Better Homes and Gardens Canadian Real Estate (BHGREC) burst into the Canadian Market in October 2011 and has taken the Canadian Real Estate Market by storm.
To celebrate, BHGREC is launching the Make Your Home and Garden Even Better Sweepstakes.
BHGREC is giving away a new iPhone 4S and 10 individual Home Depot cards worth $50 each!
The contest is available ONLY ON Facebook, from May 8th to May 30th (ends at 11:59pm). So go “Like” BHG Canada on Facebook and enter for your chance to win!
After years are doing everything in our power to avoid hiring help, we have finally conceded – a full-time nanny is necessary.
It has always been very important to my husband and I to be very hands on in the day to day lives of our children. We are fortunate because we both work from home, at the same time our schedules are very demanding. Up until now we have been able to use an on-call domestic service to provide help as needed but we have found ourselves in need of help more days then not recently.
I wish I could be there all of the time and be super mom but it’s just not possible, I am only one person. It’s a hard choice but in the end this is what’s best for our children. There is nothing worse than having to shush your preschooler because you’re on a conference call when all they want to do is have tea and dance.
It was not an easy choice; there are a lot of things to consider when choosing a nanny. This is someone who will be in your home and with your children 40 plus hours per week. She is someone who you will trust to care for and love your children in your absence. In our case it’s someone who will travel with us and be privileged to a lot of personal and industry information; not a simple decision.
Choosing live-in or live-out was actually simple however; because of our erratic schedules and travel expectations, a live-in nanny gives us the flexibility we need. It is a little daunting since this will be our first live-in staff member but I think it will work out well.
Deciding on the type of nanny was actually a bit trickier; there are domestic nannies and au pairs. An au pair is very well qualified and typically comes from outside of the US; the catch is they can only stay for a year in many cases although a 12 month extension is now possible.
We want our children to be comfortable and happy with their nanny and stability is a must so this was a concern for us. In the end the deciding factor was simply the ability to stay with our family long term so we have decided on a domestic nanny.
When actually hiring the nanny, open communication is extremely important. All expectations should be set forth before hiring takes place. The parents and nanny should all be on the same page as far as responsibilities, style and discipline.
It is very important to us that our children are the nanny’s only focus; so the nanny does not need to clean and do laundry her only focus should always be our children. Likewise, we are very child-centric so someone who has rigid expectations wouldn’t be a good fit for us either. If your nanny will travel, be expected to sign a non-disclosure agreement or any other special requirement this should also be relayed in advance.
Our nanny starts on Monday. I am terrified. I have mom guilt and I question my choice but in the end I think it’s best for my children and my sanity.
Melissa Buonanno is a wife, mom and business owner trying to navigate mommy-hood in Hollywood, busy with three kids in the entertainment industry and loving every minute of it. Melissa is well known in the Beverly Hills social circles and active in the community. She enjoys shopping, cooking and traveling and is a self confessed coffee enthusiast. To find out more about life if Beverly Hills visit me on Twitter.
Playtex products are always a staple on most baby shower wish lists. But by the time I had baby number four, I didn’t think I needed to have a shower. Boy was I wrong!
Two universal truths parents of babies and toddlers all face: 1) Kids gotta eat and 2) Kids that eat make dirty diapers. Luckily, Playtex™ has two solutions for each of my dilemmas. I had the opportunity to test a whole variety of products from Playtex™, when I joined the Playtexmommyville website as a Mom Reviewer, via Playtex™ and amotherworld.
My two youngest kids (aged 4 and 21 months) and I were eager to try the following products:
1) Playtex™ Mealtime Plates
2) Playtex™ Mealtime Bowls
3) Playtex ™Toddler Utensils
4) Playtex ™The First Lil’ Gripper Straw Trainer Cup
5) Playtex™ Lil’ Gripper Spoutless Cup
6) Coolster® Tumbler Cup
7) Playtex™ Diaper Genie™ Portable Diaper Bag Dispenser and Playtex™ Diaper Genie® II Elite™
The Mealtime Solution
My daughter loves her bright pink-coloured plates and bowls to eat from, especially since they match Playtex™ Toddler Utensils. The fork and spoon are easy for her hands to hold. The Playtex ™The First Lil’ Gripper Straw Trainer Cup is a bit tricky still for my daughter to use for two reasons: 1) she thinks that if she tips her head back that she’ll get more “joot” (apple juice) and 2) she hasn’t mastered the art of the suction from this type of straw which creates a bit of back pressure and can sometimes suck the juice out of her mouth in the opposite direction.
She finds the Playtex™ Lil’ Gripper Spoutless Cup much easier to manage. My son thought the plates were cool with designs of dinosaurs. He likes the Coolster®Tumbler Cup because it keeps his favourite drinks nice and cold (he likes ice) and it holds more juice, but he also likes to use the Lil’ Gripper Spoutless cup as well. I personally prefer cups without straws since I find them a whole lot easier to clean (and also since sometimes straws get clogged with milk that has sat around all day waiting for mom to come home and wash!). Since they each have their own favourite designs and colours, the mealtime squabbles have been squashed!
The best part of the entire Playtex™ Mealtime system (besides being affordable and bpa/phthalate-free), is that they don’t go sliding across the high-chair and glass table like mine (because of non-slip grips) and they hold just the right amount of their favourite meals of hotdogs or cereal or ice cream.
The Dirty Diaper Solution
Playtex™ Diaper Genie™Portable Diaper Bag Dispenser : When I do get the rare opportunity to go out with the kids on weekend outings, I make sure I pack the totally cool Playtex™ Diaper Genie™ Portable Diaper Bag Dispenser which is small enough to fit in the kids’ backpack and easy to clip on my purse or stroller.
On this particular occasion after a long drive my daughter was wet. I had to change her diaper as she was getting fussy so I stopped at a parking lot to change her – no washroom in sight. I grabbed the Playtex™ Diaper Genie™Portable Diaper Bag Dispenser from the backpack, pulled out the blue plastic bag through the little window, tore it off at the perforated end. Then I put the diaper and some tissues in, tied up the lavender scented bag with a knot. No one noticed the diaper at all the whole car ride home.
Playtex™ Diaper Genie®: Having a baby and a toddler fairly close together makes for a lot of dirty diaper products. So I appreciated the opportunity to test the Playtex™ Diaper Genie® II Elite™ diaper pail. Almost a mini-family project, we all helped to assemble it in about 5-10 minutes. It came in two pieces that snapped together after a firm push down, then I popped in the Diaper Genie II Elite™ Refill in the top. I pulled the plastic down, tied the knot in the end and closed the unit back together.
After stepping on the pedal at the bottom, the lid popped up then I dropped the diaper in and the lid closed back. I opened the unit and slid the plastic along the child-proof cutter, tied a knot in the end and disposed of the diaper. What I like most about the Playtex™ Diaper Genie ®II Elite™ diaper pail is that everyone was excited to use it, since we all help out with diaper duty. Needless to say we went through the refill fairly quickly!
I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to test all of these products for my second round of motherhood. Thank you to Playtex™ and amotherworld.
Playtex™ is giving two lucky amotherworld readers a prize pack containing one of each product Sharlene reviewed (valued at approximately $90).
Suggested Retail Prices: Playtex™ Mealtime Plates ($7.99); Playtex™ Mealtime Bowls ($7.99); Playtex ™Toddler Utensils ($4.99); Playtex ™The First Lil’ Gripper Straw Trainer Cup ($5.99); Playtex™ Lil’ Gripper Spoutless Cup ($5.99); Coolster® Tumbler Cup ($5.99); Diaper Genie™Portable Diaper Bag Dispenser ($4.99) and Playtex Diaper Genie™ ($45.99).
CONTEST OPEN TO CANADA ONLY. CONTEST ENDS MAY 31, 2012.
Often when people talk about comic book movies, they simply call them movies. The Avengers proves in the right hands, there is a thing called a comic book “film”.
The excitement for The Avengers film has been building up since Iron Man (2008) and with each Marvel film since. Whedon has skillfully put all these characters together and given them all individual time to shine but at the same time make this a superhero team as well.
Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark/Iron Man, Chris Evans is Steve Rogers/Captain America and Chris Hemsworth is Thor, Scarlett Johansson is Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow and Jeremy Renner plays Clint Barton/Hawkeye.
Whedon has a superb understanding of the true motivation behind the Hulk character, played by Mark Ruffalo. He is not just a monster that fights a lot or “Hulks out” but a character looking to solve the inner monster through dealing with it.
This is what separates the Banner/Hulk from being an average superhero; this is what the past films never got right. They were too busy trying to be like the 70’s TV show.
I implore all families to go see this film, young and old, although it might help if you’vewatched the other films or else you may be confused by the various characters.
The film lasts around 2.5 hours but an hour of the film is pure action. There are some amazing well-crafted fight sequences in the film and also some really beautiful touching scenes that will make you shed a tear.
Director Joss Whedon is of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly fame. Often many of his works were crushed due to non-commercial success or many people simply not understanding the very progressive material.
The Avengers holds the record at the box office for the highest grossing weekend with 200 million dollars! It blew open The Dark Knight’s record.
This is simply the film of the year, go out and see it and have a blast!
Review: A+ Rating: PG-13
Joseph S. Tiberia is a recent graduate of Adelphi University with a major in Video/Film Production. He has interned for Half Yard Production and NYC’s Face-Off comedy troupe. He specializes in cinematography freelance work. Joseph is also a movie reviewer for Totalfilmnerd.com. His favorite film of all time is A BitterSweet Life.
Sunday night’s Celebrity Apprentice was chock full-o drama!
Team Unanimous – Arsenio Hall, Aubrey O’Day and Teresa Giudice – and Team Forte – Lisa Lampanelli and Clay Aiken – two had to create a print ad campaign, to run in Elle, promoting a new Chi touch-screen hairdryer.
Teresa allowed Lisa to outsmart her in negotiating models for the task, put her tail in between her legs and walked away.
I waited and waited and waited for Teresa to defend herself and get nasty with loud-mouth Lisa Lampanelli – but it never happened.
Project Manager Teresa’s lack of negotiating skills and her poor presentation got her fired and rightfully so!
As the remaining four got cozy and ready to celebrate in their suite, the Trump asked all four remaining competitors to return the boardroom.
The day wasn’t over! Each contestant had to meet with last season’s winner John Rich and runner-up Marlee Matlin to impress and prove why they deserved to be the next “Celebrity Apprentice.”
Rich and Matlin would give their recommendations to Trump who would in turn, fire two more!
Who was fired?
Drum roll please… loud-mouth Lampanelli got fired!
Her “uncontrollable emotions” – and bad attitude I’m sure – caused the Don to boot her out.
The other eliminated contestant will be revealed at the start of the next episode. Who will it be? I think it’ll be Arsenio and Clay and Aubrey will go head to head.
Saturday night will be extra special if you’re outside gazing at the stars. The biggest and brightest full moon of the year will make its appearance as it dramatically rises over the horizon on Saturday evening.
The “supermoon” is the largest full moon of the year. The moon will pass about 15,000 miles closer to Earth than average.
Like any full moon, this Saturday’s super moon will look bigger when it’s hanging close to the horizon, which happens around sunset.
If you’ve watched one too many episodes of Supernatural or are a die-hard Twilight fan, beware of creepy weird things happening Saturday night. Just kidding, it’s a myth – or is it?
In any case, it’s a perfect time to snuggle up to your significant other.
More and more women who write about their families, aka “mom bloggers”, are working with brands and getting great sponsorships from big companies on their websites. However, they tend to be more of a one-off deal or the link between the blogger and the company is a little vague.
How do you take that level of engagement to more of a spokesperson arrangement?
Author Kathy Buckworth will speak to these women about how to turn their experiences into a more professional level at the Mom 2.0 Summit in Miami, Florida May 3-5, 2012 in her talk entitled “From Sponsored to Spokesperson”.
Kathy Buckworth
One of the issue that they have I think is how to manage their presence and brand in social media. I’ll talk about ‘Auntie Kathy’s dos and don’ts’ on how to represent yourself on Twitter and where you should step back, what you should promote, what you should talk about, and what it says when you talk about certain things,” Buckworth says.
“I’m never going to tell anyone exactly what they should tweet about but I think I can help people determine what it says about them when they tweet certain things and if that’s who they want to be, that’s great. But if they are presenting themselves in a very negative or underachieving mode when they could do better, they need to know what messages they are sending out.”
When a PR rep sends you an email with “dear mommy” in the salutation, many women bloggers are offended. The biggest complaint I hear is when people are not addressed correctly in a pitch.
Buckworth’s advice – keep the contact and throw away the content.
“They may have gotten the contact wrong but they have investigated you beforehand, you are someone they want to talk to and they probably have relationships with other brands. So it’s important to respect as a professional, talk to them about what you DO do,” Buckworth says.
“Recognize that these are professional people who don’t need to be insulted because they got your title wrong. They need to be appreciated for the work that they are doing as well.”
For a blogger who wants to take it to the next level with PR agencies or brands, Buckworth suggests getting in front of them – in person. Meeting them face to face gives you an opportunity to show them who you are, how well you speak and how you present yourself.
“Once you are in front of them, it will give them a face behind a brand, a personality because at the end of the day, if they want you to be an actual spokesperson, you have to look like they want their brand to look.”
Getting your face in front of them and making that personal connection is always worth it. But if you’re not being approached by brands or PR companies, make a connection another way – find someone local to you and maybe ask them about their connections.
“You’ll find that maybe some have connections they can no longer use and they may want to share with you,” Buckworth says.
If you are someone who gets approached all the time and you don’t want to talk to certain brands, or the brand no longer fits with your brand, pass on names of those whom you know would be interested.
“First, it builds the community, and secondly, they will be grateful to you. Send them onto someone you know will help.
If you’re not going to take that piece of work, why not spread it around?”
I have carpet on the upper level of my home and… shhhhh don’t tell…. I haven’t had them cleaned in a long time.
They are also beige… yeah. With two boys, you can imagine the dirt and stains.
So when I was offered the opportunity to try out the ProHeat 2X Deep Cleaner by BISSELL, I told myself that the universe was trying to tell me something about my mess.
I admit, I was a little intimidated by the monster of a machine after I put it together. But after reading the thorough instructions, using the ProHeat 2x Deep Cleaner is fairly easy.
Warning: do not use this carpet cleaner if you’re not completely awake. I hadn’t had my second cup of coffee when I tried it for the first time and managed to spill water all over the floor as I was trying to fill the tank.
I decided to use the Fiber Cleansing solution… um yeah, the carpets are dirty!
The solution goes into a separate compartment in the back of the machine, while the hot water goes in the front base. The ProHeat 2x Deep Cleaner also has a built-in hot water heater for maximum cleaning. The machine boasts dual brushes and heating system for a clean you can see, and 12 cleaning rows of DirtLifter® Powerbrushes that helps remove deep down dirt.
The cleaner was easy to assemble and easy to prepare for use. With steady strokes back and forth, as the instructions told me to do, using the ProHeat 2x Deep Cleaner was pretty simple. I had to hang onto the long cord so as not to get in the way.
I was amazed at how much dirt was pulled from the carpet, even though I had just vacuumed first! Using the machine is like vacuuming, except don’t tip the cleaner over or else water will spill!
There are also attachments for carpet on stairs or upholstery, which I didn’t try yet. Clean-up is fairly easy as well but you’ll need to have a screwdriver handy so you can clean the brushes and you’ll need to rinse the plastic pieces.
All in all, my carpet looks a lot cleaner! I’m happy with the ProHeat 2X Deep Cleaner. Tada!
BISSELL Canada recently launched the Go Below the Surface contest through their Facebook page. Canadians can choose a room, carpet and lifestyle, and based on their choices, BISSELL analyses their carpet and provides them with the recommended product to use.
After entering, participants gain entry into the grand prize draw where they can win a scuba diving adventure for 2 in the Bahamas! (a whole other meaning to “under the surface”). There are also weekly prizes of BISSELL prize packs.
The contest ends May 28, 2012 at 2:59p.m. ET and is open to all legal residents of Canada who are the age of majority (excluding those in Quebec).
Simpson and her fiancé, Eric Johnson, welcomed a baby girl on May 1.
The star made the announcement on her website:
“Eric and I are elated to announce the birth of our baby girl, Maxwell Drew Johnson,” it says.
“We are so grateful for all of the love, support and prayers we have received. This has been the greatest experience of our lives!!”
Baby Max weighed in at 9 lbs. 13 oz. and is 21 ¾ inches long.
The inspiration for the baby’s name? Maxwell is Johnson’s middle name and Drew is Simpson’s mother Tina’s maiden name. Max Drew? Sounds pretty masculine to me but it seems to be the trend these days!
Simpson, 31, and Johnson, 32, began dating in May of 2010 and were engaged six months later.
This summer’s movies are going to be about one thing: Action!
While this means that the summer will have more blood than comedy and romance, there is no room for disappointment. There are going to be some beyond amazing films released over the next four months that you will not want to miss out on!
From sequels to prequels and a little bit of everything in between, I guarantee that there is one movie on this list that you have been waiting a long time to see and a couple of new movies that will draw you from your couch and into the theatres.
Here are 15 movies to look forward to this summer 2012, movies we’re excited about!
