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Saturday Top Five Laughs- Join the Blog Hop with Mommyhood Chronicles!

Posted by html404 on October 26, 2013
in Blog Stuff, Encouragement for Moms, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Kids Stuff, Uncategorized

Please note: All of this up to #3 was written months ago, if not nearly two years ago, since my first and last Saturday Top Five Laughs was 2/24/12! I had good intentions of joining Saturday Top Five Laughs….

I keep meaning to participate in Mommyhood Chronicles’ Saturday Top Five Laughs but it keeps getting brushed aside for reviews and other things….not so this week!

Here goes my top five laughs of the week late February 2012/Early March 2012:

1. My baby’s laugh. He has this laugh when he’s excited. Whether he’s excited to nurse, eat or be put to bed. It’s priceless and makes my husband and I smile or laugh every time we hear him.

2. We had a few emotional break downs this week (that’s what happens when you have teen girls and preteen girls!) and my husband said, “I wish you all would stop diving off the deep end.” Our Amelia Bedilia matter of factly states, “But there’s no cliff to jump off of Daddy.” My husband says, “Yes, my little Amelia Bedilia” and I pointed at him and said, “That’s exactly what I thought!”

3. My rock star son wet his hair and brushed it dry so that it was standing up on end. He’s hilarious. I don’t have a photo of him, but I just took this one of my other son for the sake of this blog post!

Fast forward to 10/24/13…

4. My daughter cracked me up when she used a scarf to become Ninja O.

5. My youngest son has been giving us two thumbs up when he wants to say “ok”. We have no idea where he got it from because none of us do this on a regular basis. We prompted him for the sake of having a photo to share. 😉

Happy Saturday Top Five Laughs!

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Have You Tried Tai Pei Asian Food?

Posted by html404 on October 25, 2013
in Coupons, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Health, Home, Products for Dad, Products for Mom, Uncategorized

This blog post is part of a paid SocialMoms and Tai Pei® blogging program. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own.

We are usually a family who eats healthy meals we make from scratch. However, as a family of ten we can find ourselves busy taking care of animals, working on fixer upper projects around the farm, making CSA or egg deliveries or taking care of errands to keep our household up and running. It is during these times when our food choices may not be so healthy as we look for a quick and easy way to put a meal on the table. We tend to choose for convenience and fast preparation. Like Little Caesar’s pizza or more recently Tai Pei, since we were chosen to write this sponsored post after trying a few of Tai Pei’s products.

Children eating and enjoying Tai Pei’s Beef and Broccoli entree.

Jr. eating Mango Chicken. He ate everything but left the mango and sauce.

Tai Pei is a line of restaurant-inspired, Asian-style frozen meals. It is packaged in takeout-style and ready to eat in just five minutes (per box) and then let sit with lid closed for 3 minutes. This is to insure the meal is cooked all the way through. A total of 8 minutes and you have a meal on the table. That’s fast!

There are several different varieties of Tai Pei® products available: Entrées: Beef & Broccoli, Bourbon Chicken, Cashew Chicken, Chicken Fried Rice, Chicken Chow Mein, Combination Fried Rice, General Tso’s Chicken, Orange Chicken, Pepper Beef, Shrimp Fried Rice, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Sweet Teriyaki Chicken.

Tai Pei also has many multi-serve appetizers to choose from as well: Chicken Egg Rolls, Chicken Potstickers, Pork Egg Rolls, Pork Potstickers, Vegetable Egg Rolls, Battered Green Beans, Edamame, Mini Chicken Spring Rolls, Savory Chicken for Lettuce Wraps, Spicy Mini Chicken Egg Rolls and Mini Vegetable Spring Rolls.

If you are watching your weight, don’t worry each entrée contains around 300 calories, 8 grams of fat or less, and contains real ingredients including lean meats, crispy vegetables, brown rice and whole grain noodles. These are all good things but a couple of these entrees (Mango Chicken is one of them) also contains ingredients our family usually tries to stay away from (dyes, high fructose corn syrup to name a couple). Just be aware of that if you have allergies or food sensitivities. Read the labels first.

They have a new line called Tai Pei Asian Garden™ that includes: Hunan Beef & Broccoli, Chicken Fried Rice, Spicy General Tso’s Chicken, Ginger Chicken, Glazed Chicken Potstickers, Mango Chicken, Sesame Chicken and Orange Chicken.

Tai Pei is the only Asian brand of single-serve frozen entrées that are low in calories, fat and sodium, High in fiber and protein. All of that conveniently packaged in that single-serve takeout-style box. This unique style box should make portion control easy for you and your family to enjoy a meal on the go without the hassle of leaving home! “Good Fortune in Every Box™!”

Our children gobbled the following Tai Pei entrees up: Mango Chicken (new Tai Pei Asian Garden), Chicken Fried Rice(new Tai Pei Asian Garden), Beef and Broccoli and Orange Chicken. Orange Chicken and Beef and Broccoli were the favorites. The meat was tender. The sauce was flavorful.

If you are a busy mom or dad on the go, you may want to grab a Tai Pei coupon while supplies last so you can have something quick and easy for those busy nights you do not have time to make a home cooked meal for your family. “Good Fortune in Every Box™!”

For more information or to stay up to date on Tai Pei coupons etc. visit:

Tai Pei Website: http://www.taipeifood.com/

Tai Pei Asian Garden: http://www.taipeifood.com/AsianGarden/

Tai Pei on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaiPeiAsianFood

Tai Pei on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TaiPeiAsianFood

Tai Pei on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/taipeiasianfood/

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Perfectly Matched by Maggie Brendan

Posted by html404 on October 24, 2013
in Books, Ebooks, Products for Mom, Reviews, Uncategorized

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

Perfectly Matched by Maggie Brendan is the third book in the Blue Willows book series about mail order brides. It is a sappy, but cute story of Anna, a mail order bride and Edward, a clock maker, who live in Denver Colorado.

Like most newlyweds, who haven’t lived together before marriage, they have a time of adjustment; which is often hilarious, but also heart wrenching when feelings are hurt and miscommunication occurs. Edwards OCD (OCD – Obsessive-compulsive disorder – apparently emerged in 1877, did you know that?) was a major contribution to Anna and his rocky start, just as much as Anna’s spontaneity. They had to learn how to live a balanced life between the two.

It was interesting learning a bit of the history of the A.S.P.C.A. (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and Anna’s efforts to star the first shelter in Denver. Both were admirable.

I wanted to read this book because of my interest in mail order brides. I cannot fathom how women, girls even, could do this. Usually they left their families behind in another city, state or country. I mean, I did that but I knew my husband before I made the move. I have read the first two books of this series and thought the first was the best one. To me Perfectly Matched was a regular fictional romance novel. It isn’t a book I get excited about or would read again, unfortunately.

“Available October 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

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Minted Holiday Cards

Posted by html404 on October 23, 2013
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Holidays, Seasonal Stuff, Uncategorized

This is a featured holiday post.

I have always loved shopping for and picking out Christmas cards. Holidays have been the one way to stay connected with my friends and family in Canada, as well as the United States. I use to take great pride in writing notes or a family newsletter and including a family photo or just one of the children in our holiday cards. However, since I started working at home the task of letter writing, newsletter writing and getting Christmas cards ready has fallen to the wayside. It is one of those enjoyable tasks I had to let go. I love receiving holiday cards because it reconnects me with people I do not talk with throughout the year, sometimes Christmas is the only time we connect. This year I think I will be doing a flyer, but it will be for my newspaper customers. Apparently, some of them can be quite generous at Christmas time and I am hoping I have done a good enough job for them to feel like giving me a little something extra this Christmas.

What about you? Do you send out holiday cards? Photo cards or a family newsletter at Christmas or Thanksgiving? There are many card places online to choose from. This year Minted is coming to mind. I seriously contemplated getting an order of cards but with the nearly 300 newspaper customers to connect with I did not think I would get any family cards done. With my husband out of work, tasks that provide revenue take precedence. Sorry dear friends and family!

Minted Holiday Cards

The selection at Minted.com is better than I have seen in years. They have some really nice looking cards, not only for Christmas but also for Thanksgiving. Currently, they have a special going on 10% off on all holiday cards. Code: FALLHOL10, expires on Tuesday, October 29. You can buy now and upload your photo later. Cool feature, eh?

I love the cool shaped cards because they are different from the traditional ones, like this Christmas tree ornament style:

And this round style:

Though sadly the odd shaped cards take more postage for some reason! So much for being different.

You can have your cards and envelopes pre-printed – for a price – but if money is no object and convenience is your mantra, then the extra expense won’t bother you too much. If I had the extra cash, I would definitely take advantage of these services just to save time!

Minted’s site is very easy to navigate. Since I did not place an order, I cannot confirm whether or not the order process is smooth or not. I am assuming it is pretty straight forward from adding items to the my shopping cart and clicking through the process that way.

Don’t just take my word for it….check Minted out for yourself!

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Kittens! – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on October 23, 2013
in Animals, Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Fun Stuff, Home, Kids Stuff, Uncategorized

We had three little kittens born four weeks ago this past Sunday to our mama cat, Princess Moonstone (Princess or Prinny). At first they look like little rats, but they are adorable now and worthy of a blog spot. Ha ha! They are so hard to photograph because they wiggle so much! For the photos below I had to tuck them in my arm and have the girls take the photos. When I tried taking the photos with the girls holding them, the girls let the kittens crawl up their arm, their shirt and we were not getting anything but laughing (and frustration) done. 😉

Happy Month Old Birthday! (taken on Sunday, October 20)

From left to right the children have named them: Selene, Sir Hiss (actually should be Lady Hiss, doesn’t she look like a badger?) and Tabby or Freckles.

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The Good Wife – Hitting the Fan

Posted by html404 on October 22, 2013
in Entertainment, Products for Dad, Products for Mom, TV Shows, Uncategorized

I actually do watch The Good Wife. I don’t agree with everything in it but it is an interesting show with lost of twists. The all important question this season is…..which team are you on? Team Lockhart/Gardner or Team Florrick/Agos?

Personally, I am on Team Florrick/Agos because I want Alicia to fight for her marriage, but I have a funny feeling she and Peter are going to have more struggles ahead of the due to the woman hired to run his ethics committee. I also think Alicia is seeing how Will is treating Diane during this transition time and is becoming wiser in determining what she wants and where she wants her career to go.

For those unfamiliar with the show or do not watch it, here’s a synopsis about The Good Wife:

THE GOOD WIFE stars Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick, a wife and mother who reinvents her life following her husband’s sex and political corruption scandal. Four years into her tenure at the law firm of Lockhart/Gardner, Alicia accepts a prestigious partner offer from her bosses, Diane Lockhart, Will Gardner and David Lee. However, a mutual attraction with Will leaves Alicia conflicted after she agrees to renew her vows with her husband, Peter, who has won the gubernatorial election with the help of campaign manager Eli Gold. After much thought, Alicia agrees to leave Lockhart/Gardner to start a new firm with her colleague, Cary Agos, who is unable to convince investigator Kalinda Sharma to join them. Now, Alicia must find a way to balance her evolving career, her new position as First Lady of Illinois and her roles as a wife and mother to her teenage children, Zach and Grace. Emboldened by the prospect of taking control of her future, Alicia bravely ventures into unknown territory.

“The Good Wife” began its fifth season Sunday, Sept. 29, 2013 on the CBS Television Network.

About the upcoming October 27th Episode:

The heat is on as Alicia and Cary’s plans to leave the Lockhart/Gardner firm are suddenly exposed, with Diane getting suspicious, leading to a frantic battle for clients, on The Good Wife, Sunday, October 27 at 9:00-10:00pm ET on CBS Television Network. Will you be watching as the heat is on?

If you are a fan of the show, consider liking The Good Wife on Facebook.

This post was sponsored by the Role Mommy Writer’s Network.

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Cool City Threads and Giveaway!

Posted by html404 on October 21, 2013
in Children's Clothing, Gift Ideas, Holidays, Reviews, Shopping, Uncategorized

It’s getting colder and packing away the summer clothes is on my to-do list, as well as doing inventory of our children’s clothing to see what they need, what they have grown out of and what needs to be replaced. We just bought socks this week! I detest socks so we do not replace or wear them in the summer. Socks are so hard to keep paired in this family. Imagine 20 socks each time we all wear a pair!

Clothing makes for nice Christmas gifts too. Our five year old received a gift set recently from City Threads, which has a wide selection of cool weather clothing just for kids!

Here’s some quick info on their line of clothing:

– girls and boys everyday collection
– spans sizes 0 to 14
– known for twists on American style favorites
– includes tees, hoodies, cords, leggings, twill pants, underwear, pjs and hats

City Threads is a made in the USA children’s clothing company, making it a real American apparel company. It is family owned by a husband and wife team, Shayna Samuels and Joe Willis. Prices reflect quality. It is more expensive to produce clothing here in the U.S. than it is to outsource it to China, the Philippines or Mexico, but being made here creates jobs for Americans. City Threads clothing is well-made. They have children’s clothing for baby, girls and boys, as well as a big sister, big brother line for kids ages 0 through 14.

Unfortunately, I have not washed his shirt or boxers yet, but I am inclined to think it will wash up quite nicely from the feel of the material. I’ll update this post when I get them in the wash. I asked “Nook” to save his shirt for “nice” a.k.a. going out because he already has far too many “farm” shirts!

Below you will see “Nook” modeling up a storm in his City Threads 2Fer Football in Air Denim Blue w/Football Scoreboard Sleeves 100% cotton (retail $40.50) and Boxer Briefs in Elf Green 100% Cotton Baby Rib (retail $10.50) – we thought they were short shorts at first! 😉

I told “Nook” to pose in his City Threads and this is what he did:

Quite the ham, eh?

We really like these two items from City Threads. It’s a great line of children’s clothing. You can find City Threads on Twitter and on Facebook. For your information, City Threads offers FREE shipping on all orders over $40.

City Threads Giveaway

Enter to win a City Threads prize valued at at least $40!

Entry -Form

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3 Christmas Gift Ideas for Kids from Mega Bloks

Posted by html404 on October 20, 2013
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Gift Ideas, Girl Stuff, Holidays, Kids Stuff, Kids Toys, Uncategorized

I don’t know about you but I have been thinking about Christmas lately and the fact that I have nothing bought. Edit: Now I do as I was able to find a few items this week!. We usually keep gift giving simple. It’s cheaper that way. We like to get the children something fun, practical or something they need.

Mega Bloks has some neat toys and we received three for review. I thought they’d make great Christmas gift ideas for kids!

3 Christmas Gift Ideas for Kids from Mega Bloks

1. Mega Bloks Skylanders Giants

The Mega Bloks Skylanders Giants is for 5 and up but our five year old found it difficult and needed help. He loves it. I just do not think he has the perseverance to sit there and do it. There’s 294 pieces! Every time someone built it for him, our three year old would knock it over or destroy it. Yes, he’s a little booger and no we did not do a very good job of staying on top of teaching him NOT to do that to his brother. Parent fail. 🙁 I can admit it.

This Skylanders Giant is called Arkeyan Robot King.

2. Mega Bloks Barbie Build ‘n Style Pet Shop

Mega Bloks Barbie Build ‘n Style Pet Shop is loved by all our children ages 13 and down! It’s recommended for ages 4 and up. Our children all love animals and people figures to play with. Thankfully our seven year old is quite good at sharing!

The Barbie Build ‘n Style Pet Shop comes in a box that has a convenient handle (not shown in my photos), so its 94 pieces can easily be stored back inside the box. Our box is a little beat up and I don’t think my daughter stores her pet shop in it. I think she kept the box for the sake of keeping it and keeps her Barbie Build ‘n Style Pet Shop set up on her kiddie table in her room.

Barbie is missing an arm and her head. Again our three year old was blamed for that mishap. I’m seeing a trend here, aren’t you?

3. Hot Wheels Cars

Our two older boys got the Hot Wheels Cars. They come with a little zip cord that enables the cars to zoom around on the floor or table and the boys to have races with their Hot Wheels Cars. This is our ten year old playing with his car. Our oldest son claims our three year old toddled off with his car and can’t find it. 🙁 I’m sure as soon as I post this, it’ll turn up.

These Mega Bloks toys are definitely great Christmas gift ideas for kids!

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A Reluctant Courtship by Laurie Alice Eakes

Posted by html404 on October 19, 2013
in Books, Ebooks, Products for Mom, Reviews, Uncategorized

A Reluctant Courtship by Laurie Alice Eakes is a historical romance with a mystery twist. It’s actually the third book in Daughters of Bainbridge House series, which I thought I had read but must have mixed them up with another series.

I actually thought of Downton Abbey a lot (which I thoroughly enjoy, by the way!) as I read this book. English propriety. Social Standing. Prim and proper decorum…well…to a point because we all know scandals rock the English just as much as the next.

I loved Honore’s (the main female character) faithful companion who showed her love and devotion amidst Honore’s ostracized state. I felt bad for Honore and the judgement placed on her because of some poor choices in past suitors and the scandal they brought into her life. I had a love-hate relationship with the reluctant suitor, Ashmoor. I love the honor and devotion he displayed for his family but hated the reasons for his reluctance to court Honore. Whatever happened to believing the best in people first?

The mystery case really did not surprise me as I had guessed which character at one point in my reading.

As love would have it’s way, love did triumph at last, which is no surprise in this type of book. However, I enjoyed the humor, the scandal and journey of Honore Bainbridge and her suitor Lord Ashmoor. I’d probably even read this book again and am interested in reading the first two books of the series (ChristianBooks.com has vol. 1-2 for $4.99 + shipping!)

“Available October 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

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Etymotic BEAN

Posted by html404 on October 18, 2013
in Health, Products for Dad, Products for Mom, Reviews, Technology/Electronics, Uncategorized

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Etymotic. I received a product to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

My husband is older than me and it’s been a long running joke for me to tease him about how “old” he is, after all he is nearly five years older than me, so it’s my prerogative right? Thankfully he’s a good humored kind of guy and puts up with my teasing, not that he’s never teased me. Ha! You should hear the short jokes, the Canadian jokes and whatever else his twisted mind comes up with. But we love each other, don’t get me wrong.

Back to the age jokes…with those age jokes come the hard of hearing jokes. My husband really struggles with wax build up in his ears. Seriously, he should go more than once a year or so to get his ears cleaned out but he doesn’t. He let’s it go soooo long that if his bad ear is facing you or he’s laying on his good ear in bed he cannot hear what you are saying. He cannot hear what is playing on the computer when we watch movies or TV shows. I almost think he let’s it go so long so he gets a break from our noisy household!

Enter the Etymotic BEAN.

Etymotic BEAN

The BEAN is…

Designed to ampilfy quiet sounds
Requires no medical referral or prescription
Ready-to-use right out of the box – no adjustments, no controls to adjust
Two-position switch offers two levels of amplification: Normal 15 dB (decibels) or High 23 dB
Handles high-level music without distortion
Long battery life (10-12 days)

An interesting fact: “Etymotic” means “true-to-the-ear”.

The BEAN came with a few accessories:

Assortments of eartips (we did not use them all)
Filter tool (seen just above the little red filters) and extra filters
Cleaning tool
Leather storage pouch
#10 batteries and lots of them!
User manual

Comes with a 1 year warranty

Etymotic BEAN Review

I think my husband gave me a dirty look when the BEAN arrived and I told him it was for him to review. I don’t tell him when I get products for him to review because he’ll just forget. Better to tell him when it arrives. I just do not always have good timing!

Hubby’s Review

My husband said the BEAN felt too weird and amplified the children’s voices and noise too much for him. He also said something about the sound having a fuzzy background noise.

He hasn’t given it a second chance….yet.

My Review

The incorrect way to put the BEAN in your ear.

Yes, I even tried the BEAN. I have no hearing issues except when my children are being loud and I am trying to talk/listen to my husband or watch a video. The Bean felt weird in my ears but it did amplify the video I watched while using them. I could definitely hear better and clearer.

My voice sounded very is muffled when the Bean is in my ear. If they had an off switch, I could use them as ear plugs! Speaking of ear plugs Etymotic does have ear plugs and ear phones available in their product line.