I was asked a while back if I would like to review this cleaning product.  I said sure, why not?  Even though I am married, work full time and a dad, I still do my share of cleaning around the house.  So when I received an Ultimate Cloth for free, I decided to wait to use it until after my wife came back from being out of town for 3 days.  I figured a man, 2 young boys and a dog home alone for 1/2 a week will put it to the test.  I was right.

The Ultimate Cloth came in a plain  envelope.  I opened it up and out slid a baggie with a sheet of paper and the cloth in it.  I remember my 1st thought being that The Ultimate Cloth looked like a cheap paper place mat, but only thicker.  As soon as I opened it up, I tried to just rip it apart.  I was surprised that I couldn’t.  Little did I know that was just the first of many surprises.  I have a picture gallery at the end of this post where you can see the dramatic results!

The instructions are very easy.  Wet it in warm water, wring it out well, fold it in quarters and use flat.   This way you have 8 surfaces to clean with before you have to stop and clean it.  As I switched from area to area as I was cleaning, I cleaned it by simply washing it out it warm water and wringing it dry.  You can wash it in a washing machine, but no fabric softener and you can only air dry it.

We have Corian counter tops and after I do the dishes, I have a system that I go through to clean the counter top.  I first use a green scratchy pad to wet the counter and rub off anything that is crusted there from cooking.  Then I switch to a sponge with soap to clean the counter.  Next comes a wash cloth to rinse it off and paper towels to dry it.  Every time I clean the counter, I go through this same process.   So using the Ultimate Cloth as instructed, I cleaned the counter.  That’s it.  Just the 1 step.  I was done.  I couldn’t believe it.  I went and got the Lysol disinfecting wipes out because I knew that the counter couldn’t possibly be clean after just one pass.  As you can see in the picture, there is absolutely no dirt, grime, or whatever on the Lysol wipe.  My counter was clean.  I rinsed it out and moved on to the next test.

Next came the master bathroom.  I have been helping my sons brush their teeth in there and the mirror and counter were nasty!  Plus with no female in the house using that bathroom, it has gotten messy.  The information on the cloth says it will not streak mirrors.  It says you can use it on any surface in your home.  As you can see from the pictures, it did wonders on the mirror and the faucet.  It did an equally great job on the counter.  I didn’t take pictures of the counter because it already cleaned the downstairs counter great.  I did however take a picture of the Ultimate Cloth after cleaning the counter.  You can see how much grime it did pick up.  I did go on to clean the toilet after that and it did an equally amazing job on the porcelain.  After I finished there I decided that I wasn’t going to clean anything else with it until I washed in the washing machine, so down the chute it went.

There is a ton of information about this cloth and how it works.  It can be found HERE on their website.

There is a large F.A.Q. section on their website that can be found HERE.

To purchase one, which I do recommend, you can do that HERE.

I was approached about doing a review for Big Universe and even though I don’t do a lot of reviews, I thought I would do this one as my 7 year old loves to read anything that he can find.  He also takes our small note pads and makes stories for us, page by page.  I figured this would be the perfect outlet for him!

I’m surprised I have not heard of this website before.  It is really easy to navigate around and in a matter of minutes, my son knew how to look for books on any topic he wanted.  I helped him with the first book, one on space which we read to the end, then he kicked me off so he could do it by himself.

There are only 4 tabs at the top of the page: HOME,  READ, CREATE & PUBLISH, SHARE WITH OTHERS.  So it is easy to find the area that you want.  At first we tried looking for a particular book that he was reading at school, but we couldn’t find it.  So we used the drop down menu to find a book that would fit his age, grade level and reading ability.  So if he wants to read about pets at a 2nd grade reading level, he can just start typing Pets in the search box.  The neat thing is that it has auto complete so he only had to type a couple of letters and he found what he wanted and just clicked it.

Making a book was relatively easy too.  While we didn’t create an entire book, we did make the first page.  They have like 7,000 pieces of clip art that you can use.  If you want to make a book more personal, you can upload your own photos.  I was thinking how nice that would be to give as a Christmas gift for his grandparents.  He could make specialized books for all of them.   It was really easy to drag and drop a picture to the page.  We figured it out in under 3 minutes by ourselves.  They also have a demo that you can watch and they also have a link for tips and tricks.

It isn’t a small site either.  Here is a bullet list of information on what they have on their site:

• 16076 members
• 7478 books in bookshelves
• 9124 books created
• 675 books shared
• 1169 books recommended
• 1253 friend connections

I keep a close eye on what I allow my son to do online without supervision.  They are a few sites that are saved that he knows he can go and play games at.  It will be nice to know he has a site that he likes to use that isn’t about game playing, but is educational.

I was lucky enough to be given a pair of the RockBuds to try out.  All because I was taking my wife’s ChicBuds to use with my mp3 player when I worked out.

Well, today I put them to the test!  I worked out for 90 minutes at my gym while using them.  Then I came home and did all my yard work while still wearing them.  Not only were they really comfortable, but when I was doing my yardwork, which included using a gas trimmer, lawnmower and gas blower, I had no problem hearing my music!  That was such a nice change from the drone of the gas engines that I usually have to listen to.  There are several things that I love about my RockBuds. First of all the earbud is actually shaped to fit my ear. The other earbuds I’ve worn are round and hurt my ear after a few minutes. The RockBuds earbud is actually shaped to fit comfortably in my ear. With all my other headphones I’ve ever had, when I was done wearing them, I would just wrap the cord around something and over time, the wire would break or get damaged. With my RockBuds, I don’t have that problem. It retracts and doesn’t get pinched so the cord doesn’t get damaged. Another thing I love about my RockBuds is that it clips on. That way when I am wearing them, they just don’t hang from my ears.

ChicBuds is coming out with more products for guys.  I can’t wait to see what else they come up with.  As I looked around their site, I kept finding things I thought would make excellent gifts for women.  Another thing that really surprised me is that you don’t have to buy them online.  I was amazed at all the locations that carry them, including Best Buy!

I would like to thank Kailynn from ChicBuds for letting me have such a great product for my first review ever!

Being a healthy dad is very important to me.  I quit smoking when my oldest son started to crawl around the house.  I couldn’t really just keep the smoke in the back of the house away from him.  Even though I enjoyed smoking, it was time to quit.  Then after quitting, I put on about 30 pounds.  That was January of 2003 and I haven’t had a cigarette since.  I had quit before and now know that if I have just one cigarette, I will smoke again.  I changed my diet and lost about 40 pounds.  Unfortunately, that weight didn’t stay off and I am now still about 10 pounds heavier than when I was smoking.  I would like to get back to about 220 pounds.  I am 6’3″ and I felt really good at that weight.

Family fitness is a big goal of mine.  Not only am I getting into better shape, but I am teaching my sons that being healthy is important. My oldest son is 6 and talks about recycling, potato chips aren’t healthy for you and many things that never crossed my mind as a child.  These are lessons that will stay with him forever.  Then hopefully he will pass them on to his children.  So we are using We Fit Families as a family to challenge each other to keep fit.  It is really something that our family is doing together.  My wife has a membership to a gym as does our 6 year old.  She found out that I can go there also without having to pay an enrollment fee, just the monthly fee.  That saves money too.

I am really excited to be taking part in We Fit Families Mothers Day Mega Bash! Since the goal of this bash is to celebrate our efforts to to keep our families healthy.

Now that you have been so great as to read my post, I AM HOSTING MY VERY FIRST GIVEAWAY! Crazy Dog Tees has been generous enough to offer this great shirt to one lucky winner. I personally own this shirt and it suits me perfectly!

This shirt is avaliable in Men’s and Woman’s. Sizes small through 3x. The famous ADD squirrel t shirt. This squirrel add t-shirt includes text, “Some say I have A.D.D. but they don’t under…Hey look! A squirrel”. This funny squirrel t-shirt is screened on our super soft tees. Be sure to check out all our funny t shirts and other funny squirrel t shirts. The best look a squirrel t shirt online!

INITIAL ENTRY: Hop on over to CrazyDog Tees and leave me a comment here and  tell me what  your favorite shirt. You must complete this entry to be eligible for the Bonus ones listed below. *You MUST HAVE A  twitter account (it is free, easy, and fun) TO ENTER THIS AND OTHER GIVEAWAYS LISTED*. You must leave your twitter ID in the initial entry because all winners will be notified via twitter and announced at the amazing Blog Bash Twitter Party 5/1.

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2. Tweet This Giveaway. You may do this once a day. Just Copy and Paste this —-> GIVEAWAY! @Royal_3 is giving away an awesome shirt from Crazy Dog Tees http://is.gd/tjmO RT PLEASE #fitfam

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Please leave a separate Comment for each Entry.  Giveaway is open to anyone 18 years of age or older. Any posts not including the requested information will be deleted. I reserve the right to remove any entry from this giveaway. This giveaway ends 4/30 at 11:59pm est. Please allow 2-4 weeks to receive your shirt from Crazy Dog Tees.

This hotel ROCKS!   This is where we have been living since the pipe burst.  I think we are going to be here at least 2 more weeks.  I haven’t ever really stayed at a Hilton hotel before and I have been very impressed, not only with the hotel itself, but especially with the employees here.  Our room is about as comfortable as could be, for not being able to be at home.  Here is the link to see our room and view pictures of it.  (OUR ROOM! Although it is not actually our room, it is the same suite that we have)

I will actually miss this place when we have to go home.