ppp Archives - Adrienne's House

NMEDA

October 7, 2010 By Adrienne Van Houten Leave a Comment

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of NMEDA. All opinions are 100% mine.

I’m not going to try and get you to buy something. I am not even going to recommend a product of any kind. I know SHOCKER! But I do want to tell you about a website. NMEDA (National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association)is a site dedicated to helping those in need of specialty equipment

NMEDA is the only association that promotes safe driving equipment for disabled people. They are a non-profit organization and their members are required to adhere to the safety standards of the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).

I had a co-worker many moons ago whose mom was a parapalegic. The car he drove to work every day was hers and everything was done by using hand controls, like a motorcycle almost. I remember being fascinated by that.

NMEDA is the place to find the right equipment that fits YOUR needs. Not every person nor their disability is the same. If you need special equipment, you need to be sure that what you are getting is going to be right for you and is going to be SAFE for you.

As always, if you take advantage of this, please come back and let me know how it works for you. This may be Adrienne’s House, but I always want to hear from you!

Filed Under: Blog, Garage

Move It Move It

October 6, 2010 By Adrienne Van Houten Leave a Comment

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of PlayStation MOVE. All opinions are 100% mine.

A video game that makes you Move? How dare they?!

Oh wait Nintendo did that years ago. LOL

I bought myself a Nintendo Wii for my Fortieth birthday, thinking it would get me up and moving and exercising more frequently. Only to now (almost three years later) find it stuck in a box in the grand kids play room.

Now Play Station has come out with their own motion gaming system, the Move. You can either buy a whole new system or for only $99 upgrade your existing Play Station 3 system with the MOVE bundle package.

Perhaps if a genie came and offered me one for free, I would take it, but would I use it for any longer than I did the Nintendo Wii? Doubtful.

I was checking out the listing of games they have so far and honestly none of them appeal to me. There is a bowling game that looks semi interesting and some games that I am sure will attract actual “gamers” like Tron and Resident Evil. But personally I don’t think any of them are worth it for me.

I think I need to pull out my system, hook it up and get back to getting active (HA!) and fit (HA! HA!).

Then again, maybe I will just go find a bottle to rub and see if a genie pops out after all. Ooooooh and maybe just maybe the genie will be played by Robin Williams! HA HA HA HA HA

Filed Under: Blog

Leggo My Tivo!

September 20, 2010 By Adrienne Van Houten 2 Comments

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of TiVo. All opinions are 100% mine.

I won’t lie, I MISS MY TIVO!

I see no advantage over having ATT Uverse at all. We get less channels and we all have to share the DVR.

: Image via CrunchBase

Blergh.

Poor Megan can’t even watch TV some nights because both Kathy and I are taping and that leaves no room for even watching.

My Tivo used to have an option to automatically record all the new Fall TV. Now I have to search for what is starting when and maybe no one else will want to tape something else at the same time.

Speaking of Fall TV, anyone watching anything new this season? I got a screener of Lone Star but didn’t care for it. I am looking forward to some of the new sitcoms, Raising Hope, Mike and Molly and Running Wilde. I am intrigued by Detroit 187 – duh -, but really I am just happy to have some old favorites back. Survivor, Amazing Race and Glee. Can’t wait!

Remember that Dream House I have been furnishing for a few years? It will definitely include Tivo in every room!

Check out the Facebook Fan Page for Tivo and see all the cool updates they have. And while you are clicking around, Enter to Win a new TiVo Slide in the “30 Slides in 30 Days” Sweepstakes but HURRY the deadline to enter is on the 22nd.

Filed Under: Blog

For My Wannabe Teacher Friends

September 10, 2010 By Adrienne Van Houten 2 Comments

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Woodrow Wilson. All opinions are 100% mine.

Growing up I always answered the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” the exact same way. “I want to be a teacher”. Sometimes I would get specific and say I wanted to teach 3rd grade. I don’t know why I chose that grade or age level of kids, but that was going to be it. I knew I didn’t want to teach high school, because I know what a pain in the behind my friends and I were, and I didn’t want to have to put up with that.

Although I never did become a teacher, I did work in the education field. I started as a volunteer parent, became a classroom assistant, a clerk in the counseling office of a high school (where I dealt mostly with the “bad” kids and LOVED it by the way), and then finished as an elementary school secretary.

Coworkers would encourage me to become a teacher, one teacher at the high school offered to help me financially to go back to school and get the degree I needed to teach Math. But I knew by then that my patience was not at the level it needed to be to teach other peoples children. I had a hard enough time helping my own with their homework without becoming too impatient.

I wish I had taken him up on his offer tho, I wish I had gone back to school. (This is where the sponsored post part comes in).

The Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship provides recent college graduates and career changers in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, or math) with a $30,000 stipend to complete an intensive master’s degree program at one of fourteen participating universities.

Competitive candidates will:
- Have completed an undergraduate degree in a STEM field by June 2011.
- Have graduated with a 3.0 GPA or higher.
- Demonstrate a commitment to the program and its goals.

Fellows will:
- Complete a field-based master’s degree in teacher education.
- Commit to teach for at least three years in a high-need school.
- Receive intensive support and mentoring in the classroom.

The Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowships seeks to recruit, prepare and retain effective teachers for the students and schools who need them most.

For more information or to fill out an application, please visit: www.wwteachingfellowship.org

Not a bad deal eh? Check out the video below for more information. And as always, if you take advantage of this, please come back and let me know how it goes.

Filed Under: Blog

Butt Paste

September 9, 2010 By Adrienne Van Houten 1 Comment

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Boudreaux’s Butt Paste. All opinions are 100% mine.

: Image by adriennevh via Flickr

Ok, I am supposed to write a post that extols the many wonderful virtues of Boudreaux’s Butt Paste. If I am not mistaken (and I am too lazy to go back through my archives {and I despise bloggers who link to themselves}) I have done this before.

But I will give you the facts, and the simple fact is that Butt Paste is AWESOME! I mean the name alone makes it worth buying. Madilyn is a huge fan!

From their website:

Pediatrician recommended

Goes on and cleans off easily
Available in convenient sizes
Flip top cap (tubes)
Handy travel size
Pleasant scent

Skin protectant

16% Zinc Oxide
Peruvian Balsam
Treats diaper rash and soothes irritated skin

Featured on

Oprah Show
Tonight Show
Today Show
People Magazine
ESPN
While You Were Out TLC

Convenient sizes of 1oz, 2oz, 3oz and 4oz tubes, 16oz jar and single foil pack.You can even go on their website right now and request a free sample be sent to you. Of course you have to send them (as in snail mail them) a self addressed stamped envelope, so honestly I don’t forsee many of you doing this. But if you do, please come back and tell me what you think!

Visit my sponsor: Boudreaux's Butt Paste >

Filed Under: Blog

Free Web Hosting

September 9, 2010 By Adrienne Van Houten 1 Comment

Are you looking for a new host? How about the Hostess with the Mostest?

No, seriously, this sponsored post is offering you a great deal. I don’t know the small print, but it can’t hurt to go to the website and check it out.

Robson Communications Inc. is offering 3 free years of free web site and email hosting to any blogger who goes to the Robson Communications Inc. website and signs up using the code WGT38864. This generous offer from Robson Communications Inc. will expire on September 30, 2010, so go, now, hurry.

Filed Under: Blog

Boost Me Up Scotty

August 11, 2010 By Adrienne Van Houten Leave a Comment

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Boost Mobile. All opinions are 100% mine.

: Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I have been having phone issues. My messages show I have 11 unread messages in my phone, but when I go in to look at

them it says I have NO unread messages. I have taken my phone to Sprint four times in the last two weeks to have it fixed and each time they say they have fixed it but it happens again the next day. Now they say it is an issue with Yahoo (my email provider), not them. Sigh.

Taj pays the phone bill, he has graciously upgraded us to smart phones with unlimited data and everything so that I can have the access and capabilities that I need to keep in constant contact with the world. I use the email, the texting, the Twitter, WordPress and Face Book apps ALL THE TIME. I need to have that flexibility in order to keep my blog up to date and keep promoting it to others so my readership doesn’t decline.

Of course this has taken a financial toll on him, one that in this economy none of us can really afford. WHich is why I have been looking at Boost Mobile. They are a “pay as you go” phone carrier. A co-worker has one and she was doing everything I do (minus the WordPress) on my phone now.

They also allow you to Re-Boost your phone in many different ways, either on-line, in person or over the phone.

I am very happy with my Blackberry, I have no desire to go to an iPhone or any other type of phone, so as long as this is an option, it may be the right move for me.

Filed Under: Blog

Bright Beginnings

August 2, 2010 By Adrienne Van Houten Leave a Comment

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of PBM Products. All opinions are 100% mine.

Bright_beginnings_1

One of the best gifts Marisa got at her baby shower was a gift certificate to Diapers.com. What a great idea, to sell diapers online and have them shipped directly to your home. No schlepping of babies to different stores, no searching for deals and sales. They had all the current sale prices and took all store and manufacturer coupons. Even though that gift certificate has run it’s course, there is a big ‘ol box of diapers sitting in our living room right now.

Since she began using them 5 years ago (gasp!) they have progressed to carrying stuff other than diapers. She has ordered wipes through them, and now they are offering formula as well.

Before all you breast feeders jump down my throat for promoting formula, let me stop you right there. Breast feeding has not been a viable option for me or my daughter. So reel in your claws please, thank you.

Formula is probably the most expensive part of having a baby. It can range from $25-40 per can! That is crazy, I know I have vented about this before, so I won’t bore you again. But I will encourage new parents that are reading to go and check out Bright Beginnings available at diapers.com.

Filed Under: Blog

Good Old Days

July 29, 2010 By Adrienne Van Houten 1 Comment

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Ramblers Way. All opinions are 100% mine.

: Image by adriennevh via Flickr

I didn’t grow up in a small town, I grew up in Southwest Detroit. Right near Vernor Highway and Springwells. Five miles from downtown Detroit. Three blocks from the major thoroughfare, with a bus stop on the corner of our street. But it felt like a small town.

We knew all our neighbors, up and down and across the street. Everyone sat on their porch in the evenings and the kids all played in the street. You could walk to the store alone at a young age. Vernor Highway contained a supermarket, a dime store or two (Kresge and another whose name I can’t remember), a stationary store (Brother’s) and many more small “mom and pop” stores.

Recently I drove down Vernor and gone is the supermarket, replaced with a major drug store chain. Gone are the dime stores and the stationary store, replaced with empty shells of buildings. As I rode down Navy (the street we grew up on) half of the houses were gone and others were in stages of disrepair.

Is this the result of “urban sprawl” or the result of major box stores over taking the “mom and pop” stores? Or is this just the natural progression of inner city life?

There was a time when Made in America was the norm and not the abnormal. We lived not too far from the Ford River Rouge plant and had family members who worked there. We could smell (oy the stench) of the soap factory of the lard being rendered down. We knew where our food came from as mom worked for the meat cutters union and we had seen the cutting room floor (ick yuck blech). We could also smell the sweet sweet scent of the Wonder Bread bakery that would totally make up for the pig fat.

Nowadays, that isn’t so much the case.

What can we do to bring us back to “the good old days”? And were those the “good old days”? Or were the “good old days” the days of our parents, or theirs? Will these be the “good old days” of our kids and grand kids?

Who’s to say?

Filed Under: Blog

Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

July 19, 2010 By Adrienne Van Houten Leave a Comment

: Image by aranarth via Flickr

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Ashworth College. All opinions are 100% mine.

Funny how the world turns around.

Last Fall while having dinner with friends at my sister’s house I was the only non-Academic in the room, over the age of 6 that is. At one point the topic of conversation wound it’s was to distance learning and their concern that it would go the way of online shopping and hurt the brick and mortar world. It was a genuine concern including the fact that the “college experience” can be so important in the formative years of some and how the online world can be damaging to that.

I finally had an “in” to the conversation. Marisa was working towards an Online degree at the time as were many of my Unicorn friends. I interjected that having a toddler and twin infants, online classes were the smartest choice for my daughter and other moms. That it offered the flexibility of classes and study sessions. That the tuition and books were less than half of the cost of the local community college.

They agreed that for that sector of the population it could indeed be a good choice. For many moms who choose to stay at home, taking online courses can be a way to not only stay in the game but even to get ahead of the pack and better themselves for when they choose to return to the workforce.

Once again, this just goes to show there are more than two sides to every opinion.

Filed Under: Blog, Reviews

NMEDA

Move It Move It

Leggo My Tivo!

For My Wannabe Teacher Friends