html404 - Faith and Family Reviews

Archive for html404

Miracle Treat Day at DQ August 5th

Posted by html404 on August 3, 2010
in Food and Treats

Treat yourself and kids in need Thursday, Aug. 5! Take a look at this email that I received from DQ:

Miracle Treat Day

Do you believe in miracles? Well we do, because next Thursday, August 5 is Miracle Treat Day at DQ®. On this day, you’ll have the chance to make miracles happen for sick and injured children in your area. All you have to do is buy a Blizzard® treat on Thursday, August 5 at a participating DQ location and $1 or more from each Blizzard treat sale will be contributed to your local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. It’s that easy. And think about the impact you, a Blizzard Fan Club member, can make. If each fan club member simply bought one Blizzard treat on Miracle Treat Day then we would raise over $2 million for kids in need. Pretty amazing, huh? Since 1984, DQ has raised over $81 million for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, let’s make this year a record-breaking year! Buy a Blizzard treat on Thursday, August 5 and make miracles happen.

Find participating DQs.

{2 comments}

Garden Tuesday: Look What We Have!

Posted by html404 on August 3, 2010
in Gardening, Health & Garden Tuesday

GardenTuesdaysButton

We have been having fun seeing all the different produce that our garden has yielded to us in the past few days, so I thought I would share with you some of what we have been seeing! (and eating! :))

Summer Squash…….

Garden and Blue Car Pictures 012

Cucumbers……..

Garden and Blue Car Pictures 005

A Orange Pumpkin………

Garden Pictures 030

Red Potatoes……

Garden Pictures 032

Broccoli…….

Garden Pictures 033

Zucchini……

Garden Pictures 038

Our bounty! Green beans, sweet corn, tomatoes and more!

Garden Pictures 039

{No comments}

Monday Motivation

Posted by html404 on August 2, 2010
in Family Stuff, Monday Motivation

mondaybutton

Last week’s Monday Motivation:

~ A friend I have known since 1988 is doing some great things to enjoy her four children and make lots of memories this summer. She has motivated and inspired me with the slow down of business to relax and enjoy my brood with some fun activities. Someone on our homeschool loop shared that area theaters are having $1.00 Wednesdays on certain movies, so the only two we were really interested in seeing were “Tooth Fairy” and “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”. And guess what? They are playing the next two weeks. I should also include this in a Thrifty Thursday tip, eh? We did it and it was a wonderful time for us. I loved listening and watching our children laugh and enjoy themselves, as we had to sit in two different rows to fit us all! The older children thanked me several times, commenting on what a fun time they had. Brownie points for mom, eh?

~ Go to the little beach within walking distance of our house and just play.

~ Weeding, harvesting….We did a bit, but not near as much now that I am in the “turtle” phase of my pregnancy. Yes, I am very slow. My poor husband who is 6 ft tall has to slow his long pace to mine.

~ 36 week midwife appointment Went really well. I got my oral vitamin K. Baby felt and sounded good. Blood pressure is good. And we are getting things ready for our home birth and for baby’s arrival.”

~ Celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary! I wrote about this yesterday. But we had a really fun time going out to Olive Garden for soup, salad, an appetizer and raspberry lemonade. We even brought home dessert (Chocolate Strata cake – a three layer chocolate cake) to eat while we watched a couple of movies.)

This Week’s Motivation:

~ Surprise the children with a trip to the mini golf place we went to on Friday! I just want to get these things in before baby comes.

~ Go to the movies on Wednesday for “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”.

~ Start going weekly to the midwife.

~ The older two girls have been asked to help at a farm dinner at one of the farms we have volunteered at, so we will not have our big girls for about three hours that evening. They haven’t been away since they helped at Grandma’s house, so I am sure they will enjoy it.

~ We have Men of Valor and Women of Virtue with our church.

~ The garden. We really need to plant a few fast growing plants that we started inside, just to see how they do compared to our direct planting in the spring. Things like lettuce….

{No comments}

Anniversary Celebration & A Movie Review

Posted by html404 on August 1, 2010
in Blog Stuff

“Choose your love and love your choice.” – Amish Proverb Suzanne Woods Fisher’s Mother

I read this on Friday and thought how appropriate to read this on our anniversary. Isn’t that what we do? We choose the love of our life and it is a choice to continue loving that person. This quote went right along with one of the two movies we watched Friday night after we went out to dinner and a round of mini golf, which by the way was a lot of fun! The 16th hole was so bad for me that I had 12 shots and set Robert under a pine tree to retrieve my golf ball! I had been winning up until that hole. Let’s blame mosquitoes and a pregnant woman’s need for the “ladies room” on my poor ending….hmmmm….

The movie that went along with the quote was, The Wager, starring Randy Travis and Candace Cameron Bure. Randy Travis plays an oscar nominated actor in the movie whose life quickly takes on a downward spiral due to circumstances and situations quite beyond his control. And the above quote would be a perfect quote for Randy and his wife in the movie.

This movie was about trials life throws our way. It is about the valleys we hit and our response to them and to God. It is also about the victory we have in Christ when He brings us through to the darkness and into the light at the end of those trials. No matter what we are going through, the Lord is there for us. He has a greater purpose for our lives than our finite minds can fathom.

We rated the movie 4 out of 5 stars. We really enjoyed it. I cried but my hormones are raging and any movie these days will cause the tears to flow!

My husband thought it was a good movie. He liked the fact that there was no nudity, no offensive language and it had a good positive message, and that the characters and their problems were realistic.

In a day when commitment/vows to one’s spouse is not always taken seriously and the divorce rate is 50%, it seems reasonable to do a little bit of reflection when anniversary time rolls around. Anyone married knows that marriage has its mountain tops and valleys, but what gets couples through those valleys? I think for Christians, the Lord Jesus Christ is the One who helps couples stick together. Secondly, both people in a marriage have to be completely committed to each other through good times and bad. Thirdly, couples have to have communication lines wide open so the little stuff doesn’t pile up and grow into big stuff that has had time to fester and grow.

In some ways it is amazing that we have been married as long as we have been, yet in other ways it seems like such a short time ago we were getting married in a small country church. We are thankful for the years we’ve had together and pray for many more to come.

{No comments}

Tribe Hummus Review

Posted by html404 on July 31, 2010
in All Natural Products, Food and Treats

I received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

I received Tribe All Natural Hummus to review and having never tried hummus before was interested to see how it tasted. So when contacted by the PR person and sent my free hummus coupons, I decided to try the Tribe Classic and was pleasantly surprised at it’s taste! It had a nice smooth taste to it and all my children LOVED it! Even my 2 year old. It was delicious! We have gotten Tribe’s Hummus two more times since when I received it to review. It is wonderful with all natural chips. We love this hummus! Thanks Tribe!

{3 comments}

Wanchai Ferry Entree Review

Posted by html404 on July 31, 2010
in Food and Treats

Disclosure: This dinner event was sponsored by MyBlogSpark and I was provided with the dinner, gift card, product and information through MyBlogSpark. My thoughts and opinions are my own. The decision to even write this post was completely voluntary.

As I stated in my MyBlogSpark dinner post, I wanted to write a separate review of Wanchai Ferry entrees, so I am finally writing getting to it! Remember they pulled a PR stunt on us and revealed in our fortune cookie that our entrees were frozen dinners! The thing is they were simply delicious. Truly, we never suspected anything was amiss.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Beef and Broccoli

We tried the Sweet & Sour Chicken, as well as the Beef & Broccoli. The vegetables in each of these entrees were crunchy and tasted very good. There were peppers, water chestnuts, carrots, corn, peas and broccoli. My husband isn’t here to run down the list, so I may have forgotten one or two veggies. The meat was tender and very yummy to our hungry taste buds. We loved the sauces too that each entree was saturated in. The only negative thing, as I mentioned in my Ben Pao post, was that my husband felt there wasn’t quite enough rice served with the entrees. From my understanding, the rice is included with the Wenchai Ferry entree.

We are looking forward to using our free entree coupons to try the rest of the entrees or the ones we already tried since the children have not tried either of them!

Again, we thank MyBlogSpark, Ben Pao and Wanchai Ferry for such a great dinner!

http://www.wanchaiferry.com/

{2 comments}

Recycled Mosquito Coin Purse and Keychain/Cell Phone Holder

Posted by html404 on July 30, 2010
in Eco Friendly Products, Fashion, Giving Back/Charity, Handmade Items

I have been using these two purses for a while now and really, really, like them! They look small but they hold alot! In the grey purse I have been putting my cell phone and other needed objects and I am using the black one for my keys etc, etc. The key ring with cell phone holder (pictured above) and coin purse are perfect to attach to the inside of five’s messenger bag. The key ring and coin purse features a five petal flower similar to five’s logo flower. The purses have a zipper closure.

These purses are from the new line made by a fair trade co-op in Cambodia, is made from recycled plastic mosquito netting, carefully washed and cleaned, originally used to protect livestock, safety netting, and brick layers used it as a sand sieve. They are recycled, Eco-Friendly and support needy people in Cambodia.

These purses are available from five ACCESSORIES. They are $15 for the black and $20 for the grey. For more info contact: info@fiveaccessories.com or call 312.504.3483.

{No comments}

Product Review! Zebra Pen Corp Pens and Pencils

Posted by html404 on July 30, 2010
in Fun Stuff

I received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

Cadoozles – Mechanical Pencils: These pencils are fun, colorful and are nice to use. My husband and I have been using them to balance our checkbook. 🙂

Daisies Ball Point Pens : These fun pens have very cute designs and I like the way they write. My teenage daughter really likes them they would make a great gift for any fun loving woman.

Regal Roller – 2 sizes: These pens are REALLY nice for when you need a nice fine tip pen. I like these and so does my teenage daughter.

* 0.5mmMicro Point Needle
* 0.7mmFine Point Arrow

I really like all of the pens and pencils I got to review! My family and I have been having fun with them. I love the fun colors and designs on all of them and the Cadoozles mechanical pencils. The only thing is the green and yellow-orange ink are harder to see than the other colors, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing especially if you journal or keep a diary! They are available at stores nation wide.

{No comments}

Thrifty Thursdays: Some Frugal Living Tips

Posted by html404 on July 29, 2010
in Money & Finances, Thrifty Thursday

Here are just a few frugal living tips:

Save On Your Water Bill: Save your rainwater for your garden by using a rain-barrel (or use a plastic trash can). Use the collected water for plants, flowers, vegetables and washing your car or truck.

Shop at garage sales, Walmart, clearance racks, and thrift stores instead of department stores for clothing and household items. You can find some good buys at outlet stores too.

Shop for bread and bakery items at outlet stores to save money as well.

Make your own birthday cakes instead of buying store bought ones.

Get rid of carpet stains: Using one part white vinegar to four parts hot water, pour the mixture on a carpet stain. Take several white paper towels folding them over each other and lay them over the area, then press with a hot iron. (You will want to work on small areas at a time — at least no bigger than your paper towels.) The vinegar and heat will lift the dye out of the carpet and into the paper towel. Your paper towels will turn the color of the dye you are lifting out so you can SEE it working. Keep pouring the cleaner on the areas and change your towels when soiled. Just keep this process up until your paper towels are no longer turning color. This method works for Kool Aid & other impossible to get rid of stains.

Dilute It: You can dilute your dish detergent and still get the same results. This is especially helpful if you have others helping you wash the dishes, and they aren’t as thrifty-minded as yourself.

Draw the shades or blinds to block the thermal heat of the sun through your windows. This will help keep you cooler, so you won’t need to use your fan or air conditioner, which will save you money on your electric bill.

Plant shrubs and trees so that they will shade your house during summer months. Doing this will help you to not use your fans and air conditioning as much, hence saving on your electric bill.

Have fun being frugal!

{No comments}

Wordless Wednesday- Baby Chicks

Posted by html404 on July 28, 2010
in Wordless Wednesday

{2 comments}

« Older Entries Recent Entries »