Maria's Space: May 2015

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Did You Know You Can Still Snack With Celiac Disease?

As you may or may not know, May is Celiac Awareness Month. CeliacDisease is an autoimmune disorder that causes damage to the small intestine when gluten in ingested. This disease is hereditary (those with a first-degree relative (parent, sibling, child) with Celiac Disease have a 1 in 10 chance of developing the disease themselves). As there is no proven cure yet, it's important for people to know and be aware of the disease.

As someone who knows little about Celiac Disease, I do know a few friends who suffer and have had to make life changes to their diet. They do very little snacking but were so happy to hear that they now can have a long time favorite childhood snack.

Piping Gourmets is a great company that offers gluten-free desserts. They offer delicious, gluten-free Whoopie pies in a variety of flavors (http://www.thepipinggourmets.com/).

Who doesn't love Whoopie Pies?

Check this out!

I cannot wait to try them!

Disclaimer: I will be receiving a complimentary product for my honest opinion. Look for my review soon!

Beach Time Umbrella Only $35.99 For The Next 16 Hours

Beach Weather is here!

Be ready for it with this Sporty Umbrella for when you need a little shade on the sand.

Instant protection from the sun, rain and wind no matter where you go
Rugged umbrella structure with side flaps for full cover protection
Top wind vents and side zippered windows for efficient airflow
Metallic undercoated for SPF 125 sun protection
Easiest setup shelter available
Internal pockets for stakes, valuables and gear
Carry Bag with shoulder strap included

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Zakia's Morocco: Beauty Products Review & $50 Gift Certificate #Giveaway - 10 Winners + Discount Code

I love reviewing beauty products especially when they are different! This Clay Powder from Zakias is a Face, Body and Hair Mask that you mix yourself.

This unique mask is Ghassoul—a brown clay which is exclusively found under the Atlas mountains in Morocco and has been used to keep as an exfoliating, detoxifying skin remedy for more than 1,500 years. Besides drawing out impurities by drying out your skin it literally nourishes and replenishes skin. I found that I needed to moisturize right after or my skin felt tight however if you have oily skin you may need to do nothing. I have combination skin and I found the dry feeling to be literally on my normal side not in my T-Zone which tends to be my oily areas.

The mask was really easy to wash off and afterward my face felt clean and smooth. I loved touching it!
The Moroccan Ghassoul Clay Powder can also be used to treat oil build up on your scalp, clean your hair and improve the overall health of your scalp.

The directions say to prepare the mud, rub into your scalp and hair, leave on for 5-10 minutes and rinse with your favorite shampoo.

I cannot wait until I have a day to myself so I can do a full body mask!

There are no PETs, No mineral oils, No parabens in this clay mask.

To Purchase this for yourself head over to http://www.zakiasmorocco.com/ use ZMBLG-106 for a 20% discount now

To Win A Jar enter the Giveaway below:

https://promosimple.com/ps/711d

Disclaimer: This was a sponsored post. No monetary compensation was offered or received. I received a complimentary product for my honest opinion.

Walk Down Memory Lane - I Missed You Brother! (July 2008) #memories

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero. ~Marc Brown

This pictures is so cute to me. My son was on his first away play date. His friend lives down the street and we decided to meet them as they headed back to our house. My daughter’s arm is outstretched because she was running ahead of me to hug her brother. He is running to me and actually bypast her which just broke my heart because she was calling his name and running to him.

Friday, May 29, 2015

An Unconventional Diet Process That May Reshape How You Eat

The Creative Process Diet. It is a highly unconventional high-concept art book that seamlessly integrates psychology, philosophy, spirituality, and art -- all for the purpose of helping the reader to lose weight and/or get into better shape as effortlessly as possible.

The 411:

I must start with my very first opinion of this book. It took me three read throughs to understand the concept and not see it as a pompus attempt to redo dieting.

Here is what I shared on my personal Facebook wall: Reviewing the most boring diet book of my life. It is something about mastering your psyche and ritualizing how u eat and plan your meals. Imagining yourself taking the food into your body, using it and dispelling. Eventually like dreaming when u sleep your body will diet on a sub conscience level. Kill me now! Things like preliminal, self mastery, obtained, ritualized and bindling don't sound like a diet. Not loving it, complete bullshit written by some self important, egotistical doctor and I am only one chapter in.

After my second and then third read through, I have a better understanding and more concrete idea of what the writer is conveying.

Maybe it was because when I open a diet book I want it to tell me what to eat, when to eat, possibly give me some example plans and recipes. If you are like that, this may not be for you.

If you have read all those diet books and want something else, The Creative Process Diet may be the one for you.

Ben Adams, goes the no BS route. He wants you to stop, really think about your food as not just an enjoyable thing we do which inevitably adding unnecessary calories but to really consider your intake. My friends who are in the best shape of their lives do this. They don't eat just anything. They consider it and not just in a fanatical way but in a healthy, educated way. They know that the food they intake will travel through their body and be used as either fuel or become unnecessary waste that will either pollute their system or add pounds.

Who knew that by creating a preconceived eating plan, you will truly limit your intake. You are holding yourself accountable and this can only be a positive thing to your health and your waistline.

The book itself is designed in a very basic way. It's literally black and white although I still didn't find it easy to digest because for me it bordered on the philosophical side and I am so not into that but when it came down to the actual plan, it was really easy although I found the log book a little confusing at first with the OBT/DOC Obtained and Ritualized sections but I think I figured most of it out.

I like how I can keep track of my water intake because this is something I always make a conscience effort to do. I do love my water!

What I learned:

I do like writing down what I will eat the day before (who knew)
I definitely drink enough water
I love Tuna and have no problem eating it as often as possible
Just because I don't agree with something at first, I may just learn something if I don't close the book.
The diet has to work for you so make it your own.
I DO know how to eat but chose to not make the right choices
I am not as spiritual in my dieting as I am in my life.
I remembered why I called myself the Amateur Reviewer rather quickly.

Following the Creative Process Diet on Facebook

To Purchase:

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary book for my honest opinion. No monetary compensation was offered or received.

Winners 5/29/15

The Winner of the Mega Mom Giveaway is:

Entry -Form

The Winner of the Renuzit Giveaway is:

Entry -Form

The Winner of The Enchanted Sisters is:

Entry -Form

All winner's have been notified by email. Thanks to everyone for participating and I hope to see you again. Someone has to win, it may as well be you.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Fun Family Friendly App by Crayola Has My Family Creating Our Own Music Tracks #FunApp

Don't let this icon fool you, this Crayola DJ App is for beginners and seasoned DJs as well.

Very recently my kids got into a computer game where they are DJs in a room full of their friends. They never spoke about being a DJ prior but love the idea of playing music for the friends and talk about playing the DJ with the radio in the car every morning so when I told them there was this cool app from Crayola where they could actually lay down their own tracks complete with sound effects they were excited to check it out.

The Crayola DJ app was pretty easy to learn and starts with a tutorial so you can quickly grasp all that you can do with the app.

The app looks like a colorful, lit DJ kit with two turntables for your to add your tracks to, 8 sound effects, a slide button for tempo and a balance button.

On the turntable you hit a plus sign and select one of the 5 genres.

Hip-Hop
Dance
Pop
Fusion
Holiday

Lay down your drum beat and add some rhythm and melody.

You can also take the arrows on each track and move them to make them bigger or smaller depending on the sound you are going for.

Don't like what you hear or want to make a change simply hit any of the icons on the turntable and it removes the sound.

Goddess loved adding the melody and sound effects while Handsome got a kick out of scratching. It was pretty neat to hear what they came up with. I must admit even I kinda got into a little.

If you want to check out the new Crayola® DJ app it is available now for $4.99 on Google Play (link https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.legacygames.djmixer ) for Android phones and tablets. In June, it will also be sold in the iTunes Store for iOS devices, for the same price.

Disclaimer: Thank you to Legacy Games for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions are my own.

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Strawberry Shortcake Berry Best in Show + Coloring Sheet AND DVD #Giveaway #BerryBestInShow

Join Strawberry Shortcake and some new furry friends in these delightful “tails” about being yourself and encouraging others to do the same. During his road trip to find homes for his orphan puppies, Huckleberry Pie and his four-legged crew get stranded in Berry Bitty City. Luckily, Strawberry and her berry best pals decide to help out with the strays in “A Boy and His Dogs.” Blueberry Muffin and Huck become “Partners in Crime” when they try to write a mystery story together…with surprising results. And the fur is sure to fly when the girls try to help Huck start a dog shelter in “The Mystery of the Disappearing Dog Show.” It’s a howling good time with sweet doggy delights for everyone!

The 411 by Maria:

I love all the characters and the animation on Strawberry Shortcake. Vivid colors, major detail and movement, (check out the characters hair) and the typical friendly, loving and kind story lines we have all come to know with Strawberry Shortcake and her friends are what makes these DVDs winners.

This time we have some new characters who are loveable and sweet. I love Bosley the book worm and Huckleberry and all his puppies! The stories were a little out of order (number 2 should have been first with the introduction of Huckleberry) but it still works.

Story 1
Blueberry is trying to write a mystery story for a magazine. When she has trouble coming up with a storyline she invites her friend Huckleberry and his Pet TomTom to come visit her and her dog Scottie to co-write a story with her explaining that he would have fund for his animal shelter. Together they write a fun detective story but Blueberry wants to direct how the story will go denying all Huckleberry's ideas. After a misunderstanding and a talk with Strawberry Shortcake Huck and Blue go back to working together.

Story 2
The tiny berries hear something in the berry patch and believe it to be a monster. Strawberry and the gang go to check it out and meet Huckleberry Pie who in simply stuck in the patch with his truck full of bouncing puppies. The friends are impressed with him helping all these animals and providing a shelter for them that when it gets late Strawberry gives him a place to stay. While poor Huck is asleep the puppies destroy Strawberries home. Huck promises to fix everything and the friends help out by each taking a pup to train while for Huck. Huck wants to be liked by all the berries and finds himself in some uncomfortable situations by agreeing to enjoying things he really doesn't enjoy. Eventually all the Berries adopt a pup and everyone is happy.

Story 3
In the third episode Blueberry is waiting on notification from the magazine she and Huckleberry submitted their story to. When the story isn't picked up the girls are disappointed that Huckleberry won't get money for his dog shelter. Together they decide to hold a dog show to raise funds. While Huck and Bluberry work on their new story submission the girls and the pets all practice for the dog show. The girls qiuckly find out that working with dogs isn't as easy as one would think. No matter because the flyers were never mailed out and not one ticket was sold! Everyone is disappointed until good news about Blueberry and Huckleberry get a phone call from the editor asking to buy their story! Why let all that practice with the pets go to waste. The girls and their pets put on a show for each other and Huckleberry gets an idea for a new mystery.

Print Out This Coloring Sheet for The Strawberry Fan In Your Life!

To Purchase:

To Win:

Entry -Form

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy as an FHInsider. No monetary compensation was offered or received.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Minuscule: Valley Of The Lost Ants Available On Demand Today AND A DVD #Giveaway

Good things come in small packages! That’s certainly the case with the adorable, animated feature Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants. These endearing insects will be in theaters, On Demand, and on DVD TODAY May 26, 2015 from kaboom! Entertainment.

This epic adventure has the added twist of almost no dialogue – think Wall-E meets A Bug's Life! These animated stars communicate solely via a synchronized soundtrack featuring music and sound effects to tell the tale of their journey. With the lone voice of Richard Dreyfuss as the narrator, Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants is the buzz worthy spring feature you won’t want to miss.

The 411 by Maria & Goddess

Oh we LOVED this movie. It is adorable from the first moment to the last. Who doesn't love ladybugs and these guys are so cute with their big eyes and innocence.

The movie takes you on a minuscule journey into the life of the insect, arachnids and other bug kingdom.

This is a wonderful journey that will have you on the edge of your seat. Incredible animation and sweet little bugs (this is the only way I like my bugs). Parents and kids alike will enjoy this ride due to the storyline and the breathtaking macro photography mixed with 3D effects. We sat there saying, it's real, it's fake, never knowing if we were looking at true animation or real world effects. It is like a "real" cartoon!

When newly hatched ladybug is separated from it's family she is quickly adopted by a troop of black ants who want to get some sugar home to the nest. They work together to navigate our beautiful world and come to a compromise that helps both of them.