Welcome to my universe! I have so much to share with you: reviews, causes, personal experiences etc. I want to shine a light on the positive things in life, encourage kindness & praise good works, remaining hopeful that a better tomorrow is always within our reach. My heart belongs to my devoted loving husband & our exceptional 2 sons who, I believe, make this world a better place with their strong minds & tender hearts. They are my inspiration. I write to express not to impress.
According to information found in the article Half of Africa’s Lions Will Likely Be Gone in 20 Years only about 20,000 roam free in the wild and those numbers will probably be cut in half in 20 years. I can't imagine a world without them! I encourage everyone who loves these creatures to do all you can to join in the conservation efforts: donate money if you are able to and most importantly, help spread awareness on your social media sites! The more people hear about it, the more action is likely to take place!
Here are some helpful organizations leading the fight:
Panthera: Click the "Menu" tab on the left to learn more about the animals themselves, the specific legal avenues the organization is taking to protect the lions, suggestions and ways to get involved etc.
African Wildlife Foundation: Their mission is: The African Wildlife Foundation, together with the
people of Africa, works to ensure the wildlife and wild lands of Africa
will endure forever.
Living With Lions: They are a "conservation research group of seven scientists and 34 Maasai warriors
working in nonprotected areas of Kenya to save the remaining wild lions
and other predators outside National Parks".
The situation is dire but it's not too late. We all still have a fighting voice. Please do all you can. Long live the Lion!
Just for fun, I hashtagged (#) "trunk or treat" on Twitter and was treated (pun intended) to a wide array of fun pictures of all kinds of spooktacular experiences people have with these kinds of Halloween gatherings. Our school event was no exception. My family and I had a wonderful time!
Aside from the creative trunk decorations, haunted house maze, photo wall, and costumed little people walking around, I played my favorite role (and official costume) as "musicians' mom". Both my boys shared their musical talents with their school community, and I couldn't have been prouder.
Here is my youngest boy (on vocals and keys) with his group of fellow 5th Graders and a 6th Grader, on the eve of his 10th birthday, performing a classic song with a special twist leading right into another crowd favorite tune! Hope you enjoy it.
And here is my first-born 7th Grader (on vocals and bass), performing with his friend on drums and music teacher on keys. They present their version of the crowd favorite Motown funk tune, "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder!
I hope you all have a chance to attend a "Trunk or Treat" near you! Have fun and stay safe!
My youngest is currently a 5th Grader (and thankfully, known as a kind and considerate boy) so I'm very happy to share this video written and presented by his age group.
And although October is designated as National Bullying Prevention Month, I stand with all those suffering from any form of hatred every day, each month, all year. If you can be anything, BE KIND!
And keep in mind "strong people don't put others down...they lift them up"!
I was talking to my 12-year-old son just the other day about girls, and he says to me, "All the girls (in his class) are pretty, but their personality makes them stick out." He was referring to the fun, silly, and nice girls in his class that he finds attractive. Yes! I'm a proud mom!
So, let's put an end to bullying. THINK before you SPEAK!
Is it true? Is it helpful? Is it inspiring? Is it necessary? Is it kind?
I am admittedly not a high maintenance person when it comes to daily skin routines. I don't fuss with make-up, opting instead to stick with tinted lip balms and maybe the occasional eye-liner and/or mascara. But one thing that has stuck with me is the advice my Mom gave me, "Moisturize your skin.". So, the only thing I do religiously is apply moisturizer on my face daily and lotion the rest of my body occasionally.
I was sent a couple of sample sizes of Jergens Wet Skin Moisturizer through Sweet Free Stuff and Target and was excited about giving them a try. You have to apply the product right out of the shower before you dry yourself. (This is outside of my norm so I found myself having to deliberately remind myself not to grab the towel first). The product glides on smoothly and with a wetter consistency than regular body lotion. And the directions tell you not to wipe it off. Just let it dry. It absorbs into the skin and leaves a shiny glow (not the radio active kind, but the supple skin kind ☺). I was given two scents to sample: With Refreshing Coconut Oil and With Nourishing Manoi Oil. Both had very pleasant scents but I loved the way the Manoi Oil smelled. It reminded me of the Sampaguita Flower of the Philippines.
Give the products a try if you want to change up your moisturizing routine. ☺
10 Simple You Can Do to Save the Bees : If you're a gardener, create a great habitat for bees. Plant simple and old fashioned plants and flowers and consider planting wildflowers not only to beautify your garden but to give bees a home. Avoid the use of pesticides.
Create nest sites for bees. Bees rarely sting unless provoked. Spread the word...awareness is key. Try to buy honey from local bee keepers. Get involved and join "Save the Bees" campaigns. And whenever you can, eat organic.
I've always been a fan of Annie's Homegrown products because of their commitment to organic products and clean eating.
My growing boys enjoy good food!
Let's eat!
Annie's Creamy Tomato and Bunny Pasta Soup is themed in a cute way with bunny shaped pastas. It has a strong tomato sauce flavor and because it's a soup has a watery consistency. I found myself wanting a bit more pasta to make it thicker but this product is a soup, so of course, it has to be "soupy".
Cracker in my soup? Why, thank you!
If you pair it with Cheddar Bunnies, it gives it a thicker consistency which my kids enjoyed. My oldest son said putting the crackers in it makes it seem like there's more pasta in his soup. And then he whispered, "Can you give me some more of those crackers on their own later?" Why, of course, my son. ♥
Cheddar Bunnies are great on their own or paired with the pasta soup.
I have friends with very busy lives and sometimes cooking from scratch is just too much of a challenge. There's nothing wrong with feeding our families a pre-made food product as long as it's of high quality & free of preservatives. I would wholeheartedly recommend this organic product to all my busy friends.
I tried Annie's Creamy Tomato and Bunny Pasta free from Influenster, but my experience is genuine and my opinions are fully my own.
Make any dress-up day even more magical with silky soft outfits. Encourage kids to get away from the TV or computer and let their
imaginations run wild. Or, stock up for Halloween. Don't forget to
re-stock your dress up trunk too! Choose from lots of familiar styles
and characters. $14.99
Dress Up Capes Whether they're
channeling a Bat superhero, looking for buried treasure, or turning
themselves into a new and unique superhero with special powers, with
Character Dress Up Capes kids will enjoy tons of imaginative play. $9.99
Donate just $1.00 and you get a small page of discounts for delicious Jamba Juice products. And since we're frequent customers, it was a no-brainer for us.
October, along with being National Breast Cancer Awareness month, marks the beginning of Pumpkin Smash season so the boys thoroughly enjoy their sips while helping out a great cause.
Stay healthy!
Facts about Breast Cancer in the United States
One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death among women.
Each year it is estimated that over 220,000 women in the United States
will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 will die.
Although breast cancer in men is rare, an estimated 2,150 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and approximately 410 will die each year.
Today is an especially exciting day for me as I'm introducing a guest blogger...my other half...A Husband, A Dad & More! He is a true & very authentic AFOL (Adult Fan of Lego) & an avid gamer. Find & follow him on Twitter.
To
be clear I want to start off by saying that Lego Dimensions is a fun
family game. Just go online and read all the wonderful reviews and you
will see why this game is highly recommended. I just
want to point out some of the things that I believe TTGames got wrong
and if implemented could have made this an even better game.
My point of view:
Here
is a little background on me. I have always been a fan of Lego. I got
my first set back in 1980-something and have been collecting sets ever
since. From the digital standpoint I have played mostly all the Lego
Video games including Lego Universe. Back then I always thought they
should sell toys from the game. One of the biggest draws to Lego
Universe was my ability to make things on their properties but I always
wanted to export this into Digital Designer and purchase it. I even
wrote to Lego at one point suggesting that they start selling sets with
Lego Universe codes so we can play with the sets both in real life and
in the game. I found a way to multiply myself (who says cloning doesn't exist ☺) by having two sons and
now we are a whole Lego loving family.
Voice casting got it totally wrong in some spots:
Enter
Lego Dimensions. When I first saw the trailer about Lego Dimensions I
was super excited. The possibilities were endless in my mind. I
imagined all the great themes that Lego made throughout the years and thought the possibilities were endless--predicting that this game was going to be epic! As the months went by and the trailers released, I grew even more excited. They announced Portal 2, Back to the
Future, Ghostbusters and other franchises that blew my mind. All this
in one video game.
Before
the game came out I had campaigned on Twitter for TTGames to address a
couple of concerns I had. I begged as nicely as I could (☺) that Lego
Dimensions would voice the original cast of Chima and Ninjago. I didn’t
think this was an outrageous request since Lego owns the rights to
these shows. Another reason I was hopeful was because as we grew closer
to the game release they revealed that some of the original voices of
The Lego Movie, Back to the Future, Portal and others were returning.
There are even more voices and actors that we haven't revealed. We sense lots of fandom squeals once discovered.
Armed
with this information I was really hoping they would fix this flaw but
unfortunately they did not. The voices were so far from the original
characters it made it impossible for me to enjoy the cut scenes because I
didn’t believe the people talking were them. I know that this is a
production of Warner Brothers but ultimately it is still Lego. How hard
is it to get their cast? I can understand Chima since they stopped
filming, but Ninjago? They are still filming. Now every time I hear
Jay talk I can’t shake the feeling that he is an imposter and it takes
away from the overall game experience.
Character disconnection:
From
the moment the story unfolded in the first level I felt
disappointment. The game pack starts off with three characters, Batman,
Gandolf, and Wyldstyle but offers a wide variety of others from the 14
various themes that are included. I was super excited to see how Homer
would interact with them and when I put him on the portal it was as if he
didn’t exist. The characters almost never interacted with him and it
felt like he didn’t belong. In fact for some characters like Eris from
Chima and Owen from Jurassic World you wouldn’t even have a clue where
they came from because it is never mentioned in the game.
This
may seem trivial to most but just imagine how much better this could
have been if there was more interaction. For example, I put Homer on
the toy pad for the first time and there is a mini move of Homer sitting
around at his power plant pressing a bunch of buttons trying to look
busy when a portal opens up. He tries to run away but eventually gets
sucked in. He then appears in the level with the other characters and
he asks what he is doing there. Then the others say some canned responses
like "you got sucked in" and "we are fighting to save all the dimensions".
Introductions are made (all while still fighting) and the story
continues. Each character can have their own unique introduction that
will help tie the story together and give incentive to the consumer to
go out and buy them all.
Another
thing that would be even better is if they found a way to include the
other characters in the cut scenes. A good example of this it the
Skylanders series by Activision. From the moment you place a new
character on the screen they come to life on the screen and are included
in every cut scene as long as there are in play. I realize this is a
bit harder to do because their cut scenes are mostly game play instead
of CGI movies but it really helps to feel like every toy is just as
special as the next. In Lego Dimensions, there are clear favorites.
Exclusion of game worlds in story:
Lego
Dimensions does a good job of including many of the 14 themes into
their character story but I was sad to see that two of them were left
out. They were instead substituted with unrelated levels relevant to
the story but not the themed worlds. Their inclusions only consisted of
themed mini kits. Again this goes with the theme that some characters
are just not as important as others.
Expansion levels are too small:
The
expansion levels go too quickly. In some instances they seem rushed
and skip a lot of content to retell a story in a short amount of time. I
only hope that this will be expanded in the days to come but I am
skeptical. After all, this is the same company that brought us The Lego
Hobbit with two of the three movies story and never finishing the saga.
Conclusion:
Again
I will state that I still enjoyed this game. But I feel there is loads of room for improvement. My hopes are that the developers will
somehow stumble upon this review and maybe rethink how they can improve
this and/or future Lego Dimension games.
Unethical: (Entangled Embrace) by Jennifer Blackwood: This is the love story of Payton
Daniel and Blake Hiller, a couple of med students who fell in love and lost
each other years before reconnecting again at University.Payton is running away from her past. And
Blake is confused & hurt by what he
views as Payton’s rejection.Will they
be able to find a way to tell each other how they truly feel, forgive, and
forge a life together?In this novel,
the topic of assisted suicide is gently touched upon. There are two (maybe even
three) sides to every story and some issues are not so cut and dry. This is a
wonderful loving story.
Before You Go by
Clare James:Tabitha suffered a
terrible trauma that caused a big scandal at her college campus. She decides to
move to another city to conquer her troubles and start fresh. She encounters
Noah and expects that a one-night stand with this handsome man will solve her
problems. But nothing goes according to her plan. Both broken and holding in
secrets, the two begin to forge a connection with one another that is
undeniable. And just like with most things, the truths inevitably come out. Will they
learn to trust each other & give in to love?
Reckless Longing by
Gina Robinson:Ellie decides to have
her belly button pierced and Logan offers to hold her hand so she doesn’t
chicken out. So begins the non-traditional love story of Ellie and Logan.They have this adorable banter, with great
conversations getting to know one another (although still managing to keep some
very deep secrets) . The mother-daughter relationship Ellie has with her mother
is one that most would never wish on their enemy…and her father? Well, you have
to read the book to find out what’s happening there. And Logan has his own parental
issues—not to mention demons of his own he needs to conquer.It’s the first book in the Reckless Series.
