I came home from a pretty traumatic dental experience recently and they wanted to know what happened. I told them that mommy didn’t brush and floss the way she was supposed to and, as a result, mommy had to have the icky parts of the tooth that died drilled off. They gasped and kind of screamed a little and then ran around holding their mouths.

Come on, you didn’t think I was going to sugar coat the dentist, did you? In retrospect, I wish I’d gotten some fake blood and had it trickling out of my mouth while moaning, “Why?? Why didn’t I brush and floss more??” Hopefully generating looks of absolute terror on the kids’ faces and ensuring a lifetime of proper dental hygiene.

But getting my kids to brush without the fake blood is just one of the million things I have to do as a mom everyday to try and get them to adulthood without excessive therapy or dental -  bills. You know what I mean, all those little things that you forget you did by the end of the day: cooking, cleaning, working, comforting, hugging, fixing boo-boos. The little things that make you wonder where the day went because you sometimes feel like you didn’t do anything.

No one ever said being a mom was easy – well, I’m sure someone did but I don’t know them and hope I never meet them because I’d hate to have an assault charge on my record – and Aquafresh is trying to make not only brushing but your whole mommylicious day easier with iso-active whitening toothpaste. It whitens better than a non whitening toothpaste too, and that’s awesome, because I remember when I used to have super white teeth – before I started smiling with my mouth closed in pictures.

But enough about me! There’s stuff in it for YOU today!!

Aquafresh is starting a really cool campaign called “Mom Goes Beyond” and wants to hear YOUR story of going beyond. To participate in this contest you just have to leave a comment about an inspiring or memorable moment you’ve loved, hated, endured, laughed, cried, or suffered through and you could have a chance to win various and sundry awesomeness including a $50 Walmart gift card.

By June 9th I’ll randomly nominate someone to become the grand prize winner and if chosen by the Aquafresh creative team they’ll receive one year’s worth of free Aquafresh (via coupons) and a $500 Walmart shopping extravaganza (via gift card) and be featured on the Aquafresh Facebook page so everyone can be wicked jealous of your amazing momaliciousness. By July 7th the Aquafresh peeps will have decided who gets the big grand prize extravaganza!

Let’s face it – being a mom is challenging. Each day you are going above the call of duty by being not only a mother, but also a wife, a teacher, a referee, a handy man, a comforter and more. But most importantly, you are always a mother and going through the journey is sometimes arduous but inspiring. Aquafresh is committed to lending moms a hand by supplying them with products, such as the amazing iso-active Whitening toothpaste, that achieves 33% better whitening compared to a non-whitening toothpaste. Now it’s your turn to share what makes you work beyond as Aquafresh wants to hear about these moments and celebrate you as mom through their Mom Goes Beyond campaign.

So what you makes you a mom that goes beyond?

M80 contacted me on behalf of Aquafresh to write this post and review the products and hold a giveaway. I am getting swag for running this contest. I’m giving away (randomly) 4 coupons for the new Aquafresh iso-active Whitening toothpaste and, like, FIVE boxes of Aquafresh white trays.  Your mouth will thank and love me. Oh, and I’m giving away a $50 Walmart gift card too!!

I’ve used Clorox wipes in the past and have always been impressed by how fast and easy they are to use. Once I saw they were coming out with the designer canisters I thought they’d be great to coordinate with my Kleenex boxes. That way when my lovely preschoolers sniffle I can give them Kleenex…and when I’m too late and they sneeze all over my table, chair, desk, or shelves…I can grab the Clorox wipes and disinfect.

The new Clorox designer canisters are fun, simple, and classic in their design. I really love what they’ve done with the concept – from rounded edges to a fun pop top that still has enough room that you can fish out the next wipe if they get lost.

Think you have what it takes to design the next Clorox Disinfecting Wipes Canister? Clorox and Macy’s are sponsoring the Redesign Clean contest!

Enter the Redesign Clean contest for a chance to win a trip to New York City! The winner will receive a $1,000 Macy’s shopping spree and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shadow Macy’s talented Visual Team. Experience how creative concepts are brought to life on the floors of Macy’s Herald Square!

Heck, if you play your cards right you might even be able to pitch them your crazy-awesome design skills in an impromptu, on-the-spot interview. (That’s not part of the contest, that’s just what I would do if I was in front of a team full of designers after my concept won me a trip to N.Y.C. and a grand in free shopping. Just sayin’)

Once the Starter kit arrived it looked pretty straight forward and so was what I expected out of the product. Through the winter and the first few storms of the spring my front window gets quite a bit of dirt on it. I expected the Windex Outdoor cleaner to deliver the same quality as the indoor cleaner I have used for years has. Streak free and easy is the core of what I expected.

What it Comes With

The Starter Kit came with:

• 1 cleaning handle
• 1 handle
• 4 pole sections
• 1 cleaning pad

Check out How It really works!

How it Worked

Putting the pieces together was very easy. It wasn’t difficult to snap the pieces firmly together, and it seems unlikely it could be done incorrectly. The directions for use were clear and easy to follow. The hardest part may have been getting the hose out of the garage and hooking it up. A quick spray of the windows and the cleaning pad and everything was ready to go. The few spots that took more than one pass seemed like they would take more, and would have meant scrubbing if doing the windows by hand. After Doing our front windows I was very satisfied with how well it worked. I have a neighbor who washes their windows inside and out weekly and my windows look as nice as theirs. The product performed as described and after rinsing promptly the windows were left streak free and clean.

Give Away Time!

Just in time for Spring cleaning Widex has given MommyBlogReviews a Windex Outdoor All in One Starter Kit to give away. Just leave a comment with your worst window washing experience by March 30th, 2009 at 11:59pm CST to enter. The winner will be chosen randomly and informed by email on March 31st.

As an additional special SC Johnson is offering readers of MommyBlogReviews a coupon for a free refill pack with the purchase of a starter kit.

This post was written for Family Review Network as part of a program by SC Johnson, who also supplied the product for review and give away.

Getting a can of Pledge in the mail to review was exciting.

Well, after I first freaked out because a bottle of aerosol was delivered to my home in a box – isn’t that illegal? Ok, maybe I’m a little paranoid, but not much.

After that little panic, excitement set in. Pledge says it can remove up to 84% of allergens of pet dander and dust mites – my two biggest concerns with two dogs and two kids that seem like PigPen from the Peanuts trailing dust clouds behind them.

But it worked.

I love the lemon scent and have used it multiple times since receiving the can. I mean, I’m willing to write an entire review for a can of Pledge I can afford easily even though my husband got laid off two weeks ago…that should say something about the state of my economy and how much I liked the Pledge.

What it came with

• Weiman e-tronic Wipes Screen Wipes
• Weiman Natural Furniture Wipes
• Weiman Cook Top Quick Wipes Range Cleaner
• Weiman Glass Cook Top Cleaner

My Expectations

I expected each of the wipes to perform the task at hand without leaving any residue or leaving me nauseous.

The Results

First I tried the e-tronic wipes. With one wipe I was able to easily clean 2 19″ monitors and my entire laptop. I had forgotten how my laptop monitor really looked. Next I moved on to the real challenge, crayon on the TV screen. Cleaning the massive amount of crayon off of the 32″ TV screen ended up taking 4 wipes. Three to get the bulk of the crayon off, it took a little effort but less than other cleaners. Then one last wipe to get the remaining spots and give the screen a nice polish.

Second I hit the stove. I have to admit, there was some grease, and some boil-over from my last batch of beer. The side of the stove that was just a little dirty wiped up easily with one of the wipes, no real effort, just wiped right up. The dirtier side of the stove took four more wipes, like I said I was prepared to test with a mess. The wipes did the job, but when I touched the stove a few minutes later there was a film that remained, not quite grease, not quite cleaner, somewhere in between.

Trying out the furniture wipes I went first for the tough job, the girls’ table, with a good days worth of spills. It took some scrubbing, and a little use of my nails through the wipe but everything came clean in two wipes. Then I saw something I didn’t think possible from the table…Abby’s reflection in the table, the table actually has a shine now! I moved on to the end table and the wipe easily cleaned the few spots on the table and the stone surface without leaving any streaks.

For being natural wipes I was surprised at how fake the lemon smelled, like lemon head candy, a little too sweet. Even the girls were saying it smelled like candy.

We received a bottle of glass cook top cleaner, but we don’t have a glass cook top! Luckily my friend did and I visited and cleaned her stove in exchange for a cup of coffee and some good conversation. It worked really well, and only took one wipe to get the whole surface clean. She says that glass stove tops are a little easier to clean than a “normal” gas range, but even so she said it hadn’t looked quite that good in a long time. I left her the rest of the bottle and I think she is going to be a dedicated user from now on!

Conclusion

The Cook Top quick wipes will be living near my stove, they will be great for the quick cleanups that are necessary when cooking.

The furniture wipes will probably end up in the closet to be used once a month or before company comes over. The smell isn’t our favorite, but at the same time they work so well I’m willing to endure candy cravings for a few hours until the smell dissipates.

The electronic wipes…why have I not had these for the last decade? Seriously, These will be a new staple of our home office.

This post brought to you by Family Review Network and Weiman

What it Came With

• Perfect Planet by Weiman Squeeze & Clean Floor Cleaner
• Perfect Planet by Weiman Squeeze & Shine Floor Polish

My Expectations

I expected it to clean my floors without residue and be able to lift off the spots that were a little dried on or sticky.

The Results

The floor cleaner worked like a charm. The floor I tried it out on was put down a little over a month ago and therefor hadn’t been washed yet. The kids had made a few sticky spots and there was a little ground in dirt from the dogs coming in from outside. The Perfect Planet floor cleaner loosened everything up and gave the tile a nice sheen. The floor polish finished the job, it gave a nice even shine and didn’t streak. I didn’t even have to worry about chemical residue and was able to put the girls’ toys back in and let them play 15 minutes later when it dried.

Conclusion

I used about 10 ounces of the 27 ounce bottle to clean the 170ish square feet of the playroom and back hall. I used a little less of the floor polish. I would say that for an all natural product the Perfect Planet worked great but that wouldn’t be giving it the credit it deserves. The Perfect Planet floor cleanser did as good a job, if not better than anything I have used out of a squirt bottle or mixed up in a bucket. The floor polish almost seemed to do too good a job for my tile. I’ll break it out before company comes over but not on a regular basis. If I had hardwood, I think I would be using it weekly.

This post brought to you by Family Review Network and Weiman

Often it seems every mop is the same. They all have some little thing that is supposed to make them better than every other one on the rack.

I have to admit, what I really want is the commercial one like they use in restaurants, the big yellow bucket on casters.

Why? What is it about the big yellow bucket that makes it great?

The ability to wring out the mop easily.

The Libman Wonder Mop takes a little physics, a combination of pressure and release points, the squeezer and the holes in it…and with those things is trying to create my dream of a big yellow bucket mop…without the big yellow bucket…

Let’s see how it did…

What it Came With

The Libman Wonder Mop

My Expectations

I was hopeful that it would achieve the design expectations and deliver a good wring.

The Results

The design of the wringer was effective, it gave me a very nice damp mop, no puddles on the floor, no big wet streak when I first laid down the mop. I decided to be nice, and tried it on the kids playroom and the back hallway. After the flooding incident (link to blog post) I laid down tile. It has seen a bit of Toddler wear and was due for its first mop. The mop had no problem getting the strange sticky spots out. The mop was also very versatile, and had a good head on it, they didn’t skimp here. I was able to use the mop to also clean the baseboards. The mop has no problem working at that angle and didn’t even come close to scraping anything. The Libman Wonder mop wringer worked great and the dirt didn’t end up back on the floor.

Conclusion

The mop is a good deal in my book. The Libman Wonder Mop does a great job wringing out the head to a consistent dampness. It was rugged, only a little elbow grease and it easily took care of the tough spots. The Wonder Mop was versatile, it was able to take on the baseboards with no fear of scratching.

Simply put, this is the best mop I have had in the last five years.

This post brought to you by Family Review Network and Libman

When we opened it there were two very cool products inside. The Bath Blizzard and Aquadoodle Floor Mat from SpinMaster.

We’ve been fans of Aquadoodle products for over a year now (the girls had the travel pads and wall sized Aquadoodles) but hadn’t gotten the kids a floor mat yet. They were thrilled.

One of the things I think is such a nice extra touch on the Aquadoodle is the pictures on the side of the mat. The wall ‘doodles have the pictures too. They are 1-2-3 step pictures on how to draw simple things like a sun, a house, a stick person…my daughter follows the directions. So she’s learning while she’s having fun.

The other package in the box was also a SpinMaster product called the Bath Blizzard. It made the amazing claim that it created bubbles and dumped them into the tub so it was like a never-ending bubble bath for the kids! (never-ending = about fifteen minutes = a lot of bubbles)

While it took us a while to get it going, we followed the directions and did not give up…see what happens…

Even though my fantasies saw those bubbles coming out much chunkier, what matters is what the kids thought. They loved it…and have asked for it every time they’ve taken a bath since the first time.

So I think it was a success!