Mommy Ramblings

December 14, 2016 · 11:45 am

Explore Unique Worlds From Your iPad

If you are looking for some challenging quests, tricky game and love to explore new worlds, I have just the game for you! Step into a mystical gateway as you enter a place called Halfworld. It is there waiting for you to unravel its myriad of mysteries. You are on a quest after your father, a famous researcher who devoted his life to the exploration of enigmatic portals vanishes. As you embark on a journey to a place where universes collide and intersect, you enter the dimensional crossroads known as Halfworld.

Challenge your intellect, explore breathtaking locations and meet dynamic characters as you teleport yourself in this out-of-this-world adventure to get to the bottom of mysteries that span realms and defy time and space. Can you find your father and decode the enigmas of the Twin Moons? Only time will tell! Are your ready to embark on your quest? If so, you can download the game HERE for FREE.

I don’t play many games but when I am in the waiting room or delayed somewhere, I will. This is the kind of game I like because it lets you use your mind, is challenging. The mini games break it up and add variety.

This initial version already has:

Nearly 700 absorbing quests to tackle
95 collections to assemble
18 stunning scenes to explore
Three thrilling mini-games to play
Unique characters and dozens of powerful tools
Game Center Support

Requirements: compatible with iPad2, iPad3, iPad4, iPad Air, iPad Air2, iPad Pro, iPad mini, iPad mini 2, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 8.0+ firmware

Languages supported: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese

We have added this game to our 2016 Holiday Gift Guide at Mommy Ramblings! I hope you give the game a try and let me know what you think.

The Faster, Easier Way to Scrape Ice and Snow From Your Windows.

We are getting blasted with cold temperatures, snow and ice. It is not pleasant to be outside and yet after every storm comes the task of cleaning the windows on your vehicle. That was why I was so glad to find the Scrape-A-Round, this scraper is made of a softer plastic allowing it to conform to the curvature of your windows. It is comfortable to hold even if you have issues like arthritis or carpal tunnel syndrome.

I can clean my windows faster and get out of the cold quicker. The Scrape-A-Round has 18″ of ice scraping surface that lets me scrape the frost and ice off my windows faster than other scrapers. It also doubles as a funnel when you remove the cap! Watch a video of it in action HERE!

The Scrape-A-Round makes a very useful and practical gift this holiday season. We have added it to our 2016 Holiday Gift Guide at Mommy Ramblings! Learn more HERE.

Mommy Ramblings’ readers get to save! Get FREE Shipping when you check out at the Scrape-A-Round Website and Use code LU8FBEZREU2 at checkout. Hurry and order, this winter is supposed to be brutal!

1 Comment

Filed under Holiday Gift Guide, Home & Garden, Review, Travel, USFG

Tagged as Discount Code, Ice Scraper, Safety, Scrape-A-Round, USFG, Winter, Winter Driving

December 10, 2016 · 6:03 pm

More Gift Ideas For The PJ Masks Fans on Your Holiday Gift List!

I am pretty stressed lately, we are in the middle of several home renovations and one of them is our kitchen. During the holiday season, I love to bake. This year, our kitchen is in the process of being demoed so that is not possible. We are doing the best we can and plan to do a lot of baking once our new kitchen is complete.

Our kids are feeling it too, I try to do things to make it as normal as possible. As temps get colder, playing outside is not always something we can do. As a PJ Masks Official Blogger, I get a sneak peek at the newest products. I was thrilled recently to receive a box full of goodies and want to share them with you. If you are still doing your holiday shopping and have a PJ Masks fan on your list, you might see something they would like.

The PJ Masks Color & Activity Book from Crayola includes hours of creative fun featuring PJ Masks favorites Connor/Catboy, Amaya/Owlette & Greg/Gekko. The Activity book includes over 30 pages of coloring pages and activities. Great for coloring at home, or taking on-the-go. My kids love coloring these pictures and it gives them a great outlet for their creative energy. Available exclusively at Toys “R” Us.

If you are traveling this holiday season, the PJ Mask Lunch Box Tin with Handle Themed Jigsaw Puzzle is perfect for fun on-the-go. This tin has a convenient handle and I love that it stores the 24 piece puzzle. Once completed the puzzle forms an overall dimension of 15 inches x 12.5 inches. From Cardinal Games this set is available at Toys “R” Us.

Memory games are one of my favorite games to play with my kids. PJ Masks characters are the stars of this Wonder Forge PJ Masks Matching Game. This is the classic memory game where you compete with each other to match the most pairs. You can choose to use as many pairs as you want in order to customize the game to your children’s age. There are pictures of Catboy, Owlette, Gekko, Romeo, Luna Girl and more!

Race toward justice with this board book shaped like Catboy’s Cat-Car with wheels that really move! To The Cat-Car, everyone, it’s time for super cat speed! PJ Masks are on their way, into the night to save the day! Kids will love racing around with this interactive board book that includes moveable wheels to really make the Cat-Car go! This is a great book for your child to take wherever they go.

And in more SUPER news, I’m so excited to share that a brand-new PJ Masks app, Super City Run, was just launched on Thursday, December 8! With the new app, kids can run through the maze-style city as their favorite PJ Masks hero trying to catch the villains and collect the items they’ve been stealing – while keeping an eye out for any traps they might have set with their pesky sidekicks. The PJ Masks Super City Run app allows for new game play every time, so the fun is never-ending! Find it on iTunes and Google Play.

So did you see anything you like? Let me know in the comments.

1 Comment

Filed under Books, Mommy Ramblings, PJ Masks, Review, Toys

Tagged as Apps, Books, Christmas, Crayola, Holliday, Memory Game, Official Blogger, PJ Masks, Simon Schulster, Travel Games, Wonder Forge

December 9, 2016 · 12:22 am

Things To Consider When Choosing A Toilet

I cannot tell you how long my husband has been suggesting we get a TOTO toilet. Truth be told, he has gone beyond suggesting and was well into the nagging phase when we began talking about the renovation of our powder room.

I have seen TOTO toilets in many of the upscale resorts we stayed in this summer like the Mirror Lake Inn. Seeing them used like this was another indication they must be superior quality. So I decided to look further into them.

Their website is very easy to navigate and you will find so many styles and designs to browse. They have a special tool called My TOTO that allows you to view, save, compare, and share products for multiple design projects. You can learn about a product’s features and specifications, save it to a folder for future reference, compare its features and price and even share your favorites with friends and family through social media.

The first thing you need to figure out is whether you want a one-piece or two-piece toilet. A two-piece toilet is generally lighter than a one piece toilet since the tank is separate. This can help if you have to carry it up to the second or higher level in your home.

One piece toilets can usually fit in tighter spaces and they are easier to clean than two-piece toilets. They also tend to have less issues than two-piece toilets. One-piece toilets generally have a higher price point than two-piece toilets.

TOTO also has a third choice, wall-hung, which opens up bathroom space but you need to have an in-wall tank system.

Your style will be the next choice you will need to make. For residential use, you can choose from modern, transitional or classic styles. Other choices you will need to make are whether you want an elongated or round bowl shape, flush rate, flushing system and color.

I knew, I wanted was a skirted toilet. If you are not sure what that is, it means that the trapway is covered, is so much easier to clean and has a smoother appearance. I also wanted a classic design, elongated bowl and powerful flushing system.

I was able to find exactly what I wanted in the Eco Guinevere. This is a uniquely sculpted one-piece toilet with a 1.28 GPF and elongated bowl. It also features TOTO’s highly efficient Tornado flushing system, which uses a powerful combination of gravity and centrifugal force and CeFiONtect, an extraordinarily smooth, ion-barrier surface to help the bowl stay cleaner longer. I also chose the brushed nickel trip lever.

Eco Guinevere® One-Piece Toilet

Let me know what you think of our choice and I will be posting something else we picked for our toilet. Something that is pretty special! However, you will just have to wait to hear all about it. Feel free to take some guesses and leave them in the comments.

Special thanks to TOTO for all their help and for providing us with this exceptional toilet for our project. As always all my words and opinions are 100% my own.

10 Comments

Filed under Curb Appeal, Home, Home Improvement

Tagged as Bathroom, Curb Appeal, curbappeal, Fixtures, Guide, home improvement, mommyramblings, Renovations, Toilets, TOTO

December 8, 2016 · 2:16 pm

Fuel Your Child’s Imagination with Magformers! #HolidayGiftGuide #Giveaway

My kids love to build things and they love magnets! That is why we just love the Magformers line of products. My kids have been having fun with them for years! We recently received the 22 Piece Space Wow Set. As soon as they saw it, they were so into it that they would not even look up at the camera.

Build spaceships and rockets with Magformers Space WOW 22Pc Set. Beginner builders can blast into space with the new astronaut character! Add antenna and wheels to create space buggy or search for extra-terrestrial life by building a space station. Great for young minds to learn about constructing cube nets, patterns, shapes and colors!

The original Magformers WOW Set is perfect for beginner builders to create a wide variety of vehicles with the help of 39 activity cards! Lay your MAGFORMERS® on the cards and then pull them from 2D into 3D! Great for young minds to learn about constructing cube nets, patterns, shapes and colors!

Features

2 geometric shapes.
39 activity cards.
Compatible with all MAGFORMERS® shapes and accessories.
Neodymium Rare-Earth Magnets for guaranteed connectivity.
BPA Free HQABS Plastic.

As a parent I really like toys that allow kids to get creative. With this set they can follow one of the cards or build their own creation. I also appreciate how you can add other sets and increase the building options. My kids can spend hours with these sets.

Forget the latest toy fad that will be history come January 1st, get your child something they will play with for years and hand down to their own kids!

Would you like to enter our giveaway for a chance to win one of these sets? If so, just enter below. We love Magformers so much we are adding them to our 2016 Holiday Gift Guide at Mommy Ramblings!

Giveaway:

Magformers is sponsoring a giveaway on Mommy Ramblings! One lucky blog reader will win a Magformers 22 Piece Space Wow Set! Thank you to Magformers for the review product and for sponsoring this fantastic giveaway on Mommy Ramblings!!! Open to US residents.

Magformers 22 Piece Space Wow Set Giveaway on Mommy Ramblings Rules:

Please enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter widget below. Good Luck!!!

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Filed under Creative Activities, Gift, Giveaway, Holiday Gift Guide, Review

Tagged as Building Toys, construction, Creative Toys, giveaway, Holiday Gift Guide, kids, MAGFORMERS, Magnets, Science

· 1:15 pm

Send Joy With These Free Printable Holiday Cards!

When you’ve been around for more than 40 years, Cricket Media has some best-loved annual traditions. And a long-time favorite of Cricket fans has been FREE printable cards for the holidays!

For the 2016 holiday season, Cricket Media has selected 10 of their favorite holiday illustrations and created beautiful cards for you to share and send to loved ones.

To print them out, visit FREE HOLIDAY CARDS and

follow the instructions.

And, by all means, please share them with your friends and family!

It’s not too late to give the gift of reading this holiday season with a subscription to one of Cricket Media’s award-winning parenting magazines. To truly embody the spirit of the season, you may want to explore Cricket’s “Double the Giving” Campaign.

Any gift-giver purchasing an annual print subscription to one of four different Cricket publications will also deliver the gift of reading to a child in an underserved community through two award-winning, charitable partners: Libraries Without Borders and Parent-Child Home Program, both 2016 Library of Congress Literacy Award Winners. Each subscription bundle to BABYBUG (ages 6 mos.-3), LADYBUG (ages 3-6), SPIDER (ages 6-9) or CRICKET (ages 9-14) is priced at $29.95 (regularly $33.95), and is guaranteed to spark a life-long love of reading!

Best wishes for a warm, wonderful holiday season!

1 Comment

Filed under Crafts, Creative Activities, Holiday

Tagged as Cards, Christmas, Free Cards, Free Printables, holidays, Printables

December 7, 2016 · 12:45 pm

Amazon Prime members can now share their Prime Photos benefit with up to 5 friends or family members! Plus an opportunity to win a $500 gift card provided by Amazon.com #PrimePhotos #FamilyVault

Amazon has launched an all-new Prime Photos experience with Family Vault. Now, Prime members can share their benefit of unlimited photo storage with up to five family members or friends at no additional cost. Prime Photos is free for Prime members and makes it easy for family members to safely store and share all their favorite photos.

New Prime Photos features include:

Family and friend access to Prime Photos, at no additional cost: To ensure all the great moments and memories are preserved, regardless of who captured them, Prime members can now share their Prime Photos benefit of unlimited photo storage and 5 GB for videos and other files with up to five family members or friends.
Simple, private sharing through the Family Vault: Family Vault members can add their favorite photos and videos individually with a click or swipe, or set their account to automatically add all their photos and videos to the Family Vault.
Smart search technology: Prime Photos’ new search technology makes finding photos based on people, places, or things a snap. Gone are the days of customers wading through thousands of photos to find a specific image. Looking for pictures from a vacation or wedding? Search for “sunset” or “wedding” and relevant photos will show up. Customers can also browse photos of individual family members and friends in the People view as well as search and filter by location or date.
Photo printing with free delivery for Prime Members: Customers can now order photo books, cards, and prints directly on the web from their Prime Photos account. Offering a variety a ways to preserve memories, Amazon Print products start at just nine cents a print, and ships with free delivery for Prime members.

Additional new features include: Image Search, People view and Places view. And Prime members can now order photo prints, cards, photo books, and calendars directly from their Prime Photos account. Download the new Prime Photos app HERE!

Enter below to win a $500 Gift Card!!! Good Luck!!!

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2 Comments

Filed under Giveaway, Life, Photography

Tagged as #FamilyVault, #PrimePhotos, amazon, Family Vault, Mommy Ramblings, Photo Storage, Prime Photos

December 6, 2016 · 6:41 pm

What Could You Do With A More Powerful Blender? #Giveaway #HolidayGiftGuide

Looking for some help in the kitchen? How about some very powerful help? The Vremi Super Power Blender will be your best friend. It will win you over with its ability to whip up fruity frozen delights or its power to pulverize greens into gazpacho in record time!

The blender has a powerful 1400W motor and includes an oversized 2L pitcher, measuring cup and tamper. See my unboxing video below:

I am in the middle of some major home renovation projects and my kitchen is one of them. In fact my kitchen is about to be dismantled and I don’t have anything in it anymore. I whip up a quick frozen fruit smoothie with this blender and show you a great way to clean it in the video below.

It is a very nice looking blender, sleek stainless steel and very powerful. We think it would make a wonderful and very useful addition to any kitchen. You can find it on our 2016 Holiday Gift Guide. We have a special present for you too, a giveaway!

Giveaway

Vremi is sponsoring a giveaway on Mommy Ramblings! One lucky blog reader will win a Vremi 1400W Stainless Steel Blender. Thank you to Vremi for the review product and for sponsoring this fantastic giveaway on Mommy Ramblings!!! Open to US residents.

Vremi Super Powerful 1400W Blender Giveaway on Mommy Ramblings Rules:

Please enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter widget below. Good Luck!!!

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30 Comments

Filed under Cooking, Gift, Giveaway, Kitchen, Review

Tagged as Appliances, blender, Demo, giveaway, Holiday Gift Guide, Kitchen, review, Video Review, Vremi

· 2:07 pm

New Twist on Classic Christmas Stories-#ISEEME #Giveaway

The Christmas season is upon us and it is speeding by. I feel like time is moving so fast! I look for any opportunity to slow it down for some quality moments with my family when I can get them. I like to incorporate fun family traditions that will help us all get in the holiday spirit even on our most hectic days.

We love the 12 Days of Christmas. We love singing it and we love reading it! When I saw that I See Me! had a version of it that could be personalized for our family, I had to have it!

It is such a beautiful book and has our names, friend’s and pet’s names throughout the book. My youngest kids love finding everyone’s name.

They have a huge selection of all kinds of Christmas Books that can be personalized as well as other books and gifts that are perfect for holiday gift giving. We have added, I See Me! to our 2016 Holiday Gift Guide at Mommy Ramblings.

Check out their website now, they have some great specials going on!

Would you like a chance to win a Personalized Book from I See Me! ? If so, enter the giveaway below.

Giveaway:

I See Me! is sponsoring a giveaway on Mommy Ramblings! One lucky blog reader will win a Personalized I See Me! Book of their choice (subject to availability)! Thank you to I See Me! for the review book and for sponsoring this fantastic giveaway on Mommy Ramblings!!! Open to US residents.

I See Me! Personalized Book Giveaway on Mommy Ramblings Rules:

Please enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter widget below. Good Luck!!!

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8 Comments

Filed under Books, Christmas, Family Fun, Gifts, Giveaway, kids

Tagged as Gifts for Kids, giveaway, Holiday Gift Guide, I See Me, mommyramblings, personalized books, personalized gifts

December 5, 2016 · 10:12 pm

It is the 50th Anniversary of “Charlie the Tramp” #Giveaway

Did you enjoy the Frances books by Russell Hoban that are illustrated by Lillian Hoban? I always did as a child and read them to my little ones. I had never heard of the book Charlie the Tramp written by the same author. I admit, I chuckled when I heard the title and read the excerpt below:

Tramps just tramp around and have a good time.

They carry sticks with little bundles tied to them.

They sleep in a field when the weather is nice, and when it rains they sleep in a barn.

I bet you are chuckling a bit now or at least smiling. It is funny to read that and think that this is a real children’s book that was originally published in 1966. The book is about Charlie, a young beaver. One day when his grandfather comes for a visit and asks Charlie what he wants to be when he grows up, Charlie tells his family that he wants to be a tramp.

The family asks him why he does not want to do the work of a beaver, cutting down trees, rolling trees in the water and building dams. Charlie tells them it is too much work and he would rather be a tramp. So his father lets him try it out. The first day Charlie acts like a tramp returning home to do some little jobs for a meal and sleeping in the field.

On he second night he hears the stream calling to him and before he knows it, he naturally did what beavers do and built a dam that turned that stream into a pond like his father and grandfather make. He worked so hard, he went to sleep and missed breakfast which worried his family. They went to look for him and saw the new pond. When they found out Charlie had built it, they were impressed and happy that Charlie was following in their footsteps.

Mother hurried home to get a big breakfast of flapjacks and maple syrup on the table before the men came home.

Although this 50-year-old story may make us giggle, the message is as true today as it was then. Don’t we know young people who lack the ambition and drive to do more than just the bare minimum needed to survive? I could go on for a long time about this but I will spare you. I think the message is important, take pride in doing things that you have a talent and ability for. Don’t take the easy road but strive to be the best you can be!

Plough editor Sam Hine says, “As a parent of young children I’ve rarely found new books of this quality. So, like many other parents, I find myself returning to the books of my own childhood. Among these Charlie the Tramp was a hands-down favorite. We’re thrilled to acquire the rights to this timeless classic and make it available to a third generation.” You can purchase this book on Amazon.