Horse Haven: For Every Little Kid Who Never Got A Horse

When I was a little girl, every shooting star and birthday candle and wishlist to Santa contained the same request: a horse. Despite living in town, I still wanted a horse of my very own to ride and brush and love. It's probably no surprise that I never got that horse, and it's probably a good thing I didn't. I don't have the money or time for a horse, and while I still enjoy riding, I'd rather visit a public stables and pay for a ride rather than be responsible for my own horse.

Recently, I was introduced to the Facebook game Horse Haven, where you can keep and care for your own virtual horses. Horse Haven is a game where you are the sole inheritor of your uncle's run-down ranch. You start with a single foal and a lot of weeds and broken buildings, and quickly begin turning the mess into a successful ranch by feeding and caring for your horse, growing treats for your horse, and training your horse to enter competitions.

You can also buy more horses and develop a full working ranch, complete with breeding stables to produce more foals, training pens, and a stable full of horses of all colors and types. Once your horses are trained, they can visit other towns to compete for trophies and awards.

As you level up and get more awards, you can visit new places.

One unique feature of this game is that by playing with your digital horses you can help Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue, a real-life non-profit horse rescue center in Pennsylvania. Certain items you can buy for your farm provide direct donations to the charity, ensuring that you're giving back while indulging in your imaginary ranch.

So what do I think of it? Horse Haven is a fun resource management game. You have to balance training your horses with building up your farm and clearing away debris. There is a limited amount of energy to do each task, and you can quickly run out of energy, leaving you to either buy more energy or wait until you can build up more energy again.

This is my ranch and two horses. It's a work in progress. 

Raising and caring for the horses is a lot of fun. My daughters saw me playing and suddenly it was a group game - they like helping me pick out what to add next to the ranch and never fail to tell me when I have energy again to attend to my horses. If you have friends who play the game as well, you can visit their ranches and help them out with chores to gain rewards for yourself. You can also send game gifts to your friends and put out requests for items you need.

The downsides to the game are that it can take a long time to get up enough energy and horse bucks to get very far in the game. If you're willing to spend real money, you can get there faster, but without spending real money you have to be dedicated to advance quickly. Also, you get a lot further in the game if you have friends playing as well. There is a computer generated character who serves as your friend if you don't have any Facebook friends playing with you, but real friends are almost needed to get you all of the items you need.

The game's theme is cute and perfect for anyone who ever wanted a horse as a kid. The graphics are bright and kid-friendly and the mini-quests are interesting and help in building your ranch. I also like that some in-game purchases will also result in donations to the Angel Acres horse rescue center.

So if you like Facebook games and still remember closing your eyes tight and wishing for a horse on the first star every evening, give Horse Haven a try. Even if you can't have your own horse, these horses won't complain if you ignore them for a day and you're still helping other horses through the game.

Full disclosure: Thank you to Ubisoft for sponsoring this blog post. Please click here to learn more about Ubisoft. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own. #UbiChamps

Organize It ALL With AboutOne

It was August, a week before school started. I had waited until the last minute to fill out my daughter's required preschool admission paperwork. As I sat there writing my mother's name and phone number as the emergency contact six dozen times, I then came across a paper asking for my daughter's vaccination records.

Where did I put her shot record?

I knew it had to be somewhere in the house. I first tore through the stack of Very Important Papers that had piled up on my end table. Then through the disorganized filing cabinet, tossing aside cell phone agreements from plans we no longer have as I tried to find that piece of paper with those important dates on it. Then I moved to a box of papers in the guest room that had originally started on the end table.

Why did I do this to myself? How could I be so disorganized?

I'm guessing I'm not the only mom who has experienced moments like this. Yours may not be as extreme as mine, but it's very difficult to keep all of our important papers, dates, receipts and items we'd like to remember together in a neat, organized spot. I often feel like my home is slowly being devoured by paper and I have way too many things that I need to hold onto - just in case - but then when that just in case moment comes I can't find them.

It doesn't have to be this way. You'd think with all of the power of the Internet and the "cloud" that someone could invent a better solution. Which is why I'm thrilled to find out that someone has created that solution.

I was recently told of AboutOne, and I think it might be the miracle I was looking for. The AboutOne website and mobile app provide you with the technology to digitally store all of your information - receipts, important papers, dates, photos, kid artwork, health records, or any other important data - in one secure online account where you can easily retrieve it from any location. (We're talking bank-level security here, so you know it's safe.)

For example, have access to your auto insurance policy number and contact information from anywhere. Useful, no?

Your private timeline is as easy to manage as any of your social media accounts, and the technology makes it even easier by entering much of your information automatically and helping you to sort it into practical categories for quick access. Your entire family can have access to your account, too, meaning when you're at work and your husband needs your business travel receipts when preparing your taxes, he can pull up the information without calling you to ask.

Or you can provide your babysitter a detailed printable sheet with all necessary information on your kids and contact information:

Oh, how I've needed a babysitter report for special needs & food allergies!

Along with all that data at your fingertips, AboutOne also can sync your Google, iCal, or Outlook calendar/contact tools to make them more useful.

Birthday reminders! I'm no longer at the mercy of Facebook for birthdays!

If I somehow didn't fully explain it to you, click through this slideshow below for even more information on how AboutOne works:

You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.

Personally? This is like a dream come true for me. A very organized dream come true. Sign up now and be ready when version 2.0 is released soon!

Full disclosure: This is a sponsored post in partnership with AboutOne. All opinions expressed are my own - my husband's opinion would be that I'm even MORE disorganized than I'm letting on here.

And no, I never found the shot records until two weeks after they were due. Our pediatrician's front office staff hates me. Trust me, sign up for AboutOne and spare yourself the evil eye at the doctor's office.  

Let Your Voice Be Heard

Sure, I get some great opportunities to review products here on my blog. I like the chance to try out new products before buying. Sometimes I try things I never would have tried, and discover I love the product, other times I find out a product I really wanted wasn't worth the hype. Why waste money on something that won't work out for you, right?

However, I'll let you in on a little secret: product trials aren't just for bloggers with connections to PR reps. You, too, have the opportunity to try new products and give your opinions. You don't have to have a blog, either. All you need is an interest in new products and an opinion you're willing to share freely.

Vocalpoint is a group I signed up with over a year ago. Oftentimes, big companies want input from consumers on new products they're creating, or they have a new product they want to get the word out about. Vocalpoint connects these companies with their members, providing their members with access to product information before it's released, product samples, coupons, and a chance to provide feedback via surveys and forums.

In the past year, I've been able to try out a lot of interesting products. Most recently, I was given the chance to order one of the new line of Kashi snacks for free, and received a razor I might have never tried were it not for the sample. I also got a preview DVD of the new season of Meerkat Manor from Animal Planet. (Not for me, but Cordy loves watching it.)

Best of all, Vocalpoint can be as interactive as you want it to be. You can be active in the forums, participate in every survey, and give your feedback for every product. Or you can just receive the bi-weekly e-mail newsletters, try out samples that are sent to you, and provide feedback only if you really like or dislike something. It's up to you to choose your level of involvement.

If you're interested in getting the inside scoop on new products, click here to sign up for Vocalpoint!

Google Without The Spam

As an Internet-age parent, I rely on Google far too often to help me when I need advice. After all, I'd rather have the advice of someone going through the same things I am than ask my mom, who hasn't had a newborn in over 30 years.

But Google, with its wide net, will find anything with the search terms you put in. So if you enter anything containing the words breast, diaper, bad mom, spanking, or other parenting-related terms, you are likely to get at least a quarter of your returns pointing you to spam sites, or porn or fetish site by accident. What's a mom to do when she just wants the information without sloshing through the slime of the Internet to find it?

I was excited when Parent Bloggers told me about Light Iris. It's a search engine for moms that is powered by Google, but unlike Google, only seeks out the relevant results for your search. Light Iris was launched on Mother's Day, and searches blogs as well as other web sites. I've already used it more than once, and can attest that it can quickly find the information I need quickly and easily. It's nice to search for information on storing breast milk without clicking past links to lactating women porn.

The Light Iris site is still new, so there will be more features coming soon, including a Popular section to read about what's new and popular in the Internet. The database will continue to grow, too, thanks in part to user submissions - you can submit your own site to be included in the search engine. To make it even cooler, they also support the charity Global Fund for Women.

Right now, if you join Light Iris (free to join) you can be entered to win over $3000 in gift cards. Who couldn't use free stuff?

Speaking of free stuff, do you want to win a free 2-day pass to BlogHer '07? If so, join Parent Bloggers and Light Iris for the June 8 Blog Blast. Details can be found here.