Organize with Sandy Reviews

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2009-08-19T20:22:00.001-04:00

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The Good Home Cookbook Review and Giveaway THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

2009-08-12T16:15:00.001-04:00

Who can't use a new cookbook? There is so much packed into this cookbook!!

The difference about this cookbook is that it is all recipes that are "good home-cooked" meals. It claims to be "The only cookbook entirely tested in home kitchens across America!
Cool! Over 1,000 classic, simple, clear cut recipes that taste and smell like they came from Grandma's kitchen.
It even gives the appearance of one of Grandma's cookbooks with the hand drawn pictures. (It actually does remind me of one my mom used to have)
I personally would like to have had some photographs of some of the dishes along with the hand drawn pictures. I like seeing what the dish looks like.

To Buy: Go to Abrams Books and purchase it for $29.95.

To Win:

1) Go to Abrams Books and and check out their site. Tell me how many pages are in this book.
Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your e-mail address in your FIRST comment. (Each week I have people who don't win just because they have not entered their e-mail address)

For Extra Chances To Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

4) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

5) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

6) Subscribe to my Review blog. (left sidebar)

7) Subscribe to my Organizing Blog. (Right sidebar)

This contest is open to US mailing address only.
Only one person from mailing address eligible to win.
(will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

This contest will run until August 19, 2009 8:00 pm EST *THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED*

The Bounty Experience at COSI

2009-08-07T16:15:00.017-04:00

I was happy to have the experience of taking my triplets and heading to COSI (Center of Science and Industry) in Columbus, Ohio for this event put on by Procter and Gamble.
This was the first of its kind and they were "testing the waters" (pun intended) to see how it would go. This was a free event open to anyone and the kids got fun Bounty backpacks and a little rubbery stretchy toy, along with a lot of educational hands on experiences. Bounty sponsored a group of 3rd graders from a near by school to come to the event, they also got the same bright green t-shirts that all the P&G employees wore. (very cute).

This was set up as a fun learning experience for the kids. My triplets are going into 3rd grade also and it was a perfect age, although would have been appropriate for a older or younger.
They started us off with some discussion about paper and its properties and strength with volunteers for demonstrations.
(That is one of mine on the left)

Then after the initial presentation they had stations set up for the kids to go to.

There were maybe 8-9 of them. They were all interactive for the kids. At this station they got to roll play- dough to see how it was bumpy but it could be smoothed out. (as it is done in the paper towel making process) They got to touch soft, squishy...they got to try and clean a container with two different kinds of paper (cardboard and paper towels) to see which was flexible and easier to clean with.

Here they were showing the kids how much water Bounty paper towels could absorb compared to other paper towels. But it wasn't just "Ours is better than theirs"...they were explaining the science behind everything to them. They were teaching them why and how. (See FAQ)

I had to ask my step daughter what this station was about. (I was talking to some ladies from P&G). She just told me they were telling them about plants and the gases that come from them.

I was busy talking to Laura and Elicia (who were very nice and helpful by the way...aren't they so cute? No...they didn't tell me to say that. LOL!) from P&G when the kids were at the "balloon" station. They were explaining to me how concerned and proactive P&G (Bounty) is in the environment and how they plant a tree for every tree they take down. They use the smaller perforations so that you can use a smaller amount of paper towel for a smaller job. (less waste)

The kids got to see how they could actually make paper themselves. They showed them what pulp was and how it is used to make paper.

They actually went through the whole process of making a piece of paper.

Then they got to see a finished product (this one had been made the night before)

This station was one of the most fun for the kids. It was showing the strength of the paper towels when they got wet. The put a Bounty paper towel over a bowl and held in place, and then did the same with another brand paper towel. They added about 7 pool balls onto the paper towels and then added water. You can see my Zach was expecting the worse...and he was right..the paper towel broke when the water was added. But they just dropped into the bowl...nothing went flying like he expected!

He then added the water to the Bounty paper towel loaded with the same number of balls and it held. He had the kids add the balls from the broken paper towel to the Bounty paper towel and showed how many more it could hold before it finally broke. Actually a very enlightening example to me!

There were a couple of other stations there as well. We had a really nice outing and hopefully Bounty can take this "show" on the road to some other cities. It is good fun education for the kids and also educational for the adults too!

Thank you P&G and COSI for bringing the Bounty Experience to Columbus!

Greeting Card Keeper Review and Giveaway CLOSED

2009-08-06T06:44:00.008-04:00

I'll tell you what...some of the great ideas that people come up with! This will solve a lot of problems for those of you who love to keep their greeting cards.

For an organizer...Greeting cards can be one of those..."Oh no...she has all the greeting cards that anyone ever gave her from the time she was a baby" ....moments.
People have a hard time getting rid of them.
What do I normally tell them and what I am still going to stick to even with this product?
Save only those greeting cards that are VERY memorable and that have personal messages inside. If it is card from graduation 20 years before and it was from a friend of your parents that you hardly knew...throw it out! (recycle is best)
But if it was a Mother's Day card that your child wrote a special heart felt message in to you...then it is ok to keep it.
But here is a solution to the "keeping it" cards!
These albums not only let you slid your greeting cards into a sleeve to protect...it lets you slide your OPEN card into a sleeve so not only can you see the front...you can see and read the inside. So simple...yet ingenious!

She has 2 size albums - Large albums hold cards with a closed dimension of up to 9-1/4" X 5-3/4" in size.
Medium albums hold cards with a closed dimension of up to 8" X 5" in size.
There are several colors available and they are very reasonably priced. $10-$16.99 and that includes the card sleeves.
I really think these are great! You can keep your special cards protected from damage and be able to look at them anytime you want to enjoy. They are not stuck away in some box in the basement or stuffed in drawers.
To me the only negative I see is that even the large is not going to fit some of those really large cards you get, but the majority of your greeting cards will fit into one of these 2 albums.
The other issue I noticed was that I had a card that had several folds in it (one that stretched out) But I just put it so that the front showed and then the end page where the personal message was written and that is what is most important anyway. So the couple negatives I noticed really aren't negatives at all.

I would highly recommend these albums if you are someone who does like to save some of your greeting cards, then your can keep these albums on a shelf or place them on a coffee table where they can be enjoyed.

To Buy: Go to Card Memories.com to purchase. The small albums start at only $10.00.

To Win: Heather has offered to give away Large White album and one small album (your choice of color) Thank you Heather!

1) Go to Card Memories.com and check out their site. Tell me how many card sleeves come with each album. Then come back here and tell me in the comments. Please be sure to leave me your e-mail address on This Comment to be eligible to win. If your e-mail is not on this comment, you will not be able to win even if it is posted on your other entries.

Extra Chances To Win!! (Be sure to add a separate comment for each entry and e-mail address on each one!)

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Subscribe to my Review blog. (right sidebar)

3) Subscribe to my Organizing Blog. (Right sidebar)

4) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

5) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

6) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

7) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest is open to US mailing address only.
Only one person from mailing address eligible to win.
(will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

This contest will run until Wednesday, August 12th @ 8:00 pm EST *THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED*

TasteCasting - Morton's The Steakhouse

2009-08-03T22:53:00.022-04:00

We had a lovely experience at Morton's The Steakhouse tonight. There were 10 of us there from Tastecasting. We had a private room which was wonderful. Sara Goldberg (sales & marketing manager) took complete care of us...along with our server Joe. We also had a visit from Erin (also PR) and Dan (the assistant manager).
They started us off with some wonderful drinks. This was a cosmopolitan made with a Vodka from Finland (because I can't remember what the actual name was), triple sec and cranberry juice. (as refreshing as it looks!)

I am going to have more pictures than words from here on out because I think these pictures talk for themselves. These are all (except desserts) on their "Bar Bites" menu. If you sit at the bar and order these (from 5pm - close) then they are just $6.00 each. If you order them at your table, then they are regular price.

This is the Petite Filet Mignon Sandwich (you get 4) with mustard mayonnaise. There is also the Iceberg Wedge Bites - Bite-size wedge salads with tomato, egg, bacon and blue cheese dressing. These were both fantastic! Loved them both.
These Oysters on the Half Shell can also be purchased but they are $2.25 each. (I think this was the first time I had one that I didn't chew. I think you are either a fan of oysters or not. For me...it was a nice taste of salt and very mild fish. I'm glad I tried it! For oysters I am sure it was wonderful. :)
Chicken Goujonettes (I am glad she pronounced it...I still couldn't if you asked me. LOL) These were like fancy chicken strips with the mustard mayonnaise. Very good, nice crisp on the outside and moist on the inside.
Sorry Joe for cutting off your head! Do these look yummy or what? Here is a close up!

Now is this a cheeseburger or what? This is the Prime Cheeseburger (you get 3 of them) Wonderful. You can't find a burger like this at McDonalds!
Just look at these fries! These are the Blue Cheese French Fries with melter blue cheese, red pepper flakes and chives. I ate them with a fork and loved every bite.

Jumbo Lump Crab, Spinach & Artichoke Dip. This was fantastic! The toasted french bread croutons (big croutons!) I have to say that all of the bread used in the burgers, sandwiches and these croutons were perfect. Moist and soft on the burgers and crisp but still soft on these croutons. That was one thing really noticed. Loved the breads!
This little yummy bite of food is a miniature crab cake with the mustard mayonnaise on it.
You can combine these Bar Bites with the Power Hour drinks from 5pm - close. There is a selection of brinks from beer to Morton's Mortinis ranging with special drink prices of $4-$7.

They were kind enough to bring us some of their desserts to test. (These are not on the Bar Bites menu) They brought us several to split and Jenn and Cheryl were ready to dive in as soon as we rang the bell!!

Could this carrot cake look any better?

Is your mouth watering for this Key Lime Pie?

We asked if Joe could do his "Table Presentation" for us. This is the presentation they do for every customer at the table side. He explains the cut of meat, vegetables and lobster (yes live). It was very informative!

I was very impressed with all of the food we were served. I have only been to a Morton's once and that was years ago in Chicago. There are Morton's nationwide and Canada, Asia, Puerto Rico and Mexico. Next time you want a special meal you will have to give it a try. I can't wait to go again (but next time it will be with my hubby!)

Rubbermaid 20 piece All In One Set Review and Giveaway CLOSED

2009-07-30T16:00:00.013-04:00

I have been very pleased with this set of plastic food storage containers.
There are several really nice features that an organizer would have to love.
I think the one that I like the best is the fact that you can snap the lid onto the bottom of the container when you aren't using it. No more lost lids right!?

If you do that with all your lids you can still stack them like this:

The other option for stacking is just nesting them...which they do very nicely and you can still store lids underneath.

This is the Stay Fresh container that keeps fruits and vegetables fresh longer by circulating the air and keeping them off the bottom of the container. The inside piece also snaps to the bottom for no loss storage.

There are 4 different kinds of containers with lids in this package. There is also this version with the snap on lid and there are the clear plastic pieces that have the black flexible lids. These all have great seals on them so you know your food is going to stay as fresh as possible while in these.

So you get a variety of the different kinds all in one set of 20. Gotta love it!

To Buy: You can go to their site Rubbermaid.com and check out all the different items you can purchase.

To Win: Rubbermaid has so graciously offered to give one of my readers this same set as they gave me!!

1) Go to Rubbermaid.com and check out their site. Tell me a fact that you discovered on the different varieties of food storage containers. Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your e-mail address on AT LEAST ONE OF YOUR ENTRIES, even if it is on your profile.

For Extra Chances To Win!! (Be sure to add a separate comment for each entry and e-mail address on each one!)

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Subscribe to my Review blog. (right sidebar)

3) Subscribe to my Organizing Blog. (Right sidebar)

4) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

5) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

6) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

7) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest is open to US mailing address only.
Only one person from mailing address eligible to win.
(will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

This contest will run until 8:00 pm EST on Wednesday August 5th. THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

MooreMagnets magnetic boards by April Review and Giveaway!

2009-07-21T21:19:00.011-04:00

I have to admit that I am totally in love with the magnetic board that April made me to review. So much so that I don't even have it with me to do get pictures and do this review. Why you ask? Because I packed it yesterday and sent it to Blogher. I am going to use it on my table to sell my pouchees. I will use it to display the business cards of my sponsors!
I have a picture with it in it...not the greatest pic..but you can still see how cute it is!

You can get tins to put your paperclips, rubberbands etc... in to keep organized.

You can hang them or use them as a standing magnetic board with the cute wooden stand she includes (on standing models).

There are several variations as in this magnetic strips or the window pane

To Buy: Go to www.mooremagnets (and while she is working on her site, you will be directed to her Etsy page.) and find one to purchase. April is offering a 15% discount if you use the code "Organize with Sandy".

To Win: April has offered a $15 online coupon for her store! Yeah!

1) Go to MooreMagnets and check out their site. Tell me which magnetic board is your favorite!
Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your e-mail address ON EACH ENTRY if you want to be eligible to win .

For Extra Chances To Win!! (Be sure to add a separate comment and e-mail for each entry)

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Subscribe to my Review blog. (right sidebar)

3) Subscribe to my Organizing Blog. (Right sidebar)

4) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

5) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

6) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

7) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest is open to US mailing address only.
Only one person from mailing address eligible to win.
(will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

This contest will run until Wednesday July 29th @ 8:00 pm EST

Peter Walsh's In Place System and Office Max Team Up - Review

2009-07-21T20:11:00.007-04:00

Peter Walsh is a guru of organizing. You have probably seen him on the Oprah Show as her organizing consultant. He has teamed up with Office Max to bring his new organizing system to all of us. It is called "In Place System".

I got to take part in a web cast with him a few months ago and it was great. (You can see it here yourself)
This is a office organizing system that is designed to be simple, affordable and usable.
He makes folders clear so that you can easily see what is in them. He uses specially made sticky notes so that you can change labels as you need.
There are several components and you need to see them at your local Office Max.

I was also given some really fun and colorful folders and clips to use from Office Max. It is the DiVoga line of fun accessories. I love them. I use them for my children's files that I keep current information in. It is fun to have something different than you plan old cream color folders.
The plastic snap folders are great too. I am using one to put all my BlogHer paperwork in. I am dividing up the 3 days schedules, confirmations and party schedules into the clear folders from Peter Walsh with sticky note labels and then putting them all into the fun snap closure folder from Office Max. Great combo!
The paperclips are just so cute and fun. I use them in a clear magnetic tin that I display on my magnetic board.
Great stuff Peter Walsh and Office Max!

By The Book - How To Take Care of MY Kids Review and Giveaway. Closed

2009-07-14T09:11:00.009-04:00

Do you have to call the Doctors office to get a list of your child's immunzations? Do you have a questionnaire to hire sitters or nanny's?
Do you have an information sheet with your child's bus # and drop off location along with teachers names and school information on it if needed for a sitter in an emergency?
Do you have a secret family password that your children know?
Do you have a list for a sitter that would have your children' routines, likes and dislikes, discipline, medications and emergency numbers listed?

Now you can have all this and a lot more in this "By the Book Kids" Book. This comes in e-book and also binder form with tab dividers, charts and lists for you.
This book is a great place to have everything you need for your kids! I love these kinds of things that compile everything you need into one place. Working in the pediatricians office I get calls all the time with parents who have no idea when their child's last tetanus shot was or even when they had their last well child physical...not to mention they do not even know the names of the medications or doses they are on. So having this section of the book is a BIG plus for me!!

How To Use This Resource (Straight from the Book itself)
By the Book is divided up into different sections, each serving its own
purpose to meet your child’s needs. Each section deals with a different aspect
of childcare, be it the nap time routine, how to feed the fish or what you
allow and absolutely do not tolerate. Some sections will be useful for the four hour sitter.
Some will be helpful to the full-time nanny. Other sections are just for the parents. We’ve included everything. So customize the book to meet your needs. Use what you want, then put the rest in the back. As your needs change, you will be able to let the book change with you, creating a living document that grows with you
and your family.

To Buy: Go to www.Bythebook.com and purchase either the hardback cover for $19.95 (+S&H)
or the e-book for $9.95. You can also buy the cover and tabs for $4.95 (+S&H) so you can print out your own book. Karen has graciously offered my readers a discount! Coupon code BTBK7757 (case sensitive) for a 25% discount off the hardbound book!! (That takes the price to $14.96 (plus S&H). Fantastic!!

To Win: You can win a hardback copy of this book by going to the site By The Book and go "inside the book". Tell me one of the sections in the Table of Contents. Come back here and write in in the comments. Be sure to leave your e-mail on your comments to be able to win.

For Extra Chances To Win!! (Be sure to add a separate comment and e-mail for each entry)

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Subscribe to my Review blog. (right sidebar)

3) Subscribe to my Organizing Blog. (Right sidebar)

4) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

5) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

6) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

7) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest is open to US mailing address only.
Only one person from mailing address eligible to win.
(will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

This contest will run until Tuesday July 21st @ 8pm est.

BIA Parade of Homes Review and Ticket Giveaway

2009-07-07T20:48:00.021-04:00

I was lucky enough to be contacted and asked to come see a preview of the BIA Parade of Homes in Dublin, Ohio before it opened.
I am thrilled to be able to share a couple of the homes with you. What I am so absolutely thrilled with is that most all of these builders are incorporating "organizing" components into their homes. I am going to keep my commentary down as there is so many neat pictures to show! I will give you the links to the info pages on the two homes that I show case their organizing specialties.
This first home is a home by M/I Homes. (Above picture)
The organizational specialty in this house has to be the woman's closet! I'm not sure of the dimensions to this closet, but it could easily be a bedroom in many of our homes.

These closet doors open up to a mirror where you can see the front and back of your outfit. There are 3 windows in this closet and a chandelier! Keep in mind that these homes are still feverishly being worked on getting ready for judging. So the drawers that should be underneath are sitting on top of the window seats.

The center photo shows looking through the two closet racks.
The man's closet is dark wood and wonderful also.

Now this is an organizers dream home!! It is built by Romanelli and Hughes and Sarah Schnulo is designer extraordinaire!!
You walk from the garage that Premier Garages have outfitted into the Family Organizing Center....250 sq. ft of pure Organizer's Love!!

This is the washing center. There is a washer and dryer stack unit in the family organizing center. The main laundry room is on the 2nd floor of this home, so this is just a bonus laundry center. It is meant to be used for those sports uniforms that come in dirty or wet snow clothes. You can take them off before you ever have to go upstairs. (And yes there would be a place to hang a robe if needed).

Directly across from the laundry center is your family command center. Calendars, places to put mail and bills, hook up for a computer...don't you just love it!?
That is Sarah who designed this area (she is my new hero!!)
If you come in the garage door and look to your right this is what you will see.

Is this too cool or what?

This is where you can take off those jeans that you may have gotten mud on and throw in the dirty clothes hamper. The basket above may have your clean jeans folded in them, or your cloth cubby may hold your robe or pair of shorts.
When you come in from school, the jacket can go on the hook...sit down to take off your shoes and store them in the shoe cubbies and toss your hat in the cubby above.
You can hang your book bag on the hooks at the end of the hall.

Do you know what this is? Do you have any idea? It is a walk through PANTRY!!!
Yes...as you come in with your arms loaded with grocery bags you can walk through and unload them so you don't have to carry them all the way into your kitchen. This backs up to the desk command center. It is like a big square in design. (keep in mind there were workers everywhere still putting up all the finishing touches on these houses..hence the ladder in the pantry)
I could go on with other pictures and features of this house. There is the storage shelves that are utilized under stairs, built in desk in the kids room. The house is divided into zones. The kids have a back stair case and their own game room with big screen tv and games. Go to my Organizing Blog to see some more pictures of this incredible house!
Loving this house!! Want this house....but for now I will just dream about this house!

I have been given a set of tickets to give away to come see this fabulous BIA Parade of Homes in Tartan Ridge, Dublin Ohio. Please only sign up if you are in Central Ohio and will attend or want to make plans to come and visit.

To Buy: Tickets cost $12 each and you can find the information here.

To Win: I will be giving away a set of tickets to attend the BIA Parade of Homes in Dublin Ohio.

1) Go to BIA Parade of Homes and check out their site. Tell me what the dates are for the 2009 Parade of Homes in Tartan Ridge. Come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your e-mail address.

For Extra Chances To Win!! (Be sure to add a separate comment for each entry)

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Subscribe to my Review blog. (right sidebar)

3) Subscribe to my Organizing Blog. (Right sidebar)

4) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

5) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

6) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

7) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest is open to US mailing address only.
Only one person from mailing address eligible to win.
(will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

This contest will run until Monday July 13th @ 8:00 pm EST

Mommy Grace Book Review and Giveaway - 5 Winners!!! CLOSED

2009-07-03T08:49:00.006-04:00

The Mommy Grace Book is for any mom that feels:
1) She isn't perfect
2) She is messing up her kids
3) She should cook, clean, mother better
4) She needs a course on raising children
5) She is a terrible mother

...You get the idea. This book lets us know that we are NOT PERFECT MOMS and NEVER Will BE...and guess what????? THAT IS OK!!!!
We have God To be in control and that is the central message of Sheila Schuller Coleman's message in this book.

As mothers we almost all feel we are not good enough to handle this job and do it "perfect" like we feel we are supposed to.
This book is designed to help us get rid of our "Mommy Guilt" by giving us "Mommy Grace."
She uses really nice short real life stories that are funny and really enjoyable to read.
What I really like is that she showcases that "God designed each mother for her particular child". Isn't that neat?

TO BUY: Go to Hachette Book Group and it will direct you to where you can buy it for $14.99 ($16.99 Canada)

TO WIN: THERE WILL BE 5 WINNERS!!!!!
Go to Hachette Book Group and tell me what the publish date of this book it. Come back here and enter your answer in the comment section. You must make sure you include your e-mail to be able to win.

For Extra Chances To Win!! For each entry make sure you do a separate comment!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Subscribe to my Review blog. (right sidebar)

3) Subscribe to my Organizing Blog. (Right sidebar)

4) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

5) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

6) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

7) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest is open to US mailing address only.
Only one person from mailing address eligible to win.
(will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

This contest will run until Thursday July 9th @ 8:00 pm EST **THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED**

TasteCasting - Dunkin Donuts in Worthington

2009-06-29T17:38:00.010-04:00

Who doesn't love donuts? I know I sure do! I was lucky enough to get to go as a part of the Tastecasting team to the new Dunkin Donuts in Worthington, OH
We got to taste donuts, coffees and breakfast sandwiches. I know I got an education to what they had. I never thought of anything other than the donuts...(which is usually enough in MY book!!) Ok...I will let you drool over the next couple of pictures...

Ok..we all know how wonderful their donuts are right?
But they also have some other really great products....some of which you can eat without feeling guilty

There is a menu of items called the DD Smart menu. They are a healthier option with calorie counts below 300 calories. This is the Egg White Turkey Sausage Flatbread sandwich. It was really good!! Very filling and I just had a portion of one to sample. I will be getting another one of those for sure. Ok...so if I get one of those along with my donut it would be better than just eating donuts right?

I tried an iced coffee with cream and a shot of blueberry syrup in it. Now that was fun too. I sipped that all the way home and really enjoyed it.

This was the cutest little sample cup of their really yummy coolattas! These are on special until July 14th for only $1.99. Now...do not think they are tiny like my sample....look at the site. These are 16 oz sizes. I tasted the strawberry and vanilla. I do have to say that my favorite was the strawberry..although the vanilla really tasted good too. You can have them made with skim milk and they can fall into the DD Smart Menu with only 140 calories for a small. Yeah!
Stop by and visit and tell them Tastecasting sent you!

Custom Magazine holder review and Giveaway CLOSED

2009-06-25T23:24:00.009-04:00

Have you ever looked at the magazine holders you can buy for your magazines and thought how plain they look? Well...no more. You can have the cutest shelves in town with Lisa's Vintage magazine holder. She has dressed up a basic magazine holder that can hold light weight magazines or catalogs with vintage fabrics and bows.

I think it looks so cute! She has added a place for a label to be added to it also. (Love labels!!)

She has many other items she makes and sells!! So you will need to check out her site! Pale and Pink Roses

To Buy:
Go to Pale and Pink Roses and you can buy them. They are $24.99 (plus s&h)

To Win one of her Magazine holders:

1) Go to Pale and Pink Roses and check out their site. Tell me which item you like the best on her "whats new" page. Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your
e-mail address.

For Extra Chances To Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Subscribe to my Review blog. (right sidebar)

3) Subscribe to my Organizing Blog. (Right sidebar)

4) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

5) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

6) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

7) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest is open to US mailing address only.
Only one person from mailing address eligible to win.
(will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

This contest will run until Thursday, July 2, 2009 @ 8:00 pm EST THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED

Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home Book Review and Giveaway! 5 Winners!! Closed

2009-06-17T08:03:00.006-04:00

Are you a cleaner? I have to admit I love things when they are clean, but even though I am an "organizer" it doesn't necessarily mean I am the best "cleaner". I used to come home from school every couple of months to find my bedroom completely rearranged. I always thought it was big fun to have my bed in a new place. I thought my mom was just making my life fun. But she was cleaning! Everything, under the bed, behind the dresser etc. I have to admit...once furniture is in a place in my house, it doesn't get moved very often! I just do the best I can getting the vacuum underneath the bed.
Mrs Meyer's Clean Home book is like the book of knowledge when it comes to cleaning your home. She has "No-nonsense advice that will inspire you to clean like the Dickens." She has all kinds of neat tips and tricks. She takes each area and breaks it down. She gives you the "toolbox" of what you will need for each area of your home. She throws in humor and family/parenting advice along the way. It is cleaning the way we dream of!

For instance on this page about the bathroom sink. On the right hand page with the sink it says,
"Got TOOTHPASTE dripping down the side of the sink? Dab it up with a CLOTH and RUB IT ON your sink and shower faucets to BRIGHTEN them up."
Ok, right there I didn't know you could use toothpaste to brighten your faucets. I did know you can use shampoo to clean your shower (Fly Lady), but this was a new one for me.
On the left side of this page she has a chart for the different kinds of sinks and what to use to clean them including, porcelain, acrylic, limestone, marble and granite and solid surfaces.
The book is great ladies. The only way it could be better would be if when you open it she jumps out of the book and cleans your house for you!! (Now wouldn't that be cool!!)

To Buy: Go to Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home site and it will give you a list of where you can purchase this book for $19.99/$21.99.

To Win: 5 WINNERS!!!!

Hachette Book Group is giving me 5 books to give away!!! Isn't that great!!!

1) Go to Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home and check out their site. Tell me what kind of water she doesn't want you to waste! Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your e-mail address.

For Extra Chances To Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Subscribe to my Review blog. (right sidebar)

3) Subscribe to my Organizing Blog. (Right sidebar)

4) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

5) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

6) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

7) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest is open to US mailing address only.
Only one person from mailing address eligible to win.
(will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

This contest will run until 8:00 pm EST Thursday June 25th, 2009 THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

If you want a great Deal - Check out Buxr.com!

2009-06-12T15:11:00.004-04:00

Buxr is a great resource for those of you trying to find some great deals, offers, coupons. In fact the fun thing about Buxr is that you can actually earn money for sharing your great deals! If you are picked as having the hottest deal of the day you can actually win money.
Here is a description that Buxr gives:
"Buxr.com is a social bargain hunting site where community members gather to share hot shopping deals. All of the deals on Buxr are shared, rated, and vetted by our community."

It is a very simple site, no bells or whistles, just down and dirty bargains listed here! There is a discussion board, faq page, and one of the things I really liked was a "how to" use the site video.
This is the faq page. I found it very helpful.
For those of you who are always tracking down the best deal...this site can help you two-fold. One, you can find some great deals. (Heck, if you get paid for posting the best deals, then you know that everyone is going to only post good ones!)
The 2nd thing is that you can post the deals that YOU find other places and make some money. How fun is that?
Check it out!! Buxr.com

TasteCasting - SugarDaddy's Bakery

2009-06-11T09:24:00.025-04:00

**Be Sure To See the Discount Code at the Bottom of the Page for an Exclusive Offer!!!

Meet Mark, Tom, Allison and Brian. This is team Sugardaddy! (Minus Chef who was on vacation for our visit).
Mark and Tom are the creators and owners of all these goodies!
Tom would make up these wonderful brownie creations and Mark loved them and encouraged him to take his love of baking, his marvelous brownie creations, and creativity to the next level.

Together they formulated the name from Blondies their light or butter, brown sugar based brownies and Brunettes from their chocolate brownies. So what worked better than SugarDaddy's?

There are 17 flavors of these round brownies and blondies. For instance you have the Dark Berry, Auburn Original, Rich Mint, Tahiti, Fiery, Zanzibar, Chai Spiced and many more.

I have to say that the Rich Mint is my favorite...although I loved all the others too. I don't think there would be any of all that I tasted...and I tasted a lot!!! I was trying just one bite of about all of the items.

Why round?

Tom and Mark did a lot of research and found that the majority of people do not like the brownie crust. They want the moist inside of the brownie. So they bake their brownies and then cut them round.
I think this is great. They do not let ANYTHING go to waste when it comes to their deluxe brownies.
They use the pieces that come from in between the round cuts to make 1 lb bags of "pocket change." These little pieces of brownie are great for munching, using in a trifle, or paring with ice cream.

For those of us who love the crust...we are not forgotten!! They take the crust and double bake them to come up with Brownie biscotti! Oh...are these good! Brownie taste, crust taste, but so light and great with coffee.

So you think they would be finished right? Nope...more small pieces of brownie are used to make these fabulous Brownie Truffles! Oh my gosh!! Loved these too!!
They are color coded so you know what you are getting.

Here are a few that I got to taste. (Wish I had one right now as I am writing this!!)

This is the Auburn Original. It has triplet chocolate, chocolate ganache and kahlua.

The American Beauty with double chocolate, peanut butter, roasted peanuts, chocolate canache and creme de cacao. Soooo good.

So you would think there wouldn't be anything left right? They take the smallest parts of the brownies and smash them and use them in the crust of their cheesecake!!
We got to sample it...yummy!

They have also begun to make ice cream and are working to develop more flavors. So that will be fun to see what new flavors they will be coming up with!

Ok...here is a really cool part. Not only do we like them....but they have already been discovered!
Tom beat Bobby on Bobby Flay's Showdown, (you can find the video clips at the bottom of their home page.) enjoyed by Ellen's Guest in her Green Room, used as the Snack of the Day on Rachel Ray and has tons of write ups.
They have been in business for only 4 years and have accomplished all of this so far!! Can't imagine how big they are going to be in the next 4 years!
Here is the brownie that Tom beat Bobby with. It is the Tahiti Blondie: Roated Coconut, Sugardaddy's special curry spice blend and roasted cashews. Now how is that for a blondie?

They have the cutest store!! This was just completed in February of this year. It feels so comfortable. There is a coffee station

Places to sit and eat and drink your coffee.

They have the cutest wrapping station gift bags and lovely ways to personalize your gifts.

Look at the cute personalized Gift Bag options you can send your goodies in to people!! Also note the Brownie cake sitting on the shelf. You can have this made with several days notice and I hear it is the bomb!!

I could go on believe me! But you need to visit their site..and investigate. What a nice alternative to the normal "flowers" that people send.
They only overnight their products. Why? Good question...because it is the only way to be sure their products are as fresh as can be. They bake them package them and send them the same day and then only overnight ship them. Here is another thing that is very unusual. They call you when your order has been delivered. Now how often does that happen?

Because of Tastecasting you can be privy to an exclusive offer!
You can get 15% off of your online order or in store or phone order if you give them this code:
15EX103109 .

Visit SugarDaddy's web site to place your order!

Brother P-Touch 1010 Labeler Review and Giveaway!! CLOSED

2009-06-04T09:43:00.007-04:00

Labelers are GREAT!! Organizers love them and I am no different. They just help things look so neat and clean.
I have used a Brother P-touch labeler for years. The Brother company sent me this one to review and it is great because you can hold it in one hand. It is small and convenient.
Here is the description that the P-Touch.com site has on it for this PT-1010 model:

The portable, handheld PT-1010 labeler with rubber grip is affordable, reliable and has a wide selection of features, including: 2 line printing, large 12-character LCD display, 8 type styles and 3 type sizes. The PT-1010 allows you to print your text with 6 frame options, 6 built-in auto formats and up to 83 symbols.

The Time & Date function lets you print labels for leftovers and other dated items. Its compact size makes it easy to use anywhere, anytime.

The PT-1010 uses a variety of TZ laminated tapes up to 1/2" wide for indoor and outdoor use and includes a 1/2" (5m) black on white “TZ” laminated tape.

* Easy to hold, comfortable rubber grip
* Handheld, portable use for more convenience
* Prints labels up to 1/2" wide on laminated indoor/outdoor tape
* Easy to view, large 12-character x 1 line guidance LCD display
* Add time & date to your labels in 8 different formats
* Built-in memory, saves up to 9 of your favorite labels
* Prints 1 to 2 lines of large crisp text
* 1 font, 3 type sizes and 8 type styles
* Separate number keys & letter keys for easy input
* Built-in manual cutter

This is where the tape comes out. And you just press on the blue cutter to cut it off.

This is also great because they are very easy to peel apart. There is a little slit made with the cutter that makes peeling it apart a snap!

To Buy: Go to P-Touch.com and check out all the possibilities. The PT-1010 cost $39.99.

To Win:

1) Go to PT-1010 and tell me another handheld model number. Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your e-mail address. (I almost always have some winners choosen who don't qualify because I have no way to contact them!)

For Extra Chances To Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

4) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

5) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest is open to US mailing address only.
Only one person from mailing address eligible to win.
(will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

This contest will run until Thursday, June 11, 2009 @ 8:00 pm EST *This contest is Closed*

Throw out Fifty Things Book Review and Giveaway CLOSED

2009-05-21T07:53:00.006-04:00

So what do you think? Is this a book a Professional Organizer would like? Heck yes!!
Anything that will help people to part with things that are holding them back from having the space and life they are searching for is good with me.

What I really like is that this author goes through it with you. You really feel like you are right there with her in her home, going through her living room, bedroom etc... making the decisions on what should go, what should stay and why. It is from a first person perspective. Very cool.

This book is very easy to read and very helpful and inspiring to help you be able to start the journey of being able to part with things that are just taking up space and are serving no purpose in your life.(other than to be clutter in your home)

To Buy: Look for this book in your local bookstore or go to Hackette Book Group and see a preview of the book along with list of stores you can purchase it from.

To Win:

1) Go to Hachette Book Group and check out their site. Tell me what the publish date of this book was. Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your
e-mail address.
The Hachette Group is giving out 5 copies to win!!

For Extra Chances To Win one of 5 prizes!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

4) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

5) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest is open to US mailing address only.
Only one person from mailing address eligible to win.
(will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

This contest will run until Thursday May 28th @ 8:00 pm EST *Closed*

KidsCoats.com and KidsSwimwear.com Review

2009-05-14T03:00:00.000-04:00

I had the privilege to review several items from KidsCoats.com and KidsSwimwear.com
I love these things! They are sooo darn cute!
My daughter had the best time being my model for these things. The fit was true to size. She is between a size 8 and 10. I got all size 10 items and they were just a tad large. But she will get more use out of them. The only thing that was too small was the cutest ever girls cowboy hat.
This is the raincoat. It has the "twirling little girl" flair to it. (Thats what I called things that were bigger like that at the bottom and when I was a little girl I could twirl around and they would flair out.)
It has a really nice soft pattern lining inside. She was excited for the fist rain.

You know those really soft stuffed animals and baby blankets that are out. How would you like to wear a coat that soft? I know I would. I know it is not winter coat time right now, but think for next year.

So lets think summertime! You can go to KidsSwimwear.com and find cute summer dresses and babydoll cute swim suits!

Go to KidsCoats.com to check out their rain coats and winter coats (there are a couple boy things too)
To see more of these cute swim suits, go to KidsSwimsuits.com

TasteCasting - Bob Evans New Summer Menu!

2009-05-12T03:00:00.000-04:00

The Tastecasting Group and the Chefs who fed us tonight!!

We were treated to a feast tonight at the Bob Evans at Graceland in Columbus Ohio. This Bob Evans got a new remodeling job. This is a prototype with the "Eat-In Kitchen". It is a new comfortable feeling to it. (I didn't get a very good picture of it....very nice though)
There were 20 of us there and we were treated to the new appetizers, main course and dessert along with ice cream floats. We had the chefs come out and talk to us. We had marketing, public relations, General Manager and several other people from Bob Evans there. They were checking out this new form of marketing that Tastecasting was offering them. We were checking out the new restyle of Bob Evans and the yummy food they were coming out with.
The new menu will be launched this Thursday May 14th. (except for the supreme pie which will be out in mid June)

These are the new Appetizers!
They are:
Itsy Bitsy Sandwiches - sausage with cheese and a pickle and the Bob-B-Q pulled pork sandwich with a pickle.
Loaded Baked Potato Bites - breaded and fried potato bites stuffed with cheddar cheese and bacon. It is served with ranch dressing.
Wildfire Chicken Quesadilla - grilled flour tortilla filled with chicken and all kinds of other goodies.
Blue Ribbon Apple Pie Fries - Battered and fried apple pie fries dusted with powered sugar and served with caramel dipping sauce. *My favorite*

Here is my plate! I did not try the quesadillas because the Wildfire BBQ sauce scared me off. But guess what...I tried it and it is not too hot at all. It is a sweet sauce with just a little bit of spice. Believe me...if I can eat it, it isn't too spice. I am a spicy whimp!! (and I liked it) By the time I realized it, the quesadillas were all gone. They were popular and from what I heard, very good.

Floats!! I can't remember the last time I had a good rootbeer float. They had cherry coke, coke and rootbeer floats. Very good. Hmmmm....think I liked it?

The Baby Back Ribs are slow roasted, fall-off-the-bone (and they really do) tender ribs glazed in the Wildfired Sauce. *my favorite*

Oven Roasted Chicken. This is oven-roasted, bone-in chicken breasts that are slathered in Bob Evans smoke-sweet wildfire sauce.

The Red, White & Blueberry Supreme Pie was heavenly! Rich cream cheese filling topped by a layer of fresh strawberries and blueberries and creamy whipped topping. This was soooo good!! It will not be out until mid June when the blueberries are at their peak. Can't wait.

These were the two chefs that made this feast for us. Both were named Brian. Jules was in charge tonight for Tastecasting.

Make sure to visit a Bob Evans near you!!

Review and Giveaway of Personalized Ponytail, headband and Bow Holder! CLOSED

2009-05-07T09:31:00.008-04:00

Here is a wonderfully cute solution to all the loose ponytail, headband and bows of your daughters that are laying all over the place.
I had been trying to find something for Elise's head bands especially. I think they are the hardest because they are rigid and unless perfectly balanced they fall off of things.
Crystal of Polka Tot Boutique has the perfect solution. She makes many things, but among them is this ponytail, headband and bow holder. She actually added on the loops at the end at my request for the headbands! (isn't that cool?)

Elise doesn't wear many hair bows, but if they have clips, you just clip them to the strands that hang down.
The hooks can be used for ponytail holders, the elastic headbands, or even belts, purses or hats for that matter.

Polka Tot Boutique offers fun & unique gifts and decor. Whether you are looking for a special gift for a child's birthday, teacher, mommy or to pamper yourself, they have something for everyone. Every item is made with love and custom designed just for you by Crystal! Customized products include personalized wall letters, plaques, hair bow holders, picture frames, baseball cap holders and jewelry hangers. They also offer clothing including aprons, birthday shirts, initial shirts and shirts for every holiday.

To Buy: Go to Polka Tot Boutique
and order one of many wonderful gifts.
Use the coupon code: NEAT and save 20% just for seeing this offer.

To Win:

1) Go to Polka Tot Boutique and check out their site. Tell me what the name is you would put on the ponytail bow holder if you won. Also what colors would you want yours to be?
Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your e-mail address.

For Extra Chances To Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

4) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

5) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest is open to US mailing address only.
Only one person from mailing address eligible to win.
(will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

This contest will run until Friday May 15th @ 8:00 pm EST

Family Organizer's by Amy Knapp - Review and Giveaways!! Closed

2009-04-29T22:12:00.009-04:00

Amy Knapp has developed these three different Family Organizers or Planners. Even though we are a little late in the year it is never too late to start a new habit and find a new way to organizer your day!!
Each page has a week at a view calendar with plenty of space to write your activities for the day. Then on the left side if the page you have a "To Do" section. On the right sidebar you have "Menu" detachable section. On the left sidebar you have a detachable "Grocery" list!! Great!!!
She has designed this so that on the grocery list and "To Do" list there is a small diamond shape that you either check off that the task was done or you put in an arrow to move it to tomorrows list "To Do".

There are 3 different planners
1) Family Organizing
2) Christian Family Organizing - Same set up but also with a Bible verse at the top of the left page and also a section on the left page for prayer and praise.
3) Expecting Planner - On the left page there is a "Moments & Miracles" section. On the daily calendar there is a check grid that you can check off either a square or circle to keep track of many things. You can keep track of how much water you drink, your vitamin for the day, how many times the baby moves, braxton hicks - it is your choice.

Amy sent several of these planners to Ellen from Thrifty and Chic Mom. Ellen also is having a giveaway but gave me some to pass onto my readers.
So I am going to be giving away 6 planners to 6 lucky winners!!
There will be 2 Family Organizers, 2 Christian Family Organizers, and 2 Expecting Family Organizers given away.

To Buy: Go to The Family Organizer Web site and purchase one. They are normally $14.99, but now they are only $5.00 each!!

To Win:
1) Go to The Family Organizer and check out their site. Tell me which planner you would choose if you won. (This needs to be on here to be elible to win.) You can also get a really good view of the inside of each one. Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your
e-mail address.

For Extra Chances To Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

4) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

5) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest is open to US mailing address only.
Only one person from mailing address eligible to win.
(will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

This contest will run until Wednesday May 6th @ 8:00 pm EST

TasteCasting - The Suisse Shop

2009-04-28T21:18:00.009-04:00

Social Media can be used in many ways. Dan Harris had a vision to help local restaurants get some attention to help their business and for us to get to sample some real goodies and to make some new friends.

Everything looked so wonderful!! It smelled great. The Suisse Shop is known for their Tortes and pastries. They normally sell them by the full torte. But for this week (and only one other during the year) they have their special, "Torte by the Slice". It gives us all a chance to taste any of the over 30 tortes they make. They only cost $3.50 per slice! And only $2.75 for the cheesecake. If you think what you would pay for this wonderful piece of dessert if you were in sit down restaurant you would probably be paying about $8.50 a slice.

The Suisse Shop has been in business for 26 years and is owned by a Swiss baker, Therese Whitfield. She and her family run the shop. They are are opened from 9am-7pm Tuesday through Friday. Mondays are from 9am-4pm and they are closed on Sundays.

They make fantastic wedding cakes and have made over 1500 in central Ohio.

Look at the plate I sampled!! I tried Black Forest torte, Buckeye cheesecake, Lemon torte, yellow torte, chocolate torte, german chocolate torte, coconut torte. They were all really good. I have to say that I did have a couple of favorites. I really liked the yellow, lemon and chocolate tortes. They had a very light buttery frosting. These were not "heavy" at all to me. I think the peanut butter cheesecake was the richest I tasted. Fantastic, but I wouldn't be able to eat more than one piece.

They use the same ingredients when they make their cupcakes. They looked really good too. They also have mini torte cakes. There are 5" tortes, 8" and 10" tortes.

Doesn't everything look great? Guess what...it was!!

Rubik's World Wii Game Review and Giveaway Closed

2009-04-19T09:14:00.006-04:00

Who doesn't love a good puzzle? Who can forget the Rubik's Cube?
This game takes you inside the Rubik'Cube to discover interactive Rubik's themed puzzles that are designed to challenge kids and adults of all ages.
There are 8 games that have increasing difficulty puzzles and activities including the classic cube solving game.

My 15 and 16 year old have spent many an hour playing!! The colors are bright and fun, there is a music puzzle game...lots of fun.

To Buy: Go to The Game Factory and check out this game along with many others for the Wii, and other game systems.

To Win:

1) Go to The Game Factory and check out their site. Tell me how many players this game is for on the Wii. Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your
e-mail address.

For Extra Chances To Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

4) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

5) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest is open to US mailing address only.
Only one person from mailing address eligible to win.
I will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.

This contest will run until April 29th, 2009 @ 8:00 pm EST

Soy Candles from Glade! The Frangrance Collection

2009-04-18T14:45:00.005-04:00

These candles smell wonderful!! I opened the package and took off the plastic lids and couldn't believe how great they smelled.
Each candle contains over 90% natural ingredients, including palm wax and soy. They have a lead-free wick and no metal and the fragrances are infused with essential oils.
I had to light them right away. I do have to say that the one I was the most surprised at was the Macintosh Apple. You pull off that lid and if you had your eyes closed you would think someone just cut a fresh apple and stuck it under your nose!
I have one in my bathroom now and without even burning it, the smell is great.They sold me...love them!

Tastecasting - Espresso Yourself Music Cafe

2009-04-17T21:48:00.008-04:00

Last night I got to go to the cutest coffee house in Powell, OH. It was opened in an old church. There are bands that play and entertain you as you get to drink your coffee. They have a listing of bands and a menu at the web site Espresso Yourself Music Cafe
The art work is all done by different artist and is for sale and changes regularly.

We were treated to a sample of a few different sandwiches. These were fantastic! I never really thought of a coffee house as having some really good food, but this one does! Eric who owns this coffee house and his daughter run it. He is very conscious of healthy food. His wife passed away 2 years ago of lung cancer and before she died they learned how to eat really healthy.
The smoothies have real fruit and antioxidants. I had the peach and it was wonderful!!! They also treated us to some (not as healthy..but hey, some of us still eat junk right?) warm chocolate chip cookies.
Thanks! I will for sure be back.

List Plan It Review and Giveaway Closed

2009-04-09T21:56:00.006-04:00

As Jennifer says who created List Plan it, "There are two kinds of people in the world, those who love list and those who love the IDEA of lists."
I think that can be very true. If you are a list maker, it is just a very second nature way of keeping track of things and following a routine. If you are not a list maker, chances are you may be just a bit disorganized anyway and wish that you had a better system for keeping track of daily chores, groceries etc.
This is a site that you can join for as little as a 3 month time frame and use the lists she has prepared. Her lists are very simple and easy to use.
Straight from her site to mine...

350+ Printable Lists and Planning Pages
Find Grocery Lists and Menu Planning in Meal Planning,
Holiday and Party Planning in Holidays & Special Occasions,
Find Calendars and To Do Lists in Time Management
Back to School Planner and Homework Schedules in Student
Everything you need in one convenient location!
Browse each category in the List of Lists
to discover all that ListPlanIt.com has to offer!
Or decide which of our 16 ePlanners is right for you!!

To Buy: Go to List Plan It and buy a membership for either 3 months at $9.95 or 12 months at $29.95.

To Win: Jennifer has offered a quarterly membership for you to win!!

1) Go to List Plan it and check out their site. Tell me which list you think you would use the most.

Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your
e-mail address.

For Extra Chances To Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

4) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

5) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

I will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or there will be another winner choosen.)

This contest will run until Saturday April 18th 8:00 pm EST

Taste Casting - The Culinary Table

2009-04-09T21:13:00.012-04:00

I was able to go to my first Taste Casting event tonight. It took place at The Culinary Table in Grandview, OH. This is a combination of three businesses that come together to create pure magic when it comes to social events, corporate events, wedding parties, receptions, cooking classes or catering. Wine and beer tastings are also on the upcoming venue. It is a "One Stop Shop for Everything" as Emily of Bellisari's catering said. It was a large room (can seat up to 60), but not too large and it felt very comfortable. The decorations were beautiful and done by Natural Designs, which design beautiful and original floral design and decorating. They were featured at The Decorator Show House.

It all tasted as good as it looked! If you live in the central Ohio area and are planning a graduation party, wedding reception or if you want to have a luncheon for business..you need to think about The Culinary Table.

Cellfire coupons

2009-03-31T21:57:00.002-04:00

I have added a Cellfire coupon on my sidebar. You can download coupons directly onto your store discount card! You won't have to carry all your coupons with you. I think this is really cool.
Read my Work on it Wednesday for some of my other offers coming up.

Neat Receipts Review and Giveaway - Closed

2009-03-26T10:12:00.008-04:00

I have the privilege of being able to review and also host a giveaway for a Neat Receipt! I am thrilled to be able to pass this on to you.
The Neat Receipts is a small scanner that you can put all your receipts into, from regular paper size to small receipt and business cards. It then processes that receipt and puts it on your computer in a file you create on the software just as it appears in real life. Then you are able to discard the paper receipt thus thinning out your paper problems! Its all good!
This might little scanner is small and doesn't take up much space. It is a fast process and can copy both sides if you need it to.
Wonderful!!

I recommend it to you if you would like to get your receipts and business cards under control. It works wonders.

To Buy: Go to Neat Company Site . You can purchase this model for $199.94 with their instant rebate.

To Win:
1) Go to Go to Neat Company Site and watch the videos on their intro page. Look at how cool this product is. They are offering you, my readers a chance to win one of these great scanners!! This is a $200 product ladies! Then come back here and tell me what you think. Please be sure to leave me your e-mail address.

For Extra Chances To Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

4) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

5) Add any of my 3 buttons (Organize with Sandy, Review, Pouchee) to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest will run until April 10th @ 8pm THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

(I will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

Review of Ford Hybrids

2009-03-20T21:29:00.010-04:00

Walking in the Columbus Auto Show before it opened to the public without my husband or kids was something I have to admit I didn't think I would be doing. But I was lucky enough to be invited (thanks to Christina of A Mommy Story who thought of me) to attend a private preview and then luncheon for the Ford Hybrids at the Columbus Auto Show. The Auto show runs until this Sunday March 22, 2009 at the Columbus Convention Center.

There were seven of us that are all on twitter and have blogs there to hear David Finnegan (Hybrid Vehicle Manager)and Megan MacRae (PR for Ford)give us all the info on the hybrids.
I learned a lot! They were explaining how Ford is working to make their cars as "green" as possible. Plus they are making this EcoBoost engine in Cleveland, OH. Now in eight of Ford's vehicles they are using soy-based foam in their seats. (I didn't even know there was such a thing.) They have an enviroSeat that has fabric and headrest bag made from compostable-type plastic derived 100% from corn. Then some of the side plastic material is made from sugar cane (too bad you can't eat it) and seating clips made from recycled water bottles. I thought that was really neat. We got to see and hear about the Fusion, Flex, Focus, Taurus and Mustang.

This is the 2010 Ford Focus. One of the features I thought was REALLY COOL about this car is that there is MyKey technology that is brand new. You can "help" your teen driver to stay safe without even being in the car with him/her. There are speed limits that can be set (so they can't go faster than 80mph), radio volume limits (so they can't blast out their ears and not hear sirens) and it also helps to conserve fuel.

This 2010 Mustang is just what a mother like me needs isn't it? No I mean I am serious!! Mom's of many kids are so used to riding in the minivans, SUV's and such that we would love to jump into one of these cool cars and take off. (Take that teenagers and mid-life crisis men)..this car isn't just for you!! Enough said.

Thank you Ford, anytime you want me to try one out for awhile, you just let me know...I would be more than happy to help.

Please visit the above links to check out all about the Ford 2010 cars and latest technologies they have coming out.

Also check out the sites of the follow bloggers that joined me today.

1) Christina - A Mommy Story
2)Ellen - Thrifty Chic Mom
3)Lisa - Condo Blues
4)Cheryl - Being Cheryl
5)Dan - Dan On It
6)Tara - Deal Seeking Mom

Closet Purse Hanger Review and Giveaway

2009-03-17T19:46:00.007-04:00

A purse hanger that is simple, strong, inexpensive and practical. These closet purse hangers are one of those things that you say, "Why didn't I think of that?".
You will have to go to Shawane Nicole's (owner and inventor) Closet Purse Hanger and see the "before" and "after" pictures of some closets using her closet purse hangers to take care of all those purses.

I decided to try using this for a belts also. Works great!!
I do realize after looking at her pictures on the site that I had my hooks turned wrong. There is a rounded side and another one that has a flatter side. The round side is supposed to be for the rod. (duh) and I put it the opposite. But since I had the wire to hang it from, it didn't seem to make a difference.

To Buy: Go to Closet Purse Hanger and purchase. They run 10 hooks for $19.99 plus S&H.

To Win: Shawane has generously offered 3 packs of 10 purse hangers for me to give away. So we are looking for 3 winners!! Yeah..isn't that fun?

1) Go to Closet Purse hanger and check out their site. Tell me something else you discovered when you looked at her site. Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your e-mail address.

For Extra Chances To Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

4) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn an extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

5) Add any of my 3 buttons to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest will run until March 26th at 8pm THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

(I will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

National Napping Day - But are you a Drooler??

2009-03-09T06:59:00.009-04:00

Did any of you know it was National Napping day today (Monday March 9th)? It is the first day after daylight savings time and we have all lost an hour of sleep, so what better day to be on? (someone planned pretty good for that huh?)
Naps are like the cherry on a sundae to me. I love them if I am lucky enough to get one. But here is a lovely question. Are you a drooler when you nap? Did you know that along with those lovely dust mites that we hate to see pictures of (because if we don't see them then we forget they exist everywhere)that we also breed bacteria in our pillows and bedding and that the moisture and warmth from the drool just gives those yucko things a nice environment to grow? Yep, it is true.
So what is a drooling napper to do?
You can use an allergy free pillow protector from Protect-A-Bed

Protect a Bed is saluting Naptime droolers on National Napping Day by offering a giveaway of 3 sets of their pillow protectors to my lucky napping-drooling readers!!
These are great guys...they are:
*hypoallergenic
*made of natural terry cotton
*waterproof to protect the bedding from moisture
*prevent dust mites and bacteria from breeding which will decrease allergies.
*machine washable
*Class 1 medical device by Food and Drug Administration

To Buy: Go to Protect-A-Bed and buy a pillow protector, mattress pad or crib protector to protect your loved ones.

To Win:
1) Go to Protect-A-Bed and check out their site. Tell me one reason you would like to have a pillow protector.
Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your
e-mail address.

For Extra Chances To Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

4) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn and extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

5) Add any of my 3 buttons to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest will run until Monday March 16th @ 8pm THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

(I will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

Label Daddy Review and Giveaway

2009-03-04T21:08:00.007-05:00

Label Daddy labels are great! I have been having fun finding new things to label. I have labeled the kids thermos for their lunch boxes, coats, sweatshirts, Under Armour, shoes and many other things. These are items that I really didn't have a way other than with a sharpie to label before. (sharpies fade over time or sometimes even wash off) I do have to admit that I used the "shoe" labels on my computer bag and water bottle. They were designed to go in the sole (heel area) of your shoes. No more losing your band $60 tennis shoes for my kids!! (yes one did by the way)
These labels are dishwasher safe, microwave safe, washer and dryer safe. There are labels for clothing, shoes, large bags, outdoor trashcans, photos and more.
These labels are laminated to protect and they stick. They really really stick!!
I have sent them through the dishwasher without problems and also the washer and dryer. The only thing I noticed is that after they came through the washer and dryer it is just slightly wrinkled and not as smooth...but it is still stuck. I think it just molded a little to the fabric.

So many shirts are now going label free on their clothing lines all in the name of comfort. But when you have a system to label your children's clothing and there is no where to put them...it is a little frustrating. But not now...Label Daddy to the rescue!! Under Armour is one example...there are no labels...but now at my house there is!!! (thank you Label Daddy)
I also have to put out a plug for the owners of Label Daddy..they are great to work with and have even sponsored a couple lucky bloggers to go to a blogging conference. You can feel good about the Daddies behind the company!

To Buy: Go to the Label Daddy button on my sidebar and you can go directly to the Label Daddy site! Happy shopping!

To Win:

1) Go to the Label Daddy button on my left sidebar and check out their site. Tell me one item you would have never thought to label that they have pictured.

Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your
e-mail address.

For Extra Chances To Win!! The Daddies are giving me a $30 credit to use on Label Daddy Labels!! Yeah!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

4) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (organizing and review site) you can earn and extra chance. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

5) Add any of my 3 buttons to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest will run until March 13 at 8pm THIS CONTEST IS NOW OVER

(I will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

Pouchee review done by Aby Garvey and Monica Ricci!

2009-02-25T10:45:00.004-05:00

Aby Garvey did a review on the pouchee for me. She is awesome!! She is the craft room organizer of all times. Her ideas are wonderful and I would love to have her office/scrapbooking room.
Please check out her post at Simplify 101

Monica Ricci is another organizing guru. If you are an organizer (and many of you who are not) know Monica! She has won so many awards, she presents at the NAPO conference...she is on TV as one of the organizers on Mission:Organization! She reviewed the pouchee for me (well, her friend did as she doesn't have purses it will fit in)
Check it out at Your Life, Organized !

Sock Sacks - No More Frustrating Sock Matching!!

2009-02-21T15:55:00.010-05:00

This is one of the coolest inventions and it is so simple you think, "Why the heck didn't I think of this?"
Having 5 kids, 4 of which are boys with socks that look sooooo much alike, I hate doing the whites. It seems like it would take me forever to match the whites. I did the "dot" method of marking my kids socks. That helps to figure out who's is who's....but I still had to separate them all and lay them out all over the floor to do it. Enter the Sock Sack!

These are net bags (like you use for your delicates)that are a nice large size (they come in 2 sizes - 3 styles) to fit all the socks. They are color coded and have a place to write your child's name on them. The other thing I like about them is that the zipper closure is protected. Many times the little net bag I have to do my delicates in often times opens in the wash.

There is a hook on the corner to hang these on door knobs, or there is a hook that comes with it to hand somewhere else. I thought that I would hang them on the sides of the kids laundry hampers on their rooms, but because the bags are such a great size to fit all their socks..they hang too low to hang on the hamper.
The kids each have their own sock sack and to teach compliance, the new rule is: If your socks aren't in your sock sack..they don't get washed. (I do wash them, but then I have a basket in the laundry room that they will go in if they are out of the sock sack. Once that child starts running low on socks....they will learn to make sure their socks go in their sock sack. So far I am only having problems with one child.)
You simply throw in the zipped up sock sack with the socks already separated with each child's socks in them. Wash and dry like normal. Not only does this keep the child's socks separated, but it also keeps them from "getting lost" in the washer and going down the drain. Now this is what my laundry basket looks like. Once they come out of the dryer, I take each sock sack and open it...match that child's socks and put them back into their sock sacks. They get their sacks and have folded matched socks. They put them in their drawers, take their empty sacks and hang back up.
I LOVE THESE!!!! The only thing I would love more would be to have 2 for each child. When the one goes down to the laundry..hang the empty one up right then and there in case I don't get the whites down the first day.

To Buy: Go to The Sock Sack site and purchase one. The 15x18" size are $9.97 each.
The 11.25x13.5" size are $8.97 each

To Win: The Sock Sack company has generously offered 2 large sock sacks for you to win!

1) Go to The Sock Sack and check out their site. Tell me which size and color you would choose.
Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your e-mail address.

For Extra Chances To Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

4) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (I have three.. My organizing blog, my family blog and this review blog) Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment and earn an entry for each you follow.

5) Add any of my 4 buttons to your sidebar and earn an entry for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest will run until March 4th at 8pm. THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!

(I will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

Simply Sarah Handy Hold All Review and Giveaway

2009-02-13T21:05:00.009-05:00

Do you have trouble figuring out how to store all those purses? They can be a problem especially if you have many. Sarah Shaw of Simply Sarah makes these wonderful purse hangers. There are 7 heavy duty snap hooks to hold your hangbags. You could put more than one purse on each hanger. I rolled up the handles since I usually always have over the shoulder straps on my purses. There is a sturdy metal protective hole to hang on a hook or over a hanger. They now include an over the door hanger which would make hanging this easier. These don't have to be used for purses, you could hang scarves, belts, hand bands, necklaces or a number of other items on these. Use your imagination. I think that is why they call them "Handy Hold All" rather than Purse Hangers.
Here is a picture of using this on a hanger and hanging it in the closet on your rod.
The snaps that are on the actual loop are heavy duty and the fabric reinforced that make this very sturdy and stable ...it doesn't seem light weight and flimsy at all.
She makes them in all colors of fabric to go with any decor you can imagine.

I was very pleased at how easy the snaps opened and snapped and how well they hold the purses. I did not feel like they were going to pull loose or that the purses were too heavy for it. This was made very well. You will be very pleased and it will be interesting to hear some of your ideas of how you can use this Handy Hold All that is made by Simply Sarah.

To Buy: Go to the Simply Sarah site and purchase one. They are $30 a piece. Sarah has graciously offered you as one of my readers a 50% discount!! You need to enter the coupon code "Sandy" and you will get an instant 50% off of your orders of $30 or more. (This is not applicable for the Maura Peters candles) Thank you Sarah...how nice of you!!

To Win:
1) Go to the Simply Sarah site and check out their site. Tell me which Handy Hold all you like best. Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your e-mail address.

For Extra Chances To Win!!
1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

4) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (I have three.. My organizing blog, my family blog and this review blog) you can earn 3 entries each. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

5) Add any of my 4 buttons to your sidebar and earn 3 entries for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest will run until Friday Feb. 20th at 8pm. THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

(I will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

Crayon Wallet & Tissue Holder Review and Giveaway

2009-02-03T13:50:00.014-05:00

You too can be one of those mothers that has it all together when you are sitting at gymnastic practice with your older child and your younger one is bored. Or you are sitting in the restaurant and your food order is taking forever and your child is driving you crazy. You can just pull your handy dandy crayon keeper out of your purse or diaper bag and wallah...you have instant quiet child!
This crayon keeper is made by hand by April of Aprils Originals . There is a vinyl lining to protect the fabric. It measures 13.75" wide by 7" tall and comes with 16 regular sized crayola crayons. It also come with a 3x5 notepad. It will easily fit inside a purse or diaper bag.

It is a trifold design and has a velcro closure.

The tissue holder is just a cute convenient way to carry one of those small packs of tissues in your purse, diaper bag, car or even a jacket. You know how if you wad up a bunch of tissues when you have a cold and stuff them in your purse? (Come on we have all done it)...they get torn apart and dirty and are just a big mess in no time. With this cute little holder you don't have to worry about them.
April has several different designs to chose from.

To Buy: Go to Aprils Originals Etsy Store and you can purchase the crayon wallet for $15.50 each (plus S&H). The tissue holders are $4.00 each or 2 for $7.00.

To Win:

1) Go to Aprils Originals and check out her site. Tell me 2 other products she makes.
Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your
e-mail address if you do not have a blog with access to your e-mail.

For Extra Chances To Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

4) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (I have three.. My organizing blog, my family blog and this review blog) you can earn 3 entries each. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

5) Add any of my 4 buttons to your sidebar and earn 3 entries for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest will run until February 13th at 8pm.
You can have your choice of which ever crayon wallet and tissue holder she has available for sale on her site.
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

(I will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

The Fabulous-Coolest Butterfly Blog Award

2009-01-30T22:33:00.005-05:00

Thank you so much for these awards Cindy! Make sure to check out her blog called Mom Maven.
The Fabulous-Coolest Butterfly Blog award comes with a few rules: Put the logo on your blog or post. Nominate 5-10 blogs which you think are fabulous and cool. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog. Share the love and link it back to this blog.
1) Kim - Crafty Mama of 4
2) Elizabeth - Two Little Lambs
3) Beth - Plus Size Mommy
4) Felicia - Go Graham Go
5) Karen - Lil Mommas Haven

Build a Bear Workshop Wii game Review and Giveaway!

2009-01-28T07:39:00.004-05:00

Go to my Family Blog Leecie Loo and 7 Boys Too to try and win a copy of the Build A Bear Wii Game!!

Mom of 2 Dancers Pouchee Review & Giveaway

2009-01-26T13:57:00.004-05:00

If you want a chance to win a pouchee go to Mom of Two Dancers she is doing a review and giveaway of the tan cotton pouchee!! Check it out! Her contest ends on 2/8/2009.

Smart Shopper Review and Giveaway

2009-01-26T10:41:00.008-05:00

I was sooooo excited to be able to review the Smart Shopper. The kids have seen it advertised on TV before and tell me that I need that!!
I opened the box and it was all very neatly packed as in the picture. There was a roll of paper loaded and 2 others in the box. I needed to add 4 "AA" batteries and it was ready to go!!
It said it had magnets on the back of it...but I didn't see them, so I doubted that it did and my first concern was mounting it somewhere. But guess what...the magnets are there! They are strong too. I have no question that they will hold.
It just looks cool doesn't it? I just couldn't wait to try it out. I did read the instructions though. There are over 2500 grocery items listed in the memory. So it works on voice recognition. I thought you would just say the item and it would somehow know to type it out. (Silly me...miss untechie would think that.) But there are so many items in there. You are given a book with all of them listed. There is a feature to be able to add more items if there is something you want in the memory that is not listed.
It is so simple to use. You just hit the big blue "record" button and say your item. Then it shows you a list of about 3 possibilities of what you said (or just varieties of that item) and you chose the one you want. Hit select and it is on your list!
I am a list maker. I will sit down and write out my grocery list. I do have a place on my daily list for groceries that I can add to that as I need, but many times I am not around my list when I think of something. Then I forget to get it on the list. With this...it is so handy. I just walk up to the Smart Shopper and add my item right then and there. I know there were two things I would have not remembered if it had not been for this. One was a furnace filter that I had meant to get several times but never got on my list. I came up from the basement one day when I thought of it and went straight over to the Smart Shopper and added it. The other was fabric softener that I had missed on my last shopping trip.
Then when you are ready to go to the store you just print off the list.

It not only has your list for you but it is all categorized into sections of the store. Example: dairy, canned goods, fresh produce. I don't know about you but when I am making my list I many times just think and write in no order...so I sometimes do miss something on my list when walking through the store that I would not have if it was in the proper place.
This is fantastic! I really love it and will continue to use it all the time. The only problems I had were there were times it didn't understand what I said. But you can go in and improve the voice recognition of any item so that won't be a problem. You can also add more items as I said, so that instead of cake mix you can add, German Chocolate cake mix (as I did). So at first it may not be a perfect Smart Shopper for all your specific needs (although it probably has 98% of them)but with very little work it can have anything and everything on there that you would ever want. Oh...and it even has a feature to add errands that you run!! You can put in dry cleaners or shoe repair, library or lottery tickets and like a zillion more!

To Buy: Oh my gosh...I just went to their site to get the details on their prices...and there is a major price reduction!!! They had been $69.99. Now they are only $49.99!!! Just go to Smart Shopper to order yours while this price last!

To Win:

1) Go to Smart Shopper and check out their site. Tell me how much an extra 3 pack of paper cost if you buy it with your new smart shopper!

Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your
e-mail address.

For Extra Chances To Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow me on twitter. Come back here and add your twitter name.

4) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (I have three.. My organizing blog, my family blog and this review blog) you can earn 3 entries each. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

5) Add any of my 4 buttons to your sidebar and earn 3 entries for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest will run until Wednesday February 4th at 8pm.

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
(I will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

Carolyn's Apron Giveaway

2009-01-26T08:26:00.001-05:00

You can find a really cute apron giveaway @ Cookie Girl Creations for an apron from Carolyn's aprons!! So cute.

Pouchee Review and Giveaway!!!

2009-01-21T07:08:00.004-05:00

Felicia from Go Graham Go is having a review and a giveaway of the pouchee! She did a great review and also has a video clip of it in use! (I have to learn to do those...it's great!)
Go to her site and sign up to win one!

A 2nd chance for the Organising E-course Giveaway!!!

2009-01-19T20:26:00.008-05:00

Marcia has graciously agreed to run her giveaway for a 2nd time!! Isn't she the bomb!!
Marcia Francois is the Organising Queen of South Africa! (Yes the spelling is different). She does speaking engagements and has several e-books on her site.
She was kind enough to give me the one called, "Organise Your Home E-course". It comes to me once a week for a period of 12 weeks!
In this course she helps you go through your home an reorganize it. She takes small things at a time so it isn't overwhelming. Week 3 for instance you organize your chest of drawers, go through your shoes, your bedside table and your handbags.
Her weekly sessions are easy to read and follow. She adds pictures for ideas and to help you understand.

*Simple and easy to follow
* E-book to keep it on your computer. Very eco-friendly!!
* Doesn't overwhelm you with an entire book at once.
*Tips and suggestions that you may have not thought of before.
*A lot of material for the price!
*She gives extra material for the price.

If you want to print out the information you can do that and follow it that way also!!

To Buy it go to: Take Charge Solutions (here is some information directly from her site.)
You Also Get 5 Great Bonuses
1. F-r-e-e Household Organising File (with 25 downloadable forms and checklists) worth $15
2. F-r-e-e report - my DREAM method of organising ANY space worth $17
3. Bonus section on organising your personal life worth $17
4. Lots of photo tips from my very own home to give you ideas (I’m very visual and I know this helps my clients too) - worth $37
5. Email support for the 3-month duration of the e-course (this alone is worth $141)
ALL THIS FOR ONLY $27!!! YOU GUYS THAT IS A FANTASTIC PRICE!!! This price will be going up on Feb. 1st so order yours today!!

To Win it:
1) Go to Take Charge Solutions and come back and tell me one other item she has for sale on her
site that you may be interested in. You may have to travel to one of her other pages. Then
come back here and comment about it. Be sure to leave an e-mail address for me.

For Extra Chances to Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest then come back here and tell me about it.

2) Follow me on twitter

3) Blog about this giveaway and come back to tell me.

4) Follow my blog by adding yourself to my followers list on the my right hand sidebar and
earn 3 more entries for each one of my 3 blogs you follow!! Come back to tell me though!

5) Add any of my 4 buttons and you can earn another 3 entries per button, but be sure to
come back and tell me if you want your entries to count! Make sure I have your e-mail
address!!

This giveaway will end on Friday January 30th at 6pm.
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

(You will have 48 hours to reply back to my e-mail if you are chosen as the winner. If you do not get back to me within that amount of time, I will pick another winner.)

Car Cubbie Review and Giveaway!

2009-01-17T18:34:00.012-05:00

This is the Card Cubby. It is really cool! This little organizer is for all your gift cards, credits cards, insurance cards, discount coupons, frequent flyer cards!
Ok...here it is, my "before" picture of my the front of my pouchee. (Keep in mind I straighten it up every several days, but took a good "messy" picture for you - my pouchee is very loved!!)

So I took out all my gift cards (I had some more in another pocket of my purse) and put them in the alphabetized card cubby and it is great! I actually found some cards myself that I didn't realized I had that were tucked in behind some others. What I really love is that it has it's little dividers to keep them separated by letter. It will be soooo easy to find what I need when I go shopping now. I won't have to worry about not using a gift card or punch card that I have just because I can't find it.

I put in my gift cards and I also put in a couple of coupons that I want to make sure I use. I also put in some of my business cards. On the other side of the Card Cubby is a place that you can place your business card or your license. This would also be a GREAT BUSINESS CARD ORGANIZER!! If you are going to some kind of conference (Blissdom 09 for instance) and know you will be giving out and picking up many business cards...what easier way would it be than to put them in here as you get them. So easy to then retrieve them!
The Card Cubby is 5"x3" wide and can hold up to 80 cards!

So when I was finished....my purse looked like this!! I love it! So Organized! It fit in so nice and easy. This would also be very easy to use in your car console or brief case.

To Buy: Go to the CARD CUBBY and purchase. There are 7 different colors to pick from. They are $19.99 (except for the caramel leather which is $24.99). Buy two and give one as a gift!

To Win: I am able to give away a card cubby to one lucky winner. You get to pick your choice (caramel leather not included in giveaway)

1) Go to Card Cubby and check out their site. Tell me what card cubby you would like to win. (caramel leather not included). Come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your e-mail address.

For Extra Chances To Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (I have three.. My organizing blog, my family blog and this review blog) you can earn 3 entries each. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

4) Add any of my 4 buttons to your sidebar and earn 3 entries for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest will run until Monday January 26th, 2009 at 8pm.
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

(I will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

FUMI PurseHook

2009-01-14T17:05:00.015-05:00

Like my bracelet? It looks really nice doesn't it? Any you thought this review was about a purse hook.
Well, it is....it's a bracelet...no it's a purse hook...no it's a bracelet...It is both!!
This is the coolest invention!! Nicole and Natascha Shamlin invented this FUMI pursehook. They have worked with and sold the original purse hook that many of you have seen before. (They still sell those!)...but the comments that they heard about them was that they got lost at the bottom of their purses or they never had them with them. So they came up with this idea to take care of it.

You can wear it as a bracelet and when you do not want to wear it, you can clip it to your purse..so it is always there.
I got this to review and I was so excited. It was nicer looking than I expected.
I decided that we needed to go to dinner that night just to try it out. So we went to Rooster's restaurant within hours of when I got this. I looked at the table when I first got there and though.."Oh no, this isn't going to work...the table is too thick!" But guess what....it did work!!
My second thought was, "My purse is soooo heavy it will break it!" (I'm an organizer...I carry it all..but very organized keep in mind!) Again, I was wrong! This had no problems at all holding my purse.
Another thought I had before I got the FUMI pursehook was, "Won't it scratch up the table top if it is a bracelet." Nope....there is a rubber piece on the underside to protect the table and keep it from sliding.

I asked Nicole before I got the FUMI PurseHook if it could be used in a bathroom stall to hang your purse if there was no pursehook available. She said that it could, that was one of the things that she and her sister wanted while developing this.
Here is proof!!! (Ok..it is 3 days after I posted this. I went to a movie tonight and there was no hook on the bathroom stall door...and yes my Fumi pursehook was still hooked to my purse and I was so excited to really use it!! So cool....just had to add this on. )

When I came home I took it off and hooked it on my purse. It looks cute there too!!
This pursehook is great!!! I am just loving it. Way to go Nicole and Natascha!!

Now for the best part. Nicole and Natascha have offered to give one of their FUMI PurseHooks away to one lucky winner!! You can take your pick of 7 different bracelet styled ones.

TO BUY! Go to FUMI PurseHooks (www.pursehook.net and go to left sidebar to FUMI pursehook) and purchase one...or two for $24.95 each. There are also the original pursehook that you may be familiar with for sale on this site. Look at the cute charms that you can add to either one of them too!

TO WIN!
1) Go to FUMI PurseHooks and check out their site. Tell me which of the 7 bracelet style FUMI Pursehooks you would like to win!
Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave me your
e-mail address.

FOR EXTRA CHANCES TO WIN!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.

2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.

3) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar to follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (I have three.. My organizing blog, my family blog and this review blog) you can earn 3 entries each. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.

4) Add any of my 4 buttons to your sidebar and earn 3 entries for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.

This contest will run until January 21, 2009 @ 6pm.
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!

(I will send out an e-mail to the winner and you will have 48 hours to respond back to me or I will pick another winner.)

Chatter Chix Review and Giveaway!!

2009-01-10T12:52:00.012-05:00

I love these!! I actually first came across them when I won them from another review and giveaway site. These are designed for girls ages 5-12. I purchased a couple of packs of the cards for Christmas for my step daughter and she thought they were really cute. Then came the Starter Set I won. There is a cute vinyl notebook and 3 packs of cards along with 5 protective pages to put the cards in. (The organizing factor in this giveaway!..organize your Chatter Chix cards) There is a map of the United States in the front of the notebook. Each one of these trading cards has a girl from one of the states on it. It tells you which State she is from on the front. On the back is her little bio and at the bottom of the card it tells you that States Capital, Flower, Nickname and Bird. For each card you take one of the little flower stickers and put it on the state map. The girls try to collect all of the states!! How cute is that. Elise was excited because she also got one of the Limited Edition cards in her pack. She can go online and see a little more about each girl from any State. There is also a newsletter and activities.
These cards are colorful and with the big smiles you just want to smile back at them!

As soon as we opened the package Elise was all excited checking out all the cards and loading her notebook after first putting her stickers on her state map.

Here is what her notebook looks like now! You can see how cute these little girls are!

She just told me, "I LOVE this..these are the coolest! Now I have cards of my own that I can play with when the boys are playing with their football cards."
There is a great testimony on it's own!!

Pros:
*Educational - teaches knowledge of the United States
*Promotes sharing
*Promotes trading
*Promotes a postive role model (no sexy outfits or celebrities)
*Gives the girls an female alternative to the boys trading cards.

Cons:
*The only one I can say is that my little girl doesn't read cursive yet and the States on the front of the card are in cursive. She could get most of the cards, but a few she had trouble with only for that reason. Other than that..it's all positive!!

To Buy: Go to Chatter Chix site and look at their site. The Starter Set that I got with the notebook and map along with 3 packs of trading cards, is only $19.99! Great deal!

To Win:

1) Go to Chatter Chix and check out their site. Tell me one of the girls name and what state she is from. Then come back here and comment on it. Please be sure to leave your e-mail address on your entry so I can find you if you win!!

For Extra Chances To Win!!
Robyn Bard the creater of Chatter Chix cards has so sweetly offered 3 prizes to be given out!! So there will be 3 winners of the same cool Starter Set that I won!!!

1) Twitter about this contest! Come back here and tell me you did.
2) Blog about this contest! Come back here and add the link to your blog.
3) Follow my blogs (add yourself to right sidebar follow). For each one of my blogs you follow (I have three..organizing blog, family blog and this review blog) you can earn 3 entries. Tell me about each one you followed when you come back here to comment.
4) Add any of my 4 buttons to your sidebar and earn 3 entries for each one you add. Come back here with the link to your site where you added them.
5) Purchase something from the Chatter Chix site and earn 15 more tries!! (I feel this is probably why I won on the giveaway I won on...I bought 3 packs of trading cards and earned another 15 tries!!)

This contest will run until January 17, 2009 at 6pm.
(If you win this contest then you will have 48 hours to return my e-mail to you otherwise I will pick another winner.)

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!! YOU CAN STILL PURCHASE CHATTER CHIX BY VISITING THEIR SITE.

Leg Huggers Review and Giveaway!

2009-01-10T11:10:00.013-05:00

Go to my family blog, Leecie Loo and 7 Boys Too and enter to win a pair of these ...So cute Leg Huggers!
Since these are not organizational products, I did the review on my other blog.

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!

Organising Your Home E-Course

2009-01-06T19:50:00.006-05:00

Marcia Francois is the Organising Queen of South Africa! (Yes the spelling is different). She does speaking engagements and has several e-books on her site.
She was kind enough to give me the one called, "Organise Your Home E-course". It comes to me once a week for a period of 12 weeks!
In this course she helps you go through your home an reorganize it. She takes small things at a time so it isn't overwhelming. Week 3 for instance you organize your chest of drawers, go through your shoes, your bedside table and your handbags.
Her weekly sessions are easy to read and follow. She adds pictures for ideas and to help you understand.

Pros
* Simple and easy to follow
* E-book to keep it on your computer. Very eco-friendly!!
* Doesn't overwhelm you with an entire book at once.
*Tips and suggestions that you may have not thought of before.
*A lot of material for the price!
*She gives extra material for the price.

Cons
* You can't carry your computer with you or read ahead. But you can print out the weeks assignment and carry it in a notebook..so it really isn't a con.
*I had trouble downloading it on my laptop, but no problems on my desktop. (But keep in mind I am pretty untechie!)

To Buy it go to: www.takechargesolutions.org (here is some information directly from her site.)

You Also Get 5 Great Bonuses

1. F-r-e-e Household Organising File (with 25 downloadable forms and checklists) worth $15
2. F-r-e-e report - my DREAM method of organising ANY space worth $17
3. Bonus section on organising your personal life worth $17
4. Lots of photo tips from my very own home to give you ideas (I’m very visual and I know this helps my clients too) - worth $37
5. Email support for the 3-month duration of the e-course (this alone is worth $141)
ALL THIS FOR ONLY $27!!! YOU GUYS THAT IS A FANTASTIC PRICE!!! This price will be going up on Feb. 1st so order yours today!!

To Win it:
1) Go to Take Charge Solutions and come back and tell me one other item she has for sale on her
site that you may be interested in. You may have to travel to one of her other pages. Then
come back here and comment about it. Be sure to leave an e-mail address for me.

For Extra Chances to Win!!

1) Twitter about this contest then come back here and tell me about it.
2) Blog about this giveaway and come back to tell me.
3) Follow my blog by adding yourself to my followers list on the my right hand sidebar and
earn 3 more entries for each one of my 3 blogs you follow!! Come back to tell me though!
4) Add any of my 4 buttons and you can earn another 3 entries per button, but be sure to
come back and tell me if you want your entries to count! Make sure I have your e-mail
address!!

This contest will end on January 14th, 2009. (The winner will have 48 hours to respond to my e-mail if they win, otherwise I will choose another winner.)

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED
The winner is Stacie Congratulations!

Featured on Crafty Mama of 4 Blog!

2009-01-05T13:42:00.000-05:00

Kim at Crafty mama of 4 did a review for me on the console caddie. She has some fantastic pictures she took of it..much better than mine! I couldn't believe how much stuff she was able to get in this caddie. I was amazed myself...and I sell them!! She has an awesome blog that you will have to read and was featured on the Walmart 11 Mom's as a guest blogger! Go you girl!!

Console Caddie Review and Giveaway

2008-12-31T11:25:00.004-05:00

The creator of the pouchee, Anita Crook also developed this Console Caddie. It makes a great tote to carry things in and out of your house to your office and back again. It is also good to just keep in your car to keep things organized.
One of the Doctors I work for loves the large black one. He puts his Iphone, physican phone sheet, pens and I am not sure what else in it and says he loves it to carry things from his office, to his car and then to his house.
There are 2 sizes. They are both 5 inches tall (not including the handle). The larger one is 8 1/4 inches (long enough for a checkbook) and the smaller length is 7 inches.
They are a heavy leatherette fabric in either black or tan. The handles are stable and it has a gusseted bottom to be able to stand up when full.
Inside has credit card pouches, lipstick or pen pockets, a divided middle, pouches on both sides for all your odds and ends.

Pros: *Great size to keep all your little gadgets from falling all over the car.
*Sturdy
*Has separate pockets to keep things organized.
*Can work as purse organizer or separate mini purse.
*Can use it to organize other areas other than your car.

Cons: *Only comes in black and tan and not other fun colors.

To Purchase
Go to www.organizewithsandy.com and click on the pouchee page. Scroll down past the pouchees (although you can check them out too!) and you will find the car caddies.

To Win the small black car caddie.

1) Go to my pouchee page www.organizewithsandy.com and click on the pouchee page.
Check out the car caddies and give me an idea of how you might be able to use it.
You can be creative...it doesn't have to be used in your car! Then come back here
and comment on it for your entry to win. Make sure that you have your e-mail
in your comment or accessed from your blog.

For Extra entries to win:

1) Follow any of my 3 blogs on the right sidebar and you can gain 3 entries for
each one follow! You need to come back here and comment to tell me.

2) Add any of my buttons (4 in all including the pouchee button) to your site and
come back here and add a link to blog. This will gain you 3 entries for each
button you add!

3) Twitter about this giveaway and gain an entry. Come back here and comment to let
me know.

4) Blog about this giveaway and gain an entry. Come back here and comment to let me
know.

This contest ends on January 14th at 8pm. Good luck!!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED
The winner is Carol!! Congrats.
If you didn't win, then you can still buy one at my pouchee site. Just go to
my Organize with Sandy Pouchee and you can pick one up!!

2008-12-30T20:53:00.000-05:00

The winner of the mini books is Carol!!! You can visit her blog at
http://caysedai.blogspot.com/
If you didn't win you can still purchase these great books and others from
http://www.1-2-3getorganized.com/

Thanks for all your entries!!

Notes in the Night Giveaway Winner!

2008-12-23T21:06:00.001-05:00

The winner of the Notes in the Night contest was Ilissa!! Congrats!!
But visit her blog for more chances to win things!
www.everythingupclose.blogspot.com.
She was one of the last to enter, but had several entries...it paid off for her.
Thanks!!

1-2-3...Get Organized Mini book Review and Giveaway

2008-12-23T09:50:00.001-05:00

Beverly Coggins is a professional organizer and has written several mini books to help people get organized easily. These are easy to read books and are brief but cover a magnitude of information! Her years of experience as a professional organizer gives her insight and many tips that can help even an experienced organizer.
She has mini books and ebooks available. Here are a few of what she offers:
*Three Steps to Time Management in the Office
*Three Steps to Time Management for the College Student
*Three Steps to Decluttering
*Three Steps to Downsizing to a Smaller Residence
and many more.

Each book is divided into 3 chapters. This is the general breakdown.
1) Saying good-bye to unnecessary items
2) Rearranging your area (whatever area she is writing about)
3) Maintaining the system or area and keeping it organized.

Pros:
*The books are colorful and fun to read
*They are full of good information
*The are simple and not overwhelming for anyone.
*Even a child would be able to read and understand them.

Cons:
*They are so cute and small that someone might feel they aren't getting a full book of knowledge when they first receive them. (This isn't really a con because once they read them they will realize how much valuable information is actually in this small book. More than enough to organize the job they wanted!!)

Beverly has offered for me to give you a chance to win 3 of her mini books!
Three Steps to Organizing your Kitchen,
Three Steps to Organizing your Child's Room
Three Steps to Organizing your Office

To buy these and many other items you can visit Beverly's web site at
www.1-2-3getorganized.com

TO WIN
** visit www.1-2-3getorganized.com and come back and tell me which product you would love to have.

To win extra chances:
1) Twitter about this giveaway and come back and tell me about it.
2) Blog about this giveaway and come back and tell me about it.
3) For each of my buttons that you post on your blog you can win 3 chances each
to win. You must come back comment for each entry and post the link to your
blog.
4) For each of my 3 blogs you follow you will get 3 chances to win. You must come
back and post an entry for each chance to win. So if you follow 2 of my blogs
then you will be writing 6 comments!

Please make sure that your e-mail or a blog address is on everything you enter so that I can reach you to let you know if you have won.

This contest will end on December 30th at 8pm.

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

Winner of the Password Directory

2008-12-19T22:20:00.001-05:00

The winner of the password directory is Deb!!! Congratulations!
Go visit her site www.hopelessly-deb.blogspot.com
Thanks for entering Deb.

Notes in the Night Giveaway!!!

2008-12-16T08:33:00.001-05:00

We all have those night when you wake up with all those thoughts swirling around keeping you awake. If you are anything like me you need to write them down so that you know you won't forget them in the morning. But to actually get up out of bed, turn on a light (you don't want to wake up your husband)and find a pen is too much trouble. So you lay there thinking about it over and over again so you will be determined not to forget it in the am. (which many of us do anyway).
Here is a solution to that, Notes in the Night. Judy Warmington came up with this to help solve just that problem. It's a note pad with a pen that lights up.
You click the pen once and it is a regular pen, you click it 2 times again and it lights up. Then you can write in the dark without having to wake up your husband. Problem solved.

Pros:
1) Small and convenient to keep at your bedside.
2) Pen lights up so you can see in the dark.
3) Can store in the cute bag it comes in.

Cons:
1) Not sure how long the light in the pen works.
2) Can't think of any other cons...

To buy:
Go to www.theorganizingspecialists.com and purchase it for $7.99 plus S&H.

Win it:
1) Tell me why you would like it and come back to comment on it.
2) Twitter about it and come back to tell me.
3) Blog about it and come back and tell me.
4) Add any of my buttons to your site and you can get an entry for each button you add, just come back and comment on each one you add.

You must add your e-mail to your comment if you do not have a blog that has your contact information on it. (so I can contact you if you win!!)

Contest ends on December 23rd at 8pm. You must respond within 48 hours of when I contact you by e-mail if you win, otherwise I will contact another winner.

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

Password Directory review and Giveaway!

2008-12-12T08:15:00.000-05:00

This little black book can be your life saver!!
It is a directory for all of your user names, ID's and passwords.
Its alphabetized by Website so it makes everything easy to find.
Its small enough to carry in your purse or laptop bag or have right in your desk drawer.
There is a password hint, so that you don't have to actually put in your password if you want to protect your privacy.
Size: 6 1/4" x 3 3/4"

Pros:
Small and easy to store or carry
Has all the information you need to remember your web sites and passwords
Spiral bound so opens easy and lays flat

Cons:
Too little for someone who might need reading glasses (like me!)
If you have many sites, because it is spiral bound, you can't add pages in.

I bought this and was very excited to use it (because I need it!). I found for me it is just too small. I was struggling to see it clearly with my reading glasses, so I decided not to start filling anything in. I plan to buy the bigger one that I have seen for about $19.99. The larger one is in the same format, so that I like. The only problem for me personally was the size. The small size would probably be a plus for most. Because of my bad eyes....one of you gets to benefit. I am going to give it away.
Contest will run until December 19th at 8pm.

To Buy:
About $9.99
Passworddirectory.com
The Container Store

To Win:
1) Tell me why you would like to win this. Come back here and post a comment (with your e-mail)

To get extra chances to win: (All need separate comments back with e-mail)
2) Twitter about this give away and come back and tell me about it.
3) Blog about the giveaway.
4) Add any of my 4 buttons on your sites and get a chance for each.
5) Follow any of my 3 blogs and get a chance for each.

IMPORTANT: Please make sure I have your e-mail address or blog information so that I have a way to contact you.
Must respond to my e-mail within 48 hours if you win, otherwise I will choose another winner.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Pouchee Winner - Congrats Shel!!

2008-12-10T20:08:00.000-05:00

My son Tim picked the winner. I keep things simple and honest in my giveaways.

The winner of the black and kangaroo pouchee is Shel!!
Here is the link to her blog - "Gone on Arrival-Unable to Locate...my mind!"
www.goa-utl.blogspot.com/
Go visit it. Look for her cute box of crayon button.

Pouchee Give Away!

2008-12-06T18:02:00.001-05:00

Scroll down to see the pouchee review and give away that is still going on until December 10th!!

Review on the Organizing Specialists training program

2008-12-05T13:09:00.000-05:00

This is a training for anyone new to the field of organizing or who is thinking about wanting to become a professional organizer.
The objectives are to train others to become independent contractors in order to meet the increasing demand for organizing services, to maintain a high level of professionalism amongst organizers, to continue to mentor/coach those who have trained with us, and to work together in a referral network.
Judy Warmington and Treva Berends have over 35 years combined years of organizing experience and they have trained over 300 people in their network from over 23 states!
This is a 12 hour one day course (8am-8pm) held at Judy's home in Michigan. You receive a training manual to keep that is over 150 pages and all your meals for the day. This also includes free on going mentoring after your training class and membership in The Organizing Spcialists Referral Network with the potential of receiving/giving client referrals.

That was the information from Judy and Treva about their class. Now let me tell you about my personal experience with this class. I took their class in 2007. I found them on the internet when I was looking for some professional training for my business. I had bought a couple of other books on beginning your business as a Professional Organizer and they just fell flat for me. I felt like I pretty much knew everything they were saying and I felt like I needed more.
I do have to say that I was a little concerned about going to someone's house for this training and wondered how professional it was going to be. But I learned that it was nothing but professional and having it in her home was a benefit. I think she can manage up to like 17 people before they have to get another facility..but it wouldn't be as comfortable as her home! I live in Ohio and I had to drive about 5 hours, so I knew I was going to need lodging for Friday and Saturday nights. (They hold them on Saturdays) Judy told me that she can sleep 6 people at her house and Treva can sleep several too. It is on a first come first serve basis who gets the free lodging. I was one of them. Boy you can't do better than that! I drove over and got there Friday evening. Heck, if you fly in they will even pick you up and drop you off at the airport! Judy greeted me and took me to her finished basement with a family room already for guests. I had my own room (I was the first there). There was a little welcome basket of goodies and I talked with another woman there for the training.
The training started promptly at 8am. Not a minute of our time was wasted. They actually started out by telling us there were going to be no breaks! What? We were free to get up and stretch or go to the bathroom at any point. They took our lunch and dinner orders that am. At lunch time while one of them spoke, the other one got our meals ready. We filed out to the kitchen and picked up our specific tray with the meal we ordered, went back out and I think watched a video while we ate. The same happened for dinner. I never felt like I needed anymore of a break than what I got.
By the time this 12 hours was over I felt excited and ready to go. I felt I had learned soooo much and had so many of the questions answered that I could not get from other books. The notebook we were given has been invaluable. There are forms in there to help you and reference numbers and web sites to help.
I have contacted Judy several times since I left asking questions.
They have their class several times a year. The next dates are April 18 and June 6, 2009.
The cost is $399 per person. If you register at least 4 weeks in advance you get a $40 discount! If you and a friend attend together then you get the price of $339 (save $60).

Pros:
*Wonderful training to start an Organizing business
*Training manual that is fantastic!
*Follow up mentoring
*Membership into the Organizing Specialists Network
*Good food and accommodations for the 12 hours (when do you get to sit on a comfy
couch or chair for a seminar?)
*No wasted time. This could easily have been a full weekend course.
*Professional training and invaluable information
*Cost is very reasonable

Cons:
*It may be out of your area and there may be travel involved (how many programs
do you have in your back yard though?)
*I haven't gotten any referrals from them, but I am out of their target zone state.
*You might say the cost. (But to be honest I have seen several programs before and
after that aren't half the content and are more expensive. I have seen programs
for 3 hours of training for $225.)..so I don't think this really qualifies as a
con for me. You do have to invest in learning most of the time.
*hmmmm....I'm trying to think of negative things....its just not happening though.

To sign up for this program yourself go to: www.theorganizingspecialists.com
or call Judy at 616-669-4855. If you call or notify them, please give them my name.

Win a $25 certificate towards the 12 hour training program!

1) Visit www.theorganizingspecialists.com and come back here and tell me one
thing you saw on their site that I did not mention.

2) Blog about this training class and give away on your blog, and come here and
comment on it.

3) Follow me by adding your name onto my sidebar as a follower. Then come back
here and tell me.

4) Add one of my buttons onto your site and come back here and tell me.

This contest will close on December 12th at 8pm. Please make sure that your e-mail
is on your posts so I can contact you.

Thanks and good luck. You will not be sorry that you got to attend this class!!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Pouchee Review and Give Away!

2008-12-03T10:09:00.000-05:00

The pouchee - Ultimate Purse Organizer!
I discovered the pouchee about a year and a half ago and have loved it ever since. Anita Crook is the woman who invented this wonderful purse organizer. Her son gave her a designer purse for Christmas in 2004 and she knew she wouldn't use it because it was one big open purse and no pockets or dividers. So she decided to do something about it. Did she ever! This magnificent purse was designed so that you can put all your essentials into it and then transfer it from purse to purse when ever you want to change purses to match your outfits. Going from a purse to a diaper bag, gym bag or pool bag are several other ways it can benefit you. I also carry mine by itself into stores if I do not want to save my shoulder and not lug my entire purse in. Teenagers think they are really cool and little girls love the little mini purse!
You do not have to be a purse changer to enjoy this pouchee. I change purses myself twice a year...spring and fall. But it keeps everything organized in my purse and soooo easy to find!! I am never digging for my cell phone or checkbook!

Dimensions are: 7 1/4" length 5 1/4" height 3 1/2" wide (expanded)
Divided pocket inside
Side Pocket inside for bills or coupons
Zipper pocket inside for change or anything you want to stay personal.
Two pouches inside for lipstick or extra pens
Outside front has 5 credit card slots and a pocket for glasses etc.
Outside back has 2 pockets that fit cell phones, notepad, sunglasses
Outside back also has a pen holder
2 ring holders to carry it with - fold down to stay out of the way.
There is a magnetic closure
It has a flat bottom so that it can sit on its own.
The pouchee comes in either cotton fabric or leatherette. There are 14 cotton and 8 leatherette colors to choose from.

You can easily store:
*Check book (I have 3 in mine!!)
*PDA
*Reading glasses or sunglasses
*Cell phone
*Pager
*Pens
*Lipstick
*Money and change
*Credit cards
*Coupons/receipts
*Keys
*And so much more!!

Pros:
Keeps your purse organized!
Cute!
Easy to switch purses!
Use as a purse on its own!
Great gift!

Cons:
Doesn't fit in real small purses
Credit card slots aren't good to use for credit cards if you are going to
shop with it on its own. (but good for AAA cards, library cards etc.
Metal handles can get cold if you carry it on its own outside your purse in
the winter.

Now you can buy it or win it!!
Get your entries in by Wednesday December 10th by 8pm and you can be the lucky winner of this really great purse organizer!!

Buy it:
Go to my pouchee page at http://organizewithsandy.com/pouchees.html and purchase one there. Don't forget to get some extras as gifts. They are great to send in the mail!

Win it:
1) Go to my pouchee tab above..hit it... and look around my pouchee page.
Come back here and tell me which is your favorite color! You must put your
e-mail in the body of your comment if you don't have a profile attached.
Otherwise I will have no way to contact you and your entry will be for
not.

For extra entries to win:
1) For each one of my 3 buttons (blog, review site or pouchees) you post
on your side bar you can get an entry for each. Just come back
and tell me which ones you posted for your extra entries!

2) Blog about my review and give away on your blog and come back and tell
me about it. Don't forget to give me the direct link to your blog!

3) Follow my review site and get an extra entry, follow my blog and get
and extra entry. Just come back and tell me in the comments with your
link.

You have many ways to win this. I will be giving away the black with pink kanagroos on it for the prize!!

Good luck!!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED

Submit an Organizing Product for Review

2008-12-01T23:06:00.003-05:00

If you would like to submit an organizing product for me to review and/or give away, please e-mail me with the product you are interested in me reviewing. Here is my media kit.
It needs to be something that can help to organize something in your life. It may be for your home, children, office, life style or time management. There may be times that I will consider a product or a service that may not be related to organizing, but I think it can be beneficial to a family.
If you feel you have a service or another offer that you would like to discuss with me, I would be interested in talking to you. I do accept payment and products and services or offers for reviews.
Please see disclosure policy.
I want to let you know that I will be impartial and tell my readers the truth. If I have a big problem with something you have asked me to review I will let you know and tell you that I may not give you a real favorable review. Then you can make the decision if you would still like me to post it or not. I may include negatives in my review that I feel are pertinent (and will not necessarily contact you about those unless it is more negative than positive) but I will look for the positives of your product and point those out.
The product or service you are sending me will not be returned and is understood that it is used as an advertising tool for your business, and will not be paid for. If you would also like to provide another one of the same products, the second one would be used for a giveaway. You can also send me any information about the product including pictures. I most often will take my own pictures and use my own wording for my reviews. I may incorporate some of the information you give me for educational purposes of the product, but please do not give me a "prewritten"
script that you expect me to use.
Just send one product to me and when the winner is announced then I will e-mail you the winners name and you can ship it to them within 48 hours.
*If you ship me the giveaway I will ask you to send out another one to the winner and you will not receive the one sent in error back. I do not want to incur shipping costs.
Contest will almost always increase traffic to your site.
Please leave your link to your site.
Please keep in mind that because I review primarily organizational products, I do not have the volume of reviews that most sites have. In general I review one product a week. So it may be several weeks to months before your product/service comes up for review. I keep a list on my left hand sidebar of the order of my reviews. (There may be a time that one that is time related does get jumped ahead in line)
I will also be sprinkling my review site with other reviews that most likely will not have giveaways associated with them. These posts will not effect the order of when your post comes up...these are added in extra. This would include my Tastecasting visits or other offers that I may have been given the opportunity to see or go to free of charge .

Thanks!

New Review Site!

2008-11-29T21:29:00.000-05:00

My new review site!! What do you think?
Give me a couple days to work on the layout. I will be getting a couple of reviews ready for you.
I will be reviewing my pouchee and having a give away and Bev Coggins is sending me a couple of her books to review (that is going to be cool!!).

If there is anyone who wants to help me launch my new review site and would like their organizing product reviewed, please comment or e-mail me at www.organizewithsandy@yahoo.com

You can go to http://orgjunkiereviews.blogspot.com/ if you would like a chance now at winning a free pouchee. Read her review too.

Keep checking back...my site will be up soon!!

Organizing Online with Sandy

2008-11-16T12:49:00.000-05:00

Are you always searching through piles of papers to find that one bill that you know is in there? Can’t invite people into your home because you are too embarrassed over the mess? Have a medically fragile child or adult in your home and have no idea how to handle all the supplies and where to put them? Have a craft business out of your home but all your supplies are all over the floor because you don’t know how to organize them?

Hiring a professional organizer may seem like the answer to your prayers!

For most people it something that can be done because the money is just not in the budget or there is not a Professional Organizer near you. Many people don’t even know that the option for a Professional Organizer exists.
I do have to say that it CAN be the best investment you may ever make if you are able to hire one to come in and help you hands on to sort through your things and help you make decisions. By the time many individuals are ready to think about needing help to organize their things it is because it has gotten to a point that is causing them problems in their marriage, self esteem, family life is suffering.
I recommend that your first step is to contact The National Association of Professional Organizers or Faithful Organizers and find a Professional Organizer that is close to you to help you hands on. (If you are near Columbus Ohio, then call me!!)
If financially this is just not possible then I may be able to help you online. We can work on your space over the internet. This will require you doing all the work yourself. I will give you guidelines and ideas…you have to implement them yourself.

How it works:
1) E-mail me and we can discuss your space and what you are hoping to get out of your space.
2) E-mail me pictures of your space.
3) If I agree to take on your case then I would need payment for the work to be done. (The payment covers my time to work on your plan and research options and supplies you may need, the follow up is basically I am not getting paid for.)
4) You would need to send more photos and measurements of your space if I need them.
5) I would work up a plan and send it to you.
6) We would work via e-mails daily on what you can do that day or week and a time frame that would be fair to complete the assignment for that day.
7) Pictures sent along the way so I can see your progress.
8) Correspondence until the job is complete.

Requirement from you:
1) Pictures and measurements taken and e-mailed to me.
2) Payment to be made through pay pal before I work on your plan.
3) Agreement to do the work in a time frame we agree on.
4) Pictures along the way so I can see your progress.
5) Answering my e-mails in a timely fashion.
6) No e-mail spamming or using my information for purposes other than we discussed. No e-mails other than our conversations (do not put me on a list to receive joke or other forwarded e-mails), no obscene pictures or verbiage, or phone calls.

What you can expect from me:
1) Privacy of your name and location and e-mail address. I will not use them for any other purposes.
2) Before and after pictures may be used on my blog or web site with your permission to help show others that it can be done and what a wonderful job you did.
3) A plan for your space
4) E-mail correspondences to walk you through the process.
5) Phone conversation if needed (extra fee possible)
6) Pats on the back!! (well not literally since you are there and I am here)

I reserve the right to discontinue the work with you and not return payment if :
1) There is any form of spamming, verbal, picture or phone calling obscenities or abuse.
2) If you are not making any efforts to do the work (with much effort on my part).
3) Any obsessive e-mailing or phone calling without progress on your part.

There may be cases that I will not take on. If you have a problem with hoarding (which you may not be aware) or are chronically disorganized (you may also not be aware..or even know what either of those are for that matter) then I will refer you to the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization
If I see the pictures and realize that you need more help than I am able to give online then I would not do you the disservice of taking on your case knowing I would not be able to help you.

If you are interested in working with me online to tackle some of your hard hit areas that you don’t have any idea how to organize…then please e-mail me at www.organizewithsandy@yahoo.com and I will discuss fees with you.