Merry Christmas to ME!

About 2 years into our relationship Louis stopped shopping for gifts for me other than a bottle of wine here and there for Mother's Day. I could wallow in self pity when I see friends flashing their shiny new gifts from their spouses.... or I can just buy things for myself.

Yeah, I'll just buy stuff for myself.

This year I designed myself an Origami Owl living locket for Christmas. I LOVE it. (If you've never hear of them, Origami Owl is a newer, jewelry designing direct sales company.)

Here's how I built it:

The locket:
It's sterling silver, about the size of a nickel, and costs $20.

The chain:
18" silver ball station chain. Costs $8.

The charms:
Birthstone girl charms in June and July, a diamond ring for marriage, and a wine glass because, well, you know me. Cost $5 each.

Pretty cute gift for this mama for just under $50. If the ladies could pick something out for me, I think it would be something like this. Merry Christmas to me.

Weird Dreams Interpreted: What's wrong with my subconscious?

For the last entire freaking year I've been having the recurring dream that I'm choking on something like a really fine gravel. It's so realistic that I gag in my sleep. In my dream I try to spit it out, rinse it out, and dig it out with my hands but it just keeps regenerating and choking me. It was so bad last night that I decided to investigate and internet-diagnose my crazy this morning.

I have found forums of many people having the same dream as mine, but no specific interpretations; only ones on the more broad topic of choking.

Dreamprophesy.com suggests that it roots in frustration:

"Usually frustration dreams are brought on by things in our day to day life that we feel powerless against.  These things are either courtesy of other people (things others do that frustrate us) or they’re courtesy of our ourselves (things we, ourselves, do that frustrate us)." -My OCD?

Have choking dreams? Read more here.

Any thoughts or insight or own dreams to share? I love this stuff. The mind is amazing.

Photo courtesy of sodahead.com

 

Homeschooling Pre-K - Success and Favorites

I started using curriculum at home from the time Athena was 2 years old. Seeing her learn from ME, learning her colors, numbers, etc. is incredibly satisfying. Now as we move into Pre-K curriculum and seeing her grow is completely amazing. Not to toot my own horn (TOOT) but I'm teaching her how to WRITE!!!! And READ! And SPELL! ME! I'm doing it!! Amazing!!

Without prompts!

We've also really started getting into math. Athena loves these kits and is really excelling.

Team Umizoomi Math Kits

She's got her numbers and counting down, she's learning patterns and has even started doing some simple addition. These kits really hold her attention and she feels like she's doing "real school."

We've also moved on from the basic preschool games of Nick Jr. to their premium service, Boost.

They have educator created games that teach over 250 skills in math, literacy, and art. She wins awards and certificates that we can hang on the refrigerator. She can watch clips from shows, play virtual dress-up, and decorate her own virtual play room. It keeps progress reports for me and it's totally AD FREE!!! She's learning an incredible amount from this service.

I'm so proud of her and I feel so confident with her starting school next year. She's totally ready :)

Curvy Girls in Swimsuits

Are you a reader of The Curvy Girl Guide? You should be. Their Project Real - Swimsuit Confidence has been amazing. They are joining forces with Lands' End for National Swimsuit Confidence week and they're making it their mission to get all the shy, self-conscious, and embarrassed women back into the pool. Every single one of those incredible ladies put their swimsuits where their mouths, er, curves are and aren't afraid to lose the cover ups, toss the t shirts and flaunt their assets. They were even on Good Morning America this morning showing off those bodacious bods.

They want to encourage ALL women to have confidence this year. Go on and gitcha'self over to the Guide and look all all the lovely ladies in their suits. (They also show you just where you can get yourself a Lands' End suit of your own.)

In an attempt at Curvy Girl Solidarity, I took a photo of myself in my new swimsuit. .

I'm feeling just fine

Sunday Sharing - Sophie the Giraffe & Friends

Oi. Teething babies. It.Is.Rough. As Zofia's big ol' beaver teeth have been ripping through her gums, she has been one sad baby. They've bled, she cries, and she hasn't slept for longer than an hour and a half at a time in a week. Her beloved Sophie the Giraffe has been nommed like there's no tomorrow. I never thought there could be another teether that Zofia could like more than Sophie...

Until now. Enter Chan, Sophie's mushroom friend.

OH MUH GAH she loves him! She bites it, she gnaws it, she sucks on it... in fact, she does all of the things to him that she was doing to her poor mommy's bewbs. Is that why his head looks strikingly like a nipple? If so, GENIUS, if not, AWESOME coincidence. I could not possibly recommend this teether any more.

GET ONE! GET ONE FOR YOUR SAD BABY!!

One of my favorite sites, Mom's Milk Boutique, carries the Vulli line of Sophie and friends and they have very generously offered a coupon code just for you! So head on over, check out Sophie and Friends and enter Coupon Code: 10Sophie for 10% off your purchase.

Come back and tell me what your baby thinks of it. I'd love to know!

Sunday Sharing - food, blogs, and shopping

There are some things that I'm enjoying more than usual today, and what kind of friend would I be if I didn't share?

First off, Food.
Just because Zofia only let me get about 3 hours sleep doesn't mean Athena isn't expecting me to bake something yummy for breakfast. Enter these little gems:

 Tastefully Simple Oats & Cranberry Bars.

SO tasty, and I used eggs from my mom's chickens and organic butter to make myself feel better :)

Next up, Blogs. Deal Delivery Blog "Your one stop destination for the latest freebies, deals, sweepstakes and more on the web." It's all the coupon codes and free samples you WANT to look for but just never get around to searching for yourself. For example, I KNOW it's a pain to enter all the Pampers and Huggies codes into their sites, but have you browsed their rewards? This is how I did all of my Christmas cards, photo packages, and calendars. The quality of goods they offer as rewards are AWESOME. She has tons of codes listed on her site that you can use. Awesome.

 

And Shopping. For some reason when I'm sad and sleep deprived, I LOVE online shopping. I'm fairly certain there's an 8x10 glossy of me in a heart shaped frame at Amazon.com and Old Navy headquarters.

 

Give & Get Ends Today! (You can see the online code or print the instore bar code here.)

Last chance to get 30% off at Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Gap Outlet and Banana Republic Factory Store in-store or online.

For me:

Athena picked this out for herself:
 

And Athena picked this out for Fifi:

*Note: I LOVE Old Navy's sleepers for babies. They actually have ZIPPERS. Does someone somewhere get off on torturing me with 500 buttons on a squirmy baby's outfit? Come on now...  
And there you have. That seems to sum up this Sunday quite nicely.
 
**Another note: No one is paying me or giving me stuff to make me tell you this stuff rocks. I just really think that all of this stuff does, in fact, rock.

It's Giveaway Time!

Oh the pretty, pretty amber...

I'm so excited to announce my very first giveaway! After the success of the Athena Bee's coupon code (which is still valid through this giveaway!) Inspired by Finn generously offered to give away any one item from their site to one lucky winner!

As you recall (probably because I talk about it all.the.time.) I'm a rock-solid believer in the benefits of Baltic amber for pain management. At the risk of sounding too dramatic, I couldn't live without it due to my migraines, and it is a GODsend for teething babies.

Inspired by Finn is THE place to shop for Baltic amber and hazelwood jewelry.

Amber:

"When baltic amber is worn on the skin, the skin’s warmth releases trace amounts of healing oils from the amber. These oils contain succinic acid and are absorbed into the skin." It is useful for pain relief, boosting the immune system, restoring energy, maintaining wellness, and to break a cycle of chromic inflammation. Full information on the benefits of amber here.

Hazelwood:

"Wood from the Beaked Hazel (Corylus cornuta) tree has the medicinal property of neutralizing the body's acidity." It relieves or prevents ulcers, acid reflux, skin problems and is a GREAT tool to fight heartburn and nausea during pregnancy. Full information on the benefits of hazelwood here.

How to enter:
*Please leave a separate comment for each entry. (Like if it says 2 entries please leave 2 comments, deal?) Make sure I can contact you via email if you win.
1. Visit Inspired By Finn and tell me which item you'd like to try. (1 entry)
2. Follow me on Google Friend Connect over on my sidebar. (1 entry)
3. Follow Athenabee on Twitter. (leave your Twitter name as your comment so I know it's not a beep boop autobot following me.) (2 entries)
4. Tweet: "Enter to win Inspired By Finn Baltic Amber or Hazelwood Jewelry from @Athenabee http://tiny.cc/y3zl2 Ends 2/25 (1 entry per day)
*May be tweeted 1x per day for an additional entry each day.*
5. Like Athena Bee's on Facebook also on my sidebar. (1 entry)
6. Like Inspired By Finn on Facebook. (1 entry)
7. Share this giveaway on Facebook.
8. Add my button to your blog. (3 entries)
9. Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link. (5 entries)

On Friday February 25th I'll randomly select a winner from the comments!

As you're looking around the site I'm SURE you'll see something that you absolutely have to have, so rest assured the 25% off coupon code ATHENABEE will remain valid through the giveaway.

Athena has officially been quoted.

My Kid is Gifted is a HILARIOUS site filled with genius quotes: one's from kids.

I'm beyond proud to say that Athena was chosen to be featured on there. Click here and give her a gold star.

It's a proud, proud day :)

Baltic Amber is Fab

I am a big believer in using Baltic Amber for pain management. I was going to take a picture of my necklaces for you to see, and this is what I got:



See 'em? No? Here. Let me take a picture with my phone real quick like while the wee one is playing with the computer. Here we go. They look like this:

I wrote about them here back when I was just THINKING about making a purchase. I've had a lot of conversations about Baltic Amber lately, so I thought I'd give an update it now that I've been wearing them nonstop for quite some time now.

In a nutshell, they're great. I still have the symptoms of my migraines, but the pain is manageable. I haven't had a "regular" headache or a single backache since I've had them, and those are two afflictions I've been battling for 10 years.

Next up I'll be purchasing one for Zofia to wear for teething pain. I really want to make some but I'm having a hell of a time finding loose amber beads at a reasonable price.

You can find a ton of jewelry on Etsy or where I bought mine, Inspired by Finn. Check out their site and their Facebook page for coupons and giveaways. (I want to do one on here but I just don't have the traffic yet. In time I'll have my minions.)

Schoolin' the Preschooler at the Casa

I'm not ready to send Athena to school. I'm just not. And you know what? I might not be ready to send her next year either. But hey haters, that doesn't mean that she's going to be behind. I'm using some of that crazyweirdhippie homeschooling that runs rampant in my family. And guess what... it's going amazingly!

My first homeschooling purchase was this book:

It's AWESOME. She's mastering shapes, colors, the alphabet, numbers, logic, and is beginning to write. She's 3 years old and is starting to WRITE!

Over the last couple of weeks we've been trying out a bunch of different websites for preschool learning. Our hands down favorite is NickJr's site. Athena navigates the site by herself, switching games and activities whenever she wants. I sit next to her, watch, and interact when needed. She really began recognizing letters and numbers by playing the "Face" games. This site is also where I get awesome printable activities like her leaf book that we made. We even did the free trial of NickJr's premium educational service "Boost", but she's not ready for it yet. If you have a Pre-Ker, Kindergartner, or 1st grader TRY IT! The curriculum is great and the parents' area keeps you super organized and up to date on their progress.

Honorable Mentions go to:
Sprout Online - PBS's Preschool site of games, videos, and activities.
Fisher Price's games and activities site.
Kaboose's Preschool Activity Center

But what about socialization?

Fear not! She's in ballet, she's talked me into letting her start cheerleading, plus we go out on super-cool field trips like:

Farms!

The Zoo!

The pumpkin patch!

We're really having a great time and Athena is doing so well. We'll just have to wait and see how far we go with this and hope for support.

Finding the Happy

I just stumbled upon a WONDERFUL project called "Finding the Happy" over at Mr. & Mrs. Wright, and I think it sounds like a lovely idea. There couldn't be a better time for it.

I will post my Happy picture every Monday along with a link to the original Finding the Happy, so you can head on over and check out all the rest of the happiness being spread around.

Wanna participate? Just take a picture (has to be a picture you took) of something that makes you happy along with a caption as to why it makes you happy, plus a link on the blog to share. (Share it with me as well, will ya?) Your happiness can be anything: babies, lipgloss, doggies, coffee, etc. So grab your camera and join in the happiest little project this side of the Mississippi.

ERGObaby Carrier Giveaway - I needs one

Courtesy of Breastfeed.Babywear.ClothDiaper.Naturally!

All the way up until she was 2 years old Athena lived in a baby carrier. I LOVE babywearing and Athena loved being worn. It is truly the only way I ever got anything done. I used my Jeep front carrier until she was 1 and then used a sling until she was 2. As soon as Zofia came into the picture I pulled out the trusty carriers.

Cue screaming baby.

What? What's this? She hates my carriers?? What do I do??

Well, today I stumbled upon this here giveaway and ZOMG!!!! We needs it! We has to have it!!!!

They're going to give away one of their favorite products – an ERGObaby Carrier in your choice of Black, Camel or Cranberry!

ERGObaby Carrier
WHY CHOOSE ERGO?

The ERGO Baby Carrier’s ergonomic
design supports a correct sitting position for the baby’s hip, pelvis and spine
growth. It disperses most of the baby’s weight between the hips and thighs,
which helps to eliminate compression of the spine when hanging by the crotch
which most other designs require. The ERGO also balances the baby’s weight to
parents’ hips and shoulders, and alleviates physical stress for the parent.

Can you say "no" to this face?

BlogHer? I barely knew 'er!

I just became a member. I know, first NaBloPoMo now blogher? I'm not sure where all this full-force blogging desire is coming from, but whatever. I'll ride it out.



Anywho. Anyone else a member? Do you use it? Do you feel like you're networking? Are there any other blog communities you like?



Fill me in. I'm ready to join you.

Crunchy Hippie Fun Stuff - Headaches, teething, & more!

Today I was introduced to Baltic amber as a way to help me with my migraines. I found a bunch of info on how it helps teething babies, carpal tunnel sufferers, and other afflictions. Check it.

From their site:

MORE ABOUT THIS ALTERNATIVE: While the most ideal spot for amber to be worn
is around the neck, we have done some testing and have found that a full 9" of a
lighter-colored amber on the ankle is an effective alternative to wearing a
necklace. I am not sure if it is as effective as amber worn around the neck, but
it does seem to be beneficial. The warmer the Baltic amber gets, the better it will work,
(this is one reason the most ideal spot for amber to be worn is around the neck)
so if you can keep the anklet tucked under a sock, this tends to help. MORE

ABOUT BALTIC AMBER:As you know, amber teething jewelry is made to wear but
not to chew! Among other things, amber is a natural analgesic (pain reliever)
and anti-inflammatory. When amber is worn on the skin, the warmth of the skin
releases trace amounts of healing oils on the skin. Commonly known as "teething
jewelry," Baltic
amber has been a natural and traditional European remedy for teething discomfort
for hundreds of years. To read more about the many benefits of Baltic amber, click
here http://hyenacart.com/inspiredbyfinn/index.php?c=64&p=14913

Our necklaces and bracelets are handcrafted with amber beads imported from
the Baltic Region. They are made of authentic Baltic amber, the most esteemed
type of amber in the world. The translucency of amber depends on the amount of
air bubbles contained within a piece of amber and their distribution. Some
believe the color is related to the type of tree source. Succinic acid is the most
beneficial component of the amber. I have read that the darkest colored amber
generally contains less succinic acid than lighter colors. I have also
read that the more cloudy or opaque amber is, the more succinic acid it contains (and usually the more
cloudy amber is the nearer to the color white it becomes).

http://www.forfinn.com/

Help a blogger friend win!

This is the post from Charming.Magnificent.Talented.

I am trying SOOOOO hard to win the scrapbook desk from The Original Scrap Box and I have
had so many wonderful people help me!

Everytime I think I have done good, I haven't done good enough. Wednesday,
I was in 1st place with 3978 points and now I am down again....by 1139 points.
The top 3 winners get the WONDERFUL EZ View Scrap Desk! I just want to be in the
top 3!

This desk would give me a space of my own not taken over by toys and paint
ball crap. (Sorry Jeremy, I love you!) It's bad enough I share my closet with my
Aubrey but I have to keep my scrapbook things in a rolling tote that is jam
packed and is to heavy to even roll!! Having this desk would make my life so
much easier.I am begging you bloggers and scrapbooker out there....if you can
post a blog about The Original
Scrap Box (with photo), I would be forever grateful!

The Original Scrap Box Company Contest - Help Her Win!

How cute is this photo?

From Charming.Magnificent.Talented.

Only a few days left until the end of this contest! Please help me win! Check out The Original Scrap Box Company. Their scrapbook storage solutions are fantastic!

I wish I knew about this stuff for my wedding

Couture Centerpiece Grouping

Couture Centerpiece

Weddings and Special Occasions

Create the perfect ambiance on your special day worthy of a lifetime of memories. From beautiful centerpieces that positively glow to gifts that say “Thank You”.

Modern Centerpiece Grouping



Naturally Modern Centerpiece



Scented Send-offs for Guests





There's a TON more. I could decorate my pseudo-wedding all evening.

Self Sufficient Life

I received this wealth-of-information website from my mother this morning. If you are a co-sleeping, extended breastfeeding, vaccine questioning "weird-o hippy" like us, you may enjoy it as well...


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Comfort Food

What's Your Favorite Comfort Food?
What foods warm your soul in wintertime or make you feel better when you're going through a rough time? Share your favorite foods and recipes
Join the conversation now!
More cooking and recipes discussions
Plus: Post your best food and recipes photos

Popcorn is what makes me super happy.

I could read all the different articles on www.beliefnet.com ALL day.

I loves me crockpot. Thanks Yia Yia!

And look at this wonderful blog I found! Do you not love her picture??? I feel the same way...

http://http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/