Life at Oak Grove

One Thousand Gifts–Week 36

2012-02-13T06:47:00.001-05:00

361. Another session of swimming lesson for the kids.

362. Fun time at the hill sledding with friends

363. Good news from companies I contacted to review their products.

364. Awana Grand Prix even if my son didn’t get a medal this year. The important thing is participation.

365. Special night at Awana – last week was Valentine night and the kids blessed their friends with little chocolates.

366. Receiving a replacement copy of Devotions for Homeschool Moms because the one I had was falling apart due to a problem in the binding.

367. My vision – to see the colors, the face of my kids when they are silly, the words on the page on a book – things we often take for granted…

368. Being able to whisper “I Love You” to each of my kids and my husband.

369. God’s provision in our life. May He continues to open doors of opportunity in the weeks and months to come.

370. Seeing my husband counting down the weeks to see when we can go to the RV…

One Thousand Gifts–Week 35

2012-02-06T08:00:00.001-05:00

351. Survival Week at swimming lessons which is a HUGE hit for my kids – wearing clothes in the pool and doing things that are out of the ordinary…

352. Having a hill next to the swimming lessons so they can go slide and have fun afterward…

353. WINTERLUDE in Ottawa, ON. A fun time for everyone!

354. The ice sculptures we went to see yesterday. (the picture is part of a sculpture titled Food Chain… See the mouse in one of the feet of the owl.) Amazing details!

355.Awana Fun night – Pyjama were the dress codes last Thursday.

356. Even though my husband had to work on Saturday – having the kids go play outside was an enormous blessing.

357. My oldest son who is always very helpful.

358.Being told that it is always a joy to teach my kids when they come out of Sunday School at church.

359.Getting a good deal for a sled (because one died a couple of weeks ago) and a Jiffy Rink (which we will use next year).

360. Having the books/curriculums to teach my kids numerous things. It’s unbelievable how God has blessed me since I started homeschooling and reviewing products! Speechless.

One Thousand Gifts–Week 34

2012-01-30T13:01:00.001-05:00

341. the weather – though we had a lot of freezing rain lately…

342. The back of our house facing south which means we have the sunshine in the kitchen/living room throughout the day!

343. Supper with my husband at a new restaurant.

344. Getting free books in exchange of reviews – the best part is that I can request anything I want with that publisher!

345. A husband willing to help when one of the kids is sick – together we were able to clean up in 30 minutes which would have taken MUCH longer if I had done it alone. At 11:15pm – it was a gigantic blessing!

346. A lunch with another family from church

347. Seeing my kids having fun with the kids of the other couple.

348. Having a beautiful sunny day so they can go play outside.

349. Great conversations between the adults.

350. Netflix and the series MONK.

My husband rocks my world in good times and bad times

2012-01-28T08:08:00.001-05:00

Honestly I think I am the luckiest woman in the whole wide world. My husband is just the best because he is there no matter when I need him. I seriously think I got the jackpot when he entered my life. But I also know that God knew what was best for me. Even after 14 years being together, I am amaze how we complete ourselves in various ways.

Let me explain.

In the past two days, I had on and off pain in my lower abdomen. Thursday was the worst for the pain was constantly there. Not a bit pain but it was bothering me. I prayed about it and it seemed to somewhat disappear because on Thursday evening while we were having our date (the kids having Awana) I barely noticed it. Compared with the afternoon sensations it was better.

On Friday morning I didn’t feel anything. I thought it was gone. But in the afternoon it was there – on and off… I could feel it at times while other times I was fine. That morning for some reason I woke up at 311am and couldn’t go to sleep. No reasons in particular. Just insomnia I guess.

So in the afternoon I took a cat nap for a short period of time. I got up at 4pm because I needed to prepare supper. At some point before we sat down to eat, I asked the kids to pray for mommy’s pain because I could feel it again. We ate and my daughter kept complaining that her belly hurt. We both knew that she dislikes the mixed vegetables she had in her plate so we encouraged her to finish her plate to get dessert. We have a rule in our house – you can’t finish you plate then you don’t get dessert.

After supper time, she kept complaining more again. I thought she was doing so because I asked for prayer for my own abdominal pain and sometimes she copies other on that. So I told her to lay down on the sofa and rest a bit. She took off to play instead.

We went to bed at 9ish… at 1115 or so I heard crying – more like whimpering. We don’t have a dog and I knew immediately that it was Jasmine.

I got up and she talked to me with a whining tone saying something like “You didn’t give me a bowl.” What is she talking about? But before I opened the light the stench smell hit my nose. NO! Opening the light I saw the mess on her bedroom floor (which is carpeted by the way) and in her bed. Even one of her Barbie's is dirty.

Poor sweetheart… her belly was REALLY complaining. But at this point in time, maybe because I wasn’t in my plate myself due to the pain and the lack of sleep and also because of the smell, I felt overwhelmed. Almost borderline going to cry. I didn’t believe her… Where should I start? Somehow my brain was not thinking properly.

So I did something that usually I wouldn’t do. I woke up my husband and told him I needed help. You see my husband has trouble to fall asleep. Oh he can but if I wake him in the middle of the night it can take hours for him to get back to sleep. I knew he went to bed after me but I didn’t know at what time (he was working on his computer as he reformatted it). So unwillingly I woke him up. He got up rapidly and came with me. He couldn’t believe his eyes. I mean the floor was covered with it. The bed, her favorite pink blanket, one Barbie, the bed sheets, even her PJ. (For the sensitive hearts reading this I am sorry for the details… but it was overwhelming!)

His reaction was “Oh my goodness!” We immediately kicked in geared both of us. I took care of the bed sheets while he took care of the floor. We picked up the mess, vacuumed, and even washed the carpet. All this at 11pmish. There was no way that she would be able to fall back to sleep with the odor in her room. I gave her a shower, changed her pajama, put some clean bed sheets in her bed. However I had to tell her she couldn’t get back her pink blanket yet has it was dirty. She understood and asked for the one with princesses on it. Within 30-45 minutes, we were able to put her back to bed.

At 12:15 her door closed quite loudly. I went to check and she only had to go to the bathroom.

It took a while for me to go to fall asleep. But at 715am I was awake again. Thought that I heard her calling me again but she was playing downstairs with her big brothers.

She seems to be fine right now. She is back to her normal self. Me? Well I am a bit tired but happy that I had help to clean up.

Before going back to bed, I apologized to wake him up but my husband told me “Don’t worry about it. I’m glad you woke me up. Besides I had just went to bed.” I told him I felt overwhelmed and he said “No kidding.”

Last night I learned two important lessons.

Lesson 1: When one of my kids complains that he/she doesn’t feel well – believe it. I mean they don’t have the habit to complain so there might be something to investigate. Though I have taken her temperature but she was fine.

Lesson 2: Don’t hesitate to wake up the husband when these kind of situations happen. After all we are one and we can support each other through health and sickness. We worked as a team last night. It took less time than if I had to do it myself…

So my question today for you is simple. How does your husband rock your world in challenging times?

A nice surprise

2012-01-25T16:07:00.001-05:00

Today in the mail I got a nice surprise…

My certificate has finally arrived! Yeah!

The first thing I saw was this nice folder which contains the certificate.

And voilà – Graduated with honours from the Social Media Certificate Program.

Sweet!

Being Flexible

2012-01-23T14:40:00.001-05:00

I am on a journey. A journey to discover more of what God wants from me, what He planned in my life, and how He will speak through me on a daily basis.

Walking with Him is like taking a stroll on a beach and listening to the waves coming to crash on the sand.

Earlier this year, I had decided to read through the Bible chronologically as well as going through the a devotional book titled Quiet Time Bible Guide. I also had planned to do this with my French Bible. But within a week or two, stress engulfed me and I was on hedge with homeschooling. I knew I had too much on my shoulders and I needed to make changes.

Changes can be good. I was disappointed not to read through my French Bible this year but honestly it was wise to realize early in the year that my objective was too much for me to go through.

I prayed about it. I have numerous devotionals in the house but I wanted to take one that God will use to speak to me in various ways. When I looked at my bookshelves in my office, I saw one devotional book that grabbed my eyes immediately – One Hundred and One Devotions for Homeschool Moms by Jackie Wellwood.

I had purchased this little jewel a couple of years ago – had started it but with life being crazy and getting lots of reviews, somehow I didn’t pursue the reading of it.

From the first devotion, it spoke to me. Made me ponder on how I am. A main scripture is also at the top of the devotion. I could read it directly from the book but I take my French Bible and discover the Scriptures in my mother tongue. Somehow, I get ah-ah moments when I do this. It’s as though I obtain a new understanding of the Scriptures. It might be silly but that how I feel when I read them in French.

For example, the very first devotional was about have a meek and quiet spirit. Ah! Reading the devotional I learned that meek signify to not easily be provoked or irritated. Mmmmm! This is definitively something I need to work on. There are times when I will respond to circumstances. I need to be patient, to take a deep breath and rely on God. Plain and simple. Simple? Not all the time but feasible anyway.

At the end of the year, we discovered that one child is apparently strong will. Somehow this child of mine knows how to push the buttons to get me easily provoked and irritated. I am slowly learning on to stay calm and respond to the arrogance and the testing.

Through the first couple of weeks of January, I have learned that flexibility is necessary for my well-being. There was a battle in me about my first decision for a devotional this year and the realization that it won’t work out after all. I am also learning that it works as well for dealing with a strong will child. I need to identify the battles that are worth fighting for and be flexible for the rest.

If you are a homeschooler and would like God to speak to you on a more personal level concerning your homeschool, I suggest that you consider One Hundred and One Devotions for Homeschool Moms. It is available at any bookstore, even amazon.ca.

One Thousand Gifts–Week 33

2012-01-23T07:22:00.001-05:00

331. Being of service for some friends who needed a lift to the airport last Wednesday morning.

332. Awana re-starting on Thursday after the Christmas Holidays and a cancellation the previous week due to freezing rain…

333. Reaching the half-way point in our Math Curriculum!

334. Spending a great supper with friends and having a great time on Saturday.

335. Trying pavlova for the first time and LOVING it!

336. Finding pavlova recipes on Pinterest…. (I want to try to make one…)

337. My oldest son, who was out last Wednesday morning before 6am, to remove some ice from the drive way – though I find him a bit young to be out that early and we had a chat about it…

338. The kids helping each other and helping around the house.

339. Sledding after the swimming courses though the snow was an ice rink.

340. Being part of a church family!

Something Pinteresting–How Pinterest can become your BFF in Homeschooling

2012-01-17T14:08:00.001-05:00

Some of you might be wondering what I am talking about. So before I explore the numerous possibilities with this innovative social media board, I will tell you what Pinterest is. Simply enough, Pinterest is a vision board sharing website (and app) where users can create and manage theme-based boards. Essentially, think of it as a corkboard where you pin you notes and photos but visualize it as going global. Being on Pinterest permits you to discover other people around the world who has the same taste as you.

Now how can Pinterest be interesting for a homeschooler. This website has gigantic possibilities for someone like you and I. By doing searches on a specific subject you can discover numerous sites and other homeschoolers who have already pinned/studied/explored the said subject in the past. You simply re-pin it on your own board for future references. It is as easy as saying your ABCs but way more addictive – ask anyone who are on it already!

Thanks to Pinterest I can now transfer all the homeschool sites I had included in my favorites and that I always forget about in a specific board and have them under my eyes if needed be. Having the link and an image together is very helpful for a visual person like me.

Once you are on Pinterest (whether by requesting it or getting an invitation from someone…) I would suggest that you think about how you want to be organized. I saying this because at this point in time, I am rethinking and reorganizing my own boards because I found that they were too – how should I say this – vague. For example, I had a board called recipes and one called homeschool (I have since decided to name my boards in French for personal reasons). But everything linked to recipes or homeschool would go there. Now when I wanted to find the recipe for Starbucks Pumpkin Scones or an activity in mathematics, I had trouble finding it in the board. So I decided to split my boards so now I have my bread recipes in a separate board and all my links for mathematics in a different one.

Every now and then, I spend a little bit of time on Pinterest to discover new ideas for homeschool, new French links, new recipes, new social media awareness, new activities for the kids depending of the period of the year and more.

And now when I make a new recipe my husband would ask where I got it and I usually say – Pinterest. It permits me to explore new tastes with my family as well as have some blogging ideas.

You can find everything for anatomy, science lessons, English, French, art, astronomy, Bible lessons, mathematics, geography, history, and more. I recently found a link on how to make worms out of Jello and straws, how to make your own superballs, found templates for super heroes logos (which I suspect will be a BIG hit in our household) as well as learn to optimize a garden (which I hope to have one day!).

There are numerous homeschoolers/teachers on Pinterest and you will definitively find something interesting for your taste/homeschool/kitchen/… I would strongly suggest that you explore the possibilities with Pinterest and let it provide you numerous ideas to explore with your children.

Oh! And if you decide to join Pinterest, feel free to follow me - https://pinterest.com/canadianladybug/ !

One Thousand Gifts–Week 32

2012-01-16T12:41:00.001-05:00

321. Participating to the Ladies’ Prayer Night last week – it was a nice experience to pray for each kids in the church we go to.

322. LivingWatersCanada.org – the ministry that bring relational healing.

323. A snow storm though it meant that Awana was cancelled… to the disappointment of our kids!

324. Having written the previous statement I realize that I am delighted to see my kids loving the Lord the way they do and wanting to spend time with Him.

325. Grand-parents willing to come and babysit on a Saturday so we can attend a day session of LW.

326. It might be silly but I am thankful to watch Monk with my husband. It is quite clean and fun to watch…

327. A supportive husband.

328. Letting go of some things in my life…

329. Developing self-control especially in the social media realm.

330. Scripture Journaling

One Thousand Gifts–Week 31

2012-01-09T14:03:00.001-05:00

311. A new year starting

312. my French Bible which I am using this year

313. a great devotional that helps to dig deeper in the NT and the Psalms –> Quiet Time Bible Guide by Cindy Bunch

314. my husband buying skates for himself

315. going outside the whole family together to explore skating

316. looking forward to growth in Christ this year

317. free apps for the iPod/iPad

318. Snow falling from the sky when it is sunny outside.

319. decluttering a bit with giving away the VHS tapes we had.

310. Shopping outing with my 4 years old daughter.

One Thousand Gifts–Weeks 29 and 30

2012-01-02T13:45:00.000-05:00

291. My sweet daughter turning 4 years old.

292. My husband officially turning 40 on Winter Day.

293. Free French books for our homeschool.

294. Awana Store where the kids purchased Christmas gifts for others.

295. Reflecting on Jesus birth.

296. My husband who did a treasure hunt for the kids on Christmas Day.

297. Good food. Great company. Laughter.

298. Friends coming to visit.

299. My kids who bought me a MOM ring.

300. My brand new KitchenAid Mixer – red empire – Do you think I should put black spots on it? *grin*

301. Family get-together

302. Watching Captain America with friends

303. the flexibility of homeschool

304. SNOW – we almost didn’t have a white Christmas…

305. People slowing down and stopping so you can cross the street with your little girl.

306. An invitation for New Years lunch from another family at our church.

307. Free potatoes – thanks to another homeschooler who had too many of them after forgetting she had purchased some and had some at home!

308. My kids who are very helpful around the house.

309. Goofy gifts

310. The new year starting – HELLO 2012!

Three Words for 2012

2012-01-01T13:42:00.001-05:00

The other day, I was reading about the three words for the new year that someone has written on her blog. I liked the idea and started thinking of what words I could use for 2012.

Immediately there three words came in my mind.

Trust

The Webster dictionary of 1828 define trust as

TRUST, n.

1. Confidence; a reliance or resting of the mind on the integrity, veracity, justice, friendship or other sound principle of another person.
He that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. Prov.29.

Over the years, since I became a Christian, I have learned quite a bit about trusting the Lord. 2012 will also be a year of trust I think. Many opportunities could open up for us and I need to trust Him more than ever. And this could be done in every aspects of my life.

So as 2012 starts I am telling my Lord that I will trust Him completely. I know He is with me and that in the end I can go through anything with Him.

Joy

The Webster dictionary of 1828 defines joy as

JOY, v.i. To rejoice; to be glad; to exult.

I will joy in the God of my salvation. Hab.3.
Joy. Such a simple word but somehow I lack of it. I find that as I get older my joy is decreasing. Why is that so? I need to learn to become joyful and to rejoice at all times.

Restoration

The Webster dictionary of 1828 defines restoration as

RESTORA'TION, n. [L. restauro.]

1. The act of replacing in a former state.
Behold the different climes agree, rejoicing in thy restoration.
So we speak of the restoration of a man to his office, or to a good standing in society.
2. Renewal; revival; re-establishment; as the restoration of friendship between enemies; the restoration of peace after war; the restoration of a declining commerce.

I pray for restoration in a special relationship in my life. As this point in time, the relationship is almost inexistent but I am hoping that by the end of the year, some changes will have started and that somehow God’s hand will be visible through these.

So I am praying for restoration and a new level of relationship. May God be with me during this journey.

So what would be your three words for 2012?

Happy Fourth Birthday Jasmine!

2011-12-19T05:51:00.000-05:00

My sweet daughter is turning four TODAY!

Here’s a little something to celebrate her birthday.

I love you sweetheart! Continue to grow and love God the way you do.

XOXOXO

Slideshow design generated with Smilebox

One Thousand Gifts–Week 28

2011-12-19T05:28:00.000-05:00

281. Going through the book Tabitha’s Travels by Arnold YTreeide with the kids during Advent.

282. Doing our Jesse Tree at the same time

283. Doing my daughter’s cake

284. Being creative in finding items for a mermaid cake…

285. Receiving an A+ for the last course of my Social Media Certificate

286. Finishing the Social Media Certificate

287. helping a friend in need

288. blessings from above – especially the ones that are surprises

289. Numerous Canadian Geese flying above our house – it’s the time of the year!

290. cookie social at church yesterday

One Thousand Gifts–Week 27

2011-12-12T07:36:00.001-05:00

271. Having finished my courses in advance so I can work on my special project for the upcoming celebration of my husband turning 40 later this month.

272. The kids letting me work on the project in the afternoon.

273. The fever that my daughter had on Wednesday night – Friday morning that disappeared mysteriously and nothing happened afterward.

274. Family and friends who chipped in for the birthday celebration by bringing some food – potluck style.

275. Our family doctor who allowed me to bring our daughter in because of the weird fever/shivering she was experiencing. he ruled out the shore throat, the ear infection, the lungs infection…

276. New opportunities for my husband

277. The lack of snow (though I would prefer having some but I am trying to see the positive behind the current weather in Ontario!).

278. The friends and family members who came to celebrate my husband upcoming 40th birthday (he was born on the 21st of December).

279. 40 candles on a cake.

280. My son, Alexandre, who said the text, scripture and prayer on HOPE this past Sunday at church by heart. He has an amazing memory!

One Thousand Gifts–week 26

2011-12-05T07:25:00.001-05:00

261. cleaning done by someone else because hubby got a deal via a group buy

262. new swimming session that is starting with a lower price

263. great food + wonderful people = Marvelous Christmas party at our church

264. finishing a book discussion with my husband’s brother and wife

265. planning another book to read and discuss with them (their turn to pick the book)

266. a child who can babysit + errands to do = possibility of spending more one on one time with each other kids

267. baking a recipe that my mom used to do

268. adapting said recipe for our needs because the original way of doing it was too long…

269. my oldest wanting to make a batch of the recipe by himself

270. delicious Heavenly Mushrooms like my brother-in-law would say… (he did mentioned that it tasted like heaven! *grin*)

It is finished…

2011-12-01T15:42:00.001-05:00

Today – Dec 1st – I have uploaded my last assignment to complete my Applied Social Media in Business course.

This was the last one to complete the Social Media certificate I was working on since the beginning of the year.

Now I have more time to teach the kids as my afternoons were spent mostly to work on assignments.

Having two courses on top of homeschool is quite challenging.

But I persevered and finished it today.

I’m a bit tired though and might take a couple of days of much deserved rest.

Now I wait for the grades and my certificate.

I learned quite a bit during these five courses. I hope to apply my knowledge to something productive in the months/years to come!

One Thousand Gifts–Week 25

2011-11-28T14:36:00.001-05:00

251. Having to celebrate the 6th birthday of my 3rd son which means he had the privilege to go sleep on the top bunk.

252. Seeing his face when he opened up the card I made him – priceless!

253. angry birds….

254. putting the Lemax houses/animals out on the mantle

255. Survival Week at swimming lessons… which means the kids get to go in the pool all dressed-up!

256. First snow fall!

257. high temperature – though it melted the snow… – almost wish I could go camping!

258. my family

259. playing in the snow after swimming

260. my camera

An Out of the Box Offer from Kraft Canada

2011-11-26T08:47:00.001-05:00

Recently while being on Facebook, I discovered a new marketing online offer from Kraft Canada. The from Kraft Food offered a samplicious package which contains full size samples of their new products on the market. More the 15,000 sample boxes were available.

Anyone could sign up but you had to pay 9.95$ of shipping charges to get the box. At first I was wondering if this was a scam but someone took the initiative to call Kraft Canada to ask them if this was true. It sounded too good to be a real deal. But it was!

I jumped on the offer, shared it on facebook and twitter. Then I waited for my package to arrive.

Within a week and half, my doorbell rang. Outside the door my postman was holding my Samplicious package. The first question he asked me was: “Can you tell me what’s in there because I have four of those in my van?” I laughed and told him that it probably won’t be the last ones either… I told him what it was and immediately he said “Where can I get one of these?”. I had to inform him that it was sold out at this point in time. I suspect that
these packages were gone like hotcakes.

I opened the box in front of him and we were both impressed with the full size products.

My postman went on his way to deliver the other samplicious packages and the rest of the mail and I brought the box for the kids to see. They couldn’t believe their eyes. Usually when we get a sample of a product, we receive a sample which is a few to taste it. But this time it was full size boxes in the box. Also included in the box were three coupons for full size products at the grocery store for the cheese products. The only items that didn't stay in our house were the gums as we are not chewers of gum. I kept one of the new Trident flavors but I gave the rest to my mother-in-law when she was visiting. The other product that might not find supporters in this house is the Kraft Whipped Cheese Dill flavor. I figure the kids can eat it... *grin*

The fact that many Canadian sites are promoting the daily deals found everywhere on facebook and twitter, helped Kraft Canada to spread the word on this out-of-the-box offer.

Though we loved our package and I think it was an original way to promote new products, I think Kraft Canada would have been wiser to use only coupons to exchange at the grocery store for full size items. It would have cost less money for everyone I think. Though as a stay-at-home mom who also homeschool my four kids, I appreciate the fact that I didn’t have to run around for each of these products. But I think it would have been fun to go with the kids to get the products at the grocery store.

Now I suspect that this strategy is to stir the consumers to purchase the products they have loved from this package. Though we loved them some of these products are so expensive that I will never consider purchasing them on a regular basis.

Take the amOOza twists cheese snacks for example. This is one of the products I had to go to the store to get. The snacks are fun to look at and delicious while we eat it but the price tag attached to them is over 6$ believe it or not. When I was at my local Loblaws, I had found two of the three products that I had received a coupon from. Well with the amOOza! alone I had reached the maximum of allowed coupons from the register. My cashier had to call a supervisor to allow my next coupon to be keyed in. I thought it was hilarious!

I would be curious to see if the strategy of creating the Samplicious packages will created a love affair between the customers and the products offered.

What do you think of this out of the box offer from Kraft Canada? Do you think it will encourage customers to purchase their new products? Would you have paid for the shipping charges or would you prefer to only receive coupons to exchange at the grocery store?

Note to me readers: This was a post done for the course Applied Social Media in Business that I am currently completing to get my Social Media Certificate.

6 years old already?

2011-11-21T13:36:00.001-05:00

A photo slideshow by Smilebox

Happy birthday to my third son.

Love you lots.

maman

One Thousand Gifts–Week 24

2011-11-21T09:04:00.001-05:00

241. Touring the Police Headquarters of our city with my oldest son and other homeschoolers.

242. A field trip at the dentist with a good report for all the kids and I.

243. The Love & Respect conference this past Friday and Saturday.

244. Getting together with family for the birthday party of my 3rd son.

245. Knowing that God is in control about everything in your life.

246. A wonderful husband

247. Making an angry bird cake for my son’s 6th birthday (which is on the 21st)

248. Friends who encourages you.

249. Knowing that in three weeks I will be done my Social Media certificate when I complete the two courses I am doing right now…. must persevere….

250. Trying new recipes…

What about my childhood shaped me for blogging and reviewing.

2011-11-14T14:49:00.001-05:00

For this specific blog post, I needed to answer one of the questions asked in the article "Do People Know Your Story?" from John Jantsch for one of the courses I am taking to complete my Social Media certificate. I decided to answer the question: What about your childhood shaped you for this moment?

******************************

Recently, while doing an earlier assignment for the Digital Communications course I am currently doing to complete my Certificate in Social Media at Algonquin College, I realized that a specific experience in my life had prepared me somewhat to become an online journalism doing reviews.

While I was in high school, I was part of the student newspaper called “L’Informateur” back in 1985-1986. I was responsible of the middle section of the newspaper which consisted of the numerous news of what was going on at the school during that particular week. As a reporter I would meet with the various teachers/nurse/event organizers and so on to ask them what news would they want to see in the next edition. I would then organize the information so that it would be easy to read in the middle section of the newspaper. Sometimes there was so much information to post that I needed to include another page. Here’s an example of the page I was responsible of. The scan is not perfect but in case you are wondering yes I still have all my copies of “L’Informateur” from the year I was part of the writing team. What can I say… I am sort of a packrat!

At one point during the year, we also created a weekly story called “Super Gaétan” and everyone was responsible to the story line at one specific time during the year. The highlight of my participation to the student newspaper was definitively our visit to the headquarters of La Presse in Montreal during the printing of the next day’s paper. We learned quite a bit on how a newspaper was produced (The arrow indicates me in the picture!).

But after high school, I concentrated on my studies and worked as well. It is not until I was a stay-at-home mom and starting to consider homeschooling that I renewed my interest in writing but this time via a blog post. Before that every now and then I would write in a journal about what was going on in my life. But blogging was different… and when a friend of mine encouraged me to participate to the new viral marketing project of a homeschool magazine in the US I discovered reviewing products was interesting. Once my nine month commitment for that first year was completed, I started reviewing novels. During my third year with the TOS Crew where I reviewed numerous homeschool products, it dawned on me that I could do this for other products as well like toys for example.

In a way I am still informing other about products/books available out there and give them my honest opinion about them. Though the way of doing it is different – after all I am doing it online now, the idea behind it is similar than when I was responsible of the middle section of the student newspaper. Essentially, I test the product at home and give the positive and negative on the said product. If it is a book, I say what I honestly think about it and how it touched me in some ways.

So in a way I consider myself as a digital reporter who is involved in the product testing and reviewing of products and books. Who would have known that being involved in a student newspaper would have opened doors later in life in doing something that I enjoy.

How about you? What childhood activity has shaped you for whatever is going on in your life right now?

Note to my readers: I am currently doing two courses to complete my Social Media Certificate. One of the course is Digital Communication. This is my second blog post assignment. I will post my assignments here.

The author of this blog also post regularly on Canadianladybug Reviews!

One Thousand Gifts–Week 23

2011-11-14T06:53:00.001-05:00

231. a husband who loves to cook and create new recipes

232. my camera – which allows me to take nice pics

233. a wonderful package of FULL SIZE samples from Kraft Canada

234. The sound of Canadian geese flying above our house early in the morning.

235. The full moon through the clouds at night.

236. Remembering the sacrifice of many so that we can have freedom in Canada.

237. The warm temperature even though it is November… we could still be camping if the campsites were open!

238. Spending time with my husband on Friday because he usually go in for his contract. It was closed on Friday due to Remembrance Day.

239. A private tour of a new Soy beverage company in town and free samples to product test.

240. Yummy apple sauce donuts!

One Thousand Gifts–Week 22

2011-11-07T08:38:00.000-05:00

221. A doctor available when you call in the morning to see your child who isn’t himself.

222. PINTEREST which encourages me to do new things…

223. An empty garage so we can park there and have no frost on our vehicles

224. The generosity of my oldest son who bought little things for his two Sparkies brothers for Christmas with his own Awana shares.

225. Making Challah breads with my oldest son. I made one while he made the other one for his Awana gold assignment.

226. The flexibility that homeschooling permits me to have sometimes.

227. The companies I review for – they are such a blessings.

228. A self-Clean oven.

229. Dates with my love.

230. Tickets for the upcoming Love & Respect Conference.

Reflecting on the past

2011-11-05T09:16:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I did a quick run at the local Wal-Mart because I needed some things….

When I came out of the store, I ended up behind an older lady who walked slow.

I thought of passing her but decided against it.

Part of me was impatient…. I will admit it.

But as I walked slowly behind her, I became more patient.

She had grey hair. A pink coat. A little cart behind her that she was pulling. She was walking alone going back to the residence near by more than likely (there isn’t any houses close by).

And when I passed her once on the parking lot, I didn’t think much of it.

But when she was close to me has I was putting my bags in the truck she said “Nice day isn’t it”. To which I responded “Yes it is.”

I watched her going by and going to the sidewalk toward the residence.

That’s when it hit me. My eyes got blurred… and I thought of my own maternal grand-mother.

She walked a lot. I believe she had a little cart as well for when she would go her groceries in the village where she lived.

She wore a pink coat.. too when she crossed the street back in 1992. Nov 6th was the day. She was hit by a neighbor who decided to go on the main street without looking…

As I looked at this older lady walking away in her pink coat and her white hair, I suddenly missed my grand-mother.

She would have love my husband and the kids.

Who would have thought that my small encounter with an older lady that morning would have brought up emotions from 19 years ago.

My grand-mother was a devout catholic. I am quite certain that I will see her in heaven.

I can’t hardly wait for that.

Je t’aime grand-maman! À bientôt!

One Thousand Gifts–Week 21

2011-10-31T14:42:00.001-04:00

211. Mango juice at 1$ a bottle – I got 12 last week!

212. Having my kids home so I can make Mummy Dog and Spider Web dip!

213. A waved fee from a dentist for a checkup for my oldest who was complaining of pain while chewing that lasted about 5 minutes.

214. Friends going to AWANA with our kids.

215. Knowing that God is in control.

216. Sewing Awana badges on the vests/shirt

217. an helpful ten years old who loves to cook for the whole family

218. Supper with my brother-in-law and his wife at the restaurant while the kids are at AWANA.

219. A husband letting me work on my assignments for my two courses during the week-end.

220. A night chatting with the in-laws while our oldest was babysitting.

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T14:36:00.001-04:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

What’s for Lunch before Halloween…

2011-10-28T14:49:00.001-04:00

Today I decided to do something I saw on Pinterest. Mummy dogs.

But I didn’t have the Pillsbury package instead I had a box Tenderflake puff pastry in the freezer that I decided to use for our lunch.

Take the puff pastry out of the box and cut the square in sections.

Slowly wrap the hotdog (we had chicken ones) as though you are making a mummy!

The older boys helped me making them.

Align the mummy dog on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Cook 350 for about 25 minutes or so.

While the mummy dogs were cooking, I decided to make some spider web dip with ketchup and mustard.

Then Alexandre put the eyes on the mummies with mustard.

And voilà mummy dogs waiting to be eaten by my four kids…

A close up of one of the mummy dogs… Don’t you think he looks scared to death? Mmmmuuuaaaaahaahahahahaah!

The kids had a wonderful lunch. I think they liked the idea… This could also be a wonderful lunch ideas when studying Egypt and the pyramids….

Next time, I am planning to use the Pillsbury package. The dough won’t be as flaky as this one. Still it was YummY for our tummies!

L’Évangile en Papier

2011-10-25T10:33:00.001-04:00

When I was younger, there was a television show that I would never miss. It was called L’Évangile en Papier (Paper Gospels) and the guy behind it was Claude Lafortune. He would manipulate and construct any stories from the New Testament with paper.

His creations were stunning and to be honest if I could get my hands on DVDs on this show, I would get them. It was marvelous to see a parable get put with characters like the ones below representing the Holy Family.

Or even this one.

Baby That-A-Way

2011-10-24T16:01:00.001-04:00

or… Bébé Caprice in Quebec back in the late 70s…

I had this doll and played quite a bit with it. It hate batteries like there is no tomorrow though – huge D ones! But boy did I love having her crawl on her four around the living room!

What was you favorite doll when you were a little girl?

One Thousand Gifts–Week 20

2011-10-24T07:20:00.001-04:00

201. Chats with other moms during swimming lessons on Wednesday afternoons.

202. Going on a retreat with my sister-in-law.

203. Being inspired by God while starting an Scripture Art journaling.

204. Kids who don’t complain much when ask to help (sometimes they do but it is much more enjoyable when they don’t).

205. Reading great parenting books like the ones from Dr. Kevin Leman, Dr. Tim Kimmel and Dr. James Dobson.

206. The smell of Fall in the morning (okay I know I wrote this last week but I just love it…)

207. Sunshine which allows you to wear only a warm sweater and not a coat.

208. the business accounting documents completed and brought to the accountant.

209. Going to the truck dealer and not having to pay anything for a wheel bearing problem (Thanks for guarantees!)…

210. Being able to teach my kids during this season of our life together.

One Thousand Gifts–Week 19

2011-10-17T13:17:00.001-04:00

191. Tobymac concert in town on Thanksgiving night

192. the kids being able to learn regular lessons from life with preparing a comic convention with their dad

193. a youth astronomy activity

194. getting together with another family for science experiments

195. a walk in the woods close to home

196. a squirrel visiting our backyard

197. chipmunk running across the path in the woods

198. Fall colors

199. my hardworking husband

200. the presence of God in my life

365 Project–Day 284

2011-10-16T16:21:00.000-04:00

Blast from the Past

2011-10-16T07:53:00.001-04:00

This morning – like very early because I was awake – I decided to do a board called Blast from the Past on Pinterest.

And I started thinking about what I watched as a kid, what I played with and so on…

Then I remembered getting the Princess Leia Doll one year.

She was much bigger than the Barbie dolls.

What toy to you remember from the 70s/80s that you played with?

365 Project–Day 283

2011-10-15T16:21:00.000-04:00

Discovering Scripture Journaling

2011-10-15T15:30:00.001-04:00

Since I’ve discovered Pinterest I have been inspired in many ways – cooking, homeschooling, organizing my house, gardening eventually even with our current backyard, photography and drawing/painting.

Recently I have posted an example of one of the project I have done – the painting of the birds on a line.

I’ve also discovered scripture journaling which also develop my creativity. I have based some scriptures on what I have found on Pinterest like John 3:16 and Galatians 5:22-23 but my husband challenged me to come up with something of my own… I pondered and God put a scripture in my heart about a week ago or so. It was perfect for the past week-end which was our Canadian Thanksgiving as well! I’ve worked with pencils to sketch it and then added color. I’m not a professional and I am learning… Drawing the hand was challenging but even though one finger seem out of place I think I did a good job. Hubby thinks he should buy me some lessons one day…

So here is the scripture I have done.

Psalm 107:1

Tell me what you think of it. I would love to read your comments.

Blessings!

365 Project–Day 282

2011-10-14T16:19:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 281

2011-10-13T16:18:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 280

2011-10-12T16:16:00.000-04:00

Target Audiences

2011-10-12T15:01:00.001-04:00

Recently I have learned quite a bit on target audiences and the importance of knowing the audience we are trying to reach. For the purpose of this blog post I have decided to identify the target audiences of my review blog, Canadianladybug Reviews!.

Most of my readers would be homeschoolers as I review many homeschool products as well as anyone interested in a particular book, product or toy. My readers come from all around the world as shown in this map below.

People reading my blog obviously come from a wide ethnic community as I have visitors from around the world. Consequently, I consider that I have to be professional in my writing and be careful in wording my thoughts while writing a post.

People reading my blog could come from various classes with various income and budget. I also know that many of my regular readers are some friends I have made while participating to the TOS Homeschool Crew in the past three years. These women are homeschoolers themselves, have various hobbies from sewing, knitting, crocheting to photography like myself. They are mostly Christian women who have chosen to homeschool their kids for various reasons.

Knowing the fact that homeschoolers are always looking for good products at good price, I could blog more about the opportunities of free products available on a more regular basis which I am not currently doing. I have discovered numerous great products that were free for a period of time and it never really dawned on me that I could blog about it. And if these products are fabulous for me why wouldn’t others enjoy them as well?

Another way to reach out to my readers would be to offer more giveaways. Unfortunately, this is difficult to do because not all companies are willing to provide extra products for such a thing.

365 Project–Day 279

2011-10-11T16:12:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 278

2011-10-10T16:10:00.000-04:00

TobyMac Concert

One Thousand Gifts–Week 18

2011-10-10T15:38:00.001-04:00

Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada….

181. My husband willing to make some homemade donuts last Sunday.

182. A wonderful eye doctor for the whole family!

183. Special courses like the Junior Vet one my son participated.

184. the smell of Fall

185. the beautiful colors in the trees

186. observing a chickadee eating some sunflower seeds

187. one last trip at the RV before we close it down

188. God’s blessings on our family

189. turkeys at 97 cents a pound

190. Big stand-up freezer in the house to store the turkeys! *grin*

365 Project–Day 277

2011-10-09T16:09:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 276

2011-10-08T16:08:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 275

2011-10-07T16:06:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 274

2011-10-06T16:04:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 273

2011-10-05T16:02:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 272

2011-10-04T16:01:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 271

2011-10-03T15:56:00.000-04:00

Homemade donuts

2011-10-03T13:30:00.001-04:00

This week-end we made a recipe that my maternal grand-mother made often. My mom then picked it up and blessed me with these on a yearly basis.

This week-end we made some homemade donuts…

Oh the memories attached to these yummy donuts!

So in memory of my grand-mother I wanted to share the recipe for anyone who wants to make some.

HOMEMADE DONUTS

Preparation A

1/2 cup of butter

1 1/2 cup of sugar

3 egg yolks beaten

Preparation B

5 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of salt

2 tablespoons of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

Preparation C

1/2 cup of milk + 1/2 cup of cream 15% (OR 1 cup of milk)

OTHER

Egg Whites

HOW TO MAKE THE DONUTS

Mix B and C into preparation A taking turns.

Add the beaten egg whites.

Put in fridge overnight and cook in the deep fryer the next day.

You will have to roll the mixture and cut the donuts. I use a big glass for the donuts and a smaller cutter for the hole.

Simple and easy to do…. you won’t regret it!

I personally love them with honey!

One thousand Gifts–Week 17

2011-10-03T12:43:00.001-04:00

171. Last big fishing trip of the year on White Lake, ON.

172. Seeing a porcupine crossing the road, loon on the lake, blue heron walking on the bank of the lake, and a bald eagle flying above our heads.

173. My oldest son catching his first pike!

174. visiting a fire station with other homeschoolers

175. first AWANA night of the year

176. being involved in a great ministry

177. an hard working husband

178. the flexibility of homeschooling

179. EA Sports Active 2

180. silly pictures from the kids with the pike

365 Project–Day 270

2011-10-02T15:54:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 269

2011-10-01T08:21:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 268

2011-09-30T08:18:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 267

2011-09-29T08:17:00.000-04:00

Inspiration through Pinterest

2011-09-28T11:26:00.001-04:00

Recently, while pinning some interesting things on Pinterest from cooking to cake decorating as well as homeschool ideas or crafts to do, I stumbled upon a painting that inspired me.

I have no clue where this was taken… but I loved it.

It reminded me of Matthew 6:26 in a way.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? (NIV)

And I got inspired to do something similar to represent our family because I know that God has taken care of us and will continue to do so.

This morning I drew the birds…. I changed the colors to go with our house. What do you think?

365 Project–Day 266

2011-09-28T08:14:00.000-04:00

This was taken after our oldest caught a pike… Hubby caught a sun fish. LOL

Storytelling and Communications Styles

2011-09-27T13:34:00.001-04:00

This week I have learned how to transform myself as a digital storyteller. As part of my readings I had to read an article on persuasive writing that inspired me to become a better writer.

Essentially, writing in a persuasive way will influence the reader to pursue their reading and eventually do something at the end. But to do so, I need to identify my audience and catch their attention somehow by being specific in what I am writing. In my review blog, Canadianladybug Reviews!, I know that whoever reads my posts has an interest in discovering what I think about a specific product or book.

What I always try to do is to present the product/book, indicate who is behind it (whether a company or an author), explain how our family has use the product or how the book has touched me and finally where you can find it (when possible). To make it more personal, I include pictures of our family using the product or explain how a book spoke to me while I was reading it. I find that if I personalize a post as much as possible it makes it more real for my readers and they would accept the review better.

However, I have discovered this week that using an active voice will make the blog post clearer, precise and might encourage the reader to react by leaving a comment. Ideally, I would love to have more interaction with my readers on both of my blogs.

English is not my first language and my husband graciously offered me to review some of my writings a while back. Recently he told me that I have made tremendous improvement in my writings. But going through the material this week I have learned more on how to write better with some tips on how to improve my post. I am looking forward to see how my writings will be by the end of my Digital Communication course.

What specific aspect of writing do you think you need to improve? Please share your thoughts on this.

365 Project–Day 265

2011-09-27T08:01:00.000-04:00

Ready to wear…

365 Project–Day 264

2011-09-26T16:20:00.001-04:00

Fire station pole

One Thousand Gifts–Week 16

2011-09-26T08:32:00.000-04:00

161. Homeschool which allows my kids to do their work anywhere they want…

162. A son who loves to cook for the family and did his first focaccia bread

163. fall season who finally arrived

164. APPLE picking –though the orchard we went to go hit by a tornado and hail back in August and lost most of its crop. No apples were in the trees and he had to get apples from other orchards.

165. Cider donuts freshly made

166. Colors in the trees

167. Harvest season

168. weird looking gourds

169. photography opportunities

170. the sunshine during these last few days of summer…

365 Project–Day 263

2011-09-25T17:01:00.000-04:00

Four Canadian geese passing in the sky…. Fall is indeed here! You see then everywhere. A few more weeks before they leave for the winter.

it reminds me that one day my four kids will leave the house. My house will always be open for them and I know that they will come back every once in a while like the geese come back every spring season.

365 Project–Day 262

2011-09-24T17:00:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 261

2011-09-23T16:58:00.000-04:00

Finger prints fun! (first day of Fall – making leaves on a tree…)

365 Project–Day 260

2011-09-22T16:45:00.000-04:00

Action shot…. Trying to take a pic of a remote control toy…! LOL

365 Project–Day 259

2011-09-21T16:45:00.000-04:00

Jasmine eyeing the focaccia bread her brother has made…

365 Project–Day 258

2011-09-20T16:44:00.000-04:00

Focaccia bread before and after (made by a ten years old!)

Which RV did we picked and Why we chose this one?

2011-09-20T13:45:00.001-04:00

As a member of the blogging team of Woodall’s, I have to blog about specific theme every once in a while. This week, we have to blog about our RV and why we have chosen this one in particular.

Our Travel Trailer

When we first started to look at RVs, we had a pop-up trailer. But we wanted more functionality while camping like a shower and bathroom for example. So every once in a while we looked at the RVs. We knew that we wanted the flexibility of travelling for our family.

In 2007, after talking with a salesperson at an RV store in our city, we purchased a Jay Feather model 30U by Jayco. Why this one in particular? Because it is light and we can go on trips with the whole family. Back when we chose this model we had three kids and we thought that we might have another one – we loved the fact that there were two bunk beds in the back. There was an pull-out for extra room in the kitchen/living room area and there was a bathroom!

Our RV when we picked it up back in 2007, we only had three kids – all boys! But the model we picked had four bunk beds… At the end of that year, our daughter Jasmine joined us and now all four bunk beds are full!

Our Jay Feather 30U model is 30’4” length.

Other specifications and measurements for our RV:

Exterior Height 125”

Interior Height 78”

Unloaded Vehicle Weight 5,875 lbs

Dry Hitch Weight 850 lbs

Gross Vehicle Weight Rating 7,350 lbs

Cargo Carrying Capacity 1,475 lbs

Fresh Water Capacity 36 gallons

Gray Wastewater Capacity 30 gallons

Toilet/Black Wastewater Capacity 23 gallons

One of the main reasons why we went with a Jay Feather is that after looking into RVs for quite some time we knew that we needed to find an RV that could be pulled with a vehicle that seats at least 6 people. Not many trucks have the potential to have six passengers (if not more). So we needed something that could be pulled with one of the available vehicles we had identified as well as not too heavy so we could bring some luggage with us on travel.

When my husband went to check out the RVs once more back in early 2007, he was able to chat with someone who knew exactly what would be a perfect fit for us. There wasn’t a model on site but we saw another one from the same line and decided to purchase the one that the floor plan seemed to be the best for us.

Now let me give you a tour of our RV…

Jay Feather Model 30U TOUR

Pull-out for extra room in rainy days!

Four beds in the back for the four kids – which is perfect for us!

Extra storage area under the kids’ beds which is fantastic for my husband fishing gear, electric motor and so on.

Here is the kitchen/living room area. We didn’t like the table included in the RV, so we changed it for a small foldable table that we purchased at Costco. We have since included two folding chairs so that everyone can sit together when we eat inside.

Kitchen side – fridge, oven, sink, freezer and microwave. Everything for helping in the preparation of meals.

The master bedroom has a Queen size bed and lots of storage above.

ENHANCEMENTS WE MADE

Darkness is essential for my husband to sleep. So we bought some multi-purpose foil 4’ x 10’ which is used to shield and insulate windows. We measured the windows and proceeded to cut the foil. We also bought double-sided velcro and installed them in the outside of the RV and some in the inside. However, the sun is melting the glue from the double-sided velcro so we will modify our set-up to include the foil inside the big windows at the living room/dining room area so that the shields will be inside the RV instead.

We have paid extra to get another powerful vent in the kids’ area. With one there and one in the master bedroom area, we have more power to air the trailer if needed. We also blocked the sun from entering by using the special items which helps to darken the room in the early morning.

We also made changes in the master bedroom. Though you don’t see it in this picture, we have purchased a regular Queen size mattress as we were having trouble to sleep on the tiny mattress provided with the RV. We also purchased a King size bed cover which allows us to stay warm at night.

A shoe rack also made it’s way inside the trailer. With six people in a family, you need to find ways to store our shoes. We usually have a pair of running as well as a pair of sandals/crocs with us. Sometimes, the top rack also hold the camera bags as well as other things. But normally, you would find only shoes there – especially if we are on the road with the RV.

I was tired of having plastic bags all over the place in one of the cupboards. So we purchased a bag especially made to hold these plastic bags. To store it, we have put a hook on a wall in the master bedroom. This way, if we need a bag for garbage, we just go and pull one out of this ingenious little thing.

To store the plates and bowls, we have purchase a two levels shelf unit. However, this is not perfect as the bowls will fall from it when we are on the road. But generally speaking it is doing the tricks and it is easier to find what is needed for meal time.

A paper towel holder can be found above one of the doors. With limited countertops, we want to use as much space as we can in the RV. These days, I am thinking that a spice rack would be nice above the small window behind one of the seats where we eat. We have also added a handle for the two screen doors which is beneficial when you have kids.

When we are on the road, we don’t have necessarily the trees needed to put a cord to dry our towels. So we thought of putting some stick-on hooks which do the trick perfectly.

We didn’t like the BBQ that came with our RV and purchased a new one this year at Costco (see image above). But what to do with the rack that used to hold the original BBQ. I suggested that we put some piece of wood to have a little counter for my husband when he cooks. He liked the idea and didn’t waste anytime to build one. We still have to paint it mind you. But now he uses the space to put our outdoor cooler on it which gives him more space on our outdoor table to do the cooking.

With six people in the family, we can use many towels. So we purchased a above-the-door rack to hold four towels to dry. This rack is strategically located at the bathroom door.

We used to have a cup where we would put the toothbrushes in it. But it would get disgusting in a matter of a couple of days so we decided to put little hooks on the walls in the bathroom. Each toothbrush has two hooks to hold itself and it does the trick. The kids toothbrushes are located at a lower level than the adults ones.

To improve the bathroom area, we also purchased four little baskets where we store our day-to-day items like paper towels, brushes, and so on. It is very handy has you have everything ready if needed and it doesn’t get wet from the sink when the kids go wash their hands.

Another improvement we made for our shower area was to purchased a soap/shampoo dispenser. It helps to reduce the items needed in the shower while you wash yourself.

Our shower space was quite small – not for a child but for an adult it was… So now we have extra space when we shower and extra space when we use the sink. See my Extend-A-Shower review.

This year, we also purchased a extra holding tank for grey and black waters. This opens up many campgrounds who doesn’t have sewers at the campsite.

CHANGES WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE

The counter top is too low to wash dishes… Fortunately, I can recruit the help of my 10 years old…. whom is shorter than me.

While sitting on the sofa one day, I was looking at how we could make the kitchen area better for a family of six. I personally find the fridge too small. So I would put a bigger fridge for big families. Remove the television from above it would do the trick.

The space above the sink should be transformed to be able to put a television – build-in if possible.

And finally, there is nothing under the sofa… so I was wondering why nobody has though of putting some sort of drawer system (two drawers) to give us more space to store things. We could put games, books, coloring books, crayons and much more – even towels!

Note: If Jayco is stumbling on this post and thinks our ideas are fabulous for a new model of RV, our family would be more than willing to review one of the new trailers build with these ideas… *grin*

Find RVs for sale or rent.

365 Project–Day 257

2011-09-19T16:44:00.000-04:00

Caught sleeping on the floor over the week-end.

One Thousands Gifts–Week 15

2011-09-19T14:27:00.001-04:00

151. openness between the people involved in a ministry

152. baby showers

153. Awana registration night which means that our date nights will start over again!

154. great deals on meat via daily deal sites. We got an amazing deal at a butcher downtown and still have some coupons to exchange. No expiry dates. Paid 59$ for 175$ worth of meat a while back. We went to pick some up last week-end.

155. Outdoor markets and the beautiful veggies on sale

156. the generosity of some companies for reviews I am doing… Such a blessing for us in books, toys, and more!

157. Our family Doctor

158. having a babysitter in the house

159. the opportunity to try out a Christian science curriculum that might be published.

160. being told that my kids are amazing in a group setting.

My Favourite Tools and Sources for Social Media

2011-09-19T14:12:00.001-04:00

Over the past three years, I have learned to start a blog, to review books and products, to start following my results and to keep myself of to date with the trends. I’m still learning. Constantly. I feel as though I have entered a world that keeps changing every day… So today I will highlight my two favourite listening//monitoring tools as well as the two best sources of news and updates for me.

One of the first monitoring tools I was introduced was definitively Google Analytics. It is a free service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about the visitors to a website. I am still using this monitoring product quite a bit since it is often necessary for me to determine my page views and other stats when I sign up for new opportunities. My only issue is that I need to remember to plug in the code every time I make a change in my blog design. It happened to me again this year. I changed a few things in my design and forgot to put the code for Google Analytics back in once it was uploaded. You see I am using a product called Artisteer to change the design of my blog. Though it is a great product, it lacks on flexibility I find. Anyhow, about a month later I realized my error and lost about a month of tracking on Google Analytics. I was not impressed with myself as I should have thought about it. Still Google Analytics is very useful on a weekly/monthly basis when I want to observe the trends on my blog. I can easily see where my readers come from and what posts are attracting more hits than others.

I have other monitoring tools with facebook and twitter but this year I was introduced to Klout and I am slowly getting hooked to it. Klout is a social media analytics that measures a user’s influence across their social network. The analysis is done on date taken from sites like twitter and facebook and measures the size of a person’s network, the content created, and how other people interact with that content. Recently, I realized that Klout has added LinkedIn, Foursquare and YouTube date in its algorithm. I love the way it presents the stats for my account. I learned that I am effectively using social media to influence my network across a variety of topics, that I am engaged by influencers, that I am more likely to have my message amplified that the average person and that I have built a good size network that is highly engaged. Like I said my introduction to Klout was recent and I still have to discover its potential in the weeks/months/years to come. I am hoping to be able to discover new ways to expand my network with it.

Concerning how I keep up to date with what is going on in the social media world I follow different sites. As a homeschooler, I rely a lot on facebook. Why? You might wonder… well many homeschool companies post specials
and free offers on facebook and it is always nice to be able to save some precious money on products that would be nice to have. For example, this week I discovered that the Scholastic Teacher Express site had a Dollar Deals on ebooks. A facebook page titled Freely Educate also announce that if you use a special code while checking out your order, you could save 10$ on your purchase. While looking in their dollar deals, I have found ten products that would be great for our homeschool and purchased them. Having the special rebate code, I ended up receiving these ebooks for free! So thanks to the tip I got from Freely Educate on facebook I was able to get the following titles for free: Country Report Projects, Ocean Life, Comic Strip MapSkills, Exploring Plants, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Instant Habitat Dioramas, Hands-On History Explorers, Literature Guide: Mr. Popper's Penguins and Literature Guide: Lord of the Rings! As I am writing this, I was wondering how much I had saved on this purchased alone. At regular price, these titles would have cost me 99.54$ - I am speechless. This announcement on facebook was a blessing for our homeschool

The second site that I visit from time to time (homeschooling my kids takes a big part of my daily schedule) would be Mashable which is totally dedicated for the social media news. Part of me wish that I would have more time to dig into Mashable but I don’t. I have decided to include Mashable into my Flipbook app on the iPad and every now and then I update myself using this app. I find the site easy to use and to search. On a matter of seconds I could get all the news about facebook, twitter, the new gadgets out there and much more.

There are many other tools and sources available out there. The important thing is to find the ones that are useful for you and to keep up to date with what is going on out there. So to help me discover new sites, tools or sources of information I am asking you "What are your favourite tools and sources of information in the social media world? ".

365 Project–Day 256

2011-09-18T16:43:00.000-04:00

My father-in-law is always making sure the kids are safe…

365 Project–Day 255

2011-09-17T16:52:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 254

2011-09-16T09:41:00.000-04:00

The boys digging into the new Step-by-Step Baking cookbook I received from DK Canada.

365 Project–Day 253

2011-09-15T09:41:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 252

2011-09-14T09:37:00.000-04:00

Safari Niagara

2011-09-13T14:19:00.001-04:00

While visiting the Niagara region a couple of years ago, we stumbled on an interesting zoological park that will please everyone in your family. Formely known as ZooZ, Safari Niagara will keep your family busy for the whole day when you enter their park.

Right at the entrance of the park we were welcome by a garden snake which was just exploring the area. This garden snake was immediately picked up by one of the employees when we told them about it…

Multiple guided tours are available as well as zoo university. Through daily interactive animal presentations, you will learn interesting facts on specific animals and birds that you can find at the zoo. We particularly like the Gibbons area where we were able to hear them make their cry – which was heard throughout the park regularly!

While exploring the zoo we also learned more about various birds, saw buffalos butt heading each other, learned more about the different kind of bears, had some great time learning about the animals and even had the privilege to feed a giraffe from the tower especially built for this! This tower is really interesting as it brings your at the height of a giraffe. The view from up there is fabulous but the experience of feeding a giraffe is priceless! The kids had a blast doing so.

A beautiful splash pad is the best thing to close a beautiful day at the safari. After you have gone around the park and learned so much about the animals our kids were delighted to be able to run in the water. This area is well designed and bright in color. The kids enjoyed their time in the water and were more relaxed at the end of the day.

Our experience at Niagara Safari was fabulous and I would highly recommend it to anyone driving/rving in the Niagara region!

365 Project–Day 251

2011-09-13T09:36:00.000-04:00

One Thousand Gifts – Week 14

2011-09-12T14:10:00.001-04:00

141. harvest season – specially tomatoes!

142. having kids who loves to participate in the family activities no matter how much work is involved – making diced tomatoes, tomato juice and salsa for two and half days…

143. frog dissection done with the oldest kids

144. painted turtles

145. podcast from Charles Stanley that hit a nerve for us…

146. my kids playing together

147. driving around the countryside with the kids trying to find something which I never did find btw (even though we had some tension at one point).

148. an old park where the kids can let go a bit of their energy (after the drive…)

149. a friend joining us for camping/fishing over the week-end

150. hearing the cry of the loon while it flies over my head

A reminder that God is present no matter what is going on in your life!

What I Did on My Vacation

2011-09-12T14:08:00.001-04:00

This year our summer vacation was mostly spent close to home.

In June I had the opportunity to photograph a robin’s nest and discover for the first time its eggs. I was quite pleased with this as I am an amateur ornithologist. We also went to explore the City of Ottawa during the Open Doors events. At one point during that month we also took a small trip to the city of Syracuse. Finally the month finished with some action… A few days before the 10^th birthday of our oldest son, our street became a beehive of activities with numerous fire trucks and other emergency vehicles. A house was burning down on another street so it was quite an event let me tell you. Have you ever witness firemen working? It is impressive!

During the month of July, we continued camping at our RV site. The first week, my husband went on training in Calgary which was a first for our family. Never before had he had to leave our home for an extended period of time. That week, I also had to deal with two sick children – one having a mysterious rash and the other one affected with poison ivy (which he got again two weeks later!). Later that month we also went fishing on the Ottawa River and enjoyed seeing bald eagles in the wild. My oldest son even learned to filet a fish (and dissect its stomach) How many kids have the opportunity of learn these skills? Not that many I think.

August arrived a little bit faster than we expected. Being homeschoolers, we started slowly to introduce some school work in our days. But the big even of the month was definitively the wedding of our friends in Lac-Sainte-Marie. Being an outdoor wedding, we were at the mercy of the weather and unfortunately the plans had to be changed at the last minute due to rain. My daughter was the flower girl and did a beautiful job. This was a dream of mine to have one of my kids involved in a wedding when they are younger. Have you ever had a dream come true? What was it and how did you felt? I was so proud of her when she walked down the aisle helping the little ring bearer. That following week, we decided to bring the kids to Toronto for a week. We owned a membership to the Toronto Zoo and went there to experience some much needed family time. Our whole family was able to see a new facet of the animals there!

I believe we came back from this trip refreshed and ready for the fall season. My highlight during this summer time was to be able to explore new possibilities with my camera. Photography is a passion of mine. What is one of your passions that you would like to explore more in the future?

Note to my readers: I am currently having two courses to complete my Social Media Certificate. One of the course is Digital Communication. I will post my assignments here.

365 Project–Day 250

2011-09-12T09:34:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 249

2011-09-11T15:12:00.000-04:00

The spire of Cobden Pentecostal Church

365 Project–Day 248

2011-09-10T15:10:00.000-04:00

Seen in front of whoever sits on the toilet in the woman’s bathroom at the Ark of Logos Land Resort.

No comment…. *grin*

Behind you could read…

365 Project–Day 247

2011-09-09T15:08:00.000-04:00

The kids dissected a frog… seriously. Note that the frog was already dead…

Tomato Crazyness!

2011-09-08T20:19:00.001-04:00

Last Sunday after church, we went to the market and got 2 1/2 bushels of field tomatoes. (One bushel for 10$ – we got screwed with the 1/2 bushel at the market downtown…. but that’s another story!)

We wanted to make tomato juice and diced tomatoes for the upcoming winter time. We decided to do these first and in a few days do some salsa. The cheapest price we had found for a bushel of Roma tomato was 15$. So we were planning to get some after a much needed break…

The tomatoes were big and tasty. The kids embarked in an afternoon of cutting tomatoes.

Dominic already had experience with Alexandre from last year.

Jasmine was too small to use a sharp knife so her job was to give the tomatoes to her big brothers.

Here you can see Jasmine bringing tomatoes and Rob explaining to Jérémy how to be careful with the knife and cut the tomatoes.

The three kids were sitting at the breakfast table to cut the tomatoes.

Jérémy was a pro in no time and spend the afternoon cutting tomatoes.

At about 5pm my husband send me to an errand to get much needed lids as we had to throw older ones. I drove to the local Wal-Mart and grabbed some much needed things like milk for example. While turning the corner I saw that there was a bushel 1/9 for 9.99$. WHAT? Could it be? I called hubby which couldn’t believe it either. He told me to get two bushels… guess we won’t take a break to make the salsa. I grabbed some corn, onions (even drove to Sobey’s for more onions) and drove back home. The cashier at Wal-Mart thought I had lots of tomatoes – no kidding…

Well on Monday we started doing our salsa. After a few with corn, we decided to include peaches/nectarines or pineapple that we had already. That’s gives us a more fruity salsa which we tend to prefer. By the end of the day, we had gone through about a bushel and a half. But we had no more mason jars and no more onions… Since it is Labour Day nothing is open… We have to wait until tomorrow…

On Tuesday, we bought what we needed to finish our salsa and here’s the result of our days of canning this year!

We stopped counting after 139 jars….. I think we added another 24 or so.

Anyone want to come and feast on salsa and chips?

365 Project–Day 246

2011-09-08T15:07:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 245

2011-09-07T15:06:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 244

2011-09-06T15:03:00.000-04:00

One woodpecker leaving and one arriving…

365 Project–Day 243

2011-09-05T15:02:00.000-04:00

One Thousand Gifts–Week 13

2011-09-05T10:01:00.001-04:00

131. trying a new game which helps with spelling – Hasbro Scrabble Scoop!

132. walking with the two youngest at our campsite

133. fishing time for dad and the kids

134. good neighbours at home and at the campsite

135. painted turtles taking a bit of sun – not one, not two but eleven of them on a log

136. knowing that God is with you in the midst of hard times – SIGH

137. friends that encourage you

138. having the opportunity of reviewing a fitness Wii product and finding it hard…. I’m so out of shape!

139. a supportive husband and being able to work alongside him

140. observing young woodpeckers flying

365 Project–Day 242

2011-09-04T15:00:00.000-04:00

The boys at work for the canning…

365 Project–Day 241

2011-09-03T14:59:00.000-04:00

This is how a Lama sleeps….

365 Project–Day 240

2011-09-02T14:57:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 239

2011-09-01T14:56:00.000-04:00

Dominic’s big catch

365 Project–Day 238

2011-08-31T08:45:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 237

2011-08-30T08:43:00.000-04:00

One Thousand Gifts–Week 12

2011-08-29T15:48:00.000-04:00

121. a mini vacation

122. free zoo and science museum thanks to membership we have purchased in the past

123. touching a stingray

124. see a red panda walking around (usually they are always up in the trees!)

125. safe travelling

126. going to pick peaches and nectarines

127. Picard Chipnuts

128. A great interaction with the hippo at the zoo

129. paper planes

130. being back home

365 Project–Day 236

2011-08-29T08:41:00.000-04:00

365 Project–Day 235

2011-08-28T08:39:00.000-04:00