Conversations with a Moonflower

Details:  Memoir of Christine Hall's life and lessons learned by changing.  Christine's Grandmother's death brings the family together one last time at the old family farm.  What is discovered there while the family sorts, and cleans and cleans out the farm is priceless.  Settled in the Amish country side Christine and her family take the time to say good bye to old dear Amish friends, who were dear sweet friends to their Grandmother.  The gift that is given and shared for years to come will never be forgotten.

My Review:  This was a book club book for the month of May.  I read this very short book in 3 days.  I bought it from Amazon for $4, for my Kindle.  Its the most amazing book ever.  It opens your eyes to lessons you learn from the most unusual things, people, and circumstances.  I highly recommend this book to everyone.    There is a Facebook page just for this book as well, which is fun to check out because Christine is always doing book signings.
Best Part: Christine Hall has a website directly attributed to this book, and through this website, anyone can buy a package of Moon flower seeds for $4.  What an amazing author.  Not only does she tell you her wonderful experiences with her Moon flower, but she allows you the chance to experience the joy in your own back yard.

Pros: short book with lots of lessons, not preachy, not religious, pure every day life lessons to be learned and appreciated.

Cons: none

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The Help Movie and Book

 

Katheryn Stockett's The Help Book
Details:  Skeeter graduates from Ole' Miss and decides to come back home to Jackson Missouri, and get a job as a journalist.  But her plans don't go the way she imagined.  Her special maid is gone, her mother is sick, and no one wants to hire her as a journalist.  But as she works on getting experience writing, she is inspired by her career contact in New York and finds a worthy cause to write about, if only she can get the Helps on board with her law-breakin', hair raisin' scheme.

My Review: Kathryn Stockett wrote this book in 3 years, because of her experiences with her own Help as she grew up in Jackson Missouri.  I love this story, and love how we as people who are many times blinded by what we don't know, don't want to see, and wish not to know, Kathryn gives us an open window view into the injustices that our Country has had to over come, through the eyes of those who lived those lives.

Pros: amazing realistic characters, loving plot, easy to find and buy a copy of this book

Cons: none

Tate Taylor's vision of, Stockett's, The Help Movie
Details:  This is exactly like the book Kathryn wrote, as Tate Taylor has been Kathryn's best friend since they were 5 years old.  The actress who plays Mini is Tate's other best friend.  When Kathryn wrote the book no one wanted to publish it.  In fact it was rejected 60 times before someone fell in love with the story.  Tate was able to have the screen play finished by the time Kathryn's book was published.  Tate and Kathryn kept most of the acting within the family, as both their mother's are in the movie, as is Tate's Maid, and Kathryn's daughter.

My Review:  I have been wanting to see the movie the Help since I heard it was going to be a movie.  It is so heart wrenching and warming at the same time everyone falls in love with the characters and the story.  My favorite parts of the movie only come on the DVD/ Blueray disc.  I watched all the commentary, deleted scenes, and extras and got to see Tate Taylor with his Maid, Kathryn and her family.  I got to see interviews with women who live in Jackson today and remember the time of house Maids and also got to hear some of those women tell of how they were house Maids to the white folk living in Jackson.

Pros: I love the actors and actresses they found the perfect fits for each character

Cons: I don't own a copy of this movie yet.

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Veet No Hair solution

Details: Fast acting gel cream hair remover.  Dermatologically tested.  Legs and body sensitive formula with aloe vera. Restores skin hydration.  Touchably smooth skin for up to twice as long as shaving.  The new formula is designed to work close to the root of the hair.  Recyclable materials.  8 step directions, including many precautions.  Smooth skin in 5-10 minutes.

My Review:  I bought this stuff after really getting frustrated at cutting my ankle 3 times within 1 month of shaving.  Pretty badly too.  I have a 1 1/2 inch purple scar now.  I had used Nair when I was in high school and had pretty good results.  For the sake of doing reviews I thought I would try a different brand, and I'm so glad I did.  Veet has the same burning chemical smell as Nair.  It still sticks to your skin after using.  When it works, your legs are super smooth for at least 3 days.  But when it doesn't work, well you just wasted 10 minutes not shaving, just to have to put that much time or more back into shaving.  After using this for 3 weeks (and using this once a week to allow maximum effectiveness).  I will not buy it again, nor will I continue to use this product.  It works way less than Nair.

Pros: good amount of product for price, I do love the silky smooth feeling when product works.

Cons: products doesn't work as often as it should.  I hate the smell, and hate the sticky feeling left on my hand even after following the directions of rinsing them off after applying the cream.

                                                                                       My Rating 

Giveaway Contest

To all my viewers and readers, guess what?  I have my second contest of the season!  Yeah.
What this means for you, get ready to enter to win a very cool prize!

Details: Starts Monday May 28th, 2012, ends June 4th, 2012.  Winner recieves a $25 coupon to WholeSale Costume Wear to buy a costume (which will basically pay for a free costume).

How to Enter Giveaway:  Please enter the giveaway using the rafflecopter below. Click on the green buttons, and follow the directions.  Good luck to all who enter!

Winner:  And our winner is Debbie Ellis!  Debbie congratulations.  You should be getting information soon about your $25 coupon for a costume!  
Thanks for all who participated, it was great!  Keep in contact as we'll be having more giveaways.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Batman Super Hero Costume

 Details:  This is the Batman Dark Knight Rises costume for kids. Its great to have costumes kids and even adults can dress up in, like this one, dressing up like Batman.  Size small fits 4-6, or 3-4 year olds.  This costume is made of light fabric with hardened (stiff) muscle chest and arms.  The belt is separate and made of fabric and soft plastic.  The Mask is attached to the cape which are separate from the body of the costume.  The bat symbol on the chest is a rubber material.  This company has all kinds of Batman costumes for Men, Women, Teens, Children, and Toddlers.

My Review:  I bought the size that would fit my 5 year old so that my 2 year old could eventually grow into it.  From the day that I ordered it, this took roughly 10-12 business days to arrive.  My 5 year old begged for it each day until it finally came.  He got to try it on first, and is in the picture below to the left.  My two year old is in the picture to the right below.  They love how easy it is to put on, how the mask is separate, and that the belt just ties around their tummy.  For both children the mask is way too big, and my kids have heads in the 90th percentile when they're measured at the doctor's office.  In other words, the mask is big on my kids and that is saying something, especially for my 5 year old.   They love super heroes and beg for all the costumes of the Avenger's and the Justice League.  They have the Batmobil as well as a small Batman character they can play with.

Pros: worth the cost, ships easily, fun to use!  

Cons: This is important: the arm holes at the wrists are so tight it hurt my 2 year old just to get the costume on and his hands through the arms.  My 5 year old had a harder time.  

Price: this costume was roughly $30 including shipping 

                                  

My Rating                                                              

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.

Fix By Force

Think about it: Fix, we as humanity seem to be obsessed with fixing things.  We fix broken cars, toys, computers, books.  When we can't fix what has been broken we replace it.  Even our bodies are in a constant battle for fixing.  We want to look younger, we want to feel younger, we want to be younger.  We want to live forever, we want to change the color of our hair, the color of our skin, the muscles in our body, etc.

Details: When his father died Spencer is thrown into a world of violence, drugs and confusion.  Sick of hiding, sick of being abused, and sick of paying for something not his fault, Spencer tries to learn about the man who caused him all this pain.  What he finds is worse than he imagined, confused and thrown out onto the streets, he's taken in by his nemesis, only to be betrayed and cast into the looser crowd for good.  Can a kind hearted Uncle, a photo album, and the meanest girl in his new school bring Spencer back from his fixing?  Can they help him fix what was broken, instead of replacing it?

My Review:  This is an amazing book.  I read it through my kindle app on my computer.  To be honest, I was sucked into the story line immediately.  But it was towards the middle of the book that I was ready to stop reading.  It was so depressing, I was so sad for the character Spencer.  My emotions were shot and I was begging for something good to happen in the book.  Here's my advice, stick with it.  The story is totally worth reading.  You learn so much about fixing, you learn so much about yourself while learning about the hardships younger generations are faced with when the older generation hide the truth.  At the same time you also find out  what great things can happen when bad is fixed by good, and how death makes you stronger.

Pros: great plot, characters are relate-able.  Totally worth reading!  I love the journal and white out analogy given in this book for fixing and changing things that might not other wise be able to be changed.

Cons: language, drugs, and drug usage

                                My Rating : I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bookcrash.  

Equate Medicated Dandruff Shampoo

Details: Maximum strength medicated dandruff shampoo.  With Menthol selenium sulfide 1% that helps give you healthy hair, scalp and controls itching and flaking and seborrheic dermatitis and to help prevent the chance of re-occurrence.  3 step directions.  To be used 2 times a week.  This is distributed by Wal-Mart and comes with a money back guarantee.

My Review:  After using this for 2 weeks I've already noticed a huge difference with my scalp.  I had used Organix shampoo and conditioner for 3 months which ended up destroying my hair.  But it also made my scalp peel in large chunks...very gross, itchy and not very pretty.  But my scalp no longer peels, and my hair is getting more healthy already.

This is blue in color, is more like a gel-type of consistency, is very strong smelling.  This does sting any cuts you have on your hands when you are lathering it into your hair.  When I was looking for something to help my head get better, I was shopping at Wal-Mart, looking at this Equate and the Selsun Blue stuff (which is double the price for the same amount).  A woman had just picked up a bottle to buy, and so I asked her which brand she liked and why.  She says her husband enjoys Selsun blue, but they've gone with the Equate brand because its 1. cheaper, 2. works just as well, 3. actually heals the scalp not just prevents it from flaking.  The woman gave me separate directions in using this shampoo.  She says that it works best when you 1. wash your hair with normal shampoo and conditioner first, 2. then lather in this stuff and let it sit in your hair and on your scalp, 3. wash your body, shave, do everything else you normally do in the shower then rinse out the Dandruff shampoo.  I have used her directions for the past 2 weeks and it really does work great!  That was good enough for me to buy it and try it.  I'm very impressed with this and will continue to buy it.

Pros: Works quickly and very well, has a money back guarantee.

Cons: none

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Simple Touches for a Spa-Like Bathroom (Mini-Spa)

Details:  Trying to sell a house in today's market is a daunting task.  One not only has to appease the potential buyer, but the realtor as well.  If the realtor doesn't like your house, they won't bring anyone in to see it.  Most realtors these days are seeing the value in using a Home Stager, or Interior Designers to help stage the house for a fast sell.  We had the opportunity to work with both.  They each had great ideas, and we followed what they suggested to improve the look of our bathrooms.  The Home Stager was the one who first suggested turning our bathrooms into Mini-Spas.

My Review:  Based on the suggestions we were given, we added white waffle weave shower curtains to both bathrooms.  Candles were placed on wooden dishes in one bathroom with polished rocks around them.  We rolled up our wash cloths and put them in a bamboo basket.  We added a tall plant to the bathroom, placed in a bamboo pot.  We also put bamboo blinds on our windows.

In another bathroom at one point in time, we added a bamboo vase, with sticks in it, and polished rocks around that. I sewed some trim on the green towels to dress them up.  I have seen others tie bows with ribbon and twine around the towels.

We eventually retiled one bathroom to "Update" it.  The tile was done in a diagonal pattern on the floor.  This made the floor and bathroom appear much larger.  We painted the walls a tan color with left over paint from a previous project. We also put a white waffle weave shower curtain and the bamboo blinds in here as well. 

 Just those few simple things made a big difference to those bathrooms, and the buyers were very excited about their new mini-spa.



Pros:  The bamboo blinds are relatively inexpensive at Home Depot or Lowe's, under $20 for the sizes we needed.  The polished rocks were under a $1, and the sticks were from our backyard.  The candles were purchased at Wal-Mart.  The bamboo basket was found at Dollar Tree, and the bamboo vase was found at Good Will.  We already had the plant, just moved it to the bathroom.  We had a lot of positive feed back from those looking at our house about the updated spa-like bathrooms.

Cons:  The White Waffle Weave Shower Curtain was the most expensive item to purchase, outside of the new re-tile job.  The shower curtain was around $20 at Wal-Mart.  Our son did a lot of the tile work, and his buddy from work did the rest, so we still got that job done for half what anyone else would have charged us.

My Rating:  Based on the positive feed back we had on these bathrooms, I give it a Thumbs Up.  My husband liked these ideas so much, we are now doing a lot of the same ideas in our new house.