Out of the Box Saturday

Sing, Sing a Song Saturday is now Out of the Box Saturday. It's all about me discovering something that is different. I don't want to post things that you and I have more than likely heard before. I want to find something different. I'll cover something sing | songy one week, and artsy | fartsy the next.

This week I'm covering something artsy. Gloria Pizzilli is the artist.Gloria Pizzilli is both an Illustrator and a Graphic Designer located in France. 

She's been featured in:
 
The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Wired Italia, GQ USA, Wired Italia, La Stampa, L’Espresso, Feltrinelli, Mondadori, Eli, Éditions du Seuil.

It's really neat watching her work!

All the work I'm showing belongs to Gloria Pizzilli. Her website is here. 

Check out Gloria Pizzilli's website
Check out Gloria Pizzilli's blog
Check out Gloria Pizzilli's facebook page 
Check out Gloria Pizzilli's instagram page
Check out Gloria Pizzilli's work on Behance

4 oz Bottle of Pure Lemon Essential Oil Review

This year I can't get enough lemons. I've been squeezing lemons to make lemonade, I also like to smell lemon essential oils. La Lune Naturals gave me a 4 ounce bottle of pure lemon essential oil to review. 

Not all essential oils are the same. This one is not for internal use, but it's still wonderful. I love using it in lotion, homemade cleaners, and in the kid's shampoo. I use peppermint oil in mine right now.

100% Pure Lemon Essential Oil

Lemon oil blends well with many other essentials oils, including lavender, rose, neroli and sandalwood just to name a few. This makes lemon oil one of the most popular essential oils among herbalists or for those who practice aromatherapy.

Immune Support

If you've never used essential oils, they are great for allergy sufferers. I just put drops of the oils in boiling water when I'm in the kitchen, and breathe it in. This process doesn't help long term for me. It most certainly helps short term! I think it works better than any other medicine on the market. All the sudden I can breathe, and smell! 

If my allergies are really bad I use the netti pot, boil essential oils in water, and that opens me up enough to get good sprays of Flonase in my nose. If I don't do those first 2 steps, the Flonase will just drip right on out of my nose. That's how swollen, and stuffed up I get.

La Lune Naturals lemon oil is highly concentrated and should be diluted with a carrier oil, such as Coconut Oil, Almond Oil, or Olive Oil, prior to use on the skin. Also dilute before using in sensitive areas such as the face, neck, etc. 

20 Miracle Uses for Lemon Oil - Free eBook!

1. Clarifying Lemon Seaweed Mask
2. Homemade Coconut Lemon Face Wash
3. Lemon and Indian Clay Acne Mask
4. Lemon Dishwasher Pods With White Vinegar
5. Lemon and Zinc Oxide Acne Cream
6. Lemon and Peppermint Pep Up
7. Lemon Seaweed Scrub
8. Lemon Anti-itch Cream With Zinc Oxide
9. Lemon Foot Facial
10. Lemon Cucumber Facial
11. Lemon and Aloe Anti Aging Mask
12. Lemon Household Cleaner
13. Lemon Air Freshener
14. Lemon Clay Insect Bite Treatment
15. All Natural Lemon Household Cleaner
16. Lemon Scented Laundry Soap Powder
17. Lemon Seaweed Wrap for Cellulite
18. Relaxing Lemon Foot Soak
19. Lemon Sugar Scrub
20. Lemon Furniture Oil

I made the Lemon Furniture Oil:

• 4 ounces jojoba oil

• 12 drops lemon essential oil

• 4 drops lemongrass essential oil

• 8 drops sandalwood essential oil 

If you do not have all these things, you can use these more common things: 

• 1 lemon (squeezed)

• 12 drops lemon essential oil

• 1 Tablespoon grapeseed or olive oil

• 1 Tablespoon water 

Properties that the recipes have:

• An air freshner or diffuser to remove unpleasant odors

• Instant mood lifter when diffused in the air

• Use in skin care and seasonal allergy recipes

• Improve complexion while leaving skin soft and supple

 

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.

Random Tid Bits

1. The boys never got into coloring books. It's kind of surprising considering that Isaak's into crafts, art, and goes through paper a lot! He prefers just paper to draw, or write on. They also use the dry eraser board, and chalk board to draw on.
   
   Coloring books that look like this are pretty interesting to me:
   
   

   

   Source

2. My Brother-in-law is now having problems with his job. They have Emerson that needs a lot of health care. Fingers crossed that things work out! Even if he switches jobs, gets paid more, gets respected more, they'll have to wait a month for health insurance to kick in. What is it with jobs this year?


3. The boys are so excited to be able to go to a Lock-In at the library later in June. Before Isaak and his cousin Elijah were too young. Now that they are big second graders they can go. The librarians literally lock them in the building from 6-10. They have a blast. I told my sister that the only thing that could happen is one of them could run into a shelf playing laser tag. They do play laser tag at the library. They have games, pizza, and other fun things to. 


4. Isaak has a friend he talks about all the time. Family dynamics are so odd now - in general. This boy's parents are separated. The Dad has him most of the time. He never calls me back. His grandparents do call me back. The grandma seems to love talking to me actually. When she calls we're on the phone for at least 10 minutes. Setting up times for the boys to play is hard though.


5. One of my students came up to me and asked if I wanted to work on something for a nonprofit organization called Adopt Art Omaha? I thought it would be fun, then I thought it would be too much work (I got it when Travis was out of town), and lastly I thought it would be fun again. If you are an Omaha reader please think about coming to the event. The Dog Show will be at RNG Gallery in Council Bluffs on June 13 & 14! RNG is located at 157 West Broadway Council Bluffs, Iowa 51503. It's little dog cut outs given to different artists in the city. The artist can do it whatever way they want to. It still has to look like a dog in the end. I did mine with a lot of nature things.
   
   
   

Orthodontist

Isaak has an appointment later this month to see an Orthodontist. 

I always thought Mica would be the concerning child. He's the the one that was born with a cyst under his tongue on one side. His tongue was so crazy when he was a baby. It's evened out a bit as he's aged, but is still asymmetrical.

Travis has known for awhile that Isaak's the one with teeth issues. Travis works as a dental tech, so he understands the mouth structure much better than I. Travis usually is the one that takes the boys to the dentist, and I take them to the doctor. 

The good news is that both of our boys take pretty good care of their teeth. No they aren't perfect, but the dentist always comments about how good their teeth look in comparison to other kids that come in. Isaak's mouth is crowded. He lost a tooth that he's not supposed to loose until he's 12. I can't get his Orthodontist appointment out of my mind. For a few nights I couldn't go to sleep because I kept thinking about my baby coming back with no teeth at all. I know that won't happen, but it's on my mind.

Do you ever think crazy thoughts about things?

Isaak's very first trip to the dentist when he was 2.

Skatedaze

It's been advertised that Skatedaze has free skating for kids. I decided that we were going to try it. The boys have only been skating 1 other time in their lives.

It wasn't exactly free like they advertised. Maybe free to skate, but we had to pay $4 for skate rental = $8, $2 for each parent to go in the door = $4, it would have been $4 for a skate aid, but we found one that someone left behind. We ended up spending $12. To me that's hardly free. It would have been even more money if we let our kids play in the play area, and eat a bunch of food.

Isaak kept falling over, and over again. I kept saying, "Ar you sure you don't want a skate aid?" I have no clue what those things are called that are like walkers with wheels. He kept saying, "No."

Then he was complaining that Mica was racing him, and he didn't want Mica to keep winning. Dad said, "Don't let it bother you." I said, "There's a skate aid that someone left behind. Go use it. You'll beat Mica in a heartbeat." So he used it.

Not only was Isaak faster at skating. He developed a new friendship on the skate rink. When Isaak fell the kid helped him up. They talked. When they rolled around close to me his friend said, "I think Isaak's getting it now!"

Mica doesn't bend his knees what so ever when he skates. Then when he rolls around to us he preforms all crazy like, and almost falls in the process. I cracked up watching him.

They did have fun. They were wore out at the end. It was probably worth that $12. I just hate when places say something is free, but it's not. That's like saying that Lowes Clinic is if free, but you get there and have to pay for the project. Lowes doesn't do that, unless you want to buy additional kits. Skatedaze shouldn't do that either. Obviously food shouldn't be free, and parents that want to skate shouldn't be free. But anything that involves the skating part shouldn't have a fee connected to it at all.

WW: Friend Party {Linky}

This year I was bound and determined to have a fun, inexpensive, and less stressful friend party for Isaak. Last year I spent time, money, and creative juices on a party, and 1 kid showed up. I didn't want that to happen again. The problem is, inviting only a handful of kids limits how many will show up. Not having it at a fun expensive venue also limits how many will show up.

I only sent invitations out to 5 of his closest friends.

I let Isaak pick a movie or a place to eat. He said, "I want to go to that place that throws food in your mouth, and makes fires on the table." I said, "Think less expensive then that Isaak."  I gave him options, and he went with Pizza Hut.

Instead of going all out I went simple. We go all out for the family party anyhow. By making cakes that look fancy like this:

4 of his closest friends showed up. The one that didn't show, Isaak just started talking about at the end of the year. I know all their parents, or grandparents.

I was going to put Gifts Unnecessary, or to Bring Canned Goods for Donation on the invitations, but I forgot. I learned that even though parents cringe at gift buying, unwrapping gifts is a highlight to any kid's party. Even the kids that give them love gift time.

Note that there are 2 hands in the gift bag.

I felt guilty taking up tables, but we really didn't. There was a limited amount of kids. The place wasn't busy. It is a family establishment, so we weren't too loud.

The kids loved the pizza. We only ordered cheese and pepperoni because that's what kids seem to like. We ordered a combo for us adults.

I bought a few dessert options.
We ate, unwrapped presents, colored, balanced crayons on our noses, taught Isaak's friends how to play Skip-Bo (everyone had a partner that knew how to play), I showed them how to make hand puppets, and Isaak handed out his giveaway bags. The giveaway bags included: A 5x7 sketchbook I found on clearance for $.99, an ink pen, an I'm Cool pin they could attach to their shirts, and a small box of Glee Gum. I told Isaak to draw a Thank You For Coming to My Party picture on the first page in each sketchbook. Each kid admired his drawing. They all started drawing in their sketchbooks when they got them.

Everyone was happy the whole time. There were a lot of giggles. Isaak did get sad over losing Skip-Bo, but happy that one of his friends was there to pick his spirits up. It was fun!

We offered to take all the kids home. We did hear one kid say, "I never ride in one of these." It was a booster car seat. I said, "It will help you see out of the window better." ;)

What's a birthday party that you've had, that didn't cost a fortune?

Enter my new low entry Easy Peasy Patches Giveaway!

Aztec Gold Chia Seeds Packet Review

Chia seeds are taking the natural food industry by storm. Their popularity has expanded their use beyond pure seed form to use in a variety of food products including health bars, chips, drinks, seed mixes and pet products.

 

The Popularity of Chia is Due to Their Exceptional Nutritional Profile:

• Higher than flax seeds in OMEGA-3 & 6 essential fatty acids 

• Provides 18 amino acids including Lysine and Arginine 

• Helps with skin and scalp care because it is a source of Proline, the major constituent of COLLAGEN

• Great source of Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, and Phosphorus, plus the trace elements Zinc, Copper, Manganese, Iron, Boron and Strontium.

This is After We Used Some

Aztec Gold is a premium source of Chia - They supply straight from the farm manufacturer and offer these benefits versus other brands:

• Proprietary cleaning process

• They reject 70% of all seeds delivered to factory

• 99.99% pure

• Only the cleanest handling and shipping container procedures 

• Fully Certified - each lot is lab certified so you get repeatable, high quality Chia seeds 

• Certified Kosher 

• Gluten-free

• 100% Vegan

• NON-GMO  

• One of the only Chia manufacturers with BRC Global Standard for Food Safety Certification

• Each individual shipment is tested by an accredited US laboratory before it is released from their facility.

Product of the Original and Premier Chia Growing Region - Jalisco, Mexico:

• High altitude, rich climate and red soil - the best combination for high quality Chia 

• Direct from farm source - packaged where it is grown 

• North American local - not sent via sea so no salt water contamination

• Optimum grain size - minimal seed discoloration 

Serving: 

• 1 oz. packet of Chia Seeds. 

• 2 servings per packet. 

• Highest quaity, most authentic and a 100% natural original ancient superfood. Dietary supplement.

Breakfast Ideas:

Add a tablespoon or 2 to any recipe for: Muffins, Breakfast Cookies, Breakfast Bars, Scones, Protein Bites, or Smoothies. 

We had a Chia Seed breakfast. It doesn't look like it, but Chia Seeds were in our spinach, banana, mango smoothie, in our June Berry Muffins, and in our Protein Bites. 

I love the added fiber in my diet. 

Have you had Chia Seeds?

 

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.