Stainless Steel Lunch Box #Review #LunchPalHealthyLunchBox

     My family goes a lot of places in the warm months.  We go to the beach, playgrounds, parks, relative's houses, sports events... we're everywhere.  It makes sense that we should bring our own lunches because eating out every day is pretty expensive.  If we don't plan right, it takes up a lot of our gas budget and makes us have to cut back on things we want to do.

     So I've been collecting lots of lunch containers that I can bring with us this year on our adventures.  One of my most recent boxes is this healthy bento lunch box by LunchPal.  There's a few things I love about it and a few things I don't so much, so let me tell you about it:

     First of all, it's really cute.  It's rounded and has an adorable two part fold out handle that's really comfortable to hold and adds to the look when folded down.  I love that it has a handle, most lunch boxes don't.

     I also love the pressure lock on the top.  It holds the lid on tight when pressed down, and releases the lid when popped up.  It helps keep it leak-proof and creates less opportunities for splatter when opening the lid while hot foods are in it.

     One thing I'm on the fence about is the stainless steel part.  Although it's healthy and easy to clean, it eliminates the possibility of microwaving, which is a pretty big con I think since the container itself doesn't keep foods hot.  I placed hot food in it and an hour later it was barely warmer than luke warm.  It was a bummer for sure.  And since the outside is plastic, you can't place it in an oven either.  So you're pretty screwed on that part.

     Another bummer was that the lid never seemed to go on perfectly the first time.  In order to lock it, I often have to adjust it just so, which can be a pain.  But if you like cold lunches and are in the market for a new box, this one could be a great one for you.
     To learn more, check out LunchPal on Amazon.

Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.

Moldable Plastic Pellets #Review #PollyPlastics

     My family and I are always doing crafts and art.  These past weeks we have been working on a pirate ship board game.  It's going to be an educational game that teaches and also entertains.  I must say, it's coming out pretty awesome.  It has crow's nests and rigging, a cannon, sails, and 2 upper decks... and of course a plank.

     It still has a lot of work left.  I still need to make the came cards and the gold coins.  To be honest, I still have to figure out how it will really be played out.  But i did have some trouble in creating one crucial element, the stairs to go from the lower deck to the upper.

     So I decided to use wooden dowels and wrap them in plastic, then create steps using the wrapping technique as well.  The plastic I used is called Polly Plastics.  It's a moldable plastic pellet kit.  It comes with 10 oz. of white pellets that melt clear and six baggies filled with color pellets that you can use to customize your plastic's color however you wish.

     On my first attempt, I ended up using 1 TBSP white, 10 gold pellets, and 4 black.  This is what it looked like after it sat in hot water for a minute and was played with.  The water has to be really hot.  I used my electric kettle to keep it at a nice temperature.

     It took a little getting used to, trying to find that balance between too soft and too hard and getting the plastic to mold together well.  But after some trial and error it went smoother and I was able to do mostly what I wanted.

     I think this has so much potential.  I'll be using it to create hairdos for my wooden peg people for use in future board games, as well as other cool artworks.  My kids especially loved seeing what you could do.  My favorite part is that you can use and reuse it.
     I would definitely recommend it for any crafty family.  To learn more, check out Polly Plastics on Amazon.

Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.

Simply Coding JavaScript #Coding Course #Review #Simplycode

     My nephew is an amazing little guy.  He's all of 10 and knows how to change scripts and create mods for his video games.  No one taught him, he just picked it up.  He's so smart.  He inspired The Big One to want to learn coding so that she could better understand how games work.

     So we decided to check out coding courses and Simply Coding was nice enough to let us test out one of theirs.  We went with the JavaScript course, it shows you the basics of creating simple video games using Java Script.

     In the lessons, you first learn about the different parts of html, then you branch into what goes between the tags inside that html.  We learned about functions, variables, types, and methods.  We learned what each of those does and how to write them out correctly.  We learned how to make objects bounce, disappear, randomize, and change.

     The first game we did was Pong, basically ping pong in digital form.  It was easy to customize the objects and text in the game.  I used digital scrapping elements for the ball and paddles.

     We learned how to make objects interact with each other.  For instance, in the Fish game that we did next, we learned how to make it so that the big fish could eat smaller fish and grow.  We were also able to customize that one fairly easily.  We used a more decorative background and changed the fish up a little.  We controlled the big yellow fish you see up above.  It changed direction when we changed the arrow we were pressing.  In this second game we did come across the first flaw of the program.  We had to copy and paste the images from the Fish Image folder to the Pong Image folder because the code didn't work otherwise.  It was an easy fix and anyone with a good understanding of how computer things work could have figured it out, so I don't consider it a big downfall.

     The program does come with all the files you need for creating the games, including audio.  It comes in a downloadable WinZip file.  What's nice is that the program also comes with a cool 8 GB flash drive that looks similar to a key.  It's one of the coolest USB drives I have ever seen and it's a nice size storage too.

     Now, this is where I'm brutally honest.  I really don't think my daughter would be able to handle this course.  It's not that she's not smart, she's so incredibly smart... it's that the coding needs to be exact, you need to focus and memorize... I think my nephew could do it.  He has a head for this sort of thing.  I think The Big One might be more interested in html and website design.  This course is definitely for kids who are okay with techy speak, a sample code would be something like this:
enemy.scaleSize(.5 + Math.random() * 1.2);
enemy.moveTo(-enemy.getWidth(), Math.random()*(enemy.getClamp().y))     I'm glad to have it though, it makes for a really fun time.  It was interesting to see what happened when I made small changes to things like friction, acceleration, etc.
     To learn more, check out Simply Coding on Facebook, Blogger, Instagram, Amazon, or on their website at SimplyCoding.org.

Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.

Glow in the Dark Star Stickers #Review #GetChildish

     My kids are scaredy cats.  I mean that nicely enough.  But if I'm being honest, they really are.  They're scared to sleep in their own beds, scared to go down the hallway alone, scared to go out after dusk, scared of basically anything in and around the house... I do remember being scared sometimes as a kid.  I lived on the second floor with a window facing the front of the house and I remember thinking that someone could climb up to the roofing below my window and try to kidnap me.  That was my mom's constant telling of horror stories provoking that I think.  I have suspicions for why my kids are so scared.

     One thing we are doing to combat this is to set up night lights and the like.  In Streaker's room, she has a bouquet of floral lights and we have plans for a beautiful Paris painting with white led lights for the stars.  In Punk's room, she has a night light and she also has a rechargeable clip on light she can put on her bed side shelf.  In The Big One's room, she has a TV with that awesome built in blue screen night light.  Where Boog sleeps, there was nothing really.

     Luckily Boyfriend now has his very own set of Glow in the dark space stickers.  They aren't your normal glow in the dark set though.  Most are usually either plastic and green with a gummy paste that sticks them to the wall or ceiling, or they are paper and even sometimes just peeling them from their backing causes rips.  These are the best of both worlds.  You get the self-stick adhesive backing with the rugged durability of the stiffer style.

     These glow in the dark star stickers from Get Childish come in a pack of 100.  There are 50 small stars, 35 big stars, 5 rockets, 5 planets (with rings), and 5 large crescent moons.  The size of them are great.  They aren't super small like a lot of stickers I've had and they aren't the real big ones like others I've had.  These are a nice medium.

     The back has a peel off cover for the adhesive backing.  It peels off really easily, I had no frustrations with trying to get it to peel up or anything.  The stickiness behind the film was sufficient to keep it on the walls.  I don't think any of these will be falling off the walls like the paste stuck stars do.

     On the front of the stickers, there is a second film that protects the shiny surface until it's in place.  Then you can peel it off and the stickers will shine when the room is lit and glow when it's not, it also tends to reflect whatever light is in the room.

     They really did take the best of both kinds and wrap it all into one.  I would recommend these over any other star themed stickers I've ever owned.  If you want to learn more, check out Get Childish on Amazon.

Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.

God Give Us #ChristianHomes by Jim Faughn Book #Review and #Giveaway

     Oh man... I struggle.  I struggle with a lot of things, the top on the list being the kids.  They make me so proud and so angry, so excited and so sad all in the same day.  Each one of them.  My emotions are all over the place each and every day and sometimes I get so overwhelmed.  When all of them are making me angry at once, oh boy!  Or when I feel like everywhere I turn I am being ignored, like I'm not even there, like I'm not even a person...  I hate that!  Or when they all are being loud all day and it seems like it's all echoing off every wall in the house, it's maddening!  I sure do struggle.

     I'm not gonna lie, I've said things I can never take back, things I regret.  I've done things too.  I've snapped and blamed, and cursed when things get to be too much.  One day, truth be told, I ran away.  It was just for the day, but I did.  And do you know what happened?  It was a Sunday, the last day of a super long weekend and I was driving through town, barely able to see through my tears and when I passed the church this overwhelming urge came over me to stop, like all I needed in the world right then was to go in.  I didn't know anybody and it didn't matter, I was being called.  I needed to go in.  I didn't.
     But I did go on medication, which only made things worse for a while, because then people had a reason to point at me like I was losing my mind.  It was no longer a situation that was causing me to be buried in despair, it was a "condition".  Man, did that only make me more mad, made me feel like any chance I had at things getting better was gone.  It made me feel even more hopeless.  I just kept thinking that no parent should ever feel how I was feeling, no parent should hate their life and dread their kids.  I love my kids, don't get me wrong.  It's because I love them so deeply with everything I have that their actions and words hurt me the way they do.

     I know, I know, they're just kids.  They are just kids, but they're my kids and they're a reflection of me.  My reflection shouldn't make me so upset, you know?
     I don't know what God's plan is.  Sometimes I think I see clear paths and sometimes I feel completely abandoned.  But when my Memere died a couple months after that day and the funeral was led by the pastor of that very church that I passed... I knew I was meant to go there.  Of all the churches in all the towns, of all the pastors that preach... he preached at the one I was compelled to stop at, an easy half hour away from where my Memere lived, at least.

     My aunt happened to be pretty close to the pastor's wife and introduced me and The Big One to her.  And even though everything in me wanted to bolt out the door and avoid new people, I let it happen.  I even took it upon myself to seek my aunt out when it looked like she'd forgotten.  Again, I was compelled.  And you know what?  I went.  I didn't know a single person in that congregation except for a woman I'd barely just met.  Truth be told, don't tell her I told you, but when she saw me come into the church and was all excited to see me and gave me a big hug... I didn't even recognize her.  That's how little I knew the only person that I knew.  But I went.  Me... the shyest person I've ever known.
     And it was my children's first experience with a church.  We went weekly for a long time.  We made friends and went to events, it was life changing for me.  And now?  We don't go so much.  Things happened and circumstances got in the way of us going for a while.  And though those circumstances have since changed, I haven't dared to start bringing them back yet.  Here's why:

     My kids publicly humiliate me on a daily basis.  In fact, losing my vehicle may have been the best thing to happen to my will to live in years.  And here's the thing, I'm not the kind of person who can laugh it off and bounce back.  Nope, I'm that timid little girl who wrung her hands when she had to be on stage and nearly cried as she mouthed the words so no one would hear her sing... that's me.  Now picture everyone else on that stage and in that audience pointing and laughing... that's how my kids make me feel.  They used to be so good for me in public.  We'd have a very serious discussion before entering the store about acceptable behavior and such, and leave the store in practically one piece emotionally, treat in hand for reward.  They weren't perfect, but good.  Now?  Well, every other trip to the store ends in tears for me.  And it's not like I can afford a second trip, so I have to finish what I'm getting or go without for the week.

     I know what you're thinking, maybe I don't discipline them enough, maybe I'm not consistent, maybe I spoil them.  I can assure, you I discipline them enough.  I feel like I am always disciplining them, sometimes I worry I am too strict.  I especially feel that way when I see other parents who never raise their voice, have the patience of a monk, and kids that seem to practically raise themselves.  I try to be consistent, as consistent as my memory allows.  There were a couple times I forgot a kid was supposed to be in time out and they snuck away, or when I've forgotten a kid was grounded and they got away with video games for the day.  But for the most part, I've done the best I can.  I can't snap my fingers and have a better memory, so it is what it is.  As far as spoiled, maybe you have a point there.  I did try my best over the summer to make sure that every day had so much free fun jammed in it that we'd pass out by day's end.  And we did definitely have a blast.  Maybe they are having a hard time grasping the reality of the school year being back in full swing.  But we're half way through the year, so you know... time to shape up and be grateful for the months that we had.

     Point is, taking them to church would pretty much be the icing on the cake for me, it would be like "Hey fellow gentle people, look at my poorly raised children cause a ruckus in your quiet place of worship, and watch me cry as I wrangle them up with the speed and grace of a two legged tortoise.  We'll see you next week when we host our very own sibling brawl in pew no. 3!"

     I've done my best to raise them, I really have.  There were times when I should have protected them better, defended them better, had more patience, had more strength.  But no human is perfect and I certainly have my weaknesses.  Time to try what I haven't tried.  Time to be a better role model myself and set a better, more Christianly example.
     It's my biggest resolution this year, to build a happier home that's more peaceful and Word-oriented.  I know that my kids and I can get there, it's just a matter of taking the steps.  And right there to help us on our way is the perfect guide, God Give Us Christian Homes, a book by Jim Faughn.

     This book has so many wonderful insights and truths from times long gone and also from the present.  It really brings you to see things that you didn't see before.  I feel like I'm not alone when I'm reading this book.  I feel like there's been thousands of years of parents going thorough the exact struggles that I am... and that's because there have been.
      From Adam and Eve and all the way up through there have been struggles just as I'm having.  Different, sure.  Kids even a hundred years ago never heard, "No electronics for a week".  But the disrespect, the bad manners and sibling rivalry, it's always been there.  This book gives help with finding the purpose in discipline and what's meant to be gained from it, including respect, among many other useful things.

     I'll be using this book to find a better normal for my kids and myself.  And since I was sent a second book by mistake, I'm offering you that same chance.  Don't worry, I was told to give it away.  So here's the thing, just enter with this neat little Rafflecopter tool below and that's it!
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.