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NEW! Garden Tuesday!

Posted by html404 on July 6, 2010
in Gardening

I nearly forgot to post this! Our next new theme is Garden Tuesdays! gardentuesdaysbuttonforffr[1]

I had a book review to post for today, but couldn’t find it in my files anywhere so I will have to post it next week after I rewrite it! Then after today’s adventure to pick up two of these 4 Tier Greenhouses, I thought I’d post about them. It isn’t a review per se because we just got them and I haven’t had sufficient time to really put them through a tested, tried and true review.

However, to add a bit of a Thrifty Thursday tip here, these 4 Tier Greenhouses sell anywhere from $32-$59 but we got each of these for just $15! They are used, but in useable condition and will be of great help to get some plants started for fall harvest, since we are going to try our hand with at least a bit of succession planting.

While I was working this afternoon, the girls got more lettuce and some more cold crops planted. We are hoping for some faster germination compared to our direct seed planting. Here’s to hoping and praying!

4 Tier Mini Greenhouse

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Review of The Belly Blanket Luxe

Posted by html404 on June 30, 2010
in Baby Products, Pregnancy and Birth

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 this product.

Belly Blanket Luxe

I received a new product to review (it did have to be returned though!). This new product on the market is called The Belly Blanket Luxe made by RadiaShield and one of a few pregnancy products now on the market with the focus of protecting the unborn. Belly Armor have specially designed these products with the purpose of protecting the unborn child from harmful radiation that we all are exposed to every day.

What is the problem with radiation? We all know that we live a technological world. It is a world that we all love and appreciate and even hate at times, but admit would be hard to live without now that we are use to it. But do we really know the long term affects of every day use of cell phones/PDAs, laptops/computers, power lines/cell phone towers, MP3 players, wireless networks and many other electronic devices? No, we don’t.

I can be a bit skeptical at times about things because I think more studies need to be done over the long term and there is so many conflicting views about subjects like radiation exposure. Yet, most of us want what is best for our families and our mother’s hearts are definitely in tune to doing what is the best for our children, which is why we don’t mind spending time researching topics to figure out what is best for our family. That is what I have tried to do with this particular product, as you will note from the resources listed at the end of this post.

RadiaShield saw the need to provide an answer to consumer concerns about exposure to radiation, especially during pregnancy. They are also providing a solution to the problem with their Belly Armor. Belly Armor products are made with RadiaShield fabric and the highest quality textiles. I can verify that The Belly Blanket Luxe was very soft and comfortable when I tested it in my review process. It is made of a cotton micro-fleece that gives it an incredibly soft feel to it. The outer edge is satin and the backing is the RadiaShield fabric.

This blanket is not just for pregnancy, as it could be used while your baby is an infant too. Don’t we all nurse or feed our babies while checking emails or chatting online or on our cell phones?

The size of the Belly Blanket is 30″ x 35″. It is machine washable in cold water with like colors, but it is to be air dried and no bleach. The Belly Blanket Luxe retails for $109.00 and comes in great gift packaging, which would make gift giving that much easier. See the photo below.

Belly Blanket Luxe PACKAGING

I have to admit that I like the concept of the Belly Blanket Luxe and that I really like the product. It really made me feel reassured that the baby in my womb was being protected when I was on the computer. I actually forgot about using it while on my cell because I usually use that in the car and I didn’t take the blanket out of my office since it had to be returned!

What really got my attention and was a turning point in my skepticism was the Cell Phone Test they recommend doing (this is right on their website too):

Cell Phone Test

Note the level of cell phone signal you have.

Wrap your cell phone in a Belly Armor product.

After 30 seconds check your cell phone signal again – you’ll notice it has gone down.

It really works. When we did this, we actually lost all the bars to our cell phone signal. They were gone. Only the little green tower left. That really left an impression on both my husband and I.

Belly Armor also offers The Belly Tee ($59.00), The Belly Blanket Chic ($69.00) and plan to come out with The Belly Band and The Belly Tank.

They are also offering Faith and Family Review readers a promo code: “faithandfam” for 15% off, and it is valid until the end of August.

Here are some related articles that I dug up online that may be of interest to you:

http://www.cellphone-health.com/blog/2009/10/who-study-shows-cell-phone-radiation.html

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs193/en/

http://emf.mercola.com/sites/emf/archive/2010/02/16/how-the-media-lies-to-you-about-cell-phones.aspx

http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/garment-apparel-news/apparel-technical-textile/usa/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=85973

http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/anti-radiation-products-with-some-science-in-them/

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Lamont Garden Glove Review

Posted by html404 on June 15, 2010
in Gardening

I had to get new garden gloves this year since the ones that I bought last year my husband actually used and they eventually ripped and one is lost. They were Lamont, but not the Grips® Premium Grain Goatskin Gloves that I just bought.

1775

What I really like about these gloves is that they are a snug fit and I can actually work with small weeds and planting without feeling the urge to haul them off and work without them! I have only been using them for about a month, but so far they are holding up well. We’ll see how they do over the long haul. If they wear out because of our extensive gardening this summer then I have my eye on another brand that I have wanted to try since late last summer, but even pricier than the Premium Goatskin gloves.

Here are the “specs” from Lamont’s website:

Grips® Premium Grain Goatskin
Precurved to fit the hand naturally
Slimfit™ design for comfort and excellent dexterity
Spandex back adds stretch in just the right places
Feeltite™ loop and pile closure for a snug and comfortable fit
Colors: Dragonfly, Oasis, Sugarberry
Available in size Medium.

I bought my gloves for about $11.99 at Farm and Fleet, but Lamont has a place where you can put in your zip code to find a store near you that carries them, if you are interested.

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Reviewing My Focus

Posted by html404 on June 12, 2010
in Family Stuff

I can’t believe the week has gone by with me only posting on Friday and then today I managed to get posts ready thru Monday. Thank you God for the rain today! I have had a hard time focusing this past week. I have had so much on my mind that the energy to write other than what I have to write for work.

Gotta love this inner head shot below to show how the wheels churn in our minds and that is what my problem has been – thinking about too much!

Head

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

At the beginning of the week, I really wasn’t feeling well at all. This pregnancy has been a roller coaster as far as how I feel from day to day. Very weird. Tiredness, nausea, sciatic nerve acting up which affects my hips and movement (I’ve had this in every pregnancy, it is only exacerbated in this one!)

I have also been very farm focused. Researching about what we are going to do after this summer, reading books about farming – I don’t know many more books I need to get through, plus my normal work load in addition to the garden. Let’s just say that this might be the first summer that we take off from homeschooling in many years. Although, the girls are trying to keep up with their math and I am trying to get our middle son through his reading lessons, but that’s about all we have time for between keeping up the house and garden. We always seem to be on the go. Some work, like their math is easy to do in the van. Other things like hand-writing, no, definitely not!

A great thing that happened this past week is that we were able to give the farmer whose land we are renting/using our first little bundle of harvest. We gave her two different kinds of kale, swiss chard, green onions and a bunch of small radishes. The kale and radishes taste yummy, as the children have brought me a little of each to try. It is neat to see the younger ones reaction to picking the veggies. Our little blondie said, “We grew that?” to the radishes we pulled from the row. It was pretty cute.

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bebe-O Prenatal Vitamins Review

Posted by html404 on June 4, 2010
in Pregnancy and Birth

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.

Pregnancy
Photograph used courtesy of Ben Earwicker

We all know that health, nutrition and exercise in pregnancy is very important to the overall well-being of the expectant mama and her baby. Most health care providers highly recommend that women take a prenatal vitamin during pregnancy. This has been hard for me because most of the ones that I have tried and used caused me great discomfort and constipation. Sorry to be so open, but it is true.

I have stated before that my iron has been low in my current pregnancy, which is a first for me. So I have been taking Floradix, which is a liquid form of iron that is easily absorbed and non-constipating. Then I came across a review opportunity for bebe-O Prenatal Vitamins ($38.95 value) , I thought I would take it since I didn’t have any prenatal vitamins. I have been taking a multivitamin that I bought for the children, but most of them still struggle with swallowing pills (I didn’t think about that fact when I bought them!).

Surprisingly, I haven’t had any noticeable problems with bebe-O Prenatal Vitamins. I have been taking them for two weeks. No constipation or other adverse affects that I know of, but remember I have been experiencing nausea throughout this pregnancy at odd times, so I cannot say these will not cause nausea. At least mine has been no worse, I can honestly say that.

bebe-O Prenatal Vitamins

bebe-O Prenatal Vitamins are registered by the Vegan Society, contain 100% Vegan ingredients, which are pure whole foods nutrients and antioxidants. They are hypoallergenic, contain no animal products (obviously since the Vegan society approves of them 🙂 ), nor do they have GMOs, artificial colors or flavors, sweeteners or petrochemicals.

Ingredients List: Vegetable Capsule, Rice Flour, and Magnesium Stearate. May Contain: Traces of Peanuts and Soy.

I really like that the bebe-O Prenatal Vitamins are an all natural product. I don’t get my hemoglobin tested for another four weeks, so won’t know if they helped increase my iron until then. I will try to remember to let you all know at that time. However, so far I have had a very positive experience taking bebe-O Prenatal Vitamins.

You may purchase this product at www.bebe-o.com

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Download N Go Davy Crockett Blog Tour

Posted by html404 on May 27, 2010
in Downloads

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.

DC_header

Davy Crockett was another hit with our children. They have seen a movie about Davy Crockett and knew quite about him already, but we still enjoyed doing the review of Download N Go’s Davy Crockett as there was still much more to learn in this 5-day unit study.

Again, this unit study is set up much like the Wale Tales one that I just posted a review about earlier this morning. It utilizes a lapbook to keep all the information and activities in one place. The unit study itself contains activities for the children to do, links to online activities/articles, as well as a list of suggested books to read to learn more about Davy Crockett. It covered Davy Crockett’s life on the frontier, history of Texas, patriotism, geography, vocabulary and more!

This was another positive lapbooking experience for our family. Our children had fun doing the activities and using their creativity to create their own unique lapbook. They were asking to do more each day so that shows you how much of a hit it really was!

As much as the Download N Go products were made for homeschooling families, they would be a great supplement for families using alterative schooling methods. Such as summer enrichment or just a fun learning activity to do with your children.

Don’t forget about Download N Go’s special offer to you below:

DNG has decided to offer a coupon code for 20% off multiple packs of the DNG units! The code is: DNG20PKS – just use that code at check out and receive 20% off any multiple pack purchase.

Purchase now at for only $7.95 plus your 20% off! AND another contest for you to enter…

THE PRIZE:

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and Amanda Bennett Unit Studies have teamed up to celebrate the successful launch of Download N Go™ with a Sweet Treat Prize Package in The Adventure Begins … Giveaway!

They’re offering one lucky winner the SWEET chance to go EXPLORING this FALL!

The entire FALL curriculum lineup of Download N Go™ (Wow! That’s 19 studies!).
A $25 gift certificate to Baskin-Robbins (yummy ice cream).
A $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com (for those back-to-school supplies).
A $15 gift certificate to Starbucks Coffee (a special treat just for the teacher).
A full year’s subscription to The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine (encouragement and resources all year long).
A “sweet” blue and brown Homeschooling With Heart tote bag (THE must-have accessory for FALL!).
ENTER HERE!

For more information just click on the icon above! Contest will run May 24 and through June 12!

http://www.facebook.com/DownloadNGo

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Artistic Nature Magazine

Posted by html404 on May 13, 2010
in Ebooks, Education

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.

American Deserts Cover

American Deserts is the November-December 2009 issue of Artistic Nature Magazine. It is a magazine published by LightHome Publications, which is owned by a homeschooling family. It is a Christian magazine written for kids. One unique thing is that it has a creative focus in each issue and teaches children how to draw. It contains both fictional and true stories about the monthly topic of the magazine. For example, American Deserts taught us about American Deserts.

Animal Homes Cover

We also received the August-September 2009 issue on Sea Mammals and the January-February 2010 issue on Animal Homes. Then we decided to buy a subscription, currently only $10.50 for 6 issues! So we won’t even miss any issues this year since we also have the current issue about Australian Animals.

Sea Mammals Cover
Each magazine is reproducible for each family’s home use, which really comes in handy when you have multiple children like we do.

Here are our older girls thoughts about these magazines:

“I think these magazines are great. I really liked the deer and coyote stories.”

“I think these magazines are really interesting. I had never heard of manzanita berry! I haven’t heard of a lot of different types of trees, bushes, flowers and animals mentioned in these magazines.”

“I thought that all 3 of the magazines were very informative. They told us about many types of different things that we have never heard of before! I also like the fact they included a lot of coloring pages, puzzles and games tha tyou can print off for your younger siblings. They had a lot of color photographs, which is great if you have a color printer (we don’t though!).

Inside the American Deserts magazine it talks about everything from dangerous snakes, Native American Indians, Cowboys to many different animals.

In the Sea Mammals issue it talks about dolphins, sea otters to all sorts of whales.

Animal Homes talks about everything from bat homes, crab homes to squirrel homes.

All of these magazines are a really great resource and I liked them a lot.”

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Review of Pediped Footwear

Posted by html404 on February 15, 2010
in Kid's Footwear

Pediped Shoes Feb. 2010

Last month I bought a pair of Pediped Originals – Zach Black/Red – for our youngest son. They were having a Make-A-Wish Promotion that enabled shoppers the opportunity to purchase shoes, with half of that purchase price going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I thought this was a wonderful opportunity to try a product that I had heard and read a lot about, as well as support a charity that helps terminally ill children at the same time. I like it when I can do that.

My son loves these shoes! This is the first pair of shoes he has kept on since he started wearing footwear! Occasionally he will take them off in the van when we are going out, but once we are out, he keeps them on very well. I am so impressed that I want to buy another pair for him in the next size with his birthday money!

They are well made, soft soled with velcro closures.

These are one of the cheaper pairs of Pediped shoes, priced at $23.00. So I basically bought my son’s shoes for $11.50 and gave $11.50 to Make-A-Wish Foundation.

I even bought my daughter sandals for the summer, but they just fit her so I had to send them back for a larger size in order for them to fit her once the warmer weather arrives. The new size has not arrived yet. I’ll probably wait to do a review of those in the summer.

For more information about Pediped visit their website at the red link provided.

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