Lightening Online

We’re big on games in our family.

They’re great for quality time, lots of laughs and have many educational benefits too!

In fact, we have an entire cupboard full of games (not so full now that I’ve shifted some into the caravan for when we go away).

Some are more popular than others.

One game we all seem to enjoy is…

It’s a strategy game where you each have a colour and can only add on to the corner of your own pieces.

The idea is to get as many of your pieces on the board as possible before you are completely blocked (and some of the pieces are shaped quite strangely).

It’s one of the few games we have that seems to balance out the age gap between our children (it does involve strategy and thinking but also quite a bit of luck that someone else doesn’t play where you want to go).

Right now, the kids are asking to play it most nights!

Aren’t I a self sacrificing mother, letting Singstar Princess have the red while I get boring YELLOW!  LOL.

While the game is designed for 2-4 players, my kids also like to play it solo.

Trailer Boy can spend hours just playing with the pieces like a puzzle, trying to fit them into the board and making patterns with the colours.

I do like me a game that can be used in more than 1 way!

What about your family?  Do you play board games together and which is your favourite?

I’m always interested in what works for others and always on the lookout for new games to add to our cupboard.

Generally speaking, I’m not a big fan of muesli style bars.

They just don’t appeal to me (or my kids).

A flavourless lump of cardboard laden with sugar and fat.

So when I was sent a package of these new Be Natural bars to try, I wasn’t necessarily all that enthused.

But one day when I was hungry and in a hurry, I grabbed one on my way out the door.

YUM!!!!!

These are AMAZING!!!

My favourite is the Apricot bar (LOVE apricots).  It’s chock full of nuts and seeds and the grains really just hold it all together.

My only disappointment in these is the labelling.  Because I was in a hurry I did a quick scan of the ingredients to see if they had wheat listed there.  I was pretty excited when I couldn’t find it.

Unfortunately they do actually contain wheat.  It’s listed in the ingredients as “bran cereal”.  If you read the entire packaging, it’s mentioned on the back but when you’re in a hurry, you’re used to just checking the ingredients list.  In this day and age where wheat intolerance is quite common, most companies are quite diligent in specifying wheat in their ingredients list.

Fortunately, I only have an intolerance and there wasn’t enough wheat in them to really worry me.

I won’t insult your intelligence by trying to pass these off as a “healthy snack”.  Like most bars of this type, they do contain a reasonable amount of fat and sugar.

HOWEVER, they are also nearly 1/4 nuts, taste FANTASTIC and would make an EXCELLENT substitute for a sugary treat packed with flavour and a lot more goodness than most chocolate or candy bars would give you.

You don’t have to take my word for it though.

The first 5 people to leave a comment on this post will get sent their own package of Be Natural Bars to try.

Just tell me, are you a fan of muesli style bars and why or why not?  Do you have a favourite?

P.S.  Almost forgot, you will need to be in Australia to qualify.  If you’re not, feel free to still leave a comment but we can’t send you the bars.  Sorry.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for sharing your great “cheer others up” experiences.  We’re having internet troubles at the moment so I’m not able to do as much online as I would like (right now in town at the library trying to do this post quickly).  My apologies for not responding to your comments as I would like.

Recently we were sent a pack of the new Sultana Bran Buds to try.

The kids were rather excited when they arrived and wanted to try them immediately.

To be honest, I was somewhat surprised as my kids don’t like sultanas.  LOL.

But they LOVE these!!!

I’d have walked past them in the supermarket every time assuming they wouldn’t like them because of the sultana content.

The packet we were sent to try was wolfed down in a matter of days.

Followed by “can you buy some more of these mum?”

I’m kind of relieved because the younger two are painful when it comes to what cereal they like.

They’ll eat coco pops and nutra grain (and fruit loops if I’d let them) but I prefer them to have something with some sort of nutritional value for breakfast!

And from what I can gather on the nutritional panel, they have more fibre per serve than weetbix!!!

So, I’ve been offered 5 packs of these to my readers as a giveaway.

If you’d like to try them, simply leave a comment below answering either (or both) of the following questions:

1.  A creative idea for getting more fibre in your kids diet.

2.  What kinds of cereal are popular in your house?

I will announce the winners in a few days (internet willing) so don’t delay, get your comments in straight away. 

Life keeps trying to teach me an important lesson.

I’m not superwoman. 

Which is a bummer really as I’d LOVE to BE superwoman.

Not in the “save people” sense though.

More in the “able to do everything” sense.

Hands up who’s with me?

LOL.

I think most mum’s would like to have more energy, more time, more organisational skills at some point in their lives (or many points as the case may be).

So, one of my “not trying to do it all” moments came when I realised it’s okay to buy prepackaged snacks.

When I was a full-time stay at home mum I cooked a LOT from scratch.

It was a way I could contribute to the family finances by keeping our costs as low as possible.

Now that I’m working part-time (even if it is somewhat flexible, it all takes time) AND doing other things like being President of the Parents & Friends at school, running kids around to sport, music etc etc., I’m finding it increasingly more difficult to fit everything in.

So, the kids now have 1 prepackaged snack for their lunchboxes each day (well, most days).

And Farmboy and I have been using some when we need to grab something to take out on the tractor.

The problem is, it’s not that easy to find prepackaged snacks that have some nutritional value and don’t completely break the bank AND that we like.

I’ve never been a huge fan of muesli bars.  I’m aware that they’ve had a bad rap in the press in regard to their nutritional value BUT the main reason I’m not a fan is because I don’t like them.

Anyway, when Zing asked me if I was interested in the NEW Be Natural Berry Trail Bars, I thought I’d give them a go.

I have to admit that they are quite nice.  I like Berry flavoured things so they appealed to me well.

So, what about the nutritional side of things?

According to the information I was sent, per bar they have:

Energy 462kj

Protein 2.6g

Fat 1.4g total (0.4 saturated)

Carbohydrate 19.7g (5.8g sugars)

Fibre 4.0g

Sodium 54mg

Plus they promote that they have no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives.

They also contain 5 whole grains, 3 of which we actually grow (that’s got to be a good thing yeah? )

I don’t know.  Healthy snack?  Treat only?  What do you think?

I’d also love to hear from you as to what kinds of prepackaged snacks you do and don’t buy and why.

P.S.  On a “less healthy” note, I wouldn’t mind trying the Macadamia & Honey or Nut Delight Nut Bars.  They’d be more healthy than a chocolate bar, yeah?

I hate to admit this…but I’m not very technically minded.

In fact, people sometimes get the wrong impression when they see my blog.  It does make me look rather clever doesn’t it?  But all the “clever-ness” was outsourced.

Anyway, it’s usually Farmboy’s job to nut out any new technology in this house.

It’s just all beyond me.

So, I was a little hesitant when it came to getting the Canon Pixma MP990 all set up and ready to use.

It’s no good waiting for Farmboy this time of year.  He’s never home.

Besides, how can I blog about something if I haven’t actually gone through the process myself.

So, I’ve bitten the bullet and set about seeing if I can figure out what needs to be done to get this thing up and running.

STEP ONE - GET IT OUT OF THE BOX, REMOVE THE PACKAGING AND LOCATE THE POWER CORD.

Okay, seemed to manage all of that without too many dramas.  I seem to have notes everywhere.  Not necessarily a bad thing as it’s harder to go wrong that way.

STEP TWO - INSTALL THE INK

Kind of had heart failure when I realised I needed to install the actual print head (tray the inks go in) first!

The instructions were pretty easy to follow though.

And the best bit?

You know that little monitor I was going to talk more about.

Well, it gives you lots of HELP when you’re getting the printer all set up.

And for someone like me who is visually oriented, it makes the whole process SO much easier.

I used a combination of the written instructions in the manual and the visual instructions on the monitor to make sure I was getting it right.

AND, when you have all the inks installed CORRECTLY, they have little lights that light up to let you know it’s “all good”:

How uber cool is that????

STEP THREE - GETTING THE PAPER ALIGNED

The printer comes with a special paper pack that you use when setting up the paper alignment and testing the printer.

What I also like is that my little monitor tells me how long I need to wait while the printer is busy doing something.  It means I’m not left standing around wondering how many minutes cleaning the heads or getting itself sorted is going to take and can go and do something and come back.

STEP FOUR - INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE & CONNECTING TO THE COMPUTER

I did have a little bit of trouble locating where the USB cable was meant to plug in.  The picture in the manual doesn’t show it all that clearly.  With a bit of a hunt, I did find it.

I expected to have to install software from the disk but by plugging the USB into my laptop, I was able to go directly to printing.

You can’t get much easier than that!

STEP FIVE - PRINTING

You’d expect this to be automatic wouldn’t you?

Everything else is all set up, we should be ready to go?

Not quite.

I tried to load the paper in the same place it had gone for getting the alignment all set up.

WRONG!

I hadn’t read the instructions properly.

And, as the kids were quick to point out to me, the computer screen had an image showing me exactly where to load the paper.  *blush*  I did say I was technologically challenged!

The paper gets loaded into a cartridge underneath the printer (similar to the way a photocopier would load).

Unfortunately, I pulled the entire tray out from the printer and it was very difficult to work out how to get it back in.

Difficult for me anyway.  I discovered I just had to lift it up the tiniest bit and it just slid right in.  Doh!

IT’S WORKING!!!!

Always a bonus when you have a new piece of equipment! 

Now the fun part can start!

You’ll have to excuse me if I fail to blog as much in the next few weeks.

I’ve just a received a “parcel in the post” (okay, via courier but you know what I mean right?)

This is the new Canon Pixma MP990.

Isn’t that built in monitor so cute????  (I’ll blog more about that in my next post).

I’ve been asked if I’d like to put this printer through it’s paces and possibly blog about my experiences doing so.

I figured “why not”.  Who wouldn’t want a new toy to play with, even if it is only for a short period of time.

The bonus is, I’ve been considering updating our printer.

Now I have the opportunity to put one through it’s paces before trying to decide what features I’d like/use etc.

How handy that Farmboy doesn’t need me on the tractor this morning.

Housework be darned, I have a present to play with.

P.S. I don’t get to keep it.  I just get to play with it for a while and then I have to send it back.  *sob*

P.P.S.  I didn’t really mean it about not blogging for a while. 

I’m no tech-head.  People sometimes mistake me for one when they see how professional this site looks.  The thing is, I didn’t do it!  :)  Now my secret is out.  LOL.  You only have to have a conversation with me and you’d quickly discover how much of a tech-head I’m NOT.  I tend to refer to all things technical as “thingys” and can be overheard muttering “I hate computers”.

I actually don’t “hate” computers.  I love them.  I just get so frustrated that I don’t know how to do more with them.

My regular laptop (not this small one that has become my “main” one temporarily) is getting old and tired.  I’ve tried downloading “clean up” type programs to help it along.  I think all I achieved was to clutter it up more.

So when I was offered a trial of this system mechanic from Iolo, I figured I had very little to lose in giving it a go.

I’d love to give you the techie low down on how it works and what it does, but that’s a bit beyond me.

This is all I can tell you:

1.  It was so simple that even I could download and install it.  And use it.

2.  It has definitely sped up the speed of our computer.

I guess that’s all you need to know really, right?

Here’s a bit of info the company gave me for those who want to know more:

System Mechanic:

• Fixes errors, crashes and freezes
• Boosts Windows and internet speeds
• Restores system stability
• Cleans out clutter and junk files
• Prevents slowdowns and bottlenecks
• Plugs security holes
• Clears out private data
• Extends healthy life of PCs

System Mechanic Giveaway

Christmas is a great time of year for a giveaway isn’t it?  Well, any time of year is probably a great time of year really!

System Mechanic have offered a number of copies of System Mechanic for me to giveaway to my readers.

It’s very simple to enter.  All you need to do is fill in the form below mentioning one of the 5 top causes of a PC slowdown (as mentioned on Iolo’s website).  You can find the answers on the Iolo System Mechanic website.

(just ignore the website field on the form below - I thought I’d told it not to include that.  It’s been a while since I’ve created a cform *sigh*).

cforms contact form by delicious:days

I know it’s a busy time of year but I hope you’ll take the time to enter. Entries close end of the day Tuesday 22nd December 2009 (South Australian time) and I’ll announce the winners on Wednesday 23rd December 2009. All personal information collected will be used for the purpose of this giveaway only and then deleted.

Last time I reviewed a lego product, I asked Trailer Boy what his dream Lego would be.

His response?

A caravan!!!

This might not be quite the same as our caravan but it’s pretty close:

And the lovely people at Zing actually remembered that was what his hearts desire was.  How nice is that??? 

I was going to keep it for his birthday but he was so sick recently that I brought it out as a “cheer me up”.  And it certainly cheered him up!!!

Even though it’s a smaller set, Lego had still packaged it up into numbered packages to make building it easier:

I’m not the world’s best Lego builder so this was particularly appreciated given he was not well and needed lots of help (and Farmboy is busy at the moment).

Every time I help build a new set of Lego, my heart always leaps to my throat wondering if a piece is going to be missing.  It’s NEVER happened though.  Lego must have some decent quality control.  Which is nice in this day and age of “cutting costs to increase profits”.  It might not be the cheapest toy to buy but at least you feel like you’re getting something for your money.

I still cannot believe how much detail they get into their kits.  This one has little cups, a pushbike (much to Trailer Boys delight!!!), a television.  Once made up, it opens up and you can actually play with the people that come with it - put them in the back, put them in bed etc.  So much FUN!!!!

He’s done nothing but play with it ever since we put it together!

A message from Trailer Boy:

It’s Good.

I like the inside of it and that they can surf.

There’s a thing up there (the top) where they can sleep.

The best bit is the drivers seat.

Thank you to Lego and Zing for sending it to me.

Thanks from me too!!!  I think you saved my sanity, trying to cope with a sick little boy!!!  :)  No doubt this will remain a treasured item in our home for years to come!

When Farmboy and I were dating, we had a friend who had a mammoth beanbag we loved to inhabit.  We decided we HAD to have one for ourselves.  Fast Forward MANY years and that never eventuated.  While I haven’t gone out of my way to hunt for a beanbag that’s comfortable for 2, I haven’t come across any either.

Not until these Omni chairs by Sumo were brought to my attention.  AWESOME!!!!

It’s like Farmboy and I have returned to those youthful “dating” days!!!! 

Of course, there are a few little differences:

Like back then, we didn’t have an 11 year old!!!! 

Or an 8 year old, or a 5 year old!  I wonder if the omni chair has ever been made into a car before?  Notice the babies in their carseats in the back?  I just love kids imaginations!!!! 

And at the end of a hard day….

Perfect for my new school boy to take a much needed nap! 

It has the perfect fabric for those with kids too.  It’s easy-clean (unlike our last beanbag which didn’t stand up to the test of children!).

Alright, enough talking about it, I’m off to snuggle in my omni pillow and watch NCIS! 

You can find more information about the sumo lounge range, including some other suggestions for ways to use it and information on how to get your own by clicking here.

You’ll have noticed that from time to time I’ve been writing product reviews on this blog. I enjoy trying new products and letting you know what I think of them. So when I was approached about trying this new Pomegranate Juice, I was intrigued. I’ve never heard of it before. Here are my thoughts:

FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT

I have to say that before the juice has even hit my tastebuds, I’m impressed. How cute is this bottle? And the logo with the love heart? I’m in love already!!!

I took some with me to swimming lessons during the holidays and the bottle alone sparked quite a bit of interest and intrigue from other mum’s around me.

SOME FACTS AND FIGURES

Attached to the bottle is a cute little label which details the following in terms of the antioxidant power of pomegranate juice when compared to other juices:

POM Wonderful 96%

Red Wine 68%

Concord Grape Juice 62%

Blueberry Juice 51%

Black Cherry Juice 47%

Acai Juice 46%

Given I’ve always thought of Red Wine as being high in antioxidants, I was quite impressed with these figures.

MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE TASTE

It’s taste reminded me of grape juice and blackcurrant juice which isn’t surprising given it’s a similar colour juice to those. It is quite strong and I prefer it watered down with either water, lemonade or soda water. In fact, I think it would make quite a nice base for mixing together with any number of other drinks. Naturally, the health benefits would also be “watered down” in this case. However, I’m not sure I liked the taste enough to continue to drink it at full strength.

THE BIG TEST - THE KIDS

My children are always the biggest critics when it comes to something new so I thought it would give the juice quite the test if I gave it to them. They’re used to having dark juice diluted with water so I gave this to them the same way. Here are there reactions.

Lleyton (almost 11) - wasn’t keen. Took 1 sip and that was enough for him.

Singstar Princess (8) - wasn’t sure. Drank about half of the first cup and said she didn’t like it but came back the next day and wanted to try it again.

Trailer Boy (5) - LOVED it! Can’t seem to get enough and is always asking for more.

So there you go, quite mixed reactions there!

ANYONE ELSE TRIED IT?

It’s apparently available via Woolworths and Safeway stores. Has anyone seen it in the stores and anyone else tried it? I’d love to hear what you thought of it if you have.

If you’d like to know more about it, you might enjoy having a browse of the POM Wonderful website. I noticed there are some other flavours mentioned there. It would be interesting to try some of those. I particularly like the look of the Pomegranate and Blueberry juice.