True Colors Award

February 26, 2009 By

WOW! I received another award this morning. Thanks Brandy (Writings of a WAHM).

This award is called the “True Colors” award. I’m suppose to post the answers to the following questions.
List some ways that you show your colors and creativity on your blog. Are you “real”? Do you speak from the heart? Do you have a passion for anything in particular?

I don’t know how I show my “colors” and creativity on my blog. I try to post things that I feel might be of interest and I try to keep people entertained and inject some silly humor whenever possible.

Yes, I am very “real”. If you are a follower of my blog and read my posts you’ll see that I write a lot like I’m “talking” to you, face-to-face. I don’t write “stuffy” or “by the book”. I write exactly what I am thinking. My finger tips are an extension of my brain. I sometimes don’t even think and formula my responses to things. I just write exactly what comes into my mind.

I always speak from my heart. I am a very loving, caring and kind person. I have my faults (we all do) but there is one thing I have never been “faulted” for and that is the compassion I have for others and my genuine care and concern for others.

I have a passion for writing (can you tell?). I love to write. That is why I created my blog, so that I had an opportunity to write. Even if no one bothered to read what I wrote, at least I have an outlet for it. I wish I could actually make $$$ writing, but, I’m far from a professional. I don’t write well enough for the press or any major publications. I think I’m best suited for writing descriptions for a “J. Peterman Catalog” (Seinfeld fans will know exactly what I’m talking about).

I’m also passionate about photography. I dream of owning a “professional” camera with all the “bells and whistles” so that I can take “professional” pictures. I’m the type of person who will take 100 pictures of a butterfly just to get the “perfect” shot. Or take pictures of the bend in a tree branch because I find it visually interesting. I love photography! Too bad I have a couple hundred pictures of “stuff” that no one will ever see or have a use for. I do have some photos on a stock photography site, but that is about it. I dream of seeing one of my photos in print, like in a book or magazine. That would be wonderful!

So those are my answers to those questions.

I believe I’m suppose to honor others with the award but if I can be perfectly honest with all of you? I subscribe to about 30+ blog (no kidding) either via e-mail, RSS or following on Blogger. They range from review sites to mom sites and from business sites to just plain silly stuff. I honestly cannot single out just a few blogs. I believe all the blogs I read and follow worthy of awards and kudos galore. After all, I wouldn’t subscribe or follow them if I didn’t think they were interesting to read and if I didn’t enjoy them. So I’d have to say that the honor needs to go out to ALL the blogs I frequent on a daily basis. You ALL deserve to win this award, and I truly mean that.

I wish there was an award to give out to blog readers too because I wish there was a way to express my appreciation and gratitude to all the people who frequent, subscribe and follow my blog. Thank you all so much!

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Irreplaceable

February 26, 2009 By

How many times have you read a book that really moved you and touched your heart? I have read many inspiring books, books that kept me on the edge of my seat, books that educated me and books that made me laugh out loud. How often do you read a book that makes you CRY?

I just finished reading the debut novel by author Stephen Lovely called “Irreplaceable“. Make sure to keep a box of tissues on hand when you read this book. It’s what people refer to as a “tear jerker“.

Irreplaceable is a love story about a couple name Alex and Isabel. Alex was truly very much in love with his wife (and vice versa). Then one day she was tragically taken away from him. She was struck by a truck and killed.

Isabel had signed up to be an organ donor. Alex wasn’t very keen on the idea but he had to abide by his wife’s wishes.

Isabel’s heart was given to a woman name Janet who was in dire need of this special gift of life.

For over a year Alex and his mother-in-law Bernice mourned the loss of their beloved Isabel. Then one day, totally out of the blue, a letter arrives from Janet, the lady who received Isabel’s heart. Some how she managed to find out where her heart came from and she was seeking out Isabel’s family to thank them for the precious gift of life and to find out more about Isabel. Alex is very upset that Janet reached out to them and he resents that his wife died and Janet was able to live because of it. Bernice however is happy to accept Janet because it gives her comfort knowing that her daughter’s heart is still beating, even though it’s in another person.

Another character in the story is Jasper, the truck driver who struck and killed Isabel. He must live with the knowledge and the grief that he killed someone, although he does try to take solace in the fact that Janet’s life was saved thanks to Isabel’s heart.

This story broke my heart. I really felt the pain that Alex was feeling. I could not imagine (nor would I want to!) being in his shoes and having to deal with such a great loss.

I found the experience with the whole organ donation process addressed in the book very interesting too. I have signed my driver’s license to be an organ donor, and I have expressed that interest to my husband too. Even though it’s a selfless thing to do I never really thought about those left behind and how they feel knowing that their loved one is gone but others get to live thanks to the gift of life.

This is a beautifully written book that will certainly touch your heart. Make sure to keep tissues on hand when you are reading this. You will need them!

Irreplaceable is sold at retail book stores including Amazon (click here). Now I need to go and read a few silly children’s books to get happy again (just kidding).

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Hillbilly Kandles Giveaway

February 26, 2009 By

Ahh… doesn’t coming home to a place that smells like a country kitchen sound wonderful? Or what about the smell of cucumber melon? Or maybe even something different like pear vanilla?

I love scents! There is nothing I enjoy more then a fabulous scent lofting through the air in our home. It sure beats the smell of the litter box. Ha Ha.

I’m a huge fan of scented candles and scented oils. I especially love candles made from soy because I hear that they are better then wax candles. I don’t know about that but I do know that I love it when I can change the smell in our home. I don’t mean smell like our home smells, I mean I love adding different scents like Lilac in the spring, or Pine in the winter.

I recently had a chance to try out some soy tarts from an Etsy store called Hillbilly Kandles. They are awesome! I especially love the fun names and unique scents some of the tarts have. For example there is one called “Primitive Blessing”. It’s hard to describe the scent. There seems to be a hint of cinnamon (?) or something that reminds me of a “fire ball”. And possibly a fruity or flowery undertone. See… I told you it was hard to describe.

Some other interesting tart scents are Pepper Berry Wreath (nice!), Primitive Blessing (another nice scent), Hearth and a really pretty scent called Fabulous.

These hand poured soy tarts are some on the Hillbilly Kandles Etsy store. You can click here to visit the shop.

Her prices are really great too. She charges only $2.25 for a 3-pack of 2 ounce tarts. Shipping is only $2.00 plus .50 cents for each additional pack you purchase. You could easily get a lot of great smelling tarts for under $10.00.

The tarts are really fragrant too. I had a couple of unopened ones on my desk and I could smell them whenever I walked past the side of the living room where my desk was. In fact I still have one unopened one on my desk because it does add a hint of a scent in the air while sitting at my desk.

I have a bag of tarts to giveaway to a lucky She Scribes reader. Since I am mailing these out I’ll ship them anywhere. There are 10 tarts in the bag and they are in a variety of scents.

To enter please visit the Hillbilly Kandles Etsy store by clicking here. Then come back here and comment on what your favorite scent is or a scent you would like to try from the available scents offered.

For extra entries you can do any or all of the following. Please leave a separate comment for each that you have done.

- Blog about this review/giveaway and link back to She Scribes and Hillbilly Kandles. Please provide me with the URL of the post.

- Subscribe to She Scribes. Both e-mail and RSS subscription buttons are found towards the top of the right side bar.

- Add my button to your web site or blog, located on the left side bar. Please provide your URL.

- Add me to your favorites in Technorati.

- Stumble Upon my blog, She Scribes, and please leave your Stumble name.

- Tweet about this giveaway in Twitter and/or follow me in Twitter. My Twitter name is She_Scribes. Please leave your Twitter name.

This giveaway is open to everyone and will end on March 8, 2009 at 11:59 PM. Winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator. Winner has three days to reply with their name and address or a new winner will be chosen.

Don’t forget to check out all the other great giveaways I have going on by checking out the top right side bar under “Win It”.

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Oh to be a kid…

February 25, 2009 By
Last night I posted about the awesome essay contest being offered by the Imagine Me! Sleep away camp (click here to read the original post). Today I learned about another camp called the Aloha Beach and Surf Camp in Los Angeles, CA. Oh my! I wish I was a child living in the Los Angels area! I couldn’t imagine how awesome it would be to attend summer camp on the beach. WOW! My kids go to town camp which is held at a local high school. That is so boring compared to having summer camp on the beach while you learn about surfing and other “beach” activities.

Oh to be a kid again. I would beg and plead with my parents to send me to that camp. They have camp activities for children as young as 4 years old, up to 15 years old. Our town camp ends when children turn 13. Bummer!

You can read more about this fun camp at http://www.alohabeachcamp.com/. The above photo is from their blog which you can visit by clicking HERE. If you happen to live in the Los Angeles, CA area you might want to check them out. It looks like a super fun camping experience.

I really need to get my thoughts of summer and camps. There is still about 3 weeks left until it’s officially Spring so we have a long, long time to go to have to worry about summer vacation.

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Reviews & Giveaways – Please Read

February 25, 2009 By

For those who follow my blog you know that I enjoy doing reviews of products and services that I feel my readers would be interested in knowing about. I also try and find great products and services to offer as giveaways whenever possible.

I enjoy doing reviews. I think it’s a great way to learn about products, books or services I might not otherwise know about. I also enjoy telling others about “great finds”.

My mom always said to me that “One man’s meat is another man’s poison”, meaning, just because someone likes something doesn’t mean that everyone will. I’m sure everyone understands that. We’re all adults and we know that people like and dislike different things. It’s what makes the world go round.

When I review a book, product or service my reviews are done based upon my personal experience and opinions. If I find something wrong with something I will make note of it and tell everyone. If I am over the moon thrilled about something I will share that excitement as well.

Sometimes I write about web sites or programs I stumble across that I feel people would be interested in and might not otherwise know about, even if there is no actual product review involved.

A couple of months ago I hosted a giveaway for a service. I never tried the service personally, so I wasn’t able to review it first hand. I simply wrote about it because it sounded like a great idea and I thought others might be interested in it. The company even sponsored a prize. Sadly the service turned out NOT to be as good as it appeared it would be. To make matters worst the didn’t follow through with the prize they offered either. No I feel TERRIBLE! I have no control over the company and took it on good faith that they were going to follow through with their promised prize. Even so I feel TERRIBLE. I have since removed the post about the company so that others don’t go through a bad experience with them. Had I had the opportunity to review their service first hand I might have been able to see that it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

When I host giveaways I always do it on good faith that the sponsor will follow through with their prize. If they don’t I have no control over it. I hope that people will understand that. I will only offer giveaways when I feel in my heart that the sponsor will be true to their word. If I sense anything “iffy” about them I will not put my good name on the line and offer to host a giveaway.

I am a happy-go-lucky person who is always trying to make others happy. Whenever someone is unhappy, especially if I’m involved, it really makes me feel HORRIBLE! Even though I am not the company who didn’t follow through on the prize, I still feel GUILTY about the whole situation.

Needless to say I will no longer promote that service in any way, shape or form. And if there was some way I could make up for the prize for the winner I certainly would. I just don’t know how.

I will continue to provide you all with open and honest feedback on products, books and services that I think you might be interested in. And I’ll continue to post about interesting sites and programs too. I also look forward to being able to offer my readers awesome giveaways too. I just wanted people to know that is things go wrong based on something I posted about on my blog, that it was no way “misleading” on my part. I promise to be honest about everything on my blog. I would NEVER, EVER mislead anyone or steer anyone in the wrong direction on purpose – NEVER! That is not who I am. I could never do that to anyone.

With that said I hope that you will continue to stop by She Scribes and hopefully I’ll be able to provide you all with better and better content, reviews, giveaways, resources and more.

I value and appreciate your patronage so much. I am grateful for all the wonderful people who stop by and visited my little corner of the world. I mean that with all my heart. Thank you.

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Win a Year of "Sunshine in a Bottle"

February 25, 2009 By


How is that for a catchy title? LOL!

I’m sure you are wondering what “Sunshine in a Bottle” is. By “Sunshine in a Bottle” I am referring to Vitamin D.

Vitamin D is the only vitamin that is also a hormone. As a hormone, it controls calcium absorption to help the body build strong bones and teeth, and it helps maintain muscle strength. Vitamin D is necessary to to protect your both against Osteoporosis. Lack of Vitamin D in your diet can result in poor muscle strength, chronic conditions such as autoimmune disease and some forms of cancer. Insufficient Vitamin D can stunt growth and foster weight gain during puberty, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. People lacking in Vitamin D are also more likely to have respiratory infections are are more likely to catch colds and the flu since Vitamin D is also necessary for your immune system.

Exposure to sunlight is a very important source of vitamin D. The Ultraviolet (UV) rays from sunlight trigger Vitamin D synthesis in the skin. Factors such as the season, latitude, time of day, smog, cloud cover and sunscreens can affect UV ray exposure. Sunscreens with a sun protection factor of 8 or greater will block UV rays that produce vitamin D, but they are still important to routinely use whenever sun exposure is longer than 10 to 15 minutes.

It is especially important for individuals with limited sun exposure, such as those who are home bound or living in Northern latitudes, to include good sources of vitamin D in their diet. Vitamin D is found in many dietary sources such as fish, eggs, fortified milk, and cod liver oil.

Who knew that getting some sun was so important to good health? I always thought getting some sunshine was great for your mood and mental well being. I never knew it was a necessary requirement to maintain a healthy body too.

The awesome people over at Wellesse has generously offered TWO She Scribe readers a YEAR SUPPLY of Wellesse Vitamin D! Yes, you read that correctly, a YEAR SUPPLY to TWO lucky She Scribe readers. WOW!

The Wellesse Liquid Vitamin D comes in a 16 ounce bottle. One bottle can translate into a 48 day supply for one adult, so each bottle lasts a long time. Adults just need to take 2 teaspoons a day to get 1,000 IU of Vitamin D. This liquid formula is even safe for children. Children ages 4-12 only need to take 1 teaspoon a day (500 IU).

I have been using the Wellesse Liquid Vitamin D for a few weeks now. Although I cannot tell you how it is working, since I cannot scientifically measure it’s effect on my body, I have not seen any side effects from taking it. Since it’s winter time and I don’t get out as much as I would during the other seasons I figured I could use the extra boost in Vitamin D. I also am severely anemic and my immunity is not as healthy either. I haven’t had a cold in a few weeks. I don’t know if that is because of the Wellesse or just luck.

I am also lactose intolerant. I CAN have dairy products (milk, ice cream, cheese) in limited quantities, but not as much as I should have so I’m pretty such that my Vitamin D levels prior to taking the Wellesse liquid Vitamin D were really low.
The liquid Vitamin D from Wellesse takes good too. It’s made using various organic fruit juices. It literally tastes like a fruit juice in a way, however if you don’t care for the flavor you can mix it in with your orange juice (or any other juice) or water. It has a sweet after taste, but not a bad taste.

How would you like to win a year’s supply of Wellesse Liquid Vitamin D?

To enter head on over to the Wellesse (http://www.wellesse.com/ or click here)and check out all the interesting articles pertaining to Vitamin D. Then come back to She Scribes and comment on something interesting you learned about Vitamin D AND which website/article did you get that information from. If you go to the Vitamin D page you’ll see a link to all the articles so you can easily copy/paste the URL from each article when you go to read it.

For extra entries you can do any or all of the following and please leave a separate comment for each that you have done.

- Blog about this giveaway and link back to She Scribes and Wellesse. Please leave the URL of the post.

- Subscribe to She Scribes. Both e-mail and RSS subscriptions are found towards the top right side bar.

- Put my button (left side bar) on your site or blog and please leave me the URL.

- Follow my blog (right side bar).

- Tweet about this on Twitter and/or follow me on Twitter. My Twitter name is She_Scribes. Please leave your Twitter name if you follow and/or Tweet about this.

- Add me to your favorites in Technorati.

- Stumble Upon this giveaway and please provide your Stumble name.

This giveaway is open to US residents only and will end on March 8, 2009 at 11:59 PM. Winners will be chosen at random using a random number generator. Winners have three days to reply with their name and address or a new winner will be chosen.

Don’t forget to check out all the other great giveaways I have going on by checking out the top right side bar under “Win It”.

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