Friday, September 24, 2010

Beryl:A Pig's Tale book Review

Here is another guest post from my five year old who will review the best book we have read in her life - and one of the best books I have read to be honest it is just lovely and sweet, and sad all the things I look for in a good book. It is by Jane Simmons and it is honestly not written with the average 5 year old in mind but my 5 year old is pig mad and this book is all about two pigs, a "pork pig" and a "wild pig" who become best friends and there adventures. It is 215 pages long and full of the most enchanting pictures you will ever see!

From My youngest:
Beryl is cute and kind and loving. I loved this book. I have read it twice with my mom.

This book was read by us in two days the first time, then she handed it over to her Grandma to read! And she actually did (amazing really! she enjoyed it as well) and now we are re-reading it more slowly to enjoy it again, truly this is a magical book, full of adventure, and life. I highly recommend it for the 7-10 year old set. But honestly I was hard pressed not to pick it up when my daughter was asleep and read it myself and  Grandma could not put it down either!

Allison Strine Designs

Today my Ladybird Pendant came in the mail, I was so excited to win this from Liv Lane's blog at: http://www.choosingbeauty.com/ her blog is wonderful - full of happiness and good will :) go check it out, it will put a smile on your face for sure, it does for me every time I go there.  So onto my pendent! It is a lovely lady in her rain boots with her wand that I would call magic LOL and on the other side it says  "she did not know what she could do until she got off her ass and did it"  so great! I will wear it with pride, and love turning it over to surprise people when they ask me about the little lady it is very funny, and inspirational. It is true, if you do not get up and just do it, you never know what you can do. I have tried to put a picture in as I always do and for some reason my blog is not taking my picture link... not sure why but please go check out Allisons site - she has the most amazing jewelry and I will try again (or my computer geek hubby will I should say)  http://www.alisonstrine.com/

Private Audio Book arrived

My mom loves to listen to audio books in her car while she drives, she lives about an hour from the "big city" and us and drives allot, so this is how she passes the time. She also has no "ear" for music. So I have entered a few contests thinking I would get her a couple of these for Christmas, well this was one I won for her. She will love it I think, it is about Jack Morgan, a Helicopter Pilot who runs a PI company that branches all around the globe.It has murder, suspense, and a workplace love affair :) she will love it I think. Hopefully she can keep her eyes on the road at the same time, and remember not to listen to it while my kids are in the car LOL
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Thursday, September 23, 2010

Kimochis Review

My daughters are the proud new owners of Cloud, the Happy, sad, angry, happy Kimochi who lives in the big sky :) If you have not heard of these lovely little guys - there is Cloud, Bug, Huggtopus, Cat, and Lovey Dove each one represents different emotions. They come with a book that tells you about not only your Kimochi but all of them so you get a great sense of their world - it is just like my girls world, sometimes hurtful, sometimes sad, sometimes volatile and often full of forgiveness. These little guys are just lovely they are so soft and the perfect size for my five year old who has ADHD and has such a hard time with boundaries and space as well as knowing when to say what. We have already identified Huggtopus as the one for her, she is all smiles and hugs, she is sometimes carried away by her personality and strength that can be a little overbearing, she needs to work on respecting others boundaries :) Much like my little one - she already wants this purple one for Christmas!
My nine year old identifies more with Bug, he is thoughtful and cautious he is a great conversationalist and is known to talk himself and others out of any given situation. He is afraid of change which being a Caterpillar is a problem :) He secretly dreams of flying. She is not as taken with her cloud as my five year old who has not put him down in two days - really, and on the street today three people stopped her to ask what he was! She really enjoyed letting them know :)  You can find these wonderful creatures that your child will just adore at:
http://www.kimochis.com/

Secret Santa

So I have signed up to do this very fun sounding secret Santa blog swap threw one of my favorite blogs, I am Wicked Cheap - http://iamwickedcheap.com/2010/09/22/fyi-for-bloggers-secret-santa-gift-exchange/  please go check it out and sign up if you have a blog it looks like so much fun. I went to  boarding school for a year and at Christmas we had a secret Santa that we left goodies for - it left a huge warm spot in my heart, I do it for a neighbour some years and every year or two one of my girls will do it if they have a very close friend - leave treats outside a friends door each night for them to find in the morning, or because we home school in the day for them to find when they come home from school or activities in the afternoon. It is always such fun to come by on Christmas a revel our self :) So when this came up on  I am Wicked Cheep's site I had to do it - it is almost no money obligation, only $15 for the gift, and I am really hoping that they pair up countries Canadians with Canadians so I do not have to pay so much in shipping etc - Totally love the idea of getting a nice surprise from a (hopefully) thoughtful woman as my husband, love him I do, is not a great gift giver, I often get a very utilitarian, cheap gift LOL, we do not have allot of money, so I get the cheap part, but I would love to see some thought put into it :)  Last year he did good guy- after 10 years of marriage!  So go check it out, sign up and lets all see what sweet things we can do for each other! Women are just better at it (usually) some of you are lucky I admit.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Crocheted Humpty Dumpty

Today in my mailbox came a crocheted Humpy Dumpty. My youngest daughter became the recipient of this little guy, so she's going to write the review. Here goes:

I had a really fun time with him. I like my Humpty Dumpty more than I like Hobbes. I like Humpty Dumpy more than I like our house. I like his pants. I really like the pink on him.

Clearly she's a girl of many words. It's funny because she won't stop talking usually except when I'd like her to say something. Anyways, The Humpty Dumpty was made by Clare Tovey, who has a web site: http://www.clare-tovey.com/. My daughter has taken quite a liking to him, insisting that we bring him out on our excursions so that he can see the world.

Here is a photo:

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Sweat and Snack Kit

The Post Man brought one of the biggest boxes to enter my home outside of Christmas time ever today, it caused a ruckus like nobodies business! What is ended up being, once we got into it was my Sweat and Snack Kit from Rice Thins and Jo-Ann James, founder of Vital Steps Inc. It came with the most amazing snacks ever - these rice crackers are so good, we opened the Salt and Pepper, my favorite flavor these days, and ate them (my two girls and I) So then we cracked open the work out kit to burn off the calories. We jumped rope with the coolest jump rope you have ever seen, it count calories, miles and kilometers!! Then we used the Yoga Mat with the workout included and I helped my oldest daughter figure out the resistance bands, she loved them. We are going to get the Stability Ball blown up tonight, should be great fun! It is just a wonderful pack, including a bag to hold it all and another bag for the yoga mat. I had to put the rice crackers out of my own reach, they are just to good. They come in Salt and Pepper, Sour Cream and Onion and Sweet Mesquite Barbecue.  you can find out all the info about them at kraftcanada.com

Uglee Pens

Well they arrived! I had thought, after e-mailing the blog - oh weeks ago and not hearing back and not seeing my pens in the mail that they were not coming, not a big deal really three little pens but it did bug me that the blog owner did not even respond to my e-mail. Well this week they showed up! They are very strange/cool pens. They write like silk, it is rare to write with a pen that smooth  and they feel like a very cheap pen - that sounds awful, what I mean is they do not feel high end, not sure what they cost. Now the pen is covered in the squishy plastic, to make you hold it properly, I love it, how it makes me hold it and that it is soft - BUT I could see that as a kid who had major sensory issues I would not have touched it - my oldest touched it and I kid you not said "hey mom, it feels like boogers!" it is sort of sticky and squishy so ya, I see where she is coming from LOL. I really like these pens and if they are in my budget they will be my new usual pens - they are NICE!!! They are black ink to which I love.  Sorry no picture this time, they got taken too fast!
www.ugleepen.com

Monday, September 13, 2010

My "mojo"

Recently someone from another blog commented on my lucky "mojo" with regards to all my blog wins, I wanted to say something about that, I started to blog to document my starting off on this road of doing contests mainly and then it very quickly started going down the blog contest road to. Now I would say I enter 80% blog contests and 20% Canadian sweepstakes, and essay type contests, I really like those, the ones your write in for - the $100 gift card for Canadian Tire was one of those. I learned very quickly that I was not winning any sweepstakes (that I could see anyway) and within a week of seriously entering blogs I was winning. Now I enter ALOT of blog contests, I spend about two hours each morning and another two each evening, and that is all I do - enter, enter, enter - so for those wondering - that is why I am winning so many. I am not sure this will carry on forever - I would LOVE to win most if not all of my extended family Christmas gifts this way - but who knows, I am finding a decent amount do not show up to LOL. After Christmas I may slow down, stop, who knows I am having a blast right now and that is what matters :) I do my morning blog entries while my kids are asleep and my evening entries while DH has them so I can have a much needed break.  There - explained :) I feel better, I was feeling guilty of all things LOL.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Lolligag Bag Win

My super cute Lolligag (limited edition no less!) bag came this week. It is the sweetest thing, I am going to give it to my oldest daughter for one of her Christmas gifts. She will just love it. It is the perfect size for her to take to some of her classes, or to her friends houses filled with all the things she "needs" to take along. You can find Lolligag at : http://www.lolligagworld.com/ or at http://www.lolligagworld.blogspot.com/  They have they sweetest bags you have ever seen, shirts, umbrellas, some undies that I am hoping will be in my stocking this year (Santa take note ;) and even bedding and other clothing! Go and check them out - here is my daughters bag - pretty cool isn't it? Bet you want one :)

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Stash Momma

So over on Stash Momma they are having the first ever Psychedelic Sunday - here is the link
http://stashmama.blogspot.com/2010/09/psychedelic-sundays-1st-ever.html go and check it out, there are already almost 30 blogs linked up there to explore. Something to do this holiday weekend!  Enjoy.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Peace Love Cupcake Tree Bag

My bag from http://www.cupcaketreedesigns.blogspot.com/ came today, it is just lovely. It is a brown tote bag with hand appliqued symbols of a peace sign, a heart, a cupcake, and a tree. My youngest daughter is just in love with it but I have told her it is mine, all mine LOL. It is the perfect size for a few groceries or books, or just lugging my stuff that I always lug around. Being a homeschooling mom I always have masses of stuff on my person and this beautiful bag will come in handy. Go check out Cupcake  Tree Designs when you get a chance, Olga has lovely things there to see, and a lovely blog, right now she is talking Halloween :) Here is my bag:

Chicken Lunch Bag

Today my very fun Lavish And Lime lunch bag came it is a chicken of all things - it is so very funny. It is made neoprene like fabric, so when you put your cold items in it they stay cold, I intend to put a frozen juice box in it with my lunch and see how it works. It is really big for a "kids" lunch bag. My husband and I are wondering which of us get it though :) We both take packed lunches to work and this is to fun to pass up.
Lavish and Lime also sell a Apple, Ladybug, Cow, Monkey, Rocket and a Cupcake (my favorite) of the same size, style. They are all so sweet. They have backpacks as well - in tons of styles. Pop over to their site and check them out, they are a Vancouver company - yay Canadian!
http://www.lavishandlime.com/ they have tons of great products. I won this from
http://www.everythingmom.com/ a great site, I glean so much local info from them, they are well worth checking out as well, especially if you are Canadian, they also have AMAZING contests.