Uncategorized | Faith and Family Reviews

Archive for Uncategorized

In Perfect Time by Sarah Sundin

Posted by html404 on August 15, 2014
in Books, Gift Ideas, Products for Mom, Reviews, Uncategorized

In Perfect Time by Sarah Sundin

In Perfect Time by Sarah Sundin is book three in the Nightingale series. Each book is a stand alone book. The series is set in WWII and is about flight nurses and the men serving in the war. I have enjoyed this series. You can see my reviews of the first two books of the series here and here.

I enjoyed the adventure and intrigue of Lt. Roger Cooper’s flights in this particular novel. It kept me wanting to turn the pages. A couple of flights are based on true WWII flights, which my husband found hard to believe when I relayed information to him. He’s a skeptic though and a war buff so he likes the facts and the flights were pretty amazing feats so that’s why he was a doubter at first.

There is a definite Christian theme in this book, as there are in most of the books I read. This particular book’s theme centered on the fact that God loves sinners no matter what they have done. We are all redeemable and do not need to earn forgiveness but to accept it as the gift it is.

In Perfect Time provided me with the back stories of a couple of characters featured in the first two books. It was nice to finally learn more about them and what made them tick, as well as the follow-up story of some of the other characters.

I even enjoyed the romantic side of the book this time. It was realistic, romantic, humorous and heart-breaking all rolled into one.

There was an underlying theme of parents who do not display confidence in their children’s talents and abilities. For me this was sad to read about, it made me feel sorry for the characters and question if I am expressing my belief in my children so they know that I truly believe in them and what they are capable of doing with their lives. The characters in this book only learned in adulthood what should have been impressed on them in childhood – you are talented, you are worthy, you are capable and you can do anything you put your mind to. Every parent should instill self-belief into their children, especially if the child does not have it in themselves. What a responsibility we have as parents!

I give In Perfect Time two thumbs up and recommend it to all history lovers and romantics.

Share and Enjoy

{12 comments}

Mommy’s Bliss Kids Upset Tummy & Nausea Relief

Posted by Professor on August 14, 2014
in Uncategorized

Mommy’s Bliss® Kids Upset Tummy & Nausea Relief is a safe and effective all natural liquid herbal supplement.

Sugar Free. Individual Dose Packets. Works great for:

nausea
motion sickness
gas & bloating
indigestion
general stomach discomfort

When your child isn’t feeling well, you need a solution that works fast. Tuck our single-dose packs into your necessity bag for daycare, for overnights with family and for long trips on the road. It’s one of the most effective all-natural nausea remedies you can buy.

Stomach relief for kids
Baby stomach ache relief
Great for kids with food allergies

What causes an upset tummy or nausea?

Several common causes bring about an upset tummy or nausea:

Infections brought on by viruses or bacteria can cause abdominal pain and should be evaluated by a physician.
Several food-related reactions can cause bloating and temporary discomfort, including:
- Food poisoning
- Food allergies
- Overeating
- Indigestion.
Motion sickness can cause an upset stomach.
Other medical causes might also be at fault. A physician should evaluate any abdominal pain lasting for more than 24 hours.

http://www.mommysbliss.com/store/products/kids-upset-tummy-nausea-relief/

Share and Enjoy

{13 comments}

Garden Harvest – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on August 13, 2014
in Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Food and Treats, Fun Stuff, Gardening, Health, Kids Stuff, Organic, Seasonal Stuff, Uncategorized, Wordless Wednesday

Garden Harvest

The little ones raided the garden one day and found these organic veggies! Can you say yummy garden harvest?

Share and Enjoy

{8 comments}

Just Natural Organic Products Review

Posted by Professor on August 10, 2014
in All Natural Products, Eco Friendly Products, Reviews, Uncategorized

Just Natural Organic Products… MADE IN THE USA!!!!

This is a wonderful company providing organic products to consumers! We were very pleased that Just Natural let us review part of their product line!

The company offers a wide array of effective, powerful, hair and skincare products with formulas inspired by nature. Most importantly … NO GMO’S…Eco friendly and NOT tested on animals!

The Just Natural Line stated the following about their ingredients:

This is such a wonderful list it makes my heart smile knowing that I can bring healthy non-chemical laden product to my family!

We were pleased to receive and review the following products:

Kids Body Wash
Natural Detangler
Daily Spray Detangler
Peppermint foot lotion
Body Lotion
Turbinado Brown Sugar Scrub

Let me start off by saying that the scent of these products is heavenly!! I always wonder and am pensive about the scent of organic products… but EVERY product I received is something that smells inviting … something I WANT to smell and lavish my hair and body!

Kids Body Wash

This product is a great addition to any household! We liked it because it comes in a larger size 16 oz size! Most of the time when I am shopping for organic natural shampoo I find it in an 8oz size…. this was a treat! It lathered well and has a pleasant orange Blossom scent. Most of all I liked that it is gentle on the skin. The product is also moisturizing which is an added plus! My youngest daughter has Eczema and since this product is not made with harsh chemicals or synthetic additives it has not made the Eczema flare up as other products can.

Natural Detangler

Let me tell you…I am always looking for a detangler for my hair (naturally wave to medium curl) and my daughters’ hair (thick and long). This is a great leave in deep conditioning/detangling option! I liked that the product does what it says… “effortlessly and easily” unravels tangles! It does this!!! My children take swim lessons every Monday and after they shower I like to brush out their hair…sometimes because of the harness of the chlorine their hair gets brittle and dry…and tangles easily! We like this product because it is easily portable in the jar that it comes in and it makes the hair easy to brush through. We have not only reserved the conditioner to swim days … but have made it part of our hair care regimen (yes even for mom…it worked wonders o my hair)!

Mom’s hair… I used this product and loved it on my hair…I am “air dry” styling type of person so this product worked great for me! Just put some on run a comb and fingers through my hair and I am good to go and my hair gets enriched with extra vitamins, proteins, and nutrients!

Daily Spray Detangler

This is a STAPLE for kids hair… let me tell you that it is a hard to find a good detangler. This one is by far one of the best we have used! I LOVE that it comes in a large bottle…but would love it even more if it came in a travel size…so we could take it to the pool! Anyway… we Loved that the product has no harsh chemicals to strip and ruin the hair follicles… this is GREAT. Secondly the product reduces breakage while combing. While we sometimes have breakage due to knots in hair this product actually helped alleviate that issue. When used right after showering the hair is easily combed through and no breakage occurs… What a GREAT thing, no breakage helps keep hair healthy!

Peppermint Foot Lotion

What a YUMMY treat for your feet! This was so soothing and luxurious. I loved being able to try it! First off the scent is heavenly! Peppermint sooths and eases my tired feet and arouses my senses at the same time! It also began to moisturize and rescue my poor dry and callused feet. It penetrates the skin immediately and goes to work… I like that it has a nice feel and does not leave my hands slimy… I have had experience with other foot lotions where the product was soooo slimy/greasy I had to wipe my hands with a towel afterwards because it just would not absorb.

Body Lotion

Natural Body Lotion

This lotion was also a quick to absorb into the skin! Can you tell I am a fan of quick absorption? I love it when a lotion goes on smooth and actually hydrates and moisturizes the skin instead of just sitting on top of the skin! This lotion is wonderful! It comes in a large pump container, which is great!!! It makes it easy to pump and apply after the shower! The scent is heavenly…it has a sweet orange blossom smell with other blended flowers that makes this lotion double as a wonderful aromatic experience!

Turbinado Brown Sugar Scrub

Can you say INDULGENT??? This is such a luxurious addition to any shower ritual! … I LOVE body scrubs because they exfoliate and moisturize the skin leaving it soft and supple! This product does just that with NATURAL/ORGANIC ingredients! (YEAH!) This scrub has replaced my old Burt’s Bees Scrub … which I though was good…boy was I wrong this is SO MUCH BETTER! What about the scent?

What about price? The Just Naturals line of products are VERY well priced for organic/natural products… they offer larger sizes for a great price! At a farmers market or retail store you cannot get the larger sizing or the QUALITY!!!

Please take a moment to visit justnaturalskincare.com you will not be displeased! Their products are SO awesome I cannot wait to try other items from their product line.

Share and Enjoy

{14 comments}

Week #31 Saturday Top Five Laughs

Posted by html404 on August 9, 2014
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Kids Stuff, Saturday Top Five Laughs, Things to Do in Chicago, Uncategorized

I have been trying to keep track of all our funnies and laughs and doing ok with it but may come up short this week for my Saturday Top Five Laughs post this week. Without further adieu… we join Mel over at The Mommyhood Chronicles for week #31 (for us) in our Saturday Top Five Laughs of the week.

5. O, our 14 year old has been cracking us up lately. It all started a couple of weeks ago when we were weeding in the garden and she started making up words, which she has continued to do. So I had her sit down so I could write a couple of them down to share here.

Her words: If you have a sudden aching in your lower legs, in your calf muscle, if you have a sudden increase in heart rate, then you probably have read-i-obia – the fear of running.

4. If you have a sudden increase in your temper coming out and you don’t fell like doing your work outside, then you have weed-i-obia – the fear of weeds and work.

3. We had a customer stop by for eggs but we were all sold out so she asked what else we had for sale and I told her chicken and maybe a few vegetables. She chose tomatoes. She didn’t want grape tomatoes, which we have a ton of, but the larger sized tomatoes. Our oldest son went out to pick them and the look on her face when she saw they were odd shaped and one was red with speckled zebra lines, which is an heirloom tomato but for the life of me I cannot remember what kind. Her response was, “I guess I’ll take them since I had you pick them.” People are just too funny.

2. I was talking with some colleagues on Thursday and I was sharing something and said, “My husband had to go pick up chicks.” They all burst out laughing because of the play on words. He actually went to pick up broiler chickens but I just said chicks!

1. Our family went to a local small airport for a Young Eagles rally and our children got to take a flight for free. And I just forgot what funny occurred! Oh, anyways, my husband ran into a guy he use to work with. This guy owns his own plane and invited Robert to go flying with him. I think they had a 40-50 minute flight. They even went over our farm. Robert said they buzzed down over our farm and made the chickens scatter. So when we arrived home I open the truck door and all our young pullets come running out from out under the front yard bushes. I said to my husband, “Didn’t buzz down too close, eh? Then why were the chickens still in hiding!” Or something to that affect, giving him a hard time, of course!

How was your week? What things happened to bring laughter into your life and home?

Share and Enjoy

{8 comments}

Chiquita!

Posted by Professor on August 7, 2014
in All Natural Products, Food and Treats, Reviews, Uncategorized

What comes to mind when you think of the word Chiquita??? Bananas of course! But I am here to tell you that the Chiquita brand is MUC HMORE than bananas! It is a whole variety of snacks and good things with fruits!

Chiquita sent us a bunch of products to try! They were great! So great that they got eaten REALLY fast in our house! We took the snack packs to a local firework show and shared with friends and family whose children thought they were equally yummy and fantastic!

The best part of the products we received is that the larger (multi-size) packs can be resealed and the smaller individual packs are hand sized and easily opened and eaten!

Here is what we reviewed:

Family Pack Green Apple Bites and Red Apple Bites

This family pack was great because it allowed us to open and reseal the bag! This is a great option if you want to buy in bulk and reseal for later. For the purpose of this review we ate a few apples from the family pack and resealed and ate the rest later. Normally our family would devour the entire family pack as we LOVE apples. However, the resealing worked great! the children were able to open and reseal with ease as was mom! The fruit inside stayed fresh and moist with the reseal option so this was good…also no browning!

The next product we reviewed was:

These little bags are AWESOME!!! Although we reviewed these in summer and found they are GREAT for picnics…I must say I will be buying them for school lunches this year! What a wonderful alternative to chips in the lunchbox! The packaging is easy to open and provides 1/2 cup of fruit for little tummies!

Finally…

These were by far the favorite…of course who does not like a dose of caramel with their apples! LOL! We loved these…they went fast at our firework picnic! Although … being at a picnic …at night… the caramel apples was probably not the best option because the caramel got everywhere and stuck to little hands because it was dark out and all we had for light were a few glow sticks. BUT…in normal picnic pr lunch situations … THESE ARE GREAT!!! The caramel cup is small and individual and the apples are yummy. We have tried competitor brand apples and caramel dip where the dip package was attached to the apple container and that always made a mess because when you pulled the tab to open the caramel it either flung the apples out of the package or the caramel dripped. THESE ARE SEPARATE and AWESOME… I like these 10 times better than the ones I used to buy since the caramel container is a separate “sauce” that comes inside the apple bites… it lets the caramel REMAIN separate from the apples and it opens with ease and no dripping (unless you tipped it over LOL)

OVERALL… I was very please to review these products … they will most certainly be purchased for the upcoming school year and packed into lunches! Way to go Chiquita!!!!

Share and Enjoy

{13 comments}

SHARKK® 10000mAh Dual Port Power Bank

Posted by Professor on August 5, 2014
in Uncategorized

I have been looking for a power bank for a while now and found SHARKK’s it is AWESOME!!!!

Ever since I was at Day Camp with my children this summer and found my phone continuously running out of battery and no place to plug in a charger I have been looking for a portable power bank! I was SO pleased to find that Sharkk makes one! As you can tell from my reviews I am an advocate of the brand…they are such a great company that stands by their products!

The power bank is 1000mAh and can charge a multitude of devices! I have an LG phone and it worked great with mine!!! I LOVE < LOVE < LOVE the fact that it can charge your device with FULL charges at least 5 times before you have to recharge the power pack… this is an added plus in my book!

Additionally… the size is nice. I have seen smaller ones …but none that can recharge multiple times…usually the smaller power packs can only charge once and not as well as the SHARKK. I liked the size because it is the same size as my phone and i can easily lay my phone on top of the charger and it is a nice fit in my hand…or purse!

Here are the specs of the device!

Sleek, compact and versatile; featuring a specialized rock-surface design.
10,000mAh provides up to 5 full iPhone charges (2-3 for Samsung devices).
LED lights indicate power status and remaining charge level.
Dual USB ports for simultaneous device charging (Port A:1A, Port B: 2.1A).
Package includes: 1x 10,000mAh Power Bank, 1x Micro USB Cable, 1x Users Guide.

Just to let you know there is a 1500mAh charger available also which gives an extra charge…but for all intensive purposed the 1000mAh works just as well and I Am delighted with the product!

Visit Amazon.com to buy now …it is really a great price 19.99… The 1500mAh runs 28.99

Please visit sharkk.com for more information on this product and many more techie gadgets!

Share and Enjoy

{13 comments}

The Benefits of Organic Beef Over Traditional Beef

Posted by html404 on August 4, 2014
in Animals, Farm Stuff, Food and Treats, Health, Health and Nutrition, Health and Wellness, Organic, Uncategorized

This is a partnered post.

Lately more and more food related articles can be seen in the headlines and on social media, which I think is great because consumers are becoming more aware of what they are eating and what they are putting into their bodies. From old news of mad cow disease to pink slime to buying all organic food and pastured meats, we are seeing an increase in interest and buying of organic, grassfed, NON-GMO products.

We use to buy traditional beef in the stores but stopped, finally, and ordered grassfed organic beef online from a farm which comes to the Green Market we sell at once a month. We order online and pick up on market day. It makes for very convenient ordering and buying.

So what are the benefits of organic beef over traditional beef?

The Benefits of Organic Beef Over Traditional Beef

1. No fillers (such as pink slime).

2. More Omegas-3 and much more nutritious. “In B-vitamins, beta-carotene (look for yellow fat), vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol), vitamin K, and trace minerals like magnesium, calcium, and selenium. Studies show grass feeding results in higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid, the “good” naturally occurring trans fat.” (Source: marksdailyapple.com)

3. No pesticides or chemicals. Generally speaking, organic and grassfed farms do not use pesticides or any other chemicals.

4. Cattle are happier and healthier. There are less diseases and illness among grassfed beef, if raised correctly. The cows get plenty of sunshine, fresh air and pasture. Only if a cow is not performing well or does not possess the breeding qualities a farmer wants to continue putting into his or her herd, will he or she cull (kill) or sell the cow.

5. NON-GMO. Most organic farmers do not use GMO products. Take us for example, when we planted our pasture we used NON-GMO seeds. Our grain that we feed our cows is organic, NON-GMO.

6. Less fat content. Organic, grassfed beef is typically lower in fat than traditional beef. That is why it has to be cooked slightly differently than traditional beef. (see #2).

If you would like to buy organic beef, visit
http://www.americanfarmersnetwork.com/beef.html

Share and Enjoy

{11 comments}

Week #30 Saturday Top Five Laughs

Posted by html404 on August 2, 2014
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Humor, Kids Stuff, Saturday Top Five Laughs, Uncategorized

I have been trying to keep track of all our funnies and laughs and doing ok with it but may come up short this week for my Saturday Top Five Laughs post this week. Without further adieu… we join Mel over at The Mommyhood Chronicles for week #30 (for us) in our Saturday Top Five Laughs of the week.

5. I was out somewhere and there was a expectant mom who had three other children. In the course of the discussion something was said to which her 2-3 year old exclaims, “That means it’s a girl!” It was too cute!

4. Hubby and I were kissing, which we try to do once in awhile in front of the children for their benefit of a healthy relationship/marriage and it was normal kiss not anything passionate or anything, and our youngest daughter who is eight goes, “Ewwww….you are swallowing each other!” We have said that during movies before and the older children have picked up on it and now use it on us!

3. O, our 14 year old, was doing something goofy and then asked me if she made the cut for Saturday Top Laughs. I said, “No, but that did.” She’s happy to have the mention this week! I believe it is now the most popular “column” in our family.

2. This week Robert took the children to the county fair for the very first time (the older girls went to another county fair when they were toddlers). We agreed we would get one bag of cotton candy (that stuff goes for $6/bag nowadays!) for them to try and share. Guess what? Only ONE child liked it out of all of them! That was our oldest. The rest said it was too sugary and sickening! Score one for us as parents, right?! lol! It’s ok to rejoice is small victories once in awhile, isn’t it?

1. So I said to my oldest son that I needed one more funny for this week as he walked buy to check the zucchini bread/cake he is making for tomorrow’s breakfast. This is what he said, quite seriously, I might add, “Dogs go wolf. Cats go meow. Cows go moo.” Silly boy!

That’s all for this week, folks! Chime in with your funnies of the week and give us a laugh!

Share and Enjoy

{9 comments}

Wordless Wednesday – 20th Wedding Anniversary

Posted by html404 on July 30, 2014
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, News Worthy, Uncategorized, Wordless Wednesday

Robert and I will soon celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary! Hard to believe twenty years has gone by already. Here’s to the next 20 or more!

We plan to celebrate by going out for Chinese food. Yummy!

We have only ever celebrated our anniversary by going away overnight once and that was the summer we were in Canada in 2005. A friend took care of our five kiddos. When our girls are a bit older and officially adults maybe we’ll do that again….some day.

How long have you been married? How do you usually celebrate?

Photo Copyright: totallyout / 123RF Stock Photo Used with permission.