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Make a Difference with Graeters and Brewhaus

This post on Graeters and Brewhaus is sponsored. All opinions are 100% my own.

With a new year, many of us are looking for ways to better our own lives and make a difference. I still haven’t figured out my “word” for the year, but I do know I want to feel more fulfilled as I make a difference around me. Graeters Ice Cream is making it easy for you to make a difference in the life of those who need it most.

Before moving to Indiana I had never even heard of Graeters Ice Cream. Now I drive past one of their scoop shops on a weekly basis as I head into town for a myriad of different things. I always made a mental note that I wanted to check them out one day. The year went by, and in late fall a few of my girlfriends and I decided to head out for the evening and get some ice cream. It was delicious, and they let us try all the flavors before deciding on our final choices. Basically, it was a fun night out.

So fast forward to fall, and I receive an email letting me know that Graeters is reintroducing Dog Treats at their store. OK, that’s cool I thought, but we don’t have a dog. OH, wait, it’s not just a new product that Graeters is offering for sale! Nope. These Dog Treats are made by Brewhaus! Ever heard of Brewhaus?

OK, honestly, neither had I, but there had to be some catch as to why this would garner a special email, so I looked into it. Brewhaus is a not for profit bakery that offers vocational training for young adults with disabilities! Now we’re talking! OK OK, I still don’t have a dog, but if I did, I’d be buying our Dog Bones from Graeters. Instead, I will continue to support Graeters with my ice cream purchases so they can continue to support companies like Brewhaus that are truly making a difference.

Find your Local Graeters Scoop Shop.

This is just one of many reasons I love living in our small town. In the summertime, you can see many shops lining our main shopping district with water bowls and free treats for pets. Now with Graeters addition of Brewhaus Dog Bones, I’m checking to see which other local stores are giving back to the community and those in need.

January 4, 2017
Staying Connected to Loved Ones the Cute and Cuddly Way

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CloudPetsForever #CollectiveBias

What do you do when you suddenly find yourself away from a loved one for weeks on end? Changing careers became an obvious choice for us as teaching just wasn’t working out anymore. The change, however, meant Mark had to go to 6 weeks of training before being officially hired.

6 weeks! The longest we’ve ever been apart is maybe 1 full week for him to play with the band at NCAA…and he was not missing me too much during those trips, nor were our kids old enough to really feel the effect of Dad being gone.

This, though. This has been tough. We moved 1300 miles for the job, and then he went off a couple hundred more to train. The kids are missing their dad immensely, and I’ve found it hard to go to bed at a decent hour while wondering if I should check the door locks a couple more times just to be sure.

One thing the kids have loved (and truly I have too), is that we purchased a very basic television plan. While it’s been fun for them to veg a bit while Mom tries to get work/school/cleaning done, I was not expecting the rush of commercials!

“Mom I don’t know how to make my bed, I need the zipper sheets” – Let me teach you!

“Mom I’ll never take a shower unless I can have cool lights flashing at the same time” – Take a bath!

“Mom we’ll pick up our dirty clothes if it’s a basketball hoop!” – Guess you’ll start to smell stinky!

But then. Then there was the one for CloudPets™. A stuffed animal that combined both cuteness with a special way to receive messages from loved ones. And this is what I heard

“Mom we really need a cloud pet so we can send it to Dad and tell him we miss him”.

My heart, be still. These kids love and miss their Daddy, and gosh darn so do I. So you know what? We went to Walmart and bought the Kitty CloudPet™. The way this works is you don’t actually send the CloudPet™ as one of my children assumed. No you hang out with it at home, download the free app that goes with it, and invite approved (through the parental controls!), other loved ones who may be far away to send messages to your CloudPet™. Oh and don’t forget to grab the 3 AA batteries it will need.

Currently CloudPets™ can be found in select Walmart stores, but will soon be available nationwide! We found the pallet display in the kids clothing section of our local store.

Meet Darth Kitty – the kids had to compromise on a name since one just wanted to call her Kitty, and the other wanted Darth Vader. We had a lot of fun figuring out how to get Darth Kitty set up to receive messages, and then we sent Daddy a special invite to start sending messages. You can watch a video and see just how easy the Set Up is.

After a successful test run of “Hi Girls…can you hear me? Did this work?” message, he moved on to telling them bedtime stories. He can take time whenever he has a break at work to send the message, and then I choose when to send it to Darth Kitty so all can hear together – usually as a special bedtime bonding time.

We were getting pretty sad that Dad is missing their first day of school this year. When he was a teacher it was always fun to send them all off together – school and work. But not this year. I’m hoping we’ll find a special message from Darth Kitty next Tuesday morning with some encouraging words that can only come from a Daddy on the first day of school.

I have a feeling we’ll find with this new job Dad may miss more of the special events then we’re used to. While in the past his schedule has always lined up with the kids, it will now vary from day to night, and include holidays. I’m pretty sure Darth Kitty will be put to good use during those missed occasions.

How do you stay connected with loved ones?

August 5, 2015
Do you have a #FrankenPet

This is a sponsored post. Compensation was exchanged for publishing this. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

I absolutely love Picmonkey for all my photo editing needs. I can resize my photos for optimum blog load time for you, as well as edit colors, add embellishments, and of course get some text in there so you can pin all my images to pinterest (at least I hope that’s what you do). You may even recall last year I wrote about what to gift your blogging friends, and Picmonkey Royale was on there.

The photo above is of our old day Tank. It took me about 5-10 minutes to play around with all the different FREE effects available to me on Picmonkey.

Contest

It’s time to dress them up your pets! Do a little photo editing, and enter Picmonkey’s #FrankenPet Halloween contest!
Cat, dog, reptile, amphibian – it doesn’t matter in this contest. They are looking for creativity, use of picmonkey effects, theme, and photo quality.

Prizes

Grand prize winner will receive a Year of Picmonkey Royale and then based on the category a GoPro Hero3, Fetch Harness, or 3 way mount. Runner ups will receive a year of Royale and a $25 giftcard to Petco.

How to Enter

Entering is SIMPLE! Grab a photo of your pet, or your friends, or your neighbors. Do a little editing on Picmonkey. Then share your photo on social media with the hashtag #FrankenPet

*Contest runs through 11:59pm Halloween Night. Winners will be announced by Picmonkey on November 5th. Everyone is welcome to participate, but prizes are only open to US residents.

Need a dog sitter? Rover.com is a network of dog lovers that connects pet parents with loving, local dog sitters.

Use code Homemaid20 for $20 off any dog sitting service

October 20, 2014
EcoQube Kickstarter Campaign
When Eric reached out to me about his EcoQube Kickstarter campaign, I was pretty intrigued. A couple years ago when Mark wanted a dog, and I said no, we compromised on fish. Over the years he has read up a lot on how to raise fish, what they eat, their habits, etc. Although at times I have not been the most supportive of his fish hobby, I have come to enjoy the fish, and the joy they bring to every kid that walks into our home.

So what is the EcoQube? It is a beautiful way to grow flowers and herbs indoors in an easy to take care of system, while also filtering aquarium water the natural way. If you watch the video below, you’ll hear them say “Nature does it best”. It’s true right? Nothing is better than nature when it comes to an animals habitat, and growing plants.

Together Eric and his friend Kevin have brought the natural beauty of the outdoors into our homes, and onto our desktops with the EcoQube. By using the plants to naturally filter the water, we can now have our own little oasis inside. Can’t you just picture this sitting somewhere in your home? Maybe giving off some beautiful scents of mint, or basil?

I am just blown away by the beauty of these aquariums, but what really sold me was that together with a local non-profit Eric and Kevin have also put together a K-12 curriculum on the science behind self sustaining ecosystems. Anyone that promotes education, and really learning for our kids, I have to get behind.

Eric and Kevin are working to bring Environmental awareness, and hope that aquaponics will work to solve some of the problems facing the world’s water.
- Over 70% of global freshwater is used for agriculture (farming of vegetables and fruits) and aquaculture (farming of marine animals like fish)
- Billions of gallons of water for agriculture and aquaculture is flushed into our environment every day, carrying excess fertilizer, pesticides, waste with it.
- Aquaponics (the concept the EcoQube was designed around) is a closed recirculating system that uses over 90% less water than traditional agriculture and does not produce waste products. Grows food 30-50% faster without pesticides. Marine life farmed in this environment are much healthier due to the clean, filtered environment provided by natural plant filtration. Completely organic
Will you take a moment and support the EcoQube Kickstarter campaign?
December 2, 2013
Sick Kids with Vicks #BehindEar thermometer

I had the most interesting weekend.

It began Thursday afternoon when Mark left for a 2 day Music Educators Conference. In the past we’ve packed up the kids and made it a family trip. With Princess V in school now, and the amazing school district seeing the conference benefits (read – they paid for the whole trip), it just wasn’t possible this year. (Also sad, because my favorite Food Blogger, Baking with Blondie was there!)

After a very rough night trying to get 4 kids to bed on my lonesome, and taking care of a dog, I was pooped. Prince L then woke up in the night with a raging fever. I kid you not, it felt like putting a hot iron on my skin holding him. I popped out the Infant’s Tylenol, just hoping it would calm the fever and allow Prince L to sleep. Friday’s mail couldn’t have come at a better time, since it brought my new Vick’s Behind the Ear Thermometer. I was just having a discussion with another friend on how we didn’t trust our temporal thermometers anymore. They worked great until we put in new batteries, and then they just didn’t seem right. I’m hoping we don’t experience the same case here. So this beauty is pretty easy to use, as long as you get it in the right spot behind the ear. My favorite feature though, is the memory! It stores the last 8 temperatures you take, making it easy to keep track of your child’s temp. let’s face it, I have a really bad memory when it comes to numbers all close together.

So Poor kid had a mild fever, and by the afternoon, he couldn’t keep anything down, and was having a terrible time getting any rest. So basically a rough day. I knew I needed to approach bedtime differently this night for peace of mind. To my astonishment, the girls were extremely well behaved and after we sang a few songs together they all dropped off peacefully before 9pm. Bliss, I tell you!

The poor boy was still feverish through the day on Saturday, but was keeping food down at least. He just wasn’t eating as much either. His fever broke during the night Saturday, but Sunday he woke up with a rash. Dealing with this before, I self diagnosed him with Roseola. Gosh I hate this rash though.

It began just on his tummy, but this morning I found it has crept across his back, up his neck, across one cheek and is headed down his arms. But hey, the fever is gone, he’s eating and back to his very happy self.

On another note, I was also left with the dog for the first time on my own. Meaning I had to get him up and out first thing in the morning, feed him, and basically make sure he’s doing alright. Plus, Mark upgraded his 30 gallon fish tank to a 50 gallon tank, and added about 8 more fish. Friday morning comes along, I’ve let the dog out, fed the kids breakfast, and am finally getting myself ready before Kindergarten drop off, when the kids tell me Tank (the dog) has pooped in the baby’s room, and a fish has jumped out of the tank. A conversation on facebook led me to creating this poem for your enjoyment

By the time Mark made it home, 2 more fish had died (they did not commit suicide like the first), and Tank had once again pooped in the house. I think we’ve got things mostly back to normal now. I sure hope the rest of you had an entertaining weekend, that did not include sick kids, poop or dead animals.

*I received a Vick’s Thermometer for free from Klout perks. I was under no obligation to mention them. All thoughts and opinions are 100% honest and my own.

February 4, 2013
A new Addition to our Home: Tank the Pug

Well, we did something I always said we would do, but continually pushed to the side. We bought a dog. Mark is a dog lover – always has been. I’m more of a dog – there, me – here, kind of person. Much like any fear, everytime I gave myself moments to think about bringing a dog into our home, I came up with a list of cons much greater than the pros. And the more I looked at it, the more anxiety I felt.
Of course I felt guilt too, always telling Mark “not this year” “let’s wait” “I’ll think about it”. But for once, my anxiety fully outweighed any guilt I could feel.

Until Saturday that is. We had a very productive morning cleaning, and doing chores. The one day I insist everyone pitch in with the bigger cleaning.

OK admittedly the before picture wasn’t that bad Saturday. That was taken when we first moved in. But this room was our unpacking zone, so it was still quite cluttered. Doesn’t it look so much better?

I digress. We have promised the kids that if they do well on their Saturday chores, then we can have an adventure in the afternoon. We started this two weeks ago, and had great success. That week, our adventure was to McDonald’s PlayLand – so fun!

Last Saturday, our adventure was supposed to be an afternoon of sledding. That quickly changed. While waiting for Prince L to wake from his nap, Mark was browsing Pugs for sale. He just loved Pugs, and showing them to me with his own puppy dog face. This time, the pug wasn’t too far away, and the owners were willing to meet us halfway (near my parents). So our afternoon of sledding turned into an afternoon in the car to potentially check out a dog – although in my mind we were just going to visit my parents. It helped keep the anxiety at bay.

Of course once we saw Tank, the girls fell in love, Mark was in love, and I was outnumbered 5 to 1. Nope not even Prince L was on my side. We loaded Tank into our mini-van and headed to PetSmart to purchase the neccesary dog items – Food, bed, harness, kennel, and of course a dog tag with his name and our address.

Top of my list was the Kennel. I don’t feel comfortable having a dog running about our house when we’re not home, or in the middle of the night. So far, he’s not a fan of the kennel. It may be too small – so we’re looking into a bigger one, or finding some other way to keep him contained but with more room to move about.

Today happens to be the first day I’ve had Tank alone. Mark is back at work after our 3 day weekend. I was nervous to tell you the truth, but so far so good. He’s been a good dog, and most of my anxiety has gone away. He did get pretty rambunctious at one point, and showed his teeth while making some awful noises, that he followed up with whining. I remedied it by taking him out back, and just walking around with him. Seems like he just wanted a little company while he explored the backyard further.

There was also the incident of running off down the road, just as we needed to be loading the car for Kindergarten drop off. Once I got the kids to stop chasing him however, he came bounding back. A biscuit for listening, and into the kennel he went until we came back home.

How do you feel about pets?

January 22, 2013