Whistling Tea Kettle

Everyone in our family seems to have different tastes. My youngest daughter loves hot chocolate only, my middle daughter loves all hot beverages, my son likes tea and coffee best, dad only likes hot tea, and I like it all. Because of this, it is difficult to satisfy everyone's cravings and likes every time.

Now I have that magical ability with my new Whistling Tea Kettle.



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017GBADNY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XzS8fAWz8Y&t=10s

After putting some water into it, turning on the burner, and waiting for the stainless steel cap to whistle from the steam, I am able to make everyone's wishes come true making the beverages of their choices in their own individual cups. The tea kettle holds plenty of water so I am able to make steaming cups for all five of the members of my family with water to spare. I love the silicone handle that allows me to lift the kettle straight from the burner after the whistle sounds without burning my hands. #ChefsLimitedTeaKettle



I received the kettle free in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

The tea kettle pairs nicely with my new pour over coffee cup that I recently also received for review in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion. These would make the perfect pair to gift to any busy mom!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YLjRswnmdo

Easy & Quick Decorating

Christmas has long been one of my favorite times of year. I love to see the children's enthusiasm as we celebrate different traditions. We usually purchase and decorate our tree the weekend after Christmas. This year since the weather was unseasonably warm, we decided to decorate outside of our house early.

We placed lights and bows on the lamp post, bushes, and railings. We were saved from crawling up a ladder to place lights on the house however thanks to our new laser light projector.

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Waterproof-laser-lights-Decoration/dp/B01IDAQY5I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&keywords=christmas+laser+lights

 After much thought and consideration, we found our favorite spot for the light projector in our yard. We did need an extension cord to connect the light to power because the cord attached was much too short to reach any outdoor outlets.

The projector attaches to a stake that can be placed into the ground. A screw with a teeth-like grooved connection allows you to angle the light to the desired height and then secure it.

Once night came and the light was powered up, hundreds of little red and green dots covered our home without all the ugly cords of string lights and without the headache of climbing on a ladder and untangling lights as you installed them.

Without much effort at all, our home is ready to be a neighborhood hit this Christmas season.  #christmaslaserlights

I received these lights at a reduced rate in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Unlock the Weird!

My Sweet youngest daughter continues to keep life interesting with her overwhelming love and fascination with anything odd, unusual, or different. Last year, I got her Ripley's Believe It or Not's book of oddities which she treasured and spent much time perusing.

That's why when they offered this year's volume, Ripley's Believe It or Not! Unlock the Weird!, I jumped on the chance to get it for her.

 
https://www.amazon.com/…/ref=sr_1_2ie=UTF8&qid=1477941498&s…

With all the colorful pages, unusual stories and pictures, and incredible feats, I know she is going to love it!

Who wouldn't want to read about an island that is full of cats?

Or a bridge made from vines?

Or artwork made from old car parts?

The intriguing unique oddities of this world are endless! She is going to love adding this to her collection!
  #UnlockTheWeird

I received the book free in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

You CAN do it!

One phrase that we hear often as mothers is "I can't!" This phrase is one that I very much dislike to hear out of my children's mouths although I have been guilty of uttering it many times in my past as well. They say, "I can't do my homework because I can't read the directions." "I can't clean my room because I don't know what to do with the some of the clutter." "I can't wash my hair because the water is too hot." "I can't mow the lawn because my knee hurts today." All of these are actual phrases that the children have uttered and make me cringe each and every time.

Recently, I have been inspired by my 87-year old neighbor. I can only hope at 87 years old that I am as determined and hard-working as he is today. I went into our back yard to take the dogs out and see him in his yard up an extension ladder cutting down the dead tree that is in his yard. The tree is probably 30-40 feet tall, and he is slowly and methodically moving upper branch to upper branch carefully sawing each branch to bring it safely to the ground. If it had been in my back yard, I probably would have said the hated words "I can't" instead of even trying. His determination inspires me to stop saying "I can't" so much and give that difficult task a try! If an 87-year old man can cut down a dead tree, then I should be able to do the same. No excuses!

Sometimes this "I can't" feeling can be brought on from people in our past. Many times the voices from our past ring loudly with "You can't do that." "You are no good at that." "That is not for you. You show no talent in that regard." I have been guilty of letting these opinions of other people rule how I live and what I enjoy.

As you all know, I do product reviews as a sort of hobby in my spare time. I enjoy it very much. In February of this year, I received a sketch book and sketch pencils for review. In creating my reviews, I discovered that I LOVE sketching.

https://www.amazon.com/review/RCXQ7RE5LJ7DZ/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00PG8916A

https://www.amazon.com/review/R2HDGZEEVFWLNH/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00PWCQSV6

In the past, I had been told over and over that I was not the artist of the family, that I could not draw, that I should not draw, and that art and drawing was not for me. I know I'm not a professional artist, but I have found that I CAN draw, I enjoy sketching, and my sketches are not all that bad. I am so happy that I had the chance to review the sketching items and find that I can do it and it relaxes me and makes me happy.

Here are some of my sketches:

As a parent, I do not ever want to make my child feel that they are no good at something. I do not ever want to allow a teacher, a coach, a theater director, or anyone else for that matter to make my child feel substandard and not good enough. Maybe her first drawing won't look like Picasso's last, but if she is encouraged and continues, who knows what her last drawing may be. Maybe she can't stand still for her first theater performance, but if trained well and taught to perform which she already enjoys, maybe she will someday be on Broadway. It isn't my place or anyone's place to tell her what she can and cannot do.

We should all be encouraging each other to be the best we can and enjoy life.

I CAN do it! You CAN do it!

Hobby Time

Back before I had children or back when I had only one child, I used to spend a lot of time on hobbies. I enjoyed sewing curtains, sewing aprons, making coasters for beverages, crocheting, and making soap among many other past-times. Back when I made soap, I used to love shaping and scenting the soap and making it extra special for my family.

Now that I have no time with working full time and having children running all over my house most days leaving messes for me to clean up, I have found that I have to buy my soap instead of making it. Recently, I received a free 4 oz bar of handmade soap from Subtle Body Essentials in exchange for my hones and unbiased opinion. This may just be my new favorite soap. Since I don't have time to make it myself, it is nice to find a handmade soap that cleans so well while incorporating so many natural and organic ingredients.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0184MUSES

The 85% organic soap bar sample which I received is Lavender Lite. The ingredient list includes: "Saponified oils of sunflower* and/or safflower*, coconut* and palm* (with retained glycerin), essential oils of lavender and lavandin, alkanet root, comfrey root & rosemary extract. *Ingredients are certified organic."

The scent of the soap is very relaxing and comforting. The lather of the soap easily covered my hands and lifted away the grime. The feel of my hands after rinsing the soap is clean and refreshed. This is a quality handmade soap and well worth adding to your household or giving as a gift to someone you love - Mom, Grandmother, or close friend.

Since I don't have time right now for my favorite hobbies, soap making included, this is a wonderful substitute for the homemade soap that I loved.

#handmadesoap

Pulling Teeth

Ever have one of those weeks when nothing comes easy? Where every tiny detail of the week makes you feel like you are pulling teeth? Where nothing seems to go right?

This has been our week before Christmas! One highlight of the week though has been teeth. Chris, my son, decided that he wanted to try a teeth whitening kit. In exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion, Dr. Whitening agreed to allow me try their teeth whitening kit for free. We started our 7-day trial picture with this set of teeth last Friday.

Then our hellish week began. On Monday, my girls were home from school with a stomach virus. On Monday night, I sprained my back. On Tuesday, Chris had the stomach virus plus I had to be taken to the hospital because I couldn't even sit up on my own. On Wednesday, we thought the week was getting better, but Wednesday night, I caught the stomach virus and Chris got a second round of it. His lasted into today, Friday.  Because of his virus and all the craziness of our household due to viruses, injuries, and the holiday prep in general, Chris forgot to use the teeth whitener a couple of days.

However, his teeth did come out cleaner by today, Friday, the seventh day. Here is his after picture:

I truly believe that if we had a good week and had used the product each of the seven days as instructed that the smile would have been even brighter! You can see some improvements though with the time that we did use it. 

I would recommend it if you are wanting to gain a brighter smile. For more information, you can go to http://www.drwhitening.net . #DrWhitening

Relaxing on Sunday

No matter what happens during the week or how busy it gets, I do my best to make Sunday a day to rest, relax, and enjoy myself. Sometimes life throws some curves, and I have to pick another day or time to relax. However, for the most part, Sunday is THE day.

This week, I had a chance to relax with my new adult coloring book among other things.
#EnchantedForestAdultColoringBook
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0163M0W38

Adult coloring books have come to life recently as many adults look for new ways to relax while still sparking and getting in touch with their creative sides. I first heard of this new concept through my local library. They actually have one night each week that adults may come into the library and spend time together coloring. With children overrunning my home most nights, I don't know if I will ever get an evening to spend there, but I did find time on this Sunday to begin coloring in my new adult coloring book that I received free or at a discounted rate in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I decided to start with the title page.

This page was full of leaves everywhere. I picked up one of the two green colored pencils that I had on hand and got to coloring. Soon, I was satisfied that I had the first color complete.

Then I moved on to the next shade of green and the brown tree and limbs.

I finished off with a little pop of color for the two flowers, snail, and owl. The two rabbits became dark gray to finish off the page.

While this coloring in detail was very time consuming, I did enjoy coloring and completing the page. It felt very relaxing and satisfying.

Although this may not be an every week occurrence, I will color again in the future. I feel it so important for Moms to take time for ourselves to do things that we love. Enjoying my own hobbies and likes keeps me in touch with who I am as a mother, improves my mood, and my own self-esteem.

Do what you love as a Mom and make time to relax and be you!

Kitchen Knives

Since we are usually a paycheck-to-paycheck sort of family, our kitchen utensils have usually never been great. We cannot usually afford to spend money on new kitchen gadgets when we struggle each week and month to put food on the table and clothes on our back. I am not saying this to complain just explaining another reason why I started reviewing items for companies and how wonderful I think it is that these companies allow folks like us a privilege like this that we would not otherwise have.

This past week, we received free or at a discounted price this knife sharpener from Priority Chef in exchange for our honest and unbiased opinion.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LD196EQ?ref_=cm_cr-mr-title

We desperately needed this items as most of our kitchen knives were as dull the surface of a bowling ball! The sharpener worked great and in no time, we had all of our knives sharp and ready to cut through meat, vegetables, or whatever we decided to eat for the next meals.

The directions told us to put really dull knives through the larger slot on the left of the sharpener to take off the rough edges. It cautioned us to be careful because this side of the sharpener would take off chunks of metal.

Next the directions said to run the knives through the smaller slot on the right to finely sharpen the knives for use. Notice my hand model above sharpens this knife in no time! It took him less than 30 minutes to sharpen all of the knives in our kitchen and his pocket knife.

My teenage son wants to use it next to sharpen his pocket knife collection and his camping knives. Now we never again have to cut our meals with dull knives.

#prioritychef

Tasty Meals

Each night, I try to make meals that my whole family will enjoy. This is difficult since God made us all with different taste buds. One child loves vegetables and very little meat. One child loves meat and pasta but hardly touches vegetables. Another eats just like a typical teenage boy wanting burgers and pizza most of the time. We adults like a variety of course, a well-balanced diet. One aspect of the meals that we can agree on though is that we all like well-seasoned food.

We even enjoy the seasoning in different amounts however. Recently our family purchased the salt and pepper grinder/shakers shown above to ensure that we all can get the amount of seasonings we enjoy the best and also so that we can enjoy the freshest of seasonings. Regular table salt and store ground pepper just does not compare to grinding the pepper corns and the sea salt on your own!

<a href="http://www.tomoson.com/?code=TOP0a23b1a1113dac6ea4f7093f1a434569" rel="nofollow"><img style="display: none" src="http://www.tomoson.com/images/front/pixel.png" /></a>

These salt and pepper grinder/shakers by Moments Kitchenware are easy to fill, adjust, and use. After picking your favorite seasonings at the store, simply unscrew the tops. Notice the grinders in each top.

 

Once the seasoning has been added and the tops replaced, remove the caps to adjust. The center can be turned to adjust to a finer or coarser grind.

Then you easily can grind the salt or pepper onto your food.

The simple sleek design makes these grinder / shakers a nice choice for your holiday table or even for every day use.

We received these grinders free or at a reduced price in exchange for our honest and unbiased opinion, and we have found them to be easy to use and wonderful at grinding our fresh seasonings. Love them!

#momentskitchenware

Personality!

Everyone is different. Everyone is made special in the eyes of God.

The same is true with children. All three of my children have totally different personalities.

My oldest has a strong outgoing personality, but at the same time, he desperately needs time alone to keep him happy and functioning. He loves to tell jokes but does not do well if he is the butt of someone else's joke. He puts on a strong front but is sometimes fragile inside. Everyone initially loves him though!

My middle child has a quiet, sweet, reserved personality. She loves to sing, dance, draw, and write. She is very much into anything that would be considered artsy. She is my girly girl. She likes lacy clothing, pastel colors, fancy materials and fabrics, jewelry, make up, nail polish, and perfectly combed silky shiny long hair. She is the peacemaker whether it be at school or at home. If she is arguing over a toy with her sister's nine times out of ten, she will just give the toy to her sister instead of continue fighting. She has learned that you can have fun without fighting and that these fights are worthless. She is good at being a mediator when other children are fighting as well.

Then comes my youngest child. My youngest child has a very dynamic personality! If anything is strange and unusual whether it be a toy, animal, movie, or anything, she will inevitably love it! For this reason, Summer is getting for Christmas this year Ripley's Believe It or Not! Eye-Popping Oddities!

I look forward to seeing her face when she opens up this gem full of all the eye-popping oddities that she can imagine. She is still building on her reading skills, but I know this book is really going to draw her in with its unique pictures, colors, and different ideas about art and lift. I'm sure we will have many nights spent reading all the different sections.

Summer has always loved animals. She almost always picks library books about animals. She loves to bring home full documentary style books to read together about all sorts of different animals.  The fact that this book has a whole section on animals is going to enthrall this child.

Here is a picture of the Table of Contents. As you can see the book has many sections for hours of entertainment. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to review this book for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

 

 
Here is one example of stories that you can read. Sorry the Monster Earthworm picture is kind of on the dark side.

So if you have a child that embraces the oddities of life like my child does, why not get them their own copy of this fabulous book and join us in our zany bedtime readings?

http://www.amazon.com/Ripleys-Believe-Eye-Popping-Oddities-ANNUAL/dp/1609911369/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447445708&sr=8-1&keywords=ripley%27s+believe+it+or+not+eye-popping+oddities

P.S. The eyes look 3D on the actual cover. They really catch your eye!

#Ripleys

Dancing Divas? Not yet...

My two girls have both been involved in dance as early as three years old. At Limelight Studios in Wyomissing, PA, Candace currently takes Musical Theater classes, and Summer is taking a Jazz/Tap class. They both have taken many tap and ballet classes as well.

Recently when we were asked to review Ball Room dance and Beginning Social dance DVDs for free in exchange for our honest and unbiased opinion, we could hard wait to get the videos and begin!

One thing that we have definitely learned after receiving these videos is that WE HAVE A LOT TO LEARN!

BUT, that's OK because our instructors, Eldon and Alison, slowly break down each step to help learn the moves, AND since the lessons are on DVD, we can easily repeat areas that we struggle through and perfect those areas before moving on to the next steps. Although they are only 6 years old and 9 years old, my girls look forward to practicing and learning these dances in order for them to use them as they try out for plays, dances, and musicals at school and in the community. This weekend both girls will be auditioning for parts in Cinderella Kids and Matchmaker Jr performed by Genesius Theater in Reading, PA.  In two weeks, they will be dancing in the Christmas Parade in downtown Reading. They are always putting on plays for Dad and me as well!

Now they can learn dances that they might not have otherwise had a chance to learn, and I can learn right along with them. Although they have much to master, here is a short video of my girls learning the first steps of swing dancing. Hope you enjoy! #dancelessons

This video was taken while using the
Dance Lessons Starter Kit - Swing Dancing, Salsa Classes, Merengue & Bachata (4 DVDs)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S7155KY?ref_=cm_cr-mr-title

We are using a second set of videos that we received for review as well to teach us Ballroom Dance.  My girls always comment on the beautiful dances in the ballroom scenes of their favorite princess movies. Now they can learn to perform these dances as well.  Here are some photos of them trying to master the stance and the first steps of the foxtrot. #ballroomdancing

Ballroom Dance Mastery System: 

Step by Step Progressive Dance Lessons

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OU27QSS?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00

Again, we have a ton of work to do to master these steps, but we look forward to trying! So proud of my girls and their determination and hard work!