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 of my favorite movies is Amélie. If you have never watched it, it's a must see. I never thought I could love a movie that has subtitles. In fact when I found out it had subtitles I went to put it back on the shelf. A guy in the store convinced me to buy it. He said it's really a great movie. I caved. I was so glad he influenced me to get it. It's a movie about a girl - Amélie that tries to do good for people. She's not trying to get attention. In fact most of the things she does good for people is purely anonymous. She sort of sits on the side lines to watch how the people react to her good deeds.

Source

In the movie there is great piano music that plays thoughout different parts of it.  I never looked into who played the music. The artist's name is Yann Tiersen.

He plays the guitar, synthesizer or violin together with intruments like the melodica, xylophone, toy piano, harpsichord, accordion, and typewriter. He started learning piano at the age of 4, violin at the age of 6, and classical training at several musical academies.

Yann Tiersen will be undertaking a unique cycling and signing tour across Brittany, France.

Check out Yann Tiersen's website.
Check out his Facebook page.
Check out his Twitter page.
Check out his YouTube Channel.

Random Tid Bits

1. Freelance journalist Ashoka Mukpo, who contracted Ebola in Liberia, arrived at the University of Nebraska Medical Center the other day, becoming the second patient with the possibly deadly disease to be treated in Nebraska.
   
   Why is he being sent to Nebraska instead of some other facility? Because we have really good hospitals here. The hospital they are sent to is the largest of four high-level biocontainment patient care units in the U.S. There's a whole article about it here. I do have to say I hear a lot about this. Not only is the media covering it, I have a childhood friend that's an Infectious Disease Doctor in Pediatrics. She covers Enterovirus, and Ebola on her Facebook page. 

I do worry sometimes about my kids getting Enterovirus. All you can do is wash your kid's hands a lot. Life can't and shouldn't stop.

The hard thing is having a nephew that has a compromised immune system. A virus like that could kill him. Later this month he's having another surgery. I know we're supposed to stay away if we have runny noses. My kids, and I with allergies are always stuffy this time of year. We seriously wouldn't go anywhere if we waited for our stuffy nose to go away. I've been horrible about trying out those edible oils. I forget to take them, and when I remember it's at a time when I'm not at home. Anyhow I need to get on the bandwagon of trying them. If they are bullsh*t I'll soon enough find out.


2. I was contacted by my older sister on Tuesday night to make 2 batches of cookies for my Mom and Brother-in-law's birthday get together this Friday. It's a busy week anyhow. At first I was thinking, How will I ever get 2 batches of cookies done?
   
   1 batch was Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies. Those were pretty easy. No thinking involved. Just time consuming.
   
   I was asked to make lemon cookies I've made before. I had no clue what lemon cookies they were talking about - honestly. In the end I just made a batch of sugar cookies with lemon extract instead of vanilla extract. I'm hoping that's what they are talking about. I was going to do fall cookies, but thought lemon with fall shaped cookies would be weird. Chocolate, pumpkin can be added to fall cookies, but not a lemon flavor. Biting into a cookie shaped like a pumpkin that tastes like lemon is odd. Maybe I over think things. In support of the lunar eclipse I did moon, star, and rocket shaped cookies. This image is from a long time ago. The stars in the sky are star cookies. I did a bunch of man on the moons to. They are 1/2 moons with an edible eye added to them. If I think about it, I'll take a picture.







3. It's midterms this week where I work. I've been trying to keep up with blogging, but I have a few reviews to write. It's busy at home, and on days that I don't teach.
   
   I'm pretty sure I'm one of the more unpopular teachers in first year; right about now. 

Why?

A) I critique them honestly.

B) I grade them honestly.

C) My midterm and final exams are around 100 questions. Another instructor here has 20 questions all true and false.

D) In the 12 years of working here I made one mistake that another instructor makes yearly. Instead of printing their grades out with their I.D. numbers I printed them out with their names. I guess a bunch of students thought I did it on purpose. They were oh so mad. Rightfully so. BUT instead of talking to me about it, they wrote a note on top of the grades saying something so awful I'm not putting it on here. 1 student informed me, I thanked her, took the grades down, printed the right copy, wrote a note apologizing, and added points to their last project. I also had a little talk with them in class by apologizing again. I'm not above apologizing. I explained how easy it is to do what I did in the grade system we have here. I mentioned that I'd never do something like that on purpose. I think of grades like paychecks. I would never share how much I make with others; I would never share grades either. I think sometimes students think teachers can't/shouldn't make mistakes. We're humans after all. I didn't bring this up, but in some other colleges, instructors do print student's names and grades; to put right up on the wall for everyone to see. I don't think that's right. I don't think it's right to rip up artwork in a critique either. I've heard of that being done in the past as well. So I messed up. Messing up is something many of them do on a regular basis - trust me. Still, somehow I feel like I have to earn their respect back again. That awful letter still sits in my mind. There's about 3 people I've talked to here that think I'm making too big of a deal about this. Maybe I am. I like to make things right. I don't like messing up.


4. I'm really impressed with my boys this year. Every day they come home with a green dot for good behavior. I'm glad they are taking school seriously. They are pretty good students. 


5. My kids have a new Librarian at school this year. Mica and Isaak tell me she's strict. She expects things out of them without communicating what she wants. I'm sure she's a good person, maybe just not good with kids. It's too bad because their Librarian before was a great story teller. Isaak told me that the new Librarian has never read 1 book to them. I think that position should be someone nice, and inspiring to kids. Kids should want to read.

Leather Conditioner & Restorer Review

If you haven't read the post before this, I strongly recommend you do so. It's a review of Leather Nova Leather Cleaner. Leather Nova also sent me Conditioner and Restorer. That's what this post is about. Ive been trying to do some fall cleaning each weekend. Last weekend it was time to clean our leather furniture.

It can be used to condition and restore all types of leather and vinyl surfaces.

It works on all the following:

• Interior car seats
• Motorcycle seats
• Sofas, couches, furniture
• Boots, shoes
• Wallets
• Purses
• Leather belts
• Saddles and other sporting and equestrian goods

I'll be using it mostly on my leather sofa, and sofa pillows. 

I like that all their products come with a rag, or sponge that is appropriate to use with the cleaner, or conditioner. I never know what to use exactly. This cleaner comes with a sponge. They have it covered. It's applied in a circular motion after the leather has been previously cleaned.

Here are the Before | After Shot

I think it did a really great job! It's wiped away all along the bottom of the couch.

It will not only protect new leather but restore old leather to near new condition. It also restores the natural smell of leather.

This product is great to touch up and restore existing leather material, as well as protect it against future damage. Applying the conditioner once a month is recommended for maintenance, especially to help make the leather material repellant against water.

Comes in an 18 oz spray bottle. It's sold on Amazon for $29.95, but is on sale for $15.97!

Fall cleaning just got better.

Not suitable for suede, nubuck or microfiber.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Leather Cleaner Review

I've been trying to do some fall cleaning each weekend. Last weekend it was time to clean our leather furniture. 

I received Leather Nova Leather Cleaner for review. 

It penetrates the material deep down to tackle and remove dirt, grime and oil.

It is great for cleaning all types of leather and vinyl including:

• Interior car seats
• Motorcycle seats
• Sofas, couches, furniture
• Boots, shoes
• Wallets
• Purses
• Leather belts
• Saddles and other sporting and equestrian goods

I'll be using it mostly on my leather sofa, and sofa pillows. 

I like that all their products come with a rag, or sponge that is appropriate to use with the cleaner, or conditioner. I never know what to use exactly. This cleaner comes with a free microfiber towel for cleaning. They have it covered.

Here are the Before | During | After Shots

I think it did a really great job!


Comes in an 18 oz spray bottle. It's sold on Amazon for $29.95, but is on sale for $16.95!

Fall cleaning just got better.

Not suitable for suede, nubuck or microfiber.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Rose Hip Oil by Yumi Beautiful Review

I'm in love with oils that are used for my face, and hair. Rose Hip Oil by Yümi Beautiful did not disappoint.

It's used nightly as a hydrating facial oil and brightening serum. It can be applied to the face and neck after you wash it. A few drops can be added to your favorite conditioner, and used on your hair. Massage into hands, elbows, feet and knees to soften and moisturize.

What makes Yümi Rose Hips Serum So Special?

• It's organic
• It's a cold-pressed rose hip oil 
• It is a natural source of antioxidants
• It contains Vitamin C
• Trans-Retinoic Acid (a type of vitamin A that retinol converts to)
• It's from the Southern Andes Mountains of Chile
• It's for all skin types
• Nothing is added such as: Paraben, Alcohol, Dyd, and Fragrances
• They have great customer service
• The packaging is beautiful

I'm an allergy queen, so I have to be careful about what in products that I use on my body. My forehead in particular gets really dry in the winter months. I love how it soaks into the skin without leaving a residue. It makes my dehydrated forehead feel hydrated again.

It's perfect if you have skin blemishes such as wrinkles and scars. I have a chicken pox scare I was trying to get rid of with tea tree oil. It's a little too early to tell, but I think Yümi Rose Hips Serum will help with this to. It also works as a spot treatment for discoloration.

Full price it's $37.50, but it's on a wonderful sale right now on Amazon for $16.95! That's a great deal!

You do need to avoid the eye area, and it's for external use only. Refrigerate after opening. Organic rosehip oil oxidizes quickly. Discard any unused portion after 4 weeks.

This is a quote from their website:

“When you discover a secret to naturally beautiful skin, you want to share it with your friends.”

 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

I Shouldn't Touch Anything Today

I have the case of the dropsies this morning. I know "Dropsies" isn't really a word, but it should be. It's in the Urban Dictionary after all. 

I was in a hurry like I am every morning. It doesn't matter what time I get up; I manage to find more to do no matter what. Our typical time for waking up is 6:30 AM. Even on the weekends I sadly wake up at that time now.

This particular morning I was doing dishes. I dropped a pan lid, and this happened:

Usually when this type of thing happens I drop about 3 more things. I haven't dropped anything else just yet.

I did however manage to try and do Mica and Isaak's hair, and messed up both of their mane's. I will admit it, I just have a hard time doing their hair. If it's short, and spiky I can do that. Right now they don't have long hair, but they don't have short spiky hair either. They look so nerdy when I do their hair. I bet the opposite is true when a father tries to do a daughter's hair.

I went to leave the house, looked, and looked again to back up. I saw someone backing out of their driveway down the street, but didn't see anyone else. I seriously wasn't in a rush at this time. I was being careful by looking a few times. When I went to back out I heard a honk. Then this car sped right behind me to go down the street. They must have been speeding the whole time. Daddy opened the door; trying to figure out what was wrong. I nodded to assure him that everything was fine.

Do you ever have mornings/days like this? Ones where you feel like you shouldn't touch anything.

Preamble

Mica came home from school and said all excited, "Dad we're going to sing the Preamble from School House Rock. I will be able to learn it pretty good. I've learned it before."

I said, "Mica why are you telling Dad? I'm the one that introduced you to School House Rock?"

Mica said, "I know, but Dad's the one that helped me learn the Preamble."

Mica is right about that. Aunt Terra and preschool had him learn the Lord's prayer. Daddy said, "If he can learn that, he can learn the Preamble. So he did.

Here's a low quality video; that I wish I had high quality. His voice was so cute.

If you've never seen School House Rock here it is. It was a little before my time, but I had heard about it, so I looked it up.

WW: Fall {Linky}

Mica wanted a big giant pumpkin. That's about as big of a pumpkin as I'd let him get. Isaak wanted a pumpkin with cool texture. 

A Pumpkin Tree:

Painting Pumpkins in the Cold:

 A Spooky Child:

A Mellow Child:

A Special Treat They Split in 1/2:

A Cold Hay Rack Ride:

A melt down occurred because hay got on his gloves: