Saturday, February 23, 2013

Week in Review ~ the one with Snow

This has been a crazy week! Especially Wednesday! For those who don't know, we live just outside of Phoenix, Arizona and this is what it looked like here on Wednesday:
This is NOT normal! Click here for more photos of snow in Phoenix.
Also, on Wednesday, on Arizona State Route 89 this happened:

 This is a MAJOR route between Utah and Arizona about 25 miles South of Page, Arizona. Click here to read more about what happened!

On to the more normal occurrences. We are loving our new curriculum. We are loving the products we are reviewing (to see what is coming just peek at my sidebar). Unicorn (with help from Ladybug and me) is crocheting scarves to sell to raise money to go to girl's camp. She has sold 4 and needs to sell about 6 more (Email me if you are interested in purchasing one).
Playing a Latitude/Longitude game
Coloring by Sight Words
Writing a Thank You note to someone who purchased a scarf
Yarn to make scarves
White Knitted Scarf with Gold Trim ($20 plus $2 shipping)
Purple Knitted Scarf (it is a dark purple-$20 plus $2 shipping)
Burnt Orange, Burgundy, Deep Purple, Red Crocheted Scarf ($15 plus $2 shipping)
Chocolate, Ivory, Tan, Silver Crocheted Scarf ($15 plus $2 shipping)
Orange, Blue, Olive, Purple Crocheted Scarf ($15 plus $2 shipping)
Hot Pink, Pink and White Crocheted Scarf ($15 plus $2 shipping)




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Friday, February 22, 2013

FREE Blog Planner ~ A Mosiac Review

As a member of the Mosaic Reviews Team, I will get the chance to review many products. To kick off our reviews, we will be reviewing some FREE blog planners! So, if you are a blogger (or thinking about blogging) you should check out our reviews!

I am reviewing the FREE Blog Planner from Confessions of a Homeschooler. Erica has two versions available and I chose the lined version.

In a Nutshell:
~FREE
~Two versions (lined and calendar)
~29 pages each (27 that you print)
~Includes a Front Cover, Back Calendar, Year-at-a-Glance Calendar, 12 (monthly) lined/calendar pages, and 12 review/giveaway/post idea pages (the calendar version includes a space for tracking stats)
~Erica can be contacted via her website's "Contact Me" link or by clicking HERE

My Thoughts:
I LOVE this planner, not only is it beautiful, it is very functional and doesn't use a ton of paper (if you do it right you only use 12 sheets of paper and 2 pieces of cardstock)! My only wish would be that the lined version have a place to record stats. BUT, since both versions are FREE you could easily mix and match to get EXACTLY what you want! I printed mine double-sided and bound it myself but you could just as easily have it printed and bound at Staples or Office Max or something. Will I keep using this planner? To be honest, I am not sure. It is a functional, simple, beautiful blog planner but I prefer an All-in-One type planner. I get lost when I have too many planners! However, if you like to have planners for each area of your life then this is a great planner!
Lined Version in use (February)
Lined Version in use (February)
Other Products Available:
~Curriculum (History, Geography, Literature, Preschool, K4, Art, Music, and Science)
~Digital Scrapbook
~Patterns
~Combo Packs


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Saturday, February 9, 2013

A New Hobby?

Background: I can NOT sew, knit or crochet (not for lack of trying). Somewhere between my brain and my left-handedness the directions get all flipped around and messed up and I end up frustrated and the project thrown out. My mom does any sewing that needs to be done and is teaching Unicorn to sew, knit, crochet, etc.

Yesterday, my mom came by to pick up Unicorn and take her to her dad's house. While she was here my mom started teaching Unicorn how to knit a scarf with this fancy new yarn so Unicorn can sell the scarves to earn money to go to Girl's Camp. It looked fairly easy so I took the needles from Unicorn and knit a few rows. Then set it aside for Unicorn to work on when she gets home Sunday evening. Well, hubby was gone last night (camping with the Scouts) and the little ones were in bed and I was watching some of my favorite shows (Charmed and NCIS) and I picked up that yarn and needles and...
THIS turned into...

a beautiful SCARF! (I love my ladybug model)!

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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

A Favor for my Daughter, Unicorn

Unicorn will be 13 at the end of February and has a goal to apply to Mosaic Reviews at that time. She used to blog pretty regularly but took last year off. She is working on getting her blog back up and running. We have designed a new look for her blog and even made a button for her. 

The favor I am asking is for you to show her some love! 
Just click the button below and you will be magically transported to her cute little blog! 
Feel free to leave her a comment and/or to follow her while you are there! 
Thank you so much!
Photobucket
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Saturday, January 19, 2013

Doctors, School and a Broken Pipe...Oh My!

This month has been much busier than I am used to. I have had 5 (yes, FIVE) doctor appointments since January 2nd and I have 1 more on Monday and then out-patient surgery on Wednesday. I am hoping that after the surgery things will slow back down to a normal pace and we can get back into our school routine.

We have also started our new curriculum and I have managed to snap a few photos (Yay Me)! With this new curriculum we are doing a month of history, then a month of geography and then a month of science on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Friday we do Literature and either Art or Music. Monday are a free day (used for catch-up, field trips, or one-on-one time with my oldest). These subjects are done as a family in the afternoons. Math, Reading, Spelling and other subjects are done in the morning individually.

So far we have had 6 History lessons and 1 Literature and 1 Art Lesson (with all the doctor appointments we are 1 lesson behind in Lit and Art). We have learned about how history is His Story, studied Creation, started our timeline, and created our notebooks. In Literature we are studying Fairy Tales and the lessons they teach us. In Art we are focusing on the Creation and how God is the Ultimate Creator and that because we are made in him image we are also creative beings. Additionally, Monkey and Ladybug do reading and spelling each day and Unicorn is learning to cook and sew.

On another note, we had some UNUSUALLY COLD weather here. Normally, this time of year, we have Highs around 65 and Lows around 40. Last week we had Highs around 40 and Lows around 20! Now, in other parts of the country, this wouldn't be a problem but, here in the Phoenix, Arizona area this is not good! Our pipes are only buried 3-6 inches below ground...not good when you have extended periods of freezing temps. We were pretty lucky, we only had ONE pipe burst and it was an external, above-ground pipe. It was a pretty easy fix. Needless to say, I am grateful for the 75 degree high we had today!

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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

New Year, New You ~ An Intro to emeals

With the new year, many of us set goals for the upcoming year. Some popular goals are to lose weight (or get healthy), to save money, and to spend more time with family! Today I am going to share a recipe from emeals. emeals is a weekly menu and shopping plan that will help you plan healthy meals, save money and save you time in the kitchen (giving you more time with your family).

Portion Control Recipe 
Chicken with Feta, Tomatoes and Couscous
www.emeals.com | #gethealthy | #getthrifty

Ingredients
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 pint grape tomatoes
3 cups cooked couscous
1/2 medium cucumber, finely diced
2 ounces crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese

Cooking Instructions
1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet over
medium-high heat, and cook chicken 4 to 5 minutes on each side, or until done. Remove
from pan and keep warm.
2. Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to pan; add garlic, basil, oregano, and tomatoes. Cook
over medium-high heat 3 to 5 minutes, or until tomatoes soften.
3. Meanwhile, cook couscous according to package directions.
4. Place 1/2 cup cooked couscous on each of 6 plates. Slice chicken, and divide evenly
among plates. Top with tomato mixture, cucumber, and feta cheese.

Nutritional Information (per serving): Calories: 320, Total Fat: 7.8 g, Saturated Fat: 2.1 g,
Cholesterol: 100 mg, Sodium: 507 mg, Total Carbohydrates: 22 g, Dietary Fiber: 2.4 g, Sugars: 2 g, Protein: 38 g

Serves 6
Total Cost: $16.20, Cost per Serving: $2.70

Click on the button below and use the code:  
newyear to save 15% off a menu plan!


{Disclaimer: I am an affiliate for emeals.}
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Wednesday, January 9, 2013

New Year, New Curriculum

I hope you are having a great start to your New Year! 

Last month I mentioned that I had found a curriculum that meets all my desires and this week we are just getting started on our first few lessons. As we are just starting, and I am learning the curriculum too, I don't have any pictures...yet! I hope to write up a post by the end of next week. By that time we will have done 2 weeks of lessons and (hopefully) I will remember to pull out the camera and snap some photos. In the meantime, I did manage to find some time to update our curriculum tab at the top of the page, so feel free to check out our curriculum there. I have made some other changes to the tabs and their content so if you haven't clicked on the tabs recently you may want to do so! ;)

Here are a few photos from January so far:
Unicorn made this Yummy dinner
Unicorn made this outfit!
Ladybug working on her reading!
Ladybug and Monkey doing their Spelling!
I have had 4 Dr. appointments and 2 blood draws and no answers yet!
 

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