Saturday, June 7, 2014

Sing, Sing a Song Saturday

Sing, Sing a Song Saturday is all about me discovering something that is different. I don't want to post things that you and I have more than likely heard before. I want to find something different. It could be from another country, someone singing from the streets of NY, and more.

One band that I've heard my students talk about Naked and Famous. They are a band from Auckland, New Zealand. I had no clue what kind of music they played, so I decided to look them up. They have 5 members in the band. They formed in 2008 when Thom Powers and Alisa Xayalith recorded EPs with engineer Aaron Short, a fellow student at Auckland’s MAINZ music college.

Source
They play alternative rock. To me it has an 80s vibe. Styles come and go. The 80s seems to be back.

One Temporary Escape - Warning 1 bad word!


Young Blood


Serenade



Check out Naked and Famous' Website.
Like Naked and Famous on Facebook.
Follow Naked and Famous on Twitter.
Subscribe to their YouTube channel.

Friday, June 6, 2014

Random Tid Bits

  1. I've been thinking about movies, TV, and video games in connection to kids. We've never had cable. Any movie that we let the boys watch is under our control. About the only channel they watch is PBS at our house. I'm sure they watch other things at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

    I've let them watch old Lone Ranger episodes. There's shooting in those. They watch super hero movies. Some I don't mind, while others I do. We've had talks about what's real, and what's not. I don't feel like I should cover up all things with my kids. They are going to be exposed to stuff. They need to experience some things, so when they get older it's not all new to them.

    My kids are not big into video games. Their favorite game is Super Mario Bros and Monsters Vs. Aliens. I would never let them play anything that is for a mature audience only.

    In regards to movies I won't let my kids watch anything rated R. PG 13 has to be previewed by us first. The biggest thing I watch for is watching things that has a lot of sexual implications. I won't let them watch any Transformer movies because they flaunt the sexy girl a little too much. Mica in particular I have to watch. He notices girls. Sexy stuff is everywhere. In society we worry about girls, and what they think of their own bodies. I'm here to tell you that I worry about my own boys. I want them to respect girls. I don't want them to get hung up on what what looks good, or what feels good when they are teens. I'm not naive, I know they'll do some of that anyway. I just hope I can help them to understand that they should respect girls. They should not judge only on looks. I really hope that they don't become fathers before they are ready to be fathers. I don't want them to only go for a certain body type because it's what society flaunts. To me the biggest, best thing we can do with our kids is have a conversation. Discuss fiction and reality. Talk about respecting girls. Listen to them when they are telling us about their day.

    Source
    Each kid is different, and every age group varies to. Do you let your kids watch whatever they want? How did, or do you gauge what your kids watch?

  2. I feel like this weekend is going to be a waste. I seriously have no time to do anything I want to do. I don't even have time to clean my house. 

  3. We're taking Grandpa out for for breakfast for Father's Day next weekend. I got him a book I know he'll enjoy. We spent a little more on him for birthday, so we're going a little lighter on Father's Day. For my husband I had the boys help me make playing cards for him on Shutterfly. I usually don't get my husband much, we just go out for breakfast. One year I did a mug with the kid's artwork, another year I did candy bar card.


  4. What do you do for Father's Day?

  5. On the last week of school this (*See picture below.) visited my kid's school. They've been talking about it every so often since then. It's the little, or in this case big things that matter.


  6. Tomorrow I have the school (where I work) graduation ceremony. It's held in a different spot. I've never been there, everyone seems clueless about where it is, and I just hope I don't get lost getting there.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Where Was His Shoe?

Last week Isaak could not find one of his shoes. He kicks his shoes off at the table, and he's often seen jumping around with one shoe on, and one shoe off.

I was highly annoyed! I wanted to go somewhere, and he didn't have one of his shoes. It wasn't in any of the typical spots. I looked for 5 minutes, and decided enough was enough. I had him slip on his fake Crocs, and off we went to the store. I didn't go looking for shoes; I had to get other things.

I forgot about the missing shoe until the next day. Again we wanted to go out and about. Daddy said, "Put on your shoes." I said, "He's missing one." Then Daddy was on a search. Isaak, Daddy and I looked for a good half hour at least. Daddy and Isaak even looked outside. It was pretty crazy some of the places we were looking. You never know where a 6 year old could put his shoe.

We looked in the hampers, on his closet floor, in his pj drawer, in his shoe drawer, in Mica's shoe drawer, in the play clothes drawer, behind all the doors, under all the furniture and no shoe was to be found.

Isaak said, "Dad I think it could be under the rug in the hallway." That made me laugh. If that were the case one would see a big lump.


I said, "We just need to pick up random stuff, and I'm sure we'll find it."

Daddy told Mica, "Hey can you pick up your books?"

Mica picked up his books, and one was lumpy and weighed more than it should. Mica likes to use random things laying around as bookmarks for his books. Oh he has bookmarks, but doesn't use them. Nope! He used Isaak's shoe as a bookmark.


Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Last Night This Happened...

I was at work and I could hear the weather radio beeping in my boss' office. Sure enough we were going to get hammered with a storm.

I think everyone in the word has experienced some crazy weather in the last 3 years. The last 2 years we've been in a drought, and the year before that we had major flooding going on. I'm not sure what this year will be like.

Not very many people around here take storms too seriously. Many go buy beer, and sit outside to watch.

Daddy called me at work 10 minutes before I was to leave, "Do you realize employers are letting their workers off early to escape the storm?" I said, "Well 10 minutes isn't going to change too much. I don't want to leave right now. It's raining hard anyhow."

I left at 5. I was driving into the storm, but there wasn't much I could do about it. If I were to have left early I would have gotten pounded by rain, and if I were to have waited I would have gotten pounded by rain. It was a windy drive home! Traffic was light. My husband must of been right about employers letting their employees off early.

I came home to this:


At least they were practicing being safe. If we were to have needed to go somewhere I think they would have needed life jackets over helmets.

This is what some of Omaha, Council Bluffs, and Blair looked like:



 That's our airport. They had to cancel all flights last night.
 That's hail folks!
A car lot has an estimate of $15 million worth of damages!



All photos gotten from the KETV news website.

We didn't get hail by our house, but many others did. 

  • Hail smashed my co-workers window in his jeep. 

  • Our home didn't have any water problems, but many did. 

  • The town over from us is declared an emergency zone by their governor. 

  • A car lot had damage on every single car on their lot. I was surprised when the news interviewed him, and he was so calm. Then I chuckled this morning when the same car lot had a commercial on TV this morning. No one is going to be buying cars from them for a little while. 

  • Firefighters had to rescue people out of their homes by boat. The water was too shallow for the boats motors to turn on, but too deep to walk in safely. A 18 month old was shown crying in one of the boats. How scary!

  • Power was and is still out in many homes. 

  • Trees are down in many areas. 

  • Creeks looked like thin rivers.
While I'm glad nothing happened to me, or my family (which most of them even aunts and uncles live here), I'm sad for others that have water damage, and can't get in their homes safely.

4 things are for sure:
  • Roof and siding companies will be busy.
  • Tree removal services will be called.
  • Insurance companies will be swamped. 
  • Car places that were out of the storms way will be getting a lot of business.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

WW: Asia {Linky}

Mica was studying Asia in school. He had to do a drawing about Asia. This is what he came up with:


A few people saw it on my refrigerator and cracked up over Mr. Panda's nipples. I happen to like the dragon.

I have no clue if the written characters mean anything. The words down the side are numbers the he counts in jiu-jitsu class. They are not all spelled right though.

  1.  ichí
  2.  
  3.  san
  4.  shí
  5.  rokú
  6.  shichí
  7.  hachí
  8.  


The Apel's The Apel's The Apel's The Apel's The Apel'sThe Apel'sThe Apel's

If you have the time enter one of my low entries:

StaySharp Commuter Cuff for Biking - Ends June 10 US

Barbershop Shave Soap Bar in a Jar - A perfect gift for Father's Day - Ends June 12 US

HomeRight SteamMachine Plus Steam Machine Review

We have all wood floors, minus the kitchen and bathroom, which are a laminate.

I love them because they look nice, clean up easily, do not absorb/trap in spills, and are great for allergy suffers like me.

I hate them because I'll sweep, and 15 minutes later if I sweep again I'll get more stuff up, they always seem dirty and they are not soft to walk on like carpet is.

I've used a few steamers in the past. Recently I got to try out a HomeRight SteamMachine Plus with a Handheld Unit to review. A $124.99 value.

The 205 degree temperature steam at nozzle kills 99.9 percent of germs and bacteria including e-coli, salmonella, and staph. I love that it kills so many germs!

It cleans best on laminate, hardwood, tile, stone, vinyl and linoleum.


Included in Box:
  • Detachable Steamer
  • Steamer Frame
  • Mop Head
  • Carpet Glider
  • (2) Microfiber Mop Pads
  • Squeegee/Fabric Steamer
  • Cotton Bonnet for Squeegee/Fabric Steamer
  • Small Nylon Brush
  • Large Nylon Brush
  • Angled Jet Nozzle
  • Grout Brush
  • Scraper
  • Straight Adaptor
  • Measuring Cup
  • Manual *Can also be seen online
Specifications:
  • 205 degree F steam
  • 20 Minute Run Time
  • Heats Up in 30 Seconds
  • 12 Ounce Water Tank
  • 1500 Watts
  • 120 Volts
  • 16 Foot Cord
  • UL Safety Listed
There are 5 main things that I really like about the HomeRight SteamMachine Plus over other steamers that I've used in the past.
  1.  It has more of a standard 2 prong plug. We had an electrician come out that changed many of our outlets to a 2. Other steamers I've had in the past were 3. It made it such a pain because the cord wasn't long enough to go from room to room. this one I could plug it in just about anywhere.

  2. I like the plus feature in the unit. Look at the blue part of the unit. It comes out to use for smaller areas. It works great in areas where the floor separates. There's a brush, so if something is really stuck on the floor, you can use that to help break it up.

  3. I love all the attachments! There's just so many to choose from. They included 6 attachments that are ideal for cleaning and disinfecting stove tops, ovens, grills, counter tops and bathrooms. 

  4. It can clean carpet. While we only have a few rugs, I think this is a nice feature to have in a steamer. There's an additional triangle base that gets added to clean carpets.

  5. I liked how the cleaning pad rinsed out. I've had others the held on to the melted on/packed on dirt.
Here's 4 things I didn't prefer:
  1. I wish there was a compartment for all the attachments. On the upside the handle does fold down for easy storage.

  2. I don't prefer that everything is plastic.

  3. Maybe I was using the machine wrong, but I had to push down on the button the whole time for the steam to happen. My thumb got tired.

  4. The knob to add water was difficult to open.
All the Attachments:
I know I'll be using these for food spills, and sometimes Isaak puts stickers on our floor. They'd work great to help get that kind of stuff up and off the floor!

I know the scraper one would work great for getting dried wall paint off the wood floor. We're in need of some touch up paint. The small one will be great to get in corners, cracks and other small places.


The water goes where the black knob is. It uses tap water, or distilled water. I know it says I can use tap water, but I feel like the machine will last longer with distilled water. 
The unit heated up, and was ready to steam fairly quickly.

Here's my colorful kitchen floor after a big party. I think it cleaned it pretty good. The padded mat usually goes under the sink, but was pushed around, so I could clean there.

What I love about any steamer is that the water dries so fast! It's helpful when you have kids. They don't have the patients to wait to walk on a floor. It's also great that you don't have to use any chemicals to clean.


Before and After

I cleaned all of upstairs after a family get together. I liked the results!

Before


After


Here's what the plus part of the steamer looks like. It's pretty handy. All the attachments fit up to it. How cool is that?


I know I'll be using this steamer like crazy!

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HomeRight has many other home improvement products on their site: Airless Paint Sprayers, Heat Guns, HVLP Sprayers, Paint Rollers and Edgers, Stain Tools, Steamers, and Tank Sprayers.

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 was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review.
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Monday, June 2, 2014

Self Portraits

Isaak made this self portrait. He got the eyebrows right. I love how he did the hair. I'm not sure why he's frowning. :( He has a face shape similar to Jay Leno.


When Mica was in Kindergarten he made this portrait of himself. I nearly fell off my chair during conferences I was laughing so hard! They were studying Frida Kahlo. She has eyebrows like that. The funny thing is, is that Mica has a unibrow to. I trim it sometimes, so it doesn't look so bad noticeable.


Isaak Letters

I generally try and think of things that Aunt Angela can get for the boys that are not toys. Isaak like crafty things, so I told her he'd love some type of craft kit. The trouble is, is that most craft kits are for girls.

She ended up getting him wooden letters that spell out his name, among other things.

He was pretty particular about what he wanted to do with these letters.

  • He wanted them to each have their own pattern.
  • He wanted them to each be a different color. He wanted to use all the colors of paint that he has.
  • He wanted each to have a different texture. 
  • He wanted their edges to be black and brown. I told him, "How about we just make them one or the other?" He wanted both. I said, "Ok we can make the left sides of all the letters black, and the right sides of all the letters brown." He's one smart cookie. He said, "What about the top and bottom?" I said, "We'll make the tops of them brown, and the bottoms black."
Here's my little Picasso. No it wasn't planned to make him look like Picasso. Notice the stripped shirt? 


 Isaak's the king of messy hair. He laid down to rest, and his hair was messy when he got up!


Here's his name:


  • On all the letters Isaak primed the wood with gesso. 
  • He got the textured materials, and laid them in the paint. 
  • He helped pick out the colors, which he wanted to use them all. I talked with him about what would work, and what would not. I did paint the color gradations on. 
  • At this point I thought we were done. He wanted gold to be on the letters. I showed him how to dry brush. A technique where you wet your brush, dry it off on a paper towel and paint. He painted gold on the letters. 
  • Once again I thought we were done. He said, "Where's the patterns?" We set out to add patterns. He helped decide what pattern went where. He painted some glue down, while I laid them in. 
  • Then he coated them with glue when it was all said and done.

 I had paper punches. We used a standard punch for this one. The silver is tin foil punches.


 S had grass. The silver is tin foil diamonds.


A had stripes of paper that Isaak cut out. The silver is tin foil squares.


 A had stripes of dental floss. The dentist would be proud! The silver is tin foil stripes.

  
K had sawdust. It was just the shavings from the pencil sharpener. The silver is a flower shaped punch that Mica had.






Now I have to decide how to hang it. Any ideas?

Disclaimer

The opinions on this blog are my personal take on products and topics relating to motherhood. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me.

I am not compensated to provide opinions on a variety of topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are my own. If I claim to show knowledge of certain topic or product I will only endorse products or services that I feel, based on my expertise, are worthy of such endorsement.

If you have any questions about this blog, or want to get in contact with me please email me at: anapeladay@gmail.com