The power of housewife word of mouth

Yet Another Awkward Holiday Item

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 02:00:00 +0000

I can appreciate the concept of having Jesus in your heart and it will help eliminate some of life's costly mistakes. That being said, I do not want to literally use baby Jesus to erase any mistakes I make on paper. It just seems to me that there are much better ways to represent the blessed event of Christ's birth then this tragic eraser nativity set that I came across in a Christian catalog (on the front cover no less).

These little erasers are also puzzles, which has me wondering, do their heads come off? That seems a little sadistic if this is the case. Not only can I erase with Joseph, but I can also make him headless! I can see me going through Becca's pencil bag and finding half a shepherd, or Mary leftover from a year of math work. How on earth does the true meaning of Christmas get expressed through these? Does anyone else find this a touch sacrilegious?

November 17: World Prematurity Day

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

As much as I wish that time hasn't flown by so much that come this Sunday I will be the proud parent of a sixteen year old; I am extremely happy to be living in this time in history for the medical breakthroughs that have allowed Regan to be with us this day. As many of you long time blog readers, family, and friends know she was born a 24 week preemie. With today's medical breakthroughs and technology she was able to breathe, survive and even thrive to be the stubborn and adorable teenager she is today.
This is why it is so important for me to jump on the bandwagon on World Prematurity Day to help bring to light some very important medical issues that preemies are particularly susceptible to.

Many parents of preterm infants are unprepared for the special medical care preemies often require. According to a March of Dimes survey, this is because most expecting parents don’t discuss preterm birth with their doctor during prenatal care, even if they are at high risk. On November 17 - World Prematurity Day - we’re hoping to help change this.

The main cause of concern for preemies is contracting RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), which in full term newborns is most often like a common cold because their immune systems are better developed, but in preemies can lead to severe sickness and even hospitalization.
I am happy to team up with MedImmune to bring you awareness of RSV and of how precious the health of a preemie can be. Here are a few facts to bring to light the seriousness of this issue.

RSV Quick Facts:

RSV is the leading cause of infant hospitalization, responsible for more than 125,000 hospitalizations and up to 500 infant deaths each year.
RSV occurs in epidemics each fall through spring. The CDC has defined “RSV season” as beginning in November and lasting through March for most parts of North America.
Certain regions have longer RSV seasons than others, with the season beginning as early as July (e.g., Florida) or ending in April.
Despite its prevalence, one-third of mothers have never heard of RSV.

So How do you protect your child from the evil RSV? The answer is really simple WASH YOUR HANDS PEOPLE!!!! Seriously, that is the main thing that spreads RSV, is hands and germs. So the solution to safely protecting your preemie through the dreaded winter germy filled months is lots and lots of hand washing from everyone who comes into contact with your baby.

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of MedImmune and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Algebra...Ready or Not?

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:25:00 +0000

Rebecca is at that age in school where you start questioning your preparedness for high school and down the road college. 8th grade at her junior high is the pivotal point where you can begin to see if you are qualified to take some of the higher level courses that will be offered. We are making our big leap into Algebra as the first course she will be able to attempt. She has started off her first six weeks with some major trepidation.
The first day of school she came home intent on dropping out of the class right away. I told her that she was naturally gifted in math and just to give herself and her teacher a chance. Several weeks have passed and she enjoys the class, although she will be he first to admit it is tough, and you should have a really good grasp on basic math before you take on Algebra.

According to Sylvan: "A critical gateway subject, algebra is the foundation for higher-level mathematics and science courses in high-school, which in turn can open doors for college and lead to better careers and lifetime earning potential

This is why I was happy to partner with Sylvan Learning center and see for ourselves how ready Rebecca was in fact for Algebra. at Sylvan online there is the FIT 4 Algebra preparedness test with several questions that you can see for yourself if your child is on the right path to prepping for higher level math. Rebecca took the test in about a 1/2 hour, and you can see for yourself how well she did from this screenshot.

Of Course we were thrilled with the results, and Sylvan's Fit 4 Algebra just confirmed what I thought about her math skills, but what she herself did not have confidence about. No one knows our children better than their parents, and we may sometimes see the potential where they may not. I would highly recommend other parents test their child to see the potential, or at least identify where weakness might lie to work on and emphasize. As for us...we are ready to take on Algebra!

I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Sylvan Learning and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

FyrFlyz...the YoYo has finally evolved

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 21:28:00 +0000

My house is living proof that you are never to old for toys. A few days ago we got this package from FyrFlyz at our house. We could not wait for the night to come to go out in the back yard to play. Now it took us a few minuted to get the hang of it, but this is the result of Becca having a ball with her FireFlyz.
The whole concept is kind of like playing with a yo-yo but on a whole new and improved level. There are all kinds of advanced level tricks that you can do once you have mastered the basics. Speaking, of here is the simple three step process to getting started.

The first step to mastering the FyrFlyz is to grab the two handles and spin the toy in large loops so that the string gets twisted.
Then pull the handles tight and the FyrFlyz will spin like crazy.
As it spins if you bring the handles close together and continue to spin it you camn make all kinds of cool tricks.

We have managed to figure out a few of the tricks, and have really enjoyed playing with it on the backporch in the evenings. I am excited that we have our hands already on one of the potentially hottest toys of the new holiday season, and you can get one too!. Right now FyrFlyz are available for purchase at ToysRUs and at Amazon.com. Try and see for yourself how you can light up the night with this newest addiction.

Disclaimer: The reviewer has been given a sample in order to properly report about the product in question, thanks to FyrFlyz and Mo Select. The opinions though are strictly that of the reviewer with no influence from either company.

The Curse of the Glasses

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:50:00 +0000

Glasses for Regan are a necessity of life in our house, and it has truly been both a blessing and a curse. The blessing of course would be that things are much clearer for her with them on, especially in her left eye which is the worse of the two. The curse being that Regan is the only one in our house who wears glasses, and so sometimes if she doesn't remember them, then chances are that no one else will either. To make matters worse since we sometimes give her time off of them like in the summer or weekends, and then when we really need them for church or school it is almost luck when we see them lying on a table as we leave the house or find them at all.

The downside for all of this is the we could use back-up pairs, but with the prescription changing minutely every year, she really can not use any of her older glasses. There has been the odd tragic school day when she resorted to a magnifying glass, and I felt like a horrible mother as a result. So a realistic and reasonably priced result needed to be found.

There is a great solution at Glasses.com a brand new site by the makers of 1-800-Contacts. They have a huge selection of eyeglass frames for women and the site is easy to navigate. I love that you can upload a picture of yourself and try all the styles on your own face. Regan and I spent a long time figuring out what color and shape she would like best and trying them all on her picture. We know she looks best in rectangular or oval shapes with thin frames, and that is the beauty of the virtual try-on because you can see for yourself on your own face. I also liked that they have free shipping and free returns, so if it doesn't work just send it right back at no additional charge. It is nice to be equipped with a back-up plan, and no more magnifying glass!

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by Glasses.com for which the writer was compensated.

Is there a Febreeze Support Group?

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 17:28:00 +0000

To say that my family has a Febreeze obsession is probably putting it mildly. It is strange how much that brand has become an intricate part of our lives. I have two bottles at all times, one in my house and one in my car because I can't stand smells in my car. Rebecca on the other hand has her own personal bottle, a room spray and her two bedroom Set & Refresh fresheners so she is probably more in need of a support group than I am. She even travels with her her room spray to youth camp this summer and insisted on spraying down our cabin at least once a day so that it would have the smell that she has come to love. The funny thing is the other day when we were shopping she wanted to buy yet another bottle, and I told her it wasn't necessary, and then she said she would spend her own babysitting money because she really wanted a particular scent that she claims smells like Skittles candy. The child really cracks me up!
The point of Febreeze in Rebecca's room is actually a necessary item. Right now she has volleyball practice at least four mornings a week with Games on monday afternoons. She has school cheer practice about twice a week with football games on Thursday evenings. She has competitive cheer on Sunday afternoons and a tumbling class Tuesday evenings. To put it mildly the child is a sweaty energy machine, and by the time I remove all the dirty clothes from the floor....it has still permeated the room. Febreeze not only spares our noses, but also helps her sleep at night without any offending oders. It fits perfectly on the nightstand without being obvious and since it suits her typical chaotic teen room decor. It doesn't stick out like a sore thumb and scream...I am an air freshener!

To prove my point, here is a picture of her nightstand and you will notice not one Set & Refresh by Febreeze, but two. The one closest to her bed on the left is the scent linen and sky, and then if you look to the right you will see her Hawaiian Aloha scent that she liked this summer. I asked her why she still had the orange one out on her nightstand and she replied that she just liked the color (orange is one of her favorites). But, since the Set & Refresh come with convenient refills I can assure you she will be adding no more colors to her collection just different scents.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Febreze and received a Set & Refresh unit plus refills to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Those Crazy Kids at Church

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 23:19:00 +0000

The Wednesday children's program at our church decided to update their rules for the kids attending. The youth and several young adults thought it would be fun to make a rules video by showing what would happen if those rules are broken. I should warn you not to drink while watching this video or you could spit water out all over your keyboard ( not that I did that....really).
I also need to add the disclaimer..the scene where it shows that you need to treat your Bible with respect...a real Bible was not used in this scene (of course out of respect).
Enjoy!

Twins

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:47:00 +0000

Authored by Rickey Combs

My twins turned fourteen last April. I have decided to go back to work. I know the kids are in high school, but I still have reservations about leaving them home alone this summer. I hope that I have raised them right and that they won’t be throwing any wild parties while their dad and I are away at the office. I also went to TOTALALARMSYSTEMS.com to check into getting a home alarm system. I would feel much more comfortable if I had an alarm system that I could set when I went to work in the morning. Being teenagers, the twins sleep in really late and I would feel much better about leaving them if I new that there was an alarm system connected to emergency services. Sometimes its hard to let your babies grow up! I try to remind myself that they are responsible and have never been in trouble. Also, only one hundred and fifty years ago, fourteen year olds had families of their own. They are excited about being home alone this summer. I just hope they remember the rules!

How Facebook became my Vital News Source

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:11:00 +0000

   On Sunday night I was at church with the girls happily involved in videoing the new rules for the children's ministry program we call Team Kids, when I received an unexpected text from John Mark. There were uncontrollable fires in his parents subdivision in Bastrop, Texas and they had just been evacuated. Armed only with my trusty iphone I immediately checked my news apps....and found nothing. I then turned to the Bing Search engine app, and found a little bit of news through the Austin news station, but not what I was looking for. All information I received came to me from my sister in Austin via text messages or John Mark with news about his parents.
   As Regan and I left the church for the evening (Rebecca was staying the night there to continue taping) I tuned in to my favorite AM news stations, and found the typical evening talk radio political programs. Didn't Anyone realize there was a wildfire raging through central Texas? There was plenty of news about flood updates on the east coast but nothing yet on any fire burning through our drought ridden land.
   When I arrived home I tuned into the San Antonio network affiliates and all I could find was their late night lineup with still no real news. Next I tuned into the Weather Channel, and finally in the midst of their evening updates was a photo of the massive blaze out of Bastrop Texas, but nothing about where it was headed and what kind of damage had been done. I ended up staying awake waaaay to late looking for some information and there was truly nothing to be found. There were massive evacuations going on and hundreds of homes burning....there were fires popping up all over Texas and I could find out almost nothing when I tuned into the media.
   By the next morning, I was completely frustrated! When I checked my Facebook though I started to get the real news of what was happening. This is because I found the Texas Storm Chasers page that several of my friends had "liked" and struck a gold mine. There were the actual people involved and affected by the fires updating constantly. They would post where new fires had sprung up all over Texas. There were tracking maps so you could see where the latest blaze had started. And if there was help needed in supplies or evacuating people and animals, this is where people were posting it. Unexpectedly Facebook had become my entire source for all the news I needed. So in this day and age the lesson learned is that for worldwide news there is still the necessity for FNN, CNN, and MSNBC....but if you want to truly know what is going on in your part of the world you better be in Facebook.

Game Time: Tackling the Past...the Family Movie is Back!

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 02:44:00 +0000

I am a big believer in family movies, and especially if they are about football a sport a truly love. Some of our family favorites include "Remember the Titans", "Radio", and "The Blind Side". it is touching to tell a story with a sport that is so all-american and relatable. Which is why I was thrilled to be able to get a sneak preview of "Game Time: Tackling the Past" brought to you by Wal-Mart and Procter&Gamble who are partnering for a series of family movie nights.

I don't want to giveaway to many details because i want you and your family to enjoy seeing it for yourselves, but I will give a few lessons that I learned.

All the fame, glory, and money in the world will not get you what is really important in life.
Family is everything and sometimes a tragedy can make you realize what you have had all along.
A moment of glory at the cost of someone else is never worth it.

Game Time: Tackling the Past is on Saturday, September 3 on NBC at 8pm ET/7pm CT. Looking for more information on family movie night and upccaoming events that your everyone can enjoy then go to http://www.facebook.com/familymovienight.

It is already set on my TIVO to record it for my family to enjoy with our tradition of popcorn and movie bonding, I hope after seeing the trailer that it will be set on yours too.

I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of P&G and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

If you Give Christine a Contractor

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:59:00 +0000

If you give Christine a contractor, chances are she will want a garage door repairman to go with it.

So you get the repairman to install a new door and fix the remotes, and all that electrical work will remind her that she needs an electrician.

The electrician comes out to replace two lights in the dining room, and the soft glow makes her reminisce about sunrises and sunsets so she decides she needs a painter.

Now the paint in the dining room glows from sunny yellow to deep gold depending on the position of the sunlight and she thinks the look will be complete with some crown molding.

With now a carpenter hired to finish the look completely it will remind her that crown molding would look excellent in two other rooms as well. so you agree to her whims and let the carpenter tackle additional rooms.

All this rearranging of rooms will make her realize she has way to much stuff cluttering the way and Christine will contact her friends to throw a huge garage sale, and completely pack up several tons of junk.

Having a garage sale means Yeah! Extra money....and wouldn't it be nice if the fence were repaired and some yard work done as well.

So to appease her you hire a gardener to help make the adjustments to the yard. Seeing all the beautiful work done reminds Christine that she needs to share the changes with others as she takes pictures to text and post to friends and family.

Talking to friends and family makes her realize that she really misses them and wants them all to come over and see the new house and yard so she starts to clean extensively.

While cleaning it gives her time to see how many changes she would make to the house if she could start all over from the ground up so she decides to put it up for sale.

With the realtor called and the house on the market the family will need a new house to live in.

....and chances are if you need a new house to live in you will probably need a contractor to go with it

Doing the Safety Dance

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:38:00 +0000

   Let me preface this post with saying that pretty much everyone in my house is a Facebook addict to some degree. It is isn't quite at obsession level for me, but I do like to see what my friends are up to on a daily basis. Regan would be on Facebook 24/7 if I let her and as grown up as she is at 15.....she is also very naive. If somebody posts a link on her wall that she can click it to get a "free i-pad" then she believes it because it is from her friend. She has a very hard time seperating spam from reality. This is partly why I am so thrilled to be a part of the Trend Micro Titanium Security campaign through my good friends at bzzagent where I have been an agent for many years. For a limited time right now you can get a discount when you purchase online at the Trend website by putting in the code "BZZ30" when you check out or if you prefer to purchase it yourself instead of downloading it from online then feel free to use this printable coupon from Best Buy that will let you save $30.

   So how can Titanium™ Maximum Security help protect your digital life? Here's the scoop.

Your devices: Titanium™ Maximum Security protects your PC, Mac and even your mobile devices
Your privacy: Titanium™ Maximum Security protects against malware, spyware, spam and other threats that allow cybercriminals to steal your private information like passwords, credit card numbers or even home addresses
Your family: Titanium™ Maximum Security provides customizable tools to help you keep your kids safe online
Your data: Titanium™ Maximum Security protects and defends your data with tools like the Trend Micro Vault, Secure Erase file shredder and SafeSync secure online storage
Your social network: Titanium™ Maximum Security automatically shows you what links are safe and malicious on Facebook, Twitter and Myspace

   So check this out....here is a sample facebook page and it shows the sketchy links in red and the links that are fine to click in green. Isn't that cool!

Now I have no worries about what Ms. Regan chooses to click, and I can add my iphone and John Mark's to our coverage at no extra cost! We will have full safety coverage on every online available thing we own...so excuse me while I take my safety dance break!

Today I am Experiencing Photo Envy

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 04:21:00 +0000

Hmmmmm....It has been one week since my girls started school this year, and I have to admit I am slightly bitter. Why? You might ask. Well for the first time ever they both refused to pose for me on the first day of school for an official picture. At the time we were in a rush to get going and I didn't push the issue. Believe me on that morning there was already enough drama going down without me trying to push that battle through. For instance Regan was unhappy with the breakfast choices, and proceeded to pout because I wouldn't let her throw it away and start over. Rebecca couldn't find her "perfect" shoes that were set to match her "perfect" outfit of choice. Picture taking was a moot point, I was just happy to get us on the road to school at all!
The bitterness really started to seep in later that day as I logged into my Facebook and scrolled through all of my friends and their gorgeous children all happily smiling out at me with their freshly pressed looks, and clean shiny faces. I sadly went through and liked all those precious photos. Then later in the day another friend of mine had the brilliant idea to just take one of her child after school....after all it was still the first day of school and even though she had forgotten before school it still counted, right? It was a brilliant plan....that I instantly forgot about right away. It was time for mom to do homework when the girls got home from school (Why is it that I always have more homework than they do on the first day back???). With paperwork all read and signed, and then supper to fix, and life just in general getting in the way the photo went completely out the window. I wonder if I could get them to sit still for a first month of school photo? That could still count as scrapbook worthy right?

Poking my Head Out

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:00:00 +0000

There is no other way to start this again besides just seeing what is out there and what I have missed during my blogging sabbatical. I know some of you will be completely shocked that I am entering the blogging world again after being gone for nearly two years, but life has come full circle again and I have found my peace. No worries, I will not be updating the last two years in this one re-introductory post, I will probably be backdating a lot of things that have happened during my time off, so if you occasionally want to check the archives you will find some updates there on my family, and in particular what is going on with Regan and her cerebral palsy journey.
Otherwise, the backlog of companies emailing me to please partner with them has never stopped while I was gone, so you will continue to see plenty of product reviews, giveaways, and in general information and my take on things. To anyone who is new to my site, feel free to read the articles in my archives to see what goes on in my corner of the world. I have missed my blog and I look forward to growing with it again.

How the Girls went from Carnivores to Herbivores

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:37:00 +0000

If you have read my post where I have gone Walkabout, then you know there were lots of struggles going on in my life when I decided to take a break from blogging and focus on my home situation. Here is the tale of how the school issue came to be resolved.

In the Spring of 2010, Regan was all set to graduate 8th grade from the happy little kingdom of Cougars, and we had no game plan for her. It is an issue I had put off for sometime hoping a solution would somehow just manifest itself to me. With her special needs in and out of the classroom, and her desire to be treated as normal as possible it was difficult to figure out what to do. Here were our three options.

Regan could go to the yard of the Bulldogs which is the town we reside in. The plus side was that it would be no effort to get her to school at all. The downside was the district has a lot of academic and discipline problems, and Regan requires a lot of one on one time. She also tends to be a follower, so I looked around at the kids who would be with her in her class, and found very few that would take the time to take her under their wing and develop a friendship with. Only two students from her 8th grade class would be going to that school and she wasn't particularly close to either of them. I was also worried that she would be lost in the large settting and not have the dream high school experience that I want for her.
Regan could go to the Comanche tribe located in smaller town 10 miles south of us. I contacted the school district and was informed that although they do not usually take in transfers, that they might be willing to include us and our circumstances. It is a much smaller school and Regan knew a few of the kids that would be in her grade, although none from her current school. It has an excellent academic record , and very little discipline problems. It seemed like a very probable choice, and one worth looking in to.
Regan could graze with the Brahmas located in medium size town 15 miles east of us. It was past the kingdom of cougars where I still intended to keep Rebecca for a while longer so I knew it would be easier to drop her off on the way. This school also had an excellent academic and discipline record. The superintendent was a good family friend who I had worked with for several years before she had changed to the bigger district. Most of Regan's classmates were going to attend here including the two she was closest too. When I called to discuss it with the superintendent she was thrilled to continue to be a part of Regan's education again, and it made our decision a little easier.

The final say we brought to the girls. I felt like they should have a part in their academic decision and know about all the options on the table along with the pros and cons. It was their future and I wanted to make sure they would be happy wherever we decided to put them for high school. They actually had a hard time with the choice of Bulldogs vs.Comanches vs. Brahmas, but it finally came down to the place that they knew more people, would have a really great support group of friends when they got there, and felt safe and academically challenged. So I guess you could say we just added two more to the herd....Go Brahmas!

On Walkabout

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:28:00 +0000

walk·a·bout

Australian .

a brief, informal leave from work, taken by an Aborigine to wander the bush, visit relatives, or return to native life.

For lack of a better explanation this is what is going on with me at the moment. I want to personally thank all my readers for their time and devotion to my site, and I do have every intention of returning at some point. I am not leaving though without at least some explanation for what is going on in my life so I have broken it down to three major things. I hope this answers the Why, Who, and What the heck???

Overwhelmed- For many months now a family member has gone though some serious medical issues that I have declined to discuss on my site due to wanting to keep the privacy of said issue in the family. For lack of a better explanation though it has left me just numb. I am not sure what the outcome will be and I am hoping that it is resolved , but for the mean time we are just getting through it.
Apathy- My gift closet is overflowing (even with Christmas just passed) with the latest and greatest in gadgets and stuff, My freezers are full with the newest tasty tidbits, my bathrooms are stuffed with whatever hygiene issues you can imagine....and honestly at the moment I could care less. This is not good as a review blogger where my integrity and honesty with my readers means the world to me. I need to get back to the place where I can't wait to tell you what I like and sometimes don't like about the things I try. I want companies who partner with me to know I am honest when I review even if it is sometimes to their detriment.
Stressed- Regan is about to finish her eighth grade year, and we have no idea what to do next. I know what I do not want for her as part of her life/school plan, but deciding what the next step is....I am clueless. My spiritual life has taken a tumble as well, and we are deeply unhappy with our current church situation. We also want desperately to finish our house and put it on the market, but until we have job and school decisions everything is on hold.

For all of these reasons, it has been a tough few months, and I have put this off for far to long. So my Walkabout is born of necessity, and hopefully soon I will back to you dear reader with a new and improved me.

The Power of Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:51:00 +0000

I get a looooooot of email from companies requesting me to post about things. Some of which I do especially if it interests me or I feel like it would be of interest to my audience. This is the tale of an opportunity I did not post about, but has as a result changed the life of a dear friend of mine.

My good friend Jennifer coaches with me in the evenings. She is a stay at home mom to three young children and has dreams of one day starting her own photography business. So when an opportunity came through my email about a world famous photographer having a scholarship contest to empower three women in a photography business. Complete with camera equipment, mentoring, and business help..... I didn't post about it, but I did tell Jennifer. I forwarded her my email and she grabbed the opportunity presented.

Congratulations Jennifer on being one of the three recipients of the SOAR scholarship and all that it entails. It was no accident that this happened for me to help put you on your path...... It's a God thing, I truly believe.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Can you Spell it out?

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:41:00 +0000

The joys of the school spelling bee. Yes, it is that time of year again and all children at the girl's school in 4th through 8th grade have the option of being in the school spelling bee.

Both Regan and Rebecca always participate, and never study....just wing it. Their past experience with doing it this way has been successful so far so I guess it is no-loss formula in their eyes.

The funny thing is that accents can get in the way terribly as was so aptly demonstrated by this year's contestants. Apparently the rules are vague with how many times the moderator can say the word and then you either understand or not as the case may be...and spell to what you thought you heard. Kind of like the game telephone.

English teacher says "Algorythm" child hears "outter rim" no matter how many times the teacher says the word. The teacher does have a strong south Texas bohemian (czech/german) accent. You just hope for the best. The top five students remaining that basically don't mis hear and spell correctly their words get to move on to the county level.

Both the girls made it through the first round with Rebecca spelling lemon right and Regan with the word guitar. The second round took Rebecca out with the word bureaucracy (she couldn't understand the teacher at all on this one....or knew what it was). Regan moved on to the third round spelling boutique right. Finally Regan went out on Rennaissance but still ended up in 4th place so she moves on to the next round at the county level.

She has decided to study a bit for this level. Wish her luck!

The Fruit by the Foot Race

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:35:00 +0000

It has come to be expected that when you spend the night at our house there is bound to be some wacky things happening, and you will leave completely entertained. Rebecca had two friends over and they had a ball with the eating challenge.

What kinds of fun things do the kids at your house do to entertain themselves and friends?

Food Memories Hickory Farms

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 03:25:00 +0000

When I was a kid I remember every year shopping at the mall for the Christmas season. One of my favorite stops when we made these rare excursions was the Hickory Farms store. There were always such great little taste testing stations. I would stare in wonderment at the wheels of baby swiss (my favorite), and roam through all the choices of gift baskets that you could put together for any holiday celebration.

I thought at the time (just like my girls do now) that there wasn't a much better gift than a huge basket of delicious goodies all in bite size packages. This year our Christmas celebration started early as we received our very own gift box.

You shoud have seen the girls faces light up when I unpacked this little box of treasures. The spreads and cheese ball I am saving for holiday parties that are coming up, but the meats and cheeses I sliced up right away for us to snack on and enjoy. There was plenty for us to have an afternoon snack and then perfect for the girl's lunchboxes.

...and before you ask, I did share the strawberries. I didn't become the candy hog I would have loved to be.

What a great start to our season. I can't wait to share the rest with our friends at the numerous parties we are attending. Not only am I filled with nostalgic memories, we have happy bellies and smiles on our faces.
I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Hickory Farms and received a Hickory Farms gift basket to facilitate my review

The Ultimate Party Meatballs Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:36:00 +0000

Tonight John Mark and I are co-hosts of a holiday wedding shower for dear friends of ours. It is technically a company party that encompasses all the different people who work for the same firm as John Mark and live in our area. We are a very close knit group and get together outside of the work environment all the time. I have been a little scatterbrained lately so I was excited to be part of the Mom Central blog tour for the recipe of Ultimate Party meatballs. What a perfect holiday appetizer to take as part of my contribution to the shower. I could let these cook in the crockpot while I worked on other appetizers to bring as well.

The ingredients are so very simple which I appreciate as I run around all day like I live in a mad house.

1 bottle Heinz Chili Sauce
1 Can Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce
1 Package of frozen ready made meatballs

Basically the extent of labor is opening the packages which I can definitely handle. The meatballs go on the bottom then pour on top your other two ingredients. I have my setting at low since I am basically putting these out of my mind for most of the day. I stirred it every few hours.

These are ready for me to take to the wedding shower with a bowl of party toothpicks. Easy to eat and great tasting. I can highly reccomend this recipe for holiday entertaining and the cranberry jelly gives it just the right seasonal flair. Enjoy!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Heinz and Ocean Spray and received the ingredients necessary to facilitate my review. In addition, Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate

St. Nicholas can you do Something about my Car?

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:39:00 +0000

Dear St. Nicholaus,

Thank you for your generosity to my girls they are thrilled with the nail polish, fun earrings, and hot cocoa they found in their boot this morning. I wish that I had taken the time to write you also. I hope it doesn't particularly matter that we are not a Catholic family but enjoy the tradition of you all the same due to my german heritage that I want to preserve for my girls.

In my letter to you I have but one wish.....a working vehicle that I can call my own. Since my wreck nearly two months ago, and the repair and subsequent breakdown of my car. I have been utterly frustrated. The second rental car decided to not start this morning just as John Mark left for the airport on a three day work streak in St. Louis. Once again I rely on the good friends in small town to help me out. One good friend helped me by taking Rebecca to and from cheer practice, and then two more friends came out to jump start the rental and take it back to the dealership leaving me another vehicle in it's place.

It is not that I am ungrateful for all the help, it is just hard to rely on others when all you want is your own car back, or to have it replaced so that you can move on. Please consider my one wish for this holiday season is to once again be self sufficient in a vehicle I can call my own. Thank You!

I can't believe I saw Snow today!

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:25:00 +0000

While I am so ~~jealous~~ happy that my sister and her family including my aunt and uncle are all having a wonderful time at Walt Disney World. ~~I hope every ride is closed due to unforesseen circumstances.~~ I can't wait to hear all of their adventures when they get back and look forward to the stories of my gorgeous neices and all they experienced.

Since I am not bitter in the slightest, I have to tell you we have been warily anticipating this day. For some reason the goofy weatherman insists it it going to snow today. Does he not realize I live in South Texas? I live here expressly because I hate cold and snow in all of it's forms. I never dream of white Christmases when I would much rather have beachy palm tree kinds of Christmases complete in sundresses and sandals.

Snow?
Here?

But yeah, it is freaky weather today and in typical South Texas fashion everyone is going beserk. Schools are trying to decide whether to close and we are waiting to hear if they will cancel my husband's company Christmas Party that we are to attend this evening.

I head to school around lunchtime, and my car is being bombarded with snowflakes. It is just nuts to me. When I got to school the kids were all running around joyfully trying to catch flakes on their tongues, and wishing it would actually stick to the ground, but no such luck.

Our snowflurry was gone by 1:00 pm, and it was clear skies from then on.
There have been rare occasions of snow this far south, but never this early. I wonder what that says about global warming?

For the Love of Advent Calendars

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:52:00 +0000

Two traditions are strong in my house as soon as December makes an appearance. The first is that both of my children require Advent Calendars.

The kind that count down the days until Christmas and behind every door is a piece of chocolate. These have long been a family tradition and pretty hard to come buy when you live in a small town. My mom and my sister usually find these wonderful little calendars at World Market and make sure to buy for several friends children as well.

The second tradition is St. Nicholas Day. Now we are not Catholic if that is your first thought, but instead I attribute it to my german roots. My mother grew up with tradtional St. Nicholas as a child in southern Germany. In turn, I was raised to write my letter to St Nicholas on December 5th of every year and place it in my boot (or actually we would use my dad's boots because they were much bigger) at the front door.

The next morning our letters would be gone and our boots had small goodies in them. My mom always included the traditional fruit and nuts in ours along with a small gift.

The girls wrote their letters and Regan's was wonderful making sure to ask after St. Nicholas and he was before asking for her three items. She even encouraged him to take a vaction after the holiday season and to keep those reindeer coats shiny with hair supplements. Rebecca's letter got straight to the point detailing items she deemed appropriate to ask for Christmas.

I should add that with all of Regan's gushing she asked for uber expensive items that she will not get i.e. a laptop, a cell phone, and a vacation to Disney. Rebecca's note in all of it's starkness covered a dvd, board games, and clothes. She is ever the practical one.

I can't wait to put them in their boots at the door and see what happens.

What holiday traditions start off your Christms season?

Eye-yi-yi

noreply@blogger.com (Christine) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:37:00 +0000

Regan has for years failed every school eye exam. Every year no matter what I get a phone call from the school nurse saying how badly her glasses are working and she needs a new prescription. Every year I call the Opthamologist completely frustrated that her lenses seem to be so completely off. After seeing the proffessional they always change her glasses prescription with just a tweak and tell me that her eyes look pretty good. Why is it that the school and the doctor are complete polar opposites on the eye frontier.

This year it was no different, and I basically was dismissive to the school nurse. I really didn't want to take Regan for the proffessional opinion when I knew it was going to be virtually no change yet again....but a dent in my pocket nonetheless.

But I caved....

And vented my frustration to the doctor that either Regan is testing badly with the school eye exam or we really were way off with her numbers. She just looked at me a funny, and said "Does the school know that she is pretty blind in her right eye due to her prematurity and retinopathy at birth?"

No
and I didn't know that either.....

Why is it something that has basically benn with her since birth and in all of her medical charts probably hidden in some obscure medical jargon had never been explained to me....or written out to the school in her file. It is crazy to me that at fourteen years old I learn something so completely new about my child, and one that really can't be fixed.

She overcompensates with her left eye which really works beautifully, and her right eye is a disaster. Boy does that clear up a lot with her ability to focus.

Well now I know and so does the school, and once again her prescription chnaged just slightly, but the opthmologist assured me the glasses she was wearing were just fine, but she would write me a prescription for me to get a current back up pair if I wished.