Busy Mom Reviews

This site, Busy Mom Reviews, is my site.

My name is Elizabeth and I am Busy Mom and have been writing under that name since 2003 at Busy Mom Blog.

Thank you for your time.

The McDonald's Happy Meal celebrated it's 30th birthday! (I feel kind of old, now.)

In honor of the 30th Birthday of the Happy Meal, McDonald’s brought back one of its most popular Happy Meal toys ever – Ty® Teenie Beanie Babies® plush toys (I received a set). Through August 13, you can get one of 30 different Anniversary Teenie Beanie Babies with a Happy Meal purchase.

To celebrate this milestone, McDonald’s commissioned a survey to find the Top 10 “Happiest Cities for Families” in America. The Top 10 “Happiest Cities for Families” include:

1. Minneapolis, Minn.
2. Atlanta, Ga.
3. Virginia Beach, Va.
4. Washington, DC
5. Portland, Ore.
6. Denver, Colo.
7. Baltimore, Md.
8. Seattle, Wash.
9. Kansas City, Mo.
10. Austin, Texas

McDonald's Happy Meal has really grown up, because it has it's own Happy Meal Facebook fan page!

No compensation other than the Beanie Babies as described above was received for this post. I just thought it looked like fun. That's all.

This post was sponsored by Sears. All the opinions are mine.

I love, love, love back-to-school time. Though I don't have a kid going to college (yet, but it's closer than I like to think about), I get ideas and find odds and ends for my kids' rooms when the stores reveal their dorm room collections.

So, if you're like me, or you really do have a college-bound student, be sure to check out Sears CampusReady.

I like this site, it makes a good starting point to get your thoughts together to prepare your student for being away from home. There's lots of different areas you can examine to make sure you've covered everything on your to-do list for heading to college:

Dorm rooms - a fun and interactive way to get dorm room "look" ideas. Dorm rooms most certainly didn't look like that when I was in college!
Interactive Checklist - a pretty comprehensive online checklist of the essentials for college, or you can download and print a list of things you need if you're shopping in the store.
Shop by need a listing of Sears items by eating, sleeping, studying, playing and cleaning.
Money sense - a casual to budgeting and saving money, important concepts for someone on their own for the first time.
Fill my closet - apparel and accessories ideas for guys and girls

Don't forget to check out the CampusReady App on Facebook.

There you can make a wish list of things you need for school with the "Gift Getter", design your dorm room in 3D or find out what you and your roommate have in common (or don't) with a compatibility quiz.

Also, as college tuition costs continue to rise, be sure to enter for your chance to win money toward your child’s college tuition from Sears and Upromise!

A total of $25,000 will be awarded. Upromise members are automatically entered with a sears.com purchase through Upromise.com, or enter free at sears.com/campusready. See sears.com/campusready for full rules and complete details.

Mrs. Dash seasonings have been part of my pantry for a long time. They are salt and MSG free and are a convenient way to season foods without the stuff you don't need.

The lazy days of summer have unfortunately found me a little lazy on the dinner preparation front, but I'm trying to get better about it since the kids are back in school. As I try to get back in the habit of cooking proper dinners, I've gotten some inspiration from some of the recipes from Mrs.Dash.

There are 15 flavors (I didn't realize there were so many) of Mrs. Dash salt-free seasoning blends, and they've recently added two more varieties: Mrs. Dash Caribbean Citrus Seasoning Blend and Mrs. Dash Citrus Lime Seasoning Blend.

I received a bottle of Mrs. Dash Citrus Lime Seasoning Blend. It is full of chili and cayenne peppers, lime, basil, cumin, bay and other Mexican-inspired spices and when I opened it, it was just asking to be used in some fajitas, so I obliged and they were tasty! It would be great in taco meat as well as some grilled chicken, too.

Mrs. Dash is available at most grocery stores and is about $2.99.

This post in conjunction with Mom Central. In addition to the product sample as described above, I received a gift card to thank me for my time.

CancerCare is a national nonprofit organization that provides free, professional support services to anyone affected by cancer: people with cancer, caregivers, children, loved ones, and the bereaved.

CancerCare programs including counseling and support groups, education, financial assistance and practical help are provided by professional oncology social workers and are completely free of charge. Last year, CancerCare provided individual help to more than 100,000 people in addition to the more than 1 million unique visitors to its Web sites.

Now, Tic Tac mints has teamed up with Cancer Care for a new online game (has sound) with a purpose Shake, Share and Care:

Tic Tac will donate $1 to CancerCare for every game played (up to $5,000). That's above the $100,000 donation Tic Tac is already making to this special cause.

Also, on August 19, 2009 in Times Square, Tic Tac and CancerCare will attempt to set a Guinness World's Record for the most games of Tic Tac Toe played simultaneously. This world record attempt is part of a larger partnership between Tic Tac and CancerCare to raise awareness of cancer’s affect on people with the disease, caregivers, loved ones and the bereaved.

This post courtesy of MS & L. I received no compensation, I just thought it was a good cause

Though I've cared for an aging parent, Alzheimer's is not something I've had to face, but millions of people do just that each day. Accera is a private biotechnology company that develops products to treat central nervous system disorders. One of their initiatives is to improve Alzheimer's care.

Accera and the Alzheimer's Foundation of America (AFA) have developed the Lost and Found Campaign to raise Accera's goal of donating $50,000 to the AFA to be given on November 17, AFA’s National Memory Screening Day.

It's cute and just takes a second. All you do is go to the Lost and Found site and vote for something you've lost today. Each visit to Lost and Found results in a $1 donation by Accera to support the Alzheimer's Foundation of America (AFA).

This cause was brought to my attention by the fine folks at MS&L Worldwide. No compensation was received, I posted it because I thought it was a worthwhile cause.

The good folks at My Blog Spark sent me some samples of Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters to try.

They are similar to bite sized pieces of granola bars (a bit softer, though) that come in a convenient resealable bag. They come in four varieties: Nut Lovers (peanuts, pecans and cashews), Roasted Almond, Roasted Cashew and Honey Roasted Peanut.

I will say that they were a hit here, because they didn't last long once we opened the delivery. They are a good combination of sweet and salty and there's a honey taste as well. My favorite was the Nut Lovers. Though regular granola bars aren't all that difficult, these are easy to eat and aren't crumbly, so they make a good on the go snack.

Check them our for your next road trip or take them along for a snack at the game.

No compensation other than the samples as described above was received for this post.