Carol's Corner

Frosty Mornings

2010-01-13T09:55:00.001-05:00

Its been a cold 2 weeks here in Florida and as it starts to warm up here at the end of the week I decided a macro of some of the frost would be fitting before its all gone.

Winter Slump

2010-01-10T15:51:00.002-05:00

So for the past week it has been crazy cold in Central Florida, this weekend areas even had snow flurries and sleet. To add to the fun of this I woke up yesterday feeling like CRAP. The going in and out of cold to heat has taken its toll on me and I've gotten a cold or something.

Its kinda of hard to stay up with a 365 photo project when your sick and don't wanna do anything but sleep. I did get a picture yesterday but did not process it.

On top of the cold and being sick I'm couped up in my house with 2 kids and 3 dogs and am losing my mind. I can't wait till it warms up enough for them to go play outside again and where I can let my dogs back out on the back porch to relax, I never really though they like being out there but now that they are stuck in here all they ask is to go out lol.

If someone finds my sanity please return it, my mind is missing it soo.

Bringing the family together a bit more

2010-01-03T22:35:00.000-05:00

Recently we have all been getting better at spending time together more, playing on the wii together, watching movies, shhh I haven't told anyone that this is making me a very happy Momma hehe.

Today it was quite chilly all day, the kids didn't even want to go out and spent all day inside hanging with me, I made them some cupcakes with homemade frosting.

Back to work tomorrow, back to normal after 2 weeks of odd days and hrs. Clearing up some odds and ends to end out the year and start a new busy beginning of 2010. The latter half of 2009 was slow and very costly at work, we can only hope for a great year this year.

As things progress with my exercise plans I'm learning more and more what joints seem to be getting affected by this arthritis that showed up this past year. First in my ankle with this weird numbness on my skin. And now in my one finger. I sure didn't expect this stuff at 30 lol.

Watching the news now and just keep hearing things that makes me question humanity. They just showed a story of a puppy that had been shot in its head and survived. WHO WOULD DO THAT?? :(

Toodles for now,

Already Slacking

2010-01-02T21:36:00.000-05:00

I said part of my 365 project was to do a blog post once a day and sigh here it is Jan 2nd and this will be my first post. Yesterday was kinda of a bad day, it was a rainy sleepy day and everyone was in a pissy mood and at each others throats. Probably why I didn't get to this.

Sooo anyways today was a bit better, we got some much needed cleaning done around here to start the new year off with a straightened up house. Even got Kason busy and he wiped down all the cabinets at his level in the kitchen, he did quite a decent job.

Went and got a card table set and now are using the chairs at the dining room table. The ones that were here when we moved in have long since crapped out and we just never got around to getting some new chairs.

Well gonna go relax my evening away and will try and post again tomorrow.

~Mom with a Scattered Mind~

My 365Project for 2010 ~ Happy New Year

2009-12-31T13:41:00.001-05:00

I'm kinda nervous about this and excited, I'm going to attempt a 365 project but more then just the picture a day, I'm going to seriously try to the extent of a vlog through out the day and also maybe, just maybe a blog post :| AGGGH I don't know if I will be able to do this lol

Anyways here is the link to my project blog http://365blog.carolscornerblog.info/ just an extension of Carol's Corner, Anyways please follow and give me encouragement. :D Starts 1st thing tomorrow morning with a sunrise pic to ring in the New Year and new decade.

HAPPY NEW YEAR YA'LL WOOOOO
~Mom with a Scattered Mind~

Contest Winners

2009-12-20T19:34:00.004-05:00

Sorry for the late drawing I've had a heck of a week sigh, anyways heres the winners.

Blog Comments Winner Comment #1 - Pat

Twitter Winner TheLuckyLadybug http://twitter.com/TheLuckyLadybug/status/6487927614

Will be contacting you guys

~Mom with a Scattered Mind~

Product Review - Fiber One 50 calorie yogurt & GIVEAWAY!!

2009-12-03T23:40:00.010-05:00

I was sent this very nice gift pack from Yoplait through MyBlogSpark with a coupon to get a pack of free Fiber One Yogurt.
I choose to get the KeyLime Pie and I have to say for only 50 calories it was quite delish. I have been currently following a diet where I need to watch my calorie intake and this fit in perfect as something to snack on after my walk in the mornings. I will for sure be adding more to my fridge at work to grab after my walks.

Now for one I have a link to offer you a coupon for $1.00 off so you to can go try this new yogurt CLICK HERE it utilizes coupons.com so you'll have to install the coupon printer if you don't have it already. They are available in a variety of flavors including, Strawberry, Peach, Vanilla and Key Lime Pie so you decide :)

SO here is where the giveaway comes in Yoplait has provided me with the information, product, and prize packs through MyBlogSpark and allowing me to offer TWO "Healthy & Fit Weight Management" gift bags that includes a Fiber One yogurt VIP coupon (good for a free 4-pack of Fiber One yogurt), cooler pack, and other storage items for you to carry your snacks and yogurt.

SO you ask what do I need to do to win one right?

Leave me a comment tell me some of your diet secrets, do they work? Or how do you manage your weight? OR What is your guilty snacking pleasure? shhh I won't tell hehe
Also if you print the coupon let me know which flavor you like best.

One last request tweet this pretty please. It'll get ya extra entries for sure. Make sure ya put @rose3694 somewhere in your tweet so I can track them and I guess post a link to your tweet in the comments.

I'll pick 2 people 1 from comments and 1 from tweets Sat Dec 19th, 9 pm EST so make sure you do both so you double entries.

Thanks,
~Mom with a Scattered Mind~

Book Review: Elena's Big Move

2009-12-03T23:23:00.005-05:00

Brittany Johnson with Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists sent me a copy of this book to share with my son and to get our opinion of the book.

This book is a very sweet story written by Sarah M. Oliviera, it happens to be a true story from when she was little.
She lived in Puerto Rico and her fathers job moves them to Indiana. Such a big change for a child and this book helps point out ways to help your child make a big move too. A nice story that young children can understand and at the back fo the book it is filled with tips for parents to help thier children with a big move.

My 6 yr old is picking up on reading quite well right now and enjoyed reading this as much as he could.

Below is the Press Release with more information on the book.

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Fragile: Handle with Care

Teacher/Author helps parents and children prepare for a big move

Munster, Ind. - For children, home is what they know best. They know where Mom keeps the Band-Aids, where they buried the fallen G.I. Joe in the backyard and even where to duck away during an impromptu game of hide and seek. It’s their growth notches penciled into the door frame and their finger paintings that hang on the wall. So what happens when they have to leave it all behind and move to a new home?

Author, teacher, mom and former new kid Sarah Oliveiri can help them find out.

Olivieri knows all too well that children are creatures of habit. After seeing countless new kids cower in the classroom, overwhelmed by the new environment, she decided to pick up a pen.

“I saw the need to help children and parents who are going through a move. Parents need ideas to help children make the transition to a new place easier. As a teacher, I see how frightened children are when they enter a new school,” explains Olivieri. “I wrote Elena’s Big Move to help children know that they don’t need to forget the place they’re leaving behind.”

She turned to a familiar story for inspiration—her own. Olivieri moved from Puerto Rico to Indiana when she was only 9 years old. The move was sudden and she didn’t have much time to adjust to the idea. Trading palm trees for pine trees wasn’t exactly easy. Olivieri recalls how jarring her transition to a new home was.

“I remember how scary it was to be the new kid on the block. This is my way to help any child who has to relocate to a new place. Children should enter the classroom with confidence.”

Elena’s Big Move (Synergy Books, 978-0-9823140-4-3, $16.95) tells the story of a 9-year-old Puerto Rican girl, Elena, who is moving to Indiana. Faced with the scary idea of leaving her island, she turns to her family for support. Her parents give her a camera and an empty scrapbook, assuring her that memories will travel just as well as her belongings. She photographs her favorite places, documenting everything from her school to her family’s favorite spot to picnic. When it’s time to walk into her Indiana classroom filled with new faces, Elena is braced by the memories she holds in her scrapbook. When her photos prompt a class discussion, Elena learns that home, even a new one, always holds both the past and an exciting future.

Elena’s Big Move provides more than just an entertaining story. With tips for parents in the back of the book, Olivieri encourages parents to actively prepare for a new beginning, even before leaving their old home.

SARAH OLIVIERI is a second grade teacher at Jefferson Elementary School in Gary, Ind., as well as a youth leader at First Christian Church, where she helps with at-risk teenagers. She was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and received her bachelor’s degree in education from Purdue University Calumet. Olivieri briefly worked as a realtor for Coldwell Banker where she encountered many families struggling with a big move. She currently lives in Munster, Ind., with her husband, Jose, and three children. Olivieri is excited to add ‘author’ to her job title and plans on writing more children’s books in the future.

To request a review copy of Elena’s Big Move or to set up an interview with Sarah Olivieri,

please contact Kelly Stonebock at (512) 478-2028 ext. 215 or kstonebock@phenixpublicity.com.

~Mom with a Scattered Mind~

Short animation

2009-11-25T10:52:00.001-05:00

This is a sponsored guest post written by Matt Kelland on behalf of Moviestorm. Post powered by Sponzai.

Moviestorm is enabling a new generation of amateur film-makers to realize their visions. It offers easy, affordable animation tools that can produce sophisticated high-quality films on practically no budget. After several years in development, Moviestorm has demonstrated that home movie-making needn’t be limited to cheap hand-held cameras and clips of the kids goofing around. Its virtual movie studio allows users to break free of the limitations of the real world, and allows them to direct, film, edit and distribute 3D animated movies without any knowledge of animation techniques or 3D modelling. And best of all, it's free, and comes without any copyright restrictions.

Iain Friar, known as IceAxe, is one of Moviestorm’s many successful film-makers. His short film, Clockwork, a dystopian vision of a totalitarian Britain after a Soviet invasion in the 1980s, is winning accolades and awards around the world, most recently the audience prize at the Atopic Festival in France and the Grand Prize at the Machinima Expo. Clearly influenced by both 1984 and A Clockwork Orange, with a visual style that evokes both Communist era propaganda posters and more recent animated movies such as A Scanner Darkly, it is a stark, powerful film that belies its modest origins.

Iain, who's 42, works in marketing, and started making movies just 18 months ago. “I’ve always been a hands-on person, in music, sport, and everything else,” he says. “I thought it would be fun to shoot a music video, but I’m not the most technical of people, and it seemed extraordinarily hard. I remember when computer games started using in-game animation to tell the story instead of video clips, and this interested me, especially now that game technology has become so sophisticated. So I bought a book, Machinima for Dummies, which had Moviestorm on the CD, and I was hooked. I liked Moviestorm because it did what I was looking for, even though I didn’t really know what I was looking for at the time, and the Moviestorm community was very supportive. I initially made comedies, but I could see that the movies people respected were more dramatic, so it seemed that was the direction to go in.”

He spent four months working on Clockwork, and then the same again on his next short, Cloud Angel, a steampunk thriller set on board an airship. Apart from the voice acting, he made the entire film himself at his home in Basingstoke, England. “I'm lucky that my friends are so willing to step up to the mike and read my silly scripts!” he laughs. His next film is Gridlock, a science fiction comedy which he is co-producing with another successful Moviestorm director, James Thorpe. For this, they’ve stepped up the production costs a notch: they hired a recording studio and got the local amateur dramatic group to do the voice acting.

Iain is realistic about his future, though. “Am I ambitious? Yes. Do I want to keep it as just a hobby? Well, probably yes, because I imagine that if it became a full time activity, the fun might go out of it. I make movies as escapism. That said, I think that this industry would be really interesting to work in, because it's embryonic; I'm not sure what direction it will go in. It's exciting!”

Moviestorm’s CEO, Jeff Zie, is hugely enthusiastic and supportive. “Iain and the many other Moviestorm users are an inspiration to us all,” he says. “We’re really proud that we’re giving talented people like this the tools they need to unleash the creative potential they never knew they had, and to produce these wonderful films.”

Try it and see!

You can download Moviestorm for free: Windows and Mac versions are available. If you want, you can expand your virtual film studio and buy extra costumes, sets, props, and sounds in their marketplace. If you've ever wondered whether you might be the next Tarantino, Ang Lee, or J J Abrams, now's the time to find out!

Christmas Wish - Help a Family

2009-11-10T09:52:00.005-05:00

This is something I would like to start this year with everything being so bad is pick a family that needs help each year. This year however it hits close to my heart. My very dear friend Crystal is having a really rough year. It started late last year around this time her husband lost his job and her brother who had a place they could live in, in Texas let them move out there from Florida and her husband found a new job. Well things started going really sour with their marriage after that move and by May he left her stranded in Texas with 3 kids 2 boys and 1 girl ages at the time 7, 5 and 3. By July she was desperate to get out of Texas at least close to family again and I help her find some really cheap airplane tickets and brother paid to send her back home to New Hampshire to be closer to family so they could help her.
Well they only i guess felt the need to help her through the summer, once school started the help eased off to weekends only and only when it is convenient.
She is finally getting child support but its next to nothing and what was originally agreed on, the State of Texas is now getting a part of it so she barely has any money to take care of the kids.

She is staying with her mother until she can find a place to live but that is going to run out as the place her mother lives does not allow people to stay over 2 weeks if they are not on the lease and they already got in trouble and told to get her out immediately.

But anyways my concern is to make sure her kids have a nice Christmas after the year they have had on moves and Daddy leaving and seeing Mommy worrying where their next meal is coming from.
I am sending up my box of Zhu Zhu Pets for her daughter because she sees them on TV and goes nuts and my son liked them but well he is a boy and got tired of them.

But basically I would like to put together a Santa Care Package for her so she knows Christmas will be fine.

The kids are Devon who is now 8, Dylan who is now 6 and Katie she is 4.

If you could donate anything for me to send their way I would be so much appreciative.

I myself am in a bit of a bind for Christmas, who isn't I know, so I can only hope that my blogging community can help me make her Christmas a little better.

I would say if you want I can set up a paypal acct but just let me know.

Thank You,
~Mom with a Scattered Mind~