Back before the holidays made life insane, I received an e-mail from Maggie at Ecostore USA, "an extension of a 20-year-old New Zealand company www.ecostore.co.nz that makes plant based, non-toxic Household Cleaning, Baby and Personal Care Products that contain No Nasty Chemicals." She wanted to offer me a couple free items of my choosing from Ecostore, in exchange for an honest review of the products.

I like free products and I like being honest -- and sharing my opinion! -- so I took her up on her offer. The first item I chose was the Lemon Cream Cleanser. The website touted the cream cleanser, containing lemon verbena oil, as great for any and every surface from the kitchen to the bathroom, and its non-gritty formula made it safe for even glass stovetops.

That's the part that got me: safe for glass stovetops.

I bought a stove with a glass top a couple years ago. I pretty much like the thing -- boilovers are handled so much more easily when it spreads all over the stove instead of filling up the old-time pans under each burner.

But I worry about scratching the stovetop when cleaning up burned-on messes. And although I received a bottle of cleanser with the stove, it leaves a filmy yuck on the stove top every time I use it ... no matter how much I rinse and wipe afterwards. Plus, a few recent marks have appeared that the cleanser I had couldn't get rid of:

So I requested and promptly received the Ecostore Lemon Cream Cleanser.

Anxious to rid my stovetop of its ugly black and brown marks, I proceeded to open the bottle. Which was a little more difficult than you'd think. But after stabbing away with a steak knife and nearly losing a finger removing the shrink wrap, I shook the bottle well, per the directions, and snapped open the cap in hopes of breathing in a lemony-fresh scent.

Well, it smelled a little lemony ... and a lot like other household cleaners, just watered-down with a dash of lemon. But that's okay. The cleaner -- like all Ecostore products -- contains "no nasty chemicals" so I shouldn't expect a strong scent of the plant-based cleaner.

Again, per the bottle directions for use, I squeezed the cleaner directly onto the surface. Just a smidgen, just on the black and brown marks, as you can see.

Then, using minimal to no elbow grease, just a teensy bit of scrubbing with a soft scrubbie thingee ...

... the marks quickly seemed to disappear.

So I rinsed ... and what to my wondering eyes should appear?

No marks!

And no yucky film that took 13 rinses to eliminate! Geez! How simple is that?

The Ecostore Lemon Cream Cleanser gets a firm thumbs up from this grandma! It only took a bit to do a lot -- and since it came in a 12.7-ounce bottle, it's what I'll be using to clean my stovetop for quite some time.

If you're interested in checking out the Lemon Cream Cleanser (which normally sells for $7.50 but is on sale for $4.50) or any of the other plant-based household cleaning products offered by Ecostore, visit www.ecostoreUSA.com. The products are reasonably priced and shipping is always free for orders over $25. While there, sign up for the No Nasty Chemicals newsletter, available on Ecostore blog.

(Stay tuned for my review of the second product I received from Ecostore: Herbal All Natural Ear Wash for dogs.)

Readers enchanted by the VoiceQuilt video I posted here should jump at the chance to win the VoiceQuilt Christmas Audio CD Folio, a $29.95 value. It's a pretty nifty gift.

Take a look at what you'll receive from VoiceQuilt and what you can do with it!

Keepsake details:

Capture your family's vivid recoded voices so that everyone can be there as grandparents decorate the tree, open presents or drive to Christmas dinner. The folio arrives with “Christmas 2009” art work and can be customized with a 2½ by 2½ inch cameo photo. The inside holds a larger 4½ by 3¾ inch photo. Arrives with holiday wrapping in a 7 by 7½ by 1½ inch gift box. Prize awarded will be a code to use directly on the site for the folio and three days of free messaging!

Gift ideas:

If you can’t make it home for the holidays, it’s another way to be there.

• One family did a group reading of “The Night before Christmas,” splitting up the poem among six children so that everyone could read a section to Grandma.

• In another family, the daughters and granddaughters split up and read portions of the poem, “A Christmas Tea” to Grandma.

• A Mom sent Christmas greetings to a son serving with the military in Afghanistan.  “He listened to it over and over again.  It was the best gift ever!”

• A spouse sent Christmas greetings to her husband serving with the Air Force in the Middle East.  “It helped him feel connected to everyone back home.”

To enter the giveaway:

Comment on this post with who you might give the VoiceQuilt Christmas Audio CD Folio to (name not necessary; just a title such as "My lovely grandma!") and one voice other than your own that you'd like to have included on the CD (such as "my sister").

Comments accepted until 11:59 p.m. Sunday, December 6. The winner will be chosen at random and announced here Monday, December 7.

Good luck!