Unplugged Play Is The WAY - Flex Your Imagination With Magnaflex

I am a huge fan of unplugged play. Kids and adults are way too attached to their electronics. We need something in our hand even if we are eating or hanging with friends or hanging out on the couch watching TV. When was the last time you watched TV without a phone in your hand playing some phone game? Even as adults we can't get enough so why do we think our kids can control themselves. We need to make conscious efforts to unplug our kids and ourselves. 

This is why I love products like Magnaflex by WowWee. Magnaflex is a creative construction kit that’s turning magnetic play upside down! Its exclusive flexibility allows kids to build up, out, and even down to form ​any ​2D and 3D ​figure​ they can imagine​ ​- from balls and crowns to spiders and snakes! All strips are bendable, zippable, snappable​, and stackable - and they’re all interchangeable so kids will never run out of ideas!

 

It is on my dining room table and all of us have taken it and tried to create something together or alone over the past week and a half that we have had it even when we are creating nothing. My daughter and I like to create jewelry. While my son likes to create what looks like a gaming chair. 

The best part of Magnaflex is that it requires no batteries and helps stimulate creativity and promotes visualization and fine motor skills.

Get It 

Target

and

Disclaimer: I received complimentary products for my honest opinion. No momentary compensation was offered.

Chut Up Condiments Are Delicious! #chutup

Have you ever heard of CHUT UP? No not shut up! Chut Up! Chut Up specializes in condiments that are better for you! They use high quality ingredients to create some of your favorite condiments.

We use a ton of ketchup and hot sauce in my house so I was happy to try their Beet Ketchup and Peri Peri Hot Sauce.

The hot sauce is very hot. It packs some heat! The main ingredients are tomatoes, red onion, red bell pepper, and Tai peppers.

My daughter enjoys it and uses it with her corn chips instead of Salsa and last night added it to her white rice.

I love the Chut Up Beet Ketchup! It is made with roasted beets, organic apple cider vinegar, cloves, garlic, and mustard seed. It taste amazing. If someone served it to me, I would never know it was made from beets.

So far I have used it on my turkey burger and my Zucchini Ricotta Pancakes.

They are made with zucchini, diced onions, egg, ricotta, Parmesan cheese,  bread crumbs, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. They were amazing!

Dinos On Deck Sounds Book #Giveaway

Dinos on Deck!

To Purchase

Illustrator: Gareth Lucas
ISBN 13: 978-1-62686-938-7
Format: Board Book
Pages: 12 pp.
Trim: 8.5 x 8.5
Art: Full Color
Category: Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures
Age Range: 0 to 3

Join your favorite dinosaur friends on an adventure in the seas! Hoist the sails, press the sound buttons, and laugh along as a Triceratops, a Stegosaurus, a T. rex and more search for treasure. With humorous art by Gareth Lucas and charming rhyming text, this sound book will be a perfect addition to story time. What will these dinosaur friends find when they open the treasure chest?

The 411:

My preschool class loved this book.  The illustrations are so colorful and there is so much to talk about on each page. There is just enough story to keep my 2 year old class entertained and then there is that sound button to press on each page. Each of the kids love hearing and mimicking the sounds.  Dinosaurs are very popular in preschool and these whimsical characters are super sweet.

To Purchase:

 

Enter to win before November 10th by filling out the form below and leaving your comment. Only these who do the mandatory comment will be considered.

Disclaimer: I received complimentary products for my honest opinion. No momentary compensation was offered.

Proud Mommy Moment

This year the kids have both brought home report cards that make me so proud. They are such good kids. I am very fortunate. Handsome has always been an excellent student. He takes great pride in his school work and always aims to do his best. Working hard from the moment he gets home until it is all done. He is like me. Do it now so I can play later.

Granted Goddess has way more homework than he does but she has never been good at staying on task. She needs constant redirection to stay on task and homework that should take probably an hour takes her about 4 because she never stays seated. Bath room, checking for cat pics on Instagram, scooter breaks in the hallway, bothering her brother, regular stuff but so annoying.

This year they removed her from the inclusion class which meant no special teacher in the class to keep her on task and make sure she is on top of her assignments and writing down her homework assignments. I am usually on top of her but this year she does come home and get started even if it takes hours. She seems to be much more responsible and I am happy to see that when I write to see if she is missing any assignments; she is not.

Both my kids report cards are way better than mine ever was.

Handsome is in the 95-100 range except for Spanish which is at 89. NOT BAD!
Goddess is above 89-95 in everything except for math where she has a 75. I am thrilled with this 75 because she was only pulling a 65 even with all the extra help last year. So excited for them.

They surprise me every single day. They are both polite, love volunteer work and help me out with chores without any lip. Well Goddess say she doesn't want to but does it anyway. Where Handsome says, "OK" and "no problem."

They are both amazing and I love them to pieces!

I Have Found My Forever Coffee Brewer - The Ninja® Coffee Brewer with Auto-iQ® + Video Review

Ninja® Coffee Brewer with Auto-iQ® One-Touch Intelligence and Thermal Flavor Extraction® Technology unlocks your coffee’s full flavor potential. Features include:

• Choose a Size: Cup, Travel Mug, Half Carafe, or Full Carafe
• Choose a Brew: Classic, Rich, Over Ice, or Specialty
• Pod-Free Single Serve
• Auto-iQ One-Touch Intelligence adjusts the brew cycle based on the brew size and brew type you select
• 43 oz. Glass Carafe and Intelligent Warming Plate
• Removable water reservoir

The 411: 

This is a total coffee house. I drink 2 cups a day, my daughter drinks a cup a day BUT my husband he is a 12 cup a day guy. So needless to say we needed to consider going back to coffee brewer. I was thrilled to be able to review Ninja Coffee Brewer. I have seen the commercials and really wanted to see if this was going to be easy enough for him to consider going back since he is such always on the run and has no patience to wait for coffee but savvy enough to be above the basic coffee machine.

The Ninja Coffee Brewer comes with a water reservoir that is easy to fill and contains enough water to fill the carafe that comes with the system. BUT, if you are looking to just do one cup there is a coffee cup stand that folds up when using the carafe.

There are three modes you can use when brewing your coffee; Classic, Rich, Over Ice, or Specialty.  We always use the classic. I believe the Rich mode allows your grounds to "bloom" a little longer for a fuller body cup!

This doesn't mean we are giving up on our other coffee machine but we are definitely looking forward to saving money on our K-Cups and using the Ninja when we are both drinking coffee, on the weekends and when we have company. So much easier than waiting for each cup to be made.  

Look for this and other Ninja products on my Holiday Gift Guide

My Video Review

To Purchase:



The Ninja Coffee Brewer is available at retailers nationwide, at an MSRP of $139.99.

For more information about these and additional Ninja® products, visit http://www.ninjakitchen.com.
Follow Ninja Kitchen on Facebook at facebook.com/ninjakitchen and on Twitter at @NinjaKitchen.

About SharkNinja SharkNinja is an innovation leader in the housewares industry and creator of the familiar household brands Shark® and Ninja®. SharkNinja provides the latest in easy-to-use innovative technology with a growing line of solutions that consist of Shark® cleaning and home care products and Ninja® kitchen appliances. Products are sold at major retailers and through distributors around the world. Ninja and Shark are registered trademarks of SharkNinja Operating LLC. For more information, visit sharkninja.com.

PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

The Penguin Classics 50^th anniversary edition of PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK by Joan Lindsay with Forward by Maile Meloy.

Widely considered one of the most important Australian novels of all time, PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK stands with Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, and Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides as a masterpiece of intrigue. A six-episode TV series starring Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer based on the book is scheduled to be released by Amazon next year.

On a cloudless summer day in the year 1900, everyone at Appleyard College for Young Ladies agreed it was just right for a picnic at Hanging Rock. After lunch, three girls climbed into the blaze of the afternoon sun, pressing on through the scrub into the shadows of the secluded volcanic outcropping. Farther, higher, until at last they disappeared…. They never returned.

Scene from the movie

The 411:

This haunting and mesmerizing story is written as if it is a real mystery. I enjoyed the set up and while I have never watched the movie I feel I did. It is so descriptive and the landscape written so well I could see the beach, the steps, the cliffs, it is truly a must read. 

Now I feel like I need to see the movie to get the full feel.

To Purchase:

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

The Many Uses Of Honey

We use a ton of honey in this house. 

Here are just 10 of the things we do with honey here:

Add it to our tea (every single day)

Make a drink with apple cider vinegar, honey, cinnamon and lemon that we drink (every morning)

Use it on cuts if I am out of Neosporin. It happens too often. Thank God for honey.

Use it as lip balm when my lips are dry

Mix milk and honey for a great facial mask.

Add it to my muffins instead of sugar

Make a thick cough syrup with ginger, lemon juice and honey

So I was really excited when I was asked to try Rice's Raw & Unfiltered Honey. It is yummy! My daughter and I loved the Local Great Lakes better than the Local NorthEast. We found it less sweet which works in many of our uses better but they are both amazing.