Kids/Parents

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Kids/Parents

DC Comics Re-Designs The Monster Cereals

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General Mills DC Comics

Mmmmm… Love me some Boo Berry…

 

Monsters Cereals are arriving on store shelves now, and this year Count Chocula™, Franken Berry™ and Boo Berry™ have a brand new look—thanks to an exciting partnership with DC Entertainment, home to DC Comics.

For the first time ever, General Mills has partnered with four DC Comics artists to redesign this year’s packaging for Monsters Cereals. DC Entertainment Co-Publisher Jim Lee redesigned Boo Berry, Dave Johnson gave Franken Berry a facelift, and Terry and Rachel Dodson restyled Count Chocula. The partnership stemmed from the DC Comics artists’ love for Monsters Cereals and their enthusiasm for the opportunity to reinterpret the Monsters characters.

"There are many lifelong fans of Monsters Cereal at DC Entertainment so we were excited when the Monsters team at General Mills reached out to us to help design their packaging," said Lee. "It’s not Halloween without Monsters, and we hope everyone loves the new designs just as much as we do."

Since their arrival in 1971, Monster Cereals™ have become an irreplaceable part of pop culture and Halloween, and fans eagerly wait for them to hit the shelves each year.

"The DC Comics artists’ share our love for the Monster Cereals, so collaborating with them for this project was a natural fit," said Lauren Pradhan, Big G Cereals marketing manager. "Reimaging the artwork with DC Entertainment was a highly collaborative process, and we had a lot of fun seeing the artists’ interpretations of our beloved Monsters come to life for this exclusive packaging."

In addition to the Monsters makeover on the front of the package, DC Comics artists Sholly Fisch, Brent Schoonover and Dave McCaig also redesigned the back panels of the boxes, creating unique comic strips of Monster adventures. The packaging will be available as limited-edition collector’s items for the 2014Halloween season.

Meet the Monsters
The cereals hold a special place in the hearts of Millennials and Gen-Xers who grew up with the Monsters. Saturday morning meant cartoons and a bowl of Count Chocula or Franken Berry. Each year, parents want to share those memories with their kids, and this seasonal favorite brings back all kinds of fond family nostalgia.

More than just a tasty treat, the Monsters have become iconic Halloween figures, each with their own story and personality.

Considered by some to be the most popular of the Monsters, Count Chocula is a vampire who prefers chocolate to blood and is well recognized for his tagline, "I vant to eat your cereal!" Introduced in 1971, Count Chocula cereal combines chocolaty cereal made with whole grain corn and colorful marshmallow shapes.

Franken Berry is a cuddly, pink version of Frankenstein’s monster, introduced shortly after Count Chocula. This friendly ghoul still wears the same chain-link suspenders he did when he was created. Franken Berry cereal combines delicious strawberry-flavored cereal made with whole grain corn and colorful marshmallow shapes.

Boo Berry was introduced in 1973 as a blue ghost with a purple tie and hat. The cereal has delicious blueberry flavor from combining blueberry-flavored frosted cereal made with whole grain corn and colorful marshmallow shapes.

Retailer Exclusives
In addition to the Monster’s new look from DC Comics, fans can also find the Monsters in their retro-style packaging again this year. Through an exclusive agreement, the cereals will be available in retro packaging at Target stores. These boxes celebrate the history of the Monsters, featuring Count Chocula andFranken Berry from 1979 and Boo Berry from 1980. The retro boxes feature cut-out masks on the back of the box for super fans who want an instant Halloweencostume.

Walmart will also be celebrating Monsters season, offering a digital game featuring the Monsters and General Mills’ other beloved cereal equities. The game, available via a mobile app, is free to play and available on the family sizes of Honey Nut Cheerios™, Lucky Charms™, Cinnamon Toast Crunch™ and Cocoa Puffs™, giving fans a fun new way to interact with the characters.

Monsters Cereals will be available at select retailers in the U.S. starting in August, with full nationwide distribution by September. And this year, limited quantities of the ever-popular Count Chocula and Franken Berry will also be sold by select retailers in Canada. Follow the Monsters online using the hashtag, #MonsterCereal.

Kids/Parents

Grounding for Kids and Parents

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hell_is_other_peoples_children-460x307

We are having a huge problem with our oldest son, he’s 12 now and it’s just a horrible experience right now. He’s defiant, argumentative, secretive, he lies, he steals, he fights, he cries, he has temper tantrums and more. He’s getting horrible grades, they’ve all dropped and I just found out this morning he’s getting an F in one of his classes now. This was a kid who we were proud of for getting excellent grades and being in gifted and advanced classes and being praised for his skill at his musical instrument. Everything has changed though, a complete turn around and I’m not sure what to do or how to help. There’s nothing I can figure out to do. He just doesn’t care and he says so. Trying to talk calmly to him doesn’t work, he just yells and screams at you even though you’re talking calmly to him and not yelling at him. He will not commit to anything, he can’t or won’t answer a simple yes or no question even if you direct him to answer yes or no, he won’t do it. The answer is always ‘maybe’ or ‘I don’t know’ or ‘possibly’ or ‘could be’.

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Kids/Parents, Reviews

Super-Strong Rare-Earth Square RE Magnets from Deal Extreme Reviewed

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I guess you could call this a review. I’ve always had a thing for magnets, especially strong ones. There’s a small part of me that hopes one of my hard drives dies so I can open it up and take the magnets out…a very small part of me as I never like when an HDD dies, but the magnets inside are cool. I’ve never ordered or bought any rare earth type magnets before but I was browsing Deal Extreme and found a 30 pack of little square ones for only $6.40 so I figured I’d get them with some other stuff I ordered and I thought I’d share some pictures and my thoughts on them with you.

First here’s the specs/features from the site for you and the link to them:

Super-Strong Rare-Earth Square RE Magnets (30-Pack)

The super-strong rare-earth square magnets are perfect pieces for DIY projects and for building 3D puzzles out of magnets. The magnets can create and recreate an outrageous number of shapes and patterns. They are super strong rare-earth magnets – once they get stuck with each other, they are hard to break apart.

– Ultra strong rare-earth square magnets
– Perfect pieces for DIY projects and for building 3D puzzles out of magnets
– 30-Pack

Dimensions: 0.20 in x 0.20 in x 0.16 in (0.5 cm x 0.5 cm x 0.4 cm)
Weight: 1.23 oz (35 g)

Price: $6.40

The magnets came packaged in a bubble wrap bag, the bag was very much oversized and folded over many times. The magnets arrived in perfect condition.

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This is how they came out of the bag, all in neat rows, yes there are 30 of them.

mag2

I read the specs on the size of these magnets but didn’t quite grasp just how small they were. Here’s a couple of them with a dime and quarter to show you the size with something for scale:

mag3

So yes they are small but they’re strong. Since they’re square you can shape them and make different things with them which is neat.

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I have to say they’re not as strong as the magnets you’d find in a hard drive, but they’re close, especially considering their size. They are fairly hard to get apart, but part of that is due to their sizes, being so small it’s hard to get a good grip on them.

Overall I’d have to say for the price they’re not bad. If you’re looking for some little magnets to mess around with or use for hobbies or projects then sure go get them. Most magnets are priced higher and especially since they’ve like outlawed those bucky balls these are hard to get in the states. I can’t figure out why they’ve been banned as they’re just magnets, but apparently some people put them in their mouths and swallow them. Personally I’d never put one in my mouth, that just makes no sense, but I guess there are people that have done it and the big government has to protect us from ourselves apparently.

So that all aside, these super-strong rare-earth magnets from Deal Extreme are cool and fun to play with. DX also carries ball shaped and disc shaped magnets as well, I think they have other shapes too. So go check it out on their site at the link above, and they also have free shipping but the free option does take quite a while….

Articles/Editorials, Kids/Parents, Product Previews/Reviews, Rants!

Bah Humbug, No HFCS and some links for you…

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Been a while since I’ve updated yet again… life is just busy with lots to do, and honestly I’m in like a depressed funk with these holidays…

With my Mom and Grandma dying this year I just don’t feel festive at all, it just won’t be the same. usually at Thanksgiving we all went to my Grandmas for dinner and here an my Mom cooked, this year I spent it at home. I do have other family nearby, but I don’t speak to them since the funerals, let’s just say that they did something unforgiveable to me and my brother concerning my Mom and Grandma, and leave it at that…

and of course Christmas won’t be the same as well, no gifts from Grandma for my kids, no cookies, no sweets, none of that made by Grandma for them… and well I won’t have my Mom or Grandma this year..

…but with me being basically the only one working really it’s hard to pay the bills.

Every bill I have is late, and it’s not because I’m buying things I don’t need, it’s because I don’t make enough money to cover them so Christmas isn’t going to be very nice for my kids, and I feel really bad I can’t get them the things they want… They’re too young to understand about money really.. they’re young so they expect Santa Claus to take care of them really, but Santa is broke this year apparently…

So I’m pretty much very depressed, I can’t sleep and honestly I don’t feel like doing anything at all, and I just can’t wait until the holidays are over with… I hate them more now than ever…  there supposed to be this wonderful time of the year, but that’s for people that have money apparently, and have their families still around..

 

Anyway, I found my local super market Giant Eagle now carries good Iced Tea, and it’s HFCS free!

They carry several flavors, but I only tried the regular tea and the southern style, I like the southern style the best. I love it actually, I’ve given up Coca-Cola in favor of this tea…

DSCF7803 DSCF7818 DSCF7820 DSCF7821 DSCF7824 DSCF7825

and to end this here’s some links to the latest reviews and articles from me:

 

SpongeBob Truth or Square for Nintendo Wii

MusicSkins Custom Netbook Skin

Epson WorkForce 610 All-in-One Printer Review

Verbatim 500GB InSight USB Portable Hard Drive with "Always On" Display

SSD vs HDD on a Netbook – OCZ Neutrino

Thrustmaster T-Fitness Pro Pack NW for Nintendo Wii

 

TomTom One XL-S 4.3" Touchscreen Portable Bluetooth GPS Navigation System Reviewed

 

NZXT GAMMA Classic Series PC Case

i-Tech SIMDrive

TrickleStar PC TrickleSaver and PC TrickleSwitch

 

Oh well… till next time… and I hope your holidays are better than mine…

Kids/Parents

I’m a Good Daddy!

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Yeah, my 4 yr old son just told me that I’m a good Daddy.. made me feel good..

every night at bed time I go into his room and rub his back for a few minutes and we usually talk about his day, or sometimes we also do rhyming words or maybe opposites. Tonight though we were taking about his day, and me and him went to the grocery store and bought some food. One of the things I bought for myself was Hummus and Pita Bread, well he remembered and said he’d like some of my pita bread, and I said sure he could have a piece tomorrow. I then told him to remind me and  I’ll put it on the grocery list for next time so he can have his very own bag of pita bread for himself. He said “I know you will daddy because you’re a good daddy”, that would have been cool there, but he went on actually about it. He told me it’s because I buy him good things to eat, and other things he wants, but he said it’s also because I pay the bills and take care of him..

 

I don’t know.. just felt like sharing that..

Articles/Editorials, Kids/Parents, Rants!

Cupcakes and Bullying

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That’s an interesting title isn’t it? They don’t quite go together but ah well..

Today I was hungry for a sweet snack so I made German chocolate cupcakes with Strawberry icing.. no I didn’t make them from scratch, used Betty Crocker mix and some Betty Crocker Whipped Strawberry icing for them. They came out pretty good, but they aren’t very sweet.. The kids like them of course though, a cupcake is a cupcake to them really.

We can call that the nice intro to a rather aggravated rant on my part. My kids were at Edgewood Primary school last year, well the school district, Woodland Hills, decided, (in all of their infinite wisdom), to move kids around yet again and combine schools and close others. So my 7 and 8 year olds went to Dickson Elementary, my 4yr old thankfully is still at the same place his daycare is, they have pre-school there as well. Anyway, we never had a problem at the old school with bullies, and actually everyone seemed very nice there, I like it, but now we’re forced to go to somewhere that I really don’t know the teachers, and I don’t like the principal or my kids teacher now either.

If you go into the school there are signs all over the place about anti-bullying and no bullying etc. They supposedly have a ‘Zero Tolerance‘ bullying policy, which to me means Zero Tolerance, or it’s just not accepted. Well apparently my definition of Zero Tolerance and theirs differ quite a bit.

Here’s a definition that matches what I thin it means:

“The policy or practice of not tolerating undesirable behavior, such as violence or illegal drug use, especially in the automatic imposition of severe penalties for first offenses.”  (it’s from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/zero+tolerance)

But if you go to the same school my kids go to it doesn’t mean that, to them zero tolerance means just let them keep doing it and ignore it and hopefully it will go away. At least that’s what it seems to me and my children.

oh and here’s a quote about the program from the school website: “Dickson Elementary School along with the entire district is implementing the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program this year. Bullying is not acceptable behavior!”

If it’s not acceptable then why won’t they do something about it?

My oldest son is 8yrs old and he’s been being bullied since school started by one child, at least 7 times now that he’s told me of, it’s probably more actually. I should note that the kid doing the bullying is of a different race than my child, we’re white he’s not basically, I think you can figure out the rest… I’m not sure if that has anything to do with the bullying, but who knows…

So anyway, this has been going on for a while. My son tells his teacher and his teacher tells him that there’s nothing he can do and he should tell his parents about it. WTF?!?!? Seriously WTF ever happened to Zero Tolerance? So this past Friday is when things got bad, but right before that this kid tried to push both my sons down the steps at school, again the school does nothing, he could have seriously injured or even killed my kids. Back to Friday, I get a phone call that I need to pick up my son at school because he’s hurt, my son was in gym and this bully ran as fast and he could and kicked my son in the back while he was tying his shoe. Talk about a p*ssy *ss move, hit someone when their back is turned with enough force to leave him in pain for hours and marked…

So needless to say I flipped out once I found out it was the same goddamed kid that has been doing this all along that these pricks at the school refuse to do anything about it. So I went to the school of course and I got into with the principal, and she’s a winner let me tell you…. but I won’t got there right now. She tells me that this kid is a known problem child who has been bullying kids everywhere, but yet they can’t do anything about it. I’ll be honest I wasn’t the happiest person there, and yes I raised my voice, but wouldn’t you when you see your son crying in pain because of something that has been known about and could have been prevented?

So she tells me there’s nothing she can do about it, and I’m like WTF?! What happened to the Zero Tolerance policy and what is it for… she never answered me on that on by the way. I told her fine, if she won’t do anything I’m going to the police and pressing charges. The principal tells me that I can’t do that because the kid is only 8 years old and they won’t do anything about it?!?! It’s assault, battery, whatever you call it at any age last I checked.. 

Then of course after a few minutes I’m waiting for someone to bring my sons stuff down from the classroom, the principal comes out and tells me the other childs parent is on the way and I could talk to them if I want… not going to happen, and it’s not supposed to happen in a case like this.

So needless to say I went to the police to ask for advice basically and see about filing a report. Guess what? They told me that I did the right thing by coming to them, and they don’t understand why the principal would ever tell me NOT to go to the police… hmmm… wonder why she didn’t want me to go the police.

So that’s how my week end has been, it started out pretty bad overall, but it’s ending up not so bad, but we’ll see what this week brings….

OH well…

Articles/Editorials, Kids/Parents

Halloween Costumes

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It’s amazing how fast time goes by eh? Summer is like here and gone already, my kids start back to school on Monday already, which is rather nice really.. but that means more holidays are coming and Halloween is one of them that my kids like to celebrate, personally I don’t care for the holiday anymore as it’s just not the same as when I was a kid, the are has changed and it just doesn’t seem fun anymore…

halloween11 With Halloween coming it’s time to get Halloween costumes for the kids. Having three kids we kinds of just passed them along to the next youngest, but it’s getting the point now where they are independent thinkers and they know what they want to dress up as for Halloween and they won’t settle for the ‘hand me downs’ anymore.

So of course that means shopping for costumes, personally I hate shopping period and I try and do all of my shopping online if possible, I don’t have to deal with people and I don’t have top pay for gas either. So I was bopping around the web and found a rather cool site aptly named BuyCostumes.com and they’ve got tons different Halloween costumes on their site, not just for kids either, you can find men’s and women’s costumes also.

The popular costumes for kids are of course Batman/Dark Knight, Indiana Jones and Iron Man, and they look pretty cool, for a kid anyway, and they’re really not that expensive. They’ve also got an offer of 99cent shipping on orders over $40 so that’s not too bad there at all.

You can buy full costumes or just parts of them as they have an entire accessory section as well, and they’ve also got Decoration, Props and even party supplies! Oh and they’ve even got Mascot Costumes and costumes for your pets!

So if you’re looking Halloween Costumes for your kids or even yourself stop by and check them out, they’ve got something for everyone!