Cascade Platinum Pacs Review and Contest

*This is a sponsored post. All words are my own.*

It's totally normal to see me running scalding hot water over my dirty dishes before placing them in my dishwasher. I do the pre-rinse thing because frankly I can't stand to see another crusty, still dirty plate or utensil make its way OUT of the dishwasher after being washed. But once I was given the chance to try out the new Cascade Platinum Pacs I held my breath while I placed dishes i the dishwasher after they sat overnight in the kitchen sink after a messy dinner. I'll tell you, I didn't have high hopes, but I must tell you, I was pleasantly surprised!

Did I mention how pretty the Platinum Pac is? It kinda reminds me of Mardi Gras! It also smells amazing. The lovely lemon scent is divine, it makes piling the dishes in the dishwasher slightly more pleasant just with the smell. All those wonderful colors have a purpose too. Combined they deliver exceptional shine AND help keep the dishwasher sparkling!

GAIL SIMMONS and CASCADE
Gail Simmons, Top Chef judge and editor of Food and Wine magazine has partnered up with Cascade to promote prep to plating with the use of Cascade Platinum.

"The easiest recipes pop with unexpected, gourmet presentations. Drizzle bright sauces on sparkling white plates or layer desserts in crystal-clean glassware. Keep your presentation sparkling with Cascade Platinum, which keeps dishes perfect for anytime entertaining and impromptu guests."

~Gail Simmons

YOU COULD WIN!

Cascade is launching a #MyPlatinum Instagram contest! Enter for a chance to win a KitchenAid^® Kitchen Makeover and a 1-year supply of Cascade^®! Weekly entries have a chance to win a KitchenAid^® Dishwasher and six-month supply of Cascade^®too! It's super easy to enter, so go do it! Just be sure to register AND submit your photo with the #MyPlatinum hashtag in order to qualify!

“I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Cascade. I received a product sample to facilitate my review and compensation as a thank you for participating.”

Bubble Bum Review

*this is a product review. the product was provided to me in exchange for my honest review. all words are my own,*

As my kids have gotten older we have been able to graduate from the infant car seats, to convertible car seats, and now on to booster seats. The booster seats give my 4 and 6 year old a bit more feeling of an older kid, without the straps and bells and whistles of a "baby seat" as they call it. But the debate now ensues, do we go with a backless booster or a high back booster?

Now frankly, I am not totally comfortable with the backless booster seats, for a few reasons. First, most aren't physically attached to the seat, they just sort of jiggle around and slip and slide while the kids try to get into it. Secondly, I feel like they like the head and body protection of a high back booster. And third, if the kid falls asleep in the car, which mine tend to do sometimes, it's just a hot mess of crying/whining and all around being totally uncomfortable for them, and in turn, ME.

Now, I was recently given the opportunity to review the Bubble Bum booster seat.

Now, I know my readers come to my blog for an honest review, and that is what you will get from me now.

Do I love the Bubble Bum? No. I don't. And by reading the paragraph above you can understand why. I am clearly not a fan of backless boosters, and that is exactly what the Bubble Bum is. 

Is it convenient? Heck yeah. Since it is literally blown up with your own mouth, it is the lightest weight booster seat you'll ever find. But I don't like to trust my kids safety to convenience. And it's super narrow, so if you desperately need to fit a third seat in to your back seat, it is possible and the size of the Bubble Bum does help with that.

Is it comfortable for the child? Not my kids, they kinda hate it truthfully. Since it is so light weight it moves around a lot. Not just when they are trying to situate themselves on it upon getting in the car, but even WHEN they are riding on it. There are these red strap holders on the sides that are supposed to keep them from moving around but they do not do a very good job.

So all in all, the Bubble Bum is convenient, and we only use it in my husbands car, for short trips to the store or school drop-off/pick-up. And yes, if i HAD to squeeze a third child into the back seat of my car I would probably wedge this between my two high back booster seats in the middle. I would maybe even consider using it on an airplane if I didn't already have two high-back boosters (that CAN convert to backless boosters if I wanted to). But frankly, if I need a car seat on a plane, I will need a car seat at my destination, so what's the point? 

But yes, it does fit a need, but I wouldn't ever use it as the one and only booster seat for my kids, nor would I recommend it to others.

My rating: 2 stars out of 5 stars

Summer Schedules

We are in the homestretch of the school year now, only 5 days left, and boy is my 6 year old counting. Yet, I'm unsure of why he is so excited. He loves school and the repetition of the school day is good for his soul, even if he doesn't realize it yet (or ever). But I know him, better than he knows himself, so I am getting a head of the game and starting to compile my own "Summer Routine" for him, his little sister, and I. I have found that if we follow a pretty structured day we are more likely to keep the peace and sanity in the house and between the three of us. Sometimes the interactions between Lily and Jonah can get pretty heated, which in turn fries my nerves. Therefore, anything to make our days run smoother are being put into place ASAP.

First of all, research shows that kids lose over 2 months of educational knowledge over the summer. Well, I'm not letting that happen and if that makes me a strict or mean mom, then I will gladly take the title. I have already printed and bound a variety of worksheets, as well as correlating activities, "field trips", reading blocks, and journals to take up certain parts of the day. I have spent the last few weeks creating these summer lesson plans for the kids, and it gives me one more reason to have the utmost respect for teachers who do this on a yearly basis and parents who homeschool.

Now, as far as the scheduling goes, I have to do my best to have a good combination of structure along with spontaneity, because I know what you're thinking, that I'm taking all the fun out of the summertime! But that is simply not true! I don't schedule every little thing, I like to think of it as a "soft structure", more so that "this comes after that" instead of the more militant approach of scheduling potty breaks and such (although I could see certain instances where those may need to be scheduled too). I do plug in times for certain things too, to keep the flow moving. Here is a sample:

Summer Routine

Breakfast

7:30am ~ Get dressed and brush teeth/hair

Make bed/Do Daily Chores

8am ~ schoolwork

(when done with schoolwork) ~ PLAY! (inside/outside)

sight word activity/daily summer bucket list project

12pm ~ lunch

1pm ~ Quiet/Naptime

(after nap/quiet time) ~ Writing Journal

5:30pm ~ Dinner

6:30pm ~ Baths

7:30pm-7:50pm ~ Reading

8pm ~ Bedtime

Realistically, I know this isn't totally going to go off without a hitch, and there will probably be some adjusting, to the schedule AND to our lives, but I feel like if we start this right away, it will become more habit than a nuisance. But once the kids know what to expect I feel like it will be second nature, as well as keep us from falling into a lazy frump.

What about you? Do you run on a schedule over the summer? Or do you go with the flow? Or a combination of both? Tell me how it works for you and your family!

Middle Man Blogger

I don't blog about "blogging" all that much. I stand true to the belief that to each his own when it comes to monetizing blogs and product reviews and that whole thing. But something funny and intriguing occurred today that cleared a bit about where I stand with (this one particular actually) PR companies and Brands.

There was a time, a few years back, before Lily got sick that I was more than a "once-a-month" blogger. I pre-scheduled blog posts and pitched companies I wanted to work with and spent hours upon hours on the computer doing my SAHM "job". Now, so many Moms (and Dad's) are doing this. Making full-blown careers out of blogging and social media, but ever since my hiatus about 2 years ago it just hasn't been the same for me. I used to get pretty amazing offers/opportunities and it was truly a win-win situation for both myself and the Brand. But once my readership plummeted and my posts became extremely scarce I wasn't mad. I was spending my time elsewhere, somewhere more important for me at the time. I hadn't become dependent on my blogging jobs, for me they were nice perks and unexpected paychecks that helped pay an extra bill here or there.

And today, I still get numerous pitches daily and I am slowly but surely trying to move myself back up the ladder to being a more prestigious blogger again, but it will take time, and it is in my hands alone if I do succeed or not. I totally get that.

But I got an email today from a PR company on behalf of a Brand. Shortly after receiving the original email, I got another email from the same person, "recalling" the previous email. And not a minute later, I received an edited version of the original email. The edited version had one paragraph removed, the paragraph was precursored with a short statement telling the PR person sending the email to

"{INSERT IF TOP TIER MOM BLOGGER}....we'd like to send you a gift card in order to try out our product (and this portion is paraphrased in order to not OUT the company and/or Brand)"

Actually, I'm not totally surprised by this. And I know that Brands and PR Companies will offer certain perks to more prestigious bloggers. That's their perogative. Those bloggers work hard at what they do and certainly deserve additional perks that Middle Man Bloggers like myself haven't earned (recently). But seeing it in black-and-white, right in front of my eyes, that obviously my blog and time isn't as valuable to them was a bit of a punch in the gut.

Now here is my thought process on this, just my humble Middle Man opinion, and take it for what it is.

I highly doubt they will get the coverage they are expecting by only offering "top tier bloggers" to try the product. It's the same "top tier bloggers" who will most likely want to be paid actual MONEY (and rightfully so!) to cover/review the product on their site, which this company will most likely not want to do.  For me, I sometimes will cover a product without being paid as long as the product I get to try out is worth it. Because I feel the more products I cover the more I can prove my worth to the "bigger" companies again. I know these PR companies and Brands aren't sitting there waiting to write me a paycheck in order to talk about their stuff on my site. I have to earn it again, and I own that. But I do believe it is a big mistake to only let those "bigger bloggers" to touch/feel/use/experience your products, and only offer us "Littler Guys" a high-resolution versions and a few fancy statistics, in hopes to get both parties to write about the same product.

So here's my answer to this particular PR company. 

Dear PR Company,

I thank you for the statistics and information you provided to me in your email (or EMAIL'S) regarding "Brand X". The information is useful and the product seems like a good fit for my family and my blog.  Essentially, I would love to try out the product and share the experiences with it with my readers. Unfortunately, without actually trying out the product it would be unethical for me to cover it on my blog. Even if I were to disclose that I did not actually TRY the product but just out of the goodness of my heart I wanted to make them aware of it, I would be performing a disservice to my readers as well as myself. Please explain to me what I would get in exchange for sharing this product with my readers? What about the hour+ I would spend compiling a well-written, edited and put together article? I would certainly lose that time in my day, all for the sake of sharing a product with my readers? An hour+ that I could spend with my family, or running an errand, or God-forbid take some time out for myself. When you realize that the "Middle Man"bloggers (or as you refer to us, NOT the Top-Tier Mom Bloggers) time is just as valuable as the next guy and you stop insulting us with your lopsided emails, then feel free to pitch me your clients product. Better yet, share this information with your client and see how they feel. Who knows, they might be in the same boat as you are. But realistically, if you are going to insult me with wanting me to WORK FOR FREE, then keep your emails to yourself. Save them for the "Top-Tier Mom Bloggers" and then let me know how that works out for you in the end. I'm actually looking forward to that email.