What is Borax?

I was given a box of Borax by Purex Insiders in exchange for a blog review. Of course, all of the opinions that I express are my own!

So What is Borax? According to 20 Mule Team, Borax is 100% natural mineral from the earth. Once removed from the ground it is washed, dried and boxed for consumers. Borax is the common name for sodium tetraborate: a naturally occurring substance produced by the perpetual evaporation of seasonal lakes. They add nothing to Borax, no phosphates, chlorine or other chemicals. One of the main things that Borax does is helps detergent work better by softening the water. We don't have extremely hard water like some parts of the country, but we do have minerals and tannins in our water. Anything that helps keep my clothes and removes stains is great!

So what did my precious child want to do with the box of Borax that we received in the mail? Did she want to scrub our kitchen and bath? Did she pull out all of her stained clothes and start doing laundry? Nope! She insisted that the first thing we do with the Borax was to make slime!

How do you make Borax Slime you ask? Mix 1 teaspoon of Borax with 1 cup of water. In a separate plastic bowl, mix 1 bottle of school glue with your favorite food coloring. Add the Borax solution to the glue and mix. Immediately, the glue will become slimy and fun to play with!

While I don't recommend giving it to small children, I feel better knowing that Borax is natural if I am going to let my child play with it. And it will get the stains out of her clothes!

Wanna try Borax? I have coupons for my loyal blog readers! Shoot me a comment below and we will pick the winners in a week! 

Stains! Oxy them out!

I was recently given the opportunity to try out Purex Triple Action with Oxi and Zout Detergent.   I use either Purex or homemade laundry detergent, but with a six year old with pink pants....I need something more! I poured it directly on the stains and it worked!
If you would like to try it yourself, I have three coupons from Purex Insiders to giveaway for a FREE bottle of Purex Triple Action Detergent!  I’m going to make this a pretty quick giveaway with easy entry!  Simply enter your name and email below.
You can also earn two extra entries:

• Share Princess in a Not so Fairytale World with your friends
• Retweet this giveaway link with the hashtag #purex and @loriola1 in it!

Classical Conversations Dice on Mod Podge

I am the proud mother of a first grader! Woohooo! For all of you who have never had a first grader, here are some of the joys of first grade:

1. She is big enough to use the bathroom on her own, but still needs to be reminded to wipe, flush and wash. And please do it in that order! 
2. First graders can do chores, but still need mom to remind her when, where and how.
3. My first grader can read pretty much anything that is put in front of her (Thanks Abeka Phonics!), but that doesn't mean that she will fully understand it. 
4. She doesn't like to give hugs and kisses when we part company, but still needs cuddles at home. 

We had a great time homeschooling last year, but there were some areas of her education that I felt were lacking.  For example, when you are homeschooling one child, it is really easy to get off schedule. It is so easy to forget to do the fun stuff or to swing the opposite direction and do too much fun stuff. I really wanted accountability this year, so we decided to look into Classical Conversations. We talked to some moms that were already doing it and attended an open house day. When we left the open house, my little princess asked, "When can we do that again?" I knew that I had to make this happen for my child.

I am not one to just step into something and see if it is right for us. No, I jump in with both feet! Not only am I enrolling my child in Classical Conversations (CC), I am going to be a tutor! Which brings me to the dice.... CC is big on memorization. Yes, I can hear the collective groan of the education world, and I was once one of those folks who groaned about how boring memorizing stuff is. But CC has a reason and a method of teaching that is time tested and has been proven. If you want more information on that, watch this video.

One of the tools that CC moms use are reciting the grammar in different voices. Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood created these nifty dice that suggest different voices, subjects and weeks to review. She made them so they can be printed, folded and glued into a cube shape which is really cool! The only problem is that with kids, I don't see the card stock dice holding up for a whole school year. I have been searching for other options. I found some really cool foam blocks online, but the cost was $5 and up for a set of two! I contemplated a trip to the craft store or even Home Depot for wood blocks, but with gas prices on the rise, I have to have a really good reason to drive across town. Yesterday, I was in my local Dollar Tree picking up some athlete's foot cream. I decided to look in the school supplies and see if I could find some dice. No, dice! How about wood blocks in the toys? Nope, but I found these great foam dice! A set of two for $1! WooHoo! I went home, printed the dice pattern, cut them out and Mod Podged them on the dice! They are perfect! The Mod Podge is a little flexible, so if the corners get crushed a the foam will pop back into place without cracking the Mod Podge. I love them so much, I am thinking about making some photo cubes out of the extra set for Christmas gifts!
 

The Quotable Rouge

Today I have another BookSneeze review for ya'll. This book has been out for a while and I am kind of embarrassed that I have waited so long to do this review, but then again Sarah Palin is the politician turned pundit that folks just won't quit talking about, so I guess it is okay. No other woman in my lifetime has been such a lightening rod for controversy.

Book Description

Inspiring, impactful, and revealing words from political and cultural icon Sarah Palin.
Many a pundit has tried to define Sarah Palin, but this is one woman who chooses not to wear labels imposed by others but instead to define herself by her own words and actions. Today she is one of the most sought after speakers and commentators and is poised to help to frame the issues in the 2010 election and beyond. The Quotable Rogue encapsulates Palin’s thoughts on such salient issues as health care, taxes, and government spending, the right to life, climate change, what it means for a politician to serve the people, and more.

• “We need to spend more time lifting up America instead of apologizing for the greatest country on earth.”
• “How’s that hopey-changey thing workin’ out for you?”
• “My dad always says, ‘Don’t retreat, just reload.’ Don’t let anybody tell you to sit down and shut up.”

Matt Lewis is a writer, blogger and commentator based in Alexandria, VA. He currently serves as a senior contributor for The Daily Caller. To get up-to-the-minute Sarah Palin commentary and daily news updates from Matt, please visit the following:
Website: http://mattlewis.org/
Blog at The Daily Caller: http://dailycaller.com/mattlewis/ Twitter: @MattKLewis and @QuotableRogue Book Hashtag for more Sarah Palin quotes and commentary: #PalinQuotes

My Take

First off, I adore Sarah Palin. I supported her for VP and love that she stands for the American values that made this country great.  So basically, this book is a book of quotes. It is what she believes in and not what the liberal news media wants you to think she believes. While Sarah is no Ronald Reagan, she still has storng conservative values and a love for freedom that is the heart beat of America. The book is broken down into categories that make it easy to look up a quote on whatever subject you need a Sarah Palin quote. Some of the quotes are typical Alaska "Sarah" that make the intellectual folks in America cringe. Some is straight forward, honest issues that will challenge they way you think about the world. Check it out for yourself!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Jingle No More

I decided to be legal and get my dogs their rabies shots and licenses. When I got them home and put them on the dogs this is what I heard....jingle, jingle, jingle...day and night. It was making me crazy! So I started searching for "dog tag silencers." I found two basic types. One was a little silicone bumper that goes around the tag. The problem with this is you have to get one that is the right shape for your dogs tags. The rabies tag is a heart, so no problem there. The license is shaped like a little VW Bug. Big problem finding that one! The second option is a pouch that goes over the tag. This seemed like a good idea until I saw the price. $10 plus shipping! Per dog! Ouch. For a little pouch of neoprene?

So, I came up with my own solution....Balloons! I slipped a balloon over the two tags. Now my sweet pups are blissfully quiet! She is not one to chew on her tags or collar (or anything else for that matter), so I don't worry about her ingesting the balloon. If your dog tends to chew, you may want to reevaluate if this is a good idea for you!

New babies! And I was declaired cancer free again!

Here are the newly hatched babies! They took their sweet time getting here. My calculation said that they should have hatched out Monday, but they waited a few extra days. Hopefully the straggling eggs will hatch tonight.
My doctor's appointment went well. I got the drain out, but have to go back next week for the stitches. The open wound has to heal on its own. Yuck! He did say it was looking great. Again the biopsy said that I was cancer free. I will still need a mammogram in 3 months to check my progress.
Tomorrow is date night! Woohoo!

Breast Update with a TMI warning!

I have a strict No Boobies on the internet policy, so you will have to enjoy a picture of the flowers that my friend sent me! Thanks Maegan!

Well folks, I am almost positive that the mastitis is going away! I did have the surgery which left me out of the loop for the past week, but things are looking better. I do not like being knocked out and then drugged. My poor husband has been a doll! The night after the surgery, he cooked me some yellow rice which normally I love. Sadly, when he brought it and put it in front of me, I pushed it away and puked in the kitchen trash can. Hubby doesn't deal well with puke, but he was my hero. He cleaned it up. I tried eating a piece of bread with my medicine a few hours later. Once again, it came up. Poor guy was on puke duty once again! The next day the doctor prescribed me something for my tummy.


Changing the dressing has been another adventure. Hubby is not up for that! He won't look at it. I have a drain and an open in incision that has to be "packed" daily. The first day, Mom came down and helped me change it, but after that I was able to do it. My daughter walked in the bathroom and saw me changing my bandages the other day and declared it "GROSS!" I have to agree!


Tomorrow I have an appointment with my surgeon. He will have the results of the latest biopsies and hopefully will be removing the drain and stitches! Wish me luck!