Review Submitted by: Kai Rikken of Huddleston, VA

Description of Product: It’s a spray all-purpose cleaner.

What do you like about the product?: I really love this All-Purpose Cleaner. It is an environmentally safe and biodegradable cleaner that contains no phosphates, bleach, dyes or brighteners, but it really gets the job done, no matter what it is! It comes in a spray bottle whose trigger has never failed me. I keep one bottle of it in my laundry room and use it to pre-treat stains on clothing. I keep another bottle upstairs. It works wonders on all sorts of spots on the carpet (and we do get quite a few of those with 3 big dogs and a baby in the house!).

I also use it to clean the bathroom, although in that application I do like to turn the fan on because I am not particularly fond of the smell of the All-Purpose Cleaner, which is slightly reminiscent of Windex. A little bit of the cleaner goes a long way, and although I have only mentioned a few ways I use Charlie’s Soap, you can use it to clean pretty much anything (even, apparently, false teeth, although I am not sure I would want to try that). The guys at Charlie’s Soap are very friendly and helpful and will always answer any questions you may have.

Learn More: Charlie’s All-Purpose Cleaner

¼ C fat free margarine
2 egg whites
¾ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 1/3 C flour
1 ½ C fat free sour cream
¼ C light cream cheese, soft
½ tsp. oregano
½ tsp. basil
½ C broccoli, chopped
½ C tomato, chopped
½ C red and green bell peppers
½ C carrots, shredded
½ C cauliflower, chopped

How to Make It:

Place the egg whites in a large mixing bowl.
Add the margarine, baking powder, salt and flour.
Mix well with hands to combine.
Spray a round pizza pan with a non stick cooking spray.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Roll out the dough to fit the pizza pan.
Place on the pan and bake 10 minutes or until a golden brown.
Allow to cool before adding toppings.
Mix together the sour cream, cream cheese, oregano and basil.
Spread evenly on the cooled pizza crust.
Add the vegetables to the pizza being sure to spread them out to the edges.

Believe it or not kids really do like this pizza. If you have children who aren’t too fond of sour cream and cream cheese use a lite vegetable dip instead.

Submitted by: Lorien of San Diego, CA

Description of Product: *dual action for effective cleaning and degreasing. *hygienic, efficient and safe. *no petrochemical based ingredients. *no residue of unnecessary chemicals on your dishes. *optimum level of biodegradability. *minimum impact on aquatic life. *phosphate and chlorine free. *against animal testing. *also suitable for septic tanks

What do you like about the product?: I have tried a lot of ecofriendly dishwasher detergent, but this is the only one that doesn’t mean that we wash the dishes again after they come out of the dishwasher. It’s not too expensive, and works for my family in my not-so-new dishwasher.

What do you dislike about it?: The tablets come individually wrapped in plastic bags, which I don’t like so much. It bothers me to throw away plastic every time I do dishes.

Learn More: Ecover Automatic Dishwashing Tablets

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or are a guy or never watched the hit TV series), you’ll know the movie adaptation of the hit series Sex and the City was long anticipated this summer.

Having never watched an episode myself (but I climbed out from under my rock to catch the movie), I decided to tag along as my Sex and the City fan friend went to check it out. The movie version finally has Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) finally marrying her long-time boyfriend Mr. Big (Chris Noth). Their practical, mutual decision to get married also starts out with a plan for a practical and simple wedding, but it soon turns into a wedding with a huge guest list, ultra-fancy wedding dress (the girl wore a bird…a freakin’ bird…on her head!) and more.

But it’s not all about Carrie. Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is still living in L.A. and maintaining a monogamous lifestyle, but comes to realize she really belongs in New York. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and her husband (Harry Goldenblatt) are trying to conceive. Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is dealing with her husband’s infidelity. Unfortunately, when trying to deal with the devastating news, Miranda regrettably says something to Mr. Big that plants some seeds of doubt for him.

Overall, the movie was enjoyable and the characters were thoroughly interesting (of course, you die-hard fans already know this). Although, I wouldn’t necessarily make the decisions the women made at certain points, the way they handled themselves was very real and made this one chick flick that I actually liked. That doesn’t happen too often.

Read More About: Sex and the City

Read more about: Wall-E is the story of a garbage collecting robot, left alone on planet earth after all of its inhabitants have abandoned the planet for new civilization in space. He faithfully collects and disposes of the never-ending trash. Day after day, he works alone until a mysterious white robot named Eve arrives.

Wall-E and Eve become friends until suddenly Eve shuts down. Then one day, a ship comes and takes Eve away. Devastated, Wall-E hitches a ride on the ship determined to save his friend.

The ship arrives on a space cruise ship where humans now live a lazy and gluttonous existence. Soon, iit becomes clear that Eve was sent to Earth to see if there is any possibility of sustainable life. In a series of conflicts, the new fate of the planet Earth is to be decided.

I’ll say one thing, the robots were cute. They’re back and forth “Wall-E” and “Ev-a” was adorable as these non-human forms fall in love before our eyes. Even the story was compelling enough, but the “beat iit over your head” lifestyle and environmental messages were too much. Everything was to the extreme. Earthlings of the future are wasteful, are grossly overweight and don’t engage in any type of physical activity. Now, one might say that the message is made plain so kids can catch it, but I think when kids are old enough to get it, they don’t need the overdone message. Give us all a bit of credit for being able to use our noggins.

Familiar voices in the movie include: Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger and Sigourney Weaver.
Read more about: Wall-E

What You Need:

4 flat corn tortilla shells
Canola oil
Salt, optional
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 kiwi, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
½ jalapeno, minced
¼ tsp. chili powder

How to Make It:

Cut each of the tortillas into 6 wedges.
Place enough canola oil into a large skillet for frying the chips.
Heat the oil to hot but do not allow it to smoke.
Once the oil is hot reduce heat to low.
Place the tortilla wedges into the hot oil and fry about 1 minute.
The tortilla wedges should puff slightly and be a light brown color.
Remove wedges to paper towel to dry and sprinkle with the salt if desired.
Add more canola oil and reheat to high before adding more wedges.
In a large mixing bowl combine the tomatoes, kiwi, onion, celery and jalapeno.
Sprinkle with the chili powder.
Use a rubber spatula to mix together well.
Dip the chips into the salsa and enjoy.

The salt in this recipe is optional. If you don’t like your salsa really spicy leave out the jalapeno and use cilantro instead.

Let me state for the record – I love Nanny Jo Frost from ABC’s “Supernanny” I think her advice is sound and her delivery is awesome when dealing with both kids and parents. Based on the success of Supernanny, of COURSE, there had to be copycats. Enter Take Home Nanny from TLC. This is the lightweight watered down version of Supernanny. There’s Nanny911 too, but I won’t got there.

What it reminds me of is how popular Simon Cowell became and then pretty soon EVERY talent show had to have that 3rd snotty slightly British person on the panel…but none were as good as the original. That is definitely the case with the Take Home Nanny show. I made myself watch it twice just to get a good picture of what was going on and how this Nanny (Emma Jenner) handles things compared to my favorite Nanny.

I can tell you now that she doesn’t measure up. She may be a decent Nanny but her advice is more common sense things that parents most likely already know vs. Nanny Jo who offers helpful tips for parents that you can actually use. Her approach w/the parents is sometimes I think over-lecturing and at other times she handles them with too much caution. If you watch this show, you may find yourself shaking your head and going “oh where did Nanny Jo Go?”

Review Submitted by: Kaiya of New Jersey

Description of Product: This solid lotion bar is handmade by Chagrin Valley Soap and craft. It is made up of several different oils, each having unique skin care properties. The warmth of your skin melts the bar slightly so you can just rub it into your skin.

What do you like about the product?: I like that the ingredients are all natural and there are no preservatives. This product is great for traveling if you get it in the tin. It’s solid so no spills. Also, this is the ONLY product that has given me some relief for some eczema that I have been battling for awhile. (I’ve tried lots of natural products and nothing has helped like this stuff.)

What do you dislike about it?: There is not much to dislike about this product except that you can only purchase it on-line.

Learn More at Chagrin Valley Soap and Craft