Your Shape for the Wii Review

I recently was sent a copy of the Your Shape for the Wii to use as part of a 12 week challenge I was chosen for through Collective Bias.  I have been using it now for about 8 weeks (minus 2 weeks in the middle when I was traveling) and I would like to share with you my thoughts on the game.

About the game

“Your Shape, is an interactive fitness product for the Nintendo Wii. Developed in collaboration with fitness experts, Your Shape creates a fitness program personalized to help you meet your fitness goals. Featuring an exclusive camera (the first for Wii!), the game detects your movements so that Jenny McCarthy, your in-game workout buddy and guide, can correct your form as you exercise. We know how hard it is to stick to a fitness routine — that’s why Jenny will be by your side to encourage, motivate, and entertain you as you workout. Fitness has never been this effective or fun!” ~ taken from YourShapeGame.com

click here to read my review of Your Shape

Winner ~ Your Shape for Wii

And the winner chosen by random.org is…….

Angela

Following you on twitter @AngEngland

Congratulations Angela!

Thanks to everyone who participated! Watch for more Your Shape giveaways from the other women doing the challenge with me.

#YourShape for Wii Giveaway

As many of you know I have begun a weight loss journey using the new Your Shape game by Ubisoft, featuring Jenny McCarthy. The webcam technology is a first of its kind and it’s really cool!  You can follow my journey by clicking on the Project Skinny Minne tab at the top of my blog.

As part of the program I have been given a copy of the game for Wii to giveaway to one of my lucky readers! For more information on the game you can go to www.yourshapegame.com

Click here to see how you can win

Motorola Droid from Verizon ~ My Thoughts

Those of you who know me know that I have had iphone envy for quite some time now, but I have Verizon and didn’t want to switch so I was kinda out of luck.

Since I started blogging a little over a year ago, my use of my cell phone has evolved quite a bit.  I have a fancy Palm that has all kinds of bells and whistles that I only used for the calendar so I knew where I had to be when, with 4 kids and a hubby with 2 jobs it was a necessity!  I didn’t have internet access or even text messaging.  Then I went to SXSW and quickly realized I was going to be lost if I didn’t have a quick way to communicate with the mass of people I was going with so in the car on the way to the hotel, I called and signed up for text messaging and learned how to tweet through text messages. Of course everyone I was with had iphones and hence the envy began.

The next big leap for me and my phone was when I went to Blog World Expo in Vegas in October.  Everyone was Whrrling (I love Whrrl!) and I couldn’t do it from my phone It was possible but because I didn’t have internet access it cost me A LOT to do it.  So when I came home from Vegas I called again and added internet access to my plan.  This is when I realized the limitations of my Palm, it was ok for organization and text messaging but there are no apps and the web browsing is lousy.

I started to hear about the Droid from Verizon and got very excited! The weekend they came out we were at a friend’s house and he had just upgraded to one and I was amazed at what it could do.  I even shuddered a little when I touched it lol.  Everything I envied in the iphone plus a slide out keyboard, on a phone I could get through Verizon, I was in heaven!

Thanks to my bloggy buddy OrganizerSandy, I made a contact at Verizon and was given a Motorola Droid to test drive for a few weeks.  I was like a kid on Christmas morning the day I met the rep at Panera to get the phone!  I brought it home and played with it for days before I took a break.  So, here are my thoughts on the Motorola Droid from the perspective of a busy mom of 4 who is very active in social media.

The Droid connects with Google which is awesome if you have gmail.  All of your contacts and appointments from you calendar go right into your phone without having to sync anything! When you change it online it automatically changes on your phone no need to connect up to your computer through a cord or bluetooth.  I am still getting used to the Google Calendar, my Palm synced with my outlook, but so far I am liking it and haven’t had trouble adjusting.

Another cool Google feature is Google Search by Voice.  Looking for pizza where you are? Just click search say PIZZA and Google will find all the pizza places near where you are! Not only can the phone “hear” you but it knows where you are at too! Kinda freaky huh?

Social networking is very easy with the Driod.  You can connect very quickly with Facebook and Twitter and once connected, it is a breeze to stay in touch with all your online friends.  There are several apps available for Twitter, and the best thing to do is try them out and find the one that works best for you.  When I first got the phone I was disappointed to find out that my favorite desktop app Seesmic was not available for the Droid, but within a week, they had built an app and had it in the marketplace for free. I quickly downloaded it and that is what I ended up using.

The apps, oh my the apps! There are so many applications available through the Droid Marketplace you couldn’t possibly get through all of them.  Many of them are free and some you have to pay for, I didn’t pay for any I was able to find all that I was looking for in the free choices.

Here a just a few of my favs

PicSay ~ Take a photo and go from this

to this
Then with a quick click you can share it on Twitter or Facebook!
Jewels ~ A fun time suck game like Bejeweled
List Master ~ Make a list for EVERYTHING and check it off as you go no more lost paper notes, nuff said
Bic Concert Lighter ~ get ready for your next concert without a real flame
Google Sky Map ~ Turn you phone into a window into the sky.  Knows your location, turn toward the sky and it will show you where to find the constellations, planets and other solar objects. Very cool.
Advanced Task Killer ~ Stops all running aps to save your battery life
Photo Puzzle ~ Turn any photo on your phone into a puzzle to pass the time, you choose the difficulty.

And a few of the kids favs

Zebra Paint ~ Has a collection of coloring pages and a color palette touch the color you want then touch the area you want to fill in.
Bubble Wrap Game ~ see how fast you can pop the bubble wrap! Sounds cool too.
Steamy Window ~ breathe on the “window” to fog it up then write on the window with your finger.
Magic 8 Ball ~ a blast from my past! “Tell me Magic 8 Ball will I get to go to the next conference?” Magic 8 ball says “Cannot predict now”
Fortune Cookie ~ Shake your phone to crack open your fortune

I could seriously go on forever, there are so many to choose from that cover any need you may have.

One of the reasons I was so excited about this phone was because of the slide out keyboard it has, I really didn’t like the touch screen pad on other phones like it.  This ended up being my biggest disappointment with the phone.  After using it I got used to the touch keyboard and stopped using the slide out.  The main reason I did this is because the slide out was sort of uncomfortable to type on because it was off center and the keys are flat and run together.  I prefer “bubble” type keys that have distinct separation between them.  The other thing was when you use the slide out the phone does not auto complete or suggest words for you, you have to be using the touch screen in order to have this feature.

You can also use your Droid as an MP3 player, you can download your music from your computer and even make your own personal ringtones from your music.  It comes with a 16 GB microSD card, not enough room for you? You can remove the included memory and put in up to 32 GB.

32 GB might come in handy if you like to take photos like I do and the Droid has an awesome camera.  It’s a 5 MP camera with image stabilization, a 4x zoom and a very bright LED flash, perfect for Whrrling or just taking photos of the kids on the run.  Here is a Whrrl story I created using the Droid, you can see how clear the photos are.

The Droid comes with Google Navigation as part of the package, no need for a GPS when you have this little baby! I went to Columbus while I had this phone and it was great to be able to navigate around a town I didn’t know and not get lost going from my hotel to dinner and back again!  Another great gadget that came in handy while traveling was the docking accessory they also gave me to try out.  Put your phone in this cradle and you can listen to your tunes and set the alarm to get you up the next morning, all while charging your battery.

Speaking of the battery, as with any device that you are using a lot, the battery goes fast.  Depending on how many apps you have running, the battery drains pretty fast.  For normal use I was able to get about 2 days out of the phone, but for a busy day of traveling and attending an event I barely got a day out of it, I ran out of juice at dinner that night.

Overall I loved this phone, it was a sad, sad day when I had to return it so the next person could try it out.  It was fantastic to go on the road to an event and not have to depend on my laptop to say in touch.  I checked my email, took photos, tweeted and sent messages on Facebook all from my phone.  I was also very impressed (as were a few of my friends who use that other phone) at the clarity of the sound when talking on the phone, because after all when you come right down to it, it is a phone right?  And the best part? It comes with “The Network” at no extra charge.

Virgin Mobile ~ Great Plans for Parents of Tweens

Deciding when to give your child a cell phone is a debate with many sides.  I used to think kids really didn’t need cell phones but over the last year or so I have changed my mind a bit.

When my kids are not with me, I want to be able to get in touch with them at any moment for any reason.  Cell phones allow us to do that.  This being said I also don’t think young kids need huge calling plans.  Up until about 6 months ago my two oldest kids ages 10 and 12 shared a cell phone, whoever was going somewhere or was being left at dance or sports practice got the phone to use for emergencies and for contacting myself or my husband.  Gradually the phone was used more and more by my daughter (especially after I added text messaging to the plan when I went to SXSW in March).  We are unable to add anymore lines to our plan at this time, but my son was feeling like he needed to have his own cell phone, in comes Virgin Mobile.

I wasn’t quite ready for him to be a “full time” cell phone user at age 10 but I do want to be able to have an open line of communication between him and us when he is not with us.  With Virgin Mobile there is no contract or minimum usage requirements,  I can add the number of minutes I feel are adequate for how much I want him to use the phone.  They also recently introduced an unlimited plan for $50 a month that allows unlimited usage of all services, so if there is ever a month that we are going to be very active or he may be away at camp I can choose that plan for just one month then change it back after 30 days to a lesser plan or pay as I go.  Perfect flexibility for our unpredictable lifestyle and budget!

Sound like something you could use?  Virgin Mobile no contract phones are available at Walmart at great prices.  The phone we received was then new LG Rumor2.

This phone retails for $129.99 and has all the bells and whistles; a 1.3 megapixel camera, MP3 player, slide out keyboard, bluetooth, and expandable memory.  Depending on the plan you choose you can also have GPS, web browsing and connection to social networks.  Like to personalize your phone? Choose from tons of games, ringtones and graphics to make your phone reflect who you are or what kind of mood you are in that day.  I am really impressed with the phone and how easy it is to use.  I love the keyboard and the photos it takes are not bad for a cell phone.

Needless to say my son is loving his new phone and I love that I have control over how much he is using it.   If you are looking  into getting a cell phone for your tween, I definitely recommend checking out Virgin Mobile.

As part of the campaign to introduce their new unlimited calling plan Virgin Mobile has partnered with e.l.f cosmetics (one of my favorites!) and is having a “Sexiest Mouth In America” contest on Facebook.  The entries are in and you can help determine the winner by going to Facebook and viewing the entries.  The number of views each entry has will help determine the winner of the contest.

~Kim

Disclosure ~ Virgin Mobile sent me a new LG Rumor2 phone with one month paid service as part of this posting campaign.

Celebrate National Brownie Day With Cheryl & Co.

In case you need a reason to have a brownie, today is your day.  December 8th is National Brownie day.

Here are some fun facts I dug up about brownies:

• The first know recipe published for brownies was in the 1897 Sears Roebuck catalog
• It is believed brownies were “invented” by a careless cook who forgot to add baking powder to her homemade chocolate cake.
• Okmulgee, Oklahoma holds the world record for the largest pecan brownie
• A brownie topped with hot fudge and vanilla ice cream is the most popular dessert menu item on American restaurant menus.

click here to see how I like my brownies

Change Your Body in 30 Days Challenge

I have been wearing my Earth Footwear Exer-walks for about 3 weeks now and I am back to tell you what I think.

I LOVE THEM! Not because I got them for free, not because they are asking me to write this post, not because it’s what Earth Footwear wants me to say.  I love them because I can really feel the difference in my body because of the shoes.   The first few times I wore them I felt muscles I never even knew I had.  After the initial shock to my calf muscles and my upper butt muscles, I actually started feeling good.  I found that I more stamina when walking a lot in a day, and my hips didn’t “giggle” as much as usual.

I didn’t weigh myself or do any measurements before I started, I wish I would have to compare, but I do believe there have been changes in my body.  Someone recently said to me “wow, I never noticed what nice legs you have”  lol must be the shoes!   I am seriously planning to make a commitment to my body in the new year, I think I am finally ready, I have put it off for too long (maybe because 40 is coming WAY too fast?).  I plan on making my Earth Footwear a major part of my commitment.  I’m going to wear them while using my WiiFit and I am going to start walking more while wearing them.  We will see what happens, I really believe they will help me tremendously.

I recommend putting Earth Footwear on your list to Santa, there are so many different styles to choose from and if you go to Planet Shoes by December 31st and use code “chrismom”  you will receive 15% off your order.

~Kim

Disclosure ~ I was given my Exer Walk shoes as a prize from an online contest.

Kellogg’s Apple Jacks and Fruit Loops with Added Fiber

In this day of trying to get more good things into my children’s bodies without them knowing, I’m open to whatever comes along.  Granted my children probably shouldn’t be eating sugar cereal at all, but I am not gonna ban sugar from my house.  If they are gonna eat sugar foods, I would much rather them eat cereal than cookies or candy.

Kellogg’s recently came out with a new formula for Fruit Loops and Apple Jacks with added fiber.  Better for you = yucky right?  Wrong, I did a taste test with my kids and they could not tell the difference between the regular Fruit Loops and the Fruit Loops with the added fiber.  Personally I think the ones with the added fiber were a little crunchier but the taste was the same.

So if you are looking for a way to add some more fiber to your diet without giving up the great taste that you love then give these a try.  Kellogg’s has some great information on their nutrition site if you would like to learn more about food and nutrition.

~Kim

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Kellogg’s and received boxes of Froot Loops and Apple Jacks and a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate

Elf Magic Elves ~ Start Your Christmas Tradition Today

One of my favorite things about the holidays is the family traditions.  Some traditions I have carried from my childhood, like opening the Christmas stockings before you wake up mom and dad (gives them a few extra minutes of sleep lol).  Some we have started since I have started my own family like driving around on Christmas Eve looking at the holiday light displays.  No matter when they begin or where they come from family traditions make the holidays something to look forward too.

One tradition we started last year was the special visit from our Elf Magic Elf Ashby .  Here is a little bit about our visit from our elf last year.

The day after Thanksgiving we got an unexpected visitor at the door from the North Pole. “Who is it Mommy?” rang through the house with excitement! We opened the door together and just outside the door was our very own Elf Magic Elf named Ashby.

Click here to read more about our Elf Ashby and see how you can win one of your own

Crafty Mama of 4 Holiday Gift Guide and Giveaway

Tis’ the season and I’m here to share some of my holiday picks with you. All of the products mentioned in this gift guide (unless otherwise noted) have been sent to me throughout the year by companies for review at no charge. The items listed here are items I honestly enjoyed and am recommending and no company “bought” a spot on this list. I have listed a wide variety of items here for you and hope you find something good for someone on your list this year!

Some items also have a giveaway attached with them, click the link where noted under the item to enter into the drawing for that item. You may enter as many individual giveaways as you would like but you only get one entry per giveaway. I am asking if you enter the giveaway to please spread the word about my guide by posting my Gift Guide button on your blog or by emailing several friends if you don’t have a blog. Thanks! Enjoy

Click here to see my Holiday Gift Guide 2009

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