I should be in bed, but I am collecting paperwork, printing out tickets, and printing business cards. Technically my husband printed them, which is just as well since me + printers = paper jam.

The minivan is packed for the 5 of us to go on a beach trip tomorrow. I have packed two sets of clothes for myself: beach clothes and more formal/dressy clothes for BlogHer. My suitcase is buried under beach chairs, 2 boogie boards, sand toys, and the ever-present and oh-so-necessary cube of Diet Pepsi.

On Wednesday I will head from the beach to BlogHer. I’ll probably breath a sigh of relief that I made it from the beach to the train station to New York Penn to the hotel to the bed. Once in bed I will probably sleep.

I’ll also be sad to leave the family on vacation. This is not supposed to be the week we travel. Our plans went awry. We made the best of it. To the beach we will go.

I packed all my clothes in one very large suitcase. I plan to leave the beach clothes with my family while I take a slightly lighter, yet still large suitcase on the train. I’m bringing my laptop bag and one other suitcase. As long as I can lift everything on and off the train I should be fine.

I have several large recycled fabric shopping bags for any extra items I need to haul home.

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.

I had one very bad burn on my back as an 8-year-old and another serious burn on my back as an adult. Both times it was due to not applying sunscreen. I am a fanatic about sunscreen.

I have used different brands over the years. Here’s my take on sunscreen/sun exposure:

• I never used sunscreen on a baby less than 6 months. I limited sun exposure until the baby was over 6 months of age.
• Coppertone Baby is excellent for babies up to late elementary school age. Comes in the pink bottle. It is a thick liquid.
• For active kids, Banana Boat or Coppertone Active is excellent. It is thick, plus resistant to sweat. I reapply after swimming for a long period.
• When my kids were about 8, I started letting them sunscreen their arms and legs. I would do their backs and chest.
• With my tween and teen, I trust them to apply sunscreen.
• Each of the kids carries a sunscreen in their pool bag in case they go to the pool with a friend.
• The kids wore rashguard shirts on the beach and at the pool until around age 10.
• If you need sunscreen due to fair skin AND you are going to the beach, apply sunscreen before you go on the beach. Applying sunscreen to already sandy legs can result in uneven sunscreen coverage.
• Avoid spray sunscreens! The spray will not cover all areas. I find myself applying twice as much spray to be sure.
• Only use cream sunscreens. I like to see the cream on the children’s skin to know that I have covered each body part.
• We have a house rule that if a child refuses to use sunscreen the child does not go outside. No exceptions.
• The worst time of year for sunburn is April/May and September/October. At these times of the year, the sun can be bright but I don’t think about using sunscreen. Invariably one of the kid ends up with raccoon eyes.

I’ll be keeping this list of tips in mind as I prepare to travel to Ocean City with my family. The beach is a hit with my husband and kids. Not so much me, with my fair skin and ability to burn when near the sun.

Too early to go back to bed. I stayed up to do some decluttering. I have no idea what I decluttered. As I said I was in a fog this a.m. I have a stack of broken down boxes for recycling, but no idea what was in the boxes.

Do you ever have days like that…where you get things done but you are so tired that you can’t think straight?

I had that kind of day yesterday. By 5, I was out of gas. I hadn’t completed the work I set out to do. I hadn’t finished the writing. I decided to have a quick shower and head to my Book Club.

I am so glad I decided to go. Yes, it was time I spent away from household tasks and writing, but it was so worth it to hang out with friends. I needed a boost of friend power after the crazy days of summer. Friends!

And yes we even discussed the book. We read The Help. Good book about an appalling, “how could his type of thing happen in the 1960s?” type of book.

Book club restored me. Today I am ready to tackle my work.

He’s doing laundry. Cooking. Getting it done. And, he’s the designated driver of the carpool to camp, no less!

I am hooked to the computer working. I should be outside in nature…my husband found the above baby deer one morning this summer. It seems as though there are not enough hours in the day right now to get it done. To get everything done. To get anything done. At this point I would settle for crossing a few items of my to do list each day. Many days I sit and move from one project to the next with nothing to show for myself.

Today I tackled a mini crisis that I should have tackled a month ago. I’m just letting everything pile up.

Winners need to be chosen. Packages need to be shipped. Products have to be reviewed. Posts need to be written. And BlogHer!

BlogHer is two weeks from today. Yikes! I need to get my regular work done so that I can go to BlogHer to enjoy the fun and festivities.

Anyone else totally stressed right now??

As a way to feed my family a healthy breakfast, I rely on several staples: bagels and cream cheese, pancakes, and waffles. Waffles are huge hit with everyone in the family. Waffles topped with fruit are a sure bet.

I serve fruit with breakfast, but sometimes one kid won’t eat the fruit or one kids wanted another kind of fruit. Frustrating, but cooking for kids is not easy. I wish I had 3 kids who ate everything on their plates. Alas, no.

We tried a new type of breakfast meal the other day.
Eggo came up with an ingenious and innovative breakfast item, Eggo Real Fruit Pizza. Combining fruit with warm toasted granola and berry flavored cream cheese, Eggo can help streamline your morning with this convenient, tasty breakfast offering.

Our verdict on the Eggo Real Fruit Pizza:

Mom — Loved the fruit on top of the pizza. The berries were actual berries not smushed, unidentifiable objects. Delish.

Dad — Loved the pizza. Is not and never will be a fan of granola. He would prefer the pizza minus the granola topping.

Kid — Loved the whole thing.

Tween — Nibbled around the edges. Ate a bit, but wasn’t in to it…if you know what I mean.

Teen — Didn’t try it.

So, the Musings from Me family would give the Eggo Real Fruit Pizza a thumbs up. We have some reservations about the granola. We loved the sweetness of the fruit, the crustiness of the pizza, and size.

The size worked for us. I heated two pizzas in the oven (pizzas can be microwaved) for an after breakfast snack. We each had about 2 pieces.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Eggo Real Fruit Pizza and received a sample of the product and a $20 Amazon gift certificate to facilitate my review.

Of all the years to pick for a school portrait, 13 is a tough one. I wore no makeup. I wore a school uniform. I wore wire framed glasses. My hair? Not stylish.

Thankfully my parents had the foresight to have a professional portrait done when I was about 15.

The photo session took place at a local studio. I had been to the studio as a young child, but did not remember it well. The photographer sensing my apprehension immediately put me at ease. Throughout the session he gave me advice on how to pose. He took many shots to get the perfect one. The portrait hangs at my parent’s house today.

When children are young, taking photos is relatively easy. Most children will smile naturally when asked to by the photographer. Once the tween/teen years hit, many children become self-conscious about having their photos taken. A good photographer can put your child at ease. Mary Gardella is that photographer…the one who can take the photo that will be the one you treasure.

Mary Gardella is the creative force behind Love Life Images, a portrait studio located in historic Savage Mill, MD. Love Life Images is offering a photo session for the tween or teen in your life – “fun and stylized portrait sessions that will bring out the real you.” Mary will put your tween/teen at ease so that you will have a lasting memory of those tumultuous, challenging, but oh so rewarding years when your tween/teen give glimpses of the adult to come.

Here’s what Mary Gardella will offer you…

• a fun portrait session for tweens and teens
• stylized portrait sessions that are all about your tween or teen
• all sessions will take place august 18 & 20 all day
• your tween/teen will be photographed in and around the historic Savage Mill, MD, where Love Life Images studio is located

The cost for the tween and teen session is $175 per child. Each session will last 45 minute and include one outfit change and 50 rep cards. Rep cards are 2″ x 3.5″ cards with cool information on them. Think of the rep card as the coolest baseball card ever!

For more information on scheduling a tween/teen session, contact info@lovelifeimages.com. For examples of Mary Gardella’s work, visit Love Life Images.

As sleep deprived as I will be for BlogHer, you can bet that I will experience everything about BlogHer that I can. I’ll need to eat a little, drink a lot, and sleep a little to remain charged for BlogHer.

Have I mentioned our family mantra? I should say “mantras.” We have two:

1. Seize the Day

2. Play/Party/Shop/Vacation til You Drop

When I first got married, my husband was on board with Mantra #1 but not so much on Mantra #2. You see Mantra #2 is my family’s mantra.

As a kid I lived in England, America, England, America, England, Italy, and finally America. My parents never knew if we would stay in a country for 6 months, 1 year, or forever, so we Seized the Day AND Vacationed Til We Dropped. In one year we visited Williamsburg, Philadelphia, Florida, Skyline Drive/Luray Caverns, and Washington, D.C.

After a year or two, my husband adopted both mantras as his own. If we are going to do something we go all out. Vacationing in Disney World? You can bet that our family will arrive at the park when it opens and be the last ones to leave. We keep the kids going with frequent refuelling stops…recharging their batteries so to speak. Just like the Energizer Smart Charger.

BlogHer will be no exception.

While at BlogHer — my first BlogHer — I will arrive on Wednesday and leave on Sunday. The conference may officially be two days, but I am going for 5 days including travel days. I’m stretching my budget to accommodate the extra days. In this economic climate it’s a struggle for many people, myself included to go on vacation. While my family spends a few days at the beach, I will be spending my part of the family vacation in New York at BlogHer. We can’t afford two separate vacations this year.

You can bet that I will be like the Energizer Bunny if chosen to be the Energizer Smart ChargHER I will wear my Energizer t-shirt with pride. I’ll hand out the USB drives. I’m a person with a mission when it comes to meeting people. If Energizer charges me to hand out the USB drives, I will hand out and engage each person I meet with reasons to purchase Energizer products. If chosen as the Energizer Smart ChargHER I will accept the charge.

For the last two summers I have made it my mission to photograph EVERY swimmer on my children’s swim team. Do you know how hard it is to find and take each child’s photograph in a season that spans 6 short weeks, where kids are on vacation or at camp, or sick? But, I did it. Last year I photographed 230 kids with their moms and dads. This year I am taking over 200 individual photos of each swimmer. I charged myself with a mission. I completed the mission. I’m an Energizer Smart ChargHER at home and online!!

The $2000 will help me pay for my hotel. I’m sharing a room with the fabulous @MorethanMommy. My train — I’m traveling by train as it is the cheaper option. Flying is too expensive. My conference ticket? I have one, but I wasn’t able to buy it when the tickets were first available. I did not have enough cash in my Paypal account. When I had enough money in Paypal? You guessed it the conference passes were sold out. I bought a pass, but did not get the early bird rate. I’m kicking myself for not buying the pass earlier. Oh well, at least I have a conference pass, right?

This post was written as part of the entry for the Energizer Smart ChargHER contest. I was not give a product for review. The opinions expressed are my own.

But, I am struggling with my weight. I lose some. I gain some, but I never get anywhere near my goal weight. My goal weight is largely unattainable to me. Did I ever weigh my goal weight??

You see I love food. Gastric bypass surgery would not be an option for me. I cannot spend the rest of my life eating a portion the size of an egg for each meal How sad! So, I need to find ways to eat less, eat sensibly, and eat healthy all within the structure of my family and crazy/busy/insane kiddie activity schedule.

Healthy eating on-the-go and exercising suffer when schedules become busier, and sorting through the plethora of products and services on the market proves an overwhelming, time-consuming effort in itself.  A new line of products may help me to achieve my elusive weight-loss goals.

I was sent a sample shipment of innovative products from underWAY and Smart for Life to review. We had a family taste testing over a period of days.

Note: Since my children are growing and a healthy weight, I monitor what dietary products they ingest. I didn’t let the kids try to underWay supplement drink as it is a meal replacer. I want the children to eat the healthy meals that I prepare rather than “drinking their meal.” Since I need to lose weight, I find a meal-replacing drink to be acceptable to me. I did let them try the Smart for Life cookies and cupcakes.

The Musings from Me family thoughts on Smart for Life and underWay products:

• underWay supplement drinks — I am not a huge water drinker. If the water is flavored I will drink more. The underWay drink I tried was Acai Pomegranate. underWay is an appetite suppressing drink that curbs hunger. I drank one for breakfast on a day I was on-the-go. Here’s what I found on the underWay website: underWAY™ Curbs Your Hunger Two Ways: (1) its special formulation not only takes longer to be absorbed by the stomach, but it also slows the absorption of what’s already there–making you feel fuller, longer, and (2) its unique ingredients stimulate your stomach, telling your brain you’ve consumed more calories than you really have – which, with underWAY™, is almost zero!
• Smart for Life cookies and cupcakes were pronounced good by the kids and husband. Not an abundance of flavor, but as far as diet products go the flavors are better than most. I like that the ingredients are all natural, 60% organic products. We liked that the products were packaged in small packs. The size of the package was small enough for me to eat in 2 days or the whole family to eat in one sitting.
• Ready-to-Go Vanilla Shakes and Chicken Soup — we have not tried yet. Update to come!
• Smart Crunch, Cupcakes–Chocolate and Carrot, and Chocolate Chip Cupcakes were a hit with all of us!

I’m not sure if I could adopt the new 7-meals-per-day schedule featuring 6 cookies or products plus a balanced dinner that underWay and Smart for Life advocates. But, I found the drinks, cupcakes, and cookies to be tasty and a useful snack in my harried and rushed day.

The new 7-meals-per-day schedule allows your body to maintain steady blood sugar and glucose levels, and to burn more fat for a longer portion of the day.

For more information, from the Smart for Life and underWAY products, developed by physician Dr. Sasson Moulavi, a board certified bariatric weight loss doctor, go to www.smartforlife.com and www.under-way.com.

Special Discount Offer for Musings from Me Readers:

My readers can get a special 10% discount code for underWAY and Smart for Life products.

Please use MCUS10OFFUW for underWAY products at www.underWAY.com.

Please use MCUS10OFFSFL at www.smartforlife.com.

Codes good through August 30.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of underWAY and Smart for Life and received samples of the products to review.

Although I seem to spend more time reading a screen than I do a book, reading for me is a given. How would I function if I could not read?

In our family, reading happens everywhere…except the bathroom. I am not a book-in-the-bathroom person. Ewww. We have bookcases in every room except the bathroom.

It’s summer so the kids have days when they are voracious readers and days when they are not. My summer reading tips are as follows:

• Buy books. Yes, I know books are expensive, but kids love to reread old classics or new stories. Invest in books.
• Get each child a library card. Make sure you and your husband have library cards. Carry your library card in your purse or wallet.
• Visit the library regularly for storytimes or summer reading programs.
• Join summer reading programs at the library or bookstores.
• Shop consignment stores for books. I picked up 12 of the 13 Lemony Snicket books for about $10. I found The Complete Wreck (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Books 1-13) on amazon for $94.50!
• Shop Goodwill for books.
• Go through your book collection at home. Pull out books that are too young for your child. Move books that are too young to a younger child’s bedroom.
• Buy each child a bookcase or shelf for their bedroom.
• Create screen-free areas in your house. Our living room does not a TV. There is a CD player if kids want to listen to books on CD. Our girls have laptops, but each child has reading time where the screens are turned off.
• Read the newspaper, read a book, read a menu, read the phone book — read anything while your little kids are in the room.
• For long car trips or lengthy visits to the doctor, have kids pack a book or a puzzle book to do while they wait.

Are you a blogger with kids? Check out this fabulous I Can Read contest over at Twittermoms!

I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms blogging program to be eligible to get an “I Can Read!” book. For more information on how you can participate, click here.