Butterviews

Safety Tat recently sent me their product to use and review.  Scroll to the bottom for a discount code especially for my readers!

EQUATION: Safety Tats are temporary tattoos designed to be better able to locate your child – or have your child/adult locate you for that matter.  They come as writable, or custom made.  Safety Tat sent me both.  The custom ones came with my cel phone number pre-printed on them.

I wouldn’t use them as an every day thing, but figured it would be perfect for a family outing.  I held on to them for the right opportunity, and last weekend that opportunity cropped up.  My family and I went to the L.A. County Fair.  Lots of people, big new place – perfect.

PLUS: They went on easy.  They stayed put.  We used the custom pre-printed ones, so I haven’t used the writables.  We didn’t put sunscreen on the tat itself, but I’m sure that the sunscreen from the surrounding area made it’s way onto the tat, but didn’t effect in in the least.  It was clear and readable.  We even used the “Medical Condition” one on my youngest.  He has a medic-alert bracelet, and figured we’d be extra clear since we were using them anyway.  The didn’t make the kids’ skin itchy, which was a concern of mine as my oldest son has very sensitive skin.

MINUS: I actually don’t have a minus.  I usually like to give constructive criticism whether I like the product or not – how else will companies know what the consumer would like improved?  However, in this case…  I got nothin’.

EQUALS: A positive review.  I am definitely keeping the leftovers, and when those are gone buying more.  The truth is – I’m not sure if my kids will panic and forget my phone number.  They don’t use the phone all that much (Yet.  Heh.)  I feel an added sense of security of my phone number being right there for either me or the adult that helps them if they get lost.  Bottom line – this is a product that adds a layer of security in going out with my kids, and is a product that does exactly what it is meant to do.

EXTRA CREDIT: Just for my readers…  A special coupon code!  If you want to receive 15% off your order of $15 or more, use Butterviews10.  Note – it must be typed as seen, and it’s case sensitive.

Money. Money is harsh to me right now. PBN is talking money and kids this week.

I’ve been struggling to get my business up and running. It takes one to two years to become profitable, and yeah – that’s looking to be true. But I keep at it, because my clients like my work, and I know I’m awesome at it. I know it can eventually succeed. But that means no dependable income.

My husband has been out of work for 6 months now. We’re just about out of unemployment, and I’m trying to figure out how to get an extension on it. 6 months. We’ve gone through our savings. The only thing left is the retirement I’ve been saving since I was 18 – but I’ve put that off because the 40% hit I would take just hurts too much.

In otherwords… Right now, we’re dirt poor. I keep the internet running because that’s my potential livelihood, not an “extra want.”

But I have two kids. We’ve now gone through two birthdays on unemployment for them. School supplies needed buying. Shoes needed buying. The school always wants money for a bunch of things (x2 of course.) They need some clothes for cold weather but I can put that off, since it’s still warm here.

I keep having to say NO. It’s hard. It’s not so much that they can’t have all the crap they want, the don’t need most of it anyway. What I’m struggling with is keeping them secure. They’re children. I don’t want to scare them with the very bad predicament we’re currently in. They know, obviously, that Dad doesn’t have a job right now. And I’ve told them that the reason they can’t have is because we don’t have a lot of extra money right now, because Dad doesn’t have a job. And we had to cut their allowance. That was particularly painful, because I didn’t want this to touch them. It’s one thing to say no to a game, that that is a total want, not a need. It’s another to stop giving them their own spending money.

They’re 9 & 7 now, and I’m struggling with how much to tell them. We’ve basically kept it to, “There’s not a lot of money right now, so we have to be really really careful about how we spend our money. We have to decide which thing is most important to buy… Groceries?” The 9 year old gets it. The 7 year old doesn’t. And I hate even being in the position.

This year, for school, I just kept them out of it. I shopped off of their lists, and didn’t give them any options. I did it all online, and they don’t know what their getting. This way, I was able to shop for the cheapest items, while still getting their proper supplies, and without them begging for other stuff. This year, I just didn’t have the heart to say no – and so I took that option off the table. Cowardly? Probably. Not teaching them about money? No. Just giving them a break. They’ve lived with the unemployment for 6 months as well. Capital One has a new program called MoneyWise to teach parents like me about talking to kids about money, budgets, and other financial matters. This sounds like a fabulous service. Although I could have used it 6 months ago. Instead I fumbled my way through myself. Would using the service have helping me? I don’t know, but you don’t have to find out.

I’m a mom, a wife, a daughter, a business owner… I’m busy. So are you. Mornings are, well, difficult I suppose is the word.

Here’s what we do. I get up at 6am to be able to have my coffee and some morning quiet time. I am NOT a morning person. If I don’t have that hour or so before the rest of the house, I get very very grumpy. Then, around 7am I wake the kids up. They know the routine. Into the dining room for breakfast, brush teeth, wash face, feed and water the cats, get dressed, clean up rooms, and make their beds. Then they can do whatever they’d like before going to school. It’s taken a long time to come up with a routine. We’re still working out the kinks.

For example, if the laundry’s not put away – then where are the clothes? Homework didn’t get put away the night before – where’s that? Where’s the lunchbox so it can be packed? Not to mention if, God forbid, one of the kids gets up on the wrong side of the bed.

But the kids always eat breakfast – and that’s where this review and giveaway come into play.

The good folks at BlogHer asked for a review and for me to giveaway money. How could I refuse that?!

So… Per my regular review format, here we go…

EQUATION: I received the new product from Capri-Sun in three varieties to try – well, for my kids to try. They tried the Orange Wake Up and Berry Tangerine Morning.

Capri Sun Sunrise ~ Making Every Day Better
Capri Sun Sunrise is the new, wholesome morning drink for kids chock full of Vitamin C and calcium.

• A good source of calcium
• 100% Daily Value Vitamin C
• The pouch kids love

It comes in three flavors: Orange Wake Up, Tropical Morning, Berry Tangerine Morning

PLUS: Well – aside from all the vitamins and all that good for you stuff… My kids LOVED it. I tried to get descriptions from them other than “good” but all I got out of them is, “It’s very Orangy!” They’re only 6 & 9 so I’ll give them some slack. But I suppose the biggest praise of all was, “Can we please please please have it in snack tomorrow?”

MINUS: We’ve been using the Capri-Sun products for a long time, and I really trust the brand. But, it’s still a packaged juice, as opposed to completely fresh do-it-yourself. But since I’ve never made juice in my life, that’s not a big minus for me. Although I suppose it should be? But it is 100% juice, and they have Green initiative that you can find out more about at their website.

There are actually 8 chances to win… Go see the Blogher Round-Up Page to find out how.

Good Luck!

RULES: Sorry. Have to have them to keep things fair.

To enter, leave me a comment below and share YOUR morning routine tips, as I mentioned above – or you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. The contest will begin on 4/29/09 and will end 7/8/09. Make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct. You can find the Official BlogHer Contest Rules here.

• No duplicate comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by linking on twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
• This giveaway is open to US residents, over the age of 18.
• Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.