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.

The Feelings Edition

As a way to follow up on the Valentine's Day Edition, we are going to talk about feelings today.

We are always told "Don't shoot the messenger" and most of the time we abide by that. Except when it comes to our emotions. According to the creator of feelings magnets, our emotions are the messengers that deliver important messages, and when we ignore them they persist until we can no longer ignore them.

I used to be guilty of bottling my emotions. One particular instance of this and the negative consequences that occur as a result was when my younger brother died while deployed. I was sad and grieving, but as a mother I had to put all those emotions to the side in order to perform my day-to-day functions. After ignoring those feelings of sadness and grief they started to leak out and manifest in many negative ways. I progressively became more and more moody, prone to irritation and anger. Eventually, I sought out help with handling the grief and by exercising those emotions and allowing myself to listen to them I was able to bring myself back into balance.

The feelings magnets are a tool to help one focus during a quiet meditation session. I like to sit down with my kit once or twice a week and really think about how I feel. As an adult, I find my emotions are usually complex consisting of several emotions simultaneously. The feelings magnets kit allows me to address each feeling individually and work through them.









There is also a version of the kit for children. This version of the kit while it has few emotion tiles (I guess children are supposed to have simpler feelings) they are more colorful and fun. The case for both kits are metal so the magnets can be used on them or on another magnet compatible surface.

The website for the feelings magnets also allows users to sign up for feel exercises to be done with the kits. These short exorcises teach different ways to use the kits and range from identifying the emotions you are feeling as well as listening to why you are feeling a particular emotion to finally coming up with a strategy or action plan to work through a difficult emotion.

My oldest minion is nine years old and so far as a family we have not made that big of a deal before of talking about our feelings, and this maybe by far one of the biggest oversights we have made as parents so far. I hate to say it, but I do see him struggle with managing his feelings, especially those of angers and disappointment. Not only did we find that he had a hard time describing them, but they also usually controlled him, causing a full on meltdown. For this kind of behavior to be manifesting now, so early before the tumultuous teenage years is a bit terrifying.





We started using the Feelings Magnets kit with him. I was a little surprised that even with the children's kit there were some emotions that he was not able to identify with. I worked through a few exercises that were emailed to me and we are working on expanding his emotional vocabulary. Our next step will be to start putting together a plan for him to work through his more extreme emotions so that he is not getting stuck in a vicious cycle.







You can check out the Feelings Magnets Kits available as well as sign up for the email emotion exercises at the website below.

http://www.feelingmagnets.com/


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.

Knife Snob

In either my late teens or early twenties, while visiting my dad I cooked for him. I love to cook; for me it is a creative outlet, and I had wanted to share it with him. When I moved away and went to college, I had gotten an el cheapo set of knives. I thought knives were knives and that they all cut equally. Oh, how wrong I was. Using my dad's fancy Wusthofs made with German steel and honed to perfection, I was brought into the light and I instantly became a knife snob.

I used to hate food prep. Cutting up potatoes with cheap knives is torture, much less trying to hack through raw chicken with tough tendons. Later than same year, my dad bought me a set of Henckels which is a sister brand to his Wustofs. They too, are made with premium German Steel and can hold an edge like no other. Food prep became a breeze as the knives glided through potatoes and even half frozen chicken as if they were butter. The knives are heavier than cheap knives and the weight is a part of their advantage. The weight of the knife is often enough to do most of the work of the cut and all I have to do is just guide the blade. Contrary to first instinct, a dull knife is much more dangerous than a sharp one. (For one you don't have to fight a sharp knife and risk things getting out of hand).

I recently found an 8in chef's knife that is made by a company called Happy Moon and after reading some of the research the company had made prior to designing the knife I just had to try it out and see how it stacked up to my Henckels.

The Happy Moon knife is very similar to the Henckel that I have, however the devil is in the details. The shape of the blade, particularly the way it tapers (quite a bit less than the Henckel) towards the tip. The shape of the handle is different too as it carries a little bit more of a curve allowing me a little bit more leverage on each pass of the blade.

I know the picture below doesn't do a good job of showing it, but the thickness of the blade on the Happy Moon knife is slightly more than that of the Henckel. This results in the Happy Moon blade being a little bit more hefty. As I mentioned before I don't mind the heft especially since the tang of the knife goes through the handle and the little metal cap at the end of the hand also provides a nice counter weight for a well balanced blade.

For the most part, the Happy Moon knife has me 'over the moon' so to speak. I am excited to see some nice quality knives designed here in the US rather than Europe, and at a much more affordable price than the German blades.











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.

Dori, the Four-Legged Child

I normally keep my pets out of the blog, mainly because I was wanting to one day start up a sister blog to Reviewing Whirlwind that would focus on them. I will probably still do that. However, my Beagle/Boxer mix has had a pretty awesome month.

But first let me tell you a little bit more about her. Shortly after my husband and I bought our house (with a yard I might add) I convinced him that it was time for me to get my English Bulldog or one of several other breeds I wanted. We searched online and the local papers but nothing was really striking our fancy. Finally our search took us to the Lexington Humane Society. There we found several beautiful PitBulls, but where we have children under the age of 13 we were not eligible to adopt any of them.

Just as we were about ready to call it a day, we happened across Dori's pen. She looked pitiful just laying in her little bed. After a few minutes of coaxing she finally came up to the door to check us out. We arranged for a "meeting" and we were walked to a back room where they brought her in. She was so chill and calm and just what we were looking for in a pet.

My husband, completely enamored with the dog insisted she was the one. We filled out the paperwork and brought Dori home. There have been a lot of growing pains with adding her to our family. From what I can tell, she has not really had much in the way of training and she has a tendency to be really excitable as well as anxious.

When we brought her home, we found that she had not been housebroken, and frequently had accidents in the house. From there she and I have worked hard together and she has made some great strides. She has been crate trained and calms down quickly when she is sent to her bed. She does still have accidents from time to time, but that has greatly decreased since the implementation of the crate.

Last month, I decided that we should work towards other behaviors now that some of the basics were addressed.





I found this training kit from Pet's Mum. It comes with just about everything you need to get started including a dogwhistle and a clicker. While she has been really slow to respond to the whistle (read as she completely ignores it) the clicker has worked really well. We have quickly made strides to conquer "Sit" and "Down". Next up will be "Come" and "Stay". 






As far as incentives go, I do give her treats. Lately we have been trying Purina's new Beyond dog treats (free samples courtesy of Smiley360). These treats are amazing. They actually smell like their ingredients.

Previously, we had been using Milkbone treats (those are ok) but the generic dog treats I had found were awful. While the dogs liked them, they smelled bad. I could smell the dogs eating them from across the room. I feel much better with Dori eating these treats especially knowing that they are made with animal protein first and foremost and lack grain fillers.

Dori seems to approve of them too!! :)


To learn more about Purina Beyond Dog Snacks or how to get free samples to try from Smiley360 click the link below.

http://h5.sml360.com/-/1l7g2



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.

Fruit Juice Cubes to Beat Boredom

While my kids are home on Winter break, I have been scrambling to fight cabin fever and boredom, because idle children are the root of all evil. That and when my minions get bored they want to pick and poke at each other.

To make things worse, while it has not been too terribly cold, it has been extremely wet, and so the minions have been cooped up inside for the most part.

One thing that never fails as a boredom buster are fruit juice cubes. Normally I pull this out on rainy summer days, but the minions were calling for something sweet and had been suggesting ice cream (Not going to happen).

In the past, I have used just the generic plastic ice cube trays. You know the kind you can pick up at the dollar store. They warp and crack easily, but at less than $5 per the only thing that really hurt was the time it took to go out and buy replacements.

Recently I found a company that called Kuuk and they have silicone ice cube trays. They are extremely flexible and yet still hold up nicely when filled. (The perfectly shaped cubes that come out appeases the perfectionist in me as well. The flexibility of the tray makes it super easy to get the cube out without having to run it under water to loosen them. Just turn the tray over, press on the bottom of the compartment and peel the tray off the cube.

I have used all different fruit juices, let the kids eat them by themselves and even added them to water to "flavor" the water (instead of having the kids drink juice all day).

One fun thing I like to do is add small fruit to each cube like blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.

You can check out Pinterest for more ideas or let your imagination run wild!!


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.

Practico Outdoors Camping/Travel Pillow Review

Practico Outdoors sent me their travel pillow to try out and share my thoughts on it with you. See the video to see how it holds up!!

 The bottom line is that it is not a bad pillow. It is actually really comfortable. My minions have been playing with it for two weeks and it has not gotten any leak and it still functions just as intended (which is really saying something as my minions are really rough on things).


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.

Post Christmas Giveaway!!!

Hey Everyone,

Audist has sent me an awesome set of ear buds. These ear buds fit comfortably while delivering excellent sound quality. It has a build in mic and control button in line on the cord for easy access. The control button is fairly large and easy to manipulate without having to look down. You can read more about these ear buds at their Amazon listing page: http://foundthis.net/sx3511.




Now for the giveaway details. Like and Share the post on Facebook, and then comment below when you have done so with what you listen to, to help you unwind. Whether you need to unwind from your kids fighting with each other or from work.

On December 29th I will choose one winner and contact via Facebook message with the details of delivery. Remember bonus points to those who can make me laugh!! Now, GO! And may the odds be ever in your favor!!

Contest is only open to US residents.

Modern New Mom Survival Kit

 A lot has changed in the world of having children. Parenting techniques have changed and now there are a LOT of different ways to raise your child. New research is constantly emerging regarding vaccinations, breastfeeding, and discipline. The way the hospital treats post-delivery mothers has changed greatly in the past 30 years. I remember when my mother had my younger brother. It was a normal, uncomplicated, routine delivery and yet her stay in the hospital after the birth was 5 days. When I gave birth to my children with normal, uncomplicated, routine deliveries, I was discharged within 48 hours of delivery.


Women are returning to the workforce a lot sooner than they used to.

The following excerpt is from a study conducted in 2014.

"We asked mothers in LTM II about their employment patterns after they had their baby. 
Among those mothers who had returned to paid work, more than a third had returned by 
6 weeks, and most (84%) were back to work by 12 weeks (Figure 8). This represented 57% 
of all formerly employed mothers. They typically returned to the same work setting 
(full-time, part-time or self-employed) that they had been in during pregnancy. Overall, 
36% of mothers had paid work responsibilities by 12 weeks after the birth."

The fact that more women are returning to work and soon than past trends indicate only goes to show the different social climate new mothers are in.

And while advice from mother may get you quite a ways in navigating those early newborn waters, things have changed a great deal since she was in your shoes.

It is for that reason that I have compiled a short list of items that I either had or wished I had during each of my three pregnancies to help weather out the chaos.   


Congratulations! You're Pregnant


While the book What to Expect When You Are Expecting is still my favorite go-to for just about anything pregnancy related, I do like Angie's Congratulations! You're Pregnant as a sort of quick reference guide. It also has a lot of recently updated information especially that pertaining to nutrition. For example, I am a big sushi lover, but decided to go without while I was pregnant. (Fear of raw foods and all) However, Angie shares that most forms of sushi are safe to eat while pregnant as long as the raw fish in it were flash frozen first which most major fishing industries do on the boat right after the fish is caught. The freezing process kills any parasites that could potentially cause sickness. This is good to know and just wish I had known during my last pregnancy.  While there were some topics that I wish Angie had gone a little more in depth with, I do love the book, and as I mentioned above it makes for a great quick reference guide or even a bathroom read (yeah, I spent a lot of time in the bathroom with each of my pregnancies: morning sickness among other reasons.)


Breastfeeding Scarfs


With my first two kids I used receiving blankets, but they can be really annoying to carry around and seriously with a little baby do we really need to carry more things. I used to stash it in the already over-stuffed diaper bag and it would constantly get in the way when I would need to fish out a diaper or a wipe. Not to even mention that I live in the South and covering up my kids with a receiving blanket while they nursed would have both of us flushed and sweating from the heat. And while I loved the bonding time it gave me with my babies, it was rarely a positive experience for me or them when they needed to nurse in public.



That is where this breastfeeding scarf has changed the game for my latest child. I can wear it as an infinity scarf, scarf with hood, or even as a shawl over my nursing tank top. The material is extremely soft and gets softer with each washing. It is almost like butter made into cloth. It is very light weight and breathable and there is enough material there to create a large "tent" area so you are completely covered as you switch sides without having to readjust the cover.

I only wish they had came out with this sooner, so I could have used it with my first two children.






Snug Baby Monitor for Smartphones (Apple/Android)

This is an item that has been made possible due to advances in technology, and now that I have one for my third child, I don't know how I ever got along without it for my first two. This baby monitor connects to the house's wifi network and can be accessed through an app on either an Apple or Android mobile device. The monitor mostly stays in stand-by mode and can either be activated remotely through the app or is activated by either sound or by detecting motion. If the monitor activates itself it sends a push notification to the connected mobile device. Now I can actually get stuff done while the baby is laying down for a nap without having to go check on him every 20 minutes. The monitor takes a little while to set up both physically and on the wifi network. It can be mounted to the wall and the eye of the monitor can do a full swivel for a complete view of the room. Once it is installed and set up it works beautifully.


Resistance Loop Bands


As mentioned in my introduction, women with young babies are returning to the workforce. This creates an even great demand on a new mother's time. Add to that demand the added pressure society puts on new mom's to shed the baby weight and it is no wonder that new mom's can feel overwhelmed.
While I have stubbornly ignored all of society's expectations regarding my maternal stores (I am still about 20 lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight and the baby is now almost 2) I have found an item that makes working out much easier than going to the gym.

These resistance loop bands come in a pack of five and have different weight resistance. They range from super light (about what you would need for physical therapy) to super heavy (really work on that muscle tone). The material feels strong and durable and I don't have any concerns about them breaking and snapping (although that could be an issue once they become worn). I love how they are compact and offer all the benefits of a home gym without taking up all that space. I also love how I could work out at home during the baby's nap, instead of trying to fit in a trip to the gym.



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Please note the general disclaimer regarding any item mentioned in this blog. The General disclaimer can be found at the link at the top of the page.