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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.
I love my essential oils. I use them to help my anxiety, I use them to wake me up, help me sleep or even to just smell nice. They're good for cleaners and Febreeze style fresheners. The only thing I'm not big on is that they aren't super portable unless you get the smaller bottles. Most of my bottles are the larger 4 oz. glass ones, so they aren't exactly going with me.
So when I found out that such a thing existed as essential oil roller bottles, I was so excited. These ones in particular are cobalt blue glass vials with roller balls at the top. you basically just fill it with whatever oils you want and pop the top in, that's it!
I decided to go with a combination of Jasmine and Bergamot. Jasmine for anxiety and help sleeping (I've had a bit of insomnia lately), and also because it smells nice enough to pass as perfume. I filled the bottle half way with each.
At first the roller ball seemed a bit stiff, but after sitting for a few days, it rolled much easier. It works exactly as I had hoped it would and leaves a wonderful smell behind.
I would definitely recommend these bottles for whoever might want to be able to bring their oils around with them.
To learn more, check out 2PM Essentials.
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.
My dental hygiene habits are not great. I blame it on my childhood... can I do that? I do remember being asked to brush my teeth once in a while and I remember in high school, I brushed almost every morning and tried to get myself in better habits. But to be honest, I am terrible at anything that's "routine". My teeth are so bad now, brushing hurts and I hate flossing. I've always hated flossing. the picks don't bother me too bad, but the string turns my fingers blue and slips off my finger tips. I hate everything about it.
Until now. Why? Well, because I have a water flosser. It's a device that creates a very strong stream of water that blasts through the gaps between your teeth and essentially flosses your teeth for you. It's amazing. I'll be honest here and say that if the water isn't warm, it hurts my teeth. So although I do try to keep the flosser by my bed to remind myself, I can't use it without going to get warm water... room temp water is too cold.
The flosser doesn't run on batteries like you might expect. It runs on an internal battery that you recharge by plugging it into the wall, much like your cell phone does. I haven't charged mine once and I've used it for at least a week on the charge it came with!
The flosser has three modes. It has a normal mode, a soft mode, and a pulse for massage. More brutal honesty, the normal mode actually made my gums bleed a little. It's a powerful stream of water. My gums are very unhealthy though, so it's no real surprise. The soft was fine and I should use it until my gums are more healthy. The pulse was interesting. I prefer a more steady stream, personally.
It holds the water in a removable water tank. you can either fill it up by taking the water tank off or just flipping up the cover on the top of the machine and using that. Both work just as well, it's all just a preference thing.
I would absolutely recommend this flosser. It even comes with an extra tip for couples and they have separate colors so you can tell them apart. To learn more, check out Gurin 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.
"So, what you're saying is that you're making it so you never have to leave the bedroom again." That was my husband's reaction when I told him my purpose for my new electric kettle. That's because with my new electric kettle I can cook noodles, rice, and oatmeal, but best of all, I can make tea, cocoa, and coffee. It holds 1.7 liters of water and heats to temperature in about a minute. Wanna see?
Isn't she a beauty? You pretty much just plug her in and let her go. There are buttons on the handle that allow you to set a temperature, turn it on, and even ask it to keep the water warm. The buttons light up as you press them so you don't have to double guess if you pressed them hard enough or pressed the right one.
After about half a minute you will hear a boiling sound coming from the kettle so you know it's heating up. When the sounds stops and the lights go out, the water is ready. No high pitched whistle or anything, you can use this with roommates or sleeping kids without worrying about waking them up.
What's great is that you get the luxury of having steaming hot water whenever you want with no stove necessary, but you also get it in large amounts, unlike the Keurig. It stays hot for quite some time and it's such a handy thing. Especially in the winter when we mostly stay camped in my room with the space heater on and don't particularly care to go into the colder areas of the house. This is why my husband makes fun of me... we literally just stay in my room all day and have cup-o-noodles and oatmeal. We watch movies, play on our phones, and do artwork, read, etc.
I haven't come across a single thing about this kettle that I don't absolutely love. From the simple base plate that plugs in, to the big kettle with water measuring marks on the side so you know when it needs to be filled... this thing is amazing. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who's thought of getting a kettle.
To learn more, check out Ivation 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.
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.
