Do you have elderly loved ones who you worry about?  I’m sure that most of us have some relatives who are older or who have a hard time getting around.  You may worry that something could happen to your loved one and they wouldn’t have any way to call for help.  If there isn’t anyone frequently checking in on your loved one then a simple fall could go unknown for days before anyone realizes that he or she needs help.

That is what Medical Guardian is for.  It can provide you with some peace of mind about your loved one.  Your loved one wears a device that can go on their wrist, neck or belt.  There is a button that gets pushed when help is needed.  A signal gets sent out to their Emergency Monitoring Station over an existing phone line.  Then someone will communicate with your loved one and see if they are okay.  If emergency care is needed they will send call EMS to assist.

Your loved one one will not have to move into an assisted living center for you to know that he or she is safe and they can continue to feel independent. You won’t have to worry as much about your loved one and you can have some peace of mind knowing that they are being monitored 24 hours a day.

Do you remember taking field trips with your school when you were a child?  I remember going on several field trips and I remember that they were always a lot of fun.  At the time I probably didn’t realize it, but I was also learning a great deal from the field trips too.

Now that I have been a teacher I know that children really learn a lot from going on field trips- it’s not just for fun.  You can explain to children exactly how the post office works, or what goes on at an airport, etc- but when a child can experience it first hand it is a whole different experience.

Unfortunately with all of the budget cuts going on at schools, there are quite a few schools who have to cut back on or eliminated field trips all together. Lunchables Lunch Combinations understands the importance of field trips and is launching a program called Field Trips For All.  Anyone who is 6 years or older can nominate a classroom to go on an inspiring, educational field trip.  If you can think of a deserving classroom, be sure to nominate them and also spread the word.  I have thought of a deserving classroom, although since I like to keep the area that I live in private I can’t say exactly where it is.  But, they are very deserving- so be sure to nominate your choice!!

When I got home from work tonight the last thing I wanted to worry about was what to make for dinner.  Since Rich works from home he will usually have something in the oven when I get home.  Tonight there wasn’t anything in the oven since he had a busy day and hasn’t been feeling great.  So, when I said, “What’s for dinner?”  he responded, “I don’t know.”

The perfect solution- Freschetta FlatBread pizza.  Freschetta sent us some coupons so we could try out their pizza for free (Thanks Freschetta!!) and we were thrilled to have the chance to try it out.  So tonight when we didn’t know what to have for dinner, we had some Freschetta FlatBread pizza and we loved it!

Hailey says, “Mmmmmmm!”

The pizza is super easy to make!  Depending on which one you get, it goes in the oven for around 20-30 minutes.  The dough is rolled and kneaded so that it rises like fresh dough would rise while it cooks in your oven.  The result is pizza that tastes like freshly made homemade pizza, not something from the freezer.

Right now you can get a coupon for $1 off on the Freschetta FlatBread website, so be sure to get a coupon to try out the pizza.  It’s the perfect solution to the never ending question of, “What’s for dinner?”

When you look back over your years of TV watching are there any advertisements that stand out in your memory? Something that you either remember because it was funny or made you cry or just had a cute little jingle?  As I think back over the years the one ad that I really remember from a long time ago was the Wendy’s ad where the little old lady says, “Where’s the beef?”

Dinty Moore commercials have certainly changed over the years. First, characters Jiggs and Maggie from “Bringing Up Father” were used in Dinty Moore advertisements.  Nowadays this have certainly changed as far as advertising goes.  But their product is still yummy!

One of our favorite hormel products is the chili.  We love to bake up some french fries, make some Hormel Chili and then put the chili on top of the fries and add some cheese to the top.  Yummy!!  How about you- what is your favorite way to eat Hormel Chili?  Share your favorite recipes.  If you need help coming up with something yummy you can always visit http://www.hormelrecipes.com.

I love how the ads change over the years but the company and the product are still great!!

It’s so hard to believe that 10 years ago at this time I was busy planning our wedding.  It seems like the last 10 years have flown by and I can’t figure out where all of the time went.  Since it’s been 1o years Rich and I have been trying to come up with something special to do to celebrate our 10th anniversary.  So far we haven’t come up with any ideas.

Today I was looking for ideas and I found some information about visiting St. Augustine.  I have never visited there but it looks like there are some great, romantic packages for really reasonable prices.  I really like the Ponte Verda Beach Resorts that start at $169 per night- it looks so nice and is right on the beach.  We would definitely have to spend some time relaxing on the beach, going golfing (Rich anyways), doing some shopping and of course eating some delicious food. I have never had a massage, so I think this would be on my list of things to do!

I’m having lots of fun thinking of places to go and things to do.  I can’t wait to celebrate 10 years!  Make sure you visit http://www.romanceliveshere.com/ to plan your own trip.

If you are married and have kids then you know that date nights are an exciting time!  When Rich and I have a date night planned I always look forward to it all week long.  We are fortunate that my parents live close by and will watch Hailey for us so we can go out.  Our dates nights usually consist of going out to eat and a movie or some shopping.  There just doesn’t usually seem to be much else to do -and I’m just excited to get to spend some time with Rich so it doesn’t really matter to me what we do.

Anyhoo- last night I saw the trailer for Date Night Movie with Steve Carell and Tina Fey.  It looked pretty funny to me. They are a typical suburban couple our for their weekly date night. They end up having a date like they never could have imagined with all sorts of crazy things taking place.  I love Steve Carell so I think we will probably end up going to seet his movie, hopefully on our next date!  I certainly hope our date doesn’t end up with us being involved in a shoot out or a car chase.  I’ll stick with just dinner and a movie!!

Check out the trailer and then go see Date Night Movie this weekend when it opens!!

Colorful robot characters on oversized flash cards are taking learning to read to a new level by helping emerging readers to comprehend nearly four dozen sounds created from the 26-letter English alphabet. The robots are called the Alphabotz, and when youngsters dive into the Superphonic Decoder Cards, they grasp the idea that letters equal sounds, sounds build words, and words tell amazing stories.

That’s the equation for making learning and reading fun, and the inventors behind the Alphabotz felt so compelled to bring their unique, and as it has turned out award-winning, concept to reality that they found a way to do it, despite the challenging economy for starting a new business. Designed for children ages 3+, these 46– 10″ x 4.5″ Alphabotz character cards are colorful, sturdy, and packaged in a sliding drawer box for easy storage.

The Alphabotz are the brainchild of Pat Vining, a mom of two and longtime elementary- and university-level educator. She perceived that a technically sound, multi-strategy approach to reading that was also fun and engaging for children was missing from the marketplace. So like many smart mom inventors, she decided to team up with former colleagues who had complementary skills to hers and a belief in her concept and started a business, Ideopolis LLC. Ideopolis is made up of Kelly Barton, partner for many years with Pat in a strategic design and communications firm, Kelly’s husband, Randy Barton, a chemical engineer with a lifelong entrepreneurial itch; and Nicole Sigsby, their marketing guru.

Let’s face it – phonics can be confusing and daunting to beginning readers. But not with the Alphabotz, whose visual clues, fun characters and stats show youngsters how to use decoding keys when coming across new word patterns. Each Superphonic Decoder Card contains a robot character who wears a letter or letter team on its chest and an icon on its head that serve as constant visual references to the sound the character represents. Each card also contains stats about the character that tell a story about its life and personality in order to make the sounds memorable and aid in development of letter recognition and phonemic awareness skills.

How would you like to win a set of Alphabotz for your child?  They are appropriate for children ages 3 and up.

Here’s what you need to do for a chance to win:

• Visit the Alphabotz site and look around.  Come back here and leave me a comment telling me something you learned while visiting their site.

Want some extra chances to win? Leave an ADDITIONAL COMMENT FOR EACH thing you do- your comment will be your entry.

• Blog about this giveaway linking back to this post. Then leave me a comment with the direct URL.
• Subscribe to my RSS feed and then leave me a comment letting me know you’re a subscriber.
• Tweet or Stumble this post and leave me a comment letting me know what you did.

This giveaway is open to US mailing addresses and will end on December14th at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be chosen on December 15th 2009 via random.org and notified by email. Please read all of my giveaway rules here.

Joobli’s Fun Packs come in a handy package that includes a foldout poster, 32+ original images for tracing, 6 sheets of shrinkable plastic, foolproof make-and-bake instructions and 8 ball chains to make bag tags. Shrinky Dinks is an amazing tool for budding artists with just four easy steps: trace, color, cut and bake.

When it’s birthday time or planning a sleepover, grab the Joobli Party Pack, priced at $18.95. Featuring the same four themed kits, each party package includes themed invitations and envelopes, a themed poster to decorate the party room (and get youngsters’ creative juices flowing), 32 original images for tracing, 8 ball chains for guests to make party favors and Shrinky Dinks sheets for 8 friends. Trace, color, cut and bake resulting in a memorable party complete with artistic favors to bring home.

Joobli Studio is a boutique toy development company with a passion for art and design. We develop entertaining products that inspire kids and families to incorporate imagination and creative play into their daily experiences.

I think that the Shrinky Dinks are the perfect addition to any child’s Christmas list- for children ages 6 and up.  If you are looking for something that helps your child’s imagination and creativity then you’re going to want to get some Shrinky Dinks!

How would you like a chance to win a set of Shrinky Dinks?  One lucky winner will get to pick either the Fun pack (ARV $17.95) or Party pack (ARV $18.95) in the following themes: Wild West, Tiki Island, Enchanted Kingdom, Circus Jubilee or Christmas.

Here’s what you need to do for a chance to win:

• Leave me a comment telling me which pack you would want if you win.

Want some extra chances to win? Leave an ADDITIONAL COMMENT FOR EACH thing you do- your comment will be your entry.

• Blog about this giveaway linking back to this post. Then leave me a comment with the direct URL.
• Subscribe to my RSS feed and then leave me a comment letting me know you’re a subscriber.
• Tweet or Stumble this post and leave me a comment letting me know what you did.
• Become a fan of Joobli on Facebook.

This giveaway is open to US mailing addresses and will end on November 28th at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be chosen on November 29th 2009 via random.org and notified by email. Please read all of my giveaway rules here.

Check out some of the fun we have had with the Citiblocs:

A truck that I helped Hailey build.

Hailey really wanted to make a train, so here she is working on the railroad tracks.

Our finished train.

Later that week my parents came over for a visit and Hailey wanted my dad to help her build the train again.

She was very proud of the end result.

The blocks are made out of pine and are very lightweight.  Since they are all the exact same size they are easy to build with.  The package of Citiblocs comes with a little booklet with pictures of different things you can build- great for giving us some ideas of things to make.

Every precision-cut pine piece is exactly the same shape and size and it’s surprisingly
lightweight. The wooden blocks, crafted in Vietnam from New Zealand trees, don’t require glue, snaps, or connectors. Big and little kids simply supply gravity, balance, imagination and a flat surface! Imaginative kids can open the box and make a castle, then create a whole kingdom. Knock it down for a swirly skyscraper or a big wooden creature. Ideal for children ages 3 and up, grownups like to play with them too! While busy building, balancing and designing, tykes can learn the basics of architecture, mathematics and science.

Esther Novis, a mother of five and a former Harvard-trained biologist, started The Young Scientists Club a decade ago as a summer science camp for her then 5-year-old son. Friends from other parts of the country told Novis they felt cheated that their kids couldn’t go, so she naturally packaged the experiments and sent them off. The idea for a science subscription service was born! The subscription kits are now mailed monthly to thousands of children around the world and the company’s retail kits are sold in hundreds of specialty stores.

The young scientist on your Christmas is sure to love the Magic School Bus Diving into Slime, Gel, and Goop, which is what I got to check out. In this kit:

Ms. Frizzle and her students take Young Scientists diving into slime, gel, and goop with fun and fabulous experiments. Young Scientists discover oobleck, produce glue from milk, grow jiggly marbles, make snow from super-absorbent crystals, form a bouncy ball, create slime, expand super-absorbent gel crystals, melt fake snow, learn about polymers, and much, much more! This polymer kit includes extra gels, super-absorbent crystals, and marbles to repeat the fun! Seatbelts everyone! Get ready to dive into slime, gel, and goop!

Sounds fun, right?  Well, one lucky winner will get to pick either the Magic School Bus Diving into Slime, Gel and Goop, the Magic School Bus Going Green or Science on a Gardening Adventure from The Young Scientists Club.  Here’s what you need to do for a chance to win:

• Check out The Young Scientists Club.  Leave me a comment telling me which prize you would pick: Magic School Bus Diving into Slime, Gel and Goop, the Magic School Bus Going Green or Science on a Gardening Adventure.

Want some extra chances to win? Leave an ADDITIONAL COMMENT FOR EACH thing you do- your comment will be your entry.

• Blog about this giveaway linking back to this post. Then leave me a comment with the direct URL.
• Subscribe to my RSS feed and then leave me a comment letting me know you’re a subscriber.
• Tweet or Stumble this post and leave me a comment letting me know what you did.

This giveaway is open to US mailing addresses and will end on November 17th at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be chosen on November 18th 2009 via random.org and notified by email. Please read all of my giveaway rules here.