I'm a full-time mummy

I received 2 booklets of the PocketRescue Series by Katrin Bain for my review. So here goes my review for the 2 booklets:

Title: Tension, Tears and Tantrums & Family Meals
Author: Katrin Bain
 ASIN:  B0065EBXXI & B007DI15WY
Paperback:  33 pages
Dimension:  inches

Description for "Tension, Tears and Tantrums":
"PocketRescue is a series of short books that offer parents no nonsense advice on one particular topic. They are short and to the point without condescending the content.
Have you ever
• shouted at your child and regretted it afterwards?
• got angry because your child is behaving
unreasonably?
• been embarrassed by a public tantrum?
Then this booklet supports you in reducing the stress your children’s behaviour causes you and enables you to respond calmly to your child.
It covers tantrums and unreasonable behaviour and includes:
- Why do children have tantrums?
- 3 ways to respond to a tantrum.
- How to stay calm, clear and connected when responding to your child."

Description for "Family Meals":
"PocketRescue is a series of short books that offer parents no nonsense advice on one particular topic. They are short and to the point without condescending the content. Have you ever
• Wished your child would eat a wider variety of food?
• Tried to coerce your child into eating?
• Been disappointed that your cooking has been rejected?

If your life as a parent of small children is anything like mine, you will be familiar with fussy toddlers, messy meal times and the frustration when yet another meal has been left untouched. This booklet supports you in reducing the stress around mealtimes in two ways. First, it looks at the meaning of food and messages you are sending out. Secondly it offers practical advice to plan, shop and cook delicious family meals without spending all day in the kitchen."

I find that the booklets are pretty nifty and easy to carry along.The information are easy to refer to as well.

For the "PocketRescue: Tension, Tears and Tantrums" booklet, it has helpful information on trying to understand the reasons for your child in having tantrums. It provides good tips on what we should do when such incidents occurs, how to stay calm and yet try to resolve the situation using the best ways possible.

For the "PocketRescue: Family Meals" booklet, it contains practical advice on how to shop and do meal planning for the family. It also comes with some recipes as well.

You can get the PocketRescue: Tension, Tears and Tantrums and PocketRescue: Family Meals from Amazon.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the booklets by the author in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"

When I saw the press release of this app from Oceanhouse Media, I immediately check out the app further. I love the idea of teaching Ben about shapes using shadows and I also wanted Ben to be more excited with shadows in the sense that shadows can be fun too, so I quickly request for a promo code to review it. Anyway, my review as below...

* Title: The Shape of Me and Other Stuff - Dr. Seuss
* Price: $1.99
* Category: Books
* Released: Mar 21, 2012
* Version: 1.08
* Size: 7.9 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Oceanhouse Media, Inc.
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 3.0 or later

Description from the product page:

"Learn new shapes and words in this wacky, eccentric exploration of silhouettes and Seussian rhymes – perfect for beginner readers!

Children are encouraged to seek out details and ponder unique shapes like "the shape of beans and big machines" or "the shapes of ships and water when it drips!" Kids will love the silly rhymes and funny images, and parents will appreciate this original take on the largely untapped world of shapes.

"The shape of you the shape of me
the shape of everything I see . . .
a bug . . . a balloon, a bed, a bike.
No shapes are ever quite alike."""

What's good?

* It is engaging and interactive and I love that we can also touch the objects in each page on the screen and the words pop out to tell you what it is!

* As mentioned earlier, I wanted Ben to be more excited with shadows in the sense that shadows can be fun too and can reflect a lot of different shapes and objects.

* The illustrations are beautiful and the narration is great!

* I like that some pages rhymes and the app shows a lot of objects that catches my toddler's attention (such as spider web,  balloon, bicycle and so on)

You can purchase the "The Shape of Me and Other Stuff - Dr. Seuss" app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code by the sponsor to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"

You know, the moment I received a pitch asking whether I would be interested in reviewing this software, I hesitated.

Sure, I used to be a programmer, I code stuff but that does not mean I know all the programming languages out there. And for that, I really know nuts about other software and web stuff and whatever IT stuff... (See, I am rambling already! I ramble when I don't know what to talk about!)

I mean, what is this software about? Does it really help? How am I going to test it out? I even need help from hubby to install software and stuff on my laptop and I'm kinda protective with my laptop and do not simply install things on it anyway!

So I  waited... for the right moment to subtly ask my hubby (he has his own IT business by the way) whether he has heard of this software called TuneUp Utilities. And then he said 'Yeah, I used it on my clients' computers'.

Ding ding ding! Oh yes! But still, I acted cool and asked again 'So, it's good huh? What does it do actually?' and then my hubby looks at me one kind... because I don't ask him about software stuff. No, I don't ask him about IT stuff unless I needed his help or opinion on something. Like NOW. Whoooppsss...

So before he begins interrogating me, I spilled the beans and told him I got a pitch to review the software and asked him whether I should accept and review it because I don't want to waste my time and look stupid reviewing something that I can't ermm... do properly, you know?

So hubby explained what the software does and that it's good I get to review it! Oooo... I don't often get positive responses from hubby about the stuff I get to review on my blog so I think this is good!

And boy oh boy, it is GOOD! You can tell it, judging by the long intro I write even before I begin telling you about my feedback on this software! So here goes my review for the "TuneUp Utilities 2012":

About the product:
"Computers can feel sluggish after regular use, installed programs and decreasing memory. This often leads to longer, frustrating start, load and shut-down times. TuneUp is committed to making this an issue of the past.

TuneUp Utilities 2012 is easy-to-use PC maintenance software - revitalizing your computer to give it that "just like new" feel and performance that is often lost after regular use and program installation.

Some cool features: - The new TuneUp Economy Mode allows users to improve the battery life of their notebooks, netbooks and tablet PCs, as well as reduce desktop PC energy consumption ”with a single click. With this, battery life is extended by up to 30% and heat levels are reduced, increasing PC, and their hardware components' life spans. - The enhanced TuneUp Program Deactivator turns off programs that are not being used in order to conserve system resources and maximize PC performance. Users can ensure that all of the services, start-up entries, background processes and scheduled tasks of these disabled programs remain inactive until they are needed; the tool can then enable and disable on the fly. "

To put in easy to read summary, I categorised my review into the following aspects:

Download
~ Fast to download, file size about 32.8 MB

Installation

~ Easy to follow instructions which you just click, click, click and voila! Installed! (Yeah, I installed it myself!)

Navigation
~ Separated into different categories (on its own tab): Status & recommendations, Optimize system, Gain disk space, Fix problems and Customize windows.
~ Easy to understand instructions and there is explanations on the actions you wanted to choose
~ I love the 1-click maintenance screen, very suitable for busy people like me who just want things to get done with 1 click of the finger you know? So, yes, I like that things get done behind the process while I go on doing my stuff on my laptop.

~ User friendly interface which aids in navigating through the software

Functionalities / Performance

~  I performed some tasks such as scanning my C drive which ermmm... has never been scanned before, clearing a lot of unnecessary files on my laptop, registry cleaning and lots more!

Summary: TuneUp Optimization Report
~ From 29th Feb 2012 until 22nd March (which is the date I'm writing this review), I've got 1145 registry problems fixed, 188 broken shortcuts removed, over 8GB space freed up, 1 hard disk problem fixed and my laptop's performance being optimised! 

~ This is a really helpful software which really optimises my laptop's performance! I noticed my laptop is not as sluggish like before and I'm not sure whether this is because of the software but I have also encountered much much lesser application hang with my MS Outlook.

A helpful and functional software I say!

It is a must!

You can get this awesome software from: http://www.tune-up.com/order/

I'm so happy I get to host another giveaway on my blog! Woohooo! Not only I get to enjoy this helpful software, 3 of my lucky WORLDWIDE followers / visitors will get to enjoy this software too!

To enter the giveaway, kindly read and follow the instructions as stated in the Rafflecopter form below.

• You can enter either via login through your Facebook account OR just key in your name and your valid email address. 
• Please also leave your valid email address in the post comment so that I can contact you if you win this giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the product by the sponsor in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.