Busy Mom Reviews

So, remember when I visited Campbell's last month?

They are sponsoring a giveaway right here!

Warm-up any lunch with a year’s supply Campbell’s® Chicken & Stars kids soup (reduced sodium) and a Campbell’s thermos (NOTE – a year’s supply is 24 cans, even though that's like a month at my house).

That's right, win a years supply (24 cans) of Campbell’s® Chicken & Stars kids soup just by leaving a comment by Monday, March 16, 2009 10pm CST.

Winner will be drawn using a random number generator.

Good luck!

YoPlus yogurt by Yoplait has active cultures, fiber (3 grams per serving) and probiotics to help "regulate your digestive health".

The newest variety of Yo-Plus yogurt is Blueberry Acai, I tried it and it was really good, and I'm not even a huge blueberry fan! It's smooth and creamy and doesn't (to me) have that "sharp" taste that some low fat yogurts have.

Acai (AH-sigh-EE) is all the rage these days and lots of products are reaping it's health benefits and we all know that bluberries are great for you, too. At 110 calories and 1.5g of fat, it's a healthy choice as well.

----The Giveaway Part----

To win one of 3 Yo-Plus gift bags that include a coupon for a free 4-pack of Yo-Plus yogurt, Yoplait cooler tote bag (love this), water bottle and a nutrition journal:

1. Leave a comment (with a valid e-mail address)

2. Twitter it and leave a separate comment linking to your Tweet and get another chance to win.

3. Post about this giveaway on your blog and leave a separate comment linking your post and get yet another chance to win.

4. 3 Winners will be selected randomly using a random number generator.

5. Contest ends March 20, 2009 at 10pm CST

If you're the impatient type, you can print a coupon for $1.50 off of a 4-pack Blueberry Acaí Yo-Plus Yogurt right now!

ADDED: My site technical problems (fixed now) prevented people from entering last week, so I'm going to extend the deadline to Wednesday, March 25, 2009.

Blue Dragon Plus for Nintendo DS was released February 24, 2009. It's the sequel to Blue Drrago and continues the story of Shu and his friends in a world of cubes and the ominous Shadow of a Balaur, a three-headed dragon.

I received a copy for review and put it to the test with my own in-house panel, my 12 and 6 year old sons. There's a lot of text and reading at the beginning, and it was off-putting to them at first, but the tutorials are helpful to get you started and they're making their way through the worlds.

Blue Dragon Plus Features

o Single Player Campaign With Over 30 Hours of Game Play
o Legion vs. Legion
+ Control up to 16 humans and Mecha Robos to fight against a horde of enemies
+ Equip your units with items and alter their composition to bolster their strength
o Take Advantage of Your DS Features Through Exciting Real-Time Battles and Shadow Fights!
o High Quality Dual Screen FMV’s Showcasing More Than an Hour of Story Events!
o Exciting RPG Elements Such As Item Collection, Character Progression and Robot Customizations

I liked the game, and ultimately, the boys did, too after some trial and error with it, though it's a bit more suited to older kids as it can be a bit complex and there is a little mild crude humor along with some "darn"s. The musical score is very "battle-appropriate" and kind of catchy, and being able to save your play is a nice bonus. The graphics are nice, but aren't exactly XBox-like for you really hard core people.

Blue Dragon Plus for Nintendo DS would make a great Easter basket gift, pick one up for a Spring birthday or just to add to your collection.

The winner of the Campbell's Chicken and Stars soup is commenter number 6 (according to ye olde random number generator) Sherry!

Congratulations!

Thank you very much all of you who played.

I'll have some other contests soon and I've got a Yoplait yogurt contest going on for a little while longer, go check it out!

It's common knowledge that I'm a doofus when it comes to backing up my computer. I know it's important and I've had 2 computers die an ugly death on me, yet I still don't know what I'm doing when it comes to protecting my data.

The good folks at Simpletech must have taken pity on me because they were kind enough to send me a Signature Mini Bubblegum 250 GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive.The first thing I noticed is that it was cute and pink (!). The second thing I noticed is that it was easy to use, solid and a great size to carry in a computer bag.

The "easy" part was paramount for people like me, as I know not what I am doing when it comes to backing up stuff. I have been playing around with it since I got it, but during the time it's taken me to get this review together, all my websites died and I had to back a lot of things up for real rather urgently and it was a lifesaver!

I'm a casual user, and it's worked well and seems to take a reasonable amount of time to process the data.

It works with a USB 2.0 cable (don't lose it, it's unique to the product) and comes with backup software, but you also just drag and drop files onto it. It stays cool and works quietly as well. There's also a three-year warranty as well as two free gigabytes of online storage. Additionally, you will find Joggle digital content manager for easy tracking, sharing and publishing of photos, music, and videos

At around $90, it's a great deal and would make a fun Easter Gift for someone or a good way to get going on your New Year (OK, mine anyway) resolution to get your digital life organized and backed up for once.

Legacy Interactive games has two great games for the Nintendo DS, and they're fun for the animal lover in your family.

Zoo Vet: Endangered Animals is a great interactive game where you get to be the animal doc. We got a copy to try out and I was excited to get it since my middle child is a real animal lover.

The first thing I noticed was the fabulous graphics! The animals are beautiful. The second thing I noticed is that the vet cases are quite realistic, they don't have imaginary illnesses or injuries. My 12 year old son learned things right away when he started playing.

You can do things like stitch up a wound, give medicine or an injection depending on your patient's symptoms and clues. There's always assistance, you have co-workers, and there's some fun, too as there are several smaller games you can play with the vet's equipment.

It took a little practice to learn how to use the tools, where to touch the stylus, etc., but my kids have really enjoyed this game.

We also got to try out Pet Pals: Animal Doctor for Wii. This is another type of veterinarian simulation game. In this one, the Wii controller simulates the vet's equipment and you can treat your patients in surgery, take care of injuries and other conditions and you can even feed and play with your charges in the recovery room to help them get better quickly.

As with Zoo Vet, these cases are true to life and there's lots to be learned and there's help by your side as you play.

This one took a bit of practice with the controller, if your kids are younger (It's meant for ages 10 and above), you might want to try to figure out how to play the game yourself before you let them have a crack at it.

These are both great games for kids who love animals. I really enjoyed the real life scenarios and how my son learned a few things right off the bat. Check them out, they'd make fun Easter basket goodies!

Frtio Lay has a campaign called Only in a Woman's World (has sound). It's part of a launch of some of their Flat Earth products (full disclosure: I think they're sending me a bag of chips or something) and the website has lighthearted web series as well as a few games, some e-cards and some information about their products.

It's taken a bit of flack because some people believe it to be demeaning to women who are So! Much! More! than that and Stereotype! etc. but, you know what? It's a website and I'm fairly sure no one is going to form their opinion of an entire gender by watching these cartoons.

Everyone relax. I can relate to some of the stuff there and not so much to other stuff, but I'm OK with that.

But, I really like the artwork, I love the Flat Earth products, so there ya go.

Here's the latest episode of the web series: