Adopted Ed by Darren Maddern - A Book Review

What I Can Tell You:

This is a great book for kids who have been adopted or parents who are looking to adopt. Ed is a sweet little boy with big, beautiful blue eyes. Who is loved, well adjusted and understands that he is adopted. However when he starts school, he gets teased by other children but his mom makes it all better by telling him that "adoption is a great act of love. It's a gift from the Heavens sent down from above." This appears to make it all better until Ed suddenly feels a void. The picture of little Ed with a whole in his belly was quite sad. Again, Ed's parents with kindness, love and sensitivity tell him the story as to how he came to be adopted.

What I love about this book is how sweet and caring it is. It acknowledges the child's emotions and feelings without being overly wordy. There are loads of sweet pictures of his parents hugging him and the love they feel for him is evident. The story is short and not too wordy. It is rhymey and an easy read for readers 6 and over.

The book then ends with a small page of important, leaders, writers, celebrities and others who were adopted.

Very sweet book about adoption for children as young as 4 years old.

Perfect Holiday Gift Idea - AnyBook Reader from Frankin Discover

Yesterday I mentioned an upcoming review for AnyBook Reader and I am thrilled to be able to tell you all about it.


AnyBook comes with a selection of blank stickers for recording your voice. There are also stickers that have sounds recorded in them if appropriate to the book (dog, firetruck, rain, crying, etc). The stickers are made to be removed and won't ruin your pages. You can even re-record on them or order more if you run out.

You touch the button on the pen to start the record mode. You hear a few beeps and it is ready for you to record. That's it! So easy!

Last week I quickly and easily recorded two books so that I could carry it everywhere with me. My first stop was the school where I was meeting with my son's teachers and therapists.

I opened the first book and put the reader to the sticker. They heard the book being read through the pen and then I opened the next book to show them how the reader will read anything I record into the sticker. They all looked at me in amazement.

I was asked, "how do you get the recording". I explained that I touch the pen to a sticker that I place on the page, the pen counts down and I record the page into the pen by reading. They actually thought it was Ruby on the Max and Ruby book so they were at first confused. When I told them it was me doing characters that is when they were all amazed.

Everyone stated the same thing; they have seen other readers out there but you have to literally buy books from the maker of the pen. That is what makes this pen so much better! You can literally read/record your children's favorite books and they can hear you read to them anytime.

It is the easiest thing and so personal. I love this idea for military families especially but I think this is great for anyone. Perhaps your children don't get to see their grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends often. They visit you once or twice a year. They could read a book or two for the child into the pen and your child can hear them anytime they want.

Another friend had asked about the stickers and if they can put on other things. Sure, why not. This got me thinking how great this would be for a baby learning speech or perhaps someone trying to learn another language. Place the sticker on anything, record what it is and the person can actually learn speech.

Here is how easy it is:

What a great gift idea. Imagine a child on your Christmas list opens a book of books with the pen that you have already recorded the books on! This pen says "love".

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

1. What is your holiday wish for your family? I wish that we all spend the day together, opening gifts, playing with the kids stuff, taking pictures, being happy and listening to Holiday music. One day of bliss! I also wish for everyone to be healthy and happy.

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition? We put music on, light up the tree, set up the video camera (we have video of Christmas morning from way back) get the garbage bags and let the fun begin.

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be? Pay my medical bills for 2010, fix my intestine and let me be financially secure for at least a year.

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money? I wrap all of our Christmas movies, and Christmas books, put them in a basket and do 25 days of Christmas starting Dec 1st. The kids take turns picking a wrapped gift. We open it, and either read the book or watch the Christmas movie. It is a great tradition and allows us to experience Christmas for a whole month. I add one new thing a year, sometimes it's an ornament to hang on the tree.

5. What games did you play with your family growing up? We played cards and bingo.

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood? Unfortunately, I can't remember my family doing anything special. We didn't make cookies, leave anything for Santa, sprinkle glitter and oats for the reindeer, put on Christmas music or record anything.


7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip? I wouldn't really want to do a Christmas away. Christmas is at home! Home is where I want to be more than any place else. With my little family of 4. It is where I am happiest and most comfortable.

Self Portrait Sunday - November 27, 2010

Self Portrait Sunday is for you to post your photos of well....you. Come on, smile for the camera. You know you want to.

Quick snap with the Pinkberry yesterday. Today I was in no mood for pictures. Medical issues arising and need to shut down for a few to regroup with my thoughts. 

BTW, the shirt was very appropriate, wish I got more of it. It reads "Make Face Time".

Feed Me Books- Pinkalicious On Ice!

What I Can Tell You:

Author, Victoria Kahn has really created a fun, colorful, creative character with Pinkalicious. We love all the Pinkalicious books.  In this book, Pinkalicious has decided to color her skates with magic marker and for a second I was worried that my daughter upon hearing this would decide this was the way to make her shoes match her clothes. I trudged along, hopeful that Victoria knew what she was doing and kept reading without interjecting. Thankfully, the markers did what markers will do when they touch water and Pinkalicious had to deal with her skates changing and the embarrassment of "everyone seeing" her sloppy skates and the ice.

Goddess was worried for Pinkalicious and was upset that she was crying about her skates. "Poor Pinkalicious". Like every Pinkalicious book, Mommy and Daddy make it all better. Which is one of the things I love about this series. Pinkalicious is allowed to be witty, smart and funny without the cost of Mommy and Daddy looking like total fools. They always save the day. They love their little girl and make everything alright which is why she is so well adjusted.

My son and daughter both love Pinkalicious and with this book being a Beginning 1 Reader most 6 and 7 year olds will be able to read it with ease.

If you are looking to get your children or any child on your Christmas list books this year; WE highly recommend any and all of the Pinkalicious books by Victoria Kahn. We must not be the only ones because, they are never available at our local library.

Hallmark Movie - You Lucky Dog - Great Feel Good Movie for Dog Lovers

What I Can Tell You:
I am a big fan of Hallmark Channel Movies. They have a lot of heart and you always end up feeling good at the end.

Lisa played by Natasha Henstridge (Species and Species II) does a wonderful job of playing a humble city girl returning home in the wake of her mother's passing. She and her brother, played by Harry Hamiln have a wonderful, honest relationship and I loved their scenes together. The respect and openness of a brother and sister watching their father deal with his wives passing were beautiful.

Dad's cattle ranch isn't doing great and brother Jim decided to bring some sheep onto the farm against his father's wishes. He is hoping that the fleece will turn a profit but without a herding dog, the sheep are a problem.

Lisa heads to the animal shelter looking for a dog and adopts a dog she names Lucky. When she brings him home, her father tells her to remove the dog from the house.  Once Jim finds out that the dog was brought to the shelter by another herding rancher he tells her the dog must have done something wrong to have been sent to the shelter. 

Lisa looks into those big brown eyes of Lucky and knows he is special. Why wouldn't he be, look at him.

Lucky has a natural knack for herding the sheep which brings Jim around.  They discuss entering Lucky into the herding competition and hope to win some money for the ranch. When a fire breaks out after a wind storm, trapping some kids and Don, a man that Lisa is interested in. Jim and Lisa bring lucky to the scene. He herds the kids and Don to safety injuring himself in the process.

Finally Dad comes around and everyone is in love with Lucky. Dad finally explains why he didn't like dogs. It was his wife's dream to train dogs. She had a dog who he forced her get rid of after it nipped Jim when he was 2 years old. They gave the dog to the herding rancher who had gotten rid of Lucky which means Lucky could have been a descendant of the very dog his wife had to give away.
 
With a burn on his paw Lucky competes but doesn't win, however, because he is a hero, the herding sponsors Pedigree offer him the job as the new face of Pedigree dog food.

Beautiful story with a happy ending that will have dog lovers rejoicing and everyone without a dog, considering one.

ABC Wednesday - S

This letter is so much fun this round.
Monday I decided that school would have to wait, I was taking the kids out for our yearly mall visit to see Santa and spend the day together. We got to the mall at 10:12 a.m. and Santa was there and waiting. Well, they know it is not the "real" Santa. He can't be in all the malls, plus if you go to see Santa and the mall and then head out that same day to another location and they have a Santa, and he is not the same, what then? So, I have always told them, the truth; the mall Santa is not the "real" one.

Well, this year Goddess would have none of it. She is not rude but she refused to talk to "Santa". Granted he was a pretty pathetic Santa, we have seen some awesome ones over the last few years. This guy was a tiny bit bigger than Handsome. Who by the way had no problem telling Santa the 28 things on his list.

Sitting with Santa - Goddess was crying and very shy. Handsome not shy enough. He needs to learn humility.

Shy - She was so nervous she started quietly crying. In 5 years she has never had a problem meeting Santa. Poor thing.

We then headed out to a local garden center that does Christmas pretty big. We loved it and we loved this Santa.

Santa Statue - This guy was about 4.5 feet tall. We loved his face.

Siblings - They are so cute together sometimes. The rest of the time, they are fighting like siblings do.

Snowman - My kids ran to this happy guy. Who wouldn't love to have this huge snowman in their Christmas decorations this year.

The Happiness Project - What Makes You Happy?

My babies playing in the beautiful autumn weather, makes me happy.

Nella Last in the 1950's

What I Can Tell You:
I didn't fly through this book. It didn't hold my attention nor did I long to read it when I wasn't BUT, I found it very thought provoking. Nella kept a diary much of her life like a lot of us and wrote about the goings on in her life. I imagine that this is what my grandmother's diary would have read like if she had taken the time to put her thoughts down. To write in detail the daily life she led.

My favorite parts of the book were in the food details and how she talks about her husband. Such an odd relationship. So fascinating in how they skirt around certain issues not taking the liberties we take today with each other. There is a cordiality about how you dealt with people Not inserting yourself or sharing too much.  

Very interesting but not a quick read for me.

Stocking Stuffer Idea #1

Goddess and I were able to review two great brushes from Conair.

I have wavy hair and tend to pick it rather than brush it and Goddess has straight hair and I have always used a comb but that has changed since receiving our package from Conair.

There is nothing like a good brush.

For Goddess' hair we are now using the Conair Gel Grips Cushion Brush. It conforms to the shape of your hand for easy gripping. Believe me when I tell you that trying to get this girl to stop long enough for me to brush her hair is hard enough. I can't be dropping the brush while doing it too. The flexible cushion base prevents hair breakage which is so important to this little one's hair too. She has straight hair, one length and every break can be spotted quite easily.

It also smooths hair very nicely and is gentle enough to use on Handsome. He has eczema on his scalp so hair brushing can hurt him.

Beside it being one of Goddess' favorite colors, it is quite comfy to hold and very pretty.

The one I am using on mine is the Conair Tourmaline Ceramic Porcupine Round Brush. It comes in small, medium and large.

This brush also smooths and styles plus it has the tourmaline leaves hair shiny and silky. How you ask? Well, the brush uses finely crushed tourmaline, a gemstone that naturally releases negative ions, infused into the nylon bristles and ceramic barrel of the brush. 

Plus it is sexy red and is great for blow drying. Now that I have those bangs. I needed a round brush to help me style them. 

This brush is great for people like me with thick hair.

Ruby Tuesday - Christmas Decorations

Ruby Tuesday this week was really hard.
Today I headed out with the kids for our yearly mall visit (yup, once a year is enough for me) to see Santa. After the mall we headed to a garden/nursery/thingy that does Christmas pretty big! We loved it and will add it to our Christmas Yearly Ritual.

There was so much red on our stop that picking one photo is impossible.

Self Portrait Sunday - November 20, 2010

Self Portrait Sunday is for you to post your photos of well....you. Come on, smile for the camera. You know you want to.

City Girl Chocolates Has Made My Day And Your With a Sweet

While trolling Etsy the other day looking for Christmas gifts ideas and things to post for my lovely readers I spotted the coolest, idea I have seen in a long time. Really, not kidding. I love it.

City Girl Chocolates makes the cutest, hot chocolate melts and melties.

What I Can Tell You:

We had just returned from a very cold soccer field when I saw the box from City Girl Chocolates sitting on my steps. It was almost impossible to open the door, get the kids changed, throw their clothes in the laundry, make handsome lunch knowing what was in the box and how cold Goddess and I were.

I somehow managed to keep my eye on the prize while doing my Mommy duties. It was hard and I was dying to share with Goddess what was in the box but she would have driven me crazy so I waited until I was done.

We opened the box and wa-la. Behold the goodies.

Goddess couldn't wait and it took her a while to decide which one was the one we should try to warm up.

We are saving these little cuties for later.

Right now as Goddess sees this post she is saying, "those are are so yummy!"

Here she is while I was heating up the milk. Just a little excited no!?

It was really hard for us not to semi melt the chocolate and eat it right from the stick like a chocolate lollipop.

We loved them. Goddess thinks we should give them to everyone we know and believe me, if I could, I would. We are going to purchase some for our teachers and aids this year. Usually I make something, but I am dying to share these with someone.

The Sound Of Music on Blu Ray and DVD Combo - A MUST HAVE

I am lucky enough to have received a copy from Fox Connect. 

Growing up my family and I watched The Sound Of Music every year.  It is the true story (The film is an adaptation of a popular Broadway play which is based on the memoir "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers" written by Maria von Trapp. The von Trapp family are known for escaping from the Nazis in Austria after the Anschluss (the annexation and occupation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938) of a nun Maria, (need I say more as to why this is one of my favorites) who is sent to live as a nanny with the von Trapp family which consists of a father and 7 children. Mom passed away!

Maria is considered a bit of a will-o-the-wisp (whatever that is) by the nuns as they sing in one of the songs.

How do you solve a problem like Maria?
How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
How do you find a word that means Maria?
A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the wisp! A clown!

This is perfect because the von Trapp family have been going through nanny's quickly. The children are trying to get their father's attention and don't appreciate the way he runs his house like a ship! The captain only speaks to them by codes from a whistle he blows and they are to march around like "little soldiers".

Mary comes in and shakes up the house, getting the children to fall in love with her all while falling head over heels in love with the captain and vice versa. 

All this love is taking place under the threat of World War II.

The movie is beautifully written and with the help of a stunning soundtrack (one of the best in my eyes) went on to make millions (made for approximately $8.2 million, and grossing $163 million).

The remastered version of the movie was such a joy to watch. It was like watching it again. The clarity is amazing. You can see every detail ever missed. You can see each blade of grass as Maria stands on the mountain singing The Hills Are Alive!

This is really a must have for any fan of musicals but especially fans of The Sound Of Music.

Friday Fragments - Life In General

So much going on, this week flew.

Two half days for the kids for parent teacher meetings.

Handsome is doing great, his teacher is concerned about his comprehension and that he seems very disconnected at times. We are worried about the same thing as my long time readers know Handsome has come a long way and was in early intervention from 23 months old for a sensory processing issue. Socially he is doing amazing although his conversation starters aren't always appropriate. He doesn't always know that he is hurting someones feelings. Recently he has been interviewing kids in the class with, "so and so, do you like so and so." He lost recess this week because his teacher had to talk to him numerous times about this. Other than that we are working on his writing skills which have always been hard for him. His finger strength isn't great and his coordination and perception is a work in progress. His coordination skills have come so far in just a few months and I believe soccer is what helped.

His gym teacher says he is doing awesome and that bigger kids tend to be all arms and legs and sometimes grow before they have a chance to get used to their new height. This come from a guy who is over 7.5 feet tall. I felt like a 5 year old talking to him.

Briefly embarrassed while talking to the gym teacher when my phone rang (eye doctor telling me my contacts were in). I didn't pick it up but it is the theme from True Blood "I want to do bad things to you."

Goddess' teacher told me that she is doing great and we discussed how different she is in school with how she is at home. In school is never talks and is very shy. *cough cough*. Not! She was shocked to hear about the little crazy baby I have at home. I guess she is not Miss Personality there.

Goddess' creative skills are always discussed. She has an amazing eye for detail and her works of art make me very happy. She has started drawing word bubbles with her work. Cartoonist perhaps?!

Hosting a gift extravaganza through Mom Select for a bunch of moms soon. I am so excited. Everyone seems excited to be coming. Grab bag gift, food and door prizes. Hope it is great! It is only 2 days after my colonoscopy which is coming up faster than I want to think about.

Another infection over the last few months in my uterus. May, Diverticulits, August, Endometritis and now something called Bacteroides Fragilis. Woot! So fun! Not!

Loads to catch up on.

Reading a great book if I ever get a chance to get back to it. It is an ebook and it always takes me longer because it doesn't travel with me.

Won a few things in the past 30 days:
Susan Boyle Christmas CD from She Scribes
Popcorn Palace Giveaway from Show Me Mama
TwinkieMommie's Wand from SOS For Teachers
Dressbarn Skye giveaway from An Island Life.
Bratz Pampered Pets DVD and 3 Bratz Dolls from ToonZone

Feed Me Books- My Mommy Hung The Moon by Jaime Lee Curtis

Thanks to Harper Collins I received a beautiful book called My Mommy Hung the Moon by Jaime Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell.

What I Can Tell You:

I loved this book so much I decided to show you.

 

The book is beautiful written and illustrated depicting the love of a mother. Mother's are very special people with humongous hearts, capable of loving everyone. Parents, not just moms are heroes in their children's lives. This book is how our children feel even if they are not saying it. We may not be good at everything but to them, the little ones in our lives, we are.

Great book to read to your children, for your child and for yourself!

Alphabe-Thursday - I

INNOCENT!
Interesting.

The kids were outside playing last weekend when Goddess decided to make herself a leaf pile so that she and her brother could jump in. Her brother, being the boy that he is, decided to run through the mini pile that she had spent time trying to gather.

Her being the girl that she is, dropped her head and shoulders and sulked for two second. Shouted his name and started gathering again.

He being the boy he is, was oblivious to it all.

What I find so interesting about this photo is it could be titled; loss, sadness, heartbreak, defeated, devastated and your heart would go out to the sad, little girl in the picture. But, really it was a single second, a moment in time in between joy and laughter. My heart breaks when I look at this picture and I was there. If the photo was color, maybe the feeling wouldn't be the same. I shot in black and white so it would literally have to be manually colored for me to give you a comparison shot. This is what makes photography so amazing, so inspiring and so gratifying.  The moment was captured to last forever and the story that goes with the photo will be forgotten. In the future if this photo is spotted on the internet, on my flickr site, in a pile of photos long after I am gone. Will anyone know that this little girl, is completely happy, joyful and full or light? Probably not!

I Am A Proud Sex Blogger

Yeah, that's right. I said it. I am a sex blogger for My Pleasures and proud of it.



The holiday are coming and why not!? Really, why not give the gift of sex. We are all adults here right? Ok, well we should be so if you are not, step away from the computer screen little kid and come back when you are 18+.

I recently received two products that I will be reviewing in the next few days. I can't wait!

If I were playing sexy Santa this year, here are my picks for the girls who have been good to be bad this year.

I am a big supporter of sexy toys and think every woman should have one! So, Stella get your groove on. Add some adult type toys to your Christmas list this year. Why should the kids have all the fun?!

I am also, a My Pleasure affiliate so please, if you are going to be purchasing some sexy toys, remember to do it with me because it's MY PLEASURE to serve you. Get it? Do it with me? My Pleasure! tee hee...hee...hee...Oh nevermind.

Freshen Up Midday! It's Easier Than You Think

Have you ever sat with a bunch of kids in a car after a soccer game? I can tell you it is not pretty. Not a problem anymore, keep some of these on hand and toss them to the players. Quickly everyone starts to feel better including my nose.

Why should it stop at the kids?

Maybe at lunch you head out to run some errands, you get back to your desk and after all that rushing around, you feel nasty, tired and less than fresh!

Perhaps during your lunch break you head out to the gym but with only an hour there is no time to freshen up.

Sat in the copy room for over an hour and you are meeting your friends after work but you feel nasty and just want to head home instead of Girls Night Out.

I could come up with scenarios until the cows come home, there are seriously so many uses:

Throw them in your camping gear, hunting gear, boat gear, there is never a reason not to be your freshest and at less than 50 cents a wipe these are worth it.

These should be in every school, work environment and I am sure pretty soon, they will be available everywhere.

What Is Wrong With Todays Tweens?

Yesterday my dear friend a CCD teacher told me about an exercise she did with her 6th grade CCD class. They had to role play. She broke the class down into groups. Some would play the jocks, some the geeks, some the fly under the radar types, and so on. Her lesson was about the face we wear and what we show to others.

She walked up to a group and one of them told her he had the "flyest sneakers" or some such jazz. She then said as her character, "Oh yeah, mine are the a limited edition of the sneakers that are coming out next year" or something to that effect. The reaction she received was a "pretend" finger gun to her head and a couple of "bang-bangs".

She looked at her students like, "What, I got shot for saying my sneakers were cooler than yours?"

Is this a normal reaction for kids?  These days? Why? In 6th grade I was playing with my Barbies and watching the Brady Bunch. Drawing a pretend gun on my CCD teacher would have never even crossed my mind.

Then last night while trolling Facebook, I noticed a young, tween friend of mine had posted a few words, something to the effect of disappointment, hate, anger, blah, blah.." As I responded with a "Huh?" I noticed that there were people (friends of his) who hit "Like". They like this? Like?!

What the hell is going on?

Is it sensory overload, life, movies, video games, school, the news? What is wrong with the youth of America!?

Why are kids so violent, depressed, angry?!

Are they just misunderstood? Has society screwed up? Have things gotten so out of control that children at 12 and 13 would pretend to shoot their Catholic School teacher??

I just need to ask WTF?!!!

The Happiness Project - What Makes You Happy?

Not the best picture but we were holding hands, spinning in a circle and laughing the entire time. He looks so happy even though we had previously had a bad moment which he eventually apologized for.

Holiday Gift Idea - Christmas Jewelry

Look at these colors!
Perfect colors for the holiday. These red beads look like velvet.
This Lusty Sinner anklet or bracelet measures 9.5 inches and is made with stretchy cord to fit almost all ankles.

This bracelet is called Dirty Angel because of the red and white beads but shhhhh no one will have to know the real name. Call it what you want.

Purchase them for 50% off their original price by emailing me so I can change the price for you.

Each piece comes in a jewelry box ready for wrapping.

Headchefs for Little Chefs Plus A Giveaway

Aren't these guys cute? Have you ever seen anything like them?

Introducing Head Chefs!

What I Can Tell You:

These are really cute. For the first two weeks of owning them Goddess took them everywhere and slept with measuring spoon because she liked his color.

Do the utensils make the kids want to cook? Well, my kids always want to help in the kitchen but they make me want to cook. I love them. They are very whimsical and sweet looking with their adorable belly buttons and bums.

I love how colorful they look when they are lined up on my counter with their little suction cup feet, like my own personal kitchen army.

Goddess loved using them (you may remember them from this post) she shouted, "look mom, I'm kissing their butt!"

We baked a cake and she really loved being able to have "her own" utensils.

She felt grown up as I let her do the entire cake by herself.

There is something very sweet about little ones creating in the kitchen. The cake was awesome and Goddess wants a collection of Head Chefs. Easy enough since their price tags make them great stocking stuffers for this Christmas.

ABC Wednesday - R

This week ABC Wednesday brings to us the letter "R"

Running

Get Your Letters from Santa with Printable Santa Letters.Com + A Giveaway

We all know that the holiday rush sometimes overwhelms us we often forget the smallest details. Between shopping, cooking, visiting, parties, wrapping, etc, the days can get away from us and at the last minute we remember something that we now won't get in time for the holiday.

Imagine, you are sitting around a few days before Christmas Eve and you suddenly remember that your kids never got a letter from Santa. The horror! They wrote to him. They have received a letter every year and this time you forgot.  It will take 5-10 business days and Christmas is coming fast. What do you do????

As a mom of two kids with a busy schedule I can tell you this is often the case, and that is why I fell in love with a company started by two moms with young kids.

What I Can Tell You: 
Thanks to Family Review Network and Printable Santa Letters.Com, my letters are printed out. We received a code for Package 1, The Gold Package. The kids are scheduled to write their letters out this evening and put them in the mail tomorrow. On Saturday, I will have them check the mail after the Soccer game (after a call to Dad to put them in the mailbox), to see if there is mail. I can't wait to see their faces when they spot the envelopes.  (Pictures coming).

My favorite thing about Printable Santa Letters.Com is that there is no wait from the time you pay. It take only as long as it takes your printer to print.

Among the 8 letters to choose from, there is a First Christmas Letter and a Your In Kindergarten Letter. These are so cute! Goddess is getting the Your In Kindergarten Letter.

Beside the great product, the ladies are a joy to work with and extremely sweet and accommodating.

What a wonderful company and a great gift for a child that they will be appreciate and make them feel special and loved.

Whether you are a parent, an auntie, a grandparent, a friend, if there is a child in your life who believes or maybe needs a little reminder to be good because "Santa is watching", head over to Printable Santa Letters.Com and find the letter that is perfect for your child.

Tuesday Takes - Leaf Game

AlthoughI obviously need more photo sessions working with action such as this, it was great fun watching her throw leaves and dance among the falling few.

"Oh, the joy of childhood to dance among the leaves. 

Bending, Scooping, Throwing, Dancing, Laughing at the trees.

I remember as a child doing quite the same.

Me, my sisters and a cat, making it a game

Watching the leaves slowly drift around her

Makes my heart sing.

Hoping she will never loose the joy of just being.

.

Ruby Tuesday - These Boots Are Made For Walking!

This weeks Ruby Tuesday is a pair of my favorite boots. Damn I love these. They are 4 years old and I always got compliments on them. Payless!

"Warm and toasty all around

Oh, my boots they paint the town

Sitting, watching on the ground

Love my kids as they run around

This ode, to boots doesn't make much sense

But my toes wouldn't ask for less!"

Mellow Yellow Monday - Handsome!

Today was so beautiful. The weather, the temperature, the day as a whole. More importantly than that, Handsome apologized for something he did. It took me taking his Xbox controller away but in less than 10 minutes he was doing what I asked which was listening and apologizing. Why are kids always so difficult? Just do what you are asked to do. It is never anything complicated especially here. We let the kids be kids and don't expect much. We are very reasonable and fair. However, respect is demanded and appreciated when received.

Handsome had a fabulous time running and playing in the beautiful fall weather.

Child labor starts at home! Get to cleaning little man!

Norah Jones Collaborates with Some Legendary Artists on Her New CD

I have loved Norah Jones since Don't Know Why which by the way, I can't get out of my head today.

What I Can Tell You:

I can only imagine what this was like for Norah to do. Imagine being able to record with some of idols.  “A lot of the people on this record are people I've worshiped since I was a kid, and some of them are younger and more my contemporaries,” says Norah. “Even though the musicians are so varied, the vibe of the songs makes sense when we put them all together.” 

While listening to the CD I was reminded at how amazing Norah's voice is. She has such a calming tone. Her style is very smooth and jazzy while being relevant and hip. 

My personal favorites were Virgina Moon with the Foo Fighters. I am a huge Foo fan. Love Dave and the guys.  Such a sexy, pretty song and their voices were amazing together. Both very calm and breathy.

I also loved her collaboration with Willie and Dolly. I am a huge Country fan.  Baby it's Cold Outside would sound great if Norah did it alone but Willie just adds something to it. Love me some Willie.

Dolly Parton has always been a favorite of mine. I am an old time country fan and have all of Dolly's vinyls. Hearing her sing anything is always a pleasure. 

Great CD and I hope to see more artists collaborate. The meshing of styles, voices and genres is really fun and allows people to hear things they wouldn't normally hear or purchase. Great way to introduce young people to some different styles and hear some legendary singers. 

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Blue Monday - Blue Jeans!

Blue Monday  this week turned out being a shot I grabbed today. 

The kids headed to the back yard and I followed to keep an eye on them. Grabbed one of my favorite pieces to play with and took a few that turned out really well.

Children's Book Review - Chrissies Shell by Brooke Keith

What I Can Tell You: 
I read this last night on NetGalley and really loved it. This morning I read it to Goddess and we both loved it. The book is really about loving yourself and appreciating all the things about you that make you unique and different from everyone else.

We really loved the art work. It is colorful, adorable and the perfect accompaniment to a story beautifully written. The story doesn't rhyme which means the pictures really have to hold the child's attention and focus so that the story isn't lost on them. Goddess listened to the whole book and looked with wonderment even though I stumbled over some of the passages and words like hedgehoggy and flutter by firefly. 

I loved the message and explained to Goddess the meaning of the story because her focus was on the naked turtle, the bear wearing a turtle shell and how she was hearing God when we didn't see him in the story.

No matter what your age, the message in the book could relate to you. Always remember that you are exactly what God intended. You are perfect just the way you are. An important lesson that a few adults friends could stand to learn by now.

CHRISTMAS IDEAS-Street Angel Jewelry Showcase & Sale Items

Need some holiday gift ideas or perhaps you are looking for something for the fall!

Check out these inexpensive pieces from Street Angel on Etsy.

November Rain

Or I'll just end up walkin'
In the cold November rain

When I first looked at the bracelet completed, November Rain was the first thing that came to me.

It is almost 8 inches long and made up of various beads representing the colors of November. 

This bracelet sells for $8.99. Mention Maria's Space in the order form and I will drop it to $5.99

Autumn Leaves

The falling leaves drift by my window
The falling leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sunburned hands I used to hold

Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all, my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall

Growing up in Brooklyn, I listened to a lot of Frank Sinatra. This song was playing in my head the whole time I made these earrings.

These dangles are made with glass leaves and sell for $5.99 mention Maria's Space in the order form and I will drop the price to $3.99.

Forget The Last Meal, This Will Be My Last Dessert Ever!

 Decadent Cakes and Glazes

What I Can Tell You:
Tonight while my family was oohing and aahhing over the cake (we made the Decadent Triple Chocolate Cake) I said, "if someone asked me on my death bed what I wanted for dessert, I would say, "Duncan Hines, Decadent Triple Chocolate Cake". I kid you not. This cake was fun to bake. Two separate steps which Goddess took care of with her new HeadChefs (more on that later).

The first step was to empty contents of small pouch into a small bowl. Stir 1/3 cup water into dry ingredients. Stir until mix thickens. Set aside. Empty dry mix into large bowl. Stir eggs, 1 cup water and oil into dry mix until moistened (about 50 strokes). Pour batter into prepared pan. Spoon chocolate filling mix randomly onto the cake surface randomly. (for bundt cake swirl filling pouch into cake batter). Swirl the mix into the surface of the cake using a knife or spatula.

Begging for a lick of the spoon!

It was super easy and 15 minutes into the 30 bake time, the house smelled amazing. Goddess asked at least every 3.8 minutes, "is it done yet?"

Adding the good stuff to the batter before we swirled it in.

The cake was amazing! I had two pieces and only stopped because well, I could literally eat the whole thing and I would end up hating myself afterward. Another piece tomorrow though.

What's the sense in baking a cake if you can't like the spoon. No raw eggs in step 1!

A Moment of Randomness

GOOOOAAALLLL!!!!!!

Handsome scored his second goal of the season today. It made sitting on a damp, cold ground while entertaining Goddess worth it. 

He was so excited he screamed "yes" with a fist in the air. Then he and his friend hugged while ruffling each others hair. Love it! Such a confidence boast for my baby boy. Ok, my 7.5 year old but like I tell him, he will always be my baby boy!

I seriously need to start bringing the camera again. Haven't caught a goal on video yet. His reaction is so much better than the actual goal.

Last night he told me, I don't want to go to soccer! I told him he was going. He said, some other stupid comment and I told him to be nice, we just prayed. He said, "I don't like God anymore." I know that he says a lot of nonsense, especially tons of stuff he doesn't even mean. Random stuff like, "you don't know her" about a friend of mine for 4 years. "I don't want to go to school". Why?  Don't like school? "No, I like it, I want to go." Uggghhh, do you see the car? Yes! You did, what color was it? I don't know, I didn't see it. 

His answers are almost 50% of the time inappropriate to the question so I don't know why the God comment bothered me so much. I bothered me enough to revisit it in the car to the soccer game. Goddess, Handsome said he doesn't like God. That's not good right?" He says, "No, I like God. I like God a lot!"  Well, at least that eerie feeling went away. I didn't like the words hanging over our house like a dark cloud. I feel much lighter today.

I've got 90% of my kids Christmas shopping done! I feel so good about it. If I am unable to buy for anyone else, at least my kids are taken care of.

Filled out an online application for Borders on Friday. Ugghhh, took almost an hour to answer the 150 personality questions.

Friday at the school's morning meeting, the school honored about 10 veterans who showed up for the ceremony. Brought tears to my eyes when they were asked if they wanted to say something and randomly 4 stood to talk about where they served and the years they were there. 

One guys in particular said addressing the children, "If you ever want to do something nice for a vet. When you see them, on the street, in a street, take your mom or dad and say, I want to go over to that man and thank him. Saying thank you to a vet is the best thing you can do."  Such a beautiful, simple gesture. I would never think to do that. I would think that they wouldn't want to be bothered or made to feel different. But, maybe that is just me. That is what I would want. 

Goddess was asking questions about Pluto the other night and whether it is a planet. She then said, "when I get older, if I have enough money to buy a rocket ship or astronaut suit, I will fly to Pluto and explore it to see if it really isn't a planet.

Loved Letters To Juliet!

Never had a chance to post these gems of crazy chick Goddess.

Self Portrait Sunday - November 13, 2010

Self Portrait Sunday is for you to post your photos of well....you. Come on, smile for the camera. You know you want to.

Goddess and I at a Soccer game this morning trying to find comfort in the warmth of the sun. It was a beautiful day and Handsome got his second goal of the season! Woooo whoooooo...

Can't wait to see your beautiful face Freda!

Coming Soon - Mother and Daughter Date Night Idea

What a fantastic idea. One that I hope to implement. I believe children deserve one on one time with each parent and since I love spending time with my 5 year old now, I can only imagine how much better it will be as she gets older.

Flipped is a PG movie brought to life by the director of such uplifting films as Stand by Me and The Princess Bride, features a fun-loving story adapted from Wendelin Van Draanen’s bestselling novel Flipped, and stars the up and coming young actress Madeline Carroll (Swing Vote).

It is a coming of age movie set in 2000 about a boy and girl and is told in both their voices. I love first romance movies.

The Cellar by A.J. White

What I Can Tell You:
I loved it! It's a mystery. It's horror. It's young love. It's young adult. It's everything. A.J. White does a great job of creating an interesting story about sisters Heather and Meredith, who are high schoolers who recently lost their loving father. When neighbors move into the old Victorian house things start getting weird. 

New neighbor "living dead" Adrien and his "mother" Marie are interesting. All the girls in school find Adrien super hot but Meredith is convinced there is something up with him and she is going to prove it. Why did she see him digging in the back yard at night? Why is his mother never seen? Why are there bugs all over the house? Ravens? Flesh Eating Fish kept in tanks? 

The correlation between Romeo and Juliet and Heather and Adrien really works.

I think young adult fans will love this. Perfect book for ages 14+

The Three Christmases of William Spencer

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What I Can Tell You: This book may be small, 56 pages to be exact, however, the life lesson is massive! Happiness is an attitude. It is the way you carry yourself, it is the way you handle yourself. Choose to be happy and you will be. Look inside for your happiness and not on the things surrounding you.

In the first story, Billy is only 7 and his parents couldn't get him the sled he really wanted although they managed to get him one. When he goes to the popular hill to sled, he notices a boy named Vernon with "the" sled he wanted. Feeling sad and defeated he quickly cheers up when Gracie, a girl he likes asks to ride with him. Soon he is giving rides to everyone while Vernon is sledding alone. Billy's sled fits more than one and he had a great day.

In the second story, we find Billy and Gracie have married and they have a son. Christmas isn't great due to his mother-in-laws fall down a flight of stairs, the dog stealing the turkey, the hot water heating breaking, but Billy remembers someone he served with in WWII who was killed and realizes he has everything he needs.

In the last story, Billy is alone. Gracie and his son have passed away. He is sad and lonely and prays to God that this is his last Christmas until a surprise visit from a grandson and a great-grandson revive him.

This was truly a beautiful book. One that I will remember and talk about for a long time.

R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour on Hub - Check it!

If you have tweens who love R.L. Stine, you seriously need to check out The Haunting Hour.

R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour

You can expect the unexpected in this eerie new series from R.L. Stine, the master of kid horror. Tune in for a new live-action story every week. And prepare yourself ... for the thrill of the chill, nervous giggles, and the SCREAM you let out when someone -- or something! -- touches your shoulder on a dark and stormy night. Can you handle it? Can your parents?

What I Can Tell You:

I started out watching this with the kids, mainly Goddess who loves her Scooby Doo and has limited bad dreams due to it. However, After 10 minutes my husband and I agreed that this was just going to be too scary for her. She has successful been able to watch the R.L. Stine Goosebumps movies but this was about a doll! A scary, life size, looks like the recipient of the doll, scary! The doll literally looks like the little girl who receive it from her loving Daddy.

 Spoiled, Lilly is thrilled to have her life sized Lilly Doll. But when her mother takes Lilly from her as punishment, the doll starts doing things to get Lilly into trouble. Lilly knows the doll doesn't like her and "moves" and can't get anyone to believe her.

Goddess never saw the doll come to life and believe me this is a good thing. As someone who was always afraid of my dolls at night, this was s-c-a-r-y for me

Come on, look at this doll.

While I know this was for creative purposes, I was disturbed by the fact that a garbage truck ran over a (life size) doll laying in the street and dragged it, never stopping to call 911 on the potential child they just killed.

Very well done. Good performances and creep.

Alphabe-Thursday - H

H = Halloween
I haven't been able to post many shots of our Halloween this year. It was a very busy month. Between the town trick or treating a week early, the kids school parties, a parade, a Halloween birthday party, Halloween party and Halloween, it was nonstop.

H - Holding Hands