I just wrote a post called Specialized Quitters, on my own blog, about how maddening it is to watch people buy excessive equipment and sports-related clothing when they take up a new sport.

My friend who decided to try running bought a $60 running bra, new running shoes with an iPod chip (of course) and several high performance running outfits. Within weeks, she stopped the activity. Quit buying so much crap, put on a flipping t-shirt and hit the road, baby!

Now, could someone please help me down from my high horse? Like the multi-tasker that I am, I would now like to talk out of the other side of my mouth. Definitely, I loathe buying excess crap-o-la, but I do own a Nike New Adventure Running Skirt that I want to tell you about because it’s a little bit fantastic.

This skirt is kickass because I wear it to take my kids to school and it looks better than pajamas, especially because it has internal compression (read girdle). Also, the other mommies at school are afraid of me because they think I work out all the time (lie) and they feel like slobs because they aren’t wearing bras.

Not only does the skirt look sassy, it is made with Dri-FIT which “pulls sweat away from the body and transports it to the fabric surface - where it evaporates and leaves the skin cool and dry.” After a run, the sweat disappears and the skirt is cute enough to wear grocery shopping. Of course, you still stink…

The downside to the skirt is that it costs $50. However, if you wear it everyday, like me, AND you found it on sale, the cost isn’t overwhelming.

Written by Bitsy, who is a mother and part-time professional from Austin, TX. She can also be found at her personal blog, Value wIT.

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At Safeway a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a new household addiction - Organic Yellow Corn Tostitos from Frito Lay.

These delicious little wonders have just the perfect amount of salt - not too much but there’s some in every bite. The whole family loves these chips - they’re awesome in taco salad, baked nachos, with salsa and alone.

They contain zero trans fats which is a bonus. The bag says “low in saturated fat” but I don’t see anything in the ingredient list that contains any bad fats. (Organic yellow corn, expeller pressed sunflower oil, sea salt.)

Their multigrain ones also rock.

Now if I could just stop eating them before bed…

Written by Nicole, who blogs about whatever strikes her fancy at Much More Than a Mom. She’s a mom first, and then a whole bunch of other crazy stuff, including a teacher, fitness & yoga instructor and a pregnant mom of 1.5 kids. She is also the founder & senior editor at The Opinionated Parent, where one of her favorite things to do is give great stuff away.

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iConcertCal is a personalized concert calendar built for iTunes. It’s a free plug-in that works with iTunes to give you the concert schedule of any artist in your collection that is playing near your home in the next four months.

The program, which is available for both Windows and Mac, took me all of 45 seconds to download, install, and open. Switching between the view of my music and the view of the calendar is an easy ctrl-t click away.

In under a minute, I had found that one of my most favorite bands is playing less than 5 miles from my house on July 3. This is a fact that would have most likely escaped me otherwise.

Listed to the left of the calendar is a list of the concerts. Just click on the show you are interested in seeing, and iConcertCal opens your internet browser to a page with ticket and venue information.

These days, I don’t pick up the weekly local entertainment paper. I don’t have time to cull through it looking for that one show a month that I am enthusiastic enough to go see. We love concerts. We love going out. We just aren’t inspired enough anymore to search for the opportunities.

I don’t love my iPod, but I do like iTunes for easy access to music. I just love a beautiful CD jacket way too much to be strictly an iPod girl, though. However, with addition of this lovely little concert calendar plug-in, iTunes has suddenly become even more appealing.

And don’t forget that it’s free!

Written by Canape, who is a girl from the deep south who loves her husband, her stepdaughter, her dogs, and hopes to be a mom soon. She’s a musician by trade, and a baker and writer by hobby. She and her husband renovate houses on the side and she writes a personal blog at Don’t Take the Repeats.

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While wandering through the wilds of the Walmart Supercenter in Waukegan two weeks ago, I ran into a product in the cosmetics section that gave me pause — Revlon ColorStay Nail Polish. It alleged that it would last for 10 days.

This seemed like a mighty bold claim to me but I’d used their other products and knew that their lipstick, mascara and foundation would make it through a day of kayaking in the Florida Manatee River, so I had good reason to think that the nail polish might live up to it’s claim.

The first week, it held up rather well. In all fairness, it held up remarkably considering I am back to work and typing all day; no chips, no cracks, no breaks. About day six, though, I started getting some small chipping around the sides of my nails.

I thought that this was actually pretty impressive, since I spent all day every day typing into an AS400 system, clacking away at 60wpm like a madwoman, really hitting these puppies hard.

Right around day 7 though, I began to see some fierce chipping on the sides of my nails.

I mean, not a “THESE NAILS ARE RUINED IN BIBLICAL PROPORTION” sort of a mess, but, day seven they really began to wear down. I never had a break, though, which completely impressed me. Given the amount of typing I do plus all of the small humans I fasten in and out of car seats, I full expected the nails to break and crack and chip at the first round of car seat fastening that went on.

They didn’t.

I also should note that the broken, uneven nail lengths you are enjoying in these photos occurred BEFORE I painted them, when I was TRYING to get my luggage off the conveyor in Milwaukee and broke a few nails.

So my opinion is, while they didn’t last the full 10 days as promised, I’m not at all disappointed. Since I’ve had kids I’ve spent $$$ on a good manicure too many times only to have it go straight to h*ll the minute I did anything child-related.

Revlon ColorStay Nail Polish? Totally worth the money.

Written by Gidge, who is a mother of a 5 year old boy and 3 year old twin boys. A transplanted Hoosier, die-hard Colts fan and professional call center manager, she likes long walks on the beach, penguins and playing ping-pong. Her turn-ons include sleep and silence. Read all about her life here.

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I was recently offered an opportunity to sample some environmentally friendly cleaners and being the closet greenie that I am, I was more than happy to try them out.

I was sent Earth Choice Glass Control surface cleaner and Earth Choice Allergan Control for carpet and upholstery.

The first thing I noticed about the Glass Control was that it worked as well as Windex or any of the other glass cleaners you can buy in your grocery store.

My sliding glass doors are often really dirty because I have a toddler and a six year. Enough said, right? So using the Glass Control, I tried to get those doors clean of the sticky, greasy, spitty hand and mouth prints that decorated them like I would with any other cleaner. And? It worked perfectly.

This past week, I’ve continued to use the Glass Control around the kitchen, on the stove top and anywhere else that needed de-gunking or de-grossifying and the results were very positive.

Because we don’t have any serious allergies (other than a food allergy), I wasn’t sure how the Allergen Control worked on allergens but as a carpet cleaner, it did help get a few spots of unknown origin out of my carpet.

According to the literature, these are the Allergen Control product benefits:

* Reduces pet dander, dust & pollen
* Fragrance-free
* No soapy residue
* Woolsafe approved
* No harmful chemicals

The best things, however, about Glass Control and Allergen Control, are the things most of us never think about…

Glass Control is what’s known as a low VOC product. VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compound. You WANT your cleaners (and interior house paints) to be low VOC.

It also biodegrades into non-polluting substances, which helps relieve stress on the environment, especially threats to aquatic life.

In fact, all Earth Choice products biodegrade into non-polluting substances as well as being alkylphenol-free and phthalate-free. This is very important because pthalates and alkylphenols are considered endocrine disruptors that can produce hormone-modulating effects in human and wildlife populations. In two words…they’re very bad. You can read more about them here.

I don’t know what the single bottle pricing is on these cleaners but if they are reasonably priced, I would definitely buy them because I try to keep your average (environmentally-unfriendly) cleaning chemicals out of my home, as much as I can.

Written by Izzy, who is a work-at-home mom of two young children. She can usually be found writing at her personal blog, IzzyMom, venting at Moms Speak Up, or designing something.

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Do you love free samples? I do. I’m the person who scours Sam’s Club on Saturday mornings and can make a meal out of the free food they hand out. It’s an art form, but you can put together all 5 food groups on a good day.

Even better, though, is that I have been using a site that sends me free samples of a variety of products and I never even have to leave my house. Now I want you to have the same opportunity.

Go to Wal-Mart and scroll over “In Stores Now” on the right hand side. Click on “Free Samples” and it will take you to the assortment of products available. Or just click here!

The selection changes frequently and some products may only be advertised for a few hours, depending on the number of requests they receive. Simply fill in your name, address and birth date. Some will ask a few questions about the products your family may have purchased in the past. You may volunteer to answer follow-up questions after receiving the sample by e-mail, although I never have.

A friend introduced me to this last summer and over the months I’ve tried a massive amount of items. Our mailbox has included everything from microwave popcorn to deodorant to laundry soap. My favorites included a brand new Gillette Mach 3 razor for my husband (worth $9) and samples of medicines.

Many times I put the toiletry samples in a basket under the cabinet. It’s so much easier to pack a few samples of shampoo when you go on a trip, rather than a large bottle.

As I write this they are offering Biore skin care products, Almay Hydracolor lipstick, Alavert allergy relief and many others of which I’m waiting to arrive. Delivery may take 4-6 weeks, but in my experience, it doesn’t usually take that long.

Whether you just like free stuff or want to try out a product before purchasing it, it’s worth a few minutes a week to request some samples. Let Wal-Mart send a few your way!

Written by Emily, who is a married working mother of a very energetic 5 year old son. They reside in Southern Indiana (a little too close to the Kentucky border). Someday she’d like to visit Intercourse, PA and have her picture taken with the welcome sign. She writes at her personal blog, Fenicle and loves free samples and trying new things!

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So begins Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth, which is currently our favorite children’s book. It tells the story of Stillwater, a giant panda who suddenly shows up in the backyard of Michael, Addy, and Karl and is quickly befriended by the them.

First, Addy goes to tea with Stillwater; then Michael goes over to visit, and finally Karl goes over to go swimming with Stillwater. At each visit, Stillwater tells the visiting child a story that has some specific relation to the child who hears it.

It turns out these stories are the titled Zen Shorts, or short meditations, designed to challenge the listener (or reader) to think about various ideas, fears, habits, or desires. You don’t have to take my word for it – there is a very helpful author’s note at the back of the book that explains that, as well as the derivation of Stillwater’s name, and other information about the zen philosophy.

We LOVE this book. It is a fun storyline – who wouldn’t love a large panda who politely retrieves his umbrella when the wind carries it to your backyard, and then lets you come over for tea and friendship and tells you wonderful little stories? The illustrations are charming, and the zen stories are easily understood and enjoyed by young audiences and adults alike.

The recommended reading level is ages 4-8, but I think it would be enjoyed by children as old as ten. My seven year old was not able to read it all by herself, but when I read it to all of my children, even the almost-three year old was entertained enough to sit and listen instead of making me stop and read White Rabbits Color Book for the eleventy thousandth time.

Bottom line, this Caldecott Honor Book award winner is one you won’t mind reading every night at bedtime for months on end.

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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