Monthly Archives: July 2009

Bogus Free Cooking Class

Posted on July 6, 2009 | Leave a comment

The other day, I was in the kitchen unloading my excessively healthy groceries. I went to put the organic sugar on the shelf when I noticed a sticker on the back of the bag; it read:

“FREE COOKING CLASS.”

Well, you can imagine how excited I was. I love free things and I love to cook! So I read the terms and conditions of the offer. It told me that I needed to collect $10 worth of proof of purchase UPC labels from the Hain Celestial company. This company includes: Earth’s Best, Arrowhead Mills, Spectrum, Hain and many more sub-headings.

I might as well hold stock in Earth’s Best at this point, so it was an easy feat. But then, to my dismay, I lost the label advertising the cooking class! So I did what any internet savvy person would do; I googled the class. I found the offer advertised in three seconds, here.

When I went to the site, I immediately realized that I could not cash in on the offer, because I lost the sticker which contained the secret code that enabled me to take the class! I thought to myself:

I can’t just give up! It’s a free cooking class!

So I contacted the Hain Celestial customer service department at 1-800-434-4246. I spoke to a representative and explained the situation to him:

“Hello, I am interested in taking this free cooking class. I’ve collected the relevant amount of UPC labels, but I can’t input the code for the class because I lost the sticker. Is there anything you can do for me?” I pleaded with this man.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have the capability to generate another code for you.”
“But sir,” I continued to plead “I have the product that had the sticker on it. Can’t I just read you the UPC number? Can you find the code that way?”
“Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way. Why don’t you just buy another Hain product? Then you can get another code for the class.”

Well, now I was infuriated. This man was telling me that my hard work of buying loads and loads of healthy food was going to waste! And he was sugesting that I go out and buy another product when I had already fulfilled the terms of their offer!

I demanded to speak with a supervisor.

The supervisor got on the line. I re-explained the sitaution to her. In my opinion, I am still entitled to this free cooking class. I have the appropriate amount of UPC labels, so what if I lost the sticker associated with the products. I have the products themselves. I told her that the other representative sugested that I buy more product to compensate for the loss of a plastic sticker. She was sympathetic, but not much.

“I’m sorry that the representative said that to you. I can send you some coupons for Hain products. But you must understand that there are rules and regulations to any offer. We cannot generate a code for you.”

I told the woman that I have a toddler who could have potentially eaten the sticker, or ripped it up. I don’t know where this blasted sticker was! But did she care? No. She simply asked for my mailing address to send me copious coupons so I could buy more product.

I don’t want coupons. I want my free cooking class which I am entitled to.

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Posted in Contacting Companies, Rants

The Snack Trap

Posted on July 6, 2009 | Leave a comment

When you have kids, you carry a lot of things with you when you travel. As a result, many of these things tend to get lost. One day, after having my son’s playgroup over to my apartment, I found all sorts of remaining items; a yellow baby spoon, a baby sock and this; a plastic container that resembled a tea cup. My good friend Josina and her son Nelson left this curious contraption behind.

I was immediately intrigued and took a closer look.

The container had slits on its cover resembling the way that one might slice an orange.

All of a sudden I had memory flash; I recalled that Nelson was reaching his hand into this cup and eating Cheerios by himself. So I decided that I would place some Cheerios into the contraption and see if my son would do the same. He did!

This was incredibly exciting to me. For months now I have been cleaning the remains of Cheerios and their brethren off of the floor of my apartment. This container cut down the Cheerio debris considerably. My son was able to eat his snack without creating an enormous mess.

The container advertised a website: http://www.snacktrap.com. I decided to take a look and see what this company was all about.

It turns out that the company, Made for Mom, was founded by a mother named Christine Moss. She worked in corporate America and when she had her two girls, she made a choice to stay home with them to raise them. But she missed the business world, so she took the initiative to create her own company of mom-inspired products, one of which is The Snack Trap.

When I found out that The Snack Trap was created by a mom, it made me like it even more. Although I have to return the coveted item to Josina today, when I see her at the library, I will be purchasing some Snap Traps of my own. Thank you Josina for inadvertently introducing me to something wonderful!

For more information about The Snack Trap and Made For Mom, visit here.

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Posted in Uncategorized

My Son, The Bully

Posted on July 5, 2009 | Leave a comment

I went away for the weekend to a place where my son was around many children. We were in the suburbs, and we often found ourselves hanging out in the backyard. Being a city kid, my son has limited access to greenery so we take what we can get.

He quickly became obsessed with a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe; a toddler sized plastic car that had a door he could open and close himself. He would open the door, get into the car, and then close the door and move the steering wheel around for a few seconds. Then he would re-open the door, exit the car and repeat the process several times. He loved it.

He was having a ball; until the rightful owner of the car (an 18 month old boy) attempted to go for a ride. My son became frustrated. He thought the car was his! What was this other child doing trying to drive his car?

My son did not stand for this boy usurping ownership of the car. He promptly crawled up to the 18 month old, grabbed his hair and pulled it as hard as he could. I was horrified. I ran up to my child and exclaimed:

“Hey! What are you doing?! No! Stop that!” I removed him from the scene of the crime and comforted the other boy who, at this point, was screaming his tiny head off.

I felt terrible. Where did my son learn such rude behavior from? Certainly not from me. I had never seen him do something so blatantly mean to another child.

The other boy calmed down and the kids went on playing as usual. I was relieved. Until a three year old girl (the sister of the boy who my son just got finished torturing) approached the Cozy Coupe. The girl got into the car and began driving. My son was visibly displeased. He opened the door to the coupe, and pushed the little girl to the side using the force of his 22 lb body.

What was happening? My son was so fixated on this car that he was unwilling to let any other children use it, and it wasn’t even his toy to begin with!

I could not believe my son’s behavior. As much as I tried to intervene, he was behaving like a bully toward these children and I felt powerless to stop him.

I began to wonder if this is his true personality coming out. Images flashed through my mind of my boy five years from now on the playground, smacking a child in the face and running away and feeling no remorse in the process.

Is this who my son will become? I am going to observe him closely to see if this behavior resurfaces in other envrionments. If it does, I must find a way to stop it!

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Posted in Anecdotes, Child Development

Sigg Water Bottles For Kids!

Posted on July 3, 2009 | 1 Comment

Let me begin by saying that I intentionally seek out products that I feel would be of interest and would benefit my readers. Many times, a product that I write about is one that I already use, myself. Sometimes, friends or other mothers recommend products to me.

As a mom, I am conscious of health concerns for my son. Recently I have been made aware (through my environmentally conscious friend, Mint and multiple news sources) of the dangers of plastic bottles. Drinking bottled water poses certain health risks. When you drink a plastic bottle of water you are ingesting a percentage of plastic.

There have been many concerns specifically associated with plastic children’s products as well. When you look at the packaging on sippy cups, many of them read “BPA free.” BPA is a harmful chemical that leaches into plastic, and has been found in baby bottles and some sippy cups.

Sigg, a Swiss based company, has created a durable metal water bottle that does not leach harmful chemicals into your water. In fact, you can put just about any beverage into a Sigg bottle and drink it; then you can rinse it out, refill your bottle with a different beverage and there will be no aftertaste from the previous beverage.

The Sigg company itself has been around since 1908 when Ferdinand Sigg first established his factory. Sigg was a metal processing specialist and began by making metal cookware. Eventually by the mid 1990′s the Signature Sigg metal water bottle was developed.

I love my Sigg water bottle. I bought it when my son was only two months old. At this time I was thirsty all the time. It was the middle of the summer and I was nursing. Those two factors combined made me crave water constantly. My Sigg water bottle was always there to come to the rescue.

I was thrilled to find out that Sigg also makes kid’s water bottles! I wrote to Sigg and asked if they might send a sample kid’s water bottle to review on my blog.

I was sent not one, but two kid’s water bottles.

The water bottles are short in stature making them child friendly. My son was immediately intrigued by these bottles. He was easily able to grasp one in his hand, and in no time he was drinking up a storm.

I have been trying to get my son interested in drinking water for some time now. Clearly, my son is just as in love with the Sigg water bottles as I am. I was so happy to witness him drinking from an eco-friendly product. The kid’s water bottles (just like the adult water bottles) are 100% non-leaching. Whatever liquid that goes into the bottle is the only liquid your little one will be drinking.

Both my son and I are happy to have such a great drinking vessel. Maybe we should form a club; me with my water bottle and him with his.

For more information about Sigg water bottles and other Sigg products, visit their site: here.

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Posted in Reviews, Sigg, Water Bottles

The Adventures of Egreck and Ari

Posted on July 2, 2009 | Leave a comment

When I was pregnant many concerned people told me:

“You know, once you have a baby, you have to give up your cats!”
“Cats try to kill babies in their sleep.”
“Cats are jealous of babies. Be careful!”

Well, to all those people that were so worried about my cats hurting my baby I offer you this; Exhibit A:

And Exhibit B:

That blob of black fur next to my son is Egreck, my incredibly docile and friendly cat. He loves my son and my son loves him. In fact, Egreck has always been curious about babies. When I was pregnant he did not know what to make of my enormous round belly.

To clear the myth up about babies and cats being enemies, I’ve decided to write a children’s book about it entitled: The Adventures of Egreck and Ari. Egreck is the main cat in the story and Ari is my son.

It starts when I am pregnant:

And then it continues on to describe how both my cats reacted to my son’s birth and prescence in the house. Here are Egreck and Simon (my other more reserved cat) waiting for me to come home. At this point all relevant human parties are at the hospital involved in the birth. This left the cats to sit and wait.

Often the cats were left out of the action when my son came home from the hospital. Egreck, in particular being the more curious of my two cats, was left behind closed doors; wondering what was happening.

Egreck was also quite fascinated by the influx of random visitors I received after my son was born. He loved all the action occurring in the apartment.

All artwork is made with construction paper and glue which both Egreck and Ari have at one time tried to play with or eat during the process.

Hopefully this illustrated children’s book will clear up the myth about cats and babies hating one another. Because Egreck loves my son and the feeling is mutual.

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Posted in Books, Cats

Naot Sea: The Best Shoe For Moms on the Go!

Posted on July 1, 2009 | Leave a comment

As the mother of a 14 month old, I am always on the move. Whether I am taking my son out on a marathon stroller walk in Prospect Park or working as a substitute teacher for the New York City Department of Education, I am constantly on my feet. I realized that I needed a shoe that would keep up with all of my activities.

Over the years I have heard people talk about Naot shoes; how comfortable they are and how they last for years on end.

My curiosity was piqued one day, yet again, when I was substitute teaching at an elementary school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. I was conversing with a kindergarten teacher and I immediately noticed her shoes. I couldn’t look away, these were seriously the coolest shoes I had ever seen! They were a Mary Jane style but they stood out because they had a unique swirl design on the toe.

It was “shoe love” at first sight. I had to have these shoes. So I asked this teacher what these unique looking shoes were called. She told me that they were made by Naot and the style was called Sea. I was on a mission to find these shoes.

I wrote to Yaleet Inc., the makers of Naot shoes. I told them about my mom blog and asked them if I might have the opportunity to review a pair of the Naot Sea style. To my surprise and delight Stephanie from Yaleet Inc. wrote back and happily sent me a sample pair of shoes to try!

When the box arrived from Yaleet Inc. I was thrilled. I excitedly tore it open and it revealed the shoes I had fallen in love with.

I immediately put the Naot Sea shoes on and proceeded to take my son on one of our notorious stroller walks. I met my friend Josina and her son Nelson and we headed to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I walked and walked in these shoes and I must tell you they were up to the challenge. I felt comfortable on my feet the whole day. It was quite a hot day at the Garden and I was not wearing socks, but my feet did not sweat at all. I was impressed.

Nelson seems to enjoy them almost as much as I did.

From my experience, I can say that the Naot Sea style is a perfect shoe for an active mother. It is stylish and exceptionally comfortable. It will hold up to a day of stroller walking, grocery shopping, and toddler chasing.

Let me take it one step further. Not only is it a wonderful shoe for mothers, but I believe it is also a great shoe for educators. Teachers are constantly on their feet; whether it is lecturing in front of a classroom or mediating a conflict on the playground, teachers are inherently on the go. It would be great for them to have a shoe that keeps up with their vigorous activity. I believe the Naot Sea is a shoe that can do this.

If you’re an active mother, a hard-working teacher, or someone who is always on the go, I recommend that you check out the Naot Sea. It is a stylish and durable shoe that will not disappoint.

For more information on Yaleet Inc. and Naot shoes visit their website: here.