Mama Magnet – Monday Motivation

In our home it is hard to find time alone and I am sure many of you with young children have the same problem. Lately when I have found a quiet spot and settled in, one by one a child inevitably finds me, starts talking or asking me questions or just to play in the same room I am in. If I happen to express my frustration over being followed by stating, “Why do you all always follow me?” my older daughters have been saying, “But Mommy you are a magnet and we want to be with you.” And I dubbed myself the “Mama Magnet.”

As moms we should actually desire to be a Mama Magnet, it’s indicative that we are doing something right. If our children don’t want to be with us, then we should start worrying.

Part of motherhood involves giving of ourselves when it is not convenient or even desirable at times. It means my giving my 3 year old the kisses he wants to dole out even when I feel smothered by the 20th one. It means talking to my girls late into the night when I want to work or go to bed. It also means taking the time to watch my sons play with their new airplanes even though it is not new to me.

This week my motivation is to be a better Mama Magnet.


signature

Terracycle Valentine’s Day Craft Idea

LOVE THE PLANET THIS VALENTINE’S DAY
Celebrate with Eco Games and Gifts from Upcycling Pioneer TerraCycle

Love it or loathe it, Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching. Some are planning romantic dates with their longtime sweetheart. Some are planning to finally ask out their crush at recess. Regardless of your plans this Valentine’s Day, TerraCycle has sweet ways to celebrate that are good for the planet, good for the wallet and good for you.

While cleaning up trash doesn’t seem like a romantic way to spend the day, you can celebrate the holiday and effect real-world change with special Valentine’s Day items, products and decorations in Trash Tycoon, Facebook’s first upcycling game from Guerillapps and TerraCycle. In the game, you can clean up trash and upcycle it to fun products like necklaces, Valentine’s Day cards and heart shaped wreaths to send to friends or to decorate your town. Players’ hearts will swell because Trash Tycoon creates positive social impact by donating 10% of in-game dollars to environmental projects sponsored by CarbonFund.org.

Next, love Mother Earth and your Valentine by making an upcycled necklace out of Kraft Cheese wrappers or chocolate wrappers, just like the necklace in Trash Tycoon! TerraCycle’s Design Junkies have brought the beaded necklace into the real world with simple, do-it-yourself instructions available for download here:bit.ly/ValentineBraceletDIY. Whether you make one for that special Valentine or one for each of your friends, recipients will be touched that you took the time to give them a heartfelt, handmade gift.

Finally, Valentine’s Day and candy go together like peas and carrots, but the packaging can be a real heartbreaker. All those red and pink wrappers left over from sweet treats can be sent to TerraCycle through Mars’ Candy Wrapper Brigade to be recycled and earn money for charity. Signing up is free and easy at www.terracycle.com.

About TerraCycle
TerraCycle, Inc. is an international upcycling and recycling company that takes difficult-to recycle-packaging and turns it into affordable, innovative products. Founded in 2001, TerraCycle (www.terracycle.com) is the world’s leader in the collection and reuse of non-recyclable post-consumer waste. TerraCycle works with more than 30 major brands in the U.S. and around the world to collect used packaging and products that would otherwise be destined for landfills. It repurposes that waste into new, innovative materials and products that are available online and through major retailers. The waste is collected through TerraCycle’s Brigade programs, which are free fundraisers that pay for every piece of waste collected and returned. For information on how to join a TerraCycle Brigade and on purchasing TerraCycle products please visit www.terracycle.com.


signature

Switched!

Switched is a fictional story about a girl named TJ who goes on adventures into the future with her imaginary friends. It is a bit far fetched, so imaginations are required to read this book! The spiritual lesson in forgiveness outweighs that little negative though.

I did not actually read this book. I had my two teen daughters read it since it is geared towards younger people and they are always looking for new reading material! I did not notice when I signed up for this review that it was book 5 in a series. So my girls were a bit lost in the storyline. What they did get, they thought it was funny. They would have enjoyed it so much more had they read the previous books first.

This book is geared towards middle school.

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


signature

Free Lego Club Magazine Subscription!

Free Lego Club Magazine Subscription!

It’s for a 2 year subscription! 

I signed up and got a confirmation email! 


signature

Summer of Promise Blog Tour

The next book up is Summer of Promise by Amanda Cabot and thankfully not a predictable romance! It is romance with a little intrigue thrown in. I really enjoy Amanda Cabot’s books.

Summer of Promise

Summer of Promise is set during the summer of 1885, and Abigail Harding travels from her home in Vermont to the high plains of Wyoming to visit her sister.

I liked that this novel, while based at a Fort, focused on life inside not outside on a battle field. I have never really thought much about the kind of life soldiers lead while living at a fort. This story reveals the stark contrast between the service men on the battle field and those living at the fort.

It has it’s humorous parts. On the spiritual side, the lesson that stood out to me throughout the story was the fact that knowing God’s will and following are two very different things. Patience is needed to wait for God’s leading, so this book was a very good reminder, especially as it relates to my businesses and other things going on in our life right now.

Sisterly love and devotion is another theme that was presented. I am looking forward to the second book in the series! Two thumbs up from me!



“Available January 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

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


signature

Breakfast & Dinner – Fun with Food Friday

My daughter and I are still taking photos. Besides the children we like taking pictures of food. Due to a local Amazon deal, we are taking a 3-hour photography boot camp at the end of the month with a local photographer. We are looking forward to it and hoping to pick up a few new tips. Maybe you will see an improvement in our amateur pictures! Ha!

Drum roll please….for some breakfast and dinner shots taken by yours truly:

Pancakes for a Large Family

Sizzling Pancakes

A Golden Pile

Ready to Eat

Little Hands Peeling a Clementine

Soaking Pinto Beans

Pinto Beans and Rice


signature

Prosperity Parenting

I thought this article had some interesting points and thought it might make for some good conversation, so feel free to leave your thoughts!

Prosperity Parenting
How parents sabotage their kids’ success and how they can ‘change the story’

Guest Post By Randy Gage

Every parent wants the best for their kids. Yet millions of adults unknowingly sabotage their children’s chances for success.

I grew up poor. I was jealous of rich people and didn’t like them. So over the years I kept trying to get rich, not realizing that my subconscious mind was telling me, “Better stop doing that, or you’ll become one of the evil, mean, nasty rich people!”

The messages against wealth and prosperity are all around us, in our culture, media, and religions. But how many parents stop to think about how their own views on getting ahead influence their children’s ability to succeed?

Your core beliefs about everything related to prosperity – money, relationships, health, and spirituality – are set by the time you’re 10 years old. And no one influences those beliefs more than parents.

Millions of parents do this by conveying a negative vision of prosperity and success. If you tell yourself things like “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all,” and “I’m always a day late and a dollar short,” you will, consciously or subconsciously, convey these messages to your kids.

The truth is it’s really not that hard to change your beliefs – If you are aware of them and make that choice. Here are some tips:

  • Identify negative beliefs you may be creating in your children — Do some critical thinking about what kind of beliefs you developed in childhood about money, rich people and wealth. Honestly ask yourself, are you programming your children with thoughts such as money is bad, rich people are evil, or it’s spiritual to be poor? I call these “mind viruses.” Defeating them starts with acknowledging you have them.
  • Help kids identify anti-prosperity media messages: Did you ever stop to think about how blockbusters like Titanic and Avatar portray wealth, and how those stories can set kids up with attitudes that sabotage their future success? Talk to your kids about the subliminal messages they receive on TV, in movies and other media. Help them to become self-motivated critical thinkers.

  • Create a positive vision of prosperity: Examine how you react to families with more wealth than yours when speaking to your kids. Do you discuss them with envy or jealousy, or admiration and respect? Talk to your kids about how their thoughts about wealth can shape their future.

People have a hard time believing they are sabotaging their prosperity at age 30, 40, or 50 because of a belief that was formed when they were six, but I see it all the time. And that’s the book that gets written, unless you become aware of the plotline and decide to change the story.

Whether you and your children are on the path to poverty or prosperity is determined by the thoughts you give precedence to. Your thoughts come from the type of vision you have.

Everyone has a vision. Millions have a negative one; many more have a neutral one. It’s vital to help your children develop a positive one.

About Randy Gage: Randy helps audiences recognize and reject roadblocks to wealth and prosperity with warmth, wit and wisdom drawing from his rags-to-riches story. A former high school dropout, Randy rose from a minimum wage job and spending time in jail as a teen to become a self-made multi-millionaire who has inspired millions of people around the world. He is the author of eight books on success including Prosperity Mind and Accept Your Abundance that have been translated into more than 25 languages and sold millions of copies worldwide. Learn more about Randy at his public website: http://www.RandyGage.com and on Prosperity TV: http://www.youtube.com/randygage.


signature

Book Review ~ Resumes for Children: 17 Years Old and Under

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

Resumes For Children: 17 Years Old and Under

Ever thought of your child having a resume? If your answer is “no” think again. Your child can participate in these “out of the box” activities to begin to build a great resume.

Choosing activities that provide your child with life skills as well as build character is a key element to their success. Documenting those activities is also a key element to their success. Why? Keeping before them a present visual reminder of their activities, accomplishments, etc., gives encouragement, pride in what they do and have done. It also allows them to see how well they have progressed over the years. In other words, you will assist your child in “behaving” their way to success.

With your child’s résumé you can:

  • Use it to accompany an application into an academic program.
  • Use it to seek sponsorship from friends and family ~ obtain OPM (other people’s money) to pay for activities.
  • Use it to seek grants and scholarships.

OUR REVIEW:

I thought this was such an interesting book. Before being presented this book I honestly never thought of having a resume for children. But now I see how far this can take a child. You can use this book from toddlers to teenage years. Yes I said toddlers! I think this is a great way to get children thinking. I mean maybe your toddler is not going to write a resume like an older child but you can definitely use some prompts and ask your toddler questions to get them thinking of what they would like to do and become! For example in the toddler years you can ask children to list activities that they are good at and would like to do…this can range from playing blocks to taking dancing lessons. Eventually applying these things to a resume that the child will build.

But enough about a toddlers view… this book will work really well for an older child! This is great to get the child thinking outside of the ordinary…the child is taught how to use the things they have done in their lives (school, camps, odd jobs) and add them to a working resume. The children can then present their resume to anyone who would like to know more about them…perhaps the child would like a summer job …well a resume is a great way to introduce themselves. Perhaps your child is trying to earn money to go to summer camp…then a resume is a great way to introduce who the child is and what the child can and will do… There are endless possibilities to the unique situations that this book can be used!

As a mother I love this book! As a high school teacher and college professor I think this is also great for the high school student! Introduce them to this book at a young age and get them started on writing and honing their resume and they will not be at a loss when it comes to applying to scholarships for college!

You can find out more about the book here:

http://www.resumesforchildren.com/

 


signature

Savory Summer Blog Hop Opportunity

Thanks once again to Brande, I will be participating in a the Savory Summer Blog Hop from May 16-30.

Savory Summer will be featuring all things food and food-related that can be enjoyed during the summer. Basically, if it is something that a human being can eat, eat with, eat off of, cook, cook with, prepare food with…it belongs in this event!

Bloggers and food related companies have the opportunity to join me in the Savory Summer Blog Hop. Please let them know you heard about the event from me!

Thanks!


signature

Cash Giveaway at Giveaway Promote & Opportunity for Bloggers!

I am always on the look out for ways to promote my blog (and businesses for that matter), I just do not always follow through. So when Brande shared this giveaway, I decided to “just do it”.

Giveaway Promote is hosting a cash giveaway event to be held from February 20th-March 4th. This is a way for all of you readers to enter a cash giveaway (currently the prize is at $250!) and a way for bloggers to promote their blog. Sign-ups will remain open until February 11th. Details are here.

As mentioned, I will be participating in this event. If any of you fellow bloggers sign up, please be sure to tell Giveaway Promote that I referred you!

Thanks!


signature