Better yet you can determine what time you would like to receive the text message. Obviously not everyone is a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. person, so this is a way to determine what’s going on outside without watching the news every day so that you are prepared. This is a website to pass along to friends and family.

Written by Emily, who is a married working mother of a very energetic 6 year old son. They recently moved out in the country and live on a rock road. Emily had to give up high-speed internet and she blames the realtor for not informing her ahead of time that it was not available. She writes at her personal blog, Fenicle and loves to review new things.

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I’m a sucker for makeup. I always love trying something new, especially when that something only needs to be applied once. After all, I’m a busy mom and don’t have time to retouch my look during the day.

One of my new must-have products is Revlon Colorstay Mineral Lipglaze. I love the subtle gloss that the Lipglaze provides and the fact that it glides on without feeling sticky. It moisturizes my lips and like the other product in the Colorstay line, the Lipglaze does stay put. It doesn’t rub off on my cup of morning coffee, on my kids when they get their goodbye kisses at drop off, and even lasts during lunch. While Revlon says that it coats lips for up to 8 hours, as a part time working mom I’m always home wiping it off before then but am sure it would truly last the entire time.

Also a true bonus is that I can usually get Revlon Colorstay products for much less than regular retail price at my local CVS. A tube usually sells for $8.99 but I like to clip the coupons for Colorstay products that I find in the coupon section of my paper good for $2-3 dollars off and take them to CVS during their buy-one-get-one promo for added savings. After all, I love to look good but I don’t like for it to cost me a fortune especially when there’s always something new to try!

by Leticia

Rarely do I boast about websites as a must have thing, but the Coupon Mom site is a definite must have in your bookmarks! I originally stumbled upon this money saving website by accident, but since then I’ve seen Stephanie Nelson - the blog writer and publisher - in magazines and on Oprah.

I know there are a lot of good websites out there that give you links to coupons and free samples, but I think Coupon Mom is the most organized site I’ve seen and doesn’t send you clicking through cyberspace to get what you’re looking for. It’s all neat and orderly for mom’s in a hurry who just want to save a little money.

You can join for free and once you’ve got a login you are free to roam through all the cool deals. I love the main page because on the left hand side you can cruise through grocery deals by state, restaurant coupons, online discount codes, printable coupons and a whole lot more. If you like to save money on groceries and other household items, then this site is a must have in your files.

by Emily

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That’s why Scrapblog is a great fit for me. Scrapblog is a website that lets you upload your pictures or pull them from great photo sites like Flickr, Photobucket, Webshots, Facebook, Picasa or Smugmug. You can build your own Scrapblogs and print them out or share them electronically with friends and family. I love that you can put them up on your blog or email them. They allow you to choose to keep your Scrapblog private for just those who you invite to see it, or you can make it available for public viewing. The best part if that it’s free!

You can choose from hundreds of designs as a starting point or you can start from scratch by picking your own backgrounds, borders, “stickers,” shapes for journaling and other design elements. You can even add video or music for a true multimedia product.

Making a Scrapblog is fairly easy. I found it pretty intuitive, but I think it helps if you have experience using some sort of design/layout software. Even if you don’t have much experience it is fairly easy to figure out. If you’re busy like I am, you’re going to love Scrapblog.

Written by Mary, who is a thirty-something SAHM of four under the age of eight. She is a lousy housekeeper, a voracious reader, and dabbles in art and music in various forms. She blogs to maintain her writing skills and her sanity in The Fish Pond.

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Audible Kids is a site that provides digital spoken audio information and entertainment, and specializes in the spoken experience by providing digital audio editions of children’s books.

They have a dizzying array of books for all ages, even for a former teacher. There are books that have been awarded various medals like the Caldecott and Newbery, favorites (Where the Wild Things Are, Arthur stories by Marc Brown, Beverly Cleary books) and classics (Make Way for Ducklings, Charlotte’s Web, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

Anyone can create an account to search for a book in the vast library of audio books. Various ways of searching include typing the title or author into the search field, clicking on criteria (age, grade, running time, price, publication date, and award winning books) on the left hand side of the browser, or locating books narrated by a certain person or from a specific publisher through an advanced search.

I spent forever browsing the various children’s books available through Audible Kids. The site was extremely easy to use and I really fell in love with the Wish List feature that allowed me to browse for titles, listen to audio, and then save titles of books I wanted to purchase in the future. All of the books that I saved in my Wish List were stored in my Profile at the top right of the screen.

I found the audio previews to be very helpful. They are available for each book on the Audible Kids site. The previews are helpful since they are long enough to give a user a good idea of the reader’s tone and the pace of the story. Audible Kids also tells you the listening time of every story on their site.

Audible Kids audio downloads range in price, but tend to be very affordable. Prices begin at $0.99 for single children’s picture books. Chapter books, such as Ramona Quimby, Age 8 is $12.95. Collections are priced higher. I love the idea of collections written by the same author or including the same characters. To view the stories included in collections such as Frog and Toad ($12.95) and The Cat in the Hat and other Dr. Seuss Favorites ($13.95), users click on the “more” button located. Other collections, like the Jan Brett Trio ($1.95) and Robert McCloskey for Young Children ($9.95), includes thumbnail pictures of the titles included with the download.

Some audio downloads are even free due to Audible Kids partnership with Reading is Fundamental, Inc. (RIF). RIF provides free audio downloads to ensure that all children can access books to help them discover the pleasure of reading. There are currently nine titles available for free and include: Brothers Grimm’s Rapunzel, Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart, Rudyard Kipling’s Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Hans Christian Anderson’s The Emperor’s New Clothes, and more!

The super simple checkout process makes this site even more of a dream to use. Add books to your cart, click check out, bill purchases to your credit card, and go to the My Downloads to download each title you just purchased. If you use a Mac, your Audible Kids books will download directly to iTunes where you can listen to your audiobooks and transfer them to an iPod. PC users have to install the download software. Audiobooks you purchase from Audible Kids are always available on your “My Downloads” page.

I’ve made several purchases of single children’s books (Make Way for Ducklings and Corduroy), collections including Frog and Toad Audio Selection and The Cat in the Hat and other Dr. Seuss Favorites, while also taking advantage of 2 RIF free downloads (Rikki Tikki Tavi and The Emperor’s New Clothes) and have been incredibly pleased.

My two children (4 and almost 2) love listening to stories in the car. They never complain about not having a hard copy of the book since they enjoy visualizing pictures as they listen to the stories being read. I enjoy listening to our downloads from Audible Kids since they are a nice departure from having to listen to the same songs over and over again. Some of my favorite stories are those from the The Cat in the Hat and other Dr. Seuss Favorites collection where the stories are read by stars like Kelsey Grammar, John Cleese, Billy Crystal and Dustin Hoffman. I see myself downloading many more stories from Audible Kids to put on our iPods for summer car trips and long plane flights.

Huge props to Audible Kids for providing fabulous content through an easy to use interface!

Written by Leticia, a part time working multitasking mama who loves spending time with her husband and two children, exotic vacations, and cooking great meals. Leticia writes about technology products and technology issues affecting children through her blog, Tech Savvy Mama.

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Clean Well hand sanitizer is a great find now available at Target. Its alcohol free formula is made of essential plant oils and kill 99.9% of all germs. Clean Well is safe for your kids to use even if they are putting their hands in their mouths afterwards.

It comes in a six pack so you can share with your husband, put one in your older kid’s backpack and still have one for each of your favorite purses and a diaper bag. I have been carrying around a bottle since our baby was born and I find myself reaching for it all the time!

by Canape

I recently came across a new website developed by Nickelodean called Parents Connect. The slogan itself made me laugh out loud - “We’re not perfect. We’re parents.” How true that is. This website has been very helpful for managing our life with a five year old. It is divided by groups from pregnancy through teens, each area offering age-appropriate advice, activities and other information.

Even better are the pages regarding meal planning. Who couldn’t use a little help in that area? Our son has a food allergy and there was even information regarding this topic. Under the entertainment section they have recommendations for family-friendly movies and other TV shows.

You can participate in discussions, connect with local parents and find information on events in your location. Everything you need from planning a vacation to a party is all there. Take a few minutes and go look around. I guarantee you will find something useful.

by Emily

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I also don’t really care for all the “boy-themed” stuff that’s out there. I really prefer to dress him unadorned, unthemed shirts and interesting shorts or pants and thus, I buy him a lot of colored t-shirts.

Unfortunately, the last batch that I bought at Target didn’t hold up at all. Two of them came apart around the collar after one wash and the whole bunch shrank way more than they should have. They were hardly a bargain now that he can’t wear any of them.

I also have a daughter who wears a uniform to school. They can wear any solid colored gold, light blue, dark blue or white polo-type shirt, t-shirt or blouse with khaki or navy bottoms. My daughter likes the polo shirts and t-shirts the best but finding quality ones that will hold up for the whole school year, in the right colors, isn’t always easy after the school shopping season ends in September.

To meet both of my children’s clothing needs, I started looking around online and came across cheapestees.com. They sell a variety of t-shirts and polos at unbelievably reasonable prices ($2.98 for t-shirts!) and the quality of the ones I purchased far exceeds those Target t-shirts I bought, as well as the polos and tee’s I previously purchased for my daughter’s uniforms.

They carry all the best brands such as Hanes, Gildan and Jerzees and in every imaginable color plus they have sweatshirts and pants for cooler weather. Even better, when you spend $69 or more, your shipping is free. If you find that you need inexpensive, quality shirts for kids, I highly recommend you check out cheaptees.com before hitting your local discount stores or the mall.

There is a better online shoe option. If you live in the Triangle area of North Carolina, you could be lucky enough to shop there in person.

I am one of those lucky enough to shop in person at Firefly. When I go, I hope that the owner herself will be in, and with my shoe shopping I can also have a side of comfortable small talk.

Ashley hand picks men’s and women’s shoes from Bronx, Camper, Destroy, Fluevog, and other designers you won’t find at the local mall. Firefly also carries Holly Aiken bags, and many other items from local seamstresses and jewelry designers.

Firefly has some of the most wonderful boots ever created, and too many of them are currently in my closet. I have a boot problem, unless of course you like boots, in which case, I have a fabulous boot collection. I am the type of girl to wear my boots all year long, but I’m not completely unreasonable. Sometimes you simply must wear an open toe sandal.

Yesterday, I went to see Ashley in hopes that she could help my feet be a little cooler and a lot more hip this summer. I left with a great big smile on my face and these beautiful John Fluevog shoes on my feet. A handmade headband and a funky skirt by Lllavender rounded out a successful shopping trip.

Major props to Ashley for being brave enough to open an eclectic store and nice enough to make anyone want to shop there.

Babychums.com is a new social networking website that aims to provide a community for new and expectant parents. It is a free service that lets new and expectant parents post pictures, create a blog/website, and link up with other new/expectant parents with similar interests through membership in various groups. Don’t see a group you like? Make up your own!

You can also browse for members with similar interests and personal philosophies, including whether or not you smoke or drink, what your sexual orientation is, your job status, marital/relationship status, what kind of body type you have, and what your child status is, meaning expectant parent, one child, more than one child, grown children, without children, children through adoption, trying for children, or just there for advice. There’s something here for everyone, no matter what turns the key in your lock.

Something babychums.com has that I’d never seen before is a classifieds listing, where you can post jobs if you are hiring, jobs if you are seeking, housing and rentals, a musician exchange, casting calls, cars for sale, and other general ‘for sale’ classifieds.

The site currently has about 200 members; that has grown by about 20% since I first looked at the site just a few days ago. Jump on in and find some new friends, even in the middle of the night when the baby got you up and is now happily slumbering but you can’t get back to sleep.

Tiling is just about the easiest upgrade you can make to your house. Then, after you tile the kitchen and bathrooms, you can go to the store and buy several dozen pairs of the coziest socks you can possibly find.

Because tile floors are cold even in the summer.

Instead of filling up that sock drawer, consider this: radiant heating is surprisingly affordable and oh my gosh toasty. Growing up in the Deep South, I never knew that such a luxury existed, and my toes were always cold in the kitchen.

It is not just the toes though. Floor heating acts as one huge radiator and negates hot spots in your room. It provides a gentle heat, free from allergens, and irritants and it is silent. Blissfully silent.

Installing radiant heating is no harder than laying tile, and if you have the most basic electric skills, you are set. They do recommend that a qualified electritian install the thermostat, but my husband says he can do it himself. I make no promises.

Warmup, Inc. carries two main kinds of floor heating, the Loose Wire system and the Undertile Matting system. Both are designed to be installed by you, the home-renovator, the do-it-yourself-er.

So if you are like me and tired of searching for clearance slippers at Target and tired of washing an entire load of just socks every week, go ahead and check out Warmup, Inc. Add some value and some warmth to your home. More than just your toes will thank you.