Captain America: The Winter Soldier - In theatres now

My husband and I had the opportunity to go see Captain America: The Winter Soldier at a prescreening recently and so I asked if he would mind putting together a review so my reader's could get both our opinions.  His comes from a person who read the comic books so knows the story lines and for that matter who the winter soldier is/was.  Mine comes from someone who just goes and watches the shows without knowing the story line or the just watching and hearing the story line for the first time.
*By the way, we did not see it in 3D so this is a review on the regular show viewing

His:

A review. A recommendation. Real quick like.

In short, this movie is a part two. You probably already know this movie is actually a part of Marvel’s master plan to make super hero movies interesting again. The Winter Soldier is the latest installment in their Avenger’s universe. If you are worried that you won’t enjoy the flick because you missed Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, and Thor: The Dark World don’t be.

Seriously. The back story and flashbacks are perfectly timed, brief, and all you need to understand the entire plot of this film. This is a superbly written and beautifully acted film. Even knowing some spoilers doesn’t ruin it because this basic story line has been around in the comics for like 20 years. The Marvel super fans go to this movie and cheer! You’ll know them from the rest of the crowd by oddly timed laughter, cheering, and uncontrolled bursts of non sequitors.

Go see this movie. It was awesome in exactly the opposite way any show you might see on TLC.

Real. Quick. Like.

Mine:

I have to admit there were some fight scenes at the beginning that were hard to truly focus or see what exactly was being done that I thought I might end up with a headache at the end of the flick if they kept up with that type of filming.  Luckily this was short lived and seemed more stable right after the first few sequences.  After that, I LOVED the flick.  I have to admit I love having a super hero movie with a strong female who kicks butt too, lol.  While there were some predictable scenes overall I was highly entertained and they did throw out some interesting surprises.

And Robert Redford is in it!!!  It has been a long time seeing Robert Redford in a mainstream flick so that was a nice treat to watch as well :D

I agree with my husband, go see this movie.  I suggest watching in the theatre because it really makes the fight scenes that much better, and the Capt looks awesome on the big screen :D

I would say more but don't want to give you spoilers BUT don't forget to stay until the very end of the credits for the easter eggs (I can't believe how many people don't, and yes eggs is PLURAL!!!)

If you have small children, you might want to view this 4 minute trailer to see if you feel they are mature enough to watch the violence in this movie.  

Like Captain America on Facebook: facebook.com/captainamericamovie

Follow Captain America on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaptainAmerica 

Would love to hear your thoughts on the flick.

Disclosure: I was provided free admission for 2 into the preview in exchange for a review.  No other compensation was provided and all opinions as always are my own (and my husband's in this case)

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Movie Review: Planes

Another gem in Disney's collection! That's right, this guy liked it.

Some folks having seen this might mistake it for another version of Cars (the first one) but I'm here to tell you no, it's not. I mean there are elements that are similar, but what movie today doesn't have something in common with a movie that came before?

Did you know that Never Say Never Again is the same movie as Thunderball?! Sean Connery was James Bond in both films!

Planes is a story unto itself that actually broadens the world created by Cars, and has plenty for both kids and the people that just now might be realizing they are spending their retirement money taking their children to the movies.

I'm not sure what $2.85 would have gotten you in 1973, but that's $15 today for a full price 3D ticket. It'll cost about $56 in 2043. Just sayin'. But by then you should be able to beam the film directly into your mind and hopefully have the option of burning it from your memory if it happens to be an especially bad movie.

"So how was the movie?"

"I can't remember...?"

"Oh. That bad, huh? Critics loved it..."

Back to the movie review! Stars! I give it a solid 4.5 out of 5. This movie teaches a lesson with the plot, not by spelling it out and repeating it until it's nonsense. Actually, it teaches a number of moral lessons that I wholeheartedly approve of.

The voice cast was excellently chosen! Iceman and Goose make an appearance! Except for that they refrained from making any other Top Gun reference. To be honest, I think they could have used at least one more... Not sure who out they might have even noticed that Val Kilmer and Anthony Edwards cameoed.

Of course I can't go into any further detail without spoilers and I hate spoilers.

Go see this movie!

written by Eric

written by Z

Disclosure:  We received four free tickets to see Disney Planes 3d for a review of the movie.  All opinions as always are our own.  No other compensation was received for this review.

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This site is free to use, but some posts may contain affiliate links. When you click these links they help supply funding to support this as a free site - see my disclosure statement here.

Movie Review: The Smurfs 2

"I didn't see the first movie either..."

I didn't see Smurfs 1.

Slipped by my, I guess.

Well, I did go see part two. And I felt fairly certain that I didn't need 103 minutes of character development to understand who the characters were or what kind of people they were.

I mean... their names. Although the kid named Blue seemed happier than you'd expect.

I'm going to the stars system for this one. I give it a 3.5 out of 5.

Now, I'm 39 years old, and yes I remember watching the original smurfs waaaaaaay back when children's cartoons were really just 11 minute commercials for... oh....yeah. Well, anyway. I had to humour my sister and muddle through the smurfs before getting to G.I. Joe and TMNT. And it's because this movie stayed so true to the theme of the original that I give it the praise I do.

Listen. I SAID LISTEN! This movie is not for you. It's for your children. Too many people go into these movies based on things they saw when they were children expecting to be as entertained now as they were then. FYI folks. You are not 8 years old. As a man that often reverts to that glorious age in his mind, I recommend this movie.

When the movie was over my wife looked at me a bit concerned that I'd just totally bash this film. I said, "Actually I liked it. And it was a thousand times better than The Lone Ranger."

High praise folks.

It stars Neil Patrick Harris, some lady from Glee, some kid, Hank Azaria as Gargamel, and Mad Eye Moody. For the Smurfs there's a smattering of celebrities but the one that got me was Jonathon Winters. That gloriously hilarious man passed away shortly after recording his performance as Papa Smurf. I had to look this up (I'm not a Smurf aficionado) he was in the original Smurfs too! Katy Perry was not.

The action was silly. The kids laughed. The puns were groan-worthy. I can't share them with you without spoilers but I will point out that there was a Star Wars one that made me and the guy behind me laugh.

My favorite Smurf? Passive-Aggressive Smurf.

I took away an entire star for the over-the-top, in-your-face, repetitive, moral of the story. I know the original cartoon always ended with a "and this is the moral of today's story", but not this movie. Over and over again, like Dora finding her way to Somewhere, they spelled it out for us. I suppose small children need the repetition, but come on.

The half star was taken because they filmed it in Paris, France. Not because it added to the story, but because they got a tax incentive. Said so in the credits and I thought that sucked. Gargamel was a world class magician and he takes up shop in Paris? This movie should have taken place in Las Vegas based on that premise alone.

That being said both my children loved the movie, laughed a lot, and talked about it on the way home.

So did anybody else go see this movie? What did you think?

written by Eric
Disclosure: We received four free tickets to see Smurfs 2 in exchange for a review on the movie.  All reviews as always are honest and our own opinion (in this case the man of the house).  No other compensation was received for this review.

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This site is free to use, but some posts may contain affiliate links. When you click these links they help supply funding to support this as a free site - see my disclosure statement here.

The Lone Ranger - It's Movie Review Time!!

This pretty much summarizes the film

Ok. Full disclosure here. I am not the lady that goes around finding deals and building towers of toilet paper. I'm the guy married to her and I went with her to see the advanced screening of The Lone Ranger. It was only after seeing it that she informed me that I'd be writing the review. Because I write good and stuff.

First things first. I am not a professional critic, so I tend to enjoy things for the sake of enjoyment. If you've read the professionals, then you probably have the same opinion of their critiques as I do. "Oh, look... Movie critic Bob Boos said Movie Opens July sucked pickled octopus ink. So it must've been a good show!"

That's right. I just critiqued the critics.

On to My Honest Opinion!

I grew up reading Lone Ranger comics, watching Lone Ranger shows and such. The Lone Ranger was like a mix between Batman and Han Solo. You cannot get any cooler than that. Tonto was his staunch ally and sidekick, perfectly happy to ride in the sidecar.

At first I was happy that this movie didn't follow this trope. It reinvented the Lone Ranger myth and brought the Comanche and their plight of the ever spreading white man front and center. So much so several times during the film I began to wonder if this movie was about TLR or Tonto.

Our hero is not the Batman/Han Solo I remember. He's more of a 1960's Robin/Peter Brady type character. Naive, foolish and completely green. I suppose this is ok given that this is an origin story. Perhaps if Disney springs for a sequel they'll make him more... seasoned.

Tonto is totally the leading character. Depp plays a 20-something Comanche that is totally out for revenge against some pretty evil villains. Way more evil than what appeared in the shows and comic books I experienced. He's also nearly insane which, as we've seen in Depp's past work, is not really a stretch for him.

What I looked for:

A horse that can defy the laws of nature and physics                      Check

Tonto to say, "What do you mean 'we' pale face?"                         Did not happen. This is a good thing.

The William Tell Overture to highlight a playfully short moment       If 20 minutes is playfully short, then check

A silver bullet                                                                                Check

Johnny Depp to carry the film                                                        Check

All in all, I felt that there were some extremely dark moments in the film that simply did not jive with the comical portions. The plot was better developed than I'd anticipated but only in regard to the Tonto character. TLR doesn't have much to look back on I guess.

Do I recommend this film? Well, do you like involved action sequences, trains, magic horses, and explosions? Then yes. I recommend this film for you. If your job is as a movie critic where you compare every film to the greatest movies ever made and spend most of your time disappointed, then no, I do not.

Stephanie's take: I chose to let my husband write this review for a couple reasons.
* As most of you know I LOVE Johnny Depp and tend to get caught up in his acting/character and might not see the forest for the trees
* I did enjoy the film but do agree with my husband that there were some very dark aspects that seemed ill fitted.  I don't want to spoil the film so will not go into details but it just seemed they were trying to portray some accurate accounts of the history of America and would start to get graphic but rush back to humor so as not to make one dwell on negative events.
*The action sequences were wonderful and very entertaining
*I would not recommend taking any children younger than 13 or older to this flick.  There was a mother in front of me that had her younger child (maybe 8-9) and I could tell by his reactions, some parts of the movie upset him
And finally, for those of you with little ones(or little bladders) that beg to go potty but you insist on staying for the credits(Ferris Bueller taught me well), rest assured, you will not miss anything of note by taking them to the bathroom :D

Disclaimer: I was offered free tickets to see The Lone Ranger in exchange for this review.  No other compensation was provided and all opinions, as always, are my own (and my husband's own).

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This site is free to use, but some posts may contain affiliate links. When you click these links they help supply funding to support this as a free site - see my disclosure statement here.

General Mills and Hasbro going Retro Giveaway

Starting mid-March Big G cereals will once again be going “Retro” with special edition classic packaging from the 1950’s, ’60s and ’80s!

For a limited time you can relive your childhood by heading on over to your local Target store’s cereal aisle, as Big G cereals have brought back their “Retro” themed packaging. To help celebrate the event, Big G has team up with Hasbro, offering a $5 coupon on Clue Vintage, Scrabble Vintage, Parcheesi Vintage or Risk Vintage board games at Target!

• Don’t forget to go online & print a coupon for $1 off 2 General Mills cereals before you head to Target!
• Collect all 5 different throw-back packages that each include a $5 coupon for these vintage Hasbro® board games; available exclusively at Target® from March 15, 2013 to April 30, 2013 while supplies last. Coupon valid at Target stores from March 15, 2013 to December 31, 2013.
• Participating Big G cereals include: Cinnamon Toast Crunch® (16.2 oz.), Lucky Charms® (16 oz.), Honey Nut Cheerios (17 oz.), Cheerios (18 oz.) and Cocoa Puffs(16.5 oz.)
• Participating Hasbro vintage board games: Clue® Vintage, Scrabble Vintage, Parcheesi Vintage or Risk Vintage

One lucky reader will receive a prize pack with a 2 retro boxes of cereal, a retro Parcheesi game and a $10 gift card to Target.
To enter, leave a comment with the name of your favorite GM cereal and what vintage game you think would be fun to get.

Winner will be chosen randomly on April 5th after 5 pm from all eligible entries.  If you enter as anon, it is very important you at least leave a name or else your entry will be ineligible (first name and last initial is fine).  One entry per person.

Disclosure: The prize pack, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

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This site is free to use, but some posts may contain affiliate links. When you click these links they help supply funding to support this as a free site - see my disclosure statement here.

Purex detergent plus fabric softener with Fragrance Crystals Review and Giveaway

Those of you that LOVE Purex Crystals are going to LOVE this new Purex detergent with the Crystals already mixed in.
Ok, I have to admit my husband does not like "fragrency" laundry so I was curious if he would notice the scent on this and gripe at me.  Well, I put it to the test and will admit, when I washed our sheets and put them straight on our bed right before us going to bed, he did say it was a bit too "flowery" for him but he didn't seem to notice a change in smell to his clothes. :)
My lesson learned, don't wash something my husband is going to be wearing, sleeping on, or using  right after using this detergent (or get him a plain bottle of something, lol).  Otherwise, it is great.  If you are a Crystal lover already, then perhaps you should try this out.

Now for the fun stuff.  Who wants to win their own bottle of Purex with Crystals Fragrance to try for themselves for FREE!  Well, 3 lucky readers will each win a coupon for a free bottle.
Here are the rules:
One entry per person
You must leave a comment on this blog post to be included (facebook and email entries don't count)
You must leave a comment by March 29th by 5 pm.

2 Winners will be selected by random.org and 1 winner will be selected as the one that had the most entertaining(to me) comment :D

Good luck

Don't understand my lingo? Go here.  

This site is free to use, but some posts may contain affiliate links. When you click these links they help supply funding to support this as a free site - see my disclosure statement here.

Purex Baby Laundry - review and Giveaway

Purex has a new line of product out new for babies.  While I don't have any babies in my house, I often like getting the baby version of laundry detergent, sunscreens, and body washes.  Why? The lack of dyes and harsh chemicals.
Purex baby offers the same cleaning power as their regular line but with less harsh chemicals.

Purex baby is also specially designed to ensure proper performance for all washers, from high-efficiency to traditional top-loader washing machines.
The dermatologist tested formula also guarantees to remove stubborn stanks without hurting delicate clothes.

I love that Purex is affordable and now has a line with a lot less fragrance added.  My hubs is not a fan of perfumy laundry products and I have to admit some really bug my allergies.  I had no issues with the slight fragrance in the Purex baby I was offered to review.  While I didn't have any huge stains to tackle, our clothes came out clean and no skin sensitivity occured from using it :D

Currently only available in a 50 oz size but they are working toward the 100 oz. for those that prefer the larger bottles.  You can go here to read more about Purex baby

Now for the fun part:  How would you like to enjoy 3 free bottles of Purex baby (up to $5 each)?
Purex has offered me 3 coupons to give away to one lucky reader.

To enter just post a comment on this blog post (emails and facebook comments do not count, you must post here)
Limit one entry per person.  In your comment tell me what you look for in your laundry detergent.
I will select a winner on Feb. 14th from all eligible comments.  You can enter as anon ONLY if you leave a name or way for me to contact you.  If there is no name, it is hard to offer a prize to anon, lol.
Winner will have 24 hours to contact me with name and address so I can mail your prize :D
Good luck

Disclosure: Purex provided me with a sample of Purex baby detergent in exchange for a product review.  As always, opinions are my own.

Don't understand my lingo? Go here.  

Some links provided in this post may help fund my blog - see my disclosure statement here.

Cool Cuts 4 Kids Review and Giveaway

I have to admit we are terrible at getting hair cuts in this house.  My husband does his own, I just never seem to make the time and since I work full time, I have to remind the hubs about 12 times to take the girls!  But with the holidays approaching, we had to get trims.  There are Santa pictures, family pictures for cards and not to mention visits with the grandma's that will notice the lapse in personal grooming :O

Lucky for me (and especially the hubs since he is home with the gremlins), Cool Cuts 4 Kids makes hair cuts fun!  While there, your child can choose to watch a movie or to play a game while the very talented stylists (and EXTREMELY patient too) clip your kiddo's hair.  The distractions are JUST enough to get my kids to sit still long enough to get a stylish new look - or just a trim when needed.

Today was a slow day activity-wise for my homeschooling husband so it was off to Cool Cuts 4 Kids for him and the girls after lunch.  I have to admit his text to me when he got there made me feel great (since he normally texts me the breakdowns that have occurred during the day).
His text: S is playing a Star Wars game, Z is watching a movie.  No wait!  Two stylists, no line, Yeah for 1:30 pm Wed afternoon.

Yay for me, good experience for girls and hubs, gonna be a great homecoming when I get off work :D
And here is the final result:

As a bonus, you can also score a $5 coupon for any service of $11.95 or more for new customers here

And now for the giveaway offer

Cool Cuts 4 Kids is giving one lucky KatyCouponers reader a $25 gift card! Sweet!
I am allowing two entries per reader, each needs a separate comment left on the blog post here to be a valid entry.
Contest will close on Dec 5th after 5 pm.  At that time comments will be closed and a winner will be selected via Random.org. Contest only open to US addresses.

You can enter two ways, first being mandatory
1. Leave a comment about your experience taking your kids for a haircut, or just that this is gonna be your first attempt at a clip :D You can even say hi :D
2. Tweet the following: #CC4K - Enter @http://katycouponers.blogspot.com/2012/11/cool-cuts-4-kids-review-and-giveaway.html giveaway for Cool Cuts 4 Kids. Ends 12/5

Good luck!

Disclosure: Cool Cuts 4 Kids provided me a branded gift bag with store product to participate.  They will also be sponsoring the $25 gift card giveaway to one of my readers. NO other compensation was received and all opinions as always are my own.

Don't understand my lingo? Go here.  

Some links provided in this post may help fund my blog - see my disclosure statement here.

Shushybye Review and Giveaway

How many of you out their struggle with getting your little ones to go to bed at bedtime?  Especially right now with the start of school and getting back to the normal routine of a normal bedtime?
I know we struggle with putting the kiddos in bed over and over and over again.

I was sent the above pictured Shushybye book with CD to review as well as the Shushybye Dream band Shushybye and Goodnight Cd with 16 songs.

I have to admit I made a mistake of not listening to the music first and right away when I put the CD in the player my 4 year old(5 now) got up and started dancing.  Ok, not what we were expecting and only after that mishap did we realize the CD is not meant to be lullabies to lull your child to sleep but rather to get them excited about going to bed and dreaming!
Once we realized the errors of our logic(I mean really, if you can get lullabies to put a 4 and 7 year old to sleep I would love to see it, lol) we determined to try again with the new approach of starting the music as part of the nighttime routine.  It gets the girls excited about the prepping for bed and the process of thinking about what they want their dreams to be.
  Then we whip out the book and read together.
The book is about the Shushies that live high above the clouds in Shushybye.  Shushybye is the land where dreams are made and it is the job of the Shushies to deliver Dream boxes to the children that fall asleep when they are told.  Unfortunately for Snoozles he is assigned to two children: Leo and Leona, that just won't go to sleep when they are told.    Snoozles is sad because the kids dreams are still inside their dream boxes in Shushybye. 
The story goes on to explain this to the kids and takes them on a tour of Shushybye including a stop at the train station to see the Dream boxes get loaded for delivery by Conductor McCloud.  After that the kids could not wait to fall asleep when they were told so they could get their Dream boxes.

The music is pretty upbeat though so is also great for longer car rides. The songs can get repetitive but I have to admit they are one of my preferred kids music cds for the car and I do find myself mouthing along the words.   It is also one of the few cds my kids can actually agree on listening to so that is a bonus!  If you want to hear a sampling of the songs, you can go here and a clip of each song will play for you. (As a game in the car, you can even have the kids count the number of times they say the word Shushybye, trust me if you need a little silence in your car this works GREAT ;)

Now for the giveaway:
One reader will win a book and cd as well!
Mandatory entry - Please go to Shushybye and tell me one feature you love about the website.
(make sure you check out the fun here too!  They have virtual puzzles online your children can do, how cool is that, flex your kids brain muscle and give them computer skills at the same time, can you tell I personally LOVE this feature!)
Extra entry(void if you don't do mandatory entry first)  Like my page on facebook here.  Leave a separate comment for this extra entry letting me know you like my page.
Giveaway will close September 5th and winner will be selected via Random.org

*Disclosure:
I was given a free book and cd to review and the opportunity to give one of my readers one as well in a giveaway.  No other compensation was provided and all opinions as always are my own.

Community Stop Animation Christmas Episode Review

I have to admit I am a sucker for stop animation (I own a decent supply of Aardman Animations flicks) so I was excited when I was offered the opportunity to view the highly advertised Christmas episode of "Community."

If you have never heard of it, Community is a comedy on NBC on Thursday nights.  It is brought to us by the Russo brothers (best know for "Arrested Development") and Dan Harmon ("The Sarah Silverman Program") in association with Sony Pictures.  The cast includes the likes of Chevy Chase, Joel McHale("The Soup"), Yvette Nicole Brown ("Rules of Engagement"), Alison Brie ("Mad Men"), Donald Glover ("30 Rock") and Ken Jeong ("The Hangover").  If you have never seen it, you will definitely want to set your DVR tomorrow night for NBC at 7 pm CST.



I was given the opportunity to watch the Christmas episode, done completely in stop animation, and I found it extremely witty and entertaining.  The animation was wonderfully done and you could tell the writers had a bit of fun writing for a cartoon as opposed to a normal live action show. 

The premise is Abed finds himself lost as to the meaning of Christmas and seeks to find the answer.  His gang of friends travel through a hypnotic trip into Abed's Winter Wonderland of the mind to help rediscover the meaning of Christmas.  There is humor, there is singing, and there is a terradactyl!  What is NOT to love?
I hate spoilers so I hesitant to tell you more, but I have to say, you will find great humor in the trek they take to the North Pole.  Even if you are not a current viewer of "Community" you will want to add this episode to your viewing schedule tomorrow.  Who doesn't like shows about Christmas and in cartoon form (*cough Rudolph *cough).  You will certainly get  your dose of comedy for the night.

Want a sneak peek?  Here you go.



Disclosure: One2One Network offered a free early viewing of the episode of "Community" in exchange for an honest review and an entry into a drawing for prizes.  All opinions as always are my own.  

For those that love to see the behind the see stuff (like me) here is another sneak peek of Joel McHale talking about the making of the episode.

Seventh Generation Review and Giveaway

Have you ever heard the term "optical brighteners"? Optical Brighteners are heavily used in the laundry industry to make your clothes "appear" brighter and thus "cleaner" to the eye.

When ultraviolet light hits optical brighteners coating your clothing, the brighteners convert UV rays into visible light to create an optical illusion.  (This illusion is really noticeable under a black light.)  This tricks the eye into thinking the clothing is whiter and brighter, and therefore cleaner than it really is. 

Interestingly, optical brighteners do not work unless they remain ON the clothes after washing, therefore leaving a chemical residue on your clothes.  You will have noticed this if you have ever had clothes dried on the clothes line.  Growing up, we did not have a dryer and ALL clothes were hung on the line to dry -usually a unfavorable chore I was given :(  When we would take the clothes off the line, they had this stiff or uncomfortable "crisp" feeling.  The culprit, optical brighteners!  
Even worse, this chemical residue left can cause allergic reactions to your skin (or your child's more sensitive skin).   Not only that, these optical whiteners contain chemicals that can be toxic to fish and other animal and plant life.  These chemicals are not readily biodegradable and thus adding pollution to waste water, negatively affecting water quality and plant and animal life.

Seventh Generation laundry detergents are free of ANY/ALL optical brighteners and are non-toxic.  To see proof of that, take a look at the picture of my little experiment.  The shirt on the left was washed with a bottle of laundry detergent I had present at the time and the one on the right was washed with the Seventh Generation laundry detergent.  Both shirts are brand new out of the bags and identical.  Notice how the one on the left looks just a bit brighter than the one on the right? (I know my picture is not the best, this was taking with my ancient digital camara under blacklight, but you can still see a difference.)  This has definitely convinced me to pay more attention to what I am washing our clothes in.

Seventh Generation is generously offering a giveaway to one of my readers.  You have a chance to win your own set of laundry products from Seventh Generation.

To enter, leave a comment on this post (email entries are not accepted and will be deleted, anon comments need an identifier at the end so I know who you are if you win). 
I want to know what your favorite tip is to keeping your family healthy.
One entry per reader.  This giveaway will end on Sunday, December 12th.  Good luck everyone.

Oh, and if you would like to start saving now, go here to print a $1 coupon off Seventh Generation laundry detergent. 

Disclosure: Seventh Generation, through MyBlogSpark, provided me with the information, products to sample, the shirts and the blacklight.  They are also offering the laundry products to one of my readers.  I was not compensated in any other way for this post and all opinions are my own.

Balloonatiks Review and Giveaway

Ok, I am just going to come out and admit it!
You ready, take a deep breathe.............................


I am guilty of using the babysitter to get dinner made.  You know, that box in the living room that glows and captures the attention of little ones everywhere?  It is either turn on the babysitter, or fight with a 4 year old that does not quite grasp that when mommy says the stove is hot, she means it is an inferno that will scorch your skin and create a huge "OWIE" that even mommy kisses cannot relieve.
Well, there are 2 BIG problems with using the babysitter (at least that I see):
1. At dinner time most the shows on Disney are for the tween (or up) crowd.   The reason I brought up Disney is because of problem number 2
2. Commercials!!!!!   Most the other cartoon channels have commercials for every stinking toy ever created in the history of man.
So, it is either fight the hands of the little one or listen to the wonderful chorus of "I want that!" every 5 minutes at nauseum.

This is where the wonderful world of videos comes to my rescue.  Let's face it though, you need some variety, and I really hate putting in a video that is 1 1/2 hrs or longer, because getting the kids into the kitchen when dinner is actually done is impossible if we are right in the middle of the movie "but mom, this is the best part, can we pause it?"  "wait, I want to watch this part" and on and on.

Well, I was given the opportunity to test drive Balloonatiks and the kids thought it was GREAT!  I love that it has a running time of 23 minutes, which is just about perfect for getting dinner ready and NO commercials!
Even my 4 year old found it funny and it kept her attention(and that girl usually only pays attention to commercials!)
The premise:
Five normal kids are accidentally gooped in a science experiment that goes awry at the Hot Air City Fair, and wind up with stretchy, bouncy, rubbery qualities that make their lives, zany, wild and balloony.  They have become the Balloonatiks®, with odd and unexpected abilities. But they are still kids at heart. What mattered to them before the accident still matters to them now, only now they have rubbery ways of tackling any challenge that is presented to them. Sometimes these abilities help them solve problems with ease; sometimes they only complicate things even more. And they have one problem they never had before – how do you blend in with all the other kids when you’re a Balloonatik?

In a sentence, they are super heroes made out of balloons!  What kid doesn't love super heroes or balloons? :)  I listened from the other room and found myself distracted a little from making dinner(so much that I snuck a viewing in after the kids were put to bed, lol).

Check out some more information for yourself on the Balloontiks at their website or on their facebook page.

And now, the giveaway.  The fine makers of Balloontiks (Animagic Entertainment Group) has graciously offered a giveaway to my readers.  I can give away one copy of Balloontiks.

To enter, head to the  website and read up on the characters.  Which character do you think you would like the most?
Giveaway will end Nov. 30th and winner will be chosen at random.  Good luck.

RockNLearn Money and Making Change Review and Giveaway

I have to admit I am a child of the computer age and I don't think I could live without them, but I also have to say, computers are making us DUMB! Just the other day, I was at a grocery store purchasing an item tagged with a 50% tag with a regular price of $4.99. The item rang up not on file, so the cashier went to manually put the price in and I KID YOU NOT, pulled out her phone! Yes, apparantly her smartphone is smarter than her, as she had to pull it out and use the calculator to figure out 50% off of $4.99!!!!!!!!! Shameful!

In this day and age, we need to know how to do simple math calculations in our head as well as know how to make change. Our kids are very vulnerable to being taken advantage of if they don't know how to count, make change, and know the value of the money we place in their hands. I think it is NEVER too early to learn these lessons and I have already started teaching my kids the value of money and how to count it back to me.
Sometimes it is difficult to figure out how to explain these lessons to kids and I get nightmares remembering my parents trying to teach me things they had learned so long ago, they took for granted (like counting change, reading or driving).
Lucky again for me, I live in the technology age and there are DVD's that teach these skills!  Rock n Learn has a whole assortment of DVD's to teach anything from nursery rhymes to multiplication.  I was given the opportunity to sample their Money and Making Change  DVD and while I have to say the song is kind of cheesy, the lesson is very easy to follow and is informative.  This dvd not only shows what money looks like and what it is worth, but it provides multiple examples of how to count money, make change or even combine money in multiple ways.  I must admit, even I learned something while watching the DVD.  (Do you know why dimes are the smallest coin in American money?  I do now.)

I think I am going to check out a few of their other titles, like the multiplication DVD.  Another confession, I cheated in elementary school when learning my multiplication tables. I sat near a poster with the answers and never really learned them (shame on me, they should take my math degree away for that :P)
Anyway, right now, you can snag a 25% discount on any title from the Rock N Learn lineup.  The coupon code will be active through December 5th.  I plan on sneaking in a few titles with Christmas and hopefully my kids will learn something in the process (shhh, don't tell them though).
Just use code : SSA25 at checkout on RockNLearn website.

And now, for the giveaway:
One comment per person.  Giveaway will end November 12th.  Winner will receive the Rock N Learn title "Money & Making Change".  Winner will be selected by random.org from all comments.
I want you to answer to following questions in your comment:
1. What title from the RockNLearn website do you think looks most interesting and
2. Do you know why the dime is the smallest coin in America?

Good luck everyone!

Disclosure: I was given a free copy of RocknLearn Money and Making Change to review. I was also offered the opportunity to give a copy away to one reader. I was not compensated in any other way for this post and all opinions are mine.

Zarbee's Kids Cough Syrup - Have you gotten yours yet?

Have you picked up Zarbee's this week at Walgreen's yet?  Right now, Walgreens and Zarbee's have teamed up to bring us a register reward deal that allows us to try this for FREE!  ($5.99 cost, earns $6 Register Reward).  I don't know about you but I was super excited to see this deal come up.  Last year, when my kiddos had a cough I was terrified.  There have been so many recalls, so much information about over dosing kids with too much medicine.  And if that wasn't enough stress, the fight to actually get my kiddos to swallow the stuff.  (I admit, even I make a nasty face and say "I don't wanna!" when my husband forces cough syrup down my throat, blech!)

Well, Zarbee's is made with honey and 100% drug free.  I have to admit, I think it tastes MUCH better than other cough syrups too.  I actually had to pull some of this out tonight as my little one has been congested and just not getting rest.  So far, so good!  AND it was wonderful to not get that whiny medicine face.

I certainly encourage you to pick up some of this at Walgreen's soon.  Keep in mind, if you pick it up this week, it will be free to you (after register reward).  I know I am going to have to keep it on hand as I doubt my kids will ever let me give them the "red" stuff again.

And just for giggles, you should check out this video. Pretty much sums up my kids reaction to the "red" stuff (with a lot more whining of course, lol)

Disclosure: Zarbee's provided me a bottle of their kid's cough syrup to try and review.  Entire post was written by myself and all opinions on this product are mine alone.  I was not compensated in any other way for my post.

*Closed* $50 Safeway Gift Card Giveaway

Best-selling author and food expert Lisa Lillien, AKA Hungry Girl, has given her “seal of approval” to the new Fiber One yogurt, the only leading nonfat yogurt with 50 calories and 5 grams of fiber.

I love having yogurt on hand for those times when I am snacky, but don't want to blow my calories for the day on empty snacking. Fiber One yogurt is great for that. Only 50 calories and I get some calcium for the day. I really like the vanilla and Key Lime. I will admit I like the strawberry too, but have to sneak that flavor because my girls think strawberry is exclusively theirs, lol.
Fiber One yogurt also makes a peach flavor, I might have to try that one next(see what Hungry Girl thinks about the new yogurt here.)

I was given a VIP coupon for a free 4-pack of Fiber One yogurt to sample and a $50 gift card to Safeway family of stores(Dominick’s, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Vons, Genuardi’s) courtesy of Safeway and FiberOne through MyBlogSpark.

I have not even had to use the coupon yet as I have been getting the Fiber One yogurt at Randalls already and right now they are on sale for $2 a pack!!!!! Sale price is good through February 9th and combined with coupons, WOW! (I will be post my transaction at Randalls yesterday where I got the Fiber One FREE!)

Now for the fun stuff! Safeway and FiberOne have provided me with an additional $50 Safeway gift card to give away to one of your readers. $50!!!!!! If you read my blog regularly, you could easily turn that into $100's worth of groceries.

I will close the comments at midnight on February 8th and post my winner (using random org) the next morning. So how do you enter?

Each method is worth 1 entry for up to 5 entries per person. You need to leave a separate comment for each. The FIRST is required(if you don't do #1, all other entries will be deleted and voided!- want to make sure you are still reading, lol)

1. Tell me what flavor of Fiber One yogurt you want to try
2. Subscribe to my blog via email. If you already do, tell me so.
3. Subscribe to my networked blog via facebook(left column of my blog)
4. Follow me on twitter
5. Tweet the following(you must provide me the url to your tweet):"I just entered to win $50 Safeway gift card from KatyCouponers @catladyfour4_ZM http://tinyurl.com/ybmnlsv"

Safeway and Fiber One through MyBlogSpark provided me a VIP coupon for a free 4 pack, a $50 Safeway gift card for me and 1 $50 Safeway gift card to give to one of my readers to provide a review of their Fiber One yogurt. I was not compensated in any other way and opinions in this post are mine alone. My opinion was not reviewed or altered by Safeway, FiberOne or MyBlogSpark prior to this post. Calorie and fiber information was provided to me by MyBlogSpark. Disclosure Policy

Mabel's Labels Review

I was given the opportunity to try Mabel’s Labels and I have to say I am HOOKED! As most my readers know I have little ones in Montessori school and EVERYTHING has to be labeled, from their clothing, shoes and even the lunch containers and lids. A label maker just does NOT do the trick for these items since they either irritate my children's skin, fall off the lunch items during the wash or just fade the name altogether from the heat of the dishwasher. And let's admit it, using sharpie fades and just looks terrible. This is where Mabel's Labels has come to my rescue. The wonderful ladies at Mabel’s Labels gave me an opportunity to sample their Ultimate Back-to-School Combo. This limited time only combo pack (this combo is only available until September 25th) allows you to customize the colors, the icon and the name(up to 20 letters). There are 4 combinations of colors to choose from and seeing as I have two very girly girls, I chose Cotton Candy, pictured above, for my color scheme. I also happened to chose the butterfly icon as pictured above since we call my little one our little Flutterby, but Mabel’s Labels has 48 different icons to choose from making it easy to customize to suit your child's interest.
This particular combo comes with
50 Tag-Mates - peel and stick these to the tags of your child's clothing,
40 Skinny-Minis - these are perfect for school supplies, dishes, toys, etc.
16 Shoe Labels - goes on the insole of the shoe
2 NEW Teeny Tags - metal tags for bags, pencil cases, etc

I do have to admit, I was rather skeptical when I saw that the shoes labels went on the insole and thought there was No way these would hold up. I was willing to give them a try though since nothing else I have been doing has been working. They are GREAT! After a week of my daughter using them and playing outside twice a day(in the TEXAS heat!) they look as good as the day I put them in her shoes.
I placed the Skinny Minis on the little Corningware dishes I have for the kids warmups for lunch(both lid and dish). These have gone through the microwave and dishwasher and the tags have zero wear and tear! They look just as good and vibrant as the day I got them in the mail. I must admit, my older daughter is jealous since I just got the younger ones name on the tags, so looks like I will be placing an order for the older daughter, lol.
I played on their website too and they also make tags for the house. They have labels for your kitchen, crafting products, even labels for power cords.
And for those parents with children with severe allergies(hey Greenie), they even make Allergy Alert labels and Wristbands. These would be especially helpful when a child might be dropped off at a camp, pool or other event where the adults around might not be aware of the child's allergies. They also donate 10% of the proceeds of the wristbands to Autism Speaks.
If you are looking for labels, I highly recommend you give Mabel’s Labels a look.


Disclosure: Mabel’s Labels provided me with this combo pack so that I may write a product review. My product review is an expression of my own honest opinion based on my experience trying this product, and is not reviewed or edited by Mabel’s Labels. Mabel’s Labels does not compensate me in any other way for this product review, nor do I get compensated for any sales.

Wanchai Ferry Review and Giveaway

Thanks to MyBlogSpark, I was given the opportunity to sample Wanchai Ferry frozen entrees. I was sent the Orange Chicken to sample and I have to say it was delicious! I am already a chicken enthusiast, so this was a perfect fit for me and my family. My kids were a bit skeptical when we set it in front of them but when they left the table, they left "happy" (empty) plates.
I was running late getting home yesterday and was happy to see this takes only 15 minutes to make and just requires 1 skillet. It tasted so much better than take-out too. Also, these meals have no MSG! Not something you can be sure of when dining out.



MyBlogSpark has been generous enough to also send me a second coupon to get one more entree free as well as the "Stay-At-Home" prize package pictured above. This prize package includes Asian inspired rice bowls, chopsticks and bamboo placemats.

Now it is your chance to win one of these "Stay-At-Home" prizes with 2 coupons for free Wanchai Ferry.

You can earn up to 5 entries for this giveaway, but I need you to leave a separate comment for each entry. (If you do not leave separate comments, your comment will only count as 1 entry). You have until Wed. Aug 12th @ 10 am to leave comments.

The first is mandatory for the giveaway and the others are bonus and optional
1. Leave a comment with a funny or inspiring fortune you have gotten(if you have never gotten a fortune, make one up) This is worth 1 entry. To earn up to 4 other entries, do one of the following and leave a comment that you have done it:

Bonus entries- make sure you leave a separate comment for each bonus entry
2. Follow or Subscribe to my blog (if you already subscribe, leave a comment telling me)
3. Follow my blog on facebook via Networked blogs link on the left column of my blog
4. Follow me on twitter: catladyfour4_ZM
5. Tweet about this giveaway - please include @catladyfour4_ZM in your tweet

Tuckerbags

For those of you who have been following my blog, you should have noticed I use reusable shopping bags for most my deals. Well, I came across these Tuckerbags on another blog and wanted to test them out for myself. I contacted the company and they were nice enough to send me a bag to test out. The picture above is the bag they sent in its carrying pouch. As you can see, it folds up to about the size of a 12 oz soda can.

I have to say I LOVE this bag! First, it comes in the easy carry pouch that also has a clip that I can attach to my purse. This is ideal as it is one less thing occupying my hands while trying to get my coupons and two kiddos into the stores safely. Secondly, the carrying pouch is actually sewn onto the bag, so even after opening it, you don't have to worry about losing the pouch.

Third, these are a much better design than the store bags I have been using. The straps stay on my shoulders much better than the store brands and they just look so much nicer.

I will definitely be ordering some more of these bags to use.

Right now, Tuckerbags is offering 10% off any order. Just use the coupon code "Recycle" at checkout. Check out all the cool designs they have at their website.