Good morning.
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. And if you braved the sales yesterday or this morning I hope you got everything on your list.
Enjoy 25% savings storewide at Because I'm Me through December 3rd with coupon code BEC25.
Some gift ideas available in the Because I'm Me shop.
Many Because I'm Me quilts are lap sized, big enough to snuggle under all winter long. Others are toddler or baby sized; just right for a toddler bed cover, floor mat, or wall hanging.
You can find our current selection of quilts here.
Camera strap covers are both practical and stylish. The padding makes the cover so much more comfortable on the neck, and the lens cap pocket is a perfect little storage place. And, let's be honest, they're way more attractive than the standard black strap everyone else has.
Find a strap cover to suit your fancy, or the fancy of those on your gift list, in the shop.
Many Because I'm Me quilts are lap sized, big enough to snuggle under all winter long. Others are toddler or baby sized; just right for a toddler bed cover, floor mat, or wall hanging.
You can find our current selection of quilts here.
Camera strap covers are both practical and stylish. The padding makes the cover so much more comfortable on the neck, and the lens cap pocket is a perfect little storage place. And, let's be honest, they're way more attractive than the standard black strap everyone else has.
Find a strap cover to suit your fancy, or the fancy of those on your gift list, in the shop.
Maybe he doesn't mind being a tie model, maybe he knows if he cooperates he'll get it over with more quickly. Either way, another Hippo in a tie image for your viewing pleasure.
Just in case you don't want to dress your cat in a tie ... this is a good people tie too.
In the shop. :)
I can't believe it. I just can't. This big kid is six today! Six!
It sure seems like I posted his arrival just yesterday.
This amazing six year old is just such a wonderful blessing; smart, funny, happy, snuggly, kind and loving (and a pretty good tie model!). He is quite a ray of sunshine.
Happy Birthday River Man. I love you as much as I can and more.
Save, save, save! Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sale going on now at Because I'm Me. Enjoy 25% savings storewide with coupon code BEC25 at becauseimme.etsy.com.
Happy Thanksgiving week.
I know it's close to Christmas, not the time to be adding new holiday ties to the shop, but I have a really, really hard (read: impossible) time saying "no" to fabric.
So, a few new Christmas/holiday ties have been added to the shop, including this fun Christmas tree print.
Just click on the image to go to the ties in the shop.
So, a few new Christmas/holiday ties have been added to the shop, including this fun Christmas tree print.
Just click on the image to go to the ties in the shop.
Yesterday I posted about the new airplane ties in the shop (which are awesome).
I wanted to share a little about the super fun, easy, and versatile paper airplane backdrop.
As you can see, the airplanes are the most basic simple planes. After making the airplanes I glued them together in the center, then glued them to simple brown string.
I could easily have used a different airplane style. I also could have weighted the bottoms of the airplanes for a more formal "all together" appearance, but for this project I was fine with kind of a loose "do your own thing" look. Using fishing line would have removed the string from the pictures and would have been just as easy, but I wanted the natural string to show. All things that are just a matter of preference!
After making and stringing the planes I gave them a few hours to let the glue dry.
Once it was dry the strung airplanes were attached to a spare clothing rack left over from Ditto Kiddo. The clothing rack is collapsible, so it's very easy to keep handy yet still out of the way. It's also adjustable, with the height rising and the hanging bar expanding. It's also on wheels, an added bonus.
The strings are just taped on with masking tape.
And that's all there is to it!
Airplanes everywhere!
We had so much fun with these photos, especially playing with the airplane "backdrop". More to come on that.
Each year, while doing home school reviews with the TOS Crew, my family comes across two or three products that are clear cut favorites, ones that will absolutely, positively, 110% be used until we can no longer use them. I'm excited to say that Snake Oil is one of those products.
The game was given to us for review by Out of the Box Games, a leading American game company since 1998. Snake Oil, billed as "The Best Party Game in the World!", is perfect for kids and adults ages 10 and up.
The game comes in a very sturdy box, about 8.5" by 11" by 2.5". Inside the box is a set of 28 sturdy colorful Customer Cards (double-sided for 56 customers in all), listing different "Customers" on them, such as a Taxi Driver, Beggar, Diva, Rapper, Witch, or Gangster. There are also 336 glossy Word Cards, with words like Safety, Pocket, Powder, Belly, Hook, Banana, Whip, and Bra.
Very simply, one person acts as the customer, adopting the persona of the drawn Customer Card. The other players combine two Word Cards from their hand and then work to persuade the customer to purchase their product with smooth, not necessarily practical, talk, using the techniques made famous by the old snake oil salesmen. After hearing all the sales pitches of the players the Customer chooses the product he feels would best suit him because of the awesome sales pitch and gives the customer card to that player. Then the player to the left becomes the Customer and the Players make their sales pitches to him. At the end of the game the player with the most Customer Cards wins.
Easy enough, right? Learning how to play the game is certainly easy, taking just a minute or two to explain to new players. Selling something to a Cheerleader when the cards in your hand are Barf, Diaper, Banana, Cliff, Wind, and Seat isn't easy at all. That's when the game gets hilarious, because you will do your very best to sell a Diaper Banana to that Cheerleader or a Lava Tarp to a Teenager, and if you sell it right you just might win the round.
Game play last as long as you choose. You can have the game end when one player obtains a certain number of Customer Cards or after a certain number of rounds. We tended to play until we had to do something else, with games lasting anywhere from 20 minutes to 90 minutes.
River, at 5, couldn't read most of the cards but once they were read to him he did as good a job as anyone creating a "marketable" product and did just fine as the customer. He and I teamed up a few times, which worked well too.
The game, while being educational, doesn't feel educational. I'm sure if I asked my kids right now what they learned playing Snake Oil they'd just look at me funny, because in their minds they were just playing a really fun game. But it is educational. The players learn to think and reason very quickly, to speak well in front of a group, to clearly sell their product through persuasion with plenty of descriptive adjectives and adverbs, vocabulary skills, and to be very, very creative. Snake Oil also caters to many Common Core standards, as can be seen in this spreadsheet. Snake Oil has won a number of awards such as the Mensa Select National Competition Winner.
So, yes, the kids were learning. But to me that wasn't the best part of the game. The best part was the way family and friends played together and laughed. This is a game anyone can play and can learn quickly, making it accessible to everyone. I loved listening to the conversations going on as this game was played, the laughing with each other and bonding over the silly sales pitches.
My oldest daughter dropped by with a new friend while the kids were playing the game. The two college students sat right down and started playing. Within moments the new friend was an old family friend and everyone was in hysterics. Perfect.
We found that age is not a factor in this game. Kids and adults can easily play together, with no one having a real clear cut advantage. While the adults might have better grasps of some of the words and a more mature sales style the kids were much more creative more quickly and had an easier time coming up with off-the-wall products.
I give this game two thumbs up!
From the kids: "I have a great game for you. It's called Snake Oil. Every family needs this game. It's entertaining for the entire family and will keep everyone young and healthy because they'll be laughing all the time. When you play Snake Oil your whole family will get along and do something together, making great memories. Snake Oil is really, really fun. And it makes a great Christmas gift."
Snake Oil is available from Out of the Box Games for $19.99, and is geared towards players ages 10 and up.
If you play this game, or have played it, let me know what you think of it ... and what your craziest sales pitches are!
One day my oldest daughter turned 21. I have no idea how that's possible, being as I'm just so very young myself, but it happened. To celebrate this monumental occasion we visited Olive Garden with the whole family and Cassie had her very first ever alcoholic beverage (b.s., but I like to tell myself these things, so indulge me). The ladies at the table ordered Italian Margaritas, an Olive Garden specialty.
Well, it was a very good margarita. And I still can't believe she's 21.
So good that I decided to make a few at home. Italian Margaritas call for Amaretto, which was fine until I priced it at the liquor store. $25ish just wasn't in the budget.
The maker in me decided I had to be able to make it myself, so I did. It's really quite simple, actually.
I followed this recipe and had very easily homemade amaretto in under an hour. However, it wasn't very good after an hour. It took another week or so to sit and allow the flavors to blend and settle, and is now very, very good.
The cost savings were ridiculous and well worth the minimal DIY effort.
Feeling awfully proud of myself and amazed that these things could actually be home made, I decided I could also make Triple Sec, another margarita staple. Because, why not? For the triple sec I followed this recipe. I found a lot of recipes for triple sec, each of which was very different. This one came out very nicely, a little less orange flavor than I'd like and a little more clove-y than I'd like, but good overall.
What's next? Homemade sour mix, of course, which required gathering two cups each of fresh lime and lemon juice. The sour mix was good, but not good enough to spend all that time juicing fruit. Sour Mix isn't very expensive, so I'll stick to store bought, thank you very much.
A few days later, still feeling great about my new found skills and all the money I saved I decided to make vanilla. I purchased beans here, though I'm sure you could purchase them elsewhere just as well and I really have no justification for buying the ones I did other than that they were a good deal. Some recipes call for slicing the beans, some say just chop them and the end result will be the same. I went for chopping and added 13 chopped beans, in about 1/2" pieces, to about 20 oz. of inexpensive vodka. Each day for 30 days the bottle is shaken and then, voila, vanilla is made.
My plan is to only take what I need from the bottle, straining it into a tiny bottle. As the original vodka/bean mix is depleted I'll add more beans but instead of vodka I'm going to use a bourbon for the base instead. I think the flavor will be much richer and smoother.
I now had these awesome mixes sitting in square Ziploc containers, which were impossible to pour from and were kind of bulky. The kids and I headed out to Target to see what they had in pretty glass closable bottles. We did find some beautiful ones but they ran about $6 each, which was more than I was willing to spend. I remembered the infused vinegars I'd given as gifts a few years ago, packaged in Perrier bottles, so we headed over to the beverages section. The Perrier is now sold in plastic so we searched until we found some Rose's Cocktail Infusions on clearance. Pretty cool wavy glass bottles for between $2 and $3 each. Perfect solution, especially with the nice, narrow mouth for easy pouring.
I purchased sparkling cider for the kids to mix the flavorings into and we came home and drank them out of fancy plastic champagne glasses left over from New Year's Eve.
After the bottles were emptied the labels pealed right off. I removed the remaining glue by spraying Goof Off and wiping it off. Super simple. After a good washing the bottles were ready for use.
In the meantime I took some pictures of River, because that's always fun.
I created the labels in PicMonkey, creating a wordless template at the same time so I can go back in and add different lettering to the labels as I fill more bottles (I have many more). The labels were printed on mailing labels from Because I'm Me and applied to the bottles.
That's all there was to the project.
I've also been making homemade tortillas, both flour and corn. Word of warning on that one: Don't do it. Once you do your family won't ever want to go back to store bought and they'll ask for homemade tortillas all the time. Thankfully, they're so simple most all the kids are quite adept at making them.
Have you made your own liquors or vanilla? Please share your story!
Well, it was a very good margarita. And I still can't believe she's 21.
So good that I decided to make a few at home. Italian Margaritas call for Amaretto, which was fine until I priced it at the liquor store. $25ish just wasn't in the budget.
The maker in me decided I had to be able to make it myself, so I did. It's really quite simple, actually.
I followed this recipe and had very easily homemade amaretto in under an hour. However, it wasn't very good after an hour. It took another week or so to sit and allow the flavors to blend and settle, and is now very, very good.
The cost savings were ridiculous and well worth the minimal DIY effort.
Feeling awfully proud of myself and amazed that these things could actually be home made, I decided I could also make Triple Sec, another margarita staple. Because, why not? For the triple sec I followed this recipe. I found a lot of recipes for triple sec, each of which was very different. This one came out very nicely, a little less orange flavor than I'd like and a little more clove-y than I'd like, but good overall.
What's next? Homemade sour mix, of course, which required gathering two cups each of fresh lime and lemon juice. The sour mix was good, but not good enough to spend all that time juicing fruit. Sour Mix isn't very expensive, so I'll stick to store bought, thank you very much.
A few days later, still feeling great about my new found skills and all the money I saved I decided to make vanilla. I purchased beans here, though I'm sure you could purchase them elsewhere just as well and I really have no justification for buying the ones I did other than that they were a good deal. Some recipes call for slicing the beans, some say just chop them and the end result will be the same. I went for chopping and added 13 chopped beans, in about 1/2" pieces, to about 20 oz. of inexpensive vodka. Each day for 30 days the bottle is shaken and then, voila, vanilla is made.
My plan is to only take what I need from the bottle, straining it into a tiny bottle. As the original vodka/bean mix is depleted I'll add more beans but instead of vodka I'm going to use a bourbon for the base instead. I think the flavor will be much richer and smoother.
I now had these awesome mixes sitting in square Ziploc containers, which were impossible to pour from and were kind of bulky. The kids and I headed out to Target to see what they had in pretty glass closable bottles. We did find some beautiful ones but they ran about $6 each, which was more than I was willing to spend. I remembered the infused vinegars I'd given as gifts a few years ago, packaged in Perrier bottles, so we headed over to the beverages section. The Perrier is now sold in plastic so we searched until we found some Rose's Cocktail Infusions on clearance. Pretty cool wavy glass bottles for between $2 and $3 each. Perfect solution, especially with the nice, narrow mouth for easy pouring.
I purchased sparkling cider for the kids to mix the flavorings into and we came home and drank them out of fancy plastic champagne glasses left over from New Year's Eve.
After the bottles were emptied the labels pealed right off. I removed the remaining glue by spraying Goof Off and wiping it off. Super simple. After a good washing the bottles were ready for use.
In the meantime I took some pictures of River, because that's always fun.
I created the labels in PicMonkey, creating a wordless template at the same time so I can go back in and add different lettering to the labels as I fill more bottles (I have many more). The labels were printed on mailing labels from Because I'm Me and applied to the bottles.
That's all there was to the project.
I've also been making homemade tortillas, both flour and corn. Word of warning on that one: Don't do it. Once you do your family won't ever want to go back to store bought and they'll ask for homemade tortillas all the time. Thankfully, they're so simple most all the kids are quite adept at making them.
Have you made your own liquors or vanilla? Please share your story!
"A Bowtie on a Cat" might have been the better title.
Hippo is such an awesome model, and he wears ties very, very well. He's kind of a lot lazy, so there's no real worry of him running off at the wrong time, and he'll sit and stare at the camera or at whoever is distracting him for as long as it takes.
The tie features lines of infinity symbols or figure "8's" on a wonderful turquoise woven cotton tie. Very simple, but lovely and sophisticated.
The tie is available in the shop. Hippo ... sorry, I'm keeping him. :)
"Practice that feels like play."
That's one of the goals of IXL, an online math and reading practice program Adam (13), Kaden (11), and River (5) were given to use for review.
Math: Play? Seriously, we're doing Algebra around here and there's nothing playful about that. Pre-Algebra - also not much fun. There were two unconvinced boys in my home! First grade math, yeah, that is pretty fun ... at least River went into this one confident he'd like it.
IXL (I had to hear it said out loud to understand the name) is an internet based Math and Language Arts program practice program. The math portion covers preschool through high school, the language arts program currently covers 2nd through 8th grades. The program is very easy for the students to use and operate and all the kids, even River, were able to use the program independently.
Within each grade are a vast array of topics and skills. For example, Kaden is working on 7th grade math. 256 7th grade skills are covered, that's more than one skill per school day.
When deciding what skill set to work on the student can hover over the skill and a sample question will pop up, perfect for River who couldn't read all the words in the skill set listings but could easily understand the sample questions.
Clicking on a skill set will lead to questions about that specific skill. As the student answers each question correctly they earn points. An incorrect answer results in the loss of points. As the student progresses the questions will become more difficult and fewer points are awarded for each correct answer. After mastering a skill by earning 100 points those mastered skills earn medals and help the child earn rewards.
The skill questions do not include lessons, this program is a review program and focuses on enhancing what the kids are already learning in their classes. There are explanations for wrong answers though, explaining what might have been done wrong and how to do it right, which is very helpful when the child doesn't know where his misunderstanding is.
I worked on one of Kaden's skills, Prime or Composite Numbers. While the skill itself wasn't super difficult I found the occasional wrong answers set me way back and made me work really hard to get to 100. Plus there was a timer, so I felt I had to hurry. I did it, but it took over 10 minutes. I felt quite mentally challenged! Let me point out that I did, proudly, earn a gold medal (see below).
As the student reaches 100 points and earns medals they receive prize. Prizes uncover tiles on a rewards board. This may seem super simple and not like the most motivating thing ever, but the kids raved about it. Even Mia, who used IXL last year (not for a review) talked excitedly about the tiles. IXL seems to know what works!
While I incorporated 20 minutes of IXL per day into the kids school schedules I didn't supervise them as they worked, allowing them to explore the site and work independently.
River had no problem using his 20 minutes in the First Grade area, where he felt comfortable, and tried a variety of different math activities.
Adam and Kaden explored the site a little more, which is exactly what I wanted them to do, and, once or twice, while trying to meet their 20 minute time quota without doing any work, checked out the preschool section. Um, yeah ... not exactly what I wanted them to do. At the time they weren't aware that IXL sends out a weekly parent report telling me how long each child worked, what they worked on, and how they did ... it didn't take long for me to discover the preschool work they were doing (at least this one mastered the skill and did it quickly) and to encourage them to work on more age appropriate material.
For the most part they did stay within their grade level and did their best. The weekly report was very helpful, letting me know what they were working on and how they were doing. All three boys work was combined on one weekly report, making it super easy to keep track of their work.
Overall, I am very pleased with this program. 99% of the time the boys worked on what they were supposed to and the drills helped them to learn and retain information far more effectively than just their math lessons. They enjoyed the Language Arts lessons and did pretty well in that arena. IXL is not "fun" as in full of whistles, bells, and silly songs, but it's a great learning tool and the kids did like it, especially earning awards and succeeding.
I really like how easy it is to find one's way around the program. Very clear and simple.
If I could change anything it would be to be able to set limits for the children, to be able to block certain grades or sections to keep the kids working on what they needed to be working on instead of the easier lower grades.
IPad and Android apps are also included in the program, but we have neither so I was not able to give those a try.
Adam:
Kaden:
So, was it fun? Did it feel like play? Pretty much! I can't say the program has made all their math fun or that they'd admit math can be fun, but they did have fun playing games and using IXL. Reinforcing their lessons and skills does makes Math and Language Arts a whole lot less painful, if not fun.
Moving forward I plan to target certain things for the boys to work on, mixing letting them work on whatever they want with working on specific skills. Mia suggested having a contest to see who can earn the most points in their age-appropriate levels, something that was done at her school last year with IXL, which I think we could have some fun with.
IXL Math is offered for students in Preschool through Algebra, Geometry, and Precalculus. Language Arts is currently available for Grades 2 though 8, with plans to add more grades in the very near future. An annual IXL subscription for one child for math is $79; for math and Language Arts is $129; an annual IXL subscription for two children for math is $99; for math and Language Arts for two children is $149.
That's one of the goals of IXL, an online math and reading practice program Adam (13), Kaden (11), and River (5) were given to use for review.
Math: Play? Seriously, we're doing Algebra around here and there's nothing playful about that. Pre-Algebra - also not much fun. There were two unconvinced boys in my home! First grade math, yeah, that is pretty fun ... at least River went into this one confident he'd like it.
IXL (I had to hear it said out loud to understand the name) is an internet based Math and Language Arts program practice program. The math portion covers preschool through high school, the language arts program currently covers 2nd through 8th grades. The program is very easy for the students to use and operate and all the kids, even River, were able to use the program independently.
Within each grade are a vast array of topics and skills. For example, Kaden is working on 7th grade math. 256 7th grade skills are covered, that's more than one skill per school day.
When deciding what skill set to work on the student can hover over the skill and a sample question will pop up, perfect for River who couldn't read all the words in the skill set listings but could easily understand the sample questions.
Clicking on a skill set will lead to questions about that specific skill. As the student answers each question correctly they earn points. An incorrect answer results in the loss of points. As the student progresses the questions will become more difficult and fewer points are awarded for each correct answer. After mastering a skill by earning 100 points those mastered skills earn medals and help the child earn rewards.
The skill questions do not include lessons, this program is a review program and focuses on enhancing what the kids are already learning in their classes. There are explanations for wrong answers though, explaining what might have been done wrong and how to do it right, which is very helpful when the child doesn't know where his misunderstanding is.
I worked on one of Kaden's skills, Prime or Composite Numbers. While the skill itself wasn't super difficult I found the occasional wrong answers set me way back and made me work really hard to get to 100. Plus there was a timer, so I felt I had to hurry. I did it, but it took over 10 minutes. I felt quite mentally challenged! Let me point out that I did, proudly, earn a gold medal (see below).
As the student reaches 100 points and earns medals they receive prize. Prizes uncover tiles on a rewards board. This may seem super simple and not like the most motivating thing ever, but the kids raved about it. Even Mia, who used IXL last year (not for a review) talked excitedly about the tiles. IXL seems to know what works!
While I incorporated 20 minutes of IXL per day into the kids school schedules I didn't supervise them as they worked, allowing them to explore the site and work independently.
River had no problem using his 20 minutes in the First Grade area, where he felt comfortable, and tried a variety of different math activities.
Adam and Kaden explored the site a little more, which is exactly what I wanted them to do, and, once or twice, while trying to meet their 20 minute time quota without doing any work, checked out the preschool section. Um, yeah ... not exactly what I wanted them to do. At the time they weren't aware that IXL sends out a weekly parent report telling me how long each child worked, what they worked on, and how they did ... it didn't take long for me to discover the preschool work they were doing (at least this one mastered the skill and did it quickly) and to encourage them to work on more age appropriate material.
For the most part they did stay within their grade level and did their best. The weekly report was very helpful, letting me know what they were working on and how they were doing. All three boys work was combined on one weekly report, making it super easy to keep track of their work.
Overall, I am very pleased with this program. 99% of the time the boys worked on what they were supposed to and the drills helped them to learn and retain information far more effectively than just their math lessons. They enjoyed the Language Arts lessons and did pretty well in that arena. IXL is not "fun" as in full of whistles, bells, and silly songs, but it's a great learning tool and the kids did like it, especially earning awards and succeeding.
I really like how easy it is to find one's way around the program. Very clear and simple.
If I could change anything it would be to be able to set limits for the children, to be able to block certain grades or sections to keep the kids working on what they needed to be working on instead of the easier lower grades.
IPad and Android apps are also included in the program, but we have neither so I was not able to give those a try.
Adam:
I liked how you have goals and when you finish them there's an award. The website is easy to access and well organized. I liked that there were time limits and that I could work at my own pace.
I'd like it more if it kept track of how you advanced in a subject. For example, if I do one subject and then do it again I'd like it to tell me how much better I did the second time.
There's a list of awards. Each award has a goal. One of the goals might be to master 5 skills in a certain category. Once you complete the goal more question marks pop up with more goals.
Kaden:
IXL is a fun learning website. It helps with Math and Language Arts. It is a challenge, not just easy, which I like. You can choose what grade you do and then what skills you want to practice. As you work you can check on what skills you've mastered and see where you need improvement. I like that the program tells you what you've done wrong and that you get rewarded for doing problems and mastering skills.
I don't like that the Language Arts section doesn't give you points for the prizes.
So, was it fun? Did it feel like play? Pretty much! I can't say the program has made all their math fun or that they'd admit math can be fun, but they did have fun playing games and using IXL. Reinforcing their lessons and skills does makes Math and Language Arts a whole lot less painful, if not fun.
Moving forward I plan to target certain things for the boys to work on, mixing letting them work on whatever they want with working on specific skills. Mia suggested having a contest to see who can earn the most points in their age-appropriate levels, something that was done at her school last year with IXL, which I think we could have some fun with.
IXL Math is offered for students in Preschool through Algebra, Geometry, and Precalculus. Language Arts is currently available for Grades 2 though 8, with plans to add more grades in the very near future. An annual IXL subscription for one child for math is $79; for math and Language Arts is $129; an annual IXL subscription for two children for math is $99; for math and Language Arts for two children is $149.