Sing, Sing a Song Saturday

I started doing what I call Sing, Sing a Song Saturday.  I'm going to post one song on Saturdays that the boys or I like. 

The song may be part of a movie, a kid's video or just a song we like. I'll try and include why we like it and/or the history of the song/singer.

This week I'm covering a singer named Joss Stone. I have never heard of her. I typed in google, artists similar to Norah Jones. Joss Stone was one of the names that came up.

Joss Stone has been big into music since she was young. She began a singing career at thirteen, securing a record deal at 15, and recording her star-making debut album, The Soul Sessions, which was released in 2003.

Joss has decided to revisit where it all began - with The Soul Sessions Volume 2 is a stunning exercise in vocal poise, passion and power. Things took off for Joss in an enormous way.

In the UK she had a top 10 single, “You Had Me”, which earned her 2 Brit Awards that same year. Her third album, 2007’s Introducing Joss Stone, was a more independent, which Joss further showcased her songwriting abilities, and revealed the singer had truly been loved by the American audience when it crashed into the US charts at No. 2, marking the biggest debut ever for a female British solo artist on the Billboard charts.

In her short young life and already long career, Joss has performed onstage with the likes of James Brown, Gladys Knight, Solomon Burke, Blondie, Smokey Robinson and Melissa Etheridge among many others. She’s contributed to albums by Jeff Beck and Ringo Starr, played the Super Bowl pre-game show, performed on the Grammy’s, and won a Grammy herself!

With that kind of background I'm surprised I haven't heard of her. Maybe you have!

Right to Be Wrong

Free Me 

Go to Joss Stone's website.
Follow Joss Stone on Facebook.
Follow Joss Stone on Twitter.
Follow Joss Stone on YouTube.

Have You Ever Worried About Your Kids Getting Abducted?

I have. Especially with Mica. He used to run ahead a lot. He's not as bad anymore. It still can happen.

There's new way of designing things all the time. This is a bus stop where kids see something different from adults. Making it easier for a kid to know what to do in a situation of being abducted.

Check it out!

This is Water

In the mad rush of today's world we often take things, and people for granted. I'm just as guilty as the next person. 

 

No matter how high and mighty I'd love to appear, I'm not perfect. I'm far from it.

I step in line at a store, see that the cashier is taking what I feel as FOREVER, when really it's just longer than usual. I have no clue what they've been through that day, no clue what the person before me went through. They may have had a less quality of day than I have, or not. There's no way to know. 

I think we (anyone out there including me) have to learn not to take things for granted. This video is a great explanation of all this. It's a wonderful speech that was given to a graduation class. The speech was so good that they turned it into a short film. When you watch it, the title of this post will make sense.

One of a Kind Shop - CafePress

I love shops where you can make your own things! CafePress is that kind of shop. They have things that you can design on your own, as well as things that are already designed by them,

CafePress has a new partnership with Marvel. This is perfect for the newly released movie, Iron Man 3. My son are very into superheros. I swear they think they are one of them.

Iron Man 3 merchandise is so sweet! They have shirts for everyone, mouse pads, coffee mugs, iphone cases and more.

CafePress has so many cool shirts to look at, it's mind blowing. There are shirts for women, men kids, toddlers and babies.

Camping season is coming up. In parts of the US June may still be very cold. I was looking at CafePress sweatshirts.

I always have ideas for custom shirts. My ideas this time are to make Isaak a shirt that says, "High 5" and Mica a shirt that says, "Crazy 8". Soon they will be those ages! It's sweet to know that I can make custom shirts on CafePress. I mocked some up; as you can see they have a preview, which I find helpful! They have many fonts to choose from, you can add your own graphics and they have many color options.

Coffee mugs are certainly something that a lot of people get for fun. I'm actually giving two of my nephews each a coffee mug for Christmas (yes I plan this far ahead) that they can use for hot chocolate.

Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. I did receive a GC to help with this review.

WW: A Hug and Lashes {Linky}

My Brother-in-law sent this photo over. They never care if I put photos of their kids up, so I will. ;) Here is my nephew Elijah hugging my son Isaak. They are the best of cousins. They call each other, "Best Friends". I know they will deeply miss each other when they go on to different kindergartens next year. :( For two years they've gone twice a week to the same preschool.

We won some Skinny Pop Popcorn from Life in the Lost World. When I say some, a whole case was sent to our house! Isaak shared some popcorn with his buddy Elijah.

We went out and about and saw this very random car. Here I was jealous of my son's lashes. ;) We all had a good laugh at the car with lashes. We agreed that the lashes would fit a Volkswagen Bug better. If you love them, you can buy car lashes here. Have you ever seen a car with lashes before?

You Can Follow Me Here:

Thank you so much for linking up! Please enter my low entry giveaway: Best of Warner Bros 100 Film Mother's Day Giveaway - close to a $600 value!

Truth Be Told

There are a few more than a few things I just do not get. I'm sure they are easier than my mind thinks they are.

1. Twitter Parties- I get invited to them all the time. I look at them and think, What do I do? Many of them are RSVP, and to be honest I'll know I will forget. Then I have a hard time knowing what time they start. One that starts in the south is at what time here in Central Standard Time?

My brain has never been good with figuring that out! It took me forever to figure out how to read a clock with hands when I was a kid! In my mind we had digital clocks at home, at school teachers just told us where to go, why bother learning how to tell time on the hard clock? Don't worry, I did learn the hard clock after I failed the standardize test on telling time. When I took Spanish I was like, Forget it! when they tried to teach me time! When I was in college a teacher tried to meet with us in Military time. I'm like what the heck? I'm not in the military! I'm in art school! I missed one meeting because I showed up an hour late; thinking I was on time. I did not apologize. I simply asked her if she could kindly tell me the normal time? This teacher proceeded to try and teach me the military time. I stopped her and said, "I'm sorry, but I don't want to learn that. If I was in the military I would want to learn that. I'm not. So could you please just tell me a normal time to meet?" She laughed and gave me the next time in normal time.

I just don't even get what I'm supposed to do with Twitter Parties. I need one of those books, Twitter Parties For Dummies. In fact usually I have to look at other people's tweets to type up my own. That's how lame I really am. Hashtag WHAT? *This is not a bash on those that have Twitter parties or those that participate.

2. Many of the newly abbreviated words. I get LOL is laugh out loud. Most of the rest I have to look up. I don't text people. I still have an old school phone that cost like a penny when I went to the store. I have my phone for emergencies. I'm on Facebook that's about the only reason I know any abbreviated terms. Many I have to look up.


3. What is really organic and natural? I try and eat healthy, I really do. But it's really discouraging that organic doesn't always mean organic. Companies put these labels on things. Hidden in the ingredients is unhealthy things. What the heck? I just want to buy healthy things. I don't want to have some sort of special dictionary to look up these special ingredient terms that I don't know about. I have kids, I don't have time to stop and look things up. I know you're probably thinking there's an app for that. If I had an iPhone I'd get that. News flash for FDA and companies, just mean what you say. Then we're all good!

I was thinking that going to the Farmer's Market to buy stuff was good. It's good to support the local farmers, right? Then my Dad tells me, "Alissa you don't know if the farmer's veggies, fruit...are organic or not. They could have pesticides all over their food." He's right!

4. Packaging! Why do they need to put a few pills in a medium sized bottle? I'm thinking about the two pack of Zyrtec I just bought at Costco. I did what I probably shouldn't of done. I opened them both up and dumped them into one. Get this, I still had room to spare. Chips and crackers are packaged with a bunch of air in the bag. The only things that are full in their containers are juice, toilet paper, tissues, q-tips, tampons, veggies (like spinach leaves in their bin), fruit (like grapes in their bin) and that's all I can think of. I would pay just as much for a smaller container if I knew it was full.

Rant over.

Yesterday I Was Totally Off!

I had some stomach issues yesterday. I have no clue where they came from: Something I ate, just a flu thing, or allergies. Allergies are horrible right now! Everyone is getting sick from the weather changing back and forth from hot to cold, and cold to hot. On Sunday morning I woke up at 3:30 AM and just could not go back to sleep. Then it was sharp stomach pains from that time on out. Just as quickly as the issues came, I woke up this morning and they were gone.

At least this happened on a day I didn't have to teach. BUT I didn't get a whole lot accomplished on Sunday. Usually on Saturday I run errands. Then on Sunday I work on cleaning. I did get the laundry and dishes done. It wasn't a total loss.

The boys were overall very good yesterday. They played together well and picked up.

This morning I dreamed that I was at an auction for old books. Each time my alarm went off, someone won something. Since my alarm was part of my dream, I woke up later than usual. Has your alarm ever been part of your dream?

Daddy usually helps me with breakfast. He said his throat hurt, so he took the backseat on that job. Mica offered to help with breakfast. This is a rarity.

Mica usually whines complains about wanting to eat breakfast, but doesn't want to help. I usually find myself saying, "Mica if you want breakfast so bad HELP out with it!" He usually replies back, "I don't want it THAT bad." Something was different this morning. He kept saying, "What can I do next Mom?" and "How can I help you now?" To be honest I got so caught up in the fact that I was running late, that I didn't remember if I thanked him, or not. BAD Mom! Busy, distracted Mom that I am, I left the house in a hurry.

I called him and told him how proud I am of him. Then I thanked him. I think he took in what I was saying. I could see the smile in his voice. 

It's never too late to thank someone.