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Stargazing #Brandcation #GulfCoast

Posted by html404 on May 19, 2012
in Blog Stuff, Business, Education, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, Travel

I have to finish telling you all about the rest of my Brandcation trip now that my house is quiet. My last post was about our trip to Adventures Unlimited, which we did during the day on Saturday, May 5. Two weeks ago today actually. Then after a dinner of subs we went stargazing. I don’t know what I expected but it was better than I anticipated and I thoroughly missed having my family with me because they would have loved it. Especially my husband and my second oldest daughter as she studies astronomy for fun and often coaxes us outside to see what she sees, but I don’t always see it that’s the problem!

Dewey and his friends had their telescopes and binoculars all set up in stations for those of us attending, which not only included our group but a few others as well. We were there to see what is known as the Super Moon. At the first station I went to Dewey actually had an accessory that enabled us to attach our iPhones to the telescope and take pictures and video It was so neat. I was able to text video and photos to my husband so they could share in the experience in real time, but of course from home. Dewey even put a screen on the telescope so he could make the moon look red, but I cannot remember why.

I believe the next station was of Venus and the clouds were covering it at the time so while I tried to see it, it was too late. 🙁 Then at the next one I was able to use these huge binoculars to look at the moon, I believe. See already starting to forget little details like that! Getting to look at Saturn was very cool and I so wished I could have got a picture of that but Amy from Grinning Cheek to Cheek did and offered to share.

The last telescope was huge and it was powered by the man’s truck battery, which I didn’t know they could do but it doesn’t surprise me as much as it struck me funny in an ironic sense that it could be done.

The beach was beautiful that night with a gentle breeze and full moon. I wished my husband was there for a romantic walk on the beach, but alas I enjoyed seeing the Gulf side of Portofino Island with Sheri from Kidsumers, Johanna from Mama Chocolate, Lisa from Between the Kids, Amy and a few others that I am probably forgetting were also on the boardwalk with us. I actually did go down to the water very briefly as it is said sharks feed at night and because of so many stories of sharks being close to shore in Florida and I did not want to be a shark snack. Therefore, I quickly felt the water because I wanted to see how cold it was at that time of night – it was warm! Much different than what I am use to coming from living on the Atlantic side for more than half my life, that’s for sure!

Many thanks goes out to Dewey and Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association for sharing their knowledge and time with us! It was amazing. It has motivated me to find local astronomers here to get help learning how to use a telescope that was given to us – thanks to one of Dewey’s friends for suggesting I do that! Oh and by the way Dewey and his friends do this on their own time and for FREE! How awesome is that?

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Memory Foam Slippers Review & Giveaway

Posted by html404 on May 18, 2012
in Bedding, Faith and Family Reviews Friday Giveaway, Gift Ideas, Giveaways, Products for Dad, Products for Mom, Uncategorized

During the winter and cooler days my feet tend to get cold. Having a nice wooly pair of socks or slippers helps keep them warm, especially on hardwood floors. As you all know, there are many different slippers to choose from and I have tried multiple brands and styles in my life. From ballet slippers to the slip on kind my grandmother wore. My favorite use to be ballet slippers but they were never warm enough. Sure were comfortable though! I had never heard of Memory Foam slippers until I entered a Nature’s Sleep giveaway a few months ago. Then I learned of their slippers and somehow got a chance to review a pair.

Memory Foam Slippers

I always thought Memory Foam was overrated until I won a Memory Foam product (stay tuned for an upcoming post about this product!). Can you say luxurious and comfortable? That’s how I feel about Nature’s Sleep Memory Foam Slippers too.

The slippers are basic in design with a softer sole made of thermoplastic rubber bottom and then the Memory Foam materials – upper/inner sole 80% cotton/20% polyester; lining 100% polyester. When the slippers arrived I was not the first to try them on, my oldest son was and if only I had video taped him! He put them on and said, “Ahhhhh…” in a sigh type voice. Then, of course, the rest of the children had to try them too and every single one of them that tried on the slippers had similar reaction. It was actually a few days before I got to try them out myself because some little person always had them on! As you can see from the photos, they’ve been worn.

Comfortable. Comfortable. Comfortable. Did I say comfortable? Oh yeah, I did! It feels like you are walking on pillows. They are very basic looking but my style goes for comfort more than fashion usually anyways so that does not bother me at all. I would definitely buy these as gifts. They are priced affordably at $25 for the open toe version and $30 for the closed toe version. Plus, both qualify for FREE shipping on Nature’s Sleep website. Please Note: This may only be for regular priced items, not discounted items so please check before you assume. The choice of colors is limited: pink, pale blue and sand. Sizes range from small to x-large. I got size medium and I wear a size 9 shoe.

Nature’s Sleep also offers quality memory foam mattresses, as well as pillows at their online store at www.Nature’sSleep.com

Be sure to enter the giveaway below to win your own pair of Memory Foam slippers! If you can’t wait, shop Now 50% off BEARS50 at Nature’s Sleep.

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

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2 Day Freebie!

Posted by html404 on May 17, 2012
in Books, Deals, Downloads, Ebooks

Get The Keeper FREE!

2 Day FREEBIE!

KINDLE NOOK

TWO DAYS ONLY!

On May 17th and 18th, Revell Books is giving away FREE copies of my new release, The Keeper for Kindle, Nook and other eBook formats!

Pass it on!

And grab a copy for yourself!

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Pest Control in Our Gardens & on Our Pets

Posted by html404 on May 16, 2012
in Animals, Farm Stuff, Gardening

It’s gardening season and warm weather is here, that means the pests are too. Shauna reminded me of some of these pest control solutions for our gardens and our pets, so special thanks to her for reminding me of these solutions!

For plants infested with insects, use one of the following essential oils. Fill a mist spray bottle with 4 oz. of water, add the essential oils and mist the infested plant. Several applications, a few days apart, may be necessary. (Use as little as possible). These same suggestions may be used on our pets as well. I know we have been using a combination of Purification, Citronella, Eucalyptus and Cedarwood on Padfoot, our puppy. We have found a couple of ticks on him, the children are very good about brushing him, and we put a drop of Purification on the spot where the tick was attached to cleanse that area. Cats can be more sensitive to the oils, so use very little on them. Just putting the oils on your hands, rubbing them together and then running your hands over their fur is enough for them. We are assuming the same thing for rabbits so plan to use the oils the same way on our bunnies.

He’s getting big, this was taken a couple weeks ago!

Here’s one of Padfoot just taken as I type up this post:

Our cutie pie! He provides much entertainment!

Pest Control in Our Gardens & on Our Pets

Spearmint: ants, aphids, caterpillars, black flea beetle, gnats, lice, moths, and plant lice.

Peppermint: ants, aphids, bean beetle, cabbage root fly, caterpillars, black flee beetle, flies, lice, moths, and plant lice.

Lemongrass: black flea beetle, fleas, mosquitoes, and ticks.

Tansy: black fly, carrot fly, fleas, flies, greenfly, mosquitoes, and white fly.

Hyssop: aphids, cabbage root fly, moths, and slugs.

Thyme: bean beetle, cabbage root fly, cutworm, and ticks.

Sage: cabbage root fly, cutworm, nematodes, ticks, and white fly.

Rosemary: cabbage root fly and carrot fly.

Patchouli: gnats, snails, weevils, and woolly aphids.

Pine: slugs, snails, and wooly aphids.

Sandalwood: weevils and wooly aphids.

If you ever order Young Living Essential Oils, I would appreciate you using my distributor number #1038605. This is my referral number and I receive credit when you use my number when you place an order at www.youngliving.org/robnt – Thank you!

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New and Improved Huggies Diapers and Wipes

Posted by html404 on May 16, 2012
in Baby Products, Diapers and Accessories, Family Stuff

The diaper dilemma. There are so many diapers on the market, many of the off brands are made by the same manufacturer just under a brand name – don’t ask me which ones because I don’t know the answer! 🙂 Then there are cloth diapers and the choices seem endless compared to what they were 15-20 years ago when all we had were saftey pins and a rectangle piece of cloth and maybe a velcro version if we sewed or could find someone else who had them.

We have tried many diapers over the years and until our last little guy were mostly cloth diapering parents, but my husband got into the grove of buying disposable diapers after his mom supplied us with a couple months worth of diapers after our youngest was born in 2010. Since then we have used Huggies. For some reason they did not leak as much on baby, nor did they get that gel gunk all over my son’s bottom. We just grew to love them. I also like the fact that Huggies offers an eco-friendly version, which I have tried a few times and like just as much if not more because they are eco-friendly. They are just a little pricer for what I want to pay for disposable diapers, after all we just throw them away, right? (wry smile)

The new and improved Huggies diapers, Snug and Dry, and wipes are just as good, if not better than the former versions. I find food does not get stuck on the outside of the diaper as much, nor do they “pill” with that fuzzyiness as much. We have only been using them a week, but we definitely like what we are seeing so far! Try them and see for yourself! 😉

My little guy motored around in his Little Tykes car, ran around the garden, sat on the ground and you could barely tell he had been outside, unless he got wet. Then you could tell!

See my poor drooping plants there in the foreground…so need to get them all into the ground!

The wipes seem to have a different scent, at least the ones I received. I usually buy the Aloe scented ones so they were just different to me in that way. Otherwise they work just the same!

Check out Huggies on Facebook to put these diapers through your own tests http://on.fb.me/HQCj1x or Twitter http://www.twitter.com/Huggies

“I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central for Huggies. I received product samples to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for participating”

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2012 Savory Summer Giveaway #SavorySummer

Posted by html404 on May 15, 2012
in Blog Stuff, Contests, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, Giveaways, Health, Health and Nutrition, Recipes

It is that time of year again with warm weather and sunshine and I bet many of you are thinking picnics, barbecues and pool parties! Well….Welcome to the 2012 Savory Summer blog-hopping giveaway event! I have teamed up with Measuring Flower, Graphoniac, and about 60 other bloggers to bring you yummy food or food-related giveaways (each worth at least $25) Woohoo! Let the party begin!

Grand Prize Sponsors

The grand prize sponsors for this Savory Summer event are Nostalgia Electrics and Ella’s Kitchen, who are each offering prizes worth over $100! If you want to win either prize enter HERE.

Grand Prizes

Nostalgia Electrics Stainless Steel Margarator

$109 ARV

3 Month Supply of Ella’s Kitchen Baby Food Pouches

$170 ARV

My Giveaway Sponsor

Cornucopia Health Scents is providing my giveaway item, which just happens to be one of my businesses. We have been Young Living distributors for nearly two years, but have been using the products for nearly four years. We love Young Living Essential Oils and have made them a part of our every day life.

My Giveaway Item

For this giveaway event, I have a 1 liter bottle of Ningxia (ning-sha) Red to giveaway. It is a nutritional supplement high in antioxidants, great for your health and wonderful served cold to your barbecue, picnic or party guests!

1 Liter of Ningxia Red

$55 ARV

About Ningxia Red

Ningxia Red is made of wolfberry puree, blueberry juice, pomegrantate juice, apricot juice, raspberry juice, grape pomace and a proprietary essential blend of blue agave nectar, lemon rind and orange rind. The Ningxia wolfberry has long been considered a national treasure in China. The wolfberry is native to the Ningxia Hui Autonomane Region of Northern China. This potent little red berry offers medicinal and healing benefits.

One ounce of Ningxia Red only has 34 calories!

My Review (and it’s my 5th post in my Losing Weight Series too)

We have used Ningxia Red over the past few years pretty infrequently. However, this past January we started using it on a daily basis. Most of our children like it. It has a different taste, not bad, but different and it definitely tastes better cold!

Over the months I have noticed that I do not have to wear my glasses all the time, especially while reading or doing things on my iPhone. This is strange because ever since I got glasses I have worn them all the time because I am near sighted and hate to see things blurry, so I even wore them while reading. Improving our eyesight is actually what we hoped would happen for as there are seven of us who wear glasses. However, so far I am the only one seeing any difference in my eyesight. Time will tell. The wolfberry is suppose to be very good for the eyes for some reason that I can’t remember.

My second oldest daughter likes to take Ningxia Red to ward off migraines.

We have also drank an ounce or two for a boost of energy too. I have taken as much as 4-5 ounces when I have worked long hours at trade shows so I could stay alert to talk to people and be able to remain awake when I drive home. (This happened back in December!)

Ningxia Red Sorbet

½ c. water

¼ c. agave

2 c. NingXia Red®

2 12-oz. bags frozen raspberries, blueberries or strawberries

1 orange

In a small sauce pan, simmer Blue Agave and water for 1–2 minutes or until agave mixes easily with the water. Set aside to cool slightly. In a blender, puree NingXia Red and one bag of raspberries. Transfer mixture into a metal bowl and stir in the zest of half the orange. Next, squeeze half the orange into the mixture. Place agave and water mixture into blender along with the remaining bag of raspberries and puree. If mixture becomes too thick, simply add a cup of the mixture in the bowl. Pour into bowl and fold in until well mixed. Place in freezer and freeze for two hours. Serves 12–15.

Refreshing and yummy summer treat compliments of Young Living! 🙂

How to Enter

Just enter the Rafflecopter form as you would for any of my other giveaways.

Giveaway Rules

Must be 18 years or older and live in the US.

No prize substitutions allowed.

Winners are allowed to win once over a six-month period.

Only email addresses used for the giveaway will be eligible to claim the prize. (I don’t want to hunt you down on Facebook!)

Winner will be notified within a week or two from closing date and item will be shipped directly to winner.

The Deadline

Giveaway Ends

Wednesday, May 31, 2012 at 12:01AM CST

Open to U.S. Residents Only

Enter to Win Ningxia Red

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Linky to the Giveaways on Other Blogs

Have fun entering the 2012 Savory Summer Giveaway!

Disclosure: Facebook is in no way affiliated with the Savory Summer event, its hosts, its sponsors, or its participating bloggers. The hosts (Measuring Flower and Graphoniac) are not responsible for event sponsors that do not fulfill their prizes.

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Catching Up – Motivation Monday

Posted by html404 on May 14, 2012
in Gardening, Monday Motivation

I am still not caught up after being away at Brandcation. Had good intentions and was doing ok until it turned nice on Friday and I had to get transplants planted, then tilling done and baby boy got sick over the weekend. He was burning up for 24+ hours and only wanted to nurse and be with his mama. Thankfully he woke up today with an appetite and his usual peppiness. Now I have to get a talk typed and printed that I am to present tonight at a business meeting – yep, little ole me is speaking to a small group of people, if it isn’t cancelled due to low attendance. Tomorrow we have friends coming over for lunch…and it’s nice again so I have more tilling and planting to get done, not to mention all my Brandcation sponsor posts to write up; in addition to a bit of a back log of other reviews I signed up for which I wish I hadn’t since catching up after Brandcation has been very challenging.

Lesson learned, don’t take on additional reviews the month before Brandcation!

Bear with me as I get my barrings back. I have lots to post, just not enough time to get everything typed up into a post. Here a few highlights to tie you over though:

– Chicks and turkeys are getting their wing feathers in and we now have to have a screen over them or they fly out. One was in the rafters of the garage today!
– Puppy was naughty and nabbed a baby bird, eating its head…ewwwwww! Gotta do something about that since HE is suppose to watch over our poultry!
– Feeling overwhelmed now that it’s frost-free and time to get everything into the ground and get outdoor housing for poultry ready. A little panic has set in…

And now you know why….

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Happy Mother’s Day & Discount Code!

Posted by html404 on May 12, 2012
in Holidays, Products for Mom

Happy Mother’s Day!

In honor of this fine day, Body Bark (read my review here) is offering you a 20% discount in honor of Mother’s Day. There is a special the discount code “Faithandfamily” that can be entered in the promotion field while shopping at www.BodyBark.com. The code is only good through May 13. Hope all you moms treat yourselves to some Body Bark for Mother’s Day!

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Quick Travel Tip

Posted by html404 on May 10, 2012
in Reviews, Safety, Travel

I have vacation on the brain! This is just a quick travel tip because it always annoys me that I never have anything appropriate to carry knives in while traveling. Plastic bags aren’t safe nor to they hold up if the knife goes through the bag. You may wonder why I would even travel with a knife, it is to cut up fruit especially and occasionally veggies. I do have a bread knife that has a cardboard sheath, but I do not usually need a bread knife while traveling unless we take homemade bread. More likely than not we just stop at a grocery store at our destination and pick up bread so it is not squished beyond belief.

Back to knives, there’s a neat little product on the market called the Quick Split that solves the safety issue of traveling with knives.

Benefits:
– portable
– faster
– easier to use
– has a snap on “child proof” cover to keep mess contained while traveling, but a simple rinse with water would make it good as new
– attaches to a key ring holder in diaper bag
– dishwasher safe
– super quality BPA free plastic – bonus!
– stainless steel
– made in the USA

It looks just like a pizza cutter. My daughters used it for lunch the other day when we got it and found it was great for carrots, but the other fruit or veggie they found difficult.

This is a patented gadget and is the first of its kind on the market! Definitely fills a need in our house for traveling!

Feel free to connect with Quick Split on their website or Facebook.

Enter the Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

“I received a Quick Split to review as a part of my participation in a MomPact.com campaign. Quick Split has been invented by moms, for moms.”

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Zip Lining at Adventures Unlimited #Brandcation #GulfCoast @AdventuresUnLtd

Posted by html404 on May 10, 2012
in Blog Stuff, Fun Stuff, Travel

My photo taken from my iPhone.

On Saturday at Brandcation we went to Adventures Unlimited in Milton, Florida. They have been in business for 36 years! They own 88 acres of beautiful land, with even an old school house that was renovated into overnight accommodations. They bought it at an auction, moved it to their property and fixed it up! Would have loved to have seen that! And as their name denotes: they have Adventures Unlimited. A relatively new activity, which they added two years ago, is fast becoming one of their most popular activities – Zip lining!

This was our zip line group. Everyone from my condo, plus Joy from Joyful Musings:

We spent the whole day there with Adventures Unlimited providing us a box lunch – yummy! The morning we spent zip lining. I admit I am not very adventurous and was really hesitant about even going to Brandcation because of zip lining, however, I went on the practice line and nearly took my arms out of their sockets due to panicking 🙁 Seriously, one of the guides warned me if I did what I did by grabbing the line he’d have to ground me. Not sure if that was said just to discourage me from panicking again or if he was serious. By the way the guides were both great. Courteous, ready to assist with gear etc.

The problem with my zipping is that there is a technique to braking on the line and let’s just say I did not have it down after one trip down the practice line. Even though my legs shook and my tummy churned, I walked to the first big line. Let’s just say it was high…

This was the first zip line “tower”:

Let’s just say that when Sheila made her way back down the spiral stairway, I did too. If I nearly jerked my arm out of joint on the practice run, what would I do on the larger runs? Nah-uh, not for me. If I could do anything again, it would be the practice run because seriously it wasn’t too high and maybe I could eventually learn how to brake with my hand, right? Thankfully, the owner was very understanding, saying it wasn’t for everyone. He offered to take Sheila and I down to the river to see our group when they came in from the nine zip lines they were doing that day. Sheila declined but I went and it was so peaceful. I could hear the lines “zipping” and the surroundings were beautiful. I just loved being out in God’s wonderful creation. I took pictures of the river and got video footage of our whole group zipping on the last line.

This is of Denise, the first one to zip this line.

The majority of ladies thoroughly enjoyed the zip lining, even those who had a fear of heights. They were the ones who felt empowered because they had overcame their fears. The last 900 ft line was the best from what I heard and many wanted to do that one again and again!

The afternoon we spent on the river tubing 4 miles. It was so much fun! I loved chatting with the ladies, laughing at myself as I flopped on and off my tube and racing with Paula and Maryann – they were the “Queens” of the river! 😉 We maneuvered stumps, shallow water, an island and rocks – more adventures and sore shoulders! But I loved it because I love nature and the water, which was a refreshing 70 degrees.

My photo taken with my iPhone.

It truly was a wonderful day and it was awesome of Adventures Unlimited to sponsor our day! Feel free to connect with them at their website, Facebook or Twitter.

Other photos courtesy of Brandy Goleman Photography

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