The Stone Bearers

Ashira, just received the worst prophecy of all time. She, who longs for travel and adventure and maybe even a prince to marry, had all her hopes and dreams dashed when the Seer told her the best path for her would be a "life of no renown".

But how can life be so unfair? Her sisters had already received fantastic prophecies and were living much better lives than those of a potter's daughter should.
Determined to make her own destiny, Ashira volunteers to follow a Stone Bearer and learn more about the magic in the world. By living in the temples and learning about magic, Ashira does get to travel and have adventures. However with a demon on the way, has she wished for more than she can handle, and would she have been better off sticking with her life of no renown?

Stevens does a fantastic job of bringing the characters and the magic of the world to life. I was fully enveloped and by the third chapter was engrossed. The first few chapters are little slow and difficult to get into but are needed to set some of the foundation of the story. Stevens does manage to bring everything together by the end of the book and have everything make sense.

For a limited time, The Stone Bearers is available for purchase at 90% off to celebrate the launch of the new title. You can get your copy at the link below at this price until the end of the day of March 16th, 2016.

http://amzn.to/1TtXBeE



 As always feedback, questions, comments, and suggestions are always welcome. Please remember to follow the blog and register your email address at the top of the page to have new posts delivered right to your email inbox and never miss an update. Disclaimer: please be aware that any item mentioned in this blog may have been received for free or at a discount in exchange for a fair and honest review. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own regardless of how the items were acquired.

Potty training sequence initiated

Minion number 3 is finally approaching one of his first rites of passage. We are exactly one month away from the 2nd annual celebration of his existence and to prepare for the challenge we have already equipped one bathroom with a miniature potty and we have the "big boy" underwear stocked.

There seems to be only one major roadblock. He has developed potty anxiety. While to he wants to emulate mommy, daddy, and his siblings, every time I try to sit him on the potty alone he starts to cry. However, if I sit on the big potty, he will come and sit down on his little potty and everything is ok, until I try to take his diaper off.

At the suggestion of one of his day care teachers, I have gotten a book and started making that his potty book. The book is a simple alphabet book that takes photographs of everyday objects that happen to look like letters.

 

This hardcover book features full color glossy pages of real life photographs. The book is a collection of a ten year old's art project. All the colors are vivid and the pictures give me plenty to talk about with my little guy while we wait for him to get comfortable while using the potty.

You can read more about this amazing ten year old boy and see more of his art work at his website.

http://www.adambsolomon.com/


Another thing that I have used to help make him feel more comfortable on the potty is to provide some simple snacks, usually fish crackers. To help keep them contained, I use SnackCubby's little re-usable snack cylinders.



Generally,  Snack Cubby containers are awesome and are just the right size for packing that salty or sweet snack in a lunch box. The sides are silicone and offer a little more protection than the standard zip-top bag, but if really put through activity you will end up with a container full of crumbs. I have yet to have a container randomly pop open but with the design that is my number 1 worry (as I mentioned, it has not happened yet).

They do come with caps that you can use to make large Popsicles however they would be too big for my kids at this point in time (my oldest are 9 and 6). I do look forward to using them later to make large yogurt popsicles.



The only next hurdle I foresee  may be to teach him to pee standing up. Although with such devices as the "P-thing" I may be able to teach him without the assistance of daddy.

The "P-Thing" is a funnel like device that was created to level the potty playing field between men and women. The funnel makes it possible to women to pee standing up. The only hard part about using it is to maintain aiming while giggling.






The "P-thing" funnel is made out of a soft silicone. This makes it easy to clean and easy to store. I have stashed it in my purse while traveling, in case of "road-side emergencies (no more squatting and accidentally wetting part of my pants) or to save me from public restrooms that are not as well kept as they should be.

 As always feedback, questions, comments, and suggestions are always welcome. Please remember to follow the blog and register your email address at the top of the page to have new posts delivered right to your email inbox and never miss an update. Disclaimer: please be aware that any item mentioned in this blog may have been received for free or at a discount in exchange for a fair and honest review. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own regardless of how the items were acquired.

Cats and Grooming

I love my animals, my pets. They have become an extension of my family; each one having their own unique personality. I would not trade my four-legged companions for anything in the world. However, as part of owning a pet I have come to accept some of pet-ownership's less rewarding aspects. The main one being pet hair. All of my animals shed their coats supposedly twice a year, although many times it feels as though it is a constant battle. And yes, it is a battle, a battle to keep them looking nice, to keep the random hair from forming together and forming an army of dust bunnies, to keep the cats from getting sick with excessive hair balls. To make things worse the cats seem to despise being brushed. I can tell when they jump in my lap and I try to brush them they suffer an internal conflict. On one hand they really want attention from me, but on the other they don't appear to enjoy the sensation of getting brushed. I can usually brush them for a few minutes before they finally get fed up and jump down.

However I have found a grooming glove that makes things a little easier.

PetNov has developed a grooming glove with nubbs that brush the cats' hair gently to where they don't seem to mind as much. The glove also generates a little static charge as you pet the animal to where the hair that comes loose clings to the glove.

Here is my cat Charlie who is normally pretty skittish especially around the minions enjoying the attention. (Please excuse my stuffy voice, I am trying to recover from a head cold.)

As always feedback, questions, comments, and suggestions are always welcome. Please remember to follow the blog and register your email address at the top of the page to have new posts delivered right to your email inbox and never miss an update. Disclaimer: please be aware that any item mentioned in this blog may have been received for free or at a discount in exchange for a fair and honest review. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own regardless of how the items were acquired.