back up the driveway shaking the box. Woe betide the PR person who sends me a delicate crystal vase…it will surely be broken after my children shake, rattle, and roll the box to determine its contents.

When the teen opened the box, I wondered whether she would be excited that we were doing an OXY Clinical review or offended. She’s a teen. You just never know.

She was excited. Who knew? She grabbed both boxes of OXY Clinical. Raced upstairs to store in the bathroom for use that night.

According to OXY Clinical, acne affects 85% of Americans at some point in their lives, which makes it the most prevalent skin disease in the country. Unlike prescription medications, OXY Clinical is an over-the-counter solution that provides fast and noticeable results.  The OXY Clinical acne treatment offers a powerful and affordable solution to stubborn acne without the need for a costly dermatologist appointment.

The new OXY Clinical’s focus on the “science behind skincare” has led to the creation of their new Clinical System which incorporates patented technologies with prescription-strength ingredients to ensure a quick and discrete solution to acne. OXY Clinical delivers a new level of treatment technology in a system that can be applied on a daily basis by the teen.

Each of the system’s three treatments contains an advanced delivery system technology. The three OXY Clinical systems are:

• OXY Clinical Clearing Treatment penetrates deep into pores killing the bacteria.
• Advanced Face Wash uses AcneShield technology to unclog the pores and fight flare-ups.
• The Hydrating Therapy delivers nutrients to replenish acne-prone skin while fighting blemishes and controlling oil.

OXY Clinical has been clinically shown to eliminate 99% of acne bacteria in 8 hours. It works fast. Teens want a quick solution to a breakouts.

My teen emerged from her room after I steadily knocked on her door for a few minutes. I asked her how she liked OXY Clinical. She nodded and quickly shut the door. And that my friends is life with a teen.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Oxy Clinical and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

An electric toothbrush seemed a good idea. We had experimented with one version for our teen. It worked well. We got another brand for our younger two. The tween is now in braces, too. She loves using the electric toothbrush. But, the electric toothbrush that my youngest used was too heavy for him. The bristles and toothbrush head were too big. What to do, what to do?

Enter Sonicare for kids. Sonicare For Kids comes to the rescue with a new way to make daily tooth brushing more effective…and fun! This innovative power toothbrush, designed for kids ages 4-10, incorporates patented sonic technology and has features such as the KidTimer to extend brushing time each day until kids reach the recommended two minutes. The unique KidPacer plays musical tones to indicate when to begin brushing another quadrant of the mouth, and interchangeable design panels allow your kids to choose a style that’s all their own.

The Sonicare has two sizes of toothbrush heads — age 4+ and age 7+. Just the right size for tinier mouths plus it is always good to start good brushing habits early. We have our kids brush their teeth first thing in the morning, last thing at night, and after lunch for the kids in braces.

Establishing predictable morning and evening routines with your kids can serve as a gateway for teaching healthy habits that last a lifetime. In a recent Mom Central survey of 1,300 parents, 75 percent revealed that they feel stressed about how to keep daily routines fun. The KidPacer is a good idea to keep little ones focused on the task at hand. Oral health seems to be of particular concern as more than half of parents struggle to get their kids to brush for the dentist recommended two minutes.

Follow the simple ABC’s of Sonicare For Kids and in no time your kids will be reminding you when it’s time to brush:
•    A: Advise your kids on the importance of oral health—just as milk makes for strong bones, brushing makes for healthy teeth and gums
•    B: Brush your teeth with your kids and make it fun

•    C: Create special moments with your child after brushing, extending this time into your daily routine

Sonicare for Kids is available nationwide at Target, Walmart, and amazon.com.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Sonicare and received a free Sonicare For Kids toothbrush to facilitate my review.

Here’s what I found out on my tour of the Peapod warehouse. I wrote this part of the post on my phone…#VerizonPalmPrePlus…such a fabulous and time-saving use of technology.

The Facts

• 60 percent of customers shop from their previous Peapod shopping lists
• Purchased items are packed with like items. Produce packed with produce. Deli with deli. No squishing of items. Perishable items are packed in styrofoam coolers with dry ice packs. The coolers and boxes can be left out when your next delivery is scheduled.
• The Peapod by Giant delivery fee is $8.95.
• There is a $1 savings if use direct deposit.
• Over 10,000  items in the Peapod facility. 1,500 items on sale each week. I walked among the stacks, aisles, and chill rooms packed with products on the tour.
• Loyal customers can become VIPea. VIPea have access to specials.
• Delivery…shop whenever you want at peapod.com plus have your item delivered when you want (customers may have to choose a delivery time from a list of already scheduled deliveries).
• My delivery area is not covered. I added my e-mail address to Peapod, so that I will be notified when my zip code is added to the delivery area.
• You can place an order when you want to — don’t have to have a regular delivery date. I don’t do a weekly grocery shop, so this flexibility would work for me.
• There is a fuel surcharge of 38 cents in effect based on price of fuel for each order.
• What is the busiest time on Peapod one blogger on our tour asked? 8-10 p.m.
• Are you social media savvy or want to be? Check out Facebook special offers. Website url: www.Peapod.com. Twitter: Twitter.com/peapoddelivers.

Dietary and Special Needs

• Peapod customers can customize their online lists by dietary needs with the Nutrifilter. Dietary needs include: gluten free, dairy free, egg free, peanut free, and USDA low sodium to name a few.

Savings and Coupons

• Customers can use Giant Bonus cards.
• Customers can search for specials for bigger savings. View specials by dept. This week blueberries and blackberries are on sale 2 for $5.
• Peapod by Giant wants to empower the grocery shopper by showing what is on sale. Most people want to shop smarter and cheaper. Red flag shows what is on sale.
• Peapod customers can use coupons.com. Go to Specials tab–Printable Coupons for a link to Coupons.com.
• Coupons can be clipped at home and given to driver for discounts. Coupons will be credited to customer’s account. Note: Coupons cannot doubled like at Giant store.

Recipes or What’s for Dinner?

• Need an idea for what to make and what to buy for dinner. See recipes. I did notice that the ingredients listed in the recipes don’t link back to the Peapod shopping list.
• We were treated to a great discourse on produce courtesy of Giant’s produce guy: Tony. Tony blogs about all things product. I left with a bag of the most perfect fruit ever. The strawberries were huge.
• If you find an item not listed on Peapod.com, you can request the item via the website or on Facebook.

My takeaway from the blogger tour of Peapod was this: Peapod by Giant eliminates the impulse buys…the must-have because it is on the shelf purchases…the food items spotted by your kids while you shop.

Iphone User? Peapod will alphatest a grocery shopping app. The Beta test will be in June. The iphone app should be ready for customers in August.

Code for My Readers: I have a coupon code to share with you. For first-time Peapod customers, use the code BLOG2010 to save $15 off first order (limit 1 per household). This offer expires June 30, 2010.

Now, I don’t mind if the cashier yells to a male colleague for a price check on Kotex products. But, you had better believe that as a teen I would be cringing at the cash register…or “till” as we said in England…if anyone needed a price check!

As the mom of a tween and a teen, I make sure that my daughters feel comfortable with the whole process. Getting your period is nothing to be ashamed about. It is no big deal…just another step in the road through puberty towards maturity. Tweens and teens need to know that asking questions is a perfectly normal response to a new life change.

Tweens and teens can feel awkward talking about it, but as moms we can help our daughters by answering their questions honestly and directly…no beating around the bush. I have a recollection that my mother handed me a book from a manufacturer of “sanitary napkins” in England…I knew I needed to read it, but had no other instruction.

Knowing that moms and tweens/teens may have difficulty with this maturation process, Kotex launched U, a new line of tampons, pads and liners. The U line by Kotex features a slim, thinner design, making them easier and more comfortable to use. And with bright, bold packaging and colors, girls don’t need to send their Mom to Walmart for them or feel embarrassed the next time the conversation comes up with their friends.
U by Kotex products are now available at Walmart stores around the country.

If your girls are like mine when they get near an itouch or an iphone, they will love the fun Daily Journal iPhone or iTouch application that lets you take pictures, add play lists, and geo-target your location for each entry. Tween and teen girls and their moms can even take a “Test Your Period Know How” quiz! Visit www.walmart.com/ubykotex for product information, itouch/iphone app, and more information.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Kotex and received products necessary to facilitate my candid review. In addition, Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

I’ll tell you what it is. I cannot for the life of me remember to put my youngest in clothes as specified by the school calendar.

Today is Earth Day. AKA Wear Green. AKA Mommy Forgot to Put 1st Grader in Green clothes. The 1st grader is wearing khaki shorts, white socks, and a red, white, and blue stars and stripes polo short. Earth Day not so much, but for July 4th he would in style.

Note: In the photo above my oldest made my youngest a sandwich board sign for our family movie night. He walked around advertising what the snack options were. I had forgotten how cute he was at 3!

Am I the only one who forgets the “Wear Green,” or “Wear a Short with a Number on the Front,” or “Wear a Hat”???

…last month she got braces on her top teeth. We knew she would get them eventually. The teen has been in braces for over two years. We prepared our tween. We talked to her about not eating chewy or hard candy. We stressed that if she ate chewy or hard candy the brackets on her teeth might break off.

Even after all our discussions and chats, I wasn’t sure how she would handle her new found responsibilities. Having braces is a serious business. Kids who are iffy about brushing their teeth before braces might develop cavities if they don’t thoroughly brush their teeth. Her orthodontist wanted her to use an electric toothbrush and floss between her teeth with a flosser and proxy brush.

You can imagine how surprised I was to find that she has completely given up candy. Yes, that’s right our tween candy-a-holic has sworn off candy. She allowed herself a few pieces of chocolate over Easter and her brother’s birthday, but all in all she has not eaten her usual jaw-breaking variety of candy. So yay for the tween! And yay for no visits to the orthodontist to repair missing or broken brackets!

I have a few Indian dishes that I like. On our trip to England this summer, I met up with my friend from primary school at an Indian restaurant in Hammersmith, London. Before ordering I asked my friend what she recommended as a “safe” dish for me…she steered me towards a platter with a variety of Indian dishes…most were mild or medium.

Other nationalities of food are foods that I would try once and never have again. Ethiopian is one such food. I visited the Red Sea in Washington, D.C., many years ago with college friends. One friend loved Ethiopian food. She schooled us on what to and what not to order. I pondered the menu. Thought about one item. Settled on a safe choice. All our meals arrived arranged on a huge circular platter. The waiter did not tell us which entree was which. All looked runny, soupy, and either brown, yellow, or green. The one dish that was recognizable was the one with a hard-boiled egg floating in it. I ate my green soupy entree with heaping quantities of thick, doughy bread. The next day I could hardly move — I felt as though my stomach might explode with the bread I had eaten. I never returned. I stick to Mexican, Italian, and Chinese for my adventurous dining needs.

Chinese food is one of the foods that my children love. Our small town does have a Chinese takeout, but it is not in our family budget to eat out every night. Wanchai Ferry meals are available in the freezer section at Target. We tried Wanchai Ferry Orange Chicken one evening between swim practice and volleyball practice. My family all commented that the Wanchai Ferry meal was delicious.

Last fall I was part of a blogger trip to General Mills’ facility in Minneapolis. While at General Mills, I had the chance to sample a few new products from General Mills. General Mills has created a product for on-the-go families — Wanchai Ferry. I don’t know about you, but when I am on the lookout for a go-to meal for my family, I want a meal that is tasty and nutritious. Wanchai Ferry is just what I need when I need to serve a meal to my hungry family.

Wanchai Ferry frozen entrées are also available in three other delicious varieties including Shrimp Lo Mein, Spicy Garlic Chicken and Sweet & Sour Chicken. Additionally, all of the entrées have no added MSG!

Would you like to try Wanchai Ferry meals? There’s a $1.50 off coupon available at http://www.wanchaiferry.com/. For meal tips to enhance the Wanchai Ferry frozen entrée check out their website at: http://www.wanchaiferry.com/MealTips.aspx.

Would you like to win a Wanchai Ferry “Perfect Night In” prize pack? The prize pack that includes one VIP coupon valid for a free package of any of the Wanchai Ferry frozen entrees, a set of great Asian-inspired rice bowls, chopsticks, bamboo placemats, flavored fortune cookies, and a $25 Target gift card. One comment = one entry. Enter now!

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I was provided with a product, information, prize pack, and giveaway from Wanchai Ferry through MyBlogSpark. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. The giveaway ends April 12 at 11:59 p.m.

What will the rest of the day bring? How was your morning?

• We dated in the Dark Ages…pre-cell phones, pre-every home has an answering machine, pre-internet… I was a senior in college while my husband was a junior when we started dating. We had telephone difficulties. He would call my dorm and either get a no answer signal as I did not have an answering machine or he would get a busy signal if I was on the phone due to not having “Call Waiting.” When I called him I would get the same thing. He lived at home so I had to call him before 9 p.m. It’s amazing that we continued dating.
• Our first home was a small townhouse in suburban Maryland. We received several answering machines as wedding presents. We gave one to each set of parents, so that we could leave messages for them. I’m not sure my in laws ever turned their machine on, though.
• Our first computer was a monolithic, desk hogging machine with a 3.5 inch AND 5.25 inch disk drives, but no CD or DVD drives or USB ports as the technology had not been invented!!! It was considered state of the art. It had an 80 meg memory…can you even imagine how little fit on this machine. No e-mail back then either.
• About a year or two in to our marriage, we discovered AOL and chat rooms. After a few years we migrated to MSN.
• e-mail became a part of our lives in the mid 90s.
• We purchased our first cell phone in 1995…the “only use this phone if you are having a baby” phone.

It’s now 2010…so much has changed with our family’s communication.

This past weekend I took a trip with a group of mommy bloggers and their kids to Orlando (Disclosure: I was provided with a trip to Orlando with my son by the Orlando Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, Disney Studios, Gatorland, Sea World, and Universal Studios.) My husband stayed home (sulking!) with our two daughters (pouting!) while my son (beaming!) and I (glowing!) traveled to Orlando.

While I was on the trip visiting parks, meeting with travel reps, and eating delicious food, I wanted to stay in contact with the home front. While I was being wined and dined, my husband and girls were racing to basketball games at a school charity event, packing a ice cooler for two all-day volleyball tournaments in another county, doing laundry, eating concession stand hot dogs and slurpees, taking a preteen to volleyball practice, and delivering a teen to birthday party. Phew!

I stayed in contact with my homebound family through the #VerizonPalmPrePlus messaging. It is hard to hear a cell phone ring in a cavernous gym because of  the high ceilings, balls pounding off hands, and parents cheering…even if you do choose an obnoxious ringtone.

The beauty of messaging is that the message goes through more consistently than phone calls do. I’m #notatechie so don’t know why messages go through more than calls, but I love sending messages. I sent my husband a message that our almost 7-year-old rode a ‘gator. Included a photo, too. My husband told our 11-year-old what her brother did. She thought her Dad meant that her brother rode on a John Deere Gator. A little communication muddiness, but the message got through. The message I got back was that our teen’s volleyball team won their first match, and were gearing up for their second match.

The Verizon Palm Pre Plus phone allows me as a mostly at-home occasionally traveling mom to keep up with my working husband and three active kids. Four of us have cell phones. I suspect my almost 7-year-old will have one in a couple of years.

I was given a Verizon Palm Pre Plus ph0ne and one months’ service for my review.