What can be used to clean  - for months -then tossed into your compost bin?

What paper-like product can be run through the dishwasher AND the washing machine/dryer without falling apart?

Why, it’s the Skoy Cloth !

These amazing cloths, about 6 inches square (well, they’re actually more rectangular, but I didn’t want to find my ruler to get exact measurements ), are like a cross between microfiber cloths and paper towels.

They are extremely absorbent, but eventually get used up and tossed out.

Unlike paper towels, they are super thick (having a cloth-like feeling) and can be used over and over (and over again). According to their website, each cloth is equivalent to 15 rolls of paper towels!

Now, I have a difficult time with disposable products. I think we have a big problem with disposables filling up the landfill and making our planet difficult to live on. So I use as few as possible.

But I have a husband who just can’t (or won’t!) get over the convenience factor of disposable products. So he goes straight for the disposable diapers (which we use for away from home) instead of the cloth, and he keeps bringing home paper towels instead of using the microfiber cloths that are stored in the kitchen.

So I was excited when Karen agreed to send me a sample to review.

When I opened my package, I found what looked and felt like colorful cardboard pieces. I set them by my sink planning to use them on the next cleaning occasion.

I found myself continuing to use my sponge and my microfiber cloths, however, not wanting to use these up unnecessarily. Yes, I was hoarding them and I hadn’t even used them.

However, my microfiber cloths are large - I usually fold them in fourths to use them - so the next time I went to clean all the crumbs off my kitchen table, I grabbed my Skoy cloth.

Wet it and squeeze it out like a sponge. Easy enough.

Oooh, it felt luxurious! Nicer than my microfiber cloths; I was surprised.

It was nicer to use than my sponge, because it was wider and moved more, but not as big (and floppy) as my microfiber cloths.

I rinsed off all the crumbs and went back to wipe off the sticky stuff. It did a great job without needing a bunch of elbow grease.

A quick rinse and then I popped it into my microwave for a minute. I left the kitchen and left the cloth in the microwave, knowing that it would be too hot for me to remove immediately and knowing I didn’t need it immediately. Plus, letting it dry there (the microwave dried it out most of the way) made sure it stayed flat.

For the next two weeks (back then I was under the impression that was as "old" as it could get) I used it on every occasion for which I’d use my sponge, my microfiber cloths or a paper towel. I loved that cloth and all the ways I could use it, and then use it again!

My favorite use was as a wash cloth on my toddler, at the kitchen table. You know how it is!

I didn’t like using my microfiber cloths on him because he does NOT like the wet flapping of the extra cloth on his face, and I didn’t like using paper towels because they fall apart and fail to get the job done.

I think every parent with a toddler or baby should have THESE cloths in their kitchen and their diaper bags! They’re great for older kids, too - like my 6 year old daughter who seems to always have food on her face. You could color coordinate them for your children, so they each have their own cloth.

I’m pretty sure I can convince my husband to stop buying paper towels and to use these instead (although I may have to remind him not to toss them out after each use ). They’re a great middle-ground kind of product for the person or family that is learning to become more eco-conscious, but still enjoys convenience products.

Pop on over to the Skoy Cloth website to learn more about and purchase these wonderful cloths , and to find out how these cloths got their interesting name .

Don’t let the Skoy be my own dirty little secret any more; tell all your friends about this wonderful little cloth that gets things clean and helps you feel good about what you’re doing for our planet.

I love that you can even get a subscription to them!

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It wasn’t long before they were relegated to a dark corner of a spare room.

While I had loved skating as a child, it was with roller skates, not ice skates. I just couldn’t really get comfortable with them.

Now, more than 10 years later (ack!), I’m still wanting to have fun while getting exercise… so that the exercise part is icing on the cake.

Just two weeks ago I told my husband that I was going to start walking in the mornings; by myself, so that I could get a good pace (and not walk at my childrens’ pace, which is slow-going to no-going).

But I couldn’t get excited about it at all .

Today I happened upon a website that’s all about skates: Skates.com . Just finding it made me excited about getting exercise!

I’ve spent most of the morning looking around their site, and told Dave that I want a pair of skates for Mother’s Day.

There are so many options there, but I think I’ve settled on the Skorpions .

Already being excited about skating again (even though it’s been about 25 years), I was even more excited when I read this on the Skorpion site:

Recommended by the American Heart Association (AHA) as one of the best aerobic activities for improving the fitness of the heart and lungs, roller skating involves all of the body’s muscles and is equivalent to jogging in terms of health benefits, leg strength development, body fat reduction and the amount of calories burnt. In fact, just one hour of moderate roller skating at 6 mph will burn up approximately 350 calories for a 143-pound person, and an hour of vigorous skating at 10 mph will burn up to 590 calories. Studies have also shown that roller skating causes 50% less impact shock to joints than running.

These skates, which fit over your own shoes, look big and clunky and a little awkward. But watching the videos of people riding them, dancing in them and playing soccer in them assured me that they’d be easy and smooth to use.

And good for the whole family!

Okay, this was meant to be a quick post. I’ll have to write a review when I actually get them. If you’re interested but want something a little more challenging or cool, check out Xliders (also available at Skates.com ).

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I really wanted my trial to be successful, because I do think that the idea of this product is a good one, and it seems to offer an inexpensive solution to the building of various types of playthings, from lemonade stands to playhouses to forts.

BUT- I had much different results than I had hoped for.

It’s not that the rivets don’t work- they do. They also hold rather well. However, as a mom who is often alone with the kids and prefers an easy-to-manage project, I was not pleased.

To start with, you must access the Mr. McGroovy’s web site to get plans. That was easy enough. But they do not provide any pre-cut parts (which would be very helpful) or pre-fab projects for you to purchase and construct.

Instead you have to seek out your own cardboard boxes- BIG cardboard boxes. You need to find appliance (refrigerator, washer) sized boxes, and multiples for most of the plans.

Just trying to take my kids (age 3 and 5) with me to Home Depot to pick the boxes up, and to even think about trying to load them into my mini-van (even broken down, they take up a lot of space) was a daunting task for this less than patient mom.

Now, once you manage to pick up boxes, you need to follow the “blueprints”- measuring and cutting (and let me tell you, box cutters and small children do not mix!) to get the pieces set up to fit together.

No problem for some, but I found the plans a little hard to follow and the preparation excessively time consuming. By this point you are still not even close to assembly.

Now in all fairness, it is officially confession time. I got frustrated with the project and gave up on the cutting and assembling of one of the McGroovy plans. Instead, I used a kit from Bed Bath and Beyond that I already had at home for a cardboard lemonade stand so that I could test these rivets out before my kids were in college.

Oh, and did I mention the need for power tools?

Yup, the directions require you to pre-drill holes for the rivets to pass through. Now I am a fairly handy girl and my husband has a garage full of tools (some of which I know how to use, like the drill) that I can borrow, but I imagine that other moms (and dads) may not be so fortunate in that department.

You really do need to pre-drill or punch a hole through the cardboard- they won’t just poke through otherwise. Once you have your holes drilled, the rivets themselves are very easy to use. They snap together quite easily, without much force necessary (though my 5 year old was not strong enough to be able to help).

Once my project was assembled, it did hold together fairly well. The length of the rivets do allow for some wiggle (i.e.- the rivet was not super snug if I only had 2 layers of cardboard, but it also is made to accommodate more thickness if needed), but this was not a big deal.

Disassembly (i.e.- taking apart the rivets to re-use) was not as easy as snapping the rivets together, because they do fit together so securely. You have to use a special tool to pull them apart (which I did receive with the rivets).

This was a bit of a pain but not bad, and it was nice to have a product that you can re-use.

The long and short of it for me is that the concept of the rivets themselves is pretty cool. If you have time, the right tools, and very patient children, then I could recommend this product for you.

However- time, tools, and patience are key (as is the availability of large cardboard boxes), and in my household it just didn’t work out well.

Even with the lemonade stand I had purchased, it took a long time for assembly, and the kids were not able to help much. I got really tired of the rousing chorus of “mommy is it ready to paint yet?” The time and effort did not come close to balancing out the reward with this project.

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The Heart Collection by Loofah-Art is the newest batch of loofah sponges made by the company, consisting of a heart, a star, a butterfly, a bear, a fish, a cat, a bunny, a flower and an apple. Although the new line of sponges is geared towards teens and young adults, I thought I’d give it a try anyway.

First try: bath time with my 3 year old

The cute bear-shaped loofah fits nicely in the palm of your hand, making it easy to hold. The texture was soft and smooth not irritating to the skin. And the design was very appealing to my son, as he quickly added the loofah bear to his brigade of bath-time buddies.

From the mom’s perspective: loofahs can’t get into the ‘nooks and crannies’ that need to be cleaned.Call me old school, but nothing seems to work better than a good ol’ wash cloth.

The loofah had a great feel to it and left my skin feeling smooth. My personal preference, however, is to use a much larger sponge when bathing myself.

Next up: Mom

The Heart Collection loofah didn’t exactly work for me, but I would definitely give Loofah-Art a second look. They seem to have quality kitchen and bath products in fun, unconventional designs – from a jalapeño pepper to a martini glass to a dollar bill. Not only are their products environmentally friendly, but the company gives back of percentage of its profits to the indigent farming communities who grow loofah sponges.

If only I was 20 years younger…

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I was very pleased to have a chance to review Glad SimplyCooking Microwave Steaming Bags.

The product description states that it may be used to “stream fresh or frozen vegetables in minutes without adding water, eliminating the need to wait for water to boil and clean pots and pans.”

Included with the bags is a card with instructions for cooking some other foods, including eggs and hot dogs, as well as some recipes for the consumer.

The bags may also be used as storage before or after use.

In testing the Glad microwave steaming bags I found myself limited to two trials, and therefore tried my best to use two very different applications. What I found is this:

First of all these bags are very easy to use. Just fill, seal, and microwave according to the directions on the package. Couldn’t be simpler. The bags stand very well, with a flat and wide bottom that makes for easy filling and serving.

They also work very well to store your leftovers after you have cooked them- just re-seal and toss in the fridge. I had no problems with re-sealing or re-heating my leftovers using the same bag.

For microwave cooking of vegetables these bags are great! I used my first bag to try heating frozen broccoli. I liked the way these turned out. The vegetables retained their color and flavor, and they also came out with a nice texture- not too mushy, not too hard.

Most importantly, they passed the kid test; my kids ate them with no complaints.

I got bold for my second trial and decided to try out an omelet, which was one of the recipes included on the instruction card in the package.

This was less than successful. The eggs turned out very wet and runny from the steam in the bag, and I had to cook the omelet for a lot longer than instructed in the recipe to achieve a texture I was happy with.

In the end, it did not achieve a good result. To get the whole thing cooked, some of it became overdone, the rest was fine, but not really the same nice flavor you get in the pan.

Even though the eggs did not come out to my liking, it is not a deterrent to use these bags. They really are a great way to cook veggies quickly and with little to no mess. We have veggies with almost every meal, especially with our dinners.

While I may not be so inclined to use them a lot because of the price (you get 10 for $3.00 - not cost effective if you are using them every day), these bags are quick and easy, and definitely lighten the load when it comes to doing dishes.

A great time saver for sure!

For more on the Glad SimplyCooking Microwave Steaming Bags, check out their FAQ.

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Knowing which products are the safest for our kids to use can be very difficult. There are recalls on toys all the time - toys we expect to be safe for our kids and enjoy watching them play with.

While they might occasionally put a toy in their mouth, and we just hope that it doesn’t have lead in the paint (as in the recent Thomas The Tank Engine recall) or the metal (as in a host of children’s jewelry recalls), we may be giving our kids something that’s dangerous for them that’s actually meant to be put in their mouths.

Please take some time to check out some wonderful articles about the best sippy cups to serve your children’s’ drinks in. If you use bottles or will be using bottles, please also find out the best bottles to use.
Thanks to Jeremiah and Jennifer of ZRecs for such a complete roundup!

Thanks also to bitmapr for use of the sippy cup photo.

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A funny thing happened on my way to visit the Little Capers web site for the first time…

My children came running in to the room shouting “Hello Captain Mommy! Red Leader and Yellow Leader reporting for duty!”

Turns out they were playing pretend with daddy, only instead of capes they were wearing color coded chip-clips for badges. Other days when playing superhero, they take my clothes out of the closet or worse, they use their beautifully crocheted baby blankets from their grandmothers.

Little Capers are positively adorable, not to mention the perfect solution to my childrens’ dress up woes (ok, really my woes- I’m tired of finding my nice sweaters saving the world one snag at a time ).

Little Capers, as explained on the website,

are alternative Super Hero shirts that come with detachable capes. We felt that there had to be a better option than clipping a dishtowel to his shirt, or the commercial polyester pajamas and tees.

All of the shirts are 100% cotton and most are available in a long-sleeve or short-sleeve version. Some of the capes are shiny and some aren’t, but it seems that they are all detachable. There is even a version of the shirt available for infants and toddlers, but it does not have a cape.

My daughter already has her eye on “flower hero,” though I happen to think they are all equally as cute.

I especially like the idea that they are super-hero neutral. No tie-in to any commercially branded character. This allows them to be whoever they want to pretend to be.

And no trashing of blankies or my good sweaters! It looks like they are machine washable too, which none of our other dress-up clothes are.

Imagine - dress-up clothes you can actually toss in the wash! Cool idea. This could be a real hit!

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I recently received a request from one of our readers - Lacy - for the rest of you.

I have recently set up a fort swing set combo in my backyard and would like to add some adventure to it. I was wondering if you could get your readers to help come up with ideas to create a gadget / control panel. I have a toddler that loves buttons, levers, and gears and want to provide a panel for her to play with, so she can imagine it being anything she wants. I have planned on searching for an old keyboard and knobs to add to it, any ideas would be helpful.

It sounds like a fun and challenging project to create, one that will allow Lacy’s little girl hours of imaginative play!

I do have some questions for Lacy about the requirements for the panel, which I’ll post below. However, I want to let your creative wheels get started spinning. Be sure to check the comments for more on what she’s looking for.

1. Are you looking to use specific materials, possibly to match the rest of the fort?
2. What size would you like the completed panel to be?
3. Are you looking for an idea for a completed panel or just ideas for gadget-y supplies that a person could use to create a panel?

I’ll add more questions - and Lacy’s answers - to the post as I find them in the comments.

Got your thinking caps on?

Now GO!

Flickr photo from nalilo

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CuVid are educational DVDs that star your family members, with digital photos that you upload in a few simple steps.

Now, if that isn’t cool enough, I really appreciate their family-focused mission - it’s straight on with ours at Great Family Gadgets!

We are on a mission to bring families closer together, making a positive impact on as many lives as possible.

We want to provide parents with the most meaningful, educational, family-friendly, and personalized video content possible, while making sure it is as easy as possible to make and use.

Not only is the site simple, yet colorful, it’s very easy to use. Setting up an account took less than one minute, and getting the sample video completed really did take only five minutes (I timed it)!

In less than 10 minutes, you and your kids can be watching a sample of Mommy or Daddy (or Grandma or Grandpa) hiding at the beach, singing “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes” (though it’s a different tune than I know), and being inside of a sand castle.

If your kids are like mine, they’ll want to watch it over and over. And then they’ll want to have you do each of them. And then everybody else they know.

Thank goodness it’s fun and easy, and pretty quick. The hardest part was choosing which picture to use for the face.

Was there anything I didn’t like about it?

Well, from the sample video, when they showed the photograph of the ball it didn’t seem to fit with the style of the rest of the video. However, this was just a tiny sample and there are probably more photographs in the full-length videos so that there’s consistency.

There’s currently only one video to purchase - the Peek-A-Parent DVD - but there’s a lot of variety of scenes in that one 20-minute video.

Here are the ways you can personalize your DVD:

• Choose your character:
  • mommy
  • daddy
  • grandma
  • or grandpa
• Choose your package, all personalized for you:
  • video
  • DVD

The CuVids are ideal for kids between the ages of 3 and 48 months, but even my 5 and 8 year olds had a good time watching each of us animated on the screen (though I wouldn’t necessarily have one made for a 5 year old if there wasn’t a younger child around to benefit from what the video teaches ).

One of the reasons the parents/scientists behind CuVid created this product was so that working parents could “be with their kids even when they’re not home”.

As working parents, we also know how the rigors of everyday life like work, distance, and divorce can make spending quality time with children difficult. That is why we started Cuvid, to let everyone impart the benefits of being with their children, even when they cannot be.

Yet I can see the benefit of having these videos even for stay-at-home and work-at-home parents!

It would really be kind of magical, wouldn’t it, to be in two places in the home at once?

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The project that got me away from posting here (and everywhere else) was a pendant that I designed and created for Attachment Parenting International. I completely meant to come post about it here, but never felt like writing when I had “free time” - I just wanted to sleep.

The pendant started out to be a special for Mother’s Day, but will be available for purchase through the year. Here’s some background on the symbolism of the pendant:

Representing the connections evident in the lives of all women, the pendant is especially beautiful as a symbol of motherhood. The inner nest and its connections to the outer frame invoke powerful images of family bonds, interpersonal relationships, friendship networks, emotional support structures, and even spirituality. The stunning design embodies the name “Connections”.

After the first couple of months of that were done, I began to focus on transforming my original jewelry site into what it was meant to be from the beginning. I’m still working on getting the shop up and running, but I’m really happy with how it’s all turning out.

At one point I wondered if I should find somebody to take over this site, as my jewelry and teaching others about their power to make their lives what they want it to be is my passion. But products and services that help families spend more and happier time together is a great interest of mine, and getting rid of GFG always felt bad to me.

So did the little pile of products that others had sent to me (ooh, guilt is so hard to deal with!

I realized that I couldn’t do it all myself. And while I’ve had other bloggers mention interest in guest-authoring posts at Great Family Gadgets (and Jeremiah from Z-Recs post has been on the front page for the last four months), I needed to get these products into the hands of other parents for their reviews.

I’ve found a few local women who are very interested in sharing their opinions on products; you’ll be seeing posts from them in the next few weeks.

If you’re a blogger who would like to write a product review or share with others about a product you think is great, but you don’t think such a post would fit with your site, contact me! You will get a link back to your site at the top of the post (so you should contact me even if you think it would fit in with your site but want some different exposure).

I hope you look forward to more from Great Family Gadgets, as I do.

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