The Gardens (day trip)

  Do you have a membership anywhere?  Have you contemplated getting one but decided against it after doing the math.  Thinking it wasn't worth it.  You wouldn't go enough times for it to pay itself off.  Didn't like the place enough to come back.  Or just thought maybe later.

  I currently have only one membership.  In the past it has been several but at the moment just one.  My current still active membership is for the local botanical gardens.

  This year for the first time I took advantage of bike night.  Of course the gardens opened their hours and days up to more opportunities so that helped.

  The gardens allows you to ride through most of the grounds as long as you stay on the path which is great for little ones.  My kids thoroughly enjoyed riding through and sometimes we took advantage of the splash park.

  Riding around the park may change up your miles and time but for the most part.  You can at least get a few miles of trails accomplished.  There are plenty of benches to take a break and a few water fountains if you need one.

  These are just a few of the activities you can do at the gardens in addition to seeing all the beautiful flowers in bloom.  When you have a membership you get the privilege of seeing multiple flowers in bloom at any given time.  Throughout the year different flowers, bushes or trees go in bloom randomly.  Even in the colder winter months you are presented with something to look at.  The Rose garden blooms twice a year once in the spring and once in fall.

  They have a beautiful butterfly exhibit open a few months in the summer.  In here you can take advantage of seeing the complete life cycle.  You can ask the staff about what flowers to plant in your own garden to invite and feed the caterpillars and butterflies.

  Over all membership does have its benefits.  I also receive discounts in the store as well as on various classes and tours they offer. Norfolk Botanical Gardens never gets old as the scenery is always changing.  Grab you family and get outside.  Get moving, get fresh air and discover something new at the gardens.

Why Not Me? (Book review)

  Ever you heard of Mindy Kaling?  Have you heard of a show called The Office?  It played on NBC for 8 years based on a town in Pennsylvania.  Now you know what I'm talking about, right?  Mindy was an actress/writer for that show!

  This is not Mindy's first book so that makes her a seasoned author even though she writes for her show.   This book is easy to feel in her company.  She talks to you like your her friend, a good old loyal gal pal hanging out together.  This book is a comfortable read.

  Mindy walks you through various aspects of her life.  Her life before she became rich and famous or lack there of and her current condition as a celebrity.  She doesn't paint everything to have been an easy journey.  She doesn't even make you envious at some points.  I think that's what makes it a good read.  It's a book you can read and get almost the staight facts.

  This book would be a great gift to an aspiring actress or even a struggling one because where there's good times there are also bad.  Sometimes to see someone else struggle helps motivate or encourage us more.  The flip side is you could just sit around havin a pity party for yourself and not accomplish anything.

  Mindy only gives you a small glimpse of how she got to wear she is today and she tells your in detail that she worked for it.  She was nervous and scared she knows she doesn't fit the typical actress requisite but she plows through anyways.

  This was an entertaining book and I was both entertained and relieved when I read it.  She had a lot of funny scenarios in the book and I was relieved that it's possible to work hard and get somewhere.

  It's all in what you make it so make it what you want.

Find out more about the book here.

I was provided this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Meal Plan 10/10-10/14

             (Last weeks porkchops dinner)

  Last week went well!  A couple days had meals skipped by various people in my house so leftovers went further then just Friday!   This week just like any other week I try to challenge myself with new recipes or a new meal.  New meal being I have made this meal before but not this way.  You can make spaghetti a variety of ways and it's still spaghetti!

  I started this week off with a meal I love.  I don't know if it's all the sugar and soda combination and the ease of a crock pot meal but, I really like this meal! This is definitely saved as well as a few more recipes by them!


10/10 Crockpot with Chicken
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/08/slow-cooker-bajio-chicken.html

10/11 Soup (meatless)
http://thehappyhousewife.com/cooking/cheddar-potato-soup/

10/12 Pasta (meatless)
http://www.recipetineats.com/baked-spinach-ricotta-rotolo/

10/13 Vegetarian Meal
 http://www.marthastewart.com/900261/quick-veggie-fajitas

10/14 Leftovers


That's my plan for the week!  Do you think anyone will notice I have managed to skip meat most of the week?

Happy Eating!!

Party Night with Q And Kids

  I was chosen to host my first party by Tryazon and Qtainment.  As a mom what better opportunity than to find some friends and play some games!

 

The game stars a monkey trying to reach his tree house.  Kids are tasked with a choice of 3 opportunities to help in this process.  They either answer or solve a dilemma that Q is having, answering a question pertaining to themselves or do an action.

I think my favorite card is the do.  What better way to keep kids entertained and distracted then to having another child do something funny.  This takes the boredom factor right away.  Also the kids have to wait their turn to see which card they get.

The focus of the game is to help boost and promote social skills, behavior and physical coordination.  It's geared for ages 3 and up and although that's a young age; parents can help or coax their child with answers or prompts enforcing the right answer or solution.

My daughter confiscated (her younger brother didn't have a chance) the stuffed Q for herself.   The additional workbooks are a nice way to continue the learning and fun.

I love the app that is available as well because we can play it when we are on the go.  I am not sure if the game has my kids interest because of the monkey, or its just plain fun.  It's not like any other game you have played before.  Each card makes the game more fun.  It's not about who gets to the top first as much as it is about the overall interaction between kids to get there.

Fun in the Sand

  I don't feel the need to attend every local festival but there are some that I am determined to get to.  I do enjoy the vendors with their various homemade items, the delicious food only offered at the fairs, carnivals and festivals and even the brands and companies giving away their promo cups, bags and Frisbees.  However one event I make every effort to attend every year is the Virginia Beach Neptune Festival.  Not only does this festival have the food vendors offering me fried dough, turkey legs, kettle corn and drinks in those cute bronze cups but also paintings, pictures, lawn decorations made of recycled items and jewelry made of everything.  This year I only bought a bag of slush mix to add to a bottle of wine.

  I will worry about the DIY mix later because I am sure there is one out there but, when I tasted this peach blend it was delicious.  The only sad thing about the mix is the lady lives in Alabama so I will need to make my own or find a closer supplier.

  The freebies that I picked up include more bags that I will get an additional $.05 off at Krogers for bringing in, coupons to include 2 free pizza's, a couple of fans and a wooden spoon!

  All this was just fluff on the cake as the real star of the show was the sand sculptures!

  Each year artists come from all over the world for this competition and it's never a disappointment.

  Some sculptures are just as spectacular on the backside as they are on the front!

We ate a couple sample slices of pizza from @urbanpie! Delicious doesn't describe these enough.  The coupons we picked up will be used soon.  We even scored free salted caramel ice cream cups from @turkeyhill for dessert!

If you haven't been to this festival you really should.  It's known as taking back the beach after the tourist season is over.  It's very family friendly and with a modest $5 entry fee to see the sand sculptures it's money well spent!

Goodbye 2016 Neptune Festival see you next year! 

Duck Family Craft

  In sticking with the theme of letter D and the love of moving hands, role play and puppets I gathered some supplies to make something with the kids that would keep them amused beyond just making the craft.

  For this craft grab as many pom poms as you want puppets.  You need two per puppet though.  I used two different sizes as well.  Popsicle sticks, orange construction paper, goggley eyes, and some glue.

  Glue the smaller pom pom onto the larger one.  Allow for dry time.  Glue the eyes onto top pompom.  Cut orange paper into a small square and fold it point to point to make a triangle and glue it on.  I now introduce you to a duck!

  After allowing for more time for the glue to dry add glue to the popsicle stick and stick the duck  to the stick.

  When the glue dries you have a duck puppet!  Perfect for a imagination play

or with a few more ducks you have yourself a perfect prop for a book!

My kids had fun making these.  Easy pieces for little hands to work with.  I used regular white glue and had to be patient with sticking the pieces together but when it did dry everything stayed.

Meal Plan 10/3-10/7

  Another week means another plan.  Last week went really well with an exception that I had leftovers for two days versus one.  So on Thursday and Friday we had leftovers.  Nothing wrong with that.  Tonight we used the chicken that I had pulled out for the Chicken Lazone meal on Friday to cook that meal.

  It was good nonetheless and because I didn't have to think about what to make or thaw the meat out the dinner was easy to pull together in less then an hour and everyone was satisfied with the meal.

  I did manage to pick up groceries last week to the tune of just under $200 and will make the rest of the meals for the month of October.  We will need to go back to the store for milk as I don't have room to keep gallons of it in my fridge for weeks at a time.  Other than that though we will survive and I will use up all the produce I bought instead of throw it away due to letting it get rotten. (that's more for of a goal for me)

10/3 Kielbasa
http://damndelicious.net/2014/07/12/parmesan-zucchini-corn/

10/4 BBQ Porkchops in the crockpot w/ mac & cheese
http://www.bakedbyrachel.com/brown-sugar-barbecue-sauce/

10/5  Breakfast for dinner!

10/6 Chicken
http://chelseadamon.com/easy-delicious-weeknight-baked-chicken-dinner/

10/7 Leftovers


  Wish me luck.  Using up some fresh zucchini this week, making my own bbq sauce for the porkchops and will make something special for that breakfast for dinner.  Monday and Thursday recipes are new to me so we will see how they taste!