Child Passenger Safety Week

I'm joining a Twitter party to support the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in support of Child Passenger Safety Week (September 15 – 21, 2013). Car crashes are still a leading killer of children age 1 to 13. Having your child in the right seat can make all the difference.

RSVP HERE for the NHTSA Twitter Party!

Knowing when your child is ready for a new car seat can be confusing. This Saturday is National Seat Check Saturday and a perfect time to get your car seat checked. Find your local event here: safercar.gov/therightseat (English) and safercar.gov/protegidos (Spanish).

Did You Know?

“In 2011, over one third of children killed in car crashes were not in car seats or wearing seat belts.”

“Car seats reduce the risk of fatal injury in cars by 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for toddlers.”

“In 2011, an average of 2 children died every day in motor vehicle crashes.”

What questions do you have about car seats? 

Find out if you are using the right car seat! 

Visit safercar.gov/therightseat and join us for the NHTSA

Twitter Party on Wednesday!

When: Wednesday September 18, 2013 from 2pm – 3pm ET

Hashtag: #therightseat

Host: Twitter.com/NHTSAgov

RSVP HERE! Shared here: Between Naps On The Porch Monday Funday

Save The Children: Get Ready Get Safe and Maine Preparedness Reort

Did you know that 28 states in the United States still lack basic measures to safeguard children against disaster in childcare and schools?

Is your state one of them?

Mine is. 

Here is our "Unsatisfactory" report.....

Totally shameful. 

So, I wrote to my Governor and then I shared it with my friends on Facebook and Twitter.

And, now, I'm sharing it with you.

Do you want to know how your state did?

Click HERE to find out. 

Please, when you're done... share it with everybody!!

This kind of basic safety is so ESSENTIAL. 

And sharing it is so SIMPLE.

We can make a DIFFERENCE. 

Last year was a full of disasters, man made and natural. 

We can do something to be prepared!!

Since Hurricane Katrina, Save the Children has commissioned a state-by-state report of US Preparation and Safety Standards for children in childcare and schools. 

Save the Children’s disaster report card tracks progress on four critical standards: that states require all child care centers to have 

1) an evacuation plan, 

2) a family reunification plan 

3) a plan for children with special needs

4) that states require all schools to have disaster plans that account for multiple types of hazards

You can find Save The Children at these social media sites:

Facebook

Twitter

Google +

Pinterest

They have also got some very very helpful ways of planning ahead!

Here is a checklist for families to make their own personal plans:

GO HERE to find your own printable or downloadable version of this checklist.

Here is a checklist for childcare providers:

GO HERE to download or print this checklist.

I shared this post here:
Between Naps on the Porch
Monday Funday

A Marvelous Mess!!

Friends of ours got married this summer.

And, thanks to Maine for giving all people the right to marry another of the same sex.... the two friends of ours were both men. I could not have been more proud of them..... and of the people of our state for taking such a wonderful stance on gay marriage.

One that I hope will inspire all the other states to do the same. 

They specifically said "No presents", but I couldn't resist. 

On their invitation they had an image based off the animated drawings by Emily Hubley, made for the song The Origin of Love (which was written by Stephen Trask and about Plato's Symposium) for the movie version of the theatrical play Hedwig and the Angry Inch. *whew*

It looks like this:

Wikipedia tells me that Symposium has a speech in it from Aristophanes:

"According to the speech, long ago, humans were composed of two people stuck back-to-back, with two faces and eight limbs. Male-male humans came from the Sun, female-female humans from the Earth and male-female humans from the Moon. The gods, out of jealousy, split them in half. Now, throughout our lives, we are always trying to find our "other half", and sexual intercourse is the only means we have to put the two halves back together; this desire to be one person again is what we call "love". However, it is impossible to fully rejoin two people because it is our souls and not our bodies that most desire to be reunited."

I love the image (though I'm not a big fan of those petty greek gods). 

So, I made it out of wool and I'm going to put it in the mail for them tomorrow!

Here is mine:

Hopefully, for this moment anyway, they are not faithful followers of my blog. 

I doubt it, as they are both very busy men.

But, if for some reason, either one of you sees this post..... thank you so much for inviting me to your wedding. 

It was beautiful.

~

My fave from last week:

Copy McDonalds BBQ Chicken Wrap from Princess and Her Cowboys.

Now, on to the party!!!!

I shared this post here:
Between Naps on the Porch
Weekly Creative Link
Link Party Palooza
Monday Funday

Great Catering Equipment for Receptions

This is a sponsored posts for which a received compensation. It was written by me and all opinions in it are my own.

Thinking of becoming a caterer?????

I've got a fun site for you. 

They got some awesome catering equipment at Hot Chef. 

I found this espresso machine (above) and it made me want to be a caterer.....or at least make myself a good cup o joe. But I could be a caterer. If no one expected their food to be on time. My OCD can go a little overboard and make my meal preparation take longer than necessary. But, if I was a caterer, I would definitely buy one of these:

An infrared thermometer?!? How awesome it that. 

Love it. 

And, it is super important to know that your meat reaches the right temperature. 

Then again, traveling to cater would be a pain. 

I could always set up my own restaurant and have the people come to me. Decorating a restaurant would be fun.  

I love it when they use lighting on reception counters:

But, then, a restaurant needs all kinds of setting up. Everything from plumbing, electrical work, maybe even optical cable. As if I even knew what that was. A restaurant would be a lot of work. 

I think maybe I'll just be a blogger.

A blogger that dreams about that espresso machine up above. 

Duck Tape Cell Phone Holder

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walmart for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I made a little cell phone holder out of Duck Tape®!!

It is totally handy and fun at the same time. And, of course, it's Duck Tape®.....so it pretty darn tough stuff.

I can give you a basic idea of how I made it, though I didn't take nearly enough pictures. I honestly think it is one of those projects where everybody is going to do it differently and there is no way that is needs to be done. 

To make my project you need:

~2 pieces of Cardboard (wider than your phone) *one longer than the other with a trimed edge for the cover*

~Velcro 

~Duck Tape®

-Take the two pieces of cardboard on cover them with which ever color you would like of tape on both sides, leaving a wider edge on the main piece of the longer cardboard.

-Once both piece are covered take the smaller cardboard and fold 1/3 of it onto itself, making a pocket. It's hard to see in this picture, but that is what I've created.

-Now, tape the folded piece (with the pocket flap facing out) onto the larger cardboard piece at the base.

-Tape the extra side flaps on the larger cardboard to the sides of the pocket piece (now the front of the cell phone holder).

-Decorate the flap that will fold over to cover the phone in any way that you'd like. 

-Decorate the whole project with remaining tape in any way that you'd like, stripes, dots, etc. 

-To put on the velcro, have the two pieces of velcro interlocking and remove the paper off one of the sticky sides and place it on the inside of the fold over flap. Then, take the paper off the other side and fold the flap over and the velcro will stick where the it would naturally sit. 

Use the big pocket for the phone..... and the little pocket could be for notes or cards, whatever you would like!!

Don't forget you can

buy Duck Tape at Walmart!!

You can find this post at any of the blogs in my "parties" tab above and at these wonderful link parties:

The Girl Creative
Between Naps on the Porch
Link Party Palooza
Monday Funday
Tatertots and Jello

Sammy Dress: Great style and Really Low Prices!

Disclaimer: I was compensated monetarily for a review of the website. All opinions are my own and written in my own words.

I can't resist a nice comfy cardigan. 

Especially if it is only $12!!!

Seriously. 

Twelve Dollars. 

Now that is my kind of shopping. 

We live on a tight budget and I can't afford to buy the latest trend at the highest price. You'll find me strolling through many a consignment shop or yard sale to find my next outfit. 

That's why I think Sammy Dress is great. 

Look at this dress.....

I love how loose and flowing it is. It's elegant and it looks so comfy.

And.....it's $11.00!!

Or this dress:

$8.47

Sure, summer is over (at least in the NorthEast), but we can always plan for next year right?

Not only does Sammy Dress offer fun men's and women's fashions, but they offer home decor, household products, and even jewelry.

Shipping is a bit longer than some of us may be used to, as this company is located in China. They do provide quality control checks over each order to ensure we're getting the best product possible, which I think is great. So, if you live in the United states you would expect to get your package within this time period: 2 to 7 days processing + 7 to 14 shipping = 9 to 21 days total. 

For these prices, I think that is very workable!!!

You can find Sammy Dress through these social networks as well:

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Youtube

Blog

A Marvelous Mess and a Walk in the Field!

Went out in my family's field to search for Monarch Caterpillars in the milkweed.

Two years ago we found some and raised them in our home until they cocooned and finally awoke in a brand new state of being. Such a beautiful transition to watch.

Last year, the field we usually find our caterpillars in was hayed late in the season, and the milkweed that usually hosts our friends were mowed down. This year the milkweed was up.....but the caterpillars were nowhere in sight. 

This is milkweed, by the way:

I found a lot of snails on the milkweed. Usually, the caterpillars will eat a lot of the milkweeds leaves, and that's how you can tell that they've been there. This years the snails were eating the leaves:

I got some nice photo's of the walk however. I love fields. 

The farm owned by my family has some lovely and loud geese to laugh at:

 And, pigs to smell from quite a distance away:

I hope you all enjoyed some time outside in nature today. 

It was a lovely day for it in the Northeast. 

.....

We had some great projects linked up to the party last week!

Here was my fave:

Perfectly Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies from Back for Seconds.
Pinning it! You should pin it too. Yum!

Now, on to the party!!