Maple Leaf Mommy

I have a confession to make, I don't much like Winter, or snow, or the cold. However, this past weekend Mother Nature tricked my family into a snow filled nature hike. How were we tricked? Well our snow free I can't believe it's Winter weather suddenly changed into a thick blizzard like snowfall just as we were about to start our walk at the nearby Ojibway nature preserve. Rather then disappoint the girls we braved the snow and had an amazing time walking the trails while the snow fell thickly, pretending for a brief moment that Windsor is actually experiencing Winter this year.

A few days ago I was walking G-Girl home from the bus stop and she was complaining to me that no one had sat with her on the bus. "Today no one would sit with me on the way home, and it made me sad. It hurt."  How my heart hurt to hear those words coming from my little four year old girl. I told her it was ok, and I was certain her friends would sit with her again another day. I tried to explain why the little six year old girl that she sometimes sits with might prefer to sit with her grade one friends. I tried to explain how it was just one day, and it was no big deal.

© Denise Kappa | Dreamstime.com

Flash forward two days to her next school day, I am walking G-Girl home from the bus and again she tells me, "No one sat with me on the way home from school Mom. It hurt."  Again, I feel horrible for her. As someone who had a miserable gradeschool existence, my child being bullied or ostracized is right near the top of my worry list. I start to give her some of the same explanations I had the time before. How I'm sure her friends didn't mean to hurt her feelings, and they probably just wanted to sit with someone else today and they would be back tomorrow. I tell her that I understand how it can make her feel sad and hurt her feelings. 

Her reply?  "No, mom. It doesn't hurt my feelings, it hurts my head."  Wha...? "When no one else sits with me I slide around too much and I have trouble staying on the seat and sometimes I fall off head first. But it's ok, because I've been practising.... and when the bus tips on it's side I um.. brace myself ugh, I use my hands to hold on and I stay on the seat. I'm getting better at it."

Oh, goodness me. Think about it, you take a three or four year old kid, who only ever rides buckled into a car-seat and you toss them on the bus, on a nice wide slippery leatherette bench seat. I really shouldn't be surprised when she tells me she sometimes ends up under the bench in front of her.  It kills me to discover that she's been having problems with this since September and only happened to mention it now.

© Brittany G | Flickr.com

Here I've been worried she was feeling lonesome and for her the real concern wasn't having a friend to chat with on the bus, but simply a matter of ballast.  It's a bit laughable. Talk about transposing my own issues onto my kid. I guess it's a good example of why we need to listen carefully to what our wee ones are actually saying.

I hope you found this worth a chuckle, as I did. Have any good stories to share of when you misunderstood what your little one was actually trying to tell you?

On January 31st Walt Disney Studios is releasing TreasureBuddies. My four year old daughter loves the canine Buddies series of movies, and we can't wait to get our paws on a copy

Synopsis:
This sixth film in the Buddies franchise stars everyone’s favourite talking canine superstars as they journey to mysterious Egypt in search of the greatest treasure known to animalkind, the legendary Cat’s Eye jewel, from the lost treasure of Cleocatra! Danger lurks around every corner as Ubasti, a devious cat, schemes to possess the mystical jewel and use its powerful energy to rid the planet of all dogs!


With help from new lovable friends Cammy, a baby camel - and a mischievous monkey named Babi - the gang and their new friends avoid booby traps, solve puzzles and explore a mysterious tomb in their most exciting and challenging adventure yet.

TreasureBuddies tail wagging adventure debuts across North America as an all-new 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD), 1-Disc DVD and Standard Definition and High Definition Digital on January 31, 2012.

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Blurry photos courtesy of my four year old G-Girl and her kiddie camera.

So yeah, I might be sneaking in a little one handed typing while nursing here. Too bad Baby-G is getting too big to get away with this any more. Sigh.

Wonder what has her so captivated? Sesame Street on the second monitor. Yeah, I cheat or else I would never get anything done.

I have had this NOVICA giftcode in my hands for over a week now, and I've been stalling on ordering something because I simply can NOT make up my mind. Each time I think, ok, that's it, I am so going to go order that sugar bowl and get this giveaway posted... I head to the site to place my order and something else catches my eye. And now I can't decide if it's going to be a sugar bowl, or a wooden dragon carving (which is what hubby is rooting for), or a pair of amber earrings, or something else entirely. They have so many absolutely stunning things available on their website. Hundreds of amazing, unique, beautiful , handcrafted items. I have wasted many hours now browsing through their site, and each time I find something I didn't notice before.

'Sweet Acatenango' Wood Sugar Bowl

I need to pick something and place my order, but I am worried I am missing out on that one perfect item, so I waste another 45 minutes flipping through page after page of amazing stuff.  Some of it is simply out of my price range. No matter how lovely that $300 jewellery box is, I'm not going to be buying it any time soon. But a big part of the appeal of the site is that it is just so darn easy to browse.  The new Gift Finder that NOVICA recently rolled out is brilliant stuff. You can browse for items under $100, under $50, under $30, gifts for her, gifts for him, good luck gifts (it is the year of the Dragon after all), anniversary gifts, etc.  Or you can browse the gift section by category; bracelets, earrings, apparel, games, home decor, you name it. As I mentioned there is quite the selection. I love that you can sort everything by price, so I can save time by quickly eleminating the drool-worthy higher end items I know I am not going to be buying.

'Flying Dragon' Wood Relief Panel

Now here's where I end up wandering off and getting lost in the site.  Once you click on an item that catches your eye and you head to the item page, there is a short bio about the artist and a bunch of thumbnail pics showing you some of the other pieces they've made. Oh, shiny. There is also a list of thumbnail images with other "handcrafted treasures you might like". The list is generated based on what you're looking at, and thus tends to be a bunch more interesting looking items. Their search algorithm is spot on, which makes browsing the site fun (and potentially dangerous to my pocket book).

'Cutout' Wood Mask

Another thing that really struck me was the quality of the photos. The thumbnails are enticing. However, when you click on the item there is an option to view "larger picture", and I was really impressed to find that it's not merely a bigger version of the thumbnail picture. (Check out the item details page for these amber wine glasses to see what I'm talking about). There are multiple shots from different angles and close ups of detail work. It comes as close as possible to picking up the items and checking them out in person.  Coupled with the artist bios, which provide a personal connection, it really feels like I am browsing through the biggest coolest artist market ever.

'Amber Sun' Blown Glass Wine Glasses

The one thing I don't like about the site is that the low rate $2.99 and Free Shipping deals are for US only. Other then that I'm hooked. The hand-blown glass stuff blows me away, so does the handcarved wood, and the silver jewellery, not to mention the wrap bracelets and embroidered scarves. So many absolutely gorgeous items available, you have to go take a look for yourself.

'Summer Warmth' Amber Dangle Earrings

Ok, so I finally picked an item. Just for curiosities sake, which would you go for? Any guess as to what I got? I'll let you folks know when it gets here.

Here's a hint, it's shipping from Bali. Which is going to cost me $14.95, for an estimated 2-4 weeks delivery time. Not bad. I could pay more ($21.95) for premium shipping, but I think I'm good with the normal time frame. When you choose "normal" shipping you also prepay the duty and import fees. There is no way to opt out of prepaying.  It's good in that you know right up front what you are going to be paying in total. It's bad in that you are missing out on the chance that it might slip through customs without being tagged for duty. On the other hand, if you're shipping it as a gift being able to prepay that duty is pretty brilliant, as you can rest assured that the gift recipient won't end up owing anything. I should note that this option to prepay duty is based on where the item is shipping from.  I played around with checking out with another item, because I was being so darn indecisive, and prepaying duty wasn't an option for that country.  Oh, and finally, I love that you can check out via PayPal! (Though they do offer regular credit card payments as well, I'm just a big fan of PayPal).

Tempted to shop? Heads up! They have a promo code right now "NOVICANY12" where you can get $10 off (No clue when this expires).

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Kelloggs sent me a giant box full of happy-fun. Well, okay, so it was really full of cereal, and bowls, and a t-shirt.... but I found it pretty exciting, and so did my girls. I opened the box, they saw boxes of cereal and they went crazy begging me to eat some right now  (Yes, even the little one -- she was signing "eat" and "please" while saying, "Cereal, num num!!").

Since we were just getting ready for naptime when the box arrived, I told the girls they could have some for a snack after their naps. Naptime came and went, we got busy with other things and I completely forgot about the big cardboard box full of cereal sitting in my front room.

The next morning I woke, as I do most mornings, to a little four year old face pressed right up against my nose. "Can I have that new cereal now mama?" Hunh, wha? It's 6am. I'm half asleep. Err.. Yeah sure. Eat cereal.

G-Girl helped herself to the new Special K Honey & Oats and ate half a box of it in one sitting. Seriously. The box didn't last twelve hours. I have to admit I didn't expect a "grown-up" cereal like Special K to be such a hit with the kids. My girls were begging for and snacking on bowls of dry Special K on and off through out the day.  If I had let them eat cereal for dinner they probably would have.

Right. I give the girls their cereal dry. The little one is living dairy free. Ok, so technically I could give the four year old milk and cereal in a bowl but that just sounds messy.  Milk in a glass on the side, and dry cereal in a bowl is so much easier. Yes, I'm lazy.

Though I have to say, as much as my girls loved the Special K in the future it is going to be a "Dining Room only cereal". Too darn crumbly. The girls made a time-to-borrow-the-vacuum-cleaner-from-my-mom-again, serious, crazy, mess. There were crumbs and cereal bits all over the couch and ground into the carpet. Fun.

The next day we got into the Frosted Mini Wheats. Yum. A favourite with everyone, hubby, me and the girls. Baby-G decided the bowl full of Mini Wheats I'd given her wasn't nearly enough and helped herself to the box. I found her set up on one of the big reading chairs with a bowl of cereal, the box of Mini Wheats, a sippy of juice and a small PVC doll that she was carefully feeding Mini Wheats to.


Yes, the small PVC Doll is a stray Christmas decoration. She's a Misfit Toy from the classic Rudolph TV show. Yes, we haven't finished putting our Christmas decorations away yet. I mentioned I'm lazy, right?

Anyroad, dry cereal in a bowl is often a snack food of choice around here. My girls have cereal at some point pretty much every day, and it's often not at breakfast time. We go through a ridiculous amount of cereal, helping-keep-Kelloggs-in-business amounts of cereal. What's the story at your place? Which cereal is your family's favourite? Is cereal for breakfast only? Or do you use it for dry snack mix like I do?



Disclosure: I am part of the Kelloggers' Network, and as such receive free Kelloggs products from time to time. As always, the opinions stated are my own and were not influenced by the free items received.

An acquaintance of mine has started a blog. He's a writer who lives out in the boonies raising sheep and chickens. He writes urban fantasy (think Charles de Lint), and horror. His blog is just starting out, but if you want to read about struggling to get stuff published, the writing process, homesteading, mental health, or any number of other interesting topics, check it out -- Creativity from Chaos.

Right, I said mental health. I'll snag a line from his bio: "He is open about his struggles with his mental health having been diagnosed with severe Bi-polar disorder and hopes his honesty will help others."  Currently he has a contest going where you can win a copy of an anthology he's featured in - Mental Wellness: Real Stories from Survivors. Head here to read all the details and enter to win.

Parmalat Canada is introducing a new line of spreadable snack cheese, La Crème Cow. My husband has a real love affair with cheese and with his birthday coming up and a surprise party planned, I was super excited to be receiving La Crème Cow cheese for review.

Along with cheese, crackers, and other goodies, they sent me a brochure full of lovely ideas for party appetizers. So not happening. First, I am lazy. Let's see, I could prepare and transport tasty cheese and cracker bits... or I could just bring the cheese and lay it out in the cute individually packaged foil triangles. Um. No contest here, foil triangles wins hand down. Secondly, my husband and his buddies are not into elegant h'orderves

Though I have to say, if it were my party it would have been all about the La Crème Cow with Smoked Salmon, because that looks ridiculously tasty.

I played around with laying the foil triangles out on a cheese board, but in the end the best serving tray was just the round cardboard sleeves they come in. They open so easily, and cleanly. It was a snap to set the round "wheels" of cheese out with the lids off to the side so people would notice which flavour they were getting into. It was also easy to clean up the leftovers by just popping the lids back on the "wheels" and placing them back in the fridge.


So how's the cheese taste? It is yummy. There are three flavours available; Original, Light and Parmesan and Peppercorn. Personally, I am in love with the Light variety. While I am not cheese crazy like my husband is, I have a real soft spot for soft cheeses like brie and Camembert. However, I am trying to follow a low cholesterol diet so regular cheese is off the menu.  La Creme Cow Light gave me my soft cheese fix. I love a wedge spread on warn rye or multigrain toast. Tasty cheese treat for me. Hooray!

I tried one wedge of each flavour, and I honestly thought the Light was just as tasty at the regular "Original" variety. The Parmesan and Peppercorn is also amazingly delicious, and if calories and cholesterol weren't a concern this would be my new favourite snack. I put all three varieties of La Crème Cow out to share during the surprise party and it was a hit.(Ok, so maybe I only put out a few wedges of the Light variety, and kept the rest for myself).

I should also note, that despite the fact that Parmalat is marketing La Crème Cow as a spreadable snack cheese for adults, my four year old is obsessed with it and has informed me in no uncertain terms that she would like a piece packed in her school lunch every day.

You can check out the new La Crème Cow webpage for several delicious looking serving suggestions. They also have a promotion going where you can enter UPC codes for a chance to win 1 of 10 Breville Toaster Ovens.

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My husband just celebrated his 37th birthday, and I managed to throw him a surprise party. It was surprisingly hard work. This whole lying thing is difficult stuff. One lie lead to another, and things got increasing complex, but I managed to pull it off and it was totally worth it to see the look on his face and hear him say, "But, wait, I'm not turning 40!!"

At one point, my husband was worried because I hadn't made a Facebook event to invite the usual dozen or so people over to our house for his birthday. He proceeded to make his own event and the opening line read, "Seems it's that time of year again. That time when my wife doesn't bother to set up a birthday event for me so I have to make one myself." Ha. Got'cha.

Of course his planning a Facebook event for the day after the surprise party event I was already inviting folks to managed to confuse the heck out of everybody. Pain in the keester keeping everything in line, let me tell you.

His mom and I worked together to plot the whole thing out. We booked the upstairs of a local bar and grill, Rock Bottom. This is the second time I've hosted a party there, as we threw a surprise birthday party for my mom a few years back. As a party venue, this place rocks. We got the entire second floor to ourselves, our own bar, our own pool table, three TVs (one ridiculously large) and our own washrooms. The kicker? They don't charge for the space, it's free. Of course we did order almost $300 in party platters, hoping to feed 25-30 people.


To go along with the party platters we brought tons of carrot cake. I also smuggled in La Crème Cow cheese and some crackers. I was chastised for buying platters of chicken wings, as sticky sauce fingers plus board games do not mix. On the other hand, I was told that the individually packaged La Crème Cow cheeses were the perfect gaming food. Score one for the blogger!


It got a bit titchy at one point, as some folks started heading home early, and others had yet to arrive. I sent my kids home with my parents, and was settling in for a pint and some games. We had planned on an evening of gaming, drinking and playing board and card games until closing time. However when our numbers dwindled down to ten they asked if we'd move to the ground floor and join the rest of the noisy bar. I wasn't impressed, but I could totally understand why they didn't want to waste staff on keeping the second floor open for ten people. We carried the leftover food, gifts and other assorted junk out to the van, and made to pack up and move to the ground floor.... but they relented at the last moment and said if we really wanted to we could stay upstairs. Um, yes please. So one very bored waitress coddled our group right through until 1:30am-ish.  My husband got rather drunk. He was so tipsy he was fairly useless for the card game we were trying to play, but I think a good time was had by all.


We had so much leftover food, we ended up having a dozen people over for gaming and leftovers the following evening. After sleeping all day my husband was almost up for round two (sans booze). So it turned out he had both parties after all. A two day birthday party extravaganza. We were both utterly pooped out come Sunday. I think maybe we're getting too old for this.

Welcome to the January Jingles Paypal $100 Giveaway hosted by The Knit Wit by Shair and Multi-Testing Mommy.

It's a fun little giveaway, meant to put a little jingle back into your post-holiday spending pockets.  Each of the 19 blogs participating has chipped in towards the prize, $100 in cash! Follow any or all of the participating blogs for a shot at having $100 deposited into your PayPal account (Just check out the Rafflecopter form below to enter, and complete as many of the entries as you'd like).

Folks have been asking me what's going on with my medical issues, and I've been putting off replying because I just don't quite know what to say.  The short answer is, I still don't have any answers. I'm still feeling lousy, pretty much on a daily basis. I'm waiting to go for a few more tests, which aren't scheduled until February. In the meantime, I am so incredibly frustrated at still not knowing what is going on.

In regards to the question, is this what diabetes feels like? The answer is, apparently not since I passed my three hour glucose test and the doctor assures me that I do not have diabetes.  After almost blacking out on my parents front room floor the day I had the glucose test, I figured I had failed for sure. Having the doctor tell me I had passed was a bit of a shock. I went into her office certain she was going to tell me I had diabetes, and I was finally going to get referred to a specialist, a dietitian, develop some sort of game plan and kick this thing. Instead I had a half hour chat with her as she went through my charts and tried to come up with other possible tests, some other possible diagnosis. I walked out of the office and I was so angry, so frustrated. I just wanted to sit down and cry.  I know, ridiculous, right? I should be happy to discover I don't have diabetes. But instead, I feel lost.

So far in the past year I have had two scans of my brain to check for tumours, an MRI and something else, don't remember. Now I am to go for pelvic ultrasounds, more blood work, another round of urine tests, and a second cardiogram.

My doctor said she thinks I may have postprandial hypoglycemia, which is where your blood sugar sometimes dives after a meal. She suggested that I eat frequent small healthy balanced meals, limit my carb consumption, only have whole grains, and continue to follow the low cholesterol diet. So pretty much just do what I'm already doing. Which obviously isn't working, because I still feel lousy half the time. She gave me a script to get a blood glucose metre and a blood pressure metre, and told me to make logs of everything and come back after I've had all the tests done.

This was a few weeks back, and since then I've been monitoring, logging, and not figuring out a darn thing. I'm not seeing any patterns. Sometimes my blood sugar is too high, but it's never too low (nix that whole postprandial hypoglycemia theory). Sometimes my blood pressure is low, but it's nothing consistent. When I feel lousy, I check everything and often my readings are fine. (Definition of me feeling lousy, any and/or all of the following: brain won't focus, eyes won't focus, tongue feels like it's coated in wax, feet feel like balloons, one or sometimes both hands go numb and/or tingly, pains in my chest, nausea, headaches, eyes seriously won't focus to the point I can't read text, feel dizzy, feel like I'm going to black out.)

I have been trying to eat healthy. Whole grain everything. Low sodium. Lots of fresh fruit and veggies. Rice. Steamed fish. Chicken. Using ground chicken or turkey instead of ground beef to make spaghetti and stuffed peppers. Drinking only water, black tea or coffee. I am finding it difficult to remain motivated to follow the diet, as it seems like I still end up feeling like garbage half of the time, regardless of what I eat. I have to remind myself that the whole lowering my cholesterol and not dropping dead from a heart attack thing is important. Also you'd think I'd lose some weight, following the low cholesterol guidelines the Doc gave me, but instead I've gained a few more pounds in the past few weeks. To which I say, What the heck?!

The entire diet thing is difficult because she gave me some sheets on what not to eat for a low cholesterol diet, but other then that really no direction. I feel like I don't know what the heck I should eat. I've been trying to avoid sugar, because despite the whole passing the glucose test thing, I still think my blood sugar is out of whack. I've never been big on sweets so this is no big loss for me.

Though I have to admit, just because I know I shouldn't eat it the chocolate still lurking around my house from Christmas is killing me. Then this Betty Crocker prize pack I won from their Twitter party back in December showed up a few days ago, full of mixes to make brownies, cakes, and cookies (and a shiny new cookbook, and some other non-edible goodies). Ever since I unpacked that box, I want to sit down and eat a can of chocolate icing with a spoon.  I find myself obsessing over it, simply because I know I can't. It's ridiculous. I've never been a desert crazy kind of gal, and now I find myself on the verge of a nervous break down over a box of cake mixes. I find myself thinking I should just eat whatever the heck and then monitor THAT for a day. That should net me some results, right? Worth tracking, right? I need to eat chocolate icing. For science. 

G-Girl is still having issues with her ears and hearing problems, I have an appointment to bring her in tomorrow morning to discuss that with the doctor so I asked the receptionist to add me to the docket as well. I know I'm not going to walk out of there with any answers tomorrow, but I'm hoping the doctor can give me some better ideas of exactly what I should be monitoring and when. She gave me very little directive for the logs, so I'm just making it up as I go. Writing down tons some days, not much others. Maybe she can make something of it, when I see nothing. I don't know, like I said, I am at a loss.

A couple of my friends have suggested that this whole thing might be a thyroid issue. I read up a bit on hypothyroidism, and I was floored by how much the symptoms fit. It even lists high cholesterol as a possible symptom. I mentioned it to my mom and it turns out that thyroid problems run in her side of the family. So, now I need to ask the doctor if she's thinks maybe I should have my thyroid checked? I feel really nervous about this. Silly, I know, but I am not comfortable walking in there and making suggestions. However, sitting back and waiting for her to solve things isn't working, so I guess a new approach is in order. Wish me luck.

As a blogger who does product reviews, I usually have a chance to try a product out for a week or two before I write up a review about it.  A few weeks, or a few months down the road I often feel like I have a thing or two I'd like to add to my original review.  Things I really feel like I should share with you guys, like I was wrong don't put that in the washing machine! So here are a few of my review items, revisited:

Indestructibles - my original review
These chew-proof, rip-proof, dishwasher safe books are one of my absolute favourite products of all time. I absolutely LOVE these. They have more then lived up to their name. They Really Are Indestructible. One year later they still look like new, despite my book chewing, paper tearing toddler's best attempts at destruction. Every baby should have a set of these.

Boikido Blocks - my original review
I fell hard for these whimsically painted blocks. They are so darn cute! The kids seemed to like them too. However they are just not living up to my expectations. In my original review I mentioned that after two weeks of use these were holding up lovely. Well, by about four weeks of use they were starting to show signs of wear. Now a year later they are pretty much destroyed. My girls aren't THAT rough on their toys, and these blocks are showing serious paint wear. I've had to retire several pieces. Eva from Little Cool Toys said she was aware of the problem, that others had complained as well, and she no longer carries Boikido products (other then what's in the clearance section of her site). Bonus points to Little Cool Toys!  I would say these would be great for a window display, knick knacks in a baby's room... that sort of thing. Not for every day play by young kids, as the durability is definitely lacking.

Bibagogo - my original review
These bibs are still seeing tons of use a year later, and they are still in fantastic shape. I will admit I originally thought these were a bit expensive for a bib. However, I now realize I could pay $10 for a plastic washable bib from a chain retailer and replace it in a year or I could dish out $30 for this spoon toting, washcloth including, beauty. I also want to note that I've still been tossing these in both the washer and the dryer, and they still look like new.

Maileg Dolls - my original review (medium mouse), (small mouse with box)

Baby Gourmet - my original review
We love Baby Gourmet. I thought I would mention that the fact that both my girls are now well past the Baby Food stage doesn't stop me from still buying this on a regular basis. And eating it. Yum. I am looking forward to trying out the new "protein" flavours that are debuting in 2012.

Earthlust Water Bottle - my original review
G-Girl started out school in September with this lovely Earthlust Stainless Steel 10oz water bottle. Unfortunately I completely missed the part where the bottle is most definitely NOT dishwasher safe. After owning it for three months her bottle was a paint-peeling mess. We tried a few other bottles for sending to school with her, and none of them were as easy for my daughter to open and shut. After she came home with a soaked backpack a couple of times, I ended up buying her a replacement. Lesson learned. Stick with Earthlust, but wash by hand.

Alegria Shoes - my original review
My Alegria shoes have entirely changed my monogamous shoe relationship. I am now a two-pairs of shoes gal. Heck, I've even been tempted to go out and buy another pair of  Alegrias, and own (gasp) three different pairs of shoes. Alegria Shoes ROCK. They are SO comfy.  Those rocking soles, once you get used to them, are fantastic. I've owned these shoes for a little over four months, and they still look like new, and not because I haven't been wearing them.  I often get complimented on them and have had several discussions with complete strangers about what great shoes they are.

Fluf Organic Cotton Lunch Bag  - my original review
I was rather smitten with our organic cotton lunch sack. That robot pattern? So cute! I found it handy for any number of uses, and received many compliments on it. However, after one additional run through the washing machine it came out looking like this:
Now it doesn't look that bad, but for something that's only been through the washer twice that's a fair bit of wear. Not sure what I did wrong, as I followed the tag instructions - hand wash, or cold water machine wash, lay flat to dry.

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So there you have it folks, eight products that I thought deserved a quick revisit. I hope you found the additional info useful. Based on reader requests, I also have a TASSIMO vs Nescafe Dolce Gusto review in the works. Any thoughts on other products you'd like to see receive follow-up info?

Disclosure: All of these are items I originally received for review. I wasn't requested to write about them a second time and no further compensation was received.

I sent the BISSELL PROHeat 2x Upright Deep Cleaner over to my parent's place (Merry Christmas Mom!), where my sister gave it a trial run.  This is what she had to say about her experiences with the machine:

I was planning on cleaning the carpet in the basement, but then our dog proceeded to poop on the carpet in the living room, step into it, and walk around the room tracking dog doo all over. There were brown stains all over the carpet.  It was... it was just gross. It's best if I stop describing it. Basically what I'm saying is, it was time to clean the living room carpets. We have a smaller shampooer the Bissell Little Green Machine, but this time I needed something for a much bigger area. I love our Little Green machine for quickly cleaning up small spots, but this was a job that needed something bigger. If we didn't already have the Bissell ProHeat 2X in the house, I likely would have rented a carpet cleaner or possibly called someone to come clean the carpets for me, as photos simply cannot convey how disgusting this dog mess was.

The culprit. Cute but messy.

The Bissell ProHeat 2X is SUPER easy to use. Add water, shampoo, turn it on and wait one minute for it to heat up, and you're ready to go. Manoeuvring it around was easy and the carpets came out brilliantly. It was light and just as easy to move around as a vacuum, which is a big plus compared to rental shampooers. Those things are hard to lug around. The results were just as good as the big old rental units. No more stains, and spots that were worn down before look so much better now. I'm really trying to think of how to explain how easy this was. It's idiot proof, easy to move around, and works amazingly well. The photos don't do justice to what a difference cleaning with the Bissell ProHeat 2x made. I wish the photos were better. The pattern of the carpet kind of camouflages the dirt to begin with.

Filling and emptying the Bissell ProHeat 2X was easy, and cleaning out the water tank afterwards was as simple as giving it a quick rinse. The dirty water that came out of that thing was horrific. I know it's a 'high traffic area' that sees a lot of dirt from grandkids and muddy dog paws, but dear God I never expected this filth to come out of our carpets.

Brown muddy filthy water. This was in our carpets? Yuck.

The room looks great! No more stains and needless to say, our family room smells much better.

I am now planning on doing the basement, drum room, my room, and Mom and Dad's room in the next week. It may sound silly, but I actually feel eager to clean the carpets now.

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Don't forget that BISSELL Canada  has launched a brand new Facebook page, and to help celebrate they are holding an awesome contest where the grand prize winner will receive a trip for two to Las Vegas, and a BISSELL PROHeat 2x Upright Deep Cleaner, along with one year's worth of cleaning formula ($5000 value). As well each of the weekly runner ups will win a BISSELL PROHeat 2x Upright Deep Cleaner, along with one year's worth of cleaning formula ($420 value). If you haven't entered yet, now's the time because the contest ENDS TOMORROW.


It's really simple to enter, just share your Dirty Little Secret with BISSELL, by telling them, in 120 characters or less, what you have hiding in your carpet.

Contest details:
Ends January 5th 2012.  
Open to residents of Canada excluding Quebec. Age of majority required. 

Head over to BISSELL Canada on Facebook to share your Dirty Little Secret and enter for a chance to win.

Disclosure: I received a BISSELL PROHeat 2x Upright Deep Cleaner, just like the one you can win in this contest. As always, the opinions stated are my own and were not influenced by the free product received.

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2012! I was going to do the typical round-up of one favourite post per month from my site, and then had the brilliant flash to instead share with you my year in review via my interactions with others... because for me 2011 was definitely all about connecting with peeps online.


In January I fell in love with a recipe from Kat's Confessions. My girlfriend later told me she'd previously been given this recipe under the rather questionable name of The Wife Saver. Either way this simple Ham & Egg bake quickly became a family favourite. (We skip the corn flake topping, and mix it up depending on what's on hand. Yeah I mentioned this before, it's worth repeating. Yum!)

In February Dear Crissy posted a Tutorial on how to add Twitter's @Anywhere to your Word Press blog. I poked around a bit and later wrote a tutorial of my own, on how to use @Anywhere on Blogger. Love the Tweet Box. LOVE IT.

In February I also started co-hosting the Canadian Friendly Giveaway Link-Up with Jennifer from Mom vs the Boys. It was her blog that first inspired me to start blogging, so I was tickled pink to be co-hosting something with her, and even more pleased when I had a chance to meet her in person later in the year (nicest gal ever). 

In March I was sort of fixating on my Grandmother's stuff, when the Chief Blond, over at Still Blond After All these Years suggested I take part in her Declutter 365 Challenge. Now I will be honest and say I did not end up keeping up with this, but I LOVED the concept and I did end up getting rid of a fair amount of stuff. It also lead to me setting up a cardboard "charity box" in the kitchen, and discussing the idea of charity with my little one.

In April I manged to fool a few folks with my post about the new Mommy Workplace Standards act. I was pleased as punch to have folks ask permission to reprint it.

In April I also wrote what was for me a "surprise hit" post on How to Thank a Blogger.  I was quite surprised and happy when it ended up getting reposted and linked to all over the place, and scored me a later guest post over at Oh So Savvy Mom.

In May a couple of friendly readers were able to help me figure out what the heck I was doing wrong with my potato bin. Here's a hint - no onions near the potatoes please.

In June and July I took part in the Great Canadian Blog Bash - hooking up with so many AWESOME Canadian blogs. I simply can not wait for the repeat event for 2012!

In August I was extremely honoured to be chosen as a Mom Central Canada Blogger Grant recipient, for my post on my Grandmother's experiences with Postpartum Depression. I also made the somewhat frightening switch over from faceless icon, to headshot - which sparked an interesting conversation on my blog and Twitter as to the merits of each.

In September I learned to let go of my little one (just a bit) with support from my readers and help from this post by Multi-Testing Mommy, For all the New Kindergarten Moms.

In September I also had the honour of being invited to take part in the She's Connected Conference. I had the chance to meet so many awesome fellow blogger's, and I even spoke on a panel.

In October I had a truly amazing experience - thanks to my awesome sponsors (Thank you greenmunch and Sammy Gs!) I was able to attend Blissdom Canada. I learned things. I met some wonderful woman. I left feeling truly inspired. My roommate Nancy's recap says it better they I could -- Blissdom 2011: The Experience.

In November I announced what is pretty much the most exciting thing to happen to me since I started blogging - taking the leap to finally get my Driver's License with the help of Young Drivers.  This is something that probably never would have happened if I hadn't had the chance to attend Blissdom Canada and connect with Young Drivers in person.

In December ongoing health complications forced me to ask, "Is this what Diabetes feels like?"  The amazing and helpful response I have had from people both in private and in public has been heartwarming. (And for the record, I still don't know what the heck is going on with my bod).  I ending up reading through several months worth of back posts over at This Is How We Do It, the hey welcome to diabetes blog of photographer Evan Ashenhurst. Evan was even kind enough to spend a good chunk of time in chat with me trying to help me figure out the right questions to ask my family doctor.
  

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I am not making any wishes or resolutions for the New Year, because a year ago I truly couldn't have guessed where I would be now.  I have made so many amazing connections over the past year thanks to my blog. For starters, each comment I receive from you guys really makes my day.  I am looking forward to continuing to connect with my readers and fellow bloggers in 2012.

I was just over a My Secret Home reading her list of her top 25 referral sites for 2011. Which of course sparked my curiosity to see where my own traffic came from over the past year, so I hopped on Google Analytics and composed this list.

1. Google (Search)
2. Facebook
3. Twitter
4. StumbleUpon
5. Feedburner - RSS/email subscriptions
6. ContestCanada.net - giveaway linky
7. saveland.ca - giveaway linky
8. Yahoo (Search)
9. Cuckoo for Coupon Deals - giveaway linky
10. Mom vs the Boys - One of my good blogging pals, and my charming co-host for the weekly Canadian Friendly Giveaway link-up. Have you checked out her site yet? It rocks.
11. Online-Sweepstakes.com - giveaway linky
12. bing (Search)
13. BlogGlue Network - Automagically cross-promote with other bloggers. It's a little odd to explain. Take a look at the site if you're curious. I have ambiguous feelings about this one, so I can't recommend it whole-heartedly. But hey, it did place #13 for referrals, so I guess it's doing the job.
14. ContestGirl.com - giveaway linky
15. Blog Giveaway Directory.com - giveaway linky
16. My Secret Home.com - giveaway linky
17. Canadian Mommy Giveaways - giveaway linky
18. CanContests.com - giveaway linky
19. Tales of a Ranting Ginger - Another of my blogging friends. Recently guest posted at her place, and we cross-promoted on a giveaway. Have you checked out her site yet? Yes, it too rocks.
20. Post Your Giveaway Linkys - a place to search through or list your giveaway link-ups
21. Tight Wad in Utah - giveaway linky
22. BlogGiveaways.blogspot.com - giveaway linky
23. Did You Know Canada? - Another of my blogging friends, and I love her site (100% Canadian goodness) but I can't quite figure out why it ended up on my top referral list. Have you checked out her site yet? It of course also rocks.
24. Simply Stacie.net - giveaway linky
25. Oh So Savvy Mom - giveaway linky

As you can see, many of my top referral sites were giveaway link-ups. I took this information and used it to update the GIANT LINKY LIST to show which sites were in my Top 10 and Top 20 for traffic referrals. If you're looking to promote giveaways take a look at my list. In general anything that says High Traffic next to the link is definitely worth your time.

So, I am of course a curious cat... You other bloggers out there... Where did your traffic come from in 2011? Who were your top referrers? If you post your own list let me know as I'd love to read it.