Today I had lunch with Chris Byrne aka “The Toy Guy” from TimeToPlayMag.com while he was in St. Louis and we had a great conversation. We talked about new toys of course, but we also kept going back to when we were kids. Occasionally we started sounded like a couple of old fogies – but only briefly. What really was happening is that we were remembering all the wonderful times we had as children.

See that little "house" I'm holding - it was a very point metal "purse" and I did cut myself on it!

When I was a kid in the summer my mom would give us a glass jar (usually an old peanut butter or mayo jar) to run with in the yard and catch lightning bugs. Yes – we ran around the yard with a GLASS jar! Today as a mom myself I would never do that, but I am happy to have the memory still.

When I was a kid we got up in the morning and got on our bikes and were gone all day. The kids in our neighborhood moved around from location to location. We usually would get fed lunch where we were – a simple PB&J or bologna sandwich, some chips, some Kool-Aid. If we acted badly the parents, wherever we were, would scold us without thinking about being sued by our parents. At dinner time you would hear the parents all yelling for their own kids to come home.

When I was a kid we played games to win. If we lost, we tried harder to figure out the game and to win the next time. Our parents did not let us win either. We learned how to deal with losing, frustrations, and that sometimes other people were better at something than us.

When I was a kid we had some toys that were, quite frankly, dangerous. Things that got hot and melted parts – on purpose. Tons of choking hazards. Sharp objects. You name it. But you know what? Our parents didn’t sue the toy manufacturer’s. Stuff happened.

None of these things are to say that there haven’t been improvements that were needed in some regards, but the point is that sometimes it feels like today’s kids really do not have the freedom as much as we did or the ability to learn life lessons through play.

What is your “when I was a kid……” story to share?

You still have a few days to enter the final month of the Holland House Meal Makeover Moms Sweepstakes! Just visit the Holland House Facebook page to get started. The monthly winners get a recipe consultation with a panel of experts and the grand prize winner gets a cooking set valued at $300 – who couldn’t use a new cooking set? Good luck!

Disclosure: I am a Mizkan brand ambassador and was compensated for this post and given product samples.

A few weeks ago ASUS (rhymes with Dr. Seuss) sent me one of their ET2700INKS All-In-One computers to review. It arrived and I drooled over it for a bit – it is a very pretty machine! So after using it now for a while I thought I would share my thoughts. Overall I would give it two thumbs up and recommend it to others if this is the type of machine they are looking for. The price is about $1,400 – not inexpensive for a computer, but for an all-in-one entertainment system I think it’s a decent price.

I really think this would make a fabulous graduation gift. For a high school graduate this would be great for going off to college next fall. It gives them a really nice and large screen, but in a small unit that doesn’t take up much space. They can use it as a computer, as a TV (optional TV jack), watch online content, Netflix, etc. and they can hook up their video game systems like Xbox 360 to it. For a college graduate who may be moving into their first apartment of their own, especially a small one, this again saves on space – think about adding the wall mount too. This would make a nice family computer for the den. Something that the entire family can share and use. With the screen being fairly large and having such a wide viewing angle everyone would be able to easily see it to watch movies on even in a small den. I should add that my teenage son says, “Mom! This would be perfect in my room – you should give it to me!”

The following are my thoughts about the machine that I think are important to regular people. I know some want all the specifications and tech details, but you can read all of that on the ASUS ET2700INKS page.

PROS of the ASUS ET2700INKS All-In-One

• Set up is MEGA FAST! Honestly, this was the quickest I have EVER set up a computer – I finished and I was like umm there has to be more to it, but there was not! This is a photo of the start guide. You just have to plug in the power to the machine and the wall, plug in the subwoofer to machine, insert the dongle (don’t you just love that word) into the USB port (It is for the wireless keyboard and mouse) and turn the machine on. That is it! I do not care how “un-techy or non-geeky” you are – you can get this computer up and running on your own.
  
• The screen is gorgeous! I love that it is so big – 27”, but the actual viewing of it is really a very nice sharp image. Everyone in my house has marveled over it. It has 16:9 full HD LED screen (1080) and has an HDMI input also. The viewing range is 178° which means you can really see what is on the screen easily even from the side. Reading from websites is very clear and videos are super sharp! Using the Windows 7 Snap feature you can see that almost two full screens of 2 websites or a document and a website fit side by side and are still large enough to be very readable!
  
• Under the hood so to speak it has decent specs for most users. An Intel Core i7-2600S (8M Cache, 2.80GHz, Turbo boost up to 3.8GHz). It has 8 GB of DDR3 Memory, and a 2 TB hard drive
• Built-in Blu-Ray Player – I did not actually test this part because I do not own any Blu-Ray movies – but I do love the fact that this is built right into the machine on the side.
  
• Lots of ports! I’m pro-ports of all kinds. I like to have plenty of them and plenty of options to hook up whatever I want to my machines. Back I/O Ports include 2 USB 2.0, 1 HDMI-in, 1 VGA (D-Sub)-In, 1 RJ45 LAN, 1 TV Jack, and 1 Kensington Lock Side I/O Portsinclude 2 USB 2.0, 1 e-SATA (USB2.0 combo), 1 SD Card Reader, 1 headphone, 1 microphone, 1 audio line out, and 1 ASUS AIO Subwoofer Jack

  

  

• Decent for gaming – my teenage son tested out some of his games on it. World of Warcraft did well although for best results he suggested turning down the graphics settings a tad within the game to improve performance while playing. We also plugged in the Xbox 360 into the ASUS and used it as a display for playing games and that was easy to do and one less TV/Monitor you would need in your home.
• A small footprint. I love that this machine packs a lot of punch for its small footprint size. You can see that in the side view here. There is also an optional wall mount that you can get to save you even more space in your home.

CONS for the ASUS ET2700INKS All-In-One Computer

• My unit actually was not working properly when it arrived. The monitor worked and we could connect to external sources also, but the computer part and the Blu-ray player would not function. Thinking maybe I was just missing something I just called the regular Asus tech support line to see if there was an easy fix. I did not have a long wait, but sadly the tech support person was not very helpful at all. I tried to explain multiple times what was wrong and he just was not getting it. Finally he got to the point where he said to send it back to them. I said thanks and contacted my PR contact then to get the problem fixed. I should add I tried reaching out to Asus on Twitter about issue also and got no response at all. I despise calling customer support for any tech product as a general rule of thumb – this was a good example of why. This is not a deal-breaker for me, but I know most of us want to know about how well tech support will be.
• I was actually thinking this was going to be a touch-screen model, but it was not. While not required, I think that is the way more and more things will be moving (especially with Windows 8 when it is released) so I would have preferred the touch-screen.
• A wireless mouse and keyboard come with the computer, but the keyboard I am not a fan of at all. The extra keys are in odd places, there is not a lot of extra space on it, just not what I want in a keyboard. I would like to see the option to upgrade to a better keyboard at the time of purchase – I prefer an ergonomic style like the Microsoft Natural series of keyboards.
• The machine has a ton of ports which is great. Some on the back, some in a side panel. I like the side panel for ease of use, however it has a cover on it that is a bit hard to open and if you do have something plugged in the cover then is sticking out and doesn’t look so nice there. With the appearance of the rest of the machine being so nice, this is a pretty annoying item. You can see the door in the photo above of side ports.
• If you like to upgrade and tinker with your computer this is not your machine. All-in-one machines like this are not meant to be opened up by the user for the most part. This could just as easily be a “pro” item since not everyone wants to do this – but my family and I do.

So what do you think? Is this the kind of machine you would use? Do you have any other questions I can try to answer for you?

Disclosure: I was provided the computer shown to test and use to facilitate this review. Opinions are my own.

How would you like to win an exotic trip of your choice? Right now World Harbors is having their Golden Label sweepstakes where you can win that trip. Just look inside your bottle of World Harbor flavors to see if you are a winner (there is a non-purchase entry too, see the rules).

The good news is that if you do buy World Harbors the flavors kind of make you feel like a mini vacation at home. We like all the different flavors. You can use them in different ways too – as a marinade for your meat before you cook, as a basting sauce while you cook, or a dipping sauce after you cook. We marinate not only the meat, but also veggies sometimes and then throw all of it on the grill. You can make a creamier dipping sauce too by adding in some World Harbors with a little sour cream or mayo. Just mix it together and let it sit for at least 30 minutes in the fridge for the flavors to blend together. If you use this on the meat for your meal it is also good to flavor rice or pasta for a side dish. Cook the rice or pasta according to directions and then stir in a few tablespoons of World Harbors (depending on how much you need) and enjoy.

So what exotic vacation location would you like to travel to if you are a winner?

I do not have a brand new cocktail recipe to share today, but I did want to share that I have created a Pinterest board, Robyn’s Cocktail Lounge, where I have started to collect the drink recipes featured here on my blog and around the web for you all to enjoy.

So this weekend – visit my lounge and pick whatever drink you like. Cheers!

What is your favorite drink on the board?

PS – if you need an invite to join Pinterest just let me know.

My nephew and I were chatting on Facebook today and he shared with me a video. Now this is not something he always does with me, so I wanted to make sure I watched it. I think if he found it valuable enough to share with me it would be worth it. Wow! He was right!

I REALLY REALLY REALLY WANT YOU ALL TO WATCH THIS!

The video is just over 9 minutes. Watching, along with listening, is really important I think for this also because the visual part keeps us interested and reinforces what is being said. Trust me!

Thanks again to my nephew, the Collegiate, for sharing this with me!

May is Mental Health Month. Today I’m actually joining in the “I’m Blogging For Mental Health May 16” also. If you have been a reader of my blog you know that this is a very important topic for me already. My son has a diagnosis of bipolar and anxiety disorder NOS (that stands for “not otherwise specified” and I find it very annoying). My husband also has a diagnosis of bipolar. And just to round out the family I myself suffer from bouts of depression.

While medications, therapy, and various other tools really help myself and my husband, our son is really struggling right now. On top of having bipolar he is a teenager. This is one tough mix! I would never wish this on my worst enemy. I love my son with all of my heart and always will, but wow is he tough to be a parent to much of the time. As I write this he is actually staying with friends of the family for a couple of days even after his last big blow up on Sunday night (Mother’s Day was not pleasant here). It has been nice to have the house quiet and calm for the last couple of days honestly. During times like this is when I need a lot of support as a parent of a child with a mental illness. It is hard. Parents like me always love our children, but truthfully we do not always like them and we definitely hate their behavior sometimes. We have to deal with feelings of being a bad parent, guilt, feeling judged by outsiders, and scrutinized to a larger extent than those with “normal” children. Other lovely things many of us get to deal with include holes in the walls, destruction of our property, fear of self-injury of our child, sometimes fear for our own safety, spewing of very hateful words towards us, and the list goes on and on. The thing is, so many people outside of the walls of our homes may never see most of this. They will never understand what it is like. When they do see or hear about things that have happened there are those judgmental others that say you have spoiled your child, they just need a good smack, or my favorite “how do you let them behave that way”. Let them? Ummm, no I am not letting my child behave that way I can assure you. As a matter of fact I spend a huge amount of my time trying to find doctors, therapists, medications, tools, and resources to help him learn not to behave that way.

Deep breath. I was starting to rant a bit there. Yes, that does happen when I get on this topic. My fingers are flying furiously and with intensity on the keyboard right now also. I just want others to understand more. I want to not tense up when I hear a loud bang wondering if it is a rage coming on. I want to not have to worry about school calling me because there is an issue. I want my extended family to get it. I want to live without holes in the walls. I want the media to stop using “bipolar” incorrectly and for them to stop adding to the stigma of mental illness by using the terms that way. I want…..

what I really and truly want is for my son to be happy

Please take a moment today, or as soon as you can, to give some support to others you know who have a mental illness or those that are the caretakers of them. Take some time to learn more about what that mental illness really is. Take time to help a friend find resources if you think they need mental health help. Take time for yourself to see the help you may need. Take time to think about how you yourself have used words like depressed, bipolar, psychotic, crazy, nuts, and others. Education releases so much stigma!

Today on Twitter follow @apahelpcenter and watch #mhblogday to find more conversation about mental health. Visit Your Mind Your Body to view the host blog post for this party to learn more and see other links as well.

I mentioned that there would be a Twitter party in my Stop Sleeping Around Giveaway post the other day. Here are the details on the party for you. Don’t forget that if you participate in the party you can come back here and leave a comment on my giveaway post for an extra entry into my giveaway!

Hashtag – #StopSleepingAround
Sponsor – Better Sleep Council
Topic – How to sleep better at night
When – Thursday, May 17, 2012 8-10pm CT
Custom Tweetgrid -  http://bit.ly/IS7Plp
Who to Follow – @stopsleepinarnd @karinsleeps @MomSpark @blueviolet @staceynerdin @Robynsworld (that’s me!) and @linda_sellers
Prizes – 1 winner $150 Visa Gift Card, 4 winners $25 Visa Gift Card
RSVP here

Will you be joining in the fun this Thursday? If you have any fun pictures where you have caught someone sleeping in an odd place be sure to bring them along to share at the Twitter party!

Disclosure: I am being compensated by the Better Sleep Council in this campaign. They are also supplying the prize. Opinions are entirely my own!

So I have been hearing little bits and pieces about AboutOne for a while now. At first, I had no idea what it was. Then I knew it was an organizer type thing but I still did not go look. Finally, I have gone and looked and this is beyond what I was thinking it was.

In a nutshell – it is a place for you to keep EVERYTHING in one place that you need to manage your family.

Things to keep track of in your AboutOne account:

• Contacts
  You can import these from other sources even to make it simple. An interesting note is that you can mark someone as deceased even. Good for genealogy tracking I suppose.
• Medical Information
  Great to have info handy and in one place. I am great about saving things, but not filing them. With AboutOne I will be able to scan in a medical receipt, test results, prescription info, etc. and immediately connect it to the right person. If we have to go to the ER (knock on wood) I can use the AboutOne app to pull up that info easily too. I am thinking that this is not only good for yourself and kids, but for those with aging parents it would be a good idea to keep their info as well.
• Possessions
  This is great for insurance purposes, warranty information, and collections!
• Photos
  Nice to be able to keep them in one place
• Education
  It is nice to have this information together for if you need a resume.  Also, if you (or family member) does a lot of continuing education type classes this is a great place to keep track of everything that you have done. You can scan class receipts and certificates even.

The Family Calendar is what I am most looking forward to. It is coming soon – remember AboutOne is still in beta so it is a work in progress. This will allow you to share a calendar with your family in one spot that all can access. Again, I know that there are other ways to do this right now, but it’s the combination of this along with all the other features that I am really digging. It’s not just one thing here, another thing there – it will all be in one single spot for me to access easily.

The app is for Windows Phones right now and it really works so well with the Windows Phone interface. I am not sure if they will be developing apps for iPhones and Android devices (probably). While I do love my iPhone and Android devices, the ease of use of the Windows Phone is very attractive to me. I actually think that within the next couple of years more people will have Windows Phones than other phone operating systems. I am curious to see if the web format of AboutOne changes more to match that of the Windows Phone app and the upcoming Windows 8 operating system as time goes on.

Security was one of the first things I was wondering about with AboutOne. They have bank-level security going already – I love that! There are several layers to the security you can read about here. One of the things I learned a lot about as an ambassador for kIDSure was different security measures, so I was really pleased to see so many of the things I had learned being put into action here on AboutOne. Plus I love that they say “AboutOne is Serious About Protecting Your Nuts” – just had to laugh at that. They also do backups every hour – yet another layer of protection for their members.

So plenty of good things coming for AboutOne. It is definitely something to watch and see how it develops. As I mentioned earlier, if you sign up now during beta you will end up getting a free year of the premium service as well. That’s a good deal and it also gives you a chance to really build up your information slowly as they roll out new features.

What kinds of things would you like to see added to AboutOne?

Disclosure: I am being compensated for my honest review of the AboutOne service and app. As I said, it is still in beta, so my thoughts are based on what is available as of May 14, 2012. Opinions are my own.

Yes, that is my current title “World’s Worst Mom”. That is, if you ask my teenaged son. He is currently mad at me. Apparently I do not listen and do not care and do not love him. I am not expecting much for Mother’s Day this year from him.

So I say all of this but know that it is not true. I know I’m not the worst mom. I know that I do listen, do care, and do love him with all of my heart. He is in a tough spot these days and for me to be the best mom I can be right now means that I have to not let him off the hook so easy about those things. It is so hard to do this on my side – as a mom I just want to fix everything for him, but I know that in the long run what I am doing right now is going to help him more than anything.

A tiny part is sad that he is upset on this particular day, but most of me is okay with it. There will be more Mother’s Days and I know he will not always be made at me. Plus, no matter how much he dislikes me today it never changes the mother’s love I have for him.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the rest of you who may be not liked by your kids right now.

P.S. I’m adding this thanks to @WritingFound. The 9 worst moms in the animal kingdom – and no, I’m not in that list!