I'm a full-time mummy

I have read the "Who Moved My Cheese?" book so when I saw this book title, I was intrigued and decided to request for a review copy. Here goes my review for the "The Swiss Cheese Theory of Life " book:

Title:  The Swiss Cheese Theory of Life 
Authors: Judith Belmont, MS & Lora Shor, MSW
Publisher: Premier Publishing & Media; 1st edition (October 21, 2011)
ISBN-13/-10:  978-0982039892 / 0982039891
Paperback:  247 pages
Dimension:  8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches

Description from the product page:
"The Swiss Cheese Theory of Life is a book about resiliency. Using Swiss Cheese as a metaphor for life itself, you will explore ways to get through the holes rather than get stuck in them. Swiss is not like any other cheese - and neither are you! This self-help health and wellness book is sure to delight and enlighten - with a thick-sliced sense of humor. While it is whimsical in style, it deals with many serious and universal topics that affect our everyday lives. We distill important concepts from many sources, slicing them up into easily digestible chunks of information.

After all, Swiss is not like any other cheese and neither are you like anyone else! This wellness book is about thriving in the face of life's adversities, overcoming challenges, developing stress resilience, and making effective and long lasting changes for a happier life. Important training concepts are easily related through a light-hearted holistic approach that will touch your mind, body and spirit. Our expertise as psychotherapists and wellness speakers has reached thousands of people throughout the country - and now we want to reach out to you! Couldn't everyone benefit from Swiss Cheese Life resiliency training to help them move through life's holes instead of getting stuck in them?

Take the Swiss Cheese Theory of Life Challenge!
-Are you trying to make changes in your life, yet you find yourself digging deeper into a hole?
-Do you know better but can t seem to get out from under your unhealthy patterns or habits?
-Do you often have why does this happen to me thinking?
-Are you looking for happiness in all the wrong places?
-Are you ready to make healthy changes in your life ... physically, emotionally, spiritually?

If you answered yes to any of these questions help is here!"

* I like the way the authors compares life using Swiss Cheese (kinda makes you think and goes 'Ohhhh... I see....' when you read each chapter).

* Each chapter in the book are interesting to read and I love the illustrations in the book as well.

* I love how the authors uses W.A.I.T to represent the points for What Am I Thinking in page 86.

* I also love page 132 on the statement of "Opportunity is NOWHERE" - it depends on how you look at things, whether "Opportunity is Nowhere" or "Opportunity is Now Here!". Awesome!

* I love the lesson taught on page 224 about the ability to forgive others.

In summary, it is a book that shows you how to get through the holes in your life and how to overcome the obstacles and turned out to be a better person.

Highly recommended, do get a copy of this book for yourself too!!

Or, since Christmas is approaching why not get a copy as a gift for your loved ones or friends to start off the New Year with new perspective in life? 

You can get this book from Amazon.

And yeay!!! I am so happy to hear Ms. Belmont has generously offered to sponsor 1 copy of her book SIGNED by herself to 1 lucky follower / visitor on my blog! Yeap, if you are the winner, you get to own a copy of her book, signed and she will mail it to you anywhere you are!

OK then, just read below for the giveaway terms and entry form, OK?

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

So what are you waiting for?!! Hurry up! You have 1 month time from now to join in the fun and try your luck!

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a PDF copy of the book 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"

I came across the press release of this app and wrote in to request for an opportunity to review it. To my delight, the developer of the app reverted with "I really liked your website, the clarity of the reviews plus the cute site design and illustrations." (awwww... thank you!) and that he is honored to have his app reviewed by me (the pleasure is mine!!) Anyway, my review as below...

* Title: Koto Go Silence
* Price: $2.99
* Category: Books
* Released: 11 November 2011
* Version: 1.0
* Size: 107 MB
* Language: English
* Developer: Daniel Shneor & April Peter
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or later.

Description from the product page:

"Koto Go Silence” is an animated storybook about Koto - a faithful young dog, who deals with mysterious noises during his night watch.

Have fun reading this book, at playtime or bedtime. Tap on the sentences to hear them read out loud, and then enjoy the colorful and funny animations. This App has been carefully designed, so that children of all ages can easily navigate through it and have a great experience on both iPhone and iPad.

Key features:

* CG character animation with exciting segments.

* Relatable day-to-day experiences for young children.
* Interactive texts with English read-along functions.
* Once installed, the App can be played even when offline. "

Ben loves loves loves loves this app so much! So much that it is a MUST before his daytime nap and bedtime. We will at least go through this app twice a day and without fail, this app will definitely make him laugh, say out loud and ask me questions!

What's good?

* It is such a fun app! We totally love Koto, especially the computer graphics animation part!

* I like how some of the narration goes nicely in rhymes and the narrator's voice is very good as well.

* There are some pages which got Ben laughing, such as when Koto pops out of the doggy door (screenshot below).

* I also used the opportunity to teach Ben some new words, such as ninjas, shovels, wind chimes and so on.

* The app comes automatically with the Read Out Loud feature but requires us to tap each pages (except the animation part) to move through the story, so I used this opportunity to teach Ben to tap the text himself, so that he can learn that tapping the text will enable us to know what is going to happen next and I also want him to be more in-charge when we are going through this app.

What's not so good?

* I would love to have an option for the story to auto play by itself instead of us having to tap the text to move through the story.

* I would prefer if the 'monsters' sounds played a little bit longer (or play until we tap to the next page perhaps?) so as to keep the suspense going.

You can purchase the "Koto Go Silence" app from the iTunes App Store. The Android version of the app can be found here.

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"

I came across LaDy LaDuKe's website a month back and requested for a review opportunity. I was so looking forward for an opportunity to review a breastfeeding cover since I started breastfeeding in March 2009 and it gets really really really annoying when I am out and about and I had to frantically search for a nursing room in order to nurse my child.

For those of you who are staying out of Malaysia, we don't nurse in public and what we do is either cover up or we nurse in nursing/baby rooms if they are available, else, we have to make do with hiding somewhere to nurse I guess...

Without further delay, here's my review on the awesome life & time saving Feeder Frock Breastfeeding Covers, and yes, you get to see my face clearer on my blog for the very first time! ( * shy * )

We are the Home of The Feeder Frock breastfeeding cover! Our original creation and design to help moms cover up fully while breastfeeding in public. The Feeder Frock is the only nursing cover that allows moms to stand or move while nursing. Sometimes you have to push a stroller or chase your kids, but most importantly...your nursing cover must be "cute"!

We want other moms to know that we understand what it's like to live in a world of kids all day, and that sometimes you need something that is pretty and special, and just for you.

I requested to review the Breastfeeding-Feeder Frock-LADY LUXE Nursing Cover-Stone Cobble because it looks gorgeous, made of chiffon material and I like the pattern. I tested the breastfeeding cover on the following areas:

* Washing - Colors stayed and did not stain other clothing

* Drying - Dries up really fast due to the chiffon material

* Storing - Again, due to its chiffon material, I'm able to fold and lump up the breastfeeding cover into my small diaper bag.

* Other Usage -On the 1st day of using it, I turned MacGyver and used the cover as a shield to protect my baby girl from the glaring sunlight in our car.

* Functionality - Very good! It covers all the sides and areas that are supposed to be covered, front, sides, back and top. I feel so much at ease to be able to breastfeed wherever I am. Although this breastfeeding covers allows the user to breastfeed on the go or standing, I still need to find a place to sit when nursing as I feel my girl is getting heavier and I would prefer to sit while nursing. One thing I'm still trying to get use to is the plastic covering for the neck support. It allows me to peep in to see my girl but sometimes the end of the plastic band pokes at my neck when I rushed to wear the breastfeeding cover.

* Ventilation - Due to its chiffon material, it is cooling and yet able to keep my girl warm! It sounds weird of me saying this but when we went for our recent family trip to Genting (it's one of the coldest place in hot Malaysia), my girl stays warm during the nursing session thanks to this cover!

* Places I use the breastfeeding cover - Church (prior to this, I had to use this small nursing room provided but we have to sit on the floor and the room is quite stuffy), my SIL house, Genting Highlands (indoor playground, during an open-air train ride, open-air playground), shopping malls that we frequently go to, and latest: on a kiddie ride (there's not even a bench around, so I had to sit on a kiddie ride and nursed my girl).

At my SIL's house...

At the indoor playground...

On the open-air train ride...

You can find a lot of designs and products from LaDy LaDuKe's retail websites: Etsy, Zibbet & Artfire.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the Feeder Frock Breastfeeding Covers by LaDy LaDuKe 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.