Mom Knows Everything

This week's theme/prompt is:

I chose HEADS - See.

A lot of people tell me that my daughter looks like me when they see her and I together. I thought she looked a little bit like me, but until I was making a digital scrapbook I didn't really see it. Here is a picture of me at 17 and Aurora at 15.


What do you think? Do you see it, do we look alike?

I really like this picture I made of the two of us. I think I'm going to have to get it framed and put it in the display case on by the tv stands with the rest of our family photos.

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I put my Easter decorations up this weekend. This is one of the window clings that I put up, baby Easter ducks. I also put up my little Easter tree, but I'll post a picture of that later. Do you put up Easter decorations for your kids?

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I did some of my Spring cleaning so far, but I put the worst off till last...the kitchen. Spring cleaning the kitchen is always such a huge task that I knew that I needed some serious muscle to help me, so I called in my friend Mr.Clean.

Mr.Clean is celebrating it's 50th Anniversary this year. He's helped clean homes since 1959. My mother always used Mr.Clean for cleaning. She always said it was the best way to scrub your floor. So when I got my own house to keep Mr.Clean is the product I always used.

Mr.Clean has a wide range of cleaning products and some of my favorite ones are:

• Mr. Clean Wipes - these are prefect for wiping up sticky messy made by little ones and also for wiping off counters. These come in various types like like disinfecting, extra strength, and Febreze.
• Mr. Clean Powerful Multi-Surface Cleaner with Febreze Fresh Scent - this works great on cutting grease on stove tops and you can use on almost any surface, such as glass, floors, counters, and chrome. It also leaves an amazing scent instead of strong chemicals that most cleaners leave behind. You can get this in a spray form also which works great!
• Mr. Clean Magic Erase - This is the most amazing invention ever! Every house that has kids in it needs to have this. Not only does it clean stubborn dirt and grime, it also cleans crayon marks off of walls, floors and furniture. I also used it to clean permanent marker off a refrigerator before.

One of the first things I clean in my kitchen is my garbage can. I honestly am kicking myself for getting a white garbage can. What was I thinking? You put dirt and garbage in this thing and you expect it to stay white and clean. Nope, it gets filthy! I used the Mr.Clean Multi-Surface Spray with Febreze Fresh Scent and not only did it get it clean and white again, but it smelled nice too. Imagine that, my garbage can smelled good!







One of the worst things I hate cleaning is the microwave. It gets so dirty and it's all stuck on so it's really hard to clean. Here is what my microwave looked like before I cleaned it. You can see why I put off cleaning it.


Look at it now! It's clean and it the best thing about it is that it didn't take me long to do it. I just took Mr.Clean Magic Eraser and wiped it out. Seriously, it only took me about 3 minutes to clean it and I did it without using any harsh chemicals.


I honestly think Mr.Clean is a moms best friend!

See this beautiful girl here. That's my daughter Aurora and for the past little while I have been saying she was 14. Nope she's 15. I was talking to my sister telling her that I can't believe that Aurora is 14 already and that I'm feeling old. Ya wanna know what my smart alec sister said to that? She said that I must be getting old because I can't remember how old my daughter is, either that or I failed math class. Okay so then I did some thinking and I realized OMG she is 15! I am getting so old! The next thing you know she'll be getting her drivers licence, then going to college and then shopping for wedding invitations. That's it! She has to stop growing up. Yep, no more growing for my kids, they have to stay little forever. Anyone have any ideas on how to do this?

Earth hour starts 8:30PM local time, wherever you live on planet earth on Saturday 28 March 2009. From 8:30 PM till 9:30 PM turn off all lights and non-essential electrical appliances to support an increased awareness of environmental issues.

10 Ways to Mark Earth Hour*

• Attend local Earth Hour events or organize one.
• Go outside and look at the stars.
• Find a great viewing spot to see your town or city go dark at 8:30 p.m.
• Take pictures and send them to Your Weather.
• Go for a lantern walk through a park.
• Patronize local restaurants and businesses taking part in Earth Hour.
• Gather your family or friends for a candle-lit dinner.
• Meet your neighbours at a street or block party.
• Have an acoustic music jam.
• Talk to your children about how much electricity your family uses. Brainstorm ways to reduce it.

*Source - WWF-Canada

For more information about Earth Hour go to www.EarthHour.org.

Camera Critters is a weekend meme, about what else but critters, created my very own BBFF, Misty

Aurora had a hard week and so I figured it was time for some mother/daughter bonding. I asked her what she wanted to do and she said she wanted a movie night. So today I'm going to go pick up a couple of movies and lots of junk food for us for tonight. Too bad we don't have any Berkline theater seats, I guess the couch will have to do. Of course she wants me to rent some horror movies, but I think she could use a comedy. I'm not sure what to rent though, any suggestions?

Through My Eyes Fridays is a weekly meme created by one of my dearest blogging buddies TinaL.

This is what you see when you look through my eyes...


Aidan sleeping with all his bedtime buddies. Aidan has become addicted to Winnie The Pooh lately and every night he has to take Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore to bed with him. He did tell me he needed Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Roo, and Kanga so he can have all of the Hundred Acre Woods.

You all know how much I love coupons. Before I buy anything I always look to see if there is a coupon for it. Not only do I clip coupons, but I also check out online coupons because you can get some amazing coupons online.

Easter is coming up and we want to get Aidan something fun, yet still educational so we are thinking about getting him a hand held Leap Frog. I checked my favorite online coupon site and I was so happy that right under the printable coupons section there was a $10 off coupon for Leap Frog. They even have $5 off coupons for the Leap Frog games. Thanks to these coupons I'll be saving $15 on Aidan's Easter gift.

If you don't already use coupons then you really should start, imagine how much you could be saving just on simple things like your children's Easter gifts.

Mothers are always looking for healthy snacks for the kids. I found a healthy and great tasting snack called Bear Naked granola. It comes in a variety of flavors. The ones we tried were Mango Agave Almond, Peak Protein, and Banana Nut. They are all very tasty, but my kids favorite one is the Banana Nut. I must admit the flavors tastes like you are eating banana bread.

There are many uses for granola, you can use it in recipes, sprinkle it on your yogurt or ice cream, eat it as cereal, or my kids favorite way is just to eat it as a snack. Bear Naked actually comes in 12 oz family sizes and individual 2 oz sizes which are prefect for lunch boxes.

The best thing about Bear Naked granola, besides the taste of it, is the fact that it is very healthy for you. It's all natural ingredients. There is no preservatives or artificial flavors in it. It's also have no cholesterol, no hydrogenated oil, and no trans fat. Bear Naked granola uses the natural sweeteners in the fruit to sweeten it, not high fructose corn syrup like other brands.

Bear Naked granola has become my daughters favorite snacks and always takes it in her lunch to school now. You can buy online from www.BearNaked.com or you can find a list of locations to purchase it there also. Bear Naked granola definitely gets two thumbs up from this mom.

Yesterday was my sister Sharla's birthday and tomorrow is my sister Paulette's birthday. I want to wish my two sisters a very happy birthday! I love you guys! You are more then sisters to me, you are also my friends.

Oh yeah, for your birthday presents I got you both a subscription to
wine of the month club. Cheers!

P.S. I would have posted pictures of them, but they won't let me. Hey, they're my big sisters and I have listen to them.

I wanted to thank you all for the kind words to my daughter about the bullying. She is feeling much better today and went to school. We are a little worried that the bullying may continue, but she knows now that she has a lot of friends who support her and will stick up for her. Hopefully now that the school is involved the bullying will stop. I read her all your comments and she was very touched as was I. Thank you!

Last week for my thrifty hint of the week I told you about how great coupons are and about how much money you can save just by using them. This week I wanted to tell you about a great coupon I found for Snugglecreme fabric softener.

Snuggle fabric softener has always been my favorite fabric softener. It makes your clothes so soft and smell so nice. I always love the commercials and ads they have for it with the cute little teddy bear.

Snuggle fabric softener recently came out with two new fragrances, Sweet Almond and Jojoba Essence. Now you can get a $2 off coupon on your next purchase of either of these two new fragrances by clicking here or you can click this cute little widget.

I am so mad right now! About 12:30 I got a phone call from my daughter crying saying that she wanted to come home from school. It seems that some boy has been bullying her for a while and he won't stop teasing and calling her names. She was so upset that she was bawling her eyes out. I jumped in the car and went up to the school to freak out. Aurora filed a complaint with the vice-principal about the boy and I talked to the principal. The kid is being charged with (at school) with "personal harassment", a form of bullying. The principal was very nice and because Aurora was so upset let her come home. I'm hoping that this puts an end to her being picked on. She's a good kid and does very well in school. Unfortunately bullying occurs a lot in schools and it makes me so mad that it does. This isn't like a boy pulling a girls ponytail on the kindergarten playground, this kid is serious tormenting my daughter. I am very happy that so many of her friends and Aurora's boyfriend stood up for her to this bully and hopefully with the punishment he's getting at school and knowing that she has friends who will stand up her he will finally leave her alone.

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All kids love doing crafts and one of the favorite crafts kids like to do is painting. The bad thing about this is the mess it makes. Paint usually ends up everywhere, especially all over their clothes.

There is a great new craft paint set called Powder Art that takes the mess out of painting. With Powder Art the paint isn't a liquid, it's a powder and the kids just spread it on the sticky picture. The kids still get to paint, but you don't have the mess to clean up after.

Powder Art comes in numerous different theme sets, such as Jungle Animals, Sports, and Puppies & Kittens.

My four year old had a blast painting his picture, and he only needed a limited amount of help with it. It was wonderful that he was able to do it all by himself with out a huge mess to clean up.


It was so much fun that my fifteen year old wanted to make a picture too. Aidan painted the monkey and Aurora painted the lion.

Powder Art is definitely a must have craft for any child who likes to paint and moms who hate the mess of paint. With Powder Art there is no more wiping up paint off of everywhere and trying to get paint stains out of clothes, just the fun of painting. The powder paint is made of recycled paper, not powdered paint so there is no staining. This is definitely heaven to moms!

You can get Powder Art at select specialty stores for about $8.99 or you can order it online from www.PowderArt.com.

This weekend my daughter had a friend over for the weekend. On our way to get groceries in the car hubby had the classic rock radio station on. Well teenagers being teenagers they of course had to be silly and pretended to rock out to the music. I'm pretty sure they were being sarcastic because they don't like classic rock and think we're old foggies for listening to it. Aidan saw the girls rocking out and wanted to do it too.



So now thanks to my teen aged daughter her little brother knows how to do the "rock on" hand sign and he even knows to stick his tongue out while he does it. What are big sisters for eh!

This week's theme/prompt is:

HEADS - "Common"

Make any kind of post using "Common" as your prompt.

This is my daughter Aurora. A lot of people have commented that she has a beautiful and uncommon name. I find that kinda funny that people think her name is uncommon because it is very common in my family. My grandmother was named Aurora, I have a sister named Aurora, and I have a niece whose middle name is Aurora. My sister, my niece, and my daughter was all named after my grandmother who was one of the most wonderful strong women I have ever met. I hope my daughter grows up to be just like her.


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We all know how important it is to read to your kids and to encourage them to read themselves. Reading should be fun, but it also should be educational. We recently got a copy of "The Preacher Creature Strikes On Sunday" by Mike Thaler creator of The Black Lagoon series. What I liked best about this book is not only is it a fun read, but it also helps kids to realize that going to church isn't a punishment, it can be fun.

"The Preacher Creature Strikes On Sunday" in book in a series called "Tales From The Back Pew" that helps to kids to realize just how fun going to church can be. It's a colorful and fun book that your kids will definitely enjoy reading.

I have two copies of "The Preacher Creature Strikes On Sunday" to give away. All you have to do is leave a comment telling me who you would like to read this book to.
- Canada and US mailing addresses only
- Contest closes midnight March 31 with winners being announced April 1

Although Aidan is a big boy, he still loves to use his Sponge Bob sippy cup.

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Camera Critters is a weekend meme, about what else but critters, created my very own BBFF, Misty


This is one of my brother-in-law's and sister-in-law's fish tanks. Of course I can't remember the name of the fish, but isn't he huge! Michelle if you see this post what type of fish is it?

Through My Eyes Fridays is a weekly meme created by one of my dearest blogging buddies TinaL.

This is what you see when you look through my eyes...

origami ! Aurora got a book about how to make origami and she made a penguin, a swan and two boats for her little brother.

Aidan has a doctor's appointment today and as you can tell he is not thrilled about it.


Both of my children have always hated going to the doctor. Aurora used to get so upset about it that she would cry so hard and throw up when she got there....even if it was just for her yearly checkup. I think our doctor is very nice and I'm not sure why they hate going there so much....must be memories of needles when they were babies.

One thing I do every day while I'm the computer besides checking out all my favorite blogs is look for coupons. All you moms out there know how much you can save a week just by using a few coupons and at the end of the year it really adds up. I can't remember the last time I went to the grocery store without a coupon to use in my purse.

I use coupons for everything. I use them at the grocery store, for shopping online, but I think my favorite type of coupons are Walmart coupons. Walmart always has great deals and when you add a coupon on it you are saving big bucks in the end compared to other stores.

So my thrifty hint this week is coupons. If you use $5 worth of coupons per week at the end of the year you are saving $260! Imagine how much you would save if you are using a coupon on a big ticket item.

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I recently changed my profile picture on Facebook to this one of me and hubby. It was taken on Sunday at my brother-in-laws and his wife's house. (Me waving hi to Michelle because she always reads my blog!)

I think it's a nice picture of the two of us, but I've been getting a few comments on Facebook about the look in John's eyes. No people are saying he looks like he's thinking of horse supplements, they are saying he's got a certain look in his eye if you know what I mean. What do you think? I don't see it. I just think it's a nice picture or the two of us.

This week's theme/prompt is:

HEADS - "Point"

Make any kind of post using "Point" as your prompt. You can point something out, get to the point, make a point, etc.


Boy is Aurora ever giving me the "Just point the camera and click" look! I guess her little brother is a getting little heavy.

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This is one of my sons favorite toys, Screaming Banshee from the Disney Cars movie. I'm not sure if he likes it because it's from Cars or just because it's loud....probably because it's loud.

I just started my sixth month with SENSA and I am ecstatic to tell you that so far I have lost 20 pounds.

If only everything in life could be as simple and easy as losing weight with SENSA. All I do is simply sprinkle the tastant powder on whatever I eat and I lose weight. With the tastant powder I get full faster and so I don't eat as much....can't get any as simpler then that!

I have one more month of SENSA and then I will post my before and after photos so you can see just how well
SENSA works.

I am so happy with the weight loss I have gotten from SENSA that I'm going to do the six month regime again. By the end of summer I am going to look absolutely fantastic!

If you would like more information about SENSA go to www.TrySensa.com. You can enter the promotion code ROCKETXL for 15% off or your order and free ground shipping.