Reviews Archives - Page 6 of 21

The Goodness of Foam Rollers with Primero Fitness

If you are a regular fitness person, chances are that you already know what are FOAM ROLLERS and how they can help to complement your fitness regime. In fact, some swear by it to reduce cellulite if you use it regularly to massage those cellulite areas. Well, let’s see how we use the Primero Fitness Foam Rollers to relieve muscle aches, back aches and my knee pain.

The PaperClip Foam Roller

HoneyComb Trigger Matrix stimulates blood flow and recovery
Great for making yoga, pilates, and home workouts more challenging
Gentle on injured and vulnerable areas
Does not flake, chip or deform – even under heavy use
Waterproof & easy-to-clean
Passed EU’s stringent limits for carcinogens, formamide, and other harmful agents

The Centenarian Foam Roller

Firm enough to manipulate moderately tight tissue without extreme pain
Flexible enough to provide shear forces crucial to myofascial release during foam rolling
Does not flake, chip or deform – even under heavy use
Waterproof & easy-to-clean
Passed EU’s stringent limits for carcinogens, formamide, and other harmful agents
3 different intensities relieves chronic pain in any muscle group
Indestructible Core
Additional 100-Year Juggernaut Warranty

For Knee Pain and Relief of Muscle Aches

I have been having knee pain recently when I jog for more than 2 km. On one fitness article that I read, using a foam roller to massage my quadriceps will help to loosen the tight muscles above my knees and prevent knee pain. Hence, ever since I have the PaperClip Foam Roller, I have been able to jog for longer distance without knee pain. And using it after my workout is like having a masseur to massage my aching muscles, especially after my weekly Pilates session. Since then, I have introduced to my kids who have intensive volleyball training and they love that the “massaging” effect of the foam rollers on their overworked muscles.

Working on the Quadriceps

Working on the Calves

For Neck Aches or Shoulder Pain

If you do not have a good night’s sleep, and have aching shoulders and aching neck, try massaging your neck and shoulders using the foam rollers too!

You can also use the Centenarian for massaging any muscle group. I like it that it has different grooves for fingers, palms and knuckles. My kids use it for massaging soles!

There are simply too many ways to use the Foam Rollers! It is amazing that the Centenarian Foam Roller is designed to last a lifetime! It has a 100 Year Warranty!

Here are 2 useful INFOGRAPHICS on how to use the Foam Rollers:

Choosing The Right Yoga Mats

Since we are on the topic of fitness, let’s have a look at the 2 Yoga Mats that we are using and how to choose a Yoga Mat.

You may have noticed that in the above photos, we are using 2 Yoga Mats. The olive green one is called the Natural Rubber Mat and the light green one is called the TPE Mat.

We usually spend an hour or more on the Yoga Mat on one workout session and it is important to find one that does not skid as you workout or one that sheds rubber after some time. It is good to invest on a lasting Yoga Mat.

The NatTone Natural Rubber Mat

The Natural Rubber Mat is a very comfortable mat and has a cool feel to it. It is made with premium all-natural eco-friendly materials and the natural rubber is tapped from renewable rubber trees. This is the only skin-health mat with no unnatural toxins and chemicals used during the production process. In fact, this fitness mat is the best of its class. It is also suited for the hot weather in Singapore as its open-cell rubber absorbs oils, odors and perspiration. It is heavier than those PVC Yoga Mats. It has a thickness of 5.2mm and has a very good grip. Your feet will certainly not skid when you do Yoga or Pilates pose. I also like that it comes with a sleek bag for storage.

The TPE Mat

The TPE Mat is a combination of synthetic rubber and non-toxic material, making it safer and stronger than PVC. It comes with a Body Alignment System with the alignment lines to help users to concentrate while adjusting hands and feet to precise position. This keeps your body in proper alignment for effective yoga. The double layer structure design of thickness 6mm, provides optimal grip, excellent cushioning and double-sided non-slip texture, best suited for many forms of Yoga. This mat is lightweight, non-slip and contains no latex, PVC or any harmful chemicals.

Here is another easy guide to choosing a yoga mat:

So now you know how to choose a good Yoga Mat, do remember to head over here to check them out!

Primero Fitness is also launching a Good Posture Campaign: Family, Sit Right!

We find ourselves compromising body postures and sitting long hours in the office, and all these cause body pain here and there. Here is a good and easy way to relief aches in shoulders, back and upper body. Everyone can do it! It is good to do this for a set of 4-8 times daily for 10 seconds to 1 minute.

My kids surely learn fast!

For more information, check these links:

Foam Rollers – The PaperClip, The Centenarian

Yoga Mats – NatTone Natural Rubber Mat, TPE Mat

More on Primero Fitness – Primero Fitness

Disclaimer: We received the foam rollers and yoga mats for the purpose of this review. Hope I can play a part to help reach out to more people with good fitness tips and help relieve body aches with the sharing of this post! Stay fit and healthy!

5 Ways of Safe Cleaning with Dapple

What are the common products that mothers have for cleaning when it comes to babies and young children?
For sure, every mother will need wet wipes for messy times, bottle and breastpump cleaner, toy and highchair cleaner, surface cleaners and laundry detergent that are safe for delicate skin.

{Product Review}

1. Wet Wipes

Well, my kids have grown to be big kids now, but Master 5 still makes quite a mess when it comes to meal times. We still carry wet wipes with us wherever we go. It is useful for me to wipe their hands, and even my own hands. We use it to wipe high chair and hawker centre tables too. These wipes are also useful in the car and when we go to the beach or family outings. We cannot leave the house without wet wipes!

2. Bottle Cleaner

As for bottle cleaner, well, don’t judge, but I let my kids drink from the milk bottle till early primary! Yes! Simply because they enjoy drinking from milk bottle plus, I do not want them to give up drinking milk early. Once they transition to cup, they will give up drinking formula milk or drink lesser of fresh milk. Hence, we are using the bottle cleaner for Master 5’s milk bottles as well as for the kids’ water bottles.

I find that pumping a squirt of bottle cleaner into NEW water bottles and filling water to the brim and soak for 2 hours help to remove the new factory odour too. The Dapple ‘PURE AND CLEAN’ Bottles and Dishes cleaner will be super useful. In fact, it targets milk residue and uses baking soda to combat odour. It is made with Plant-based ingredients and free of all the harmful chemicals like phthalates, parabens, SLS, SLES and dyes. I like that it has a mild Apple-Pear fragrance. They come in Lavendar, Apricot, Mango-Lemon and Fragrance Free too. The travel size bottle will be perfect for holidays and staycations!

3. Toys and High Chair Cleaner

What do I use to clean for toys and high chair at home? Depending on the kind of toys, if they are good for soaking, I will dilute Dettol into a pail of water to disinfect and thorough cleaning. These are usually non-battery operated plastic toys like LEGO blocks. And if they are not suitable to be soaked in water, I will spray with Dapple Toy and High Chair Cleaner on a piece of damp cloth and wipe them. I like that this is a spray bottle and easy to spray on chairs at home and wipe clean with a damp cloth. Even my Master 5 can do this house chore! Just like the Bottle and Dishes cleaner, the Dapple Toy and High Chair Cleaner is free of the same harmful chemicals too.

4. Nursery Cleaner

Interestingly, Dapple products include the Dapple Nursery Cleaner too. I love this one to bits. Why? Because it can be sprayed onto any surface and remove grime, sticky finger prints, and even doodles on walls! It is a fast way to clean up kids’ tables, chairs and residue on the floors or shelves. Just spray and wipe off. You will have a peace of mind that this is free of harmful chemicals again!

5. Laundry Detergent

Lastly, the choice of Laundry detergent for young children’s clothes need special attention. This is certainly so for sensitive baby skin and eczema condition. Master 10 has eczema and using the right laundry detergent is very important to not trigger flare ups. Many of those laundry detergents that come with fragrance could potentially be a problem when it comes to sensitive skin. Dapple Laundry Detergent is hypoallergenic and fragrance free, in fact it is made without SLS, SLES, artificial fragrances, dyes, parabens, phthalates, 1,4-dioxane, chlorine, formaldehyde, optical brighteners, and alcohol. Hence, I have reserved this safe laundry detergent for Master 10 and Master 5’s clothes while the rest of the family use normal laundry detergent.

You will be happy to know that all the Dapple bottles are BPA-free too!

If you are wondering what are SLS, SLES, and why are formaldehyde a no-no ingredient in your choices of liquid cleaners or even shampoos, bath, check out this informative chemical list.

Discount Code Alert!

dapple15christy

Use the above discount code to enjoy 15% discount off all Dapple products on Dearbaby webstore and Dearbaby @ Jem (#04-45). Note that this code is valid until 28 February 2017. Do take note that the webstore requires a minimum $20 order for processing.

Happy Cleaning!

PSLE Student English Workshop by Marshall Cavendish Education

I think by now most of you know that I am exploring ways to teach my own P6 girl since she does not have tuition. In fact, I am looking at whether there are tuition centres for parents like me. Mummy Ed knows me well for sure, and introduce me to the series of Parent Workshops by Marshall Cavendish Education (hey, I am sure you have heard of MCONLINE!). It has all levels from P1 to P6 Coaching Workshops meant for parents to attend. I am definitely most interested in PSLE Parent Workshops!

But before I attend the PSLE Parent Workshops, I realized that they have PSLE Student Workshops too! Hence, I decided to coax my girl into skipping her art classes to attend the English Workshop since the dates worked out well for us. Each of the Student and Parent Workshops consists of a 2-part series, meaning that you have to attend 2 Saturdays for each subject upon sign up, usually from 9am to 3pm or 430pm depending on which subject it is.

In the English Student Workshop over 2 Saturdays which my girl and her friend had attended, they learnt the following:

The 5 Deadly Character Flaws – crafting a story from the inside-out!
- At the heart of every good story lies a flawed character who wants to/learns how to change.
- The 5 Flaws: Greed, Laziness, Anger, Envy, Pride
Unexpected (yet logical) plot twists!
- Identity shifts, unexpected consequences, defying the reader’s expectations
The 1-2 Punch Method of Combining Sentences
- Strategy for Synthesis & Transformation
The importance of asking the right questions (at the right time) – what is “right” anyway?
- Tenacity in asking questions – even if it means stinging your ego
- Situation Awareness – Jump out of your inner world sometimes!
- Classical Cases of People Asking the Right Questions who changed the world!

When I picked up the girls after the first session, I was anxious to know if skipping her usual art class for this workshop was a right decision. To my delight, both the girls gave their thumbs up! They enjoyed the workshop tremendously mainly because of one reason: the teacher (Teacher Joel) was a very humorous guy who cracks them up for the entire 6 hours. To enjoy the workshop is really the key to absorbing what has been taught. For this, the workshop is already a success with the right teacher!

The first part of this workshop is teaching them on writing a composition using the 5 character flaws, interesting plot twists, and ending with a funny Coda strategy: MFHD. Guess what it is?! It means:

M:My – Memories
F:Friend – Feelings
H:Has – Hopes
D:Diarrhoea – Decisions

The first two are for REFLECTING ON THE PAST, and the next two are for REFLECTING ON THE FUTURE. This is used for the last concluding paragraph.

IMG-20170204-WA0001 — Photo with courtesy from MCE

IMG-20170204-WA0003 — Photo with courtesy from MCE

During the class, Teacher Joel asked them to act out the character flaws. It really helped them to remember clearly on each point covered in class. And when the students handed up their composition homework the next Saturday, Teacher Joel made a funny remark about my girl’s starting words of “One day,…” which made her laugh hard, and you bet she will probably never use that start line again!

On the second Saturday, the girls returned to the second part of the workshop learning how to work on Synthesis and Transformation questions using the 1-2 Punch Method. Basically, it is about the order of action just like in boxing punch of rapid succession of 2 blows. Well, what a way to describe the method to imprint on the students’ minds. Even I had a deep impression reading about this 1-2 Punch Method. Seriously I was wondering if the handouts were prepared by Teacher Joel too, since the contents are kind of humorous! And there is a TOP SECRET handout that says “For your eyes only” which has a formula table for all kinds of conjunctions.

When I picked up the girls after the end of the second class, they couldn’t stop talking about the class titbits. It is certainly worth skipping two art classes to attend such an interesting workshop and learning these extra tips on English.

Today, my girl had her English Paper 1 CA test. She came back and told me she had used a plot twist and MFHD in her composition. Wow! I thought how timely this workshop is! And the bubbly girl went on to recall what the workshop teacher had taught them and shared the jokes again and again. It made me and Master 10 laugh out loud too! You must know that my girl is a natural when it comes to acting out a scene. I can practically see Teacher Joel’s funny acts through her!

And guess what? She asked to attend another workshop!!

This PSLE Student English Workshop was held over the previous 2 Saturdays and the next upcoming student workshop will be PSLE Student Chinese Workshop on coming 2 Saturdays and Math and Science in March. Here is a summary of the dates, one on Student Workshops and the other on Parent Workshops.

For more information, do check this out and sign up from the 2 links below to enjoy 20% discounted rate. This is bundle of 3 workshops in special rates!

PSLE Student Workshop sign up link: click here.

PSLE Parent Workshop sign up link: click here.

I have attended the PSLE Parent Workshop for English. Click here for my review!

Disclaimer: I was invited to the PSLE workshops for the purpose of this review. As I am writing a PSLE series this year, these PSLE workshops will be a good resource to share with all parents preparing for the big national exam! Stay tune for more!

My Super Fun Play Book – Quality gift for little ones

If you are a mum with toddlers, you should be familiar with the term lapbook, playbook, busybook, quietbook. Basically they are cloth book or paper books with fun activities for curious minds to touch and feel and move around on the pages. Still clueless? Then the below photos should be able to give you an idea!

20161221_130143 — The clock has movable hands and velcro-ed numbers to be used for teaching time. The shape sorters on the right has a zipped pocket to store the shapes.

20161221_130120 — The pizza has detachable slices and the toppings on the right can be put on the pizza.

20161221_130203 — These lollipops can be slotted into the pockets and can be used to teach colours and fruit names. The tree on the right can be used to tell a story.

20161221_130055 — The doll’s hair can be untied and braided. Younger kids may find this challenging but will be good to teach little girls to braid hair. The shoes on the right is good for teaching pre-school kids to tie shoe laces!

We received a Super Fun Play Book during Christmas and it came at an appropriate time as a surprise gift for Master 5. You may think that my boy is overage for this book, but the moment it arrived at my doorstep, Missy 12 was the first to flip through the book and play around, brushing the doggie’s fur and moving every movable parts including the zip and hairbands. Well, even I find my itchy fingers pulling the shoelaces out and tying them back again. I think it is human nature to explore the book which is really meant for all these finger actions to train fine motor skills.

There are 12 pages of activities in this Play Book and each of them is equally engaging. This Play Book is meant to help develop fine motor skills, enhance hand dexterity and encourage creativity. There are many detachable pieces with velcro behind to allow the child to “paste” the pieces around and it could even be used to tell a story. Not only that, it is light weight, with a handle to carry around and it is great as a travel companion. The only downside is that you have to be careful not to lose the detachable pieces.

You will be pleased to know that the Super Fun Play Book has undergone stringent tests and conforms to the European standards of EN 71 (which is the safety requirements for toys, especially those sold in EU) as well as ISO 8124 (The requirements in ISO 8124-1:2014 apply to all toys, i.e. any product or material designed or clearly intended for use in play by children under 14 years of age.).

I like the Vision of this company too. Yes, a Play Book company has a serious Vision as well!

” We are committed to the ethical sourcing of our material and work closely with handicraft producers and traditional master embroiderers to ensure that our products achieve the finest level of quality and workmanship. We cultivate and develop homegrown talents and skills of the underprivileged and promote their welfare by maintaining fair labour practices.”

The Super Fun Play Book has just got an award from Tillywig Toy Award too!

DISCOUNT CODE

The Play Book makes a great gift for birthday and special occasions. The cost of one Play Book is USD 58. Delivery is within days of purchase, good for last minute gift ideas! If you are planning to get one, please use the discount code below which is valid till 28 Feb 2017:

kidsrsimple

and you will get USD10 off the purchase at checkout!
There will be 2 ways to purchase online via the different links, mainly one in USD and one in SGD at local online retailer:
SmartMama Price – USD58 before discount
Owl Bliss LLP Price – SGD89 before discount

Disclaimer: This is a product review and we were given a Super Fun Play Book to share our play experience.

PhotoBook with Canon HD FotoJournal

I used to print out photos and put into self adhesive photo albums and add in some keepsakes like the hospital delivery mum-and-child wrist-tags and ultrasound photos. It took a lot of time to develop the photos, arrange manually, and re-do the arrangement if I had missed a page or left with a couple of photos in the end not knowing what to do with them. The cost of developing photos and buying the albums were not cheap. And the albums are really bulky.

When I chanced upon PhotoBooks at a roadshow, the PhotoBook displays had me sold to the idea and since then, I have been developing PhotoBooks instead of doing up albums. The advantages of PhotoBooks are aplenty!

Advantages:
1) Arrangement of photos is easily done by clicking on the computer software.
2) No need to make multiple trips to the photo shop and Popular bookstore to buy albums.
3) I can shut off my computer if I am doing halfway without stacks of photographs lying around on the floor.
4) I can add interesting masks, decorations, cute pictures and nice texts on PhotoBooks.
5) PhotoBooks are slim and do not take up much space.
6) I can duplicate PhotoBooks and gift to parents and friends. I had duplicated 3 PhotoBooks as Christmas gifts to my parents and my in-laws for a common family trip. I find it a very meaningful gift especially when our parents usually do not print out photos on their own.

The cost of PhotoBooks varies with different PhotoBook company. The earlier PhotoBooks that I had bought were pretty affordable. They had promotions and it worked out to be about $68 for a 40 page soft copy photobook. The app was user-friendly but the photo quality was not so good.

Then I had a chance to review Canon HD FotoJournal (PhotoBooks) and I must say that I am totally impressed with the quality of the prints and the quality of the pages! I am not saying that because this is a sponsored post, but it is every bit the truth!

I had done up 2 PhotoBooks from the Canon FotoJournal app. One is a square 10″ x 10″ Softcover PhotoBook and the other is a Landscape 8″ x 12″ Softcover PhotoBook. Even though it is stated as softcover, it is really a good quality hard cover!

For the square 10″ x 10″ PhotoBook, I use it to compile my Master 5’s birth to 4 yo photos. As it always happens when you have many kids, the first 2 kids’ albums were completed way before they reached 2 years old and my Master 5 only has his first one done up last month!

With the landscape 8″ x 12″ PhotoBook, I put together the photos from our Malaysia Road Trip that we went last June.

Steps in doing up a PhotoBook with Canon HD Fotojournal:
1. Choose a PhotoBook – visit Canon eshop to buy the PhotoBook size and type you like and you will receive an email from Fotohub that provides the voucher code for printing the PhotoBook.
2. Download PhotoBook software – download the FotoIdeas software
3. Create PhotoBook – There are many templates, layouts, masks, decorative stickers and etc to explore. You will be having fun exploring on each of them.
4. Choose and edit Photos first – Before importing photos into the software, I will choose the photos I want in a folder and edit them one by one. Canon software has simple editing functions too.
5. Install your favourite fonts – Ensure you have your favourite fonts downloaded in your computer so that you can use them on the PhotoBook.
6. Arrange Photos – Once photos are good to use, I will arrange the photos on the cover, on every page till the last back cover.
7. Decorate PhotoBook – When Layout of photos are done, I will then decorate each photo and each page.
8. Save – Do remember to save if you are leaving it halfway done to do other things.
9. Send for printing – Send to FotoOutlets or Foto Online and they will prompt you to enter the voucher code that you had previously received.
10. Check the preview – An email with a pdf preview will be sent to you to vet through your masterpiece and if you are satisfied, click “confirm” or if not click “disapprove”. I like this function as it will show you how the end product will look like.
Done!

Be prepared to spend a few days working on one PhotoBook. It takes some effort and time to complete one but it is definitely worth it as you will be showing off the PhotoBook to friends and relatives and reminiscing the moments with your kids.

As compared to my earlier PhotoBooks, Canon HD Fotojournal definitely produces better quality pictures in high resolution. The pages are really thick! My old PhotoBooks have decent pages that are similar to those high quality brochures, but Canon’s pages are thicker than my old PhotoBooks’ soft cover pages! You can imagine that the so-called Canon softcover is actually more like a hard cover!

Look at the thick pages and the front and back covers!

Because of this, each page is also waterproof too. As we accidentally spilled some water on the pages, the water did not seep through. Each PhotoBook comes with a casing to protect the book. My old PhotoBooks only provided a transparent self adhesive wrapper.

The software is easy to use although I would love to have one preview button to preview my progress instead of waiting for the finalized preview version. The rest of the features are useful especially the layout function. When I find myself out of ideas, I would simply drag the photos I want on a page and drag the layout and drop on that page which will automatically arrange the photos in the chosen layout format.

With better quality pictures and pages, the price naturally is steeper than all my previous PhotoBook purchases. The price of the Square 10″ x 10″ is $125 and that of Landscape 8″ x 12″ is $75, both consist of 20 pages.

If you have never tried your hands on a PhotoBook, perhaps, you should really start one soon! Printing family and kids’ photos out onto a book is definitely a worthwhile activity to work on instead of keeping the photos in our hard disk. What’s more, it makes a really meaningful gift to loved ones 😃

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by Canon. We were gifted vouchers for 2 PhotoBooks for the purpose of this review. I spent many late nights and early mornings to do up the PhotoBooks, so all opinions are definitely 100% mine 🙂