She Scribes

School is finally here. Even after much stressing out over supplies and clothing we’re STILL missing a few items. Not too much (thankfully) but my son needs a Snare drum for band and our kids are still in need of cooler weather clothing. They did pick up a few outfits but not nearly as many as they will need in the coming weeks.

My kids attend public schools. There are no uniforms required and only a few rules as to what kids cannot wear (tank tops with thin straps, clothing that is offensive or revealing, flip flops…). There are times however that I really wish that the kids did have uniforms. In the long run it would save us a lot of money because we wouldn’t have to indulge the kids in fashions that their classmates are into. For my daughter its all about the labels. How she got that way I’ll never know. I’m happy with sneakers from Payless. She’s after the $80 Nike Air Force Ones. Plus if its not by Abercrombie & Finch, Hollister or Aerop0stale she won’t wear it.

Grrrr!!! It kills me to have to pay top dollar for something that has a moose on it (logo). At the same time I was a teen once too. Back in the day I dreamed of owning a pair of Jordache jeans but my Mom would never cave in and get me a pair.  

I think that having a school uniform is not such a half bad idea because it would eliminate a  lot of the ” must have” fashions that kids crave for. If everyone had similar clothing then there wouldn’t be no urgency to run right out and pick up the latest fashion craze.

I guess you can say I’m “on the fence”. Some days I’m all for uniforms, other days I’m not.

What about you? Do your kids have to wear uniforms to school?

I honestly thought that school uniforms were very pricey to start off with but more cost effective over all.

French Toast offers an extended variety of uniform essentials for both boys and girls and from toddler sizes to teens. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the prices were comparable to non-uniform pieces available at the mall.

French Toast offered to send me a few pieces to review. I wanted to get a mix of girl and boy products to try out with my own kids but my daughter wouldn’t go for it. My son on the other hand was more then happy to be my “c0-reviewer”. He actually found several pieces that he really liked.

I was pleased to see that uniforms don’t necessarily mean drab and boring. There were plenty of pieces that I really liked. For example the Belted Hidden Button Cargo Pant. They look like dress pants like my husband wears to work (Dockers style pants), so they are dressy yet they have a cool feature that my son really likes – cargo pants pockets! My son loves those pockets on the legs. That is where he keeps pens, pencils, lunch money and gum. The pants also come with a really nice belt with a classy looking belt buckle.

I tired to take pictures of the pants but it didn’t turn out as well. Here is a picture of the button fly closure and belt (I moved the belt to the side to see the button) and a photo of the pocket.

As much as my son loved the fashions he didn’t want me to take pictures of him doing a “fashion show” (his words).  He had to remind me that he was a boy (as if I didn’t already know that) and “boys don’t do those things” (meaning put on a fashion show).  I should have snapped his picture this morning. He was wearing one of the French Toast pieces. He would have never even known I did it.

The pants seem to run pretty true to size. They are also a nice weight which makes them ideal for fall and winter (although I wouldn’t recommend playing in a pile of snow in the pants).

One of my favorite French Toast pieces is this pull over sweater. It’s wonderful! Its a true knit sweater but it feels really nice (not scratchy) and I LOVE the collar. It features a button up collar (with wooden like buttons) and a “kangaroo” pocket in the middle. It looked so nice on my son. Paired with the navy pants from French Toast and he looked very much like a little man instead of a little boy. This outfit will be great for school pictures and the holidays when he needs to dress up a bit.

The flash from the camera made the pants and top look a lot different in color. In person they match pretty well. Also the area where the buttons are looks like a different color but as you can see from the professional photo it is not.

My son also received a long sleeve and short sleeve Pique Polo shirts. My son wore the short sleeve one to the first day of school yesterday. I don’t have a picture of him! His bus came just as we got to the bus stop. I need to ask one of the other Moms at the bus stop if she can e-mail me the picture. Earlier when our daughter was waiting on her bus the other Mom took a picture of the younger kids (my son included) together.

Even though it was around 85 degrees yesterday my son said he felt fine in the short sleeve Pique Polo shirt. I love that it comes in a variety of colors. At $9.50 each you could easily pick out several colors.

My son also picked out a long sleeve Pique Polo shirt. Its just as affordable at $9.98 each and is also available in a wide array of colors. My son has the green one and it is so nice looking. Its soft to the touch too. The sleeves feature a cuff at the end. This shirt also looks great with the cargo pants.

Lastly my son received a hooded sweat jacket in black. He actually wore it today for school as mentioned earlier in the post. Its a typical hooded sweat jacket. Its ideal for this time of year when its a bit chilly in the morning but warms up in the afternoon. It was chilly this morning due to some rain we had pass through.

This is a nice sweat jacket that can be stuffed inside a backpack when not in use and doesn’t come out all wrinkled.

My son chose black which is not exactly the best color to have with five furry pets around. The color black seems to work like a pet hair magnet. Ha Ha.

Whether your child attends public or private school  you can certainly find some great fashions at French Toast. They offer quality clothing at affordable prices. As a Mom I am very pleased with the clothing from French Toast and I appreciate their affordable prices.

To learn more about French Toast please visit www.FrenchToast.com. French Toast is also having a 15% off sale on everything until September 13, 2010 if you use the code QEJ9FA.

French Toast has very generously offered to give a lucky She Scribes reader a FABULOUS prize package. The winner can chose THREE tops and THREE bottoms (boys or girls, any size). That means the winner will essentially win three outfits (less socks and underwear of course). THANK YOU French Toast!

To enter please visit the French Toast website. Look around then come back here and comment on TWO ITEMS you would love to win – BE SPECIFIC.

For extra entries you can do any or all of the following. Please be sure to leave a separate comment for each that you have done. Extra entries are optional.

- Subscribe to She Scribes and/or Connect with Google Friend Connect (found on the right side bar). ♥

- “Like” French Toast on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/pages/FrenchToastcom/119383800713.

- Follow French Toast on Twitter, http://twitter.com/FrenchToastcom.

- Follow She Scribes on Twitter (@She_Scribes) and Tweet about this fabulous review/giveaway. Please be sure to include me in the tweet so I can see it too. This is limited to three tweets per day, spaced apart (not one after the other).

- Blog about this great review/giveaway and please link back to both this post and French Toast. Please provide the URL of the post.

- Use any of the social networking buttons found at the bottom of this post (Facebook, Stumble Upon, Digg…) to promote this review/giveaway. Please be sure to tell me what you did and if possible provide a name and/or URL.

This giveaway is open to US residents only and will end on September 18, 2010 at 11:59 PM (EST). The winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator from all eligible entries. The winner will be notified via e-mail and will have three days to reply with a name, mailing address (no PO Box) and a choice of three tops and three bottoms (sizes too) or a new winner will be chosen.

Other great giveaways are found on the right side bar under “Win It”.

Kimberly

*I received free product samples in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opionions expressed are my own.

If there is one thing I dread most about going on car trips its how quickly bored the kids get. When kids get bored they often end up bickering with one another. That makes the car ride even WORST!

I remember when I was a child. Even a half hour car ride seemed like torture. As an adult I can sit in the car for hours at a time and not give it any thought. I guess kids just have a different perception of time then adults do.

When I was younger my cousin and I had this game where bad people were after us and whenever we saw another car we would have to duck down in the seat until it was gone. My cousin lives in Pennsylvania and the roads are usually deserted so when we saw another car we pretended it was the bad guys. It seems so silly now but back then we had a blast.

We also used to love to make the truck drivers honk their horns at us. That is until I did it one time and it scared the heebie jeebies out of my Father and he got mad at me. So I never did it again.

I think its important to have a “Car Trip Kit” to not only keep the kids occupied but also to keep YOUR sanity. Ha Ha. Personally I always make sure the kids have their iPods and that they are fully charged before we leave our home. This helps to avoid all the fighting over what to listen to on the radio.

A portable DVD player also used to come in handy for my kids, for a while anyway. That is until they started to fight over what DVD to watch. So we tossed that idea.

I wish they still made Color Forms. Anyone who around my age (42) probably remember them. They were vinyl reusable “stickers” that you could set up on the scene that was found inside the box. Those were fun!

Portable games are always handy as well as drawing paper, crayons, coloring books, reading books and of course small toys. I used to rotate the toys that went in the car so that the kids didn’t get bored with them.

Books on tapes were another great idea. We had this one tape about a train (I forgot the name of it) that my son would want to listen to over and over and over again. So much so I think I dreamed about it in my sleep!

Going on a car trip with your child doesn’t have to be “torture” as long as you bring along plenty of fun things to keep him/her busy.

A Nissan Dealer here in the Northeast would love to help you keep your sanity on your next long car trip. They would like to give a lucky She Scribes reader a fun car activity kit valued at $40. The kit includes…

- 2 coloring and activity books with over 100 pages of coloring and drawing exercises.

- One pack of crayons for coloring and activity books.

- One toy (toy motorcycle for a boy or a small stuffed animal for a girl).

- One travel friendly Milton Bradley game (for example, Hungry Hungry Hippos or Connect Four).

- One Johnson and Johnson First Aid kit which includes 70 items in case of emergency bumps and bruises, including 54 band-aids of assorted sizes, 6 hand cleansing wipes, 4 gauze pads, Tylenol, 3 antibiotic ointment, and a compact carrying case.

 - One Johnson and Johnson supplemental First Aid kit with 12 more assorted items in a smaller case.

To enter please comment on other fun ways to keep kids occupied on long car trips, or even trips around town while running errands.

For extra entries you can do any or all of the following. Please be sure to leave a separate comment for each you have done. Extra entries are optional. Most options are found on the right side bar.

- Subscribe to She Scribes

- Connect with Google Friend Connect

- “Like” She Scribes on Facebook (Click on the Facebook button then click “like” on the next page).

- Follow She Scribes on Twitter.

- You can also use any of the social networking buttons found at the bottom of this pots to promote this giveaway. Please be sure to let me know what you did and if possible provide a name and/or URL. If you decide to tweet this please be sure to include me in the tweet and limit this to three tweets per day.

This giveaway is open to US residents only and will end on September 12, 2010 at 11:59 PM (EST). The winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator from all eligible entries. The winner will be contacted via e-mail and will have three days to reply with a name and mailing address (no PO Box) or a new winner will be selected.

Other great giveaways are found on the right side bar under “Win It”.

Interesting car, isn’t it?

Kimberly

*I was not compensated in any way for this post. I posted this for the benefit and enjoyment of my readers. A sponsor will be supplying the prize.

I honestly have no clue where this idea or directions came from. It was one of things that was forwarded from a friend to a friend to a friend sort of thing. If anyone knows the original poster of this fantastic craft idea PLEASE let me know so I can give proper credit as well as link back to the original site post. I NEVER want to be accused of stealing ideas, that is for sure!

Supplies you’ll need:

- Paraffin Wax or Candles

- Wick

- Fine Sand, damp

- Pail or Large Bowl

- Double Boiler

- Pencil

- Wax Coloring and/or Wax Scents (optional). 

Instructions:

Step 1: Fill bottom half of double boiler with water. Place over medium heat on stove. Place top half of double boiler on top. Carefully place small pieces of paraffin wax or used candles in top of double boiler. Slowly stir occasionally until wax melts. Note: If using old candle pieces be sure to remove any old wicks or metal bases. You can use old colored candles to add color to your wax, or use a wax dye. You may also add your candle scent now if you wish. You MIGHT be able to use a microwave. Check the product to be sure.

Step 2: While wax is melting put damp sand in pail or bowl. Pat down firmly. Insert your hand into the sand, pressing firmly but carefully. Push down as far as you can in a “claw” shape. Slowly and carefully remove your hand trying not to collapse the sand. Once hand is removed carefully pat down around the hole you have made being careful not to knock sand into holes.

Step 3: If you are making a candle, tie wick to a pencil, wooden spoon or chopstick. Insert end of wick into center of your form you made in sand. Balance pencil across pail or bowl and make wick tight.

Step 4: Very carefully pour melted wax into the form you made. Do it slowly trying not to knock sand into form. Overfill to form a base. You can trim the wax after it hardens. Allow the wax to set completely. Preferably 24 hours.

Once your wax has set it’s time to remove. First you need to let the wax harden overnight.

Place a plastic bag completely over the wax form and pail. CAREFULLY tip the pail over allowing the sand to fall into the plastic bag. You can hold on to the wax form to make sure it doesn’t fall into the bag too. You can keep the sand to use over and over again.

Carefully remove the wax form from the sand and brush off some of the sand. Place it on a sheet of newspaper, base side down. If the sand is still damp allow it to dry before dusting off anymore of it. Some sand will remain embedded in the wax. That is OK. It makes it look even creepier.

You should be able to dig out the wick if you are using this as a candle. Make sure to follow the standard candle safety rules!

Use your imagination and try making other wax molds. You can use your face in the sand (if you have a big enough bucket), or other objects found around the house. 

A special thank you to the unknown source that came up with this great idea and directions! I can’t wait to make these with my children.

Kimberly

*If these are your instructions and pictures PLEASE let me know and I’ll be sure to list you as the source as well as link back to your website. Thank you for such a crafty idea!