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Wool Dryer Balls – Dryer Sheet Alternative

Posted by html404 on December 5, 2013
in All Natural Products, Animals, Eco Friendly Products, Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Gift Ideas, Handmade Items, Health, Parenting, Safety, Saving Money, Uncategorized

About a month ago my 14 year old daughter “B” and I went to a Green Expo to promote our farm. We collected a few business cards, one of which was a local sheep farmer. I finally got around to visiting their website and discovered they sold wool dryer balls. These wool dryer balls are handmade by M.

When my older girls were little I had to stop using dryer sheets because a couple of them broke out with rashes. I never liked the expense of liquid fabric softener so we’ve basically gone without. I have used a rag with vinegar on it to get rid of static cling.

That’s why I was excited to try the wool dryer balls come in as an alternative. We have been using them since the weekend and they are working. We do not seem to have to turn the dryer on for a second cycle on our larger loads so it is doing what I hoped they’d do in reducing dryer time by soaking up extra wetness. No one has said anything about static cling yet so I am hoping that will be rectified as well.

I think I’ll get my mom a set of dryer balls the next time she comes to visit.

Do you have any dryer sheet remedies?

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Chicago at Night from Willis Tower – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on December 4, 2013
in Business, Things to Do in Chicago, Travel, Uncategorized, Wordless Wednesday

In October I went into the city of Chicago for a business meeting with Moms.com and after the meeting we walked to Willis Tower. The photos below are of Chicago at night from Willis Tower. It was really cool.

Willis Tower, or the formerly known Sears Tower, the tallest building in the United States. Sears was actually the company that built it to house all its employees in one place.

The Sears Tower became Willis Tower when a London company rented out a large space in the building and had the option to rename the building in its contract. And that’s exactly what they did.

When you visit Willis Tower you get to watch a little movie on the history of the building before you are escorted up to the Skydeck. On the Skydeck you can walk around, shop for gifts, look through the telescopes and walk out onto the “ledge”. The Ledge is a glass box basically and when you step out into it you can look down at the city of Chicago through glass. I was not brave enough to walk out onto the ledge, minding heights as I do.

I definitely recommend you visit Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) the next time you travel Chicago.

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Dear Granddaughter: Life Lessons from your Grandmother

Posted by Professor on December 3, 2013
in Books, Gift Ideas, Girl Stuff, Reviews, Uncategorized

Dear Granddaughter: Life Lessons from Your Grandmother

The holidays are a time for families to unite ~ and for children to feel the closeness of a strong familial bond. It is also the perfect time for grandparents to impart their years of wisdom onto their beloved grandchildren.

In Dear Grandmother, author Judy Smith (a grandmother of four herself) shares her heartfelt insights with the grandparents of the world. She reminds young women everywhere just how special their grandmothers really are.

“Grandmothers come in all forms,” says Smith. “But every grandmother is full of valuable wisdom. She can tell you the secrets of nourishing your soul, falling in and out of love, living with dignity and grace, and most importantly – enjoying the journey. Listen closely to your grandmother when she speaks and hold on to each pearl, for therein lies tremendous truth and wisdom.”

About the Author:

Judy Smith is a proud grandmother of four. She enjoys teaching her grandchildren the value of wisdom from their elders. While she is a young grandmother, she believes today’s younger generations are missing out on old-fashioned values and life lessons. She is also the co-author of the book Business Mojo: Achieving Success Through Mystical Exploration.

OUR REVIEW:

Although I am not a grandmother, I LOVED this book. My grandmother died a week before I received this book to review. Receiving this book was like getting a hug from my grandmother, letting me know everything was going to be all right. I must say the timing to review this was amazing! In any event, this is a wonderful book for granddaughters and grandmothers alike. I would not say it is for younger granddaughters … yet older ones that can take the knowledge within and let it seep into their core. Likewise grandmothers can take heart to the advice within the pages and choose to impart the knowledge to their own granddaughters or take the words and use them as an inspiration for crafting their own knowledge to impart!

This was truly a wonderful inspiring text…so much love and knowledge within the pages of the book. The book is also laden with wonderful pictures to accompany the text… very moving.

You can purchase Dear Granddaughter: Life Lessons from Your Grandmother or your local bookstore.

Fell free to take a look inside Dear Granddaughter: Life Lessons from Your Grandmother on Amazon.

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Pampers Celebrating Firsts & Giveaway

Posted by 278Wife on December 1, 2013
in Baby Products, Diapers and Accessories, Family Stuff, Kids Stuff, Parenting, Uncategorized

“This review was made possible by Double Duty Divas and Pampers. I was provided the featured product free of charge to facilitate my review, but all opinions are 100% mine.”

As a stay at home mom I have been absolutely blessed to witness all of my babies’ “firsts” first hand. These moments I will never be able to get back and I cherish & hold them close to my heart. I will never forget the first time she smiled at me or her first word, “MaMa.” From the moment I laid eyes on her in the hospital, I knew I was the luckiest mom ever. Pampers has been there every step of the way with me.

Pampers Celebrating Firsts

As a newborn, through her infancy, and now into her “walking” stage, I have always used Pampers diapers. My favorite feature is the color-changing wetness indicator, which lets me know in an instant when my baby needs a diaper change. The elasticity around the legs keeps leaks in, all while still being very comfortable for my daughter to crawl, sit, stand, and attempt to walk. Pampers Swaddlers are Pampers softest diapers ever from newborn all the way through size 5. Imagine a pillow for your babies’ butt! As Annabelle takes on her next challenge, her “first steps,” Pampers will be there keeping her dry and comfortable. Here is Annabelle taking her first steps with her push toy. I couldn’t be more proud!

From your baby’s first smile to their first step, Swaddlers can now be there for many more firsts to come! To celebrate Swaddlers sizes 4 & 5, Pampers has 30 days of incredible giveaways and a grand prize of FREE Swaddlers diapers & wipes for a year. Join the celebration and enter our 30 days of sweeps on the Pampers Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Pampers/app_1426402564246361 where you can win daily prize bundles, plus the grand prize of free Swaddlers diapers & wipes for one year!

Check out Pampers at http://bit.ly/18psPH0

Pampers Facebook http://on.fb.me/1eWzMVD

Pampers Twitter http://bit.ly/1brDKYn

Be sure to join the #SwaddlersFirsts Twitter Party on Thursday, December 5th at 9pm EST. You can RSVP at http://twtvite.com/SwaddlersFirsts

Twitter Party prizes include:
Prizes include:

3- Celebrating Firsts Gift Packs, which include:

· Baby’s First Friend Plush Doll

· Baby’s First Tooth and First Curl Treasure Box

· Baby’s First Words Book

· Baby’s First Steps Push Toy

· $50 Shutterfly Gift Card to celebrate all “firsts” moments

· Baby’s First Bath Robe

· Pampers Swaddlers

Grand Prize: Canon EOS Rebel T3 DSLR camera worth $450!

Pampers Giveaway

As a part of the Pampers Celebrating Firsts, we are hosting a giveaway for the following package:

· Baby’s First Friend Plush Doll

· Baby’s First Tooth and First Curl Treasure Box

· Baby’s First Words Book

· Baby’s First Steps Push Toy

· Pampers Swaddlers

Enter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Bitty Baby American Girl – It’s a Great Gift!

Posted by Brande on December 1, 2013
in Books, Fun Stuff, Gift Ideas, Girl Stuff, Holidays, Kids Stuff, Kids Toys, Shopping, Uncategorized

My daughter just started to get into American Girl dolls. Now she’s obsessed! I’m having a hard time spending so much money when my daughter is only 5. She still tends to be still a little “rough” on her babies. Well, my problem has been solved with Bitty Baby American Girl! They are less expensive and geared toward little girls.

Bitty Babies are 15” in length and her body is soft. Her head, arms, & legs are a smooth vinyl. Each Bitty Baby is dressed in an adorable outfit, cloth diaper, book, and “Sparkly Wishing Star”.

I can’t wait to see the look on my daughters face when she opens her Bitty Baby American Girl on Christmas! You can order yours today on the American Girl Website.

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Week #6 Saturday Top Five Laughs – Join the Blog Hop!

Posted by html404 on November 30, 2013
in Animals, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Home, Humor, Kids Stuff, Uncategorized

Ha! Getting into the habit of keeping track of our family’s funnies! These are not all necessarily from this past week though. Can’t believe I made it to six weeks of participating in The Mommyhood Chronicles Saturday Top Five Laughs! I think I’ve made it a habit or at least I hope so!

5. My husband was doing laundry and came out of the laundry room holding a skirt saying, “Really, we are keeping this?” It was “B’s” black skirt. It has a rip down the side. See the photo below. B said, “Yes, I need it” laughing. Then he proceeded to go on a tirade about how I throw out his holey clothes (I don’t throw them all out), but he’s right that I have literally ripped one of his old, holey t-shirts off of him in order to prove my point that it needed to be thrown out. Let’s just say B and I were more humored about the skirt than he was! He thinks it’s ridiculous that B wants to keep the ripped skirt.

4. I forgot this one on one of the other Saturday Top Five Laughs post. Padfoot, our dog, was barking so my husband went to the window of our room to see what he was going on about. Turns out Padfoot was barking at a caterpillar! The caterpillar was just out of his reach and he wanted to get it. Silly dog.

3. My husband has this particular way of raising and wiggling his eyebrows when he’s being goofy. Our youngest has started doing it. It’s very cute, though because his eyebrows are not as dark as his daddy’s it doesn’t have quite the same affect.

2. Our daughter “B” posted the above notice on a couple of our bedroom doors.

1. Bear in the house! We have a couple of those adorable animal hats with the mittens attached and my little guy kept coming up to us with it completely over his eyes growling at us.

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Liquid Amino Diet Part 2 and Giveaway

Posted by html404 on November 29, 2013
in Giveaways, Health, Health and Nutrition, Products for Dad, Products for Mom, Reviews, Uncategorized, Wordless Wednesday

By now you all know how much I struggle with any sort of diet to help me lose weight. Most of you know I have been trying the Liquid Amino Diet for the past few weeks. See my post on Liquid Amino Diet Part 1 here.

As a recap….

What is the Liquid Amino Diet?

Dr. Finsand developed the Amino Diet about 4 years ago after years of research and trials with his patients. The Liquid Amino diet is not about a quick fix, it is about a total and complete lifestyle change. The lifestyle change is accomplished through clean eating and ALL NATURAL homeopathic drops. Because of the healthy change in diet, you can expect to lose between .5-1 lb per day. Unlike other diets, the Amino Diet does not inject hormones for a total body shock, but instead focuses on teaching people how to eat clean without the shock of the system. This is one HUGE factor in keeping the weight off for extended periods of time.

Be sure to check out this video from a real Amino dieter who lost 85 pounds on the program.

Liquid Amino Diet Review and Giveaway

Taking the Liquid Amino Diet was a breeze. It has an odd flavor, yet it’s not unpleasant by any means. Letting it sit under my tongue was a breeze and I normally allowed it to go over 20 seconds. What I struggled with was remembering to take it 15 minutes before my meals. I also struggled with consistency.

In our busy household we do not like to make several meals for each of the three main meal times so I am very use to eating whatever the rest of the family eats. In terms of “dieting” I struggle with eating differently and what I’ll say to my children. If I say I am trying to eat healthier, that will leave them questioning if our family meals are truly healthy. 95-99% of our meals are made from scratch, made with mostly organic ingredients etc. With a houseful of growing children, we do eat a lot of carbs. Because of this I really did not experience the weight loss I could or perhaps should have. I do know that when I happened to take the Liquid Amino Diet supplement consistently at least once or twice a day it did seem to curb my appetite. That’s always a good thing, right?

I like the fact there is coaching available with the Liquid Amino Diet, but I only reached out to my “coach” a couple of times and when I did she did have encouraging things to say. I probably should have reached out a lot more, even on a daily basis to take full advantage of a “cheerleading” section. Who doesn’t want to do well when someone is quietly cheering you on in the sidelines?

I think anything is worth a try and for that reason I would say give the Liquid Amino Diet a try but be consistent and keep your calories within that 1500 range and see what happens to the extra weight you so desperately desire to lose. Add a little exercise and I bet you lose a few more pounds than you expected.

Me? I always have high hopes and high aspirations in anything but always seem to fail when it comes to weight loss.

Enter the giveaway below to win your own Liquid Amino Diet:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by html404 on November 28, 2013
in Animals, Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Holidays, Seasonal Stuff, Uncategorized

Just wanted to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving! We are chillin’ at home as a family. We cooked our turkey overnight now we are in the throws of washing potatoes, making pie dough and preparing veggies. Robert is carving the turkey (which was homegrown and is so yummy!), I’m making cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls and the girls divided up the rest of the work among them and the younger ones.

Things I am thankful for this year are:

Family – near and far – miss those of you in Canada!
The ability to work from home and be here for our children.
God’s provision – financially during this time of unemployment for my husband, leading us to the animals we have (I think we have awesome animals!), giving us solutions to life’s problems
Living our dream. Living in the country, growing our own food, giving our children the privilege of raising animals. I was telling someone this week our children spend more time with our animals than with toys most days.
Our health. So very grateful we are all healthy.
Being nearly a week ahead in blog posts, thanks to my contributing writers’ help!
Time with Friends. I went out with a friend yesterday to look at a Dutch Belted cow for a friend of hers at my neighbor’s (a new friend) and we had such a fun time with stimulating farm conversation! 4 hours worth! Grateful for my farm friends especially this year because they “get” us and what we are trying to do. They also lend a hand and are there for us. Makes me feel like we are finally a part of a community and it’s been a long time since I felt that way, since leaving my native Nova Scotia.

Wishing you a very grateful 2013 Thanksgiving!

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Holiday Craft Ideas from Kid Made Modern

Posted by 278Wife on November 28, 2013
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Gift Ideas, Handmade Items, Holidays, Kids Stuff, Reviews, Seasonal Stuff, Shopping, Uncategorized

Arts and crafts projects are always a big hit in our household with my four year old son. They are even a bigger hit around the holidays, since we like to give homemade gifts to grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Kid Made Modern collection is a great affordable option for kids and parents alike, plus they have great holiday craft ideas. Sold exclusively at Target and target.com with nothing over $20! They offer everything from crayons & markers, to craft kits like tie-dye & ornaments.

My son had a blast using the Double-Pointed Crazy Crayons, Mini Colored Pencils, and Washable Markers to color a birthday card. The crazy crayons were nice and thick so they were easy to hold, and had super vibrant colors. My son loved how “crazy” he could color.

I loved how the mini colored pencils were packaged. They came in a tube where the cover easily comes off and you can choose your color. It was way easier for him to get them out of the tube opposed to the traditional box where they are all aligned in a row.

The markers were very unique, too. They had ridges on them like a pencil, but they still felt smooth. It made it very easy to hold and color. Any of these would make great stocking stuffers!

We also had a chance to try one of the Kid Made Modern Faux Stained Glass Ornament Kits. Even though the age on the box says 6+, I figured my four year old could do it with my help. It contained all of the supplies to create six ornaments including the directions.

My son had a great time painting the ornaments and waiting patiently for them to dry so he could see them finished. Each ornament was individually wrapped with a plastic film to protect it from getting scratched. I found this to be very difficult to remove. It took me a couple of minutes for each ornament. I wish I would have removed all of the plastic films before I had my son sit down for the project. I loved how many different color paint choices came with the box as well as two different sized paintbrushes.

It even included string to hang each ornament. We made one for each set of grandparents and a few for some other family members.

Kid Made Modern kits would make great holiday craft ideas and gifts for children this Christmas season. Check out their array of products at

www.Target.com

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LeapPad Ultra Giveaway!

Posted by html404 on November 27, 2013
in Contests, Deals, Fun Stuff, Gift Ideas, Giveaways, Holidays, Kids Stuff, Kids Toys, Uncategorized

I think toys are on every child’s Christmas wish list. What toys does your child want for Christmas? My friend and fellow blogger, Rachel at Yellow Tennessee, is hosting a LeapPad Ultra Giveaway, which is one of the toys on the Kmart Fab 15 list this year! There are a lot of great toys on the list, that’s for sure!