Recommendations

August 22, 2011

Getting Organized with About One

Dominique Recommendations About One, Online management

Since the start of the new school term for Monkey Boy I have been really busy getting back into the school routine. Time really fly by and I’m finding difficulty organizing and keeping track of the various appointments that the kids and I have. I needed something to show me how to get organized.

I needed to start somewhere and learn how to declutter. Looking at the pile of countless receipts on my table which I have accumulated this month gives me a headache. The receipts need to be cleared after taking note of the expenditure and I have been procrastinating about doing it .

It would be great to have something which is a digital filing system and more. It will certainly help simply the process of documenting and storing of important information.

Luckily there is such an online productivity tool for home managers called AboutOne.com.

I took the productivity tour and signed up for the 17 day Free Passport which gave me 17 full days of usage with no expiration date and credit card information required. I can use the days as and when I liked and if I do sign up it would only cost $30/yr for using this tool.

I was blown away by how easy it is to use after signing up for the trial. I could instantly add in information on my family members, their health history, education and appointments which needed to be taken note of. It also made it easier for me to take not of our home maintenance. There is even a section where you can list down all your appliances and their warranty dates so you will know which appliance is under warranty and for how long. Isn’t that neat?

About One $500 AMEX Giveaway

Global influence is holding a great giveaway.

One winner will be chosen at random from all entries across all blogs to receive the following prize:

$500 AMEX gift card and an upgrade to a free subscription to AboutOne.com to 1 grand prize winner + a $250 donation to the school of their choice.

All other entries will receive an email with a code for 25% off a one year subscription to AboutOne.com.

This giveaway ends September 9th at 11:59 p.m. ET and is open to U.S. residents age 18 or older.

How to Enter:

Sign up for AboutOne Free trial through this link
Fill up this Form after you have signed up for the trial.

Good luck!!

Disclaimer: I was compensated by the Global Influence Network for my participation in this program about AboutOne.com.

July 31, 2011

Beast Friends Forever- The Super Swap-O Surprise Book Review

Dominique Book Review, Recommendations Beast Friends Forever, Super Swap-O Surprise

I’ve been looking for fun books for Monkey Boy to read now that he is independently reading by himself at seven years old. I wanted a book that was both fun and introduced different ways of expressions to broaden his exposure to the various types of books.

Beast Friends Forever: The Super Swap-O Surprise! by Nate and Vince Evans was a fantastic book which I received for Monkey Boy to read.

This is the first book that we’ve read which combined readable chapters with illustrated black and white comics. I find this concept very refreshing and welcoming. The reader gets to visually experience what happens to Zeke, Hannah and Otto as they deal with the alien barbaric bananas and other weird characters which pop up when Otto conducts a Swap-O. They never know what would appear from Triangle Island during the swaps and how long they would last.

In this installment Zeke and Hannah run into the bully Sid and his cousin Moronica. Hannah’s jeweled egg was taken away by Sid and Zeke was challenged to a soccer match with both Sid and Moronica to get back the egg.

Otto helps Zeke out by morphing the soccer ball into a pig and then into rotten fruit. However the transformations were not enough to deter Sid from playing unfairly in soccer. Only when Otto turns a tree into a huge dinosaur did Sid start running off in fear and Hannah got back her jeweled egg.

Our Review

Monkey Boy found the book really interesting and amusing. He finished reading it in one sitting. I asked him what he liked about the book and he mentioned that the story was very funny and unusual with all the weird characters.

I too found it a fun read however I was not really pleased by the ” coarse” words like ” Holy Cow” and “runt”. Even though they are not hard core swear words but they are words which I certainly wouldn’t like my kids to be saying or even repeating. I frown on hearing adults using such words and definitely not want my kid to be uttering without fully understanding how offensive the words may be.

Monkey Boy didn’t mentioned if he would be interested in reading more books from the series. However, if they were available to us, I would certainly be interested to see how the storyline progresses in the next installment.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Beast Friends Forever: The Super Swap-O Surprise! from Sourcebooks Jabberwocky. All opinions are 100% my own.