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  • Book Review: The Worldwide Dessert Contest: Enhanced Multimedia Edition

    The Worldwide Dessert Contest: Enhanced Multimedia Edition by Dan Elish

    About the Author: (From his website) 
    – Dan Elish is the author of the novel Nine Wives (St. Martins Press, 2005) and The Misadventures of Justin Hearnfeld (2008), both published by St. Martins Press. Dan is also the author of Born Too Short, Confessions of an 8th Grade Basket Case, which was picked as a Book for the Teenage 2003 by the New York Public Library and won a 2004 International Reading Association Students’ Choice Award. He has also written several other novels for young adults including, The Attack of the Frozen Woodchucks, 13, The Worldwide Dessert Contest, Jason and the Baseball Bear, and The Great Squirrel Uprising. “13,” the musical for which he co-wrote the book with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown ran on Broadway from September 16, 2008 through January 4, 2009. In his career, Dan has also written non-fiction books for young adults, scripts for kids’ TV shows (in particular Cyberchase (PBS)), music and lyrics for six musicals, funny corporate videos, and played piano for various Off-Broadway productions. He has received fellowships and scholarships to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and is a member of the Dramatist Guild. Dan lives in New York City with his wife, daughter and son.

    About the Book:
    – “Publishers Weekly” raves: A little bit of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with a dash of Homer Price’s donut maker, this novel pays homage to the longstanding rapport between children and sweets. John Apple longs to win the Worldwide Dessert Contest, but all his delicious desserts have a penchant for changing into something else at the last minute. The way he overcomes this difficulty and takes first place involves a search for the greatest chef in the world, the defeat of the thieving title-holder of the contest and a run-in with a judge who has, thanks to John, a caramel apple bonded to his cheek from their last encounter. Elish writes with a sure hand of this sugary world, his tongue squarely in the area of his sweet tooth. For his ability to praise desserts in an endlessly original fashion, he deserves a blue ribbon

    My Thoughts:
    – I loved this book. I rarely read books on the computer, but this one you must read on the computer, or reading device, like the Kindle (of which I don’t own).  The music is upbeat, fun and takes me back to my high school musical days. As Applefeller tries hard to create the best dessert worldwide, he constantly makes something else. Finally with the help of Ragoon, who speaks in iambic rhymes, he is able to create a non-changing dessert. The end will surprise you though!  Not only does this book bring the story to life with music and lyrics, but it teaches a lesson as well.

    You can purchase the book for Kindle on Amazon for $9.99

  • Book Review: Rebirth by Dave Longeuay

    Rebirth by Dave Longeuay

    Synopsis (from goodreads):  Fleeing his father’s anti-Semitic organization, Charles Devonshire, journeys into the most volatile land-grab in history—Palestine. Charles pursues a beautiful but mysterious librarian, Gladia, who introduces him to the elaborate Jewish underground. While joining their plight to reestablish a homeland, he falls in love with her and faces painful challenges within their culture gap. In the midst of battling the hostile inhabitants who also laid claim to Palestine, he searches for clues of his own troubled past. Can Charles pursue love, uncover his family secrets and avoid being trapped in the middle of the world’s longest feud?

    My thoughts: This is by far one of the best historical fiction books I’ve read in a long time. History is my passion. Learning about the past so we can change our future is something we should all do. Rebirth touches on the very emotions of human nature. I wanted to cry with Charles as he learned who he was and his heritage.   I wanted to give hugs to so many of the characters in this book, to let them cry on my shoulder and cry with them. Everyone knows about the Holocaust, but I think very few know what happened to the Jew’s afterwards, and the struggles they continued to face as they found a home of their own.
    Dave’s ability to incorporate a fictional love story around such a tumultuos time period, and pull on the readers heartstrings, is a gift. I am now anxiously awaiting the sequel Reborn. 

    You can learn more about the book and author by visiting this link www.rebirthofisrael.com

    *I was provided with a copy of Rebirth for my honest review. If you would like me to review a book, you can contact me at familyroom2@gmail.com

  • Cook’N recipe Organizer Review and Giveaway

    Cook’N recipe Organizer Review and Giveaway

    If you’ve been following the blog here lately, you may have noticed an influx of recipes and food related posts. It may have something to do with this pregnancy (I’m always hungry lately) or it could be from all the baking I did throughout the holidays. Whatever it may be, I’ve started collecting more and more recipes from all over the place. My cookbook cupboard is not getting any smaller, and my food board on pinterest just keeps growing.
    I’ve found a great new software to organize my recipes into one spot. Cook’n Recipe Organizer has so many cool features! You can capture recipes right off the web, or type up your own recipes. You can view the nutritional value of each recipe, create menu plans, and print off a grocery list. You can also make your own recipe book and print it out too!


    Already I’ve created a recipe “book” for recipes we’ve tried and love, and one for recipes I want to try in the near future!
    So far the only problem I’ve come across is the grocery list. It allows you to type in any extra items you may need. I needed diapers and knew I’d probably forget if they weren’t on my list. When i went to print the list though, diapers wasn’t on it. I’m sure there’s something I need to do different to make it work right.

    Overall I really enjoy this software and plan on getting my cookbook cupboard cleaned out some. I’m even starting to think of making recipe books for family this next Christmas!

    GIVEAWAY
    Cook’n Recipe Organizer is an $80 value and I’m giving it away to one lucky reader! All you have to do is like Cook’n Recipe Organizer on Facebook. Then come back here and leave a comment with your favorite recipe and a way to contact you.
    Giveaway is open internationally! Will end on Jan 24th. Winner will be emailed and given 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen.  Good luck, and happy organizing!
    Cook'n Recipe Software
    *I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Mom Blog Society. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. (http://momblogsociety.com

  • Book Review: Storee Wryter Gets a Dog

    Title: Storee Wryter Gets a Dog
    Author: Barbara Carducci

    About the book (from Amazon):  Storee’s ideas for her writing often come from her many adventures. And when her friend, Kyria, talks her into getting a new puppy, Storee gets some great ideas for her next book while she and her cat, Critique, have fun watching her puppy learn to become a trained therapy dog. Join Storee as she learns to train her puppy to be helpful and soothing. Watch as Storee visits a classroom of special needs children, using her dog to reach out. And have fun with Storee as she gains new experiences certain to help her create her next bestseller! But most important of all, find inspiration for your next masterpiece as you read Storee Wryter Gets a Dog.

    My Opinion: I enjoyed reading this book to my girls. It would be a great book for young readers to learn about training dogs, as well as starting the imagination for their own stories. After we finished reading it, I asked Princess C (3 years old) to tell me a story. She made up a cute story about a mom named “Andelina” who was a princess and then a queen.  With more stories like this one, we can help our kids look inside themselves to find their creativity. At the end of the book there has been space left with 2 writing prompts to get children creating their own story. I love when books go a little beyond being just a good story, to help kids succeed and progress!

    You can purchase a copy of Storee Wryter Gets a Dog from The Young Voices Foundation, a mentoring program for young writers, K-12, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and on www.storeewryter.com.

    *I received a copy of this book for my review. All opinions are my own. The opportunity came to me through Business 2 Blogger; where businesses and blogs get together!

  • Book Review: The 58th Keeper

    Title: The 58th Keeper
    Author: R.G Bullet
    Middle Grade Readers

    Synopsis from Goodreads “The 58th Keeper is the story of a boy called Archy Bass, who stumbles upon a mysterious and powerful relic. The moment he touches it, two warring forces race to find his whereabouts. One side thinks he’s simply too young and too inexperienced to keep it, and the other just want him dead. Hold on to your seats! The 58th Keeper is a roaring trip that takes the reader on the most wonderful and hair-raising scenes imaginable. R. G. Bullet pulls out all stops in his debut novel to deliver an incredible journey with unforgettable characters. This book will resonate with you for ages past the last line.”

    Following Archy through his adventure of becoming the 58th Keeper of the rug and his TimeQuest to prove himself to the sentinels was a nice vacation for me from my day to day obligations. The characters were easily believable, with their down to earth actions and thoughts.  My favorite type of book is one that I don’t want to put down, that keep pulling me back for more. The 58th Keeper did just that!  I hope Mr Bullet has plans for a series, because I feel Archy’s story has just begun.

    You can order this debut novel by R.G. Bullet from Amazon in both paperback and hardcover. Or purchase it for your kindle at only .99 

    * I was provided with a copy of this book at no cost for review purposes. I give honest reviews, and all thoughts and opinions written here are my own. 

  • POM POMS Fresh Arils review

    If you were to ask me my favorite fruit it would be pomegranates. I love when winter comes around because it means fresh pomegranates at the grocery store. I have to have at least one pomegranate each year. The biggest problem with pomegranates though are peeling them. It’s not like your normal fruit. The part of a pomegranate you want to eat are the seeds, or Arils. Once you open up the pomegranate you have to dig the Arils out from the skin that has formed around them. The work is worth it for the most delicious fruit out there, but it’s also very messy.

    POM Wonderful has developed many products using pomegranates, like their POM beverages, supplements, bars and juice concentrate. Their newest product is the POM POMS Fresh Arils. POM Wonderful has done all the hard messy work for us, and packaged the Arils, fresh and ready to eat. I was in a personal heaven when I opened my POM POMS, and spooned some out. Frankly I was amazed at how fresh these tasted. Most precut fruit I find was picked too early, or doesn’t have a fresh taste. Not so with the POM POMS Fresh Arils. I really felt that I had just opened a pomegranate on my own. Eating the Arils all by themselves has always been how I ate them. I had never considered adding them to anything else, until the hard work was taken out of it. After eating about 1/4 of my packaged Arils I had the brilliant idea to add them to ice cream. I kept it simple, vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, topped with fresh Arils. They completely took the place of a cherry on top!
    You can visit Pom Wonderful’s recipe page for all kinds of new ways to eat your Arils.
    Two of the three kids really enjoyed the Arils as well! I had to separate myself and feed the animals over the fence. I could’ve stayed in the cage with them, but I’m a tad selfish when it comes to Pomegranate’s as well.  I had to keep some for a midnight snack!

    Don’t miss your chance to get some POM POMS Fresh Arils. They’re available now through February. Accordin to the POM Wonderful website you can freeze them for a couple of months. I may need to go grab a couple more packages to freeze and have throughout the year. 

    Visit this link to receive a $1 off coupon POM POMS
    *I received a free POM POMS Fresh Arils for my review. All opinions are my own.  
  • Plush Puffs Gourmet Marshmallows Review

    Plush Puffs Gourmet Marshmallows Review

    This year instead of trying to have our own Christmas, and spend time with extended family all in one day, we decided to change our plans up a bit. We invited my parents and siblings to our home for Christmas Eve. We had planned games, and socializing, but the boys ended up working on our kitchen remodel most of the morning and afternoon.
    One thing that was on the list to do, and we made sure to do, was have a Hot Chocolate Bar. We set a pan of water on the stove to warm.  As people wanted they could grab a cup, and make some warm cocoa!  The part that really made our Hot Chocolate Bar perfect were the Plush Puffs Gourmet Marshmallows.
    I had never heard of gourmet marshmallows until Plush Puffs.  Plush Puffs makes many different varieties, and we were lucky enough to try some of my favorite flavors!
    Peppi-mint, Simply Smores, Toasty Coconut, and one of the limited edition flavors Gingerbread Spice.
    Peppi-mint was by far my favorite for our hot chocolate. One marshmallow added just a touch of peppermint flavor to my cocoa. I’d imagine these would be pretty good in rice crispies as well!
    Simple Smores was wonderful just on it’s own! With a mixture of chocolate and graham crackers inside the marshmallow, it was like eating a smore without needing a fire. In the very near future though I plan on tossing one of these on a graham cracker. I can only imagine the taste enhancing every bite of those delicious camping treats we all love.
    Toasty Coconut was not one I particular liked. I’ve never been a big fan of coconuts though. My mom on the other hand, enjoys coconut. So at the end of our Christmas Eve festivities, I sent the leftover Toasty Coconuts with her. Definitely a treat for her!
    Gingerbread Spice also tasted very good in the hot cocoa.  The scent it gave off though, really made it more like the holidays. Instead of smelling sawdust from our remodeling, it smelled like I had been baking all day like most people were. I could’ve held my cup of hot cocoa with the Gingerbread Spice the rest of the evening just sniffing it.
    One other thing I noticed about the majority of Plush Puffs is that they are Gluten Free. They’re labeled well for anyone that needs this information quickly.  With some of my cousins recently being diagnosed with Celiac’s I was thrilled to see these labels easily visable.  These marshmallows will be accompanying me to any more parties we may go to this year. I know for sure I’ll be adding them to my New Years Eve cup of cocoa!  You can purchase Plush Puffs Gourmet Marshmallows on their website PlushPuffs.com  or see their list by state of where you can buy these locally. 
    *I was provided with a sampling of Plush Puffs for my honest review. All opinions here are my own, and were not influenced by any compensation.
  • doTERRA essential oils

    doTERRA essential oils

    I was sent some doTERRA essential oils. 
    I’ve never really used essential oils before, and I was excited to try these out. I hear my friends talking about them, and all the different ways they use them, and kept thinking to myself I should try these out.  So when Angela contacted me to see if she could send me some samples, I was thrilled!  I left what she sent me up to her, because I didn’t know what I would end up using or not.
    I received lemon, peppermint, and lavender singles. Also balance and slim and sassy blends.

    Lemon. I really love lemon water, but I don’t really like cutting them up, or squeezing the juice into my water.  I quickly learned that just one drop of lemon essential oils in a cup of water is plenty.  Did you know that a cup of warm water with lemon juice helps keep swelling in your feet during pregnancy away?  I did, and I know it works too. Whenever my feet have started to swell I drink a cup of lemon water.

    Lavender is one of my favorite smells. I’ve been adding a drop to my humidifier, and just love the scent it sends through the house.  It really helped the other day when our fireplace decided to smoke us out of the home. Lavendar is also a natural calmer. Princess R has been having some night terrors recently, so I’m going to stick the humidifier in her room tonight with the lavendar. We’ll see if that helps any.

    Peppermint works as a digestive aid. I have not yet tried this one, but Princess R has also been having some constipation again. I think I’ll dry rubbing some on her tummy, to see if it will help get things moving again.

    Balance.  I am in love with this one!!!  This is a blend of spruce, rosewood, frankincense and blue tansy. It is to promote tranquility and a sense of balance. Plus the smell is just wonderful.  I put a little of this in the humidifier this morning to help me be at peace while I took on the closet of handed down girls clothes. It also helped me attempt calmness when I discovered the liquid dish soap dumped all over the basement floor (tips to come on how to clean THAT up!).

    Slim and Sassy.  This one I have purposely not used yet. I’m saving it for after baby comes!  Slim and Sassy is a metabolic blend to help curb appetite between meals.

    *product was provided to me at no cost. All opinions are my own.

  • Scary School by Derek the Ghost

    Title: Scary School
    Author: Derek the Ghost
    Grade level: 3 and up

    Scary School is a fun book about a school for monsters and humans. There’s no other school like it. Either you go to a monster school or human school. Scary School mixes the two races causing quite the disruption for some monsters like Mr Wolfbark.  I was laughing right from the start of this book. Despite it sounding like a scary book, there’s much more laughter in this book than screams. Mrs T the Tyranosaurus Rex detention teacher wears a little blue dress just made me smile. Then there’s the students, Charles Nukid a human who follows every rule, Petunia who spawns some creepy little petunias without even knowing it, and of course the author Derek the Ghost.

    Derek was a student at Scary School, but when a fire breaks out he dies. You can never really die at Scary School though, so Derek lives on as a Ghost. And thank goodness he did, or we wouldn’t have these stories about the goings on at Scary School! 

    Overall I truly enjoyed this book. It’s really written for a young elementary school audience, and I’m guessing little boys will enjoy this much more than little girls.  I read a few chapters to the Princesses, and they seemed to enjoy it, but the pictures were much more interesting to them than the story. 

    *I was provided with a copy of Scary School from the author Derek the Ghost for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

  • Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers with Pasta: Review and Giveaway

    We had the opportunity to review Green Giants Valley Fresh Steamers with Pasta.  I chose the Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli. The Princesses love macaroni and cheese, so I knew they’d enjoy this. Whether they would eat the broccoli or not, I wasn’t sure.
    Princess V said she liked the pasts but didn’t like broccoli. I think it was more a general statement from her, because I’m not sure she even tried the broccoli. She did tell me she likes carrots though, so next time maybe I’ll mix some carrots in hers.
    Princess C loved every last bite of it, and even asked if she could eat the rest of Princess V’s. 
    Princess R, will eat just about anything, but she too, didn’t eat her broccoli. She did at least try it. I think maybe the broccoli was still a little too hot for her though. 
    My personal opinion, it was very good. the packages don’t contain very much though, and it would definitely be better as a side instead of a meal (I served it for lunch), or as a meal for one. I would love to see these come in larger family packs.  The ease of putting the bag in the microwave and then serving, really made lunch smooth for us. Princess C has morning preschool and Princess V has afternoon preschool, and lunch can be quite a hassle sometimes. Having the Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers with Pasta to serve really helped to save time in our rushed schedules.
    I received a serving bowl, fun surprise face spoon, two Green Giant Placemats, a broccoli stress reliever and a coupon for a free Steamers! Now one of you will have the chance to receive the same package!!
    To enter just fill out the Rafflecopter form below
    *note: look at the prize name on the giveaway. If it is the Cranberry Naturals prize, to enter the Green Giant Giveaway, click on the title of this post!*
    **“Disclosure: Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers with Pasta, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.” All opinions are my own**
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