Happy Father's Day

Father's Day is a day to celebrate the great men in your life.  I am fortunate to have many great men to honor on this special day:

Dad - You are an amazing man.  You work hard, play hard, and love us with all your heart.  Over the years you've coached me in countless sports, taught me how to coach others, and showed me how to be a kind and generous person.  You've never met a stranger and generally believe in the good in others.  You have high expectations, but countless compliments when we accomplish the goals we set out to achieve.  Though we have argued over the years, I could not have asked for a better father.  I recently heard this song for the first time and immediately thought of you.  While all parts do not apply, you'll know immediately the parts that do.  Thank you for all you have done for me.  I love you!



Doc - You are an amazing father to our two beautiful little girls.  They look at you with love and admiration.  While they don't always appreciate all that you do for them, some day they will.  The time will come before too long when I expect  that I will lose some of my ability to talk to the girls without an argument.  I take solace in the fact that you will be there for them.  They will still be able to talk and laugh with you.  You will be my eyes and ears when I need them most.  The girls are very lucky to have you as a daddy!

Dad2 - In the father-in-law lottery, I think I won the jackpot.  You are easy to talk to and laugh with.  Your sense of humor makes any gathering more fun.  Your love for your family, while shown in different ways, is amazing.  While I love you like a Dad, I appreciate the fact that you seem to understand that I can't bring myself to call you that.  Thank you for all you do for us! 

Grandpa - A man of few words, a hug and the words "Hola Mija" can make my heart melt.  While you never have much to say, your presence alone tells me that you love me.  Thank you for being a part of some of the most important moments in my life.

Grandpa - It is hard to believe you have been gone now for ten years.  When I think of you I remember your sense of humor, your work ethic, your sweet laugh, and your penchant for falling asleep just about anywhere.  As a farmer, you worked long hard days, yet when you would come in you would always have a smile on your face (and often a box of crackerjack for me!).  You were proud of your children above all else.  The fact that I still miss you like crazy and am brokenhearted that my girls will never know you should tell you how important you were to me.

While this Father's Day post is a little late, I still felt it needed to be posted.  If you forgot your Dad or another important man in your life yesterday, please take a moment today to tell them how important they are to you.  Life is too short, and you never know what next year will bring.  To all father's out there - Happy Father's Day!

A lazy day

Yesterday, the sky was overcast and gray.  You could see that the rain was just waiting for the perfect moment to fall.  The lake was still.  It looked like you could put your ice skates on and glide across it with ease.   The girls and I waited all day for the guys to come and finish our kitchen.   I had waited to exercise, waited to shower, waited to run all our errands so that I would be available when they finally did show up - which they never did.  They were supposed to arrive at 8:30 am, but by 1:00 pm there was still no sign of them.  So, I put Peanut in her room and told her to rest quietly for 1/2 hour.  I put Pumpkin in her room and said prayers with her hoping for at least a short 45 minute nap.   It ended up being an amazing afternoon.  Pumpkin slept from 1 until 4 and woke up refreshed, renewed, and much happier than she'd been in weeks!  Peanut came out after 1/2 hour.   We sat in our favorite comfy chair and read a book together.  Then, we fell asleep while cuddling in that chair.  I slept for 20 minutes and she for about 45.   It was reminiscent of when the girls were just babies.   I remember holding them while they slept.  Knowing I should put them down in their cribs, but enjoying the sound of their breathing so much that I couldn't.   While the day was not what I had planned, it is a day that I will always cherish.

The first tooth

Peanut, my oldest daughter, has recently experienced several milestones.

• She celebrated her 6th birthday!
• She graduated from Kindergarten!
• She learned to ride a bike without training wheels! (Yeah, I know I should have done it earlier, but I was a little lazy.  It was a daunting task.)
• She lost her first tooth! :o)

As soon as she lost her tooth I knew that I wanted to get her something special to celebrate this grand occasion.  I was thinking that I might be able to find a nice tooth charm that I could have engraved with the date she lost the tooth.  As I searched, I came up empty-handed.  Most of the charms were not very attractive to me - but then again, I guess it can be hard to make a tooth cute.  I even found one place that takes your lost teeth, preserves them, and plates them in gold or silver.  While the resulting product is kind of cute, I also found it to be a little creepy.  I was also worried about Peanut losing the necklace which would be her actual first tooth.  Even though I don't know what I'm going to do with that tooth, I prefer to know that it is still safe with me.  While Le Knockout wasn't for me, it might be just right for some of you.

Eventually I happened upon The Ultimate Tooth Fairy.  It is a site that has tooth fairy gifts and letters for girls and boys.  As soon as I saw the Girls Tooth Fairy Memory Locket, I knew I had to have it.  From the website:

This personalized locket is the perfect way to remember that special day your little one lost their first tooth! Personalize the outside with your child's name and on the inside stamp the date they lost their 1st tooth.
A freshwater pearl hangs in the center as a magical reminder of that 1st tooth. The sterling silver locket (not physically locked) measures 3/4" in diameter (size of a nickel), then domed to cup the "tooth". Strung on a sterling silver 16" ball chain.

At $39, I found the necklace to be very reasonably priced.  I was also very happy with how quickly it arrived.  The necklace came with a drawstring bag, polishing cloth and directions on how to take care of it to keep it looking new as long as possible. 

Since receiving the necklace Peanut and I have received countless compliments from people that have seen it.  Several people have asked where I found it so that they can be prepared when their daughter's lose their first tooth.  In fact, I have already bookmarked the site so that when Pumpkin loses her first tooth I can order one for her as well. 

*Note:  The product was ordered from The Ultimate Tooth Fairy and came from MagPie Designz.   If your child is past or not yet ready for the first tooth stage, I recommend you check out her site for some other gorgeous jewelry in different designs.

*Note 2:  The image was taken from The Ultimate Tooth Fairy website with permission from the owner.

*Disclaimer:  I did not receive any compensation for this post.  All opinions and experiences are my own.

Get Dad to the Doc

With Father's Day fast approaching, I know that I am scrambling to decide what to get for Doc, my Dad, and my Father-in-law.   None of the men in my life really need anything else to add to the pile of unused and neglected gifts from years past.  However, we want to make sure they all know how loved and appreciated they are.   When I received an email from Global Influence describing their latest campaign to promote Men's health, I knew that it was an activity that I wanted to participate in.  While my father is pretty good at maintaining his health, my father-in-law and Doc are not.  They need to be reminded to take care of themselves - if not for their own benefit, for the benefit of those who love them. 

This Father's Day give the men you love the best gift of all - the gift of a healthy future.

Did you know that new research has found that men are 31 percent less likely than women to have visited a doctor within the past year?  In fact, men report making fewer routine health care appointments compared with women (56.5 percent vs. 73.8 percent).

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Ad Council are launching a new movement on behalf of their national public service advertising campaign designed to encourage middle-age men to learn which preventive medical tests they need to get and when to get them. 

What can you do to help encourage the men in your life to stay healthy?

• Send them this ecard for Father's Day:  http://www.dadtothedoc.org/
• Have them take this health quiz http://www.ahrq.gov/healthymen/quiz.htm to see what they should be doing to take care of themselves right now.
• Visit and encourage the men in your life to visit http://www.ahrq.gov/healthymen/ which provides recommended ages for preventive medical tests, a health care quiz designed to test knowledge of preventive health care, tips for talking with doctors, a glossary of consumer health terms, and links to online resources to find more medical information. 

*Disclaimer: All information was provided by Global Influence.

Have you heard of Zestra?

If you've not heard of it, Zestra is a product that is used to increase a woman's feelings of desire and arousal when applied topically.  Clinical studies were done on many different types of women including:

• Women experiencing different stages of menopause
• Women taking oral contraceptives
• Women taking anti-depressants
• Women with medical conditions affecting sexual feeling 
• Women without any sexual complaints

Of the women that participated in the trial, 70% reported improved sexual satisfaction which was achieved over multiple uses, indicating that Zestra worked each and every time.  For those of you that are concerned about using products with hormones, you can feel good knowing that Zestra is made of botanical oils and extracts and is hormone-free.  The botanical ingredients in Zestra include PA-free Borage Seed Oil, Evening Primrose Oil, Angelica Extract, Coleus Forskholii Extract, Theobromine, and the Anti-Oxidants Vitamin C and Vitamin E.  


In addition, there are many women who claim that it has done wonders for them.  You should take a minute to check out some of their testimonials here. 


If you are interested in trying Zestra for yourself,  Flair media has provided the following coupon code to my readers: ZBONUS5 will give you $5 off a Zestra 12-Pack or 4-Pack when purchased at www.Zestra.com.  This code expires 8/11/10.  


Disclaimer:  All information was obtained from the Zestra website.  I did receive a sample in exchange for sharing information about this product. 

The Girls From Ames - A Review

I was recently fortunate enough to be asked to read and review The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow.   You might recognize the author's name if you also read The Last Lecture, as Jeffrey Zaslow and Randy Pausch were coauthors on that book.  To begin, I will give you a little information about the book, taken from the site http://www.girlsfromames.com/.

From the coauthor of The Last Lecture comes a moving tribute to female friendships, with the inspiring true story of eleven girls and the ten women they became.

Karla, Kelly, Marilyn, Jane, Jenny.

Karen, Cathy, Angela, Sally, Diana.

Sheila.

Meet the Ames Girls: eleven childhood friends who formed a special bond growing up in Ames, Iowa. As young women, they moved to eight different states, yet managed to maintain an enduring friendship that would carry them through college and careers, marriage and motherhood, dating and divorce, a child’s illness and the mysterious death of one member of their group. Capturing their remarkable story, The Girls from Ames is a testament to the deep bonds of women as they experience life’s joys and challenges — and the power of friendship to triumph over heartbreak and unexpected tragedy.
The girls, now in their forties, have a lifetime of memories in common, some evocative of their generation and some that will resonate with any woman who has ever had a friend. Photograph by photograph, recollection by recollection, occasionally with tears and often with great laughter, their sweeping and moving story is shared by Jeffrey Zaslow, Wall Street Journal columnist, as he attempts to define the matchless bonds of female friendship. It demonstrates how close female relationships can shape every aspect of women’s lives – their sense of themselves, their choice of men, their need for validation, their relationships with their mothers, their dreams for their daughters – and reveals how such friendships thrive, rewarding those who have committed to them.
The Girls from Ames is the story of a group of ordinary women who built an extraordinary friendship. With both universal insights and deeply personal moments, it is a book that every woman will relate to and be inspired by.

I can honestly say that I truly enjoyed reading this book.  The chapters were well divided, which made it easy to take a break and return to the book when I had more time.  As the book began I thought that there would be chapters about each girl individually.  While several girls were highlighted, I appreciated that the author didn't try to give each girl a feature chapter.  Obviously, some of the girls have had lives that were more eventful or at least events in their lives that were more central to the theme of female friendships.  Another aspect of the book that I really appreciated were the statistics presented to demonstrate how strong female friendships can really improve your quality and length of life. 

In terms of how this book made me feel, there were times while I was reading that I loved the girls and times that I really didn't like them at all.  Regardless of how I felt about each of the girls, through it all I still wanted to know what would happen to them and what they would do next.  I found myself sad when they were going through difficult times.  I asked myself what I would say or do in the different situations they experienced.  I was angry with them when they were mean or insensitive.  Unfortunately, I haven't ever had a good and stable group of girl friends, so I couldn't really relate to their experiences.  I did feel a bit jealous while reading this book.  It made me want to try to reconnect with past friends or work harder to make some new ones.   It is definitely a book that will make you think about your current relationships with other women in your lives.  Perhaps you will begin to appreciate your friends even more, or perhaps you will be motivated to find and become a better friend yourself.

*Disclaimer:  I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Another plea for Votes - It is HOT outside!

On this post here, I told you all and MomDot why I wanted an inflatable water slide for my girls.  Well, I was selected as a finalist, so I have a 1/15 chance of winning, but I need your help.  The highest vote "getter" will win this AWESOME slide.  So, I would love it if you could go here:

http://www.momdot.com/finalists-for-the-slam-n-curve-voting

and vote for #11!  Thanks so much.  I'm a bit of an underdog since I'm not nearly as "networked" as some of the finalists, so please vote and ask your family and friends to vote as well! 

Thank YOU!

*Note - One vote per IP.  Voting ends on 6/3 at noon.

5 Must-have Fashionable Pieces to Pack for Every Weekend Trip

Every once in a while Doc and I are able to convince the grandparents to come watch the kiddos so we can have a weekend away. In fact, we will be taking a short weekend trip in June that we are both looking forward to. While packing is never easy - there are several items that I know to take with me on every short trip to stay comfortable and fashionable.

1. Nice Capris - Capris can be very casual or even semi-dressy depending on how they are paired and accessorized. Take a nice pair and be comfortable and prepared for whatever situation you might encounter.
2. Cute Comfortable Shoes - A weekend away for me is a weekend to get out and about. I like to walk and see the sights. There is nothing less enjoyable and less fashionable then limping around because you wanted to wear strappy heels rather than something more appropriate for the situation.
3. A Simple Summer Dress - Summer Dresses are light and comfortable. In addition, you can also accessorize them up or down. Sticking with something simple really allows you to create an outfit for any occasion.
   
4. Fun accessories - If you have a simple summer dress or capris and a plain shirt, you can really dress up your outfit by bringing the right accessories. Accessories are great because they don't take up much space, but can really change your look in an instant!
5. A cute shawl, or sweater - Summer nights can be gorgeous, but where we live they can also include a little bite in the air. I always make sure I have a nice shawl or sweater to wear to keep me warm without hiding the fashionable outfit I've put together.
   

In addition Twittermoms and Gap have provide me the following information and discounts to share with my readers:

More About Gap Outlet

Gap Outlet provides Accessible Style, Exceptional Value, and is much, much more than just a Factory Store.

More About Banana Republic Factory Store

Banana Republic Factory Store offers Banana Republic Style at brilliant prices.

Gap Outlet Offerings

Gap Outlet is offering a doorbuster sale with up to 40% off all adult items and 30% off all kids items from May 25-31, 2010! THEN, Gap Outlet extends the sale with up to 50% off select styles! Also, Gap Outlet is offering an exclusive coupon code to the TwitterMoms community for an additional 15% discount on all purchases, with a minimum spend of $75. This exclusive additional discount is available to all TwitterMoms friends and family from May 25 - June 7, 2010!

Banana Republic Factory Store Offerings

Banana Republic Factory Store is offering 40% off the ENTIRE STORE from Wednesday 5/26/10 – Monday 5/31/10 ONLY! In addition, Banana Republic Factory Store is offering an exclusive coupon code to the TwitterMoms community for an additional 15% discount on all purchases, with a minimum spend of $75. This exclusive additional discount is available to all TwitterMoms friends and family from May 25 through June 7, 2010, so hurry to your closest location today.

Get your coupons today at http://gap.twittermoms.com

Disclaimer:
I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Gap Outlet blogging program to be eligible to win a $20 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Gap Twitter DiscountExclusive Gap Outlet and Banana Republic Factory Store Savings

Why I want an Inflatable Water Slide . . .

MomDot and Little Tikes are generously giving a Slam'n Curve slide to one lucky winner that tells them why they really want/deserve to win one for their kids. While I don't know that we deserve one more than anyone else, I can definitely show and tell you why we want one. After you read my entry, if you can think of a good reason you should win, then make sure you go here and enter for yourself. The submission period ends May 30th, so don't wait too long. Good luck!

So, Why do we deserve this prize?
Let's look at the reasons I can share.
At first, you might think "No way!"
My view is definitely beyond compare.




Now, I know what you're thinking. "Why not swim in the lake? It's big, wet and right outside your door."



Come a little bit closer and let's take a look at what lies beneath the view I adore.
Under the water, you'll find the usual things: rocks, sticks and the occasional fish.
Random objects, like keys and trash . . . but never a hidden treasure like you might wish.
Very sneaky and quick, slithery and sleek, a guest I don't really appreciate.
Eyes that are beady, a tongue that is fast - SNAKES are our Lake Erie swim date!























So, our girls LOVE the water and always ask to go in, but sadly the answer is "No Way!"
Lake Erie Snakes might be loved by some, but they aren't on MY list of pets to stay.
I do have a sprinkler that we love to run through, but sometimes I wish we had more.
Disappointed - the girls on a hot summer day, when they look at the lake through our door.
Everyone loves the water and loves to have fun - and this slide looks just perfect for that.
Thanks for reading our plea and considering our request to have safe water fun where
we're at.










*Just a note: When I decided to write this I went outside oddly "hoping" that I'd see some snakes to get pics of for this submission. "Fortunately" they were out in full force today . . . there were probably between 20 and 30 snakes swimming around the dock. :o(

National Foster Care Month

Did you know that May is National Foster Care Month? I actually had no idea until I received an email from Global Influence asking me and other bloggers to spread the word about this important issue. While I don't have a tremendous amount of experience with foster care and adoption, it is something that I've been curious about for quite a while. While teaching, I had a colleague who was a foster parent. We ate lunch together most days, so I was able to hear about her struggles and successes with the foster care system. Eventually, she was able to adopt two of the children that she had originally taken in as foster children. Her children were smart, talented, amazing children that deserved a life that was so much better than they had. While it is true that she is a generous person with a huge heart, talking to her and watching her eyes light up when she spoke of her children made me realize that she felt just as blessed as they did.

If you have ever considered becoming a foster parent or adopting, this is the month to take that first step to gather more information. Below you will find some information that Global Influence has given me to pass on to you.

• Check out ways to get involved here: http://adoptuskids.org/content.aspx?q=National-Foster-Care-Month
  
• While you're there, watch the video about Children in Foster Care
  
• On May 27 at 2 p.m. EST there will be an #AdoptUsKids one hour chat on Twitter to get the message out about National Foster Care Month.

Disclaimer: All information was provided by Global Influence. I did not receive any compensation for this post at the time of the posting, however an incentive may be provided at a later time.