Last month I got my hands on a coupon for a free full-sized bottle of Arm & Hammer Plus OxiClean Power Gel Laundry Detergent (sorry, I know that’s a mouthful). Not only do I like free products, I have always liked Arm & Hammer’s cleaning products, and I’m always up to trying new products that promise to help with removing stains, cleaning clothes more thoroughly, and promoting bright colors and no fading.

Arm & Hammer Plus OxiClean Power Gel Laundry Detergent is purported to clean, freshen and remove stains, so we’ll see how it goes!

If there’s one thing this house burns through, it isn’t paper, water, or even electricity. It’s batteries. Between the television remotes (at least eight), Wii remotes (three), computer mice (four), bluetooth headsets (yes, we have those retro ones that aren’t rechargeable!) and all of the toys the kids have, we go through AA and AAA batteries like there’s no tomorrow. I hate the idea of buying, using and then discarding batteries, but it’s something we do on a regular basis.

Then there’s the Energizer Smart Charger. With the Energizer Smart Charger, you no longer have to purchase, use and then discard batteries. Instead, purchase and use them, and when they run down charge them back up again! The Smart Charger has the ability to charge 2 or 4 AA or AAA NiMH rechargeable batteries at a time. The product is ENERGY STAR-certified, but more importantly can automatically detect dead batteries, and disposable ones that may have accidentally been plugged into the charger.

Energizer’s Smart Charger features a nifty LED indicator that lets you know just how many batteries need charging, and what their charge status is.

You can learn more here.

Senario, the same company that makes Zibits (you can read my full review here), has recently unveiled BattleBands. BattleBands are silly bands with a twist — they’re designed for boys ages 6+, and come in all sorts of boyish shapes like dragons, monsters, and sharks. What’s more, every band comes with a matching trading card! Also, kids can battle with their bands on the special battle mat gaming piece, which allows players to take turns shooting their bands at the mat. Winners of the battles get points and scores that are relative to where on the battle mat their bands land.

While BattleBands are a little beyond my kids, who are only four and five (almost six), they’re great for older kids, and older boys in particular. I have an autistic twelve year old brother and an autistic fifteen year old brother, and I know for a fact both of them would love BattleBands!

Last month I fell in love with the sphere chair at my local Target. I didn’t buy it the first time I saw it, because I only had cash on me and needed laundry detergent and milk more than I needed a new piece of furniture, but I did go back a few weeks later and pick up the chair in purple. I was originally going to get teal or even black, but I worried that the teal would clash with our navy blue recliner, and I thought black would be too dark. Pink was out of the question, so that left purple.

Needless to say, I am loving this chair! You can get it for $39.99 at Target.

I will be celebrating my sixth year wedding anniversary on October 1st, 2010. Just as turning 26 puts me closer to 30 than to 20, celebrating six amazing, wonderful years puts us closer to celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary than our first. Wow. Ten years of marriage. We’ve already celebrated ten years of being together (August 16th, 2010), and that was amazing enough — I can’t wait to see what another four years of marriage brings us!

Believe it or not, I really struggle with wedding anniversary gifts. You’d think that knowing somebody almost as well as I know myself would make gift shopping easy, right? Wrong. Instead, it makes it harder because it seems like I’ve gotten them everything there is to get. In any case, I do love looking around for potential wedding anniversary gifts. JustPaperRoses.com is is an online store that carries custom-made faux floral arrangements and many great options for anniversary gifts. Items can be picked out based on the occasion (in addition to wedding anniversary gifts, JustPaperRoses.com also carries gifts for birthdays, holidays and other events), and I really like that you can shop for anniversary presents based on which anniversary you’re looking to buy a gift for. A second year anniversary, for example, is all about cotton, while the sixth year is all about candy (good to know!).

Wedding anniversary gifts are traditionally given to each other, but family members and friends of the celebrating couple are always welcome to join in on the celebration with gifts and trinkets of their own.

An anti-virus program is absolutely a must if you plan on using your computer to access the internet — and let’s face it, who doesn’t do that these days? We use the internet for everything from shopping for car insurance to paying bills to searching for matching plastic knobs for our kitchen cabinets. And while your modem or router may be able to provide some firewall protection, you’re on your own for an anti-virus solution. There are many anti-virus programs out there, and believe me, I have tried a lot of them. One I haven’t tried — but am thinking about purchasing — is BitDefender. BitDefender is an anti-virus program that is available for home and office use, as well as specialty commercial uses. It works with all versions of Windows, and is guaranteed to work with Windows 7.

I found out about the newest happenings with BitDefender via BitMoms, which is a community that has been put together by BitDefender as a way of reaching out to moms and helping them secure the computers that their families and children use. The BitMoms online community has a lot to offer, including the opportunity to try software for free and share your finds with your blog readers, so check them out at bitmoms.com!

Susta (short for Sustained Health Energy) is a natural sweetener that is designed to be use in place of traditional sugar. Sugar, which contains calories and has a high glycemic index, can adversely affect your blood sugar level. The calories also aren’t helpful, but most people who are conscious of their sugar consumption because of the high glycemic index, not so much because of the calorie content.

I’m one of those people. I had gastric bypass surgery last November, and the resulting loss of approximately three feet of small intestine means that I am very sensitive to sugar. More than 10 to 12 grams of sugar in a single meal or snack will result in Dumping Syndrome, which isn’t pleasant to deal with. Needless to say, I monitor my sugar intake and do my best not to go over my personal limits.

But there are times when I’d love to consume something that contains more sugar than I can handle, such as a smoothie, a cookie, or a slice of cake. I either go without, or try to find alternatives.

Recently NXT Nutritionals sent me a box of their natural sweetener to try. Susta is made from natural ingredients, and it not only reduces the chance of dumping or dealing with sugar spikes and crashes, it also contains pre- and pro-biotics, 10% Daily Value of Vitamin C, and it even aids digestion and supports the immune system.

I hate dumping, and sometimes it sucks to deprive myself of even a small treat. I’m looking forward to trying out Susta!