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More Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas

Posted by html404 on February 7, 2013
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Gift Ideas, Holidays, Seasonal Stuff, Uncategorized

Valentine’s Day is only a week away! I came across some more Valentine’s Day gift ideas that I want to share in case any of you are still struggling to find just the right thing for your sweetie or loved ones.

1. Reasons Why Mug. A Reasons Why Mug for mom or dad with little sketches of the children is something I’d enjoy! My husband not so much since he doesn’t drink tea or coffee.

2. Glass Keepsake Box. I think any female over the age of 12 would love something like this to keep jewelry and small trinkets in.

3. Heart in Sand Framed Print. I wish I had known about something like this when Robert and I were dating! It would have been a lovely reminder of our trip to both sides of Florida to watch the sun rise and the sun set.

4. Bucket of Love. Feelings of love low? Need some help? Try this bucket of love to sweeten the mood with your better half. 😉 Ha ha. Not sure it will work, but hey it’s worth a try, right?

5. Bee Bear. The Bee Bear can be personalized for each of your children’s names. He’s awfully cute and cuddly looking!

All of these Valentine’s Day gift ideas can be found at the link I provided.

What are you getting your sweetie for V-Day?

This is a compensated post.

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Twitten Valentine’s Day Gift Idea

Posted by html404 on February 6, 2013
in Clothing, Gift Ideas, Products for Dad, Products for Mom, Reviews, Seasonal Stuff, Uncategorized

February is here and so is Valentine season. A couple of weeks ago I shared 5 Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas, but I have one more to add to that list. It’s a cutsie kind of gift idea that you could give any couple or yourself.

You remember how Bambi was twitterpated? Perhaps you are “twitten” with your sweetie? Twitten you say? Yes well that’s a new term to add to your vocabulary this winter and Valentine’s Day.

Twitten is a pair of mittens, but better than a pair of mittens when it comes to holding your sweetheart’s hand, as it allows you to really hold their hand and not deal with the bulk of a glove or mitten between your hands. Novel idea, eh? Told you it was a cute gift idea. 😉

Twitten is handmade in Peru. It is hand washable as it is made of 50% Alpaca, 30% Wool and 20% Acrylic. They are very soft. They run a bit large for my hand but they are “one size fits most couples” so as to accommodate many sized hands.

Not only does TWITTEN offer the Twitten, but they also sell Texting Gloves, Texting Mittens, Fingerless Gloves, Hats and Scarves. There are many different colors and patterns to choose from.

I actually love these products. I really want the Texting Mittens! We haven’t had a chance to wear our Twitten or wash it but I am grateful for an extra set of mittens in our house as they tend to slowly disappear as winter goes on.

About TWITTEN

TWITTEN is a women-owned and operated business. 20% of profits go to the Bodhi Fund. The Bodhi Fund is a worthwhile charity administrated by the New Mexico Community Foundation. These two organizations offer support to families of children who need to receive life-saving treatment at the Cancer Center of Excellence and must travel out of state to receive their treatment.

He who twittens never twittens alone.

Prices vary.

So are you going to twitten your honey? 😉

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.

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Homemade Caramel Candy Recipe – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on February 6, 2013
in Food and Treats, Home, Recipes

My daughter was on a baking spree last week. Remember she made the homemade chocolate chip recipe, then what does she go and do? She made a homemade caramel candy recipe. She was making homemade twix bars for our tea party and needed caramel to make them. So she did what any person does these days and turned to Google. She searched for “homemade caramels” and found a recipe for caramels…highly comparable to the brand name caramels you buy for caramel apples in the fall, only now we don’t have to buy them anymore because we have a non-GMO version. B substituted the corn syrup for honey and the regular sugar for organic sugar and the results was a soft, smooth, yummlicious caramel treat. Granted for the purpose of the this post, the caramel candy shown in the photo is more like a caramel square than caramel candy – and eating that much would be a very, very rich treat.

Yum, yum, yum!

Have a Wordless Wednesday post? Link up yours below:

http://www.faithandfamilyreviews.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=11490&action=edit

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Making Memories With Bigelow Tea #AmericaTeas #CBias

Posted by html404 on February 4, 2013
in Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Home

Tea parties have always been a delightful pastime in our family. I grew up having tea with my grandmother. That’s where my love of tea started. From the time my girls were little we have been having tea parties too. The tea parties continued as the years went by to include their younger brothers and sister. I think the boys enjoy tea parties as much as the girls! The food and treats might have something to do with that. 😉 They remember past tea parties and look forward to future ones with huge smiles on their faces.

Bigelow Tea

Bigelow Tea bursts with flavor and they have such a variety of tea, quite unlike other tea brands. From herbal and decaffeinated to caffeinated flavors there truly is a tea for everyone. Their foil packaging of the individual tea bags do not break open like other brands which use paper packaging. The tea bags are sealed tight making transporting them from one location to another easy and helps keep the tea bags fresh. I personally love the family owned and operated aspect of Bigleow Tea. It definitely means a lot to me as a consumer and business owner myself to support another family owned business.

Making Memories with Bigelow Tea

This past weekend we created a Bigelow Tea moment by hosting a family tea party. We had just run out of tea, so two of my daughters and I went to Walmart to select and purchase some of our favorite (and new) flavors of Bigelow Tea. We were first introduced to Bigelow tea through my mother-in-law and have loved it ever since.

Walmart had three shelves full of Bigelow Tea and I somehow managed to only get a portion of those shelves. The aisle was so busy and every time I went to take a photo someone went by so I thought I had got a shot but actually didn’t.

My children were giddy with excitement and anticipation of participating in our family tea party. So while the girls and I were at the store the rest of the crew were busy cleaning, baking and preparing for our special tea party.

When we arrived back home everyone else had the table nearly ready and were eager to get started.

We served homemade bread sticks, shortbread, lemon cake and of course Bigelow Tea. It was so nice to sit around the table together on a cold winter day to warm not only our bellies but our spirit of togetherness. The conversation was light we talked about food, what new tea flavors we liked, our home schedule and of course our farming plans. The mood was festive and most of all everyone enjoyed making memories with Bigelow Tea!

“I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Bigelow Tea #CBias #SocialFabric #AmericasTea All opinions are my own.”

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Staying Warm This Winter With Harman Pellet Stoves

Posted by html404 on February 3, 2013
in Uncategorized

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Harman Stoves for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Growing up my parents had a wood stove. I remember it being a very hot source of heat. The kitchen was always warm. When we came inside from playing outside on a cold winter day I remember standing in front of the stove to get warm. My mother would hang all our winter wear up to dry near that stove as it dried really fast!

We don't have a wood stove or even a fireplace in our rental home or townhouse. However, our daughters have expressed an interest in having one. Just yesterday one of them said it would be nice to have a wood stove in an outdoor kitchen for the express purpose of canning!

If we ever decide to build a home or an outdoor kitchen a popular heating alternative we would consider is Harman Pellet Stoves. Take a look at the infographic below for some specs and facts about their pellet stoves. Too bad we didn't own one now or else we would be staying warm this winter with Harman Pellet Stoves, instead of snuggling down with extra blankets as I am doing now with my laptop on my lap. Biomass fuel is incredible as it helps reduce your carbon footprint!

The good news is the federal tax credit on 75 percent efficient biomass heating appliances, which expired at the end of December 2011, was reinstated last month. This bill includes a "tax extender" for Internal Revenue Service Section 25C, which provides a tax credit for qualifying biomass-burning stoves! The extender provides a 10 percent tax credit of up to $300 on a qualifying biomass heating appliance purchased between Jan. 1, 2012 and De. 31, 2013! How's that for incentive?

Harman Notebook Giveaway

Harman is giving away a notebook. *The notebook is a journal sized book made from recycled materials that has a pen with it.* Enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you don't enter the giveaway above, consider following Harmon on Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook.

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A New Home for Lily

Posted by html404 on February 3, 2013
in Books, Reviews

My almost 14 year old daughter, B, reviewed A New Home for Lily by Mary Ann Kinsinger and Suzanne Woods Fisher. B is a voracious reader and enjoyed reading and reviewing the first Lily book, Life with Lily.

In this second book of The Adventures of Lily Lapp, I followed Lily, her family and friends as they adapt to life in their new Amish community. Lily finds certain changes in her new life difficult but eventually comes around as she learns to die to herself for the great good of her family. Lily reminds me an awful lot of my older sister! Lily is just adorable and so grown up for her age, which probably comes from being the eldest. 🙂

Here are some highlights from the book that I especially liked:

Effie Kaufman is not a nice character and I have met a few girls like her. 🙁 Mean girls are just not pleasant to be around.

The character Joseph reminds me of my brother J and Lily’s cousin Noah reminds me of my youngest brother, whom we call “the evil one” because he is forever getting into things, like many two year olds.

I thoroughly enjoyed the pumpkin pie chapter because it was so funny! Lily and Joseph ate 5 1/2 pieces of pie! Talk about a huge tummy ache!

It was so sad when Lily’s family cow died. It was even more horrid when her father bought another cow from a farmer, then realizes he brought home a sick cow with an udder so low that in order to milk her they needed to use a cake pan instead of a bucket! 🙁

Lily’s “get rich quick” plan (making and selling stickers) was so cute, but she didn’t get quite as rich as she had hoped….

Lily’s Jell-O mishap reminded me of myself when I was first learning to make homemade bread and I added too much yeast and the dough got really, really big and popped all over the place!

I really liked the ending and how the community came and helped with the edition of Lily’s family’s house. My mom and I admire The Amish people’s sense of community.

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

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Visit from the Fairy Hobmother

Posted by html404 on February 3, 2013
in Appliances, Blog Stuff, Fun Stuff

You know since becoming an adult I’ve never put much stock in fairies and the like…until recently when I received a visit from the Fairy Hobmother. Yes, you read that correctly the Fairy Hobmother. Who or what is the Fairy Hobmother you ask? Let me tell you…

The Fairy Hobmother is what I consider a blog fairy who flits from blog to blog sprinkling good will, encouraging words and timely gifts to bloggers he (yes the Fairy Hobmother is a HE) deems works hard and deserves a little reward, extra joy and happiness.

All the Fairy Hobmother asks in return is a little mention of him, Appliances Online, which has mega deals, tumble dryers and so much more for your appliance needs. He also says other bloggers may also receive some of his fairy dust if they comment on my post. Hint, hint bloggers!

So now do you believe in fairies? I am officially a believer. Thank you Fairy Hobmother for your generosity and mission of spreading good cheer throughout blogosphere and among bloggers!

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Otterbox Review #OtterboxKids

Posted by html404 on February 2, 2013
in Technology/Electronics

Now that I have an iPhone, I don’t know what I would do without it. I am slowly going digital with almost everything…except books. I mostly use a digital calendar and I am ever so slowly trying to wean myself off of paper lists to digital ones. I use my phone’s alarm to wake me up at 2-2:15am to get up for the paper route. I watch movies and TV shows on my phone. I email, text and call on my phone. I take photos with my phone. My little ones do some preschool on my phone. They even use my phone for piano since we downloaded a metronome app. But I am probably preaching to the choir here as you all possibly feel the same way about your cell phone.

I have Apple Care for my phone which offers repair and tech support help. The thing I did not have until a couple of weeks ago was a good case to protect it from potential drops or whatever my 2 year old can dole out to it. My mom says he’s going to have to teach her how to use my iPhone!

When I first purchased my iPhone I didn’t like many of the cases. I wanted my iPhone to look as sleek and slim as it did without a case. I really liked my case and it’s done a decent job protecting my phone up for the past year.

Otterbox Review

I really wanted something stronger to protect my phone after seeing what happened to an acquaintance’s phone. Think crushed screen. Yikes! That’s when the Otterbox came across my path and I decided to give it a try.

It takes a bit of finagling to get the Otterbox to fit the iPhone. I had a rather clumsy result. My husband is the one that got it to fit better. Note that I did not take it a part to show you the different pieces! You can check them out here: http://www.otterbox.com/

It took me a few days to get use to the extra bulk with the three pieces of the Otterbox, but I like it. I feel like my phone is safer and better protected.

The Otterbox comes in a wide variety of colors and patterns. I’m a plain Jane and chose black for practical reasons, like the dirty wouldn’t show up as much, especially with little fingers using it almost as much as I do!

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Animal Control Visit….Again

Posted by html404 on January 31, 2013
in Animals

This occurred and was written yesterday.

I was right. Remember the other day I told you about our Animal Control visit, here and here? Animal Control was out again today. The officer was very nice and she said they get at least a call a week about us – or should I say the dog and the chickens. But because she knows there’s nothing going on she doesn’t come out. She’s the same one that came out last June and who drives by our house when she visits her horse at the barn she boards it at. This time she did have to come to check it out because someone reported the dog having duct tape on his paws???

He’s sad that Animal Control came again and decided to use his house so people would see that he does indeed fit in it! And look the children put more hay in his house when they moved it and some of it actually stayed in!

Here’s the real story. Last week Padfoot broke his plastic covered steel cable that we keep him tied on, so we let him go loose for a while. That was the same day he killed a chicken. When I went to tie him up after his naughtiness the steel was showing through where it broke, it was like steel wool and sharp. I cut my fingers on it trying to re-tie it and knew if we kept the cable like it was it would cut Padfoot too. So because I was needed in the house I sent my daughter out to cover the steel part with duct tape so he wouldn’t get cut. There was no duct tape on his paws. That’s the story I told her too.

He’s wondering when people will start minding their own business and just let us live life together without these cold interruptions.

Today she also took a photo of his paws – duct tape free mind you – and his house, as people driving by don’t think his house is big enough for him and she said it is. We are all clear there. Whew. She wanted proof to take back that she did indeed check things out. Hopefully she’ll put them in our file so they can refer back to it, especially in case any new Animal control officers come on board.

Thankfully Animal Control realizes we live on a busy road and also realize there’s nothing going on here that shouldn’t be, but still it’s a waste of their time and ours for them to have to keep checking us out when I am sure there are animals out there truly neglected, starving and being treated cruelly who need their time and help.

So how has your week been? Any interesting knocks on your door lately?

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Homemade Chocolate Chip Recipe – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on January 30, 2013
in Food and Treats, Recipes, Wordless Wednesday

Recently my almost 14 year old daughter was thinking if you can make homemade chocolate baking squares why couldn’t you make a homemade chocolate chip recipe. So she did a web search and found a Healthy Chocolate Chip Recipe at Culinary Adventures in the Kitchen. Ours aren’t as pretty, we need a new cake/icing decorator to do what she did, but we don’t care. We just wanted to share what she did. I never would have thought of making my own baking chocolate, let alone chocolate chips.

They tasted good too. Bittersweet rather than semi-sweet but good. B said she’d add more honey or sugar next time for semi-sweet. If you want the recipe check out the website I mentioned above.

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