Litter Genie Cat Litter Disposal System- GENIUS.

Hey everyone, thanks to the generous Litter Genius program over on Crowdtap sponsored by Litter Genie- I have the opportunity to review the Litter Genie Cat Litter Disposal System for you!

First of all- a quick overview of what it is. The Litter Genie is essentially the same thing as a Diaper Genie but with some MAJOR improvements. Litter Genies are to clumping litter what Diaper Genies are to Diapers- a trash can designed specially to eliminate the odor from its contents.

Photo from Litter Genie

The awesome thing about Litter Genie is that UNLIKE Diaper Genie, the Litter Genie WORKS! It's super easy to assemble, easy to use, has no extra clean up required, and it keeps the odor from the used litter out of my bathroom!

When I said the Litter Genie is easy to assemble- I meant it. I'm a mother of two with a full time job so my time is very limited. I was able to get the Genie out of the two boxes it was shipped in, assemble it, and have it in its spot in my bathroom in under the time it took to boil water for pasta. And now I have an excellent tool that saves me extra trips to the trash can with a smelly bag of litter- yay for time saved!

Speaking of saving time, I don't know about any other moms out there but the Diaper Genie model I had was sealed under its plastic lid with a cloth slider that you inserted the diapers through. If the diaper leaked it was a NIGHTMARE to clean up. No such problems with the Litter Genie. The only moving part (the sliding door seal) is protected by the trash bag. Should you miss the well proportioned chute (the opening is a little wider than the provided scoop) you simply wipe off the plastic ring surrounding the bag and you're ready to go!  

Prior to the Litter Genie I was scooping my kitty litter into a plastic bag, carrying it to my trash can, and then having to take out the trash immediately because of how it smelled. My cat is NOT a small boy- and cleaning his litter box was a chore. Now, I simply scoop the clumps into the Litter Genie, close the lid and pull the handle. On trash day I open the base of the Litter Genie, cut and tie off the bag and drop it in the trash as it's going out. I will say that I'd advise spraying some air freshener when you open the Genie, or perhaps changing it outside as it does do its job at holding in the odors well.

Like I said, my cat is a big boy. He's part Savannah- and with out going into the realm of TMI his litter box can STINK. Before I got the Litter Genie I swapped to the Arm and Hammer Clump and Seal cat litter (I also HIGHLY recommend) and it was doing a fairly good job at keeping the odors down. The Litter Genie sealed the deal. I decided to really test the effectiveness of the Genie- and  Orrin (my cat) was allowed meaty food which he LOVES but no one likes being around his litter box after he has eaten. And then my mother in law was invited over after I had dealt with the litter box. She doesn't like the litter box to begin with, and is always very quick to alert me if there's any odor. Her visit was blissfully lacking in such comments.

I thought it was adorable how much Orrin resembled the Ad Cat.

Overall, I give the Litter Genie two thumbs WAY up and will definitely be picking up the refill for the special trash bag ring. I strongly recommend this product to ANYONE with house pets who have a similar bathroom requirement. It is an AWESOME product.


**I received a Litter Genie to test and review from the Litter Geniuses crowd on Crowdtap.com- I received no incentives other than the product itself to write the review. The views in this post are entirely my own and were not paid for by some advertising company.**

Survival Story

Only because I love the blogger lady over at Thorns Have Roses so much, I felt the need to contribute to her discussion. The first event that came to my mind was the birth of my son.

Now, every mother I've ever known has seen childbirth with a sense of apprehension. The welcoming of new life is an amazing feat- however the actual process can be anxiety raising to say the least. In my case, it was a trick I'd already done before. Which leads up to a little back story. I gave birth to my daughter on April 30th of 2009 after having been induced. When the midwife examined the placenta, she realized that she didn't have the whole thing. So, after having already stitched me up, she went back in and got the bit that was left (you continue to hemorrhage until it's ALL out) and all was jolly if a little sore. No huge trauma.

holding baby Erica

On to the main fun where I almost die and yet manage to pull through. On April 27th of 2010 I was induced into labor for my son Aaron. My husband and I made sure we let the new midwife know about my prior delivery, and I knuckled down to push out a baby. Just past 9pm, my son arrived. Unfortunately a ton of blood came with him. Following the passing of the placenta, the midwives added another bag to my IV and left to clean up the baby. I was extremely lethargic and dehydrated. Unfortunately, I was still hemorrhaging. I asked for the nurse several times, but she said everything seemed normal. Unfortunately I was continuing to dehydrate despite the IV, and my lethargy was getting to the point where I was passing out. The worst part had to be the cold though. To this day I remember that feeling. It was 75 degrees in the room, but I was under two heavy blankets and STILL shivering. Finally at 2am a midwife came in. There was a big issue. The amount of bleeding I was doing had worried her, and upon re-checking the placenta she discovered that there was some missing. I had to go in for surgery immediately. At this point, I still had not even been able to hold my son because of how weak I felt, and my cousin had to call my husband since he had returned home to get some sleep before work the next morning. By 2:30 my husband arrived, and they were wheeling me to the O.R.- I remember making a joking comment to my midwife that I felt dead tired. She responded not to say things like that. When I looked at her she was nearly as white as I had become. Then they put me under.

Upon finding out that Aaron weighed 8.09 lbs at birth

When I came to, I was in a recovery room. When they realized I was awake, they took my vitals and wheeled me back to the maternity room I'd given birth to Aaron in. I noticed I had a new IV as well. When someone finally told me what had gone on, they told me they'd barely had to sedate me because I'd lost somewhere around six units worth of blood. I had a blood transfusion over the next two days I received four units of blood. I finally got to hold my baby. My face was swollen from the amount of fluids and extra antibiotics that they had flowing through the tubes. But even the awkward feeling of the tubes couldn't take away the magic of getting to hold my baby- something I nearly didn't get to do. Unfortunately, there was more bad news yet to come. The midwife came back and informed my husband and I that they had to advise against me having any more children because it was pretty much definite that I would have the same issue again. At twenty years old, it was not something I wanted to hear. It took me two years to even begin to come to terms with it. And of course, even then it wasn't something I just accepted. I did my research. Retained placentas effect 2% of pregnancies (man I should be playing the lottery...) however, once you have a history with them, it becomes a pretty definite thing that you will have another one. On the other hand, even in developing countries retained placentas only carry a 10% mortality rate. In the United States, the odds are MUCH better. So a large portion of my issues can be chalked to negligence in the hospital. (Fun fact, upon doing some research Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre doesn't have a very good reputation...)

Holding my baby Aaron with ma swollen face

 But, here I sit telling you all about my adventure, and listening to my two and three year old argue about toys. So in the end, the shadow is but a passing thing.

Vocal Point International Delight Iced Coffee Review

     Hey everyone, sorry it's been over a year since my last post. I had gotten really busy after moving, changing jobs twice and rearranging my life altogether. But, more on that later!

     Right now what I want to tell you about is an awesome new product my family delighted in trying; International Delight Iced Coffee. Recently I received coupons in the mail from one of my favorite online "Mom Communities" called Vocal Point. I know some of you will remember me mentioning Vocal Point before in passing but for those of you who have not had the pleasure it does deserve an overview. Vocal Point is an online community where moms can exchange reviews of products, get new recipes and cleaning ideas, talk about kids, and in general spread information and hopefully make the lives of the community a little better. One of my personal favorite parts of being a Vocal Point member is that they regularly have samples and coupons of commonly used household products. I have received samples of trash bags, a salad bag clip and coupons for trash bags, salad mixes, and a variety of other neat stuff that made my day when I received it but honestly escapes my mind at the moment. The most recent program I signed up for on Vocal Point was for their International Delight Iced Coffee coupons.

you can also find Vocalpoint on Facebook!

     Now the great thing about Vocal Point coupons is that they don't just send you ONE coupon. When you sign up for their coupons they send you one high value coupon for yourself (in this case it was $2 off one International Delight Iced Coffee) and 4-6 lower value coupons for your friends/family/network (75 cents off the same product). I really like that because when I find a product I enjoy, I love telling other people about it and it's nice to be able to encourage them to try it themselves with a neat coupon!  With the coupons I received for the International Delight promotion, I also got a reusable straw which my kids promptly relieved me of.

     But what IS International Delight Iced Coffee? It is pre-mixed 100% Arabica coffee, real milk and cream in a resealable refrigerated carton. Because it's pre-mixed, you get the same flavor every time whereas your at-home blends can vary by coffee strength, the ratio of creamer to coffee, and other variables. It is available in three different varieties Original, Mocha, and Vanilla. Unfortunately the Mocha was not available at my store but I did pick up the other two. My husband is a HUGE iced coffee drinker so he made the ultimate sacrifice by "testing" both varieties (he drank a full gallon of coffee in a day, boy did HE have a stomach ache the next day.)  For flavor he preferred the Original because he found it a little less sweet but as I said, he drank all of each in the same day, so Vanilla was not far behind. He loved the convenience of simply putting ice in his cup and pouring the coffee instead of having to make the coffee, wait for it to chill and then mixing it himself. As far as value goes it is regularly priced at 4.75/ half gallon at my store, which sounds a little steep until you consider that your coffee, milk/creamer, and sugar are all pre-mixed so you don't have to buy all the ingredients. I found it well worth the price.

     The ONE issue we had with it is that the product is very thick and sits heavily in your stomach; my husband drinks coffee all day every day and tried treating this drink as he would his own coffee. He wound up with a stomach ache. But, after watering it down with regular coffee he found he was able to not only stretch how long the Iced Coffee lasted, but he also was able to avoid the discomfort.

    Overall we were VERY satisfied with International Delight Iced Coffee, and I DEFINITELY recommend it. The product is well worth the price you pay for it.

     When I post again we will either be checking out the Neem Face Mask or Tresemme Split End Remedy- till then go check out Vocal Point and find your own deals. :-)