How safe is YOUR drinking water?

There was an article in the New York Times on August 22 that says atrazine, a weed killer, is a common contaminate of drinking water. There have been studies that show that animals that have been exposed to small amounts of atrazine before birth have had increased vulnerability to cancer later in life. This is a scary thought to me considering that later exposure is probably just as dangerous, and I have small children.
There are some alternatives to drinking contaminated water. Some are incredibly expensive and harmful to the environment, such as drinking only bottled water. There are economical ways to ensure that you and your family are drinking good water. We use a filter in our fridge that needs to be replaced ever 6 months (more when used often) and something that we are looking into is the Zuvo Water Purator. Whatever option you chose for you and your family, please be aware of the contaminates in your local drinking water and the side-effects of each!

Girls Trip to Montana

Our "girl trip" to Montana was wonderful!
The girls rode well in the truck - thanks in LARGE part to a new, dual screened DVD player that attaches to the head rest. Some people thought that I was crazy for getting two screens, but Natalie is still rear-facing so she cant see the other one. I try not to play favorites!!!



We were all happy when we finally got to Livingston and were able to get out of the truck for a while! Visiting was great, Emily was friendly and talked, played, and even sat with Grandpa Larry and Grandma Lynette - this is a HUGE difference from the last time that we were there ;-)
Natalie was a little loveable girl - she started walking about the second day that we were there, and has only gotten better at it!
Livingston was nice - we went to the park, Farmer's Market, and more.


We were able to go to Billings and see Brent (my brother), Savannah (his wife) and Parker (their little guy) and then to go visit my Grandpa Larry and go out to dinner for his birthday!



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The second week that we were in Montana, we went to Helena to stay with Papa, Oma, and Sierra. Aunt Jody cam over from Butte and stayed a couple of says as well - that made it really nice so that we could all visit together and the girls wouldn't have to be in the truck any more than there were already (driving to Butte and back.)

Again, Emily was much more loving and was much nicer to Papa than she was last time we were there. He earned some brownie points for sure when he told us that we could eat whatever raspberries we picked...who knew that my kids were such berry eaters! Seriously!
Emily had a couple of owies and Papa doctored her up real good! There were times that Papa would find himself with a lap full of little girls!

Papa took me fishing one day that we were there. It was a beautiful boat ride. I can't believe what is happening to the trees though. Beetles are killing them - BAD. I thought it was kind of pretty to have a few red specks here and there last time we went to Montana, but this time there was nothing pretty about it, it is spreading fast.
Oma and Sierra were glad to have us there so there were more kids to play with! We went swimming, jumpped on the trampoline, played outside, and more - it was great!
Oma tought me how to knit, so now I am on a scarf-making mission (might be your Christmas gift!)

It was wonderful to visit people that I hadn't seen in what feels like a very long time. I was glad that everyone seemed to be doing well.

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It doesn't really matter how lovely a vacation may be, it is always nice to return home. Nothing beats walking into your own house and sleeping on your own bed...
That may not be entirely true - Zack was not able to come with us to Montana this time because of work, so seeing him was the best part of coming home. Two weeks is a long time to be away from your hubby, and it was a long time for the girls to be away from their daddy!

Jax Coffee Review and Giveaway

I was given the opportunity to try a small gift box of Jax Coffee from Aroma Promotions.
The first thing that I noticed when I received my gift box, was the aroma - it was wonderful. You know that smell of roasted coffee that you get when you open the door of your local coffee shop, I got that same sensation when I opened the shipping box...amazing!
I made a point to say the shipping box, because I thought it was cool that inside of the regular, brown, cardboard box that you generally receive packages in, there was a nice little black box with a gold cord bow! Maybe it's just me, but I think that display is important - and this was simple, yet elegant.
So inside of the little black box was two half-pound bags of aromatic, fresh roasted coffee beans - Italian Dark Roast and Jax House Blend Medium Roast. Personally, I am a fan of medium roast, but my hubby prefers dark roast, so I think that this is a great combination of coffees to make a gift box!
I love the smell of fresh ground coffee, really I don't think it gets much better than this! The coffee was great! The aroma was incredibly inviting and the taste of the coffee just as delightful!

The gift box that I was given, is a great marketing tool for your business. The cost of one box is under $20 (not $19.99 either lol) SHIPPED! Aroma Promotions ships anywhere in the US and to APO/AFO addresses - "We love serving our Service People" -Jack Erhart.
The gift boxes are personalized with your RECOGNIZED BRANDEN LOGO! This is perfect for thank you's to important clients, holiday gift-giving, enticements to prospective clients, and much more. Heck, I think it would even be great to make up a family "logo" (pic and some nice sentiment) and send these to people on your Christmas list - can't beat the price and it is personal.
The recipient of the gift box has the option to continue ordering Jax coffee after they brew what you gave them...and any future orders comes to them with your logo on it at NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE TO YOU!
Way cool!

Thanks to Jack Erhart at Jax Coffee and Aroma Promotions one lucky reader has the opportunity to experience one of these gift boxes too!
THANKS JACK!!


HOW TO ENTER TO WIN:
Giveaway will be open until 8/27/08 at 12noon PST. The winner will be chosen by random.org. Open to all residents of the USA age 18 and over. Please leave a way for me to contact you if you are the winner. Winner will be given 24 hours to respond, or another winner will be chosen. Good luck!
MANDATORY 1st Entry - this entry must be submitted for you to win.
**Visit Jax Coffee and tell me which coffee you think you would like the best AND visit Aroma Promotions and then tell me at least one use you would have for the gift boxes.

ADDITIONAL ENTRIES
**Post this giveaway on your blog, linking it back to this page AND Aroma Promotions for 3 entries
**Follow me on twitter and tweet this giveaway (include #JaxCoffee)
**Follow me and leave me a comment saying you are, grab my button for an additional entry!
**Leave a recipe on the Recipe Share post for 2 entries
**Comment on another post

The product I received was provided at no charge for review, I am in no way being compensated moniterialy.

SmartyCard

SOME INFORMATION ABOUT SMARTYCARD

SmartyCard is a great interactive, educational activity for kids. It is geared toward children and tween in grades 3 through 6 (ages 7-12.) Learning is fun with SmartyCard, it keeps kids engaged!

You can log on and try SmartyCard absolutely free, but the access is limited and the points that would be rewarded upon successful completion of an activity are not valid.

The way that it works is you buy the points and then your child earns them through successfully completing learning activities, available in reading, writing, math, social studies, cultural studies, technology and science. You can add points to a Free account for as little as $10 (that is 5,000 points!!!) or there are subscription options.

What is the purpose of points? Yeah, I wondered that too! Your child can trade the points that they earn in for rewards/prizes. Some of the rewards are subscriptions and virtual currencies for virtual worlds to tangible rewards including CDs, toys, video games, books, craft and science kits, DVDs that will come in the mail.



OUR EXPERIENCE
To try this program we were provided with 5000 points.

We logged on today and were going through some of the third grade lessons. The thing that really impressed me was that in the middle of the lesson Emily and I were doing together, it stopped asking questions and just cheered her on to keep going - I thought that was pretty cool. The questions were challenging - age/grade appropriate.

It was fun!

Really, we learned while we were playing. I can definately see how this program could keep a child or tween engaged for at least half an hour.

I do encourage you to try it, it is FREE to try...you never know, this may be your child's new favorite way of learning new things and building their confidence in their schoolwork!




I am an affiliate for SmartyCard.

Win a WEDDING RING!!!

www.jennasjourneyblog.blogspot.com is a great Christian blog, I love to read her insight! We have playgroup today, but I want to do an "I do/Don't" post and link it with hers later.
Anyways, she is hosting a giveaway for a tungsten wedding ring, you can find it linked to her blog. What a great opportunity!
Good luck to anyone who enters!

Natalie - Almost 1!!!

 
It is hard to believe that this picture was taken nearly a year ago. This was when Natalie was only 2 days old and we were getting ready to leave the hospital...
So much has happened sinse then - she cooed, then smiled, then rolled over, learned the army crawl and then to crawl regularly. We went from having a stationary infant, to a baby who had the determination to get where she wanted to go via rolling, crawling, or a combonation of the two. Natalie has started taking a few steps here and there and says a handful of words - mama, dada, hi, bye, bad-bad (Emily tells that to Tiny Man), and hey. She is learning so much and is such a wonderful little person!
She will be 1 year old on the 3rd of September. It is unbelievable how fast time flies! We are so blessed to have such a wonderful, happy little girl and are looking forward to celebrating her first year of life!!!

Crayola Fun Pack!!!

Picture from www.3kidsandus.com

What a great giveaway, just in time for school for those kids old enough to be going and fun for those who aren't quite there yet! Check out more information about crayola love that they are non-toxic, guess my kids aren't the only ones who put a lot of stuff in their mouths!! This giveaway is hosted by 3KidsandUs, and can be found here!
Good luck to all who enter!

Recipe Share

So I am going to start by posting a pretty easy recipe that my family LOVES, then you can leave one of your family's favorite recipies in the comments...hopefully we will get enough recipes that we wont have any problems with not having something to cook for supper for a while! ;) Might have a problem deciding which one(s) though!

"Taco Taters" (Not the orignal name, but descriptive!)
3 lg. baking potatoes
1 Tbs. butter
1 lb ground beef
1 can(14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 envelope taco seasoning
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1/3 cup sour cream
Scrub and pierce potatoes. Cook in nuker until done. When cool enough to handle, cut potatoes in 1/2 lengthwise. Carefully remove pulp, leaving 1/2 inch. Brush butter on inside and outside of potato shells. Place taters cut side up on an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake, uncovered, at 375 for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a skillet, cook beef over medium heat untill no longer pink; drain. Add tomatoes and taco seasoning. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer;, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
Spoon into potato shells; sprinkle with cheese.
Bake, uncovered, 5-10 minutes longer or untill cheese is melted. Top with sour cream.

In the interest of full disclosure, there WERE onions in the recipe - but I detest onions, so I ommit them from my recipe. IF you want to add the onions, chop up half of a medium onion and cook it with the meat.

Fancy Fortune Cookie Giveaway

Click HERE to enter for a chance to win an assortment of 100 Fancy Fortune Cooies! They sound really yummy. Good luck to all who enter!

Win It - Sid the Science Kid & dive OLLY dive DVDs

I know that I feel better about letting my kids watch cartoons, and television in general, when I know that what they are watching is appropriate, funny, and educational. So, we find ourselves watching a lot of PBS cartoons. On this site: http://grammyjanetsplace.blogspot.com/2009/08/sid-science-kid-review-3-dvd-giveaway.html you can enter for a chance to win a 3 DVD pack that has both Sid the Science Kid and dive OLLY dive. I will be honest, we have never seen dive OLLY dive, but Sid is great! It is musical, gets you moving, and teaches something great in every episode! So I hope that you take the opportunity to visit this site -- good luck to all who enter!!

I need help from a wiser blogger than I...

So youcan see that over there ---> I have a button. What I dont know is how to get my button to be grabbable and make it work. If you do know how and would like to enlighten me, I will be forever greatful!!! TIA!

Land's End Back-to-School Twitter Party

This was so much fun making our fantasy backpack...yes Emily picked EVERYTHING pink!!!

Have fun, ask questions, win Land's End products at the Twitter Party:

Join Lands’ End for the ultimate Back-to-School Twitter Party! Lands’ End hosts will be available to answer back-to-school shopping questions and the party will feature more than 20 product giveaways from co-hosts, 5minutesformom.com.

Lands’ End Back-to-School Twitter Party

Date: Thursday, August 20th

Time: 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. CST

Location: #landsend

Where have I been?

I saw this on Mama Michie's Musings and thought it would be interesting to see my maps...here they are:


visited 8 states (16%)
Create your own here



visited 1 country (0.44%)
Create your own here

It will be fun to see yours too!

LOVE Coffee

My husband told me this morning that I am now a junkie!
What can I say, there is something about the wonderful aroma of fresh brewed coffee that gets me, everytime. I have recently discovered that I not only like my coffee black or professionally mixed (Starbucks) but I really like Dulce de Leche creamer in my coffee!
I was talking to my sister and her husband the other night and told them that with my new discovery, I don't think I will ever again feel the need to rush to Starbucks for my ultimate favorite - carmel macchiato - because I come pretty close to it myself.
What an eye opener, I can save so much money induging myself...with many fewer calories too!!! Just thought I would share, and maybe even encourage you to try it - come on over and I will make you a cup!

Baby Orajel study finds that 56 percent of Americans least like to encounter a cranky baby in a movie theater.

When is your LEAST favorite time to hear a baby crying, screaming, or just plain fussing?

According to a study by the maker of Baby Orajel® teething pain medicine, the worst place is a movie theater. Interesting results include the following:

• More than 56
percent of Americans claim that the worst place to encounter a cranky baby is at
a movie theater. Other places where people hate to encounter a cranky baby are
(in order): on an airplane (22 percent), at a church or religious function (12
percent) and at a restaurant (10 percent).
• Surprisingly, parents are more
likely than non-parents (61 percent vs. 52 percent) to place movie theaters at
the top of their list of bad places to encounter a cranky baby.
• While you
may not think it when sitting next to one, crying babies aren’t nearly as
annoying as other loud noises you may encounter during the day. The survey
showed that the most frustrating sounds to hear (in order) are: a car alarm (39
percent), jackhammer (28 percent), baby crying (21 percent) and a barking dog
(13 percent).
• Parents, who are more accustomed to the sound of cranky
infants, are less likely than those without children to get annoyed by the sound
of a crying baby. Specifically, 25 percent of non-parents named a baby crying as
the most frustrating sound to hear, while only 15 percent of parents stated that
in the survey.

After reading the results of the survey, I thought about it...yeah - cranky, teething babies are a bummer, but thankfully there is relief for them - baby orajel! We used both baby orajel and natural teething tablets with Emily and it made things a lot easier on her and on us too!!! Natalie is right there...starting to teeth (at 11 months, crazy, right?) But Baby Orajel has come out with a new soothing cucumber teething gel, I will let you all know what we think of it - we will be trying it soon!

Family Fun - CAUTION*** ADDICTING

For my birthday my hubby got me a Nintendo Wii, it is awesome. I love it, there are not enough good things to say about it. Well we have only a limited number of games - sports package that came with it (bowling, baseball, boxing, tennis, and golf) and of course we have Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09!! Well my husbands cousin let us borrow her Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol Encore 2 and microphone...we are so going to buy it! It is great!
Earlier I was dancing and singing a song by the Spice Girls...don't act like you never liked them (I wont tell anyone). After I was done, and the judges laid into me pretty hard, it was Emily's turn. She is sooo stinking cute! She was swaying and singing - PRICELESS! Then a few minutes later I was in the kitchen and I hear my husband serenading Emily with "Hey Their Delilah"
Like I said, amazing family fun, worth every penny - but incredibly ADDICTING!!!

The fish...

In case you were wondering about the fish at the bottom of my blog, which I am sure you were, you can click the mouse in there to drop flakes of food and watch the fishies swim to get them...yes, pointless - however it entertains my toddler!

Zuvo Water

Zuvo Water – Win of Five Water Purator Systems ($300 value) and One of Twenty-Five Canteens!

This week, SheBlogs is giving our blogging community the chance to be healthy AND go green with our sponsored giveaway – brought to us by the new Zuvo Water Purator. Winner of the Summer 2009, Parent Tested/Parent Approved Award, the Zuvo Water Purator is a new point-of-use water treatment system that is not only more cost effective than pitcher filters or bottled water, but also helps people reduce waste and limit the environmental impact of bottled water. This compact, chemical-free water system attaches to a standard kitchen faucet or connects in-line with plumbing under the sink. Using a patented 5-step puration process, the Zuvo Water Purator mimics nature’s water cleansing process by exposing tap water to UV light and ozone, creating a harmful environment for water-borne bacteria and microorganisms, while trapping particles and dissolved solids in a carbon filter. This process not only preserves the valuable mineral content in the water, but it reduces bad tastes, potentially unhealthy contaminants, and cuts down waste. You can learn more about the Zuvo Water system and how it works here www.zuvowater.com

Evolution lesson in school...(forwarded e-mail I received)

SOMEBODY'S RAISING THEIR KID RIGHT!
One Nation, 'Under God.'

One day a 6 year old girl was sitting in a
classroom. The teacher was going to explain
evolution to the children.

The teacher asked a little boy: Tommy do you see the tree
outside?
TOMMY: Yes.
TEACHER: Tommy, do you see the grass
outside?
TOMMY: Yes.
TEACHER: Go outside and look up and see
if you can see the sky.
TOMMY: Okay. (He returned a few minutes
later) Yes, I saw the sky.
TEACHER: Did you see God up there?
TOMMY: No.
TEACHER: That's my point. We can't see
God because he isn't there. Possibly he just
doesn't exist.

A little girl spoke up and wanted to ask the
boy some questions.
The teacher agreed and the

little girl asked the boy: Tommy, do you see the tree
outside?
TOMMY: Yes.
LITTLE GIRL: Tommy do you see the grass
outside?
TOMMY: Yessssss!
LITTLE GIRL: Did you see the sky?
TOMMY: Yessssss!
LITTLE GIRL: Tommy, do you see the
teacher?
TOMMY: Yes
LITTLE GIRL: Do you see her brain?
TOMMY: No
LITTLE GIRL: Then according to what we
were taught today in school, she possibly
may not even have one!
(You Go Girl!)

FOR WE WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT'
II CORINTHIANS 5:7

Don't forget to pass this on! I love this one.
Everyone should send this to everyone they
know, especially today with prayer restricted
in schools Forward if you believe in GOD!!!!

Lori Huntington

Mamamichie's blog has a review of Rembrant whitening kit...and a chance to win your own! Here is the link to that post:
http://www.mamamichie.com/2009/07/rembrandt-review-and-giveaway/comment-page-1/#comment-1265

Do you LOVE Schwan's food? Check this out!!!

$10 FREE Schwan's Food All you have to do is click the link and fill out your info and choose whatever you want delivered to your door for FREE! No strings attached, just be one of the first 500,000 new customers today (8/1/08)
Thanks to resourcefulmommy!

Qualifying is harder than I had imagined!

Many of you know that I started sellin Pampered Chef a few weeks ago. I never knew that I was into Pampered Chef until I went to a show. There have some pretty cool stuff. So I decided to have a party and see if I could get enough sales to get what I wanted at a pretty cheap price. I was able to get one item half priced, $40 in free product, and 20% discount on the rest! I was stoked!! But when I was making my "wish list" I ran into an all too common problem...I wanted a lot of stuff! So what better way to get to know the products and earn enough money to get what I wanted (and a few other things too) than to become a consultant myself? Right, that's what I did. Anyways, maybe it's because of the economy...but I am having a heck of a time getting people to have a cooking show or catalog party, and I need to have 3 more by August 27 to "qualify." So I am kinda bummed, but I will survive!
On a more positive note, I held my first show as a consultant last night, and I think it went fairly well. I was pretty confident and I had a good time, and I think that the host and guests did as well. ;)

WOW!! She is getting big!

Zack is gone hunting now. Hopefully he will return with some venison!!!
OK, so I was getting a little off topic there for a second. Zack is gone and in the middle of the night Natalie woke up. So rather than putting her back to sleep and then back in her bed (which I only do about 50% of the time anyway) I decided to just bring her in bed with me sinse I had it all to myself anyway. Well, this morning when she started moving around I said, "C'mon Emily stop kicking me." I then heard this sweet little voice cooing at me - probably chastising me in baby language for calling her Emily - and I open my eyes to see Natalie. It was kind of sad, in that moment I realized that there was nothing I could do, Natalie was growing up and getting big. Why, why, why can't she just stay my little bitty baby?

Cash back for shopping online

Do you ever shop for and buy stuff online...I do. If you click through E-bates before you shop, you earn cashback on your purchases! There are hundreds, if not thousands, of stores that participate - walmart, target, TCP, eBags... You can sign up using the link below, and get an extra $5 back for making your first purchase (I will get $5 too!!!)
http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=8UbpsdLVwdQEYhHEGwzzrg%3D%3D