Saturday, April 4, 2015

Sing, Sing a Song Saturday

Sing, Sing a Song Saturday is all about me discovering something that is different. I don't want to post things that you and I have more than likely heard before. I want to find something different. It could be from another country, someone singing from the streets of NY, and more.

Do you ever listen to songs that bring tears to your eyes? This cover of Stairway to Heaven by Heart did just that. Only not just to me, it brought tears to Robert Plant to!

Source
I know Heart is anything, but new. They did take a long break, and came back. Let me tell you, while some people loose the capacity to sing, they still have it!

Ann never took any formal music lessons as a child (she later learned to play several instruments), Nancy took up guitar and flute. After both sisters spent some time at college, they decided to try their hand as professional musicians, and while Nancy began performing as a folksinger, Ann joined the all-male vocal group Heart.


Baby Wild Sea Otters


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Friday, April 3, 2015

Johnny Appleseed

Isaak read to me last night. He is getting better about reading. Maybe reading just wasn't in the cards at age 6. He was much more into math.

He picked out a book about Johnny Appleseed. I can't find the exact book anywhere online, so I'm going with this one:

Source
He kept calling him Joanie. I kept correcting him. Finally I told him, "Isaak Joanie is a girl's name, and Johnny is a boy's name." Then he called him the wrong name just to mess with me. 

As I said that I thought in my head, Names are not really like that anymore. Girls can be named boy's names and it's socially acceptable. Oh well.

We got to a page where Johnny visited a Native American territory to give them apple seeds, and seedlings to plant. Isaak said, "Mom I didn't realize Joanie traveled all the way to India!" *Face palm!

I said, "Johnny didn't travel to India. He's in the US."

Sorry...crappy picture from our book. It was night time.


Isaak looked confused and said, "Oh." I know he's heard of Native American's called Indians from Little House on the Prairie. That must be where the confusion is coming from.

As a kid they always were Indians. We sat Indian style. Now it's Native Americans and criss cross applesauce.

I had a slight chuckle over it. Kids just kind of say what's on their little minds.

Organic Yacon Syrup by Aveya Review

I simply love Organic Yacon Syrup By Avey Beauty.


Supplement Facts

Serving Size: 1 Teaspoon Up to 3 Times a Day
Servings Per Container: 72 - 12 ounce bottle

Calories form Fat: 0
Cost: $25.97

With all my allergies I was glad that there is no harmful artificial ingredients, fillers, gluten, preservatives, wheat, dairy, soy, fish, or peanuts. Non-GMO safe, Diabetic, Vegan, and Vegetarian friendly.

It's also FDA Registered, which some products are not. They are GMP Certified. There is no animal testing. It's made in the USA.


How to Use Yacon Syrup? 




It reminds me of molasses, but it's healthier for you. It comes from the roots of a Yacon Tree. 

I use it in smoothies and coffee. I've also used it in plain Greek Yogurt. You can also have it in tea. 

Can be used in baking, on breakfast foods, or in other liquid mixes for a great substitute to sugar. I imagine it would make great molasses cookies.

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I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Body Sport Fitness Ball Review

I got a Body Sport Fitness Ball to review. 

  
The Ball Comes In Different Colors: 

Yellow
Green
Teal
Purple
Red - This is the color I picked.



Blowing it Up:

It took about 10 broken minutes to blow it up. Mica was helping me. I don't know if his help, helped, or prolonged the process. I certainly was happy he wanted to help!

One really cool thing is that you don't need any outside devices to help blow the ball up. Body Sport had everything in the box for us to use.



Included in This Little Box:
 
Big Fitness Ball
Air Pump
Exercise Guide 
Instructions 



These Exercises Will Target Specific Muscles While Still Working Your Core:

Warm Up and Stretch
Core
Upper Body
Lower Body



The Most Effective Way To Get Fit At Home Or At The Office!

The Fitness Ball from Body Sport will improve your core stability, balance, posture and strength whether you're sitting at your desk or doing a rigorous workout. We've even found that one of us sits on it, while watching movies.


Whether you are trying to lose weight, tone up, or just looking for a different office chair, the Body Sport Fitness Ball is the product you have been looking for.

With sizes of 45cm, 55cm, 65cm, 75cm, and 85cm you can be sure that there is an Exercise Ball made to fit you. I should get a smaller ball for my kids. They seem to enjoy a workout as well.

The Body Sport Fitness Ball is easy to inflate, durable, and a great tool for your workouts. Most people have even started using these exercise as desk chairs. This is a very effective way to improve balance, posture and core stability. The greatest part is that you won't even realize your working out!

Key Features:

• strengthen, stretch, and tone major muscle groups

• Gently ridged surface for improved grip

• can be used as a desk chair alternative

• 500-lb static weight capacity

• latex free

• includes air pump, illustrated exercise guide and instructions

• Available in 5 color-coded sizes: 45 cm (4'7" - 5'0"), 55 cm (5'1" - 5'6"), 65 cm (5'7" - 6'1"), 75 cm (6'2" - 6'8"), and 85 cm (6'9" and taller)

•Cost: $33.99 and on sale for $24.95

Check Out Our Video:


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I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

April Fools Jokes

Yesterday was April Fools Day. It's not a day I celebrate every year.

Kid's however love when pranks are played, so I've been active in participating for a few years. I'm sure they will get me back.

Last year I did the whole Brown E's thing. I offered a brownie to Mica and to Isaak, and got them.

Then I took my 9x12 pan to work to get my co-workers. Even the co-workers that were had, liked listening to others as they said, "Oh man I was really hungry for real brownies!"


Last year with Dad's help I switched the boys in their beds. Isaak woke up in Mica's bed, and Mica woke up in Isaak's bed.

This year I did a few other random silly jokes.
  • A week ago when it wasn't April Fools I got Mica candy eggs, and offered my non egg lover one. He of course didn't want one at all. That is until he found out what was in that carton. Then he was all over it.
  • I put out my kid's clothes in the morning to save time. On April Fool's Day I put out size 2 undies for the boys. Mica's like, "Mom why do I have Elmo underwear to put on?"
  • My husband just said to me, "This lady at work said, 'I'm going to pray for you.' That makes me really worried - like my day is destined to be messed up." In the morning at his spot on the table I had a bunch of prayers printed out for him to read. 
  • Dad says, "Man you make way too many smoothies. Let's just have Orange Juice." I made Orange Juice, but gave it to everyone, but him. I wasn't totally cruel. I switched my Orange Juice with his Energy Drink, so he could have his beloved OJ to drink.
  • The night before April 1 I was a few minutes late leaving the office. I used 2 small sticky notes, wrote April Fools on it, and stuck it on co-worker's computer mouse. I got 2 workers good!

  • One co-worker that teaches grammar and writing went to class, couldn't get her mouse to work, and didn't know how to use her track pad on her laptop. She thought her mouse was really messed up, needed batteries, or something. A student helped her use her track pad. I felt bad for a little while. It paused her lecture. She was laughing, so the guilt didn't last long. 
  •  I also went to make dinner, and gave the boys this fake egg - yogurt and a canned peach. Too bad they didn't have whole peaches at the store. Mica knew right away what it was.

Did you / Do you play jokes on people?

I do, but I don't like jokes that go too far. Telling someone that you're prego is taking a joke too far. Especially when there are people out there that have been trying to get pregnant for years.

Jimmy Kimmel and his neighbors play big time jokes on each other. Like light their yards up with Christmas lights in the middle of the summer, and fully wrap their cars in wrapping paper. To me that's going way too far for a joke.

If a joke takes a long time, is hard to get across, makes someone feel bad, or is expensive I'm not going there.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Vanilla Mint Deodorant Creme Review + Giveaway

I got a little organic, chemical-free cream deodorant to review. It has a wonder scent. It's Vanilla Mint Deodorant


Guess what?
It works.

It's small. It's the size of lip gloss that comes in a container like it. It's 2 ounces. The thing is, is you only have to use a tiny bit! I was surprised as to how little I used.
 

It hasn't stained my clothing what so ever. 

Ingredients:
  • Organic Arrowroot Powder is vegan, and absorbs wetness naturally. 
  • Organic Shea Butter soothes and moisturizes dry skin. 
  • Coconut oil has natural anti-bacterial properties as well as soothes and conditions the skin. 
  • Organic Peppermint and Organic Tea Tree Essential Oils provide anti-bacterial and germ-killing anti-septic properties. 
  • It also contains Organic Sunflower Oil, Aluminum-Free Baking Soda and Organic Vanilla Extract.
It leaves you feeling confidently cool, fresh and clean. So far I'm really impressed with this deodorant. I was feeling jipped on the size, but you truly use just a little bit.

Directions for use: 

Scoop a pea-sized amount from the jar with clean fingers. Rub onto each underarm until deodorant is applied. I told you that you didn't need very much of it!

Shelf Life:

12 Months

Cost: 

$10.25

Win It: One of my US readers has a chance to win the same deodorant I reviewed.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Random Tid Bits

This week was odd! Here's just some of the crazy things that happened:
  1. A girl around the age of 17 or 18 was standing outside my house. I was getting ready to leave to go to the grocery store. She yelled out, "Can I use your phone?" She looked upset. I hesitated, but agreed that she could use my old school flip phone. Travis was in the backyard if I truly had problems with this girl. She was crying and said, "I'm sorry I just got beat up." I said, "It's ok." If I was thinking clearly I would have offered to call 911 for her, but she had my phone in her hands. She could have called whomever she wanted. She then said, "I just need to figure out where I need to go." After talking to someone she asked me, "Where's 40th and Lake Street?" I motioned for her to just walk and walk that way (pointing). She said, "Could I possibly have a ride?" I said, "I'm sorry I can't do that." She nodded, and understood. Mica and I got in the car to drive away.

    I said to Mica, "Honey I wanted to help that girl out, but she's a stranger. She shouldn't be taking a ride from me because I'm a stranger to her. She should have called someone she knew to pick her up to give her a ride."

    Mica said, "Mom I didn't trust her. Did you see what she looked like?" I said, "Mica she looked a lot like some of my students. How she looked didn't bother me. She could have a gun, or a knife. I want to keep us safe. She also wanted to go to a horrible part of town. She probably trusted me because I'm a mom." Mica said, "She scared me."

  2. Is it bad to profile someone based on how they look? Most normally I would answer, Yes to that question. Here's a kid like Mica that's judging purely on looks and instinct. Do I blame him? Not really. He was thinking of his and my safety. We teach kids not to talk to strangers. Like I said that girl looked a lot like my students - dark hair, dark clothes. By following your instincts in a situation like that - could have possibly saved our lives. Her poor life could still be in jeopardy though. My mind was pretty busy thinking after that.

  3. Driving up the way to go to the grocery store 4 cop cars had one lane blocked off. I said, "That's odd that they'd have so many cop cars for an accident." An hour later on the way home it still was blocked off with just as many cop cars. I found out that there was a drunk driver that ran into someone. That someone proceeded to chase him. He was going down a main street that's supposed to be 40 for the speed limit, only he was going 100! His blood alcohol level was .156. He's had other charges in Florida prior to being in trouble here. He hit another car, killed that person, and proceeded to run on foot. - Source

    I'm really glad I didn't leave to go to the grocery store any earlier. Maybe that girl that used my phone saved Mica and my lives.

  4.  Since this is supposed to be random: I feel like I've been living in the kitchen this week. Travis not only started his new job, but he's had other things going on to. I think I'm going to make as much as I can over the weekends, freeze some, and put some in the refrigerator. Then it will last some time. I felt like I did pretty good doing some of that this week. I'll just up my game. This weekend will be a challenge, since it's Easter weekend. I like having home cooked meals though.

  5. We're having my nephew's Evan and Elijah spend the night this Friday. Mica and Isaak spent the night at their house awhile back. It will be a fun weekend. What are your plans?

Kid's Club

I knew that going to Kids Club (Childcare at School) would be a transition for the kids. Mica in particular likes his alone time. We are lucky that they've always been early birds for the most part.

We've been giving the boys a mini breakfast in the morning. That way we still get that bonding over talking and eating breakfast. We also know that they are getting the nutrients that they need for the day. We give them steamed greens, a tiny bit of fruit, 1/2 a carb, and 1/2 a protein. It ends up being 1/2 of what we used to give them. At Kid's Club in the mornings they serve them a free breakfast.

Isaak was mad when I picked them up the other day. He wanted to stay and play. He's really enjoying extra playtime on the playground.

This morning he was mad because I didn't just let him go right on in to school. I wanted a picture to put on this post. 

Isaak went in, grabbed a basket ball and said, "Mom have a good day. I'm going to play this now." Then a little girl came up to Isaak and said, "Hi Isaak can I play with you? How are you doing today?" He was so happy.

It seems they transitioned well into more child care. They are still very well behaved.

Job Pains

This is my husband's (Dad's) official first day of work. He had two weeks of training prior to his job. 

Yesterday was a bad day for him. I only get stories without names. 
  • The 20 something year old person he was working with had a lot of struggles in life. He apparently wasn't treated very well as a child. :( He threw a temper tantrum in the bathroom - banging his hands on the walls. Of course my husband went in to talk with him. 
  • While my husband was working with his other 20 something year old girl, the boy twisted up his glasses. Then he couldn't see the rest of the day. 
  • The boy had to go in the quiet room twice. 
  • The van ride to drop them off was equally frustrating. The 2 facilitators weren't there when the boy was dropped off. They had to wait. Waiting was hard on the girl. She kept wanting to take her seat belt off when they were on the road. You know how the seat belt locks up when you only put it on 1/2 way? It kept doing that. My husband was beyond frustrated. 
  • He's annoyed that he had 2 weeks of training, but the training wasn't anything about trying to work with people that have special needs. It was more learning CPR, how to chart, lingo on charting, and so on.
  • Speaking of charting...the system hasn't worked for him all week. He's like, "How am I supposed to chart if I can't even get into the system with my password? No one will help me. They look at me like I'm doing something wrong." Go figure that a top person tried to help him, and couldn't. 
  • He's annoyed that he was hired as an art instructor, and is barely doing any art. If all of the individuals he was working with were high functioning he'd be happy. While there are a few that are high functioning, many are not.
  • He's annoyed that he's not always sure when he's going to get off work. Yesterday he had scheduled to go fix a sculpture with another artist in the area. It was going on 6:30, and he was supposed to be there by then. Next week he has a speech/PowerPoint to give for an art show, and hopes he gets there on time! Later this month I have to be at work for a Portfolio Review Night. The thought has crossed my mind, What if my husband isn't back in time to watch the kids?
We're most certainly feeling job pains. We're hoping it's just because it's his first week, but he's getting the feeling that, that's not the case. The driver said, "Oh just wait until you have 4 that you're responsible for." He only had 2 yesterday, and was about to loose his mind. He said, "There's no way I could handle 4! How would I ever go to the bathroom myself? I can't even drink enough water throughout the day!"

I'm worried about him. The disappointment, the sense of failure when you didn't do anything wrong, and the job loss if it gets that bad.

Sometimes I wish life came with a handbook.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

WW: Nap Time {Linky}

My sister posted this picture. It's my nephew Emerson and my Dad (Grandpa) having a nap. I just thought it was so funny.


Later my sister posted a video of Emerson laying on the ground, and Edison his brother taking his diaper off. I guess he did it 6 times that day. He's going to be her trouble child. LOL


I'm so glad Emerson is wearing Isaak shirt. Yay for hand me downs. It was a shirt I got that was pretty small when I got it. Isaak looks so little! I think he's changed his mind about what he wants to be 10 times over again since then.




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Disclaimer

The opinions on this blog are my personal take on products and topics relating to motherhood. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me.

I am not compensated to provide opinions on a variety of topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are my own. If I claim to show knowledge of certain topic or product I will only endorse products or services that I feel, based on my expertise, are worthy of such endorsement.

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