Showing posts with label Gifts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gifts. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Battle of the Grandmas

Battle of the Grandmas is written by Anthonette Klinkerman and is in appearance a children’s book. Klinkerman writes from a school teacher and mother’s perspective.

Klinkerman’s Grandmas are easily relatable for many adult readers of the story. It revolves around 3 grandparents and a young girl named Madelyn. In order to win her affections each of them tried to earn the title of “best grandma” by giving the greatest and most extravagant gifts to their granddaughter.

Through the telling of this story one can assume that the little girl must be the only grandchild based on the gifts that she receives. This story holds a definite moral for all of us. Physical presence and attention is more important that any gift that we can give to our child.

The younger the child, the happier they are with anything to share with you, whether it is a box, a craft you have made, a store bought toy, etc. Many times in a younger child’s life they will be just as happy, if not more so with the box the toy came in.

This story shows that all that the girls wanted was to be able to spend time with her grandmas, not the plethora of gifts she was receiving. She reached the point of gift reception that she began to dread getting a package in the mail. Their love seemed to be more for a façade than actual love to her because instead of being there with her, they were sending store bought “love”. Upon accidentally all sending their granddaughter the same book, this started an all-out gift giving trench warfare. The grandmothers started worrying more about competing with one another to send the best gift rather than what it was that their granddaughter really wanted/needed from them.

Battle of the Grandmas consists of 34 pages of full-length color cartoon-like illustrations. The story is told in a rhyming format. The lettering is easy to read and perfect for children with a slightly longer attention span in the age range of about 3-8 years old.

Overall I give this book 4/5 stars. I love that the moral is one of quantity over quality of relationships. It was a quick read, but it did seem more directed at an adult, and my 4 year old rated it low on re-readability. It is a great book to read if you are into teaching lasting values with your children, children’s book, illustrated books, sharing, grandmothers, gift-giving, etc.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Valentine's Orange Sugar Scrub

Liam and I decided to go with this awesome DIY (Do-It-Yourself) idea for Valentine's this year!  It is SO easy that Liam could help with the entire making of the scrub with me and only needed minimal hands off with preparing the jars!  The scrub is made out of a lot of normal every-day household items!  The jars we got at a craft store along with the glue gun and Valentine's ribbon.  The scrub is actually made out of all safe ingredients and is technically edible as Liam was exited to continually inform me throughout the process haha.  I must admit that my crafty side has been locked away for many years and this was the first time I haev used a glue gun in quite some time....  I definitely need more practice at it, and could have used more time for better perfection, but I think that they still turned out well for the first time in a long time.  With that said, if I can do this than ANYONE can!

Scrub Ingredients:
Makes 1 Cup
Zest of 1-2 Oranges (1 if regular, 2 if mini)
1 cup of granulated sugar
2 tablespoons of organic virgin coconut oil
1 tablespoon of organic extra virgin olive oil

I made enough for 4 Cups so you would just mulitply the recipe:
Zest of 4 Oranges
4 cups of granulated sugar
8 tablespoons of organic virgin coconut oil
4 tablespoons of organic extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
In a medium mixing bowl, simple stir all ingredient together until well blended.  My coconut oil is normally solidified at room temperature and that’s just fine.  Do not heat it up to melt it, as the heat might melt the sugar.  Simple mix all ingredient with a spoon and it’ll come together nicely.

*For my jars, I just bought 4 small (15 oz) candle jars, and a spool of Heart ribbon.  I used a glue gun to attach the ribbon to the top of the candle jar to make it have more of a Valentine's feel.  I will most likely add a nice small bow to the top of the scrub for the people I give them out to!  Feel free to customize it however you want!  You can do this for ANY holiday!

Get the ingredients out!
Zest your oranges!
Zesting is hard work
Add the sugar
Keep going!
Add the coconut oil
Add the olive oil!
Get ready to stir!
Mix it up thoroughly!
Get out the jars, ribbon and glue gun!
Glue the ribbon to the top of the jars
Add the scrub to the jars!
There you have it!  Orange Scrub Valentine's gifts!

Friday, January 31, 2014

DIY: Valentine's Ideas For Women

With Valentine's Day fast approaching I know that I will be spending another year without a Valentine.  I do not say this with regret, sadness or loneliness, just as a statement of fact.  I bring this up only because I want to do something special for myself.  I want a nice homemade gift from one of my favorite people in the world me!  And then an even more favorite person in the world can help me, my son of course!  So in the true crafty spirit I have found a few DIY ideas that will get the creative juices flowing and allow Liam and I to choose something awesome to create that I can enjoy on Valentine's Day!  I decided to write a blog about it because I know that I am not the only woman out there that loves a more personal gift, and what better time to receive than Valentine's.  Here are some of the top ideas that I have come up with and will pick one to do a step-by-step blog on in the spirit of Valentine's Day!  I would love to see other DIY projects that anyone else has come across and hear about any of your attempts to recreate these ideas!  Good luck and I hope that in whatever capacity you spend V-Day in that it is full of happiness and love!

Sweet Orange Lip Balm
This sounds delicious and doesn't look TOO difficult, although I don't think I need to make so much or but it in as crazy of containers.


 If you are interested in making this check it out at:
All Natural Lip Balm













If you would like a salve that was a bit more earthy you could make the homemade salve:

Directions here:
Homemade Salve












Kitchen Herb Garden
I know that there are MANY MANY variations as to how to make a quick and easy herb garden, but this is just one example. 

check it out here:

Kitchen Herb Garden







Bath Tea
I love tea and I love a nice hot bath...  So why not combine the two!  Bath tea, what an excellent ideas! 

You can find the directions here:

Homemade Bath Tea











Valentine's Day Journal
This may have been originally intended for a teacher and for V-Day but I could easily see this being made for ANYONE and using any sort of decoration.  I can totally see Liam helping me out on this and giving me an awesome hand print or something cool! 

If you would like to make your own check it out here:

Valentine's Day Journal









Soaks & Scrubs

I am down with either one.  You can never have enough of this stuff and homemade is always great because you get to chose your own scents and customize it!  So easy to do!


For the herbal Foot Soak go to :

Herbal Foot Soak Recipe
















For the sugar scrub go to:

Lemon Sugar Scrub

Monday, August 12, 2013

Werid Things for Sale on Amazon Part 1

We randomly talk about all kinds of weird stuff that you can buy on amazon.com.  So I am here to share a few of those things with you.  Along with some of their awesome review comments :)  Enjoy.  Feel free to add any suggestions for the next blog. 

The first item I randomly came across this evening was a Yodeling Pickle.  It is advertised as being for the friend who has everything except a yodeling pickle.  

A couple of great reviews I found were as follows:
"My twelve year-old niece asked for the Justin Bieber CD for Christmas, so I bought her this yodeling pickle. Nobody so far can tell the difference." -Sadie

"The yodelling pickle in my house appears to be possessed. Whenever I put it away in the kitchen cupboard it mysteriously appears in the top drawer of my wife's bedside table." -Flam

If you want to purchase the yodeling pickle from Amazon you can go to Yodeling Pickle

Next I came across the bacon adhesive bandages..  Yes they look just like bacon.  But there is a bonus within this product you can also find bandages that look like other awesome things such as Jesus, Pickles, Toast & Underwear to name a few.  This product online sells itself with the selling point of the incredible healing power of meat.  And also you get a free toy inside of the box if the bandaids aren't enough to make you feel better.  Who can go wrong with the healing power of meat and a free toy? 

Here's what some of the reviews had to say:
"Looking to add a little sizzle to your next flesh wound? Tired of the same boaring bandages?
Not to pork fun at an injury, but nothing strips the pain away like meating friends out dressed like this. "That's sow wrong, George!" they squeal. But fat chance they let such a pig idea go. In fact, they often rip it off quickly--after giving me the cold shoulder.
Perhaps it's time to climb out of this filthy pig pun. I can't help it: I ham what I ham." -George Takei 

*Hey if George Takei endorses it, it has to be good, right? 

"These bacon bandages are so realistic that they may cause secondary injuries. I applied a bacon bandage to moderate cut on my left thumb and within 2 hours, 4 people attempted to bite me. These bites required more bacon bandages, which, in turn , were responsible for more bites. The amount of bites per bandage applied rose exponentially to the point where I may die from blood loss. I am in desperate need of some liver and onion bandages as these would be appealing only to geriatrics who would be easily fought off." -Cool Hand
*Apparently caution is necessary as they may cause further injury if around your bacon loving friends. 

To purchase your own bacon bandages from Amazon visit Bacon Adhesive Bandages

Of course this wouldn't be a list of weird things to buy on Amazon if it didn't include canned unicorn meat!  It is necessary to provide the entire product description for laughs "No foolin' - Unicorn meat is real! Excellent source of sparkles! Rick Bite Unicorns, as we all know, frolic all over the world, pooping rainbows and marshmallows wherever they go. What you don't know is that when unicorns reach the end of their lifespan, they are drawn to County Meath, Ireland. The Sisters at Radiant Farms have dedicated their lives to nursing these elegant creatures through their final days. Taking a cue from the Kobe beef industry, they massage each unicorn's coat with Guinness daily and fatten them on a diet comprised entirely of candy corn. As the unicorn ages, its meat becomes fatty and marbled and the living bone in the horn loses density in a process much like osteoporosis. The horn's outer layer of keratin begins to develop a flavor very similar to candied almonds. Blending the crushed unicorn horn into the meat adds delightful, crispy flavor notes in each bite. We are confident you will find a world of bewilderment in every mouthful of scrumptious unicorn meat. Tasty Magical Beast Diagram Parts Unfortunately, due to restrictions on the importation of mythical processed meatstuff, we are unable to bring you Canned Unicorn Meat in the way the Sisters of Radiant Farms intended. When you open your can, you will find one tiny unicorn which has been appropriately sliced into its main cuts of meat. Simply use your Growth Ray to re-embiggen the unicorn before skinning it and processing its flesh. Or if you're lazy, just bring it to your local Mad Scientist-Butcher. He'll know what to do."

Here are some reviews on the quality of this product as a food source:
"When my shipment of unicorn meat from RADIANT FARMS finally arrived, I prepared the fragrant pate as a maki roll, wrapped in seaweed and spread over some sushi rice, with a little unagi sauce on top. This had been a staple during WWII when spam was standard issue in Hawaii, and it was how my cousins used to prepare it. Ah, the memories. I even had a half carafe of cold, unfiltered sake to pair with it.
Unfortunately, I found this unicorn meat brand to be quite similar to spam, both in texture and blandness. I'd been hoping for that zestier kick that comes from the rump cuts of other mythical and fantastical creatures, such as griffins or centaurs (for the latter, serve only the back half of the creature with guests, or it gets awkward).
Apparently, as Dateline recently reported, "farmed" unicorns are force-fed mostly genetically modified grains, rather than their natural diet of skittles and ecstasy pills. California in fact is ready to ban the practice and sale of such meat by referendum. Moreover, certain European countries were caught mixing in regular horse meat (yes, disgusting) so you never really know how pure the unicorn is.
I say stick with fresh. I highly recommend TOM RIDDLE brand unicorn steaks, which arrive still oozing restorative blood. Ground into patties, they make a great burger" -Geoge Takei

 *Good ol' George strikes again

"Don't order this product if you have a conscience. The unicorns in the industrial unicorn farms live in appalling conditions, in many cases worse than those of the pegasus ranches. Don't believe the propaganda of Lisa Frank and the other tycoons of big unicorn; all that awaits these poor creatures is the abattoir and the rainbow factory. Be ethical and buy (kosher) dragon meat instead." -V Zhironovsky
*Of course every review can't be positive, and there was bound to be some negativity on such a controversial product.  However I don't see why Lisa Frank had to take any flak on this one

If you would like to purchase your own Unicorn Meat you can go to Canned Unicorn Meat

After all this awesomeness I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to top the previous items until I found the Instant Irish Accent Breath Spray.  It is described as magical and giving an Irish accent within an instant by activating invisible language receptors in the mouth.

Here are some of the reviews:
"When it arrived I had a good laugh and I couldn't wait to show my friends. I took a hit of the minty spray and instantly sounded like an Irishman! I laughed some more and set the spray down and went about my business around my bachelor pad. A little while later my phone rang. When I answered it, I still had an Irish accent! My mom thought I was kidding around and eventually got frustrated and hung up. When we disconnected I was baffled, yet I suddenly had an urge to dance a jig! I didn't know what had come over me! It's been four days now and I still have the accent. It was fun at first. I was walking into pubs and ordering pints like a true Irishman! It's getting a little old now though. I wonder how much longer this will last? My friend's are getting tired of me spontaneously bursting out into a jig and trying to fight people.
EDIT \ UPDATE:
It's been eight days now and my regular voice is starting to come back. The urges to dance an Irish jig have subsided a bit. Now they only occur when I drink Guinness. I'm no longer trying to fight people. I did sprout a patch of red hair on my head." - The Biff

*As you can read, caution is warranted when using the Irish accent breath spray.  Make sure that you are in a place and have the time to really let this play itself out. 

"Yuck, I don't care if others said it worked, it doesn't. I tried it multiple times and nothing happened. it tastes like bad, expired peppermint and is a waste of your money." -Ivc
I am scared to say that I think this person was serious in thinking it would work.....

If you would like to give the accent spray a try yourself and see what kind of effect it might have on you, check it out at Irish Accent Breath Spray

Last but not least I came across the Anti-Monkey Butt Powder.  This conveniently comes in Original and Lady versions.  This is specially formulated to absorb sweat and minimize frictional discomfort.  The Lady version also advertises that it can minimize the frictional discomfort that women often experience when running, using exercise equipment, driving, or walking.  It is supposedly ideal for "butt busting" activities. 

Here are some reviews
"I use this on my 2 1/2 year old son when he has really gnarly poop and he gets a the equivalent of diaper rash. also works great if you get a chaffed butt from horseback riding or thongs. When i was pregnant my butt crack was sore all the time from sweat and having a fat rear. this stuff took care of the soreness in the first day."-Pippikins
*In my opinion Pippikins got a little too personal, but at least now we have more ideas of when to use anti-Monkey Butt powder.  

"This powder is unequaled in all of powderdom. Keeps skin dry and silky smooth, even in areas where perspiration is the most annoying. Lady Anti Monkey Butt has no talc, a huge plus for those of us who avoid talc at all costs. Unlike other powders, it lasts and lasts after application. The scent is so light as to be undetectable...and with the feel of luxury. Girls, don't be put off by the name."-J36
*Unequaled in all of powderdom?  I am sold.

If you would like to purchase some for yourself go to Anti-Money Butt Powder