Flip Flops….check

Bathing Suits…check

Beach Towels…check

Sunscreen….hmmmm. Need to get that.

No sooner had I made that list before my trip to Hawaii this summer, the good folks at Nature’s Basin, purveyors of organic beauty products, contacted me and asked if I’d like to try something from their inventory.

Boy, that request couldn’t have come at a better time.

After perusing their natural beauty products site, I picked the Soleo Organics All Natural Sunscreen:

Soleo Organics All Natural Sunscreen from Nature's Basin

I’d never tried an organic sunscreen before. I was interested to see if the organic product would perform any differently than the non-organic sunscreens I’ve always used.

Here’s the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly breakdown…

The Good:

It came within day thanks to the great shipping and handling folks at Nature’s Basin.

I loved the handy dandy caribeaner I could use to attach to my backpack.

We hauled the sunscreen all over Oahu and the package never leaked, even when I accidentally left it in a hot car.

The Bad:

The sunscreen had a gritty texture that was unpleasant to smear on my skin. It also took a long time to work into the skin. I racked those issues up to the zinc oxide and cupuacu seed.

The sunscreen’s 30+SPF didn’t do much to protect me. Granted, my skin is so far that it’s nearly transparent and I could have applied it more often, but, in the end, I didn’t get any better protection on one shoulder (where I used the organic sunscreen) than I did from the Banana Boat sunscreen I had on the other shoulder. After a day driving up the coast in a convertible, I looked like this:

The hotel lighting didn't do it justice.

The Ugly:

Here’s what I looked like after I gave it a second try on our day of surfing and parasailing:

Note my shoulders. Yes. It hurt.

To be fair, I wouldn’t judge all of the organic products offered at Nature’s Basin by the performance of this one item. They do have a huge selection of items. So, if you’re looking for natural beauty products, they’re definitely worth a look.

Disclosure: I received a sample from Nature’s Basin to try out and review. I received no other compensation for this post.

Funny things happen when you go to the movies here in Vegas.

Sometimes you meet interesting people.

Sometimes those interesting people offer you free shoes for your kid.

I love it when that happens, don’t you?

Hmmm. You mean that’s never happened to you before?

Well. It should.

Especially when they’re Pediped shoes.

Especially when you’ve been dealing with a stench from your three-year-old son’s shoes that could be bottled and used as a weapon of mass destruction.

Especially when money is tight and you’re looking at a hefty bill for back to school clothes for the three year old and his private school uniform-wearing big sister.

Especially when you can print out a cool sizing chart from their website and order with confidence knowing that the shoes may actually fit.

Especially when the shoes come with these nifty inserts that allow you to order shoes a little on the big size since you know your three year old’s foot grew a whole size in nine months.

Especially when the Pediped shoes are made like shoes should be made — so that kids grow out of the shoes before they wear out.

Especially when the shoes are really super-cute and come in cool color combinations that made your three-year-old happy.

Especially when the Velcro enclosures are strong enough to stay in place, but easy enough for the three-year-old to take them off himself before he tracks dirt on your couch. (We’re still working on the motor skills needed for him to put them on himself.)

Espcially when the shoes have awesome memory foam that keeps the three-year-old from whining that his feet hurt on long walks (Yes, he still whines, but not about his shoes. Some things Pediped can’t fix.)

Especially when the three-year-old wears the shoes on 110+ summer days in and out of the water and neither his feet nor the shoes smell – AT ALL.

Especially when your kid looks this cute wearing them.

Disclosure: The woman I met at the movies offered the shoes without requesting a review. She didn’t even know I was a blogger at the time. See? Cool things happen at Vegas movie theaters. I need to go to the movies more. Mama could use a new pair of winter boots.

The nice folks over at 20th Century Fox sent us an advance copy of the Strawberry Shortcake: The Berryfest Princess Movie and asked us to give it a watch and review.

We watched it this weekend and here’s what my 6YO daughter, Boo, thought:

Boo’s Shortcake Review.

Side note: She was playing with her stuffed horse’s tail. Looking at it now, it’s a little disturbing.

Here are some of my observations:

In the previews, Orange Blossom with her light tan skin, seemed to be the lovely Latina of the group. When the film started, she had transformed into an African-American character, equally lovely mind you. The switch was so odd, that we actually went back and watched them both again, not believing what we saw. While I was befuddled why both groups couldn’t get their berrytastic props in Berrybitty City, my Boo had some very interesting explanations, including:

• “Mommy, she just spent too much time in the garden and got a tan.”
• “Oh, they just changed the lighting in the movie, so her skin looks lighter in the preview.”

Hmmm. I’m not sure what’s up, but I’d like to give the filmmakers the benefit of the doubt.

I like the general updated look of the characters. I was a Strawberry Shortcake collector when I was my daughter’s age (I think I still have some of the smell-tastic figures in storage somewhere). They kept Strawberry Shortcake sweet and genuinely nice, but they took out the token male in the group and the old villain is long gone.

The story in the movie is broken up into three main plot arcs. The first focuses on the election of the Berryfest princess, which turns out to be Strawberry Shortcake (shocker, I know). The second, on the stresses of planning the festival parade, where Strawberry learns even though you delegate important duties to reliable friends, your friends will let you down because they’re all a bowlful of flaky fruits. The calamity continues in the third section where the Berryfest feast (say that three times fast) is almost brought to a standstill when Strawberry gives the sacred wonderberry to an ailing and injured bird. But, have no fear…all’s well that ends well and Strawberry saves the day.

Movies like this aren’t without their valuable lessons. In this case, Boo learned that:

• You never put your name on a ballot until you’re sure what the winner’s duties are.
• The people you love will let you down and you will forgive and love them anyway.
• It’s okay to override other people’s wishes if you think it’s the right thing to do.

Hmmm. I think that last one’s gonna come back and bite me in the ass.

As if the good folks at 20th Century Fox hadn’t had enough of my movie reviewing drivel, they sent me a copy of Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs to review. Since my 5YO, Boo, is quite movie-phobic, I had not had the pleasure of seeing the first and second installment of the series, but we didn’t let that stop us. Once I convinced Boo that her apparently fragile film psyche would not be damaged by the viewing, we sat down on a Saturday afternoon and watched it.

As far as the kids went, they watched the DVD like most kids do…sit for five minutes…play for five minutes…ask for a snack…pee…watch until something scary happens…flee…ask mommy to stop folding laundry and come and sit with them…use mommy as a human trampoline…squeeze mom off the couch and steal the blanket….repeat about 20 times until the movie is over.

From a grownup point of view, I found the film to be a fun story with some great grown-up friendly one-liners and interesting characters. I could definitely handle this in the minivan DVD player on a car trip. The slapstick visuals keep the kids entertained and the dialogue would keep me from slitting my wrists after the millionth listen to Mary Poppins.

The basic plot focuses on two mated woolly mammoths as they plan for thr birth of their new baby. As their friends realize how the new addition will impact their group dynamic, the sloth decides to adopt a batch of eggs…dinosaur eggs. His maternal instincts lead him through a rabbit hole into a prehistoric underworld fraught with carnivorous treachery and campy ensemble cast antics. There are moments of high drama that left Boo watching through her hands and whining that it was too scary, but then again she and Doodle cackled at some very funny moments.

There are some valid lessons to be learned from this movie. Lessons for adults and children alike, such as:

1. If you are a boy, never offer your nuts to a girl. It is a trick. She will rip the hairy nut straight from your body.
2. Queen Latifah and Ray Romano: A couple that could only happen in animation.
3. Sloths with lisps are inherently funny.
4. John Leguizamo has a face for voice overs.
5. Eating your playmates is the #1 way to end a playdate.
6. Life is what happens between opportunities to say “yabba dabba do!”
7. Weasel-like prehistoric mammals with sharp teeth and leafy eye patches are always dependable jungle guides.
8. “He who has gas, travels at the end of the pack.” is truly sage wisdom.
9. Kids laugh at burp and fart jokes from birth.
10. Babies are cute even when they’re 200 pounds, furry and with a trunk and tusks.
11. Peaches is not appropriate name for a baby. Unless you are a woolly mammoth or you want your daughter to grow up to be stripper.

In summary, it’s high on the cute factor and very easy on the re-watch. The kids liked it, but they aren’t begging to watch it again and again. I’d recommend it to parents of younger kids who want a fun watch that they can sit through with their kids and enjoy instead of merely tolerate.

The good folks over at 20th Century Fox sent me a copy of Aliens in the Attic to review last month, hoping my mindless drivel would help spur folks to purchase the movie when it was released.

The good news is that I did watch the movie and I did find it mildly amusing. The bad news is that it’s taken me nearly a month to write this review (but I had a really good excuse for my delay) and pretty much anyone who’s going to buy this movie probably has.

However, I won’t the risk of being irrelevant deter me from spouting off. Here’s my take on the movie.

1. The general premise: A suburban family heads to the country for some bonding time with their crazy divorced uncle and his kids and the family matriarch. They are joined by an imposing, hormonally crazed asshole 20-something boyfriend of the teenage daughter. After what appeared to be a lightning strike, the kids discover a band have aliens has arrived with plans to take over the world using mind-control implants that only work on the adults. The kids band together to defeat the aliens.

2. It was a fun, but somewhat stereotypical family movie definitely targeted toward the tween market. My kids are well below the target demographic and, after pre-screening it with another grown-up, we felt most of it was too scary for my movie-sensitive 5 YO daughter and the 2YO would get as much out of it as he would if I made him watch Project Runway.

3. Watching Kevin Nealon playing an authoritarian parent role made me feel really old. Tim Meadows as the town sheriff pretty much put the nail in the coffin.

4. The film seemed to nearly steal some moments from other alien movies. For example, the interactions between the youngest child and the “good” alien felt so much like the exchanges between Gertie and E.T., I had a palpable craving for Reese’s Pieces.

5. The best scene: the fight scene between Nana Rose (Doris Roberts) and the boyfriend Rickey (Robert Hoffman). Think John Woo meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets Street Fighter.

So, in summary, it was a cute, but definitely followed the the trite recipe for family action-ish comedy that crowds DVD shelves in entertainment centers across the country. It reminded me of Herbie the Love Bug and the Apple Bottom Gang from my childhood. Just swap Don Knotts out with Doris Roberts and the surly cowboys with some remote-control wielding aliens and you’ve got it covered.

If you’re looking for a fun, family friendly gift for a tween in your life this holiday season, I’m sure they’d enjoy it. If you’re looking for thought provoking action films, I’d stick with the 10th anniversary edition of Fight Club.

Doodle’s tantrums have become quite legendary. So much so, that I swear his older sister’s attempts at one-upsmanship in this department, may result in a bulk purchase of ear plugs.

But he is two and he’s learning, thanks to a newly placed time-out chair.

The girl, on the other hand, is old enough to learn about keeping her anger under control.

I was raised with the philosophy that feelings are neither right nor wrong, but there is an appropriate time and place for expressing them. The middle of the grocery store is not one of them.

She’s not THIS bad, but, she’s had her moments.

I’ve made some progress with her, but sometimes, she needs to get the message from a source other than me in order for it to really sink in.

So, when Joy Berry Enterprises contacted me about reviewing some of their titles, I scanned through their copious topic list and more than a few titles caught my eye. They were gracious enough to send me “Let’s Talk About Feeling Angry” and “Teach Me About Bedtime”, both by, you guessed it, Joy Berry (you’re shocked, I’m sure.).

“Let’s Talk About Feeling Angry” follows a little girl named Maria through the eyes and voice of a dog named Max. Max observes Maria deal with multiple conflicts with her brother, breaking toys, hitting, kicking walls, and the like. Max walks Maria through more constructive ways to deal with the conflict like talking about it, bringing in grown-up mediation, and (one of my personal faves) kicking and screaming into your pillow in your bedroom.

I used this book for Boo’s 20-minutes-a-day reading project this weekend. Even though she was really focused on actually reading the words, the message did sink in through. It made the point without getting preachy and the pictures with conversation bubbles kept her engaged. After reading it, she wanted to try the companion CD out. The CD read the story to her with prompts telling her to turn the page. She happily followed along and even boogied to the “Feeling Angry” song that followed.

The text reminded me a lot of the messages conveyed in books like Roger Hargreaves’ Mr. Men series and other character-building books of my youth that attempted to teach concepts of sharing, humility, and self control (hmmm, I guess we can all see how well those worked, eh?).

The “Let’s Talk About” series is targeted for ages 4-5, but it was good reading practice for my nearly six-year-old and the message was quite clear.

Doodle was not to be left out of the fun and got to read “Teach Me About Bedtime.” Our bedtime struggles have vastly improved over the last month, but there are still some nights he has a tough time settling down. He is two, after all.

The board book is told through the point of view of a two or three-year-old girl as she goes through her day playing herself to exhaustion. We see her naptime and bedtime routine. We see her throw a tantrum (Trust me, a 2-D tantrum really does lose something in translation, but I get enough of the real deal that I wasn’t missing the live action.).

I loved the no-so subliminal “sleep in your own bed” messages of the text as well as the reminder that they can sleep in other venues as well. My favorite page, though, was this one…

Yes, Doodle. Mommy likes to sleep in. Past six. Please. (I KNOW! I am SO demanding!)

This one also came with a CD too, but it unfortunately did more to wind him up than down. Want Doodle to dance? Just add music. Brahms is his Suicidal Tendencies. A playpen is nothing but a one-man mosh pit for this dude. We did eventually get him down and without the use of duct tape! Woo Hoo!

Did it work? Well, we read the book Friday night and Saturday morning both kids slept past 6 a.m. and I did hear Doodle playing in his room for a full 15 minutes before creeping into my chamber and insisting on using my bed (with me in it) as a trampoline.

Joy Berry has a variety of book series for ages 1-12 available at her site. From what I’ve seen, they are well worth the money, especially since you’re probably going to get lots of mileage passing these on from kid to kid.

Good, bad, or ugly? Good. Definitely. Good.

My five year old wails from the back seat as we hum along from our great San Diego vacation back to our Sin City home.

“MOOOMMMY! Can I have your phone? I wanna play games.”

At the doctor’s office, my son discovers the doctor’s rolling stool is a great way to practice his Superman skills. I need to intercede before our trip becomes more than just a check for swine flu.

“Hey Doodle, wanna watch Elmo?”

It is 4:30 a.m. at the Salt Lake City airport. I am waiting for the Southwest ticket counter to open so I can check in for my flight home. Not enough down time to warrant a laptop session on the cold linoleum. I pull out my iPhone and do an obligatory scan of my email, deleting obsolete news feeds and marketing crap sent in the wee hours of the night. Then I move over to Tweetdeck to see how my east coast Interweb friends are faring this lovely morning. Someone’s sick. Others are regaling in the joys of the last workday before a holiday weekend. Another is remembering that today her new son reaches the age that her previous child passed away.

I reflect on how much of my life revolves around this little pink-shelled device with its touch screen full of happy apps that entertain me and my kids, keep track of my appointments and friends, stores my grocery list, and allows me to flash the kids’ latest pictures and videos to any unsuspecting stranger who unwittingly asks about my brood.

My smartphone is a lifeline. It is the Vaseline that allows me to squeeze just a little more into my life, juggle one more ball, and try to make a few more people (including me) happy.

Kathy Buckworth shares her love for her smartphone in her latest book, The Blackberry Diaries. While we come from different countries and prefer different devices, we both agree that our devices have been a bane and blessing.

We can get more done and (usually) keep the work and family plates spinning without a major crash, but our smartphones can also become an often humorous distraction. She writes in the opening of her book:

As a thoroughly Modern Mother, what I love most about my BlackBerry smartphone is that it allows me to maintain the façade of a dedicted writer, knowledgeable public speaker, and little known but professionally made-up television personality while simultaneously living the perilous life of a harried, time-starved, harassed, and generally cranky mom. Some of my best career wins have been communicated to me over my BlackBerry smartphone, in less than ideal circumstances. To whit: the call I took from my agent, letting me know that I was being offered a book deal…came when I was standing in line at the grocery store buying lice shampoo. I had to pretend not to care about the grossed out look on the cashier’s face (as she simultaneously scanned my purchase and backed up a good 14 inches so as to not be infested) while also wanting to grab her and yell, “I have a book deal! You should care!” I’m sure she thought I was insane – some crazy woman grinning and bouncing on her feet at the prospect of delousing as an afternoon’s entertainment.

The book continues on with many giggles and snickers of familiarity throughout. Her general premise focuses on how her smartphone has become her fifth child – constantly buzzing and demanding her attention, becoming the a point of admittedly false status-filled pride, an opportunity to excuse herself from uncomfortable situations and unpleasant commitments and more. Some of the parallels were quite cute and others seemed a bit labored.

My favorite (or should that be favourite since Kathy’s Canadian?) sections were the stories she told about her own challenges in parenting her four kids.  Her tales of (not-so-kid free) hangover recovery, the perils of children’s clothing design, and determining the right punishment for her son who needed some lessons in responsibility had me chuckling so loud that my kids wondered what I was reading (and my daughter was inherently fascinated because the cover is pink).

To be honest, The BlackBerry Diaries is not the best parent humor book I’ve ever read, but is certainly a fun read worth that you can easily clear on your next flight (because you have to read SOMETHING when they cut off the wifi access, right?). These days we could all use a good laugh and setting your eyes on something other than a screen is probably a good thing.

I am a die-hard MacGirl. I’ve repeatedly professed my love for nearly all things Apple. So, when the nice folks Weber Shandwick asked me to be a part of their promotion project for Kathy Buckworth’s new book, The Blackberry Diaries, I fully disclosed my blood type – I bleed Bondi Blue.

They were okay with it. They still wanted to send me two of their latest model, the Blackberry Tour – one to review and keep and one to give away to one of my readers.

This was not my first experience with the BlackBerry. I recently retired my second Curve earlier this year when I finally bridged over to the iPhone (my former employer’s email server would only support BB).

So, here’s a quick side-by-side on the two devices.

1. Both are pretty darn pretty. Do you like them long and lean or more square with a wider grip? They both are very nice looking phones. If fingerprints gross you out, don’t get an iPhone. If the thought of what’s stuck in those BB keys gives you the willies, then opt for a solid surface.

2. Keyboard is key. If you like the feel of true keys and a full keyboard under your fingertips, the Tour is great. Some folks (present company included) are still struggling with the eye/hand coordination required with the iPhone’s touchpad – even with the horizontal option. The cramp on my pinky finger from typing makes me feel like a 90-year-old British woman who has drank her 10 millionth cup of tea (littlest digit daintily and fully extended, of course). Switching back and forth between devices is a challenge. Like swapping between my office PC and personal MacBook Air, it takes my brain and hands a few minutes to adjust to the difference.

3. Track vs. Touch. (I may be dating myself here.) Remember the old commercial for Ocean Spray or Bartyles and James where an elderly Maine farmer is asked for directions proclaims “You can’t get there from here!”? Well, that’s kind of how I feel about the BB’s trackball technology. I see where I want to go, but getting there means I have to scroll over multiple icons and get myself to stop at the right place. It takes some adjusting and finesse, but after a little frustration, you get there. That’s not to say that the iPhone touch screen is not without its issues. Yes, bouncing back and forth between apps is much easier, but just try and move that cursor around text to edit or insert your comment before a retweet in Tweetdeck. Talk about total PITA. (I’m sure I’m doing something wrong, so if you have suggestions, please enlighten me in the comments. This is driving me nutso.)

4. General user friendliness. When I picked up the Tour, the general layout was fairly intuitive. Mail – okay. Phone functions…easy. Finding Brickbreaker and other essentials for surviving a crowded waiting room at Boo’s dance school…okay. The app store functions were a little confusing. I downloaded Twitterberry (I was off Twitter for three daylight hours. EEGADS! Someone might notice I’m gone!!! Ha!) and it took me a little while to figure out where the app had landed and how to get it where I wanted it on my desktop. The iPhone was not challenge-free either. Setting things up there was a bit more challenging given the hard drive size and USB port limitations on the MacBook Air and my lack of a wireless network at home. Loading a few thousand songs from an external hard drive through the Air and into the iPhone was painfully long. I’m talking a full day for the initial upload. The issue was really with my choice for the very sexy and portable air – not so much with the iPhone, though.

5. Apps, apps and more apps. The Apple cult following is developing apps at lightning speed. The App store is well organized and easily searchable for free and paid options. It does get a bit frustrating to have to upload some sizable games sophisticated shopping list software through my MacBook Air and then transfer it. The BB App store is fine, but seems a little more limited. As the BB following grows, more apps will be built, although I suspect you’ll find fewer free apps there than the Apple option.

6. Say cheese. Both the BB Tour and the iPhone are equipped with still and video camera options. Both still cameras are good for close up portraits of people and things standing still. Catching a shot of my two-year-old whirlwind at the park was a challenge for both models. He either ran out of frame before the aperture opened or my attempt to press the shutter button moved the PDA, creating a nasty blur. Video is easy to use on both as well and image and audio quality are nice as well. I believe you need an extra data card for the BB Tour, lest you bog it down with shots of your dog singing the Star Spangled Banner (who doesn’t have that?).

The Bottom Line: Please don’t mistake my review for a “hate” on the BB. I think the BB Tour is a great smartphone for some people. It’s really a matter of personal taste and preference. If you want a good, solid phone with a nice user interface a full push-button keyboard and a trackpad, the BB Tour is a great option and Verizon (the network I tested it on) worked great in Vegas. If you’re a Mac Geek, have tiny stick fingers that can dance around a touch screen like a dancer in the Bolshoi ballet and love the apps, go with the iPhone. Some people are city kids, some are country folk. Some people love exotic foods and others crave the familiar comfort of home. It’s really a personal preference thing. So, I’m keeping my iPhone and giving the Tour to a good home – a BB user who’s old Pearl went to BB heaven from a little too much lovin’.

Thanks again to the folks at RIM and Verizon for the chance to play with their phones and make some other folks REALLY happy. Come back tomorrow for a recap of The Blackberry Diaries event and a review of the book.

The entries are in. The folks who REALLY wanted this BlackBerry Tour (and earned ten entries each for it) were:

Miss from Just One Miss

Stinky from I can’t complain

Michael on his lawyer blog

Beth from My Life in the Low Country

The rest of you tweeted, plurked, and commented your little hearts out.

So, without any further ado, I have assembled a list of all the entries, alphabetized them by the commenter/twitter/poster name (to be fair) and drew numbers using random.org.

The winners of a signed copy of Kathy Buckworth’s latest book, The Blackberry Diaries goes to:

Stinky
Beth
Mamabub
Lori (who’s a mom without a blog)

and the big winner of the BlackBerry Tour with a month of free service from Verizon Wireless goes to…

MISS!

Thanks to everyone who entered. Special thanks to the folks at Weber Shandwick, Blackberry, and Verizon for making my inaugural contest here at GoodBadUgly Reviews so much fun!

You can come and see Kathy Buckworth (Sat., Aug. 29) at the Galleria in Henderson. I’ll be there, too. So be sure to say “hi!” I’ll be the redheaded dork with the Diet Coke.

Blackberry Tour that is.

Kathy Buckworth, author of The Blackberry Diaries: Adventures in Modern Motherhood is coming to Vegas this weekend. Her nice PR folks have partnered with Blackberry and Verizon to back her book tour.

And I get to share the love with you.

I get to give away four copies of Kathy’s book AND a brand-new Blackberry Tour (a $500 retail value) with 30 days of service from Verizon Wireless.

How do you win?

It’s pretty simple. There are three ways to enter:

1. Comment on a post here at GoodBadUgly Reviews before noon (pacific time) on Friday, Aug, 28. Each comment gets you one entry.

2. Tweet the following:

@GBUReviews is going on tour, a Blackberry Tour, that is, with @BBDiaries. I want to win. http://tinyurl.com/n66vgy #GBUBBTour.

Each tweet sent before noon (pacific time) on Friday, Aug, 28 gets you one entry. Don’t be too annoying, though. Tweet once or twice. Otherwise folks will unfollow you and hate me.

3. Write a post on your blog about your experiences with your PDA (it doesn’t need to be a Blackberry, I’m an iPhone geek myself). Tell the world about how you dropped it in the toilet, got busted checking your email at a holiday meal with family, or whatever you want. Just be sure to mention that you’re entering into the contest and link back to this post here at GoodBadUgly Reviews. If you don’t have a blog of your own, send me your post and I’ll put it here or on my main blog, Fear and Parenting in Las Vegas. Send an email to fandpinlv (at) gmail (dot) com. I’ll do a list post so others can see your story. Each post earns you 10 entries in the drawing.

Winners will be contacted on Friday. I’m happy to get Kathy to sign your copy of the book if you win. Speaking of the book, I’ve been reading it this weekend and a full review of the book and the Tour will be coming soon. In the meantime, here’s a quick synopsis on the book from her site:

The BlackBerry Diaries: Adventures in Modern Motherhood” is a no-holds-barred trip through the wacky world of toddlers and technology. Kathy takes the reader through a year-long blog account of life with her new BlackBerry and how, as a Mississauga, Ont.-based mother of four, her two worlds — technology and children — collide.

If you’re in Vegas this weekend, be sure to check out Kathy at her appearance at the Galleria Mall from 1-3 p.m. on Fri., Aug. 28 and Sat. Aug. 29. I’ll be there on Sat. to say “hi” and read my own BB Diary entry.

So, be sure to enter. Share the love.