Maple Leaf Mommy

Those of you who, like me, are a child of the 80s may understand where I'm coming from with this post.  I get the song Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell stuck in my head all of the time.  Except it's the slightly modified mom-life version....  Seriously, change two words and this song is all about being a Stay-At-Home-Mom with two littles in tow.

I'm just an average man mom with an average life.
I work from past nine to five, hey, hell, I pay the price.
All I want is to be left alone in my average home
But why do I always feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone?

I always feel like somebody's watchin' me
And I have no privacy.
I always feel like somebody's watchin' me.
Tell me, is it just a dream?

When I'm come stuck home at night I bolt the door real tight.
People call me on the phone I'm trying to avoid
Well, can the people on TV see me or am I just paranoid?


When I'm in the shower, I'm afraid to wash my hair
'Cause I might open my eyes and find someone standing there
People say I'm crazy, just a little touched
But maybe showers remind me of Psycho too much
That's why...

I always feel like somebody's watchin' me.
And I have no privacy.
I always feel like somebody's watchin' me.
Who's playin' tricks on me?

I don't know anymore...
Are the neighbors watching me?
Well, is the mailman watching me?
And I don't feel safe anymore, oh what a mess
I wonder who's watching me now?
Who?
The IRS?

I always feel like somebody's watching me
Who's playing tricks on me?
I always feel like somebody's watching me
I can't enjoy my tea!
Who's watching me?

Seriously, does that not sound like the life of a mom?  Always two little pairs of eyes watching, popping up when you least expect it. And the lack of normal adult interaction can leave you feeling a little crazy, and well paranoid.  Or at least that's how I feel by the end of the week...

If I've got you feeling all nostalgic, or perhaps curious as to what the heck I'm talking about,  here's a link to the original music video.

I  received a Baby Gourmet sampler pack for review a few months back.  Since then Baby Gourmet has become a staple around our house.  I have to be careful to keep enough on hand because my girls will actually fight over the last pouch.  This stuff is YUMMY.  It's also 100% organic, with no fillers, or added sugar or salt. If you haven't tried it yet, head out to your nearest Walmart and scour the baby section to find some.

With Mother's Day almost here, Baby Gourmet wants to hook one lucky Maple Leaf Mommy reader up with a gift basket full of luxury feeding and baby products, including plenty of delicious Baby Gourmet food.


Baby Gourmet wants to know -- What is your favourite memory from your first year as a mom? Birth story? First steps? Starting on solids?  Late night feedings and chubby baby kisses?  What's your fondest memory of year one? (If you can remember anything after all that sleep deprivation that is...)

It's a Mother's Day contest. Mom's only. To enter simply comment below with your favourite memory from your first year as a mom. The winning entry will be published on Baby Gourmet's Facebook page and will receive the awesome $100 prize pack pictured above.


GIVEAWAY RULES:
This is a Mother's Day contest. Mom's only. No boys allowed. Sorry fellas. Remember, your comment IS your entry.  Please be sure to include your email in your comment because if I can't get a hold of you then you can't win!

Giveaway ends on Thursday May 5th, at Noon EST.  I will chose my favourite submission from the entries provided. The winning entry will be published on Baby Gourmet's Facebook page. The winner will be  notified by email and will have 12 hours to reply back before a new winner is selected. Open to Canadian and US residents only. Good luck!

When I was given the chance to review a Mini Lalaloopsy Doll, I snapped at it, because, well they look so darn cute!  How could I say no?

The Mini Lalaloopsy Dolls are small all plastic versions of the Lalaloopsy Dolls. The main difference between the Minis and their larger counterparts is that instead of removeable cloth costumes they have plastic molded clothes.  They are hard plastic, with jointed legs that swing and arms that move. Their heads also rotate. Each Mini Lalaloopsy Doll comes with several accessories.  The accessories are small solid plastic pieces.

 I received the mini version of Peanut Big Top.  Both the doll and her accompanying bits are bright, colourful and very cute.  She comes packaged in a cardboard playhouse, along side a flag, a ball, a container of popcorn and a tiny elephant. The cardboard is very thick and sturdy and I could actually see this wee house standing up to a fair amount of play.  There was at least a dozen pieces of clear tape holding the plastic packaging to the cardboard house.  I was concerned about tearing the house while opening the packaging, but whatever tape they use is truly magic.  I was able to safely remove it all without  a scratch. One look at the tiny choking hazard sized accessories, and I knew this one going to be one of the special toys that only comes out when the baby is sleeping.


Now, G-Girl is about 3 months shy of the suggested age of four and up.  I am guessing however that an older child, one that likes to collect and display cute things, would really enjoy this set.  The low price point (suggested retail of $6.99) puts it in the range where a kid could easily pick this up with their allowance, or receive it as a between occasions treat.

I still think the Mini Lalaloopsy Dolls are adorable.  They just weren't a good fit for G-Girl. Another child might really enjoy the set. I've set Peanut aside to give to my friend's daughter who is a little older.  I'll report back once I've got a second opinion. (Second opinion received and posted here if you'd like to take a look.)

EDIT: July 2012, Review of the new Lalaloopsy Littles Dolls.

Disclosure - I received a doll, as described above. As always, my opinions are my own and were not influenced by the company, or by the product received.

Just a reminder... the readership survey closes on May 2nd.  I've only had about 50 responses at this point, so that's pretty good odds at winning a $20 Amazon Gift Card.  I would certainly love to hear from more of you!  I do really appreciate the feedback.


Head HERE to take the survey.

Why the heck am I asking you guys to take a survey? 
Well, I am curious as to what features you enjoy the most and the least.  I want to know if there is enough interest to warrant continuing with the local content.  In short, I want to know what you guys want to see more or less of.

The personal questions (age, gender, etc) are helpful for when potential sponsors ask me about my readership demographics.  Being able to supply these stats may open up new opportunities (aka potentially more giveaways for you folks).

Contest Rules:
If you wish to take part in the draw you will need to include your email address in the final question of the survey. One entry per person.

I will draw a winner on May 2nd. The winner will be selected by random.org and notified by email and will have 72 hours to reply back before a new winner is selected. Open Worldwide. Winner will receive their choice of either an Amazon.ca or Amazon.com gift card. Good luck and thanks for taking part!


Image by valsgalore.

I decided to use our new Flip camera to try and capture Easter this year.  I just spent about an hour playing around with the Snapshot Feature, which allows you to turn video footage into stills.

The photos turned out a little darker and grainier then I would like.  I was surprised how few of the individual frames are actually in focus, when it looks so crisp viewed as a video.  I have to admit it doesn't help that I lost all of our photo editing software in our recent computer reformat.

Overall, I think images shot with the Flip are probably best viewed as taken, as moving vids.  On the other hand, there are some cute mid-egg hunt, mid-bunny hop shots, which I probably would have never managed to snap with our regular digital camera.  Baby-G never stops moving, so taking stills from moving footage is probably the only way I am ever going to capture her on film.








I received a free Flip HD Video Camera as part of a BzzAgent campaign. I wasn't asked to write this article, or compensated in any way.  As always, my opinions are my own.

The winner of the Bumblebee Toys $50 Gift Card is...



The winner has 72 hours to respond to my email, after which I'll redraw. Thanks to Bumblebee Toys for partnering with me for this giveaway! And thanks so much to everyone who entered!

Thinking of selling something on eBay?  Wondering if it's worth your time to try and sell it?  Wondering what price to start the bidding at? The best way to get an idea of how much something may sell for is to look at completed auctions. 

How do you look at completed auctions?  Well first head to eBay.com.  (Canadians, if you are willing to ship outside of Canada look on the .com site not the.ca site when gauging the value of your item.) Type something into that big search box up in the top left, and click on the search button.

Type something in the search box.

This will bring you to a page listing all of the current auctions that fit your search.  To view completed auctions: look on the left hand side, under "Show Only" check off the box for "Completed listings". 

Check off "Completed listings".

At this point, if you are not logged into eBay you will be prompted to do so. If you don't yet have an account on eBay, sign up, it's quick, painless and free.

Now, as soon as you click on "Completed listings" it re-preforms your search on closed auctions and brings you to the page showing all of the completed listings.  Now you can browse through the closed listings and get an idea of what that certain something is selling (or not selling) for.  If there are a bunch of successful closed listings, you can look through the ones with the highest closing bids and try and figure out what made them so successful.  Where they listed in a different category?  Did they have a higher or lower opening bid?  If there are multiple pages worth of closed listings you can simply things by sorting by "Price: Highest First".

Use the Sort drop down box and choose "Price:Highest First".

That's it folks.  Easy stuff.   Keep in mind that searching through completed listings will only show you the last two weeks worth of items.  So while this can give you an idea of what you're item is worth, it's not always accurate.  Pricing on eBay can fluctuate wildly. Sometimes it pays to check several times over the course of a few weeks.  Overall, taking the time to search complete listings should give you a general idea of whether you should pitch something or hold on to it. If you can find several successful auctions selling the same thing, odds are it's worth your time to list yours as well.

Awesome deal alert!  Today's Groupon is for The Body Shop!

Wow!  $20 for $45 worth of Body Shop goodies?  That is just awesome!  I'm heading over to buy two or three vouchers right now, who's with me?

EDIT:
For some unfathomable reason the link insists on redirecting everyone to Ocala, Florida. I can't get the darn link to work right, but the deal is available in Canada. The Canadian version is identical, just that it says "only in Canada" where the US one says "only in the US".

Work around: Once you're on Groupon, click at the top to change your city and change it to Windsor, or another Canadian city and the Canadian version of the deal shows up.

Sorry guys!

We're planning on dying eggs this afternoon after naptime.  I love egg hunts!  So much fun!

Last year G-Girl snuck off and found all but one egg... and then piled them all in her baby stroller.  Not only did we miss all the excitement, it was eggshell mess everywhere!  I'm really hoping this year she will remember to wake us, as opposed to going on a solo hunt.

For those of you who do the entire giant imaginary rabbit thing... hope you and your little ones have a fantastic day tomorrow. 

Image #1: Toelstede

I find myself wondering if there is such a thing as too many bananas. Baby-G is developing a banana obsession.  Every morning she stands at the gate to the kitchen saying "Nan-a, nan-a!" while making the banana peeling finger motion that is the ASL sign for banana. If I produce anything other then a banana for breakfast, she looks at me like I'm a simpleton and mutters "Nana! Nana, nana, nana!" while signing, over and over.

We could have this many bananas in the house, and she'd probably still try and eat them all.

I sit with her and help her eat her banana. She devours it in under two minutes and then starts grabbing for the peel.  She will attack me in an attempt to get at the peel. When I take it away and try and head for the trash, she yells after me for more NANA!  I show her it's empty. I tell her it's Yucky. Garbage. She refuses to get the concept.  Each day we have a banana-peel tug fest.

This morning she scored one banana from me, and then while I was busy taking a shower she convinced her Dad I hadn't feed her and scored a second one.  On our weekly grocery trip last Sunday I bought  enough bananas to outfit a troop of monkeys.  Yet, here it is only Friday and we are out.  The problem with this is Baby-G does not understand, "They are gone. We are out. Yes, we have no bananas."  She just doesn't get it.  All she knows is that she is asking for a banana and obviously I understand her, as I repeat the word back to her, yet I don't produce one. She desperately signs and mutters over and over and melts into a little puddle of baby tears.

I worry that I might be raising a monkey.

What do you guys think? Does your kid have a food they obsess over?  How many bananas is too many?  At what point is it worth fighting over?

Image #1: rinse
Image #2: Keven Law

BMO has a pretty cool deal going on right now. They are offering an Eco Smart Mortgage; a premium mortgage rate for homes that meet BMO’s energy efficiency criteria. The offer is good for new mortgages, or for those looking to refinance. We took the leap and moved our mortgage to a different lender last spring. It is amazing how much of a savings one percent or even half a percent can make when you are talking interest on $100,000 or more. BMO wants to encourage and reward Canadian homeowners who are looking to reduce their energy usage, with a special reduced mortgage rate. It's currently at 3.89% for a five year fixed term. That is insanely low! It is low enough to have me wondering if I want to move my mortgage a second time.

Qualifying for the special rate is relatively simple. You just head over to the BMO website and download their checklist. To qualify the home has to have a minimum of six out of seven of the listed energy efficient features. If you're serious about taking this step, BMO will arrange for a "third party" home appraiser or energy auditor to come out and confirm the home's qualifications. You have to pay for this inspection, but if you are getting a mortgage, or refinancing odds are you are going to be paying for a home appraisal of some sort. Their website suggests that it should cost about $50 more to have the home appraiser also certify your house for their energy checklist.

Ok, so on to the checklist. I'm eager to see if my house, which was built in 1954,  will qualify....


#3.  Good Quality Attic Insulation.

We have added additional insulation to the home since moving in.  For one, we added insulation to the interior basement walls on the unfinished half of our basement.  Again, money well spent as we saw a noticeable savings on our energy bill and also our basement now maintains a more even temperature range. As the attic is already insulated I've never seriously considered that it might require additional insulation. Hmm. It says here that R-49 for fiberglass insulation is between 13.2 and 16.3 inches thick.  I just poked my head in the attic and measured our insulation... Around two to three inches. Wow. That is woefully inadequate.  I think re-insulating the attic just got bumped to the top of my home-improvement to-do list.

#4. All windows in the home must be ENERGY STAR qualified with no crack or air gaps.

The windows around the house are all newer, and in excellent shape (or at least that's what I was assured by the house inspector), but none of them have Energy Star labels (I didn't even know it was possible for windows to have that!)  Also the front of the house has two large bay windows that are older, quite possibly original to the house and as much as I hate to say it probably should be replaced.  I am guessing I would fail this one,  based on the front bay windows if nothing else.

#5. Domestic Hot Water System. ENERGY STAR qualified gas storage or condensing hot water heater.

After poking about with a flash light for a bit I was happy to find that the new hot water tank, which my rental company installed last month, is indeed Energy Star certified. Yeah!  There was no logo, but there was a very small plane, hard to find label which reads "This unit complies with Energy Star regulations as of September 2010".

#6. Doors.  All doors separating heated from unheated spaces (eg. exterior doors leading to an attached garage) must be Energy Star qualified, or metal or fiberglass insulated doors. 

I suspect this doesn't count as an energy efficient door

#7.  At least three major appliances (dishwasher, freezer, refrigerator, and/or washing machine) must be ENERGY STAR qualified.

ENERGY STAR label, check.

How'd we do?
My overall score is only three out of seven. Ouch. My house failed. Wah. To qualify for the program I would need to buy new windows, a new cellar door and/or a new side door, a new refrigerator, and add additional attic insulation.  Again, I say ouch.  Of course these are all improvements that I know I should be looking into anyways, as I'm sure the energy savings over time would be more then worth it.

So guys, how does your house rate? Would you get a passing score? Are you considering making a few home improvements? A $50 RONA gift card might help with that...

---

What do these three women have in common? They're all mums, and they all own and operate their own small businesses. One studied criminology at University, because she was certain she wanted to be a police officer. One moved to Canada from South Africa. Another came here from Denmark, where she worked in a big international company for customers in Latin America.  Do you know which is which?

Have you been reading my Independent Interview series? There are some really fascinating ladies hiding out on the other end of these online retail shops.

Check it out here:

• Lisa from Giving Gifts
• Eva from Little Cool Toys
• Stephanie from Zimbali Boutique

Welcome to Wednesday! It's time for the Follow Me, I'm Canadian Great Canadian Link Exchange, one of my all time favourite blog hops! It's a great way to find more Canadian blogs to follow.

I love that this link exchange does not require you to arbitrarily follow so many people, or those in certain spots on the list. What's the point in forced followship? I only want to attract readers who are actually interested in my site. For the most part I only infrequently take part in blog hops, because they are so spammy. Who wants to go to a blog only to read half a dozen comments from folks saying they follow or begging/demanding they be followed back?

WHO: Open to Canadians
WHAT LINKS: Blogs, Websites, Facebook "Like" Pages, Twitter, Shops, Stores, StumbleUpon and/or MySpace.


RULES:

1. Follow only those that you would like to. Please Do Not leave comments asking for others to follow you back on their blogs, twitter, facebook etc.  Let that be the choice of the individual you followed.

2. Please indicate what the link is associated with. (example: Follow Me, I'm Canadian - Blog, Follow Me, I'm Canadian - Twitter,  etc.) Please do not add any extra comments to these posts. Example: Follows Back, or Giveaway, etc.

3. You may leave the links for all of your sites, and social profiles.

4. Open to Canadians.

5. Please follow these rules, or unfortunately your link(s) will be removed.


INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Add your link to the Linky Tool. Don't forget to tell us what the link is for.

2. Follow those you would like to follow.

3. If you would like to post about the link exchange feel free to grab a button for your post or sidebar. You may also copy and paste this post for your blog and grab the code for the list of links. But please link back, stating what the exchange is for.

4. Have a fantastic time meeting fellow Canadians!

5. The Great Canadian Link Exchange is open to Canadians, living in Canada.  While we love meeting other folks from all over, the exchange was set up for the purpose of finding local Canadian content/people.  There are so many blog hops out there, it is nice for Canadians to be able to easily find shopping, blogs, etc. that are local & Canadian.  Please refrain from posting unless you are Canadian, and live in Canada.  All other posts will be deleted.


EDIT: As of 2013 this linky, indeed the entire "Follow Me, I'm Canadian" website, is defunct.

Hey Canadians!  Cold-Fx has an awesome contest on right now.  They are giving away $100 a week from now until July 14th, and then on top of that there is a grand prize of $3000.  To take part all you have to do is check out their Facebook page and take their daily "Proudly Canadian" quiz.

Registration is super quick and easy. You simply allow the quiz app access to your Facebook profile, and then confirm your email address. Then you can answer the daily quiz.  All of this literally takes only seconds. 

The daily quiz is incredibly quick and painless.  For example, the first question is Which one of these sports was invented by a Canadian? Followed by three big buttons with photos of skis, a curling stone or a basketball.  You just click on the correct picture and you're done. Again, super quick and easy. (Free ten points for my readers - You all know that the correct answer is Basketball, right? Yeah, Canada might be know for our cold weather sports, but basketball was invented here in 1891. Hey, those Canadian History Minute TV blurbs actually taught me something.)

You earn 10 points/entries for a right answer, but you still get 1 point/entry for the wrong one. There's a new quiz each day. So you can get a max of 70 entries a week towards the $100 prize, or 910 entries max towards the grand prize of $3000.  All for free, just for answering some fun Canadian trivia questions. There is also a  scoreboard that keeps tabs on your point vs your friends "just for fun", so you can score some Canadian trivia bragging rights.

To recap -- quick, fun quiz, weekly $100 Prizes and a Grand Prize of $3000!  The contest runs for thirteen weeks, so that's 13 chances at $100. Head over to Cold-FX's facebook page and enter today.

Morning tea time at my house goes something like this...

Decide that I must have a cup of tea and start to head for the kitchen.  Children notice I am attempting to leave the room and begin to panic.  Toddler attempts to attach herself to my skirt.  Carefully disengage toddler and make a dash to the kitchen.  Now, why am I in the kitchen?  Oh, right, I wanted a cup of tea.  Well lets fill the kettle and... Wait, where is my tea kettle?  Oh, I remember... G-Girl "borrowed" it yesterday.  Head back to front room and search for tea kettle.  Find kettle and discover that it is covered in mysterious sticky substance.  Decide maybe kettle should run through the dishwasher.  Bring kettle to kitchen.  Open dishwasher to discover it is both full and dirty.  Move to turn on dishwasher.  Hear sound of big one trying to kill the little one.  Go break things up.  Wonder why I am holding a tea kettle. Oh, right, I'm making a cup of tea...

Head back to kitchen. Place kettle on counter to be washed later.  Alright, how about I just make tea in the microwave....  Open cupboard to find teacup.  G-Girl appears at gate to kitchen and wants to know why the cupboard is open? Am I getting a drink?  Could I get her a drink?  Leave kitchen and go help G-Girl find her juice cup. Read three story books. Change a diaper.  Realize I still haven't made tea.  Attempt to head back to kitchen. Stop toddler from pulling off my skirt. Look in cupboard.  Find mug. Turn on tap to get water and... G-Girl is at the gate insisting I refill her juice cup. Fill mug with water and set it down.  Fill juice cup and give it back to G-Girl.  Start to leave the kitchen, but remember I'm trying to make tea. Turn in circles looking for mug. Find it on counter. OK, how long to boil a cup of water in the microwave?  Let's try two minutes. Turn microwave on. Hear strange sound and realize I don't know where the baby is.  Find baby in her sister's room stuck under train table.  Rescue baby. Realize she is due for a nap.  Bring her upstairs, nurse her and lay her down for her nap. Head back down stairs and rescue the cat from G-Girl's loving attention.  Realize I could really use a cup of tea.

Head back to kitchen, where water is now quite cold.  Reset the microwave.  Stand in front of microwave waiting for water to boil. Hear doorbell. Run to answer door. Claim package from Fed Ex guy. Check out package. Head back to kitchen. Hm, water is warm... maybe I need to put it back in the microwave. Let's try three minutes. Wait, I think I hear the baby...  Head upstairs and grab baby. Change diaper. Play on floor with girls. G-Girl asks about lunch. Head back to kitchen. Make peanut butter sandwich.   Remember that I was boiling water for tea. Water is now quite cold.  Microwave it again. Cut up fruit for baby. Remove water from microwave.   Open cupboard to grab teabag. Realize G-Girl is attempting to share her peanut butter with the cat. Rescue cat.  Baby wants more fruit. Cut more fruit. Notice mug of now cold water. Place back in microwave.  Hear microwave beep but get distracted with attempts to keep baby from putting melon in her hair. Girls are finished eating.  Fetch washcloth and wash faces. Bring girls back to front room. Remember I want to drink tea. Head back to kitchen and grab mug from microwave. Water is nowhere near boiling. Decide it's good enough. Open cupboard to get teabag. Grab canister and... G-Girl is yelling for help in the bathroom. Aid in "potty emergency".

Head back to kitchen where now cold mug off water is sitting on counter.  Contemplate placing teabag in hot tap water.  Return mug to microwave for umpteenth time. Stand in front of microwave waiting for water to boil. Decide just standing there is silly. Start to empty dishwasher. Hear strange sound. Find baby has managed to open door to computer room and is under the desk playing with cables. Realize that what I really need is a cup of tea. Head back to kitchen and grab mug from microwave. Grab tea bag and... Phone rings. Make a mad dash to grab phone.  Hang up on automated message telling me I've won a cruise. Help G-Girl get her crayon box open. Wonder why I am holding a tea bag. Oh, right, I'm making a cup of tea...

Attempt to disengage toddler from skirt. Head back to kitchen.Water is nowhere near boiling. Decide it's good enough. Place teabag in water.While waiting for it to steep get distracted by sound of little one trying to kill the big one. Go break things up. Realize it is G-Girl's nap time. Get G-Girl into a "naptime pull-up" and read story to her.  Grab Baby-G and head to front room. Sit down and remember I had a tea steeping. Go to the kitchen and grab what is now a bitter over-steeped ice-cold tea.  Decide I don't care.  Drink it in two gulps, right there standing in front of the microwave.  Find myself thinking it would have tasted much better hot.  Contemplate refilling mug and making more. Hear sound of baby attacking cat in front room....

Total elapsed time to make and drink one cup of tea, six hours and forty-two minutes.

Photo #1:  Patrick George
Photo #2:  Paul Walker

The winner of the Cate & Levi Zoo Cube is...

The winner has 72 hours to respond to my email, after which I'll redraw. Thanks to Giving Gifts for partnering with me for this giveaway! And thanks so much to everyone who entered!

I know I had a few people who were disappointed that they didn't respond to the last awesome Niagara Falls hotel deal quickly enough, so I'm posting this...

$49 for a one night stay at the Lincoln Motor Inn or the Niagara Falls Courtside Inn.  Package includes one night in a standard room (two Queen beds or one Queen bed with sofa sitting area), a $10 gift card for Dave & Buster's, a $10 gift card for East Side Mario's, a $10 gift card for Outback Steakhouse, plus an attractions discount booklet with $120 in savings as well as an attractions shuttle pass for each person to use throughout their stay.

You can buy this deal five times max and you can combine vouchers for an extended stay.  Considering each package includes $30 in gift cards, that means you're only paying $20 for the room!  Also, there is no expiration date, so you can buy this and squirrel it away for future use.

Here's what I'm thinking:  A three night stay would only cost $150. You would end up with $30 to spend at each of the gift card locations.  Then you could plan to eat dinner out at Outback Steakhouse one night, East Side Mario' s the next, and finally Dave & Busters. $30 might even be enough to cover the meal. If not it would still be three cheap meals out. Making this a get away I can almost actually afford to take!  I am seriously tempted by this one.

Technically this is the local deal of the day for London, Ontario, but anyone can take advantage of it. The deal ends around 5am on Sunday April 17th.  Check it out here and let me know if you go!

In their replies to my readership survey I had a couple of people mention that they would like to see more beauty related giveaways.  So I thought I should warn you guys that it is highly unlikely you will ever see such things on my site.  Unless I end up "hiring-out" for an additional reviewer to cover that content, it's just not going to happen.  I wear make-up like once a year.  This isn't a mom-life thing, it's just the way I've always been. I don't like lotions and potions. Most scented products make me feel nauseous. In short, I would not make a good product reviewer for that sort of thing.  So consider this your warning, if that's what you're searching for, you will need to look elsewhere.

I am usually pretty pro-environment, but I have to fess up and tell you... I hate the new trend towards having to pay for plastic bags.  I know plastic bags are bad for the environment.  I understand the well meaning concept behind attempting to encourage people to use reusable bags.  I get it.  My problem is, I can never remember to bring the darn things with me.  Best case scenario, they are strewn about the trunk of the car.  Though it's much more likely that they are at home, hanging near the side door, patiently waiting for me to remember to ever even take them out of the house. For me the 5 or 10 cents they are charging for plastic bags, it's like a stupidity tax on my poor forgetful mommy brain.

Then Giving Gifts sent me an Envirosax Bag to test out, and it is fantastic.   It's small, light and compact.  It folds up and fits neatly in my purse.. But best of all, I'm actually making use of it.  Because it rolls up and fits in my purse, I actually remember to take it with me.  Several times now I have been standing at check-out and have experienced an immense feeling of relief as I realized. "Wait, I actually do have a bag with me!"


The Envirosax Bag rolls up quite compactly, with a little tie that wraps around it and snaps shut.  I'm the sort of person that can't "store-fold"  t-shirts, or get the highway map folded back up properly.  When my Envirosax Bag arrived and I saw how it was beautifully folded up, waiting to be opened, I thought... well it will never look like that again. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I can actually get the bag to roll up and store neatly.  It is really easy.  I had it down pat by my second try.

The Envirosax is a very sturdy, well made bag, which seems like it will last for a long time. The handles are wide and comfy to hold and it even fits up on my shoulder.  It is made of a durable waterproof material.  It opens up to a generous 19 inches by 17 inches, and holds plenty of stuff. The equivalent of two plastic grocery shopping bags worth.

My low-tech capacity test - How many toys fit in an Envirosax bag? It can hold over two armfuls worth of toys, with room for more. a.k.a. it's definitely big enough for shopping with!

Overall I would definitely recommend the Envirosax Bag. Unlike the large pile of reusable bags cluttering up  my side door, the Enrivosax Bag is actually seeing active duty and is saving me from paying the plastic bag stupidity tax for never remembering to bring my own.

Much cool then lugging around something with a grocery store logo on it.

You can pick up your own Envirosax Bag from Giving Gifts for only $9.  It is available in a variety of classy patterns and cute designs. (I am totally coveting that 50s style rocket ship bag!) They also come packaged in sets of five. You can purchase a set of five Envirosax Bags complete with a matching zippered pouch to store them in, for only $40.

Plus, remember Giving Gifts has generously offered a 10% discount to Maple Leaf Mommy readers. Just enter the code "MapleLeaf" at checkout, for 10% off everything in store.  The 10% off offer expires Monday April 18th, so be sure to head over and take advantage of it now.

And finally, don't forget to enter my giveaway that Giving Gifts is currently sponsoring.  You can win a Cate & Levi Zoo Cube -- a cute, one-of-a-kind, reclaimed wool creation for your little ones to play with. The giveaway ends on Saturday April 16th, so hurry up and get those entries in. Check it out and enter to win RIGHT HERE.

I want threaded comments!  You know, the style of comments where you can hit reply and it shows the reply directly below the comment in question. Yeah, I want those.  I have held out wishing and hopping the blog faeries over at Blogger/Blogspot would set this as a priority update, but since it doesn't seem to be happening I think I need to take action.

I have found a couple of tutorials on how to edit my HTML template to add threaded comments.  I've made several other "hacks" to the standard Blogger template already (see my lovely numbered comments?), so I'm relatively confident I could figure this one out eventually.

I'm tempted by the other option, which is to install a comment widget; either Intense Debate or Disqus.  (If there is another serious options out there tell me, because I'm missing it.)

My concern with installing either widget is that it will bog down my blog and increase page load times.  Another negative is the fact that comments in either widget do not show up for search engine indexing. However, my biggest worry is that I will somehow lose comments. I like to screw around and change my template, often manually.  If I later modify my template will I lose my widget based comments?

As far as I can tell from reading around online, you can import Blogger comments into either system. You can also export comments from both systems, but apparently it's difficult or maybe even impossible to import them back into Blogger.

Does anyone have any experience with using either program with Blogger?  As a commenter, which do you prefer?  Suggestions, opinions? Love to hear from you guys on this one.

My daughter has some strange ideas about fashion.  And I'm not even talking about the weird get-ups she gets into at "dress-up" time....


I'm talking about, "I'm ready to leave the house in this, let's go!" outfits...


This is G-Girl's idea of matching clothes:

I can not convince her that this is not a "matching" outfit. Her rational being that all three pieces of clothing have purple in them somewhere.

What sort of wacky outfits do your kids try to head out of the house in?

 

Next up in my series of interviews with independent retailers is Stephanie from Zimbali Boutique.

Stephanie creates one of a kind floral headbands.  She is more then just a lady with a glue gun. All of her flowers are created from scratch by hand. She makes some truly lovely and unique designs. You can check out her work on Facebook and on Etsy, and you can read more about her right here...


Tell me a bit about yourself. What did you do prior to this?



Where are you from originally? Where were you born?



Tell me a bit about your baby girl. How old is she now?



Where does the name Zimbali come from?



What’s it like working with professional photographers?



What do you prefer, making your own designs out of the blue, or doing custom work?



What’s your work style? Are you creating things while Haven is playing at your feet, or is it strictly a naptime/night-time venture?



I know you just recently opened an Etsy store… What do you think of it so far?



Any other interesting plans for the future?



Good luck with heading back to your "day job" Stephanie.  I hope you are able to find a comfortable balance between it, motherhood and Zimbali Boutique. And I hope you continue to make floral lovelies for a long time to come. That Princess in the Park event sounds like a ton of fun. I wish it was a little closer to home, I would so be there!

Questions for Stephanie? I'm sure she's still lurking around and might be willing to answer. Suggestions for what I should ask next time? What sort of things would you like to learn about the people behind some of these cool independent stores? Anyone in particular you'd like to hear from?

And don't forget the awesome sweepstakes that Zimbali Boutique is holding right now.  The grand prize is a $50 Zimbali Boutique gift card, plus a custom made tutu and a handknit hat.  Enter to win on Stephanie's Facebook page, and then remember to head back here for a bonus entry.

Mom Central Canada hooked us up with a box of Dare Bear Paws Crackers to try out. Bear Paws are part of Dare's "Peanut Free" foods program, which means they are manufactured in a nut/peanut free facility. They are also low in saturated fat, are made with real old cheddar cheese, and contain no artificial flavours.

They're pretty yummy. Cheesy, but not overpoweringly so.  My three year old really enjoyed them.  She asks for them regularly. And also, oddly enough, she started drawing bear paws everywhere.  Yesterday she produced a doodle board covered in little bear paw shapes and informed me it was a message from her tummy.  Seriously.  Prior to this I thought she had a problem with her Goldfish addiction... yet she's never felt the need to create a fish themed artistic homage to snack time.

Ok, to be honest for me it's a toss up between these and those aquatic themed crackers.  I would probably buy whichever of the two was cheaper, or was on sale.  However, if my daughter had her dithers she'd go with Bear Paws.  Along with the Cheddar Cheese flavour, there are also "Original" and Vegetable Bear Paws. I am eager to try the vegetable flavour out, and will probably pick those up next shopping trip. Right now, we're lucky that peanut allergies aren't a concern.  However, once she starts kindergarten "certified peanut free" will be a much bigger deal. Overall, I'd say give 'em a try. My daughter's crazy about them, maybe your kid will be too.

Head HERE to take the survey.

So why the heck am I asking you guys to take a survey? 
Well, I am curious as to what features you enjoy the most and the least.  I want to know if there is enough interest to warrant continuing with the local content.  I want to know if there is any interest in me continuing with the Retro Toybox series. In short, I want to know what you guys want to see more or less of.

The personal questions (age, gender, etc) are helpful for when potential sponsors ask me about my readership demographics.  Being able to supply these stats may open up new opportunities (aka potentially more giveaways for you folks).


Contest Rules:
If you wish to take part in the draw you will need to include your email address in the final question of the survey. One entry per person.

I will draw a winner on May 2nd. The winner will be selected by random.org and notified by email and will have 72 hours to reply back before a new winner is selected. Open Worldwide. Winner will receive their choice of either an Amazon.ca or Amazon.com gift card. Good luck and thanks for taking part!

Image by valsgalore.

This has been one of the longest weeks of my life. Everyone in my household has been sick, and it's been the worst sickness I've had to weather since becoming a mom. I was lucky in that I was hit the least hard out of the bunch. Both of the girls have been just miserable. They had fevers for five days straight. The baby has been so pathetic and clingy, and I feel so badly for her. I thought about it and I realized that from her point of view, being sick isn't something to get through, it's just the way life is now. She doesn't understand what's going on. She just knows she's miserable, and she's mad at me for not making it better. Poor bean.

Not my kid, but a pretty accurate representation of the general misery we've been going through.

For the past week I have spent the majority of my nights sitting up rocking Baby-G, occasionally interspersed by trips downstairs to help the big one blow her nose and get tucked back in. The sleep deprivation is really wearying, particularity when I am also feeling sick to boot.

My only saving grace has been the fact that my husband has been home on vacation. Work was shutdown this week, and rather then be laid off he opted for a weeks vacation.... and then spent the entire week in the sick house. He did get to spend plenty of quality time with his girls, it just happens that most of it was spent wiping snot off of their faces.

I was incredibly lucky to have him to swap off with. I can not imagine how I would have gotten through this week on my own. I keep saying week, but it's been longer then that. The kids are on sickness Day 9 right now. Thankfully everyone is finally on the mend.

How do you other mom's cope? Any tips? My children have probably seen more TV over the past 10 days then the rest of 2011 combined. My biggest problem right now is two energetic kids to contend with, while mom still just feels like taking a nap. How can they have so much energy and still be stuffy and coughing? Ugh.